Take Me Out
From cycling, pirate ships, dolphin watching and woodland walks to face-painting, castles, beaches and alien designs, Anna Millar handpicks some of the finest days out and events this Easter, whether you’re a big or a little kid


Beach Babies
Portobello Back in the swinging 60s Portie was a popular seaside destination. After getting a little rough around the edges in 70s and 80s, it has once again become an enjoyable jaunt for visitors and locals alike. Walk along the beach, play on the…


Catching a View
Dolphin watching
Bottlenose dolphins are plentiful in the Moray Firth and the best land-bound spot to see them is the Black Isle. The Dolphin and Seal Visitor Centre consists of a hut with interactive displays and simulated dolphin noises, so stretch…


In The Frame
A glut of ceramic centres has sprung up recently, offering lots of creative fun – but at a price. If you can only run to a pottery painting session every few months or for a birthday treat, there’s no need for the kids to miss out on a regular dose of…


Easter Eggcitement
Chicks, Eggs & Bunnies Week
Mon 6–Thu 9 Apr, 10–11am. £8 per day. Imagination Workshop, 136 Marchmont Road, 0131 466 0148. Make a chick, egg or bunny in this Easter-themed workshop. Price includes a chocolate egg. Ages 6+. Easter Egg-citement…


Parklife
With a family ticket to the average theme park costing close to £100, it’s worth remembering that a day out at one of Scotland’s country parks can offer just as much fun – for no money at all. None of the parks listed here charges for admission or…


Dananananaykroyd
You’ll probably have been aware of the name Dananananykroyd being shouted from the rooftops of the Scottish music scene for a few years – it’s so joyfully unwieldy you could hardly have missed it. Yet, only now are the self-styled ‘fight-pop’ Glasgow…


Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz!
Show Your Bones almost broke them, but if any band could survive their self-professed darkest period and come back all cylinders firing it’s the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Snooty types have always been quick to pooh-pooh the art rock trio’s muso credibility…


Paper Planes
INDIE/PUNK One part American, three parts Scottish and all parts pretty exceptional, Glasgow’s Paper Planes have struck on a great formula. New Jersey-born front woman Jennifer Paley is as photogenic as a young Chrissie Hynde and caterwauls as…


Larry Charles: Beyond Belief
‘The controversy of people standing in front of a theatre with placards means nothing to me,’ announces Larry Charles. The Borat director and US comedy colossus, famed for his creative input into genre-redefining TV shows Seinfeld and Curb Your…


Gun Crazy - Poverty Row
Since I heard that his ‘lovers on the lam’ film noir Gun Crazy was to be revived I have spent a lot of time trying to get hold of Joseph H Lewis’ other films. If ever there was a wonderful filmmaker who deserves his own DVD box set, it is Lewis. My old…


Let The Right One In (Lat Den Ratte Komma In)
DRAMA/HORROR Let the Right One In is a chilling Swedish coming-of-age story that breathes new life into a tired vampire genre marred by American high school teenagers and Christian lobbyist novelists (Stephanie Meyer, Anne Rice). It’s the early…


Fool’s paradise
The large scarlet doors marking the entrance to the former Lawson’s Timber retail site on Edinburgh’s Lady Lawson Street look innocuous enough. What the guidebooks don’t tell you is that this is actually a portal to another world. Behind the Big Red…


Orgy of Tolerance
A quick glance at the poster for Jan Fabre’s latest show, Orgy of Tolerance tells you the Belgian artist clearly isn’t afraid to push people’s buttons. On it, a bearded, long-haired performer stands wearing Y-fronts, a gold-link chain and a crucifix…


The Curse of the Starving Class
AMERICAN DRAMA

In Sam Shepard’s still-relevant 1978 black comedy we meet an alcoholic father (Christopher Fairbank) whose violence towards the structure of his own dirt-poor rural house looks like threatening put-upon wife (Carla Mendonca). Her…


Mark Radcliffe - Thank You for the Days
Showbiz is, as many will attest, a fickle business. Radio DJ, TV presenter, musician and all-round music boffin Mark Radcliffe has managed to exist on its periphery, trousers and dignity both relatively intact, for over two and a half decades. That’s…


Lorraine Mariner - Furniture
(Picador) POETRY COLLECTION It’s a far cry from Bridget Jones, but there’s still something about Furniture that is likely to appeal to the chick-lit generation. British poet Lorraine Mariner’s first full-length poetry collection is suffused with…


Pat Mills and Various - ABC Warriors: The Meknificent Seven / The Shadow Warriors
(Rebellion) SCI-FI COMIC More British sci-fi action from 2000AD with the ‘Atomic’, ‘Bacterial’, ‘Chemical’ robot warriors, built to withstand any crisis. Going right back to their debut in 1979, The Meknificent Seven shows the formation of the…


Neil Clements: Built. Lacking.
While primarily known as a painter, whose shaped canvases based on the designs of classic rock guitars were shown at DCA last year, Neil Clements’ new series of works for Edinburgh’s doggerfisher has required him to adapt his usual working methods. ‘I…


Artist Rooms
GROUP SHOW One of two flagship group shows to stem from Anthony d’Offay’s gift to the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate last year (the other is at Tate Modern), Artist Rooms is bright and inspiring and bulges with defining work from some of the…


Whistler: The Gentle Art of Making Etchings
ETCHINGS ‘That in Art, it is criminal to go beyond the means used in its exercise,’ wrote James McNeill Whistler in his book The Gentle Art of Making Enemies. Referring to the size of the copper plate used in relation to the fine pointed needle to…