Lifers, a documentary:

This summer I predominantly spent my time either filming behind a camera, or editing in front of a computer screen.  The reason for this was my MA Journalism postgraduate dissertation, and the final outcome was a twenty minute long documentary about the modern music industry, which I've decided to call Lifers.

I still cringe at the parts I feel are badly filmed or edited, but overall I'm fairly proud of how my first stab at documentary making turned out.  I was only brave enough to post it online yesterday, but I've already had lots of lovely comments and feedback from family, friends, colleagues and those who appeared in the film.  Matthew from Song, By Toad even wrote about Lifers on his blog today (you can read the post here) which makes me feel a teeny bit famous!

The documentary features Three Blind Wolves, Dan Willson of Withered Hand fame, Neil Pennycook (Supermoon/Meursault) and Tony Taylor (formerly X-Lion Tamer), as well as my industry experts (Nick Mitchell, Nicola Meighan and Matthew Young).  If you're a fan of the Scottish indie music scene, or just music in general, you will hopefully find the topic interesting - maybe even enough to watch the whole thing!

There is a fairly amusing (at least to me) 'making of' documentary still to come, which I'm in the process of editing right now, but in the mean time I hope you enjoy Lifers, if you can spare the time to give it a watch.  Rather than get all mushy about it again, I'll leave you with a heartfelt message from my past self, posted last night on my Facebook:

Instagram #26:

1. My wee Dad getting into the wedding spirit with a pint of red wine!

2. The band formerly known as Meursault on stage for the last time with some extra special guests.

3. 'So long, it's been good to know you.'

4. Coffee and cake at my beloved Lovecrumbs.

5. My beautiful new organiser from Paperchase - more on this in a future post!

6. One of my most talented friends, Tom, at his Masters degree show.

7. Enjoying some Festival time and saying farewell to my American pal Jordan before she disappeared home.

8. HILARIOUS poses on the Friends couch during the Fringe.

9. An unprofessional (but fun) selfie after interviewing Dan Clark.

10. I randomly met up with fellow blogger Jodie after a bizarre but awesome Fringe show.

11. Hanging out with my new poodle pal Charlie in France.

12. Craig the poodle whisperer.

13. Beaucoup des baguettes en France!

14. Just chilling in my pyjamas and bare feet on the streets of Brittany.

15. A comparison of my oldest friends and me, fifteen years apart.

16. Craig and I in our groomsman and bridesmaid finery.  Aren't we cute?

17. Up bright and early on a Saturday to watch 16 year olds play rugby.  As you do!

18. Celebrating my 24th birthday with prosecco and a viaduct.

19. My stunning and delicious birthday burger cake, made by my best friend Emily.

20. My birthday card from Craig featured a lot of our silly faces...

21. Lovely birthday flowers from my big sister.

Farewell Fringe, 2014:

Source: here

This has been the busiest Edinburgh Fringe experience I think I've ever had, but unfortunately (aside from a few tweets and Instagram photos) I haven't been able to share much about the great shows I've seen.  Tomorrow is pretty much the last day to see the majority of shows at the Fringe, so - if you're spending your Sunday in Edinburgh - here are a few brilliant comedians to see before they skip town.  So long, Fringe 2014!  I'll put my sharp elbows away again, until next time.

3pm: #meetandtweet by Declan Dineen (The Mash House, £5)
Declan is a lovely, genuine guy and his story about meeting 150 of his Twitter followers in person is heartwarming and inspiring.  I even met up with fellow blogger Jodie in my very own #meetandtweet after seeing the show.  You can read my full review and interview with Declan here if you need any more persuading.


6:45pm: It's Pronounced Abigoliah Schamaun by Abigoliah Schamaun (Gilded Balloon, £10/£8.50 concessions)
Sassy New Yorker Abigoliah is filthy, fun and absolutely hilarious.  She bares all about her childhood and personal life in this stand up set, which will prompt tears of laughter, sadness and joy all at once.  And she shares some really embarrassing school photos that will make you feel a lot better about your own.  Read my review and interview here.


8:20pm: Me, My Selfie and I by Dan Clark (Pleasance Dome, £12.50/£11.50 concessions)
If you haven't seen Dan Clark's BBC TV series How Not to Live Your Life then stop reading this and start watching it immediately.  Once you've done that, go and see what may well be his last Fringe show ever before he runs away to Hollywood and never returns.  In his show, Dan shares a lot of cringingly brilliant truths, sings a few songs and is generally charming and hilarious.  Check out my interview with Dan (who put up with me for an hour after I promised it would be a twenty minute long chat) here.  After you've finished watching How Not to Live Your Life.

Instagram #25:

1. My lovely pal and helper Nicola taking a break during some documentary filming.

2. Catch of the year!  (If you desperately desire a cushion shaped like a fish, this one is from IKEA.)

3. The face of sheer misery in the library whilst writing my dissertation.

4. Uncle Craig reading stories with his clever niece.

5. A ridiculous gin glass to end a ridiculous day during which my external hard drive broke and I had to pay £25 for a train ticket...

6. At least the night was made better by seeing the amazing Conor Oberst play live in Glasgow.

7. Just hanging with some reprobates in the wild west.  (For any Edinburgh dwellers, cowboy town can be found in Morningside!)

8. James and Craig indulging in some bumps and some grinds.

9. A selfie with David Cameron!  Probably not the one you're thinking of, though.

10. My Dad and his best friend Mike through the ages: not too much has changed in 40 years of friendship!

11. My Dad and his lovely goddaughter at his 60th birthday party.

12. The documentary is finally finished, and it even has a name!

13. Rejoicing earlier today just minutes before handing in my postgrad dissertation.  My Masters is over!

Burger Meats Bun, Edinburgh:

The title of this post might sound familiar, and that's because I wrote about Burger Meats Bun in Glasgow here not four months ago.  I am (justifiably) obsessed.  BMB was the only Scottish restaurant included in a recent list of the UK's top 10 burger joints, and I couldn't contain my excitement when I heard the news that they would be opening an Edinburgh branch on Forth Street.  Of course I made sure I was there on opening night a couple of weeks ago with Craig, and my previous rave review about their amazing food still stands.

Inside, BMB Edinburgh is enough like the Glasgow premises to feel comfortingly familiar, but not a carbon copy.  The restaurant has high Edinburgh ceilings (quite a change from the Glasgow basement on West Regent Street) and large windows, making it bright and airy, which is especially nice during summer.

I was quite unadventurous on this visit and stuck to my usual Big Cheese burger (no regrets, it's still the best burger around!), but I did try the Buffalo chicken wings for the first time which were super tasty.  Dedicated fans of the BMB Glasgow needn't worry: the only thing different about Edinburgh's burgers are the buns, which are slightly bigger, so you actually feel like you're getting more for your money.  Bonus!

I had a couple of tasty cocktails to wash down my burger (their Dark & Stormy is still my favourite) and then Craig and I shared the intriguingly named Burger & Shake on BMB's dessert menu.  This turned out to be a jam filled macaron 'burger' with a baby milkshake to wash it down, which arrived with stripy paper straws - a blogger's dream!

The BMB Edinburgh staff were so friendly and happy to chat, even though they were no doubt rushed off their feet on their first day of trading.  We even got to meet the lovely Ben who co-owns Burger Meats Bun and who is partly responsible for the creation of my favourite burger.  So, essentially, my absolute hero!

Although I'm sure you've got the message by now, I can't stress how good these burgers are.  If you are an Edinburger (get it?) pop down to Forth Street pronto and try out one of these bad boys for yourself.  You will not be disappointed!

The terrible twos:

Source: here

Happy 2nd birthday, Inferior Design!

Another blogiversary already!  My little baby blog is getting on a bit, isn't it?  It's turned out to be an extremely busy year for me, and sometimes the regularity of posts here hasn't been great, but hopefully the quality is still up to scratch, and maybe even a little better.  While I don't have the time to post as often at the moment, I still love blogging and having my own little slice of the internet.  I have plenty of ideas for posts stored up in my brain, and I hope to be able to start updating more regularly again once my dissertation is done and dusted.  In fact, I promise I will!

I really owe a lot to blogging.  It gave me a creative outlet when I felt quite lost after finishing my undergrad, and - in retrospect - it's probably the reason I became interested in studying journalism in the first place.  Not to mention all the lovely people I've met through blogging, whether it was at an event or online.

As always, thank you, everyone, for reading my blog and giving me feedback and encouragement, whether it's online or in person.  You are all amazing!

Instagram #24:

Holy moly - this post marks two years of monthly Instagram updates!  As you can probably tell from my pitiful blogging efforts in June, it's been a busy (but fun) month which has flown by.

1. A wild Craig in a cage.  Actually, I was in the cage, helping to film at a mixed martial arts training session.

2. My Dad was pleased with his Beer Hawk haul on Father's Day.

3. I rediscovered the signature on my very first passport, penned at the tender age of four.

4. Putting Nicola's signature napkin method into practice with your coffee means no drips - tried and tested.

5. I couldn't help being excited about my first photo/filming pass at a gig.  It stuck to my leg and everything!

6. My beautiful cousin, Anna, ready for her hen weekend.

7. And, obviously, no hen weekend would be complete without an inflatable man...

8. ... and some plastic willy straws.

9. Pretty sure I am the owner of the first press pass with an Instagram selfie on it.  Of that I am proud.

10. My favourite photo of all time.  Ever.  Featuring me and the amazing Aubrey Plaza, and taken by director Jeff Baena.

11. A wanky picture I took whilst holed up in Starbucks writing film reviews.

12. An awesome (miniature) woolly jumper all the way from Iceland!

13. If you're in the market for a fancy White Russian, Lebowski's is the place for you.

14. The lovely Marianne, back in my life in time for Edinburgh Fringe comedy previews.

15. A quick snap (stolen from Nicola) taken whilst interviewing Dan Willson and Neil Pennycook.

16. I'm excited to say I made it to the Edinburgh branch of Burger Meats Bun on Forth Street during opening night.  Delicious, as always!

17. Trapped in the car with this cheery guy during a typical Scottish summer monsoon.