A few weeks late, here's a recap of my trip to the 60th Edinburgh International Film Festival. I'd been to the city before (really quite stunning views when the weather's clear) but never to the fest, so I was glad to make it up for Shane's last year as artistic director.

The best film I saw was probably Jindabyne, Ray Lawrence's follow-up to Lantana which stars Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne. It's set in a small town in Australia, where a young woman is murdered and the discovery of her body changes the lives of several couples. For the first hour or so I thought it was near perfect (very slow and moody), and definitely onto one of those top 10 films of the decade lists. It lost it a bit for me as it went on, but still a film you should investigate.

I also liked this new buzz film London To Brighton, which will be at Toronto -- a low budget yet nicely slick British thriller about a prostitute and a young runaway girl on the run from some criminals.

Other films I give a thumps up to include Little Miss Sunshine (actually very good - I was scared it would be this year's Happy, Texas); Stephanie Daley (excellent performances by Tilda Swinton and Amber Tamlyn); and Life & Lyrics (a sort of softer, British 8 Mile which is a good thing).

I missed Soderbergh's Q&A (which was said to be really great), but I did see Charlize Theron drinking whiskey on stage. And I went to a party at the National Gallery, where I saw festival patron Sean Connery at a party, he seemed like a nice chap, is taller than you'd expect, and looks great for his age and also appears that he hasn't had any work done (hurrah). Or maybe that's just me after a few whiskeys myself. They were also serving bacon sarnies inside the art gallery...nice touch.

Away from the festival, I didn't have much time to explore Edinburgh again. I ate sausages at Monster Mash (what a great idea for a restaurant) and saw a lot of binge drinking (as in four people who were so drunk pre-10 pm on a Friday night that they fell down in the street. I'm happy to say they weren't film fest folks.)

Assorted thoughts/links:

They're making a film of one of my all-time favorite books,

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. And at first I was having a hissy fit thinking they were casting Siena Miller as the awkward Phlox. But I was wrong about that and I thikn Mena Suvari can pull it of. Sarsgaard as Cleveland is a really good sign…but cutting out gay Arthur is a really bad sign so we'll see what happens.

I actually know two male converts to Bloke Coke so I guess the marketing is working. Tastes fab.

Pigs in a blanket are making NY Times headlines. About time.

London Underground is going to start selling Oyster cards overseas. Oyster cards are great -- like a thicker NYC MetroCard. But they cost about 8 times as much. So maybe they're not that great. Still, if you're planning a trip to London…

Some guy's made a
film of people vomiting. I think I'd rather sit through the equally nauseous Garfield Two: A Tail of Two Kitties.

This week's playlist: "Cherry Lips" by the Archie Bronson Outfit, "Better" by Regina Spektor, and "Made Up Love Song #43" by Guillemots