Greenock James Watt Dock
The transformation of Greenock’s James Watt Dock.
By Andrew Elliott and filming by myself
Greenock Town Centre Parking
This was the very first video I made about parking in Greenock’s town centre.
It is a nightmare to find a parking space and the council are now considering charging.
Video by Andrew Elliott and myself
RFA Fort Rosalie comes to town
As part of Scotts’ Shipyards 300th anniversary, RFA Fort Rosalie came to Greenock to allow members of the public to board.
The ship was made in the town over 30 years ago and is still going strong.
Video by Andrew Elliott and myself.
Airplay
(Video by Andrew Elliott and myself)
Scotland’s most unusual music festival has come to an end.
Airplay has taken place over four weeks at Glasgow Airport and saw 20 acts compete in front of travellers departing for their holidays.
The nail-biting finale was made up of six acts from across Scotland with Dundee band Our Future Glory being crowned the winners and taking home the £1000 prize.
Mo Liandu, lead singer of the band, said: “We feel awesome. We are relieved but surprised as well because the standard today was amazing.
“The atmosphere has been really good. We were playing our last song and so many people gathered round which was really surprising.”
Little Fire, Sharon Martin, Jamie Rodden and David Boyle also competed in the final and Scott MacDonald lifted the runner-up trophy.
Broadcaster Jim Gellatly hosted the event, he said: “What a fabulous place to have an event. Even if you don’t have huge crowds it’s the talkability about it.
“The quality has been fantastic and I think they are all worthy winners. They’ve all won through to play here today and to play in this final and get down to the last six so they’re all highly commended anyway.
“I think it’s a great opportunity as well for them to use to push their careers forward because what a brilliant thing to be able to say you have played a festival at an airport.”
The music festival took inspiration from the success of Austin Bergstrom Airport in Texas, which regularly hosts music events as part of the internationally renowned South by Southwest festival.
It also highlights Glasgow’s status as a UNESCO City of Music, awarded in 2008 because of the region’s rich musical heritage.
Donald Morrison, Airplay organiser, said: “One of the reasons we had this festival was this is the height of summer season for us at Glasgow Airport so we are always looking for new ways of entertaining our passengers as they come through the terminal.
“We are very much confident that this will be a regular event at Glasgow Airport, perhaps on a smaller scale and as an all year round event rather than a one off festival.”
Greenock Town Centre Revamp
West Blackhall Street in Greenock is being revamped as part of a major £2 million redevelopment project.
A video by Andrew Elliott and myself can be seen on the Greenock Telegraph website and also below.
http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/roundup/articles/2010/08/20/403837-video-our-town-centre-revamp/
Kick-Ass
Kick-Ass (15)
UK Cinemas 31 March 2010
***
“With no power comes no responsibility. But that isn’t true” says Dave Lizewski, an ordinary New York teenager who is just about to embark on a full scale superhero fight against the bad guys. He has no superhero powers or any fancy gadgets and is certainly not a master of any martial art but he learns that these are not necessary to do the right thing and take responsibility for your actions.
Based on the comic book by Coatbridge born Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita Jr, ‘Kick-Ass’ takes the superhero genre to a whole other level. Directed by Matthew Vaughn (‘Stardust’, ‘Layer Cake’, ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’) and written by Jonathan Ross’ wife Jane Goldman (‘Stardust, ‘The Debt’), ‘Kick-Ass’ tells the story of an ordinary boy in high school who is not part of the cool crowd, the athletic crowd or the geeky crowd, but is just an ordinary teenager. He even says himself that he is not the funniest out of all of his friends. A great lover of comic books, he begins to wonder why no one has attempted to become a superhero. He dons a green and yellow wetsuit he purchased from the internet and becomes the real life crime fighting superhero Kick-Ass. Little does he know that there are actually other superheroes out there.
With elements of ‘Spiderman’, ‘Batman’ and ‘Superbad’ all rolled into one, ‘Kick Ass’ should certainly not leave a bad taste in anyone’s mouth. But, with an 11-year-old girl who is responsible for most of the violence and repeats the C-word throughout it becomes clear why this superhero movie has been given a 15 rating.
The film stars British actor Aaron Johnson who puts on a great performance as Dave Lizewski. Nicolas Cage should also be applauded as the Batman-like Big Daddy. But the true star is Chloë Grace Moretz who plays his 11-year-old daughter and sidekick Hit Girl who mixes childhood innocence with comic book violence.
Superbad’s Christopher Mintz-Plasse also makes an appearance as the Harry Osborn-type character, Red Mist and Mark Strong plays his dad, villain Frank D’Amico.
The extent of blood and violence are somewhat masked with comedy elements and a carefully picked soundtrack which do slightly poke fun at the superhero genre so that the film is never taken too seriously. But, with lots of slapstick comedy I was left un-amused while the male population of the cinema rolled about laughing at characters being slapped, ran over and shot with a mighty bazooka.
The film was enjoyable and all of the comic book characters are superb. The film appeared as any other comic book blockbuster with great effects and bright colours but for me the film did not completely live up to the hype. It felt like it was lacking something and the ending could have come a good twenty minutes before it actually did.
But the film is a superhero movie with a twist which takes some brave decisions and which does something which audiences have not seen before. Just like writer Mark Millar it will play to the childhood fantasy of many men who dreamed of becoming a superhero when Batman and Superman first hit the screens.
Antony Murray Scotch Comedian of the Year 2013
Brel, 17th March 8pm
A tall and slightly geeky Scotsman appeared on stage exactly as he looks in all of the posters, with what seemed to be the same shirt too.
But despite his down to earth appearance he had a lot to live up to as the tagline for the show describes him as a comedian for the future with a wrinkled gypsy fortune teller telling him he will be famous by 2013.
With St Patrick’s Day revellers pouring the streets of Glasgow it may seem strange to go and see a Scottish comedian on March 17. But Antony Murray did not disappoint in bringing about some cheer, albeit it was not Irish.
A Stand regular at both the Edinburgh and Glasgow clubs he opened aptly with a joke about patron saints at the expense of Americans. In fact, Americans were the theme of quite a few of his jokes.
He also tackled the Scottish East/West divide, being a man who was born in Edinburgh but whose parents are Glaswegian. Of course, with a predominantly Weegie audience he didn’t stay on the subject for too long.
But what Antony does best is self deprecation. He poked fun at his exceptionally curly mop and rhymed off the names which the very inventive Glasgow neds have came up with for him. He also poked fun at his boyish looks as despite being 28 he got asked for ID when buying a small bottle of red wine for cooking with.
Audience participation was a large part of Antony’s show and with the crowd taking a while to warm up he did manage it well. A St Patrick’s Day quiz for one lucky audience member who found a ticket under their seat meant they won a bag of potatoes, a bottle of Magners and an Easter egg for answering three Irish questions correctly. It was a nice addition to the show.
It was clear that Antony was nervous as shaking hands could be seen when he took out the questions for the quiz but this did not hamper the performance.
The venue was small and cosy and suited the performance to a T. Situated among the hustle and bustle of Ashton Lane it provided a good atmosphere. The only downside was that drinks were at a premium so I happily made sure that one would last.
Antony did finish just short of his allotted hour but this didn’t matter as I certainly didn’t feel that I was ripped off on my £6 ticket cost. He also kindly ran after the competition winner to give him a plastic bag to put all of his assorted prizes in.
The show was very funny and thoroughly enjoyable but the only criticism would be that I did not leave with my sides splitting but he is a comedian to watch for the future none the less. The prophecy of the fortune teller still has some time to come true.
