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ARTS AND CULTURE NEWS COVERED IN TWO MINUTES

profits going to the Disasters Emergency East Africa Emergency Appeal. The album will be available from Bandcamp until 15 Sep. See abandcalledquinn. bandcamp.com for more.

through FESTIVALS Take the chance to have your say about the Edinburgh festivals with a new Ideas Initiative Challenge, which encourages anyone to submit their thoughts on how the festivals can be improved the website ideas.edinburghfestivals.co.uk. Better still, the top 25 ideas as voted for by the public will receive a pack of goodies worth £100. In addition there will be prizes for the top five ideas, which will include two nights of accommodation, an iPad and Festival tickets for 2012. All entries should reach them by the end of October. See vimeo.com/27764788 for more.

Visit list.co.uk for daily arts & entertainment news

Channel Hopper

Dispatches from the sofa, with Brian Donaldson

It might not have quite the resonance of ‘briefcase wanker!’ but Simon Bird’s character in Chickens (Channel 4, Fri 2 Sep, 10.30pm) has to take the slur of ‘shame on you’ like a man. But being a man is half the problem here. Or at least the kind of man who refuses to join the World War I effort thanks to his flat feet. Meanwhile, anti-corporal punishment schoolteacher George (Joe Thomas) is keeping away from battle as a conscientious objector and spivvy cad Bert (Jonny Sweet) claims to be unaware that a war is even raging across the channel. The trio are under the

misguided impression that the women of their comatose English village will keel over with gratitude and lust on account of them having stayed behind, but instead the cottage they are sharing is daubed with insults and their letterbox filled with increasingly imaginative hatemail. As part of C4’s new raft in the Comedy Showcase strand, the 1914 setting is almost a sideshow as the Bird/Thomas/Sweet triptych deliver the same kind of clipped comedic performances and mercurial writing skills that they have graced the Edinburgh Fringe and TV world with for the last half-decade. But if you like that sort of thing, as you ruddy well should, then this Comedy Showcase audition will be a hoot. Fingers crossed that the channel has the courage to greenlight a full series of Chickens.

The only cowards in the village

A R O U N D T O W N Plans are afoot for a new national cultural celebration, Scotland’s History Festival. The organisers, Ian Harrower and comedian Susan Morrison, are keen for the Festival to take place in November of this year, with an array of museums, libraries, pubs and more hopefully taking part. The good news in Glasgow is that eclectic spoken word event Words Per Minute is back with a vengeance on 11 Sep. See the Around Town section for more. CLUBS Things are getting awfully friendly in the world of clubs with Ultragroove and young bucks Heavy Groove merging from 24 Sep. Check out the Clubs pages for more information on upcoming nights.

MUSIC Three cheers for A Band Called Quinn who are releasing an album of remixes, with sale

F I LM The women (and men) of Glasgow are getting a little hot under the collar this month, following the arrival of Brad Pitt (and family) to town, to film Hollywood flick World War Z. Look out next issue in Noticeboard for The List’s thoughts on Glasgow’s transformation into something of a cinema city. THEATRE The Fringe may be (almost) over but there’s life a-plenty in the acts yet. Case in point, the ATC’s production of The Golden Dragon, which continues its run, after the Trav, down in London at the Arcola Theatre from 1 Sep. Elsewhere, in thesp-land, the National Theatre of Scotland have announced the cast for their much- anticipated production of Men Should Weep (pictured), which begins life at the Citizens Theatre from Fri 16 Sep, with Emmerdale’s Ann Scott- Jones as Granny and Erin McCardie as Edie.

ReviewofReviews

THE QATSI TRILOGY EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

13–15 AUG

8 THE LIST 25 Aug–22 Sep 2011

WHAT WE SAID: ‘These aren’t three separate films, they are a wave of humanity, an offering of image and music from two profound artists, ultimately their meanings are up to the viewer but there are certain philosophies that advance like a meditating spectre across them.’ THE LIST WHAT THEY SAID: ‘Despite wonderful moments, the latter two films seemed musically less well-focused. This surely reflected a deep-

seated problem, caused by the director’s purist insistence on banning words.’ THE TELEGRAPH ‘Unfortunately, [in the final part of the trilogy] Glass’ music does not come up to scratch in providing a suitably dramatic soundtrack for these images.’ EDINBURGH GUIDE.COM

‘There’s a sense that Glass pursues more of his own agenda [in Naqoyqatsi] with the score and this is all to the good.’ THE SCOTSMAN