by tim_bell | Jun 18, 2013 | Latest News
It was great to have almost ten folk per night for the Leith Festival programme of tours. Leith Festival apologises for giving out inadequate and wrong information both online and in the printed programme – the venue wasn’t clear, the ticket prices were...
by tim_bell | May 31, 2013 | Latest News
Why do people take illegal drugs? That’s a ridiculous question. Why do people smoke tobacco and drink alcohol? Because they are pleasurable, seductive, and available. Do smokers and drinkers lose their citizenship? No. Even though they give themselves serious...
by tim_bell | May 7, 2013 | Latest News
I am doing a Shore Walk from Carrier’s Quarters pub (Bernard Street) from 6.30 pm on Thursday 9 May. We should be back in the pub within the hour. Most of it will be a general introduction to the core of Leith, but outside Shore Bar I won’t resist reading...
by tim_bell | Apr 25, 2013 | Latest News
There’s no doubt that Trainspotting the film is about heroin. It shapes the narrative and the structure, and the film pretty well earns the alternative title of ‘A Junkie’s Progress’. De-personalising the issues, it goes like this: heroin is...
by tim_bell | Mar 29, 2013 | Latest News
If Renton’s character is in question (see previous blog), Johnny Swan (nickname Mother Superior) as a real character is barely even there! In the film he is mainly seen in his lurid, semi-derelict den, fulfilling the public perception of his trade as a dealer....
by tim_bell | Feb 28, 2013 | Latest News
The more I look at all the character Renton does in the film, I wonder if he doesn’t collapse under his own weight and if we are left with McGregor playing only a series of roles within the same persona. He begins the film, he punctuates it at the key moments,...
