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Wednesday, September 03, 2003

Mark Banks in Edinburgh Joyce, Danielle and I arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland, where “American Splendor” was scheduled to close the Edinburgh film Festival. August is a month of festivals for that city: The Edinburgh Book, Fringe and Television festivals, among others, were also going on then. Edinburgh is a remarkable place, containing many buildings that have survived centuries. The oldest part of town is built on top of a cliff and is notable for its medieval architecture. More modern, and often quite attractive, buildings lie at the foot of this cliff. The streets were thronged with people who come in to participate in the festivals , and there was a lot of drinking going on. Nevertheless, the Edinburghers, temporary and permanent, were invariably courteous and cheerful. I was grateful for their kindness, particularly for that of the consideration shown to me by Mark Banks, whop was assigned by the Festival to usher me around. He was great about driving me places I wanted to go, but beyond that had a good knowledge of the history of Edinburgh and of Scotland. He took Paul Giamatti, who played me in “American Splendor”, and me around to some bookstores, where we both scored. Paul got the complete works of James Hogg, a very underrated nineteenth century writer, which he had been looking for, and I got Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s first novel. He’s a wonderful writer, perhaps Scotland’s greatest 20th century novelist. When I get home I plan to write to Mark, to stay in touch with him, He is a valuable cat to know. 12:48:21 PM