Tim Vine and Fred MacAulay at the Edinburgh Festival

Tony could not make it this week because he was already committed to the stag weekend from hell. His future brother-in-law and some other guys he had never met before were headed for Blackpool (?) and a 'hotel' that specifically catered to suit the needs of stag weekends. Alan and I just hoped that we would see our friend alive again. At the very least a new kidney would be required. An old school friend had said he would take Tony's place but unfortunately he pulled out on the day so it was just Alan and I on the bus through to Edinburgh. We arrived in the pouring rain and battled our way to the Pleasance courtyard for the Tim Vine gig. After a couple of pints sheltered under a canopy we headed out into the rain to find the venue. We were met with a cue the size of Eisteins IQ. It gives you an idea of Tim Vine's popularity. I don't know why the organisers thought it necessary to make us wait out in the pouring rain but at least the rain drops filling my half full pint glass made the pint last longer. Tim Vine's show was called the Joke-amotive and gives you some idea of the style and content of his humour. His jokes are rapid one liners, often using puns and word play. He currently holds the world record for the most number of jokes in a hour (499). He delivers his jokes very well, with great energy and comic timing. Even just to remember that amount of material is in itself very impressive. One of his jokes won an award as 'best joke of the festival'. The joke was 'I've just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I'll tell you what, never again.' That is a typical Tim Vine joke. He also used a lot of props in his routine. One of my favorites is when he held up a sign which read 'BNAG' and he quipped 'Now that's BANG out of order!' I really enjoyed his show. Yes it was corny but it was very clever and it made me laugh. Good clean wholesome fun. In true festival spirit our next stop was the pub, full of interesting characters, and then a quick stop at McDonalds. I bet the pubs and restaurants do cracking business during the festival. We arrived at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) just in time for the Fred MacAulay show. Fred MacAulay is best known as a radio presenter who occasionally does stand up from time to time. On the basis of the show I think he should stick to the radio. On the radio he is genuinely likeable and witty, but as a stand up comedian he was very average. His humour is best expressed when he has someone to play off, like a guest on his radio show. He was also quite crude and foul mouthed at times which I didn't like. Maybe he was trying to cast off his clean cut radio presenter mould and prove that he could mingle with other stand ups. I just felt that the bad language was forced and it did not make his material any funnier. Other comedians can get away with it, like Billy Connolly, but not Fred. So it was a mixed day at the Festival. I enjoyed Tim Vine, the beer, the beautiful babes, Alan's company and the atmosphere but I was disappointed in Fred MacAulay and the rain. 'Ach well!' as a philosophical Scotsman would say. Tim Vine 8/10 Fred MacAulay 5/10

Kevin Bridges at the Edinburgh Festival

It's that time of year again. The Edinburgh Festival has arrived with it vast spectrum of the weird and wonderful. Like last year my friends and I have focused soley on comedy again and to kick things off we went to see the rising star that is Kevin Bridges. Although he has blazed his way onto the comedy circuit in the last year I had never actually seen him in action. He had completely sold out his run at the festival and extra dates were added due to massive public demand, so to say that I expected great things from this young Glaswegian comedian would be accurate. As Tony, Alan and I queued outside the Assembly Music Hall on a fair Friday evening I was handed a flier advertising Kevin Bridges. There were quotes from various magazines and newspapers heralding him as 'the master of stand up at just 22' and 'the most exciting talent in Scottish stand-up'. My levels of expectation were now even higher. So, was he any good? Well, to say that he is 'the master of stand-up' is quite an exaggeration but that's not to say that I didn't enjoy his set. It was good, but just not as good as I had hoped. His material was observational with a strong Scottish perspective. I was more impressed with the maturity with which he delivered his material, like a seasoned pro. Even if his material was not that funny he engineered a laugh because he has a natural gift in telling a story or a joke. I think we are still to see the best of Kevin Bridges, as he gains more experience and refines his material. He certainly has a lot of potential. I just hope he can tone down the strong and crude language. It rarely enhances the material or makes it funnier. 7/10

Inception

I recently saw the much anticipated Inception and I was not disappointed. It boasts a very strong cast with Leonardo DiCaprio leading the way as Dominic Cobb, a man who breaks into the dreams of others to steal information. This process is called 'extraction'. He is also a man on the run, unable to get back to his family in America after the death of his wife (Marion Cotillard). He is offered the chance to start afresh when a powerful businessman, played by Ken Wanatabe, wants him to break into the subconcious of a rival corporate businessman, played by Cillian Murphy, and plant the idea to dissolve his empire which threatens to gain a monopoly in the energy business. This process of planting an idea in a mind is called 'inception'. It is a very interesting and novel idea, thought up, or possibly dreamt up, by the talented Christopher Nolan who also writes and directs the film. He originally came up with the idea about ten years ago but wanted to have more experience in directing big scale films, so with films like The Dark Knight and The Prestige under his belt he went back and worked on the script for six months before selling it to Warner Brothers. I'm not surprised it took Nolan six months to work on the script, as the film is very complex and multi-layered. It's the kind of film that demands several viewings to fully understand what's going on. Or maybe I'm just a bit thick. It is certainly refreshing to watch a film that is this original and not a dumbed down special effects popcorn movie that is part of a franchise or a remake (cough cough Predators cough cough The A Team). Visually the film is very impressive. The dream world is very cool and the action scenes are exciting and fast paced. The plot is inventive and compelling, with some twists that you would expect from Nolan. After watching the film I had a really interesting conversation with my dad about dreams, the human mind and the subconscious. It's a fascinating and mysterious area of our human experience. Do dreams mean anything? Are we using all of our brain? Where does human consciousness and intelligence come from? Is it just a product of neutrons and chemicals in the brain or is there a spiritual element to our intelligence? What is the difference between the brain and the mind? Sometimes my dreams can be very violent. Often I am a soldier in battle. Sometimes, but not often, I am singing and playing the guitar. I am aware in my dream that the music is really good and it's my own creation but when I wake up I can't remember it. I wonder why I can't create great music when I am awake. It seems that in my dreams my subconscious is given a free reign to use all the creative power of my brain. As part of the human condition we are bound by our limitations. It's not something we can do much about, unless there is significant medical development that can help harness the power of the mind. I am sure there are techniques and substances that can help develop our brain function and hopefully medicines can be developed to combat conditions like dementia and Alzheimers. This is indeed important and often I get frustrated myself when my own brain is not functioning well so I don't want to undervalue the importance of the human brain. At times I wish I was smarter. But I can imagine that for many scientists and pscyhologists who are atheists this ability to get as much use of the brain in our one life here on earth can become an unhealthy focus. Brain function and IQ are of course very important but sometimes they can overshadow other areas of what it is to be human like emotional intelligence, kindness and integrity. The actress Natalie Portman once said 'I'd rather be smart than a movie star.' I don't disagree with her but I would rather be kind and loving than smart. If more people focused on developing their emotional intelligence and fostering qualities like kindness and patience and acceptance then the world would be a much better place. There are too many smart people with no heart. Without wanting to sound corny, at the end of the day love is the answer to the problems and frustrations of our limited human experience. My dad made an interesting point about dreams. He said that maybe the wonderful dreams we have are a foretaste of heaven. In heaven we will be set free from the shackles of our human limitations and we can truly express ourselves. Apparently 'eternal life' does not mean the soul living for ever and ever. The Greek translation of 'eternal life' is 'the fullness of life'. Time will not exist in heaven, in the way we experience and understand it now. I have no idea what it's going to be like but it will be 'the fullness of life', which sounds pretty cool.
Inception 8/10