They've nearly all finished by now, and a number of venues have already opened for at least preview business. 'They' are the folk who actually make the Fringe and all the other festivals happen in Edinburgh in August - the 'tech crews' as they're generally known.

According to the most recent reports (that I've heard) the Fringe Box Office resumes business today. Possibly. Technology

It's like the lists we're encouraged to make up in the panic-strewn pre-Christmas weeks - do we have a plan of the venue? Has it got enough detail for the designer and director?

How much does it cost to mount a show on the Fringe? Dreadful question, but art costs money somewhere along the line - even graffiti artists need materials.

This short effort will cover the run in to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. For the first time in about ten years, I'm directly involved in a Fringe production. I've written this one

Completely against my predictions (I plumped for Duane Hopkins Better Things), the prolific and ever popular Shane Meadows (having come close once before) wins the Michael

I have it on very good authority that to include the words 'Mae West' and 'Smelly Feet' into my blog and its title will ensure it thousands of hits in a matter of seconds so let's call this particular blog entry a social experiment. Now let's just skip that madness and get back to the real biscuit in hand - the very last official day

EIFF Blog - Day 10. I racked up another Michael Powell Award contender last night in the shape of Matthew Thompson's debut feature Dummy.

A quick update. Since scribing a few words back there in my last blog on Better Things, I ought to tell you that I also saw Helen, also in contention for the Michael Powell award and Wall-E

Well I have an hour to kill so I might as well kill it with a wee update. I'm racing now to finish seeing all the Michael Powell award contenders before the winner is announced

It's Day 8 of the Edinburgh Film Festival and time for another blog around the block. Yesterday proved to be a more fruitful venture with two great films in a row and a rain sodden rooftop party for the festival to thank Scottish Screen (the government funded agency for film in Scotland) for its continued support

Considering the few films I've managed to see between writing reviews and being tractor beamed unwillingly into various parties (such a chore), trying to predict festival winners at this stage would not only be foolish, but mathematically about the same as correctly predicting lottery winners.

Last night, once again, completely against my will (a man did have a gun to my head after all), I had to throw down the pad of paper and

Well, I've had a day off from the film festival as I could tell my body was shutting itself down against my will two nights ago.

Surely I'm not losing my touch?

This morning the usual panic induced coffee fuelled sprint across the city to see press screenings was halted by a phone call from my close friend Ruth who announced that she’s given birth to a b

I woke up this morning with a small green pixie stamping violently on my forehead

Well it's bucketing down with rain and naturally I'm in the middle of town without an umbrella and about to go off to the party for The Edge of Love, which I reviewed in an ear

Its bad enough we lose Stan Winston just before the film festival kicked off but today we also learn of the passing of Hollywood legend Cyd Charisse who died two days ago aged 86.

I’m looking forward to seeing Of Time and the City this Thursday by director Terence Davies who should by now be regarded as a national