Monday 27 February 2017

OUTLANDER STAR SAM HEUGHAN GOES FOR POST OSCAR WORKOUT




OUTLANDER star Sam Heughan admitted he had to sweat off his excesses by flying out his Glasgow gym instructor to the States following a trip to the Oscars with Caitriona Balfe.
The Scots born hottie admitted more than a few drinks may well have been consumed at the bash - and he was keen to get them out of his system.
Sam was so keen to keep in shape that he got his personal trainer coach John Valbonesi from the fitness facility in Port Dundas to come to California with him.
As the two did a workout in Santa Monica gym he told fans: "Post Oscar party sweat fest...Cheers Valbo Ugh.
He also told William Shatner, tongue placed firmly in cheek: "No champagne was consumed. At. All."
Sam has been a regular at the Everyday Athlete Gym and launched his charity fitness fundraiser My Peak Challenge there in 2014 with Valbonesi.


- Posted with love from Scotland by theShowbizLion.com

SCOTS LET IT SHINE FINALIST MARK ANGELS TALKS LUXURY LIFESTYLE




SCOTS Let It Shine contestant Mark Angels says he's happy to be back home after an intense time in the competition - even though he was staying in a plush penthouse with its own pool.
Eat Kilbride lad Mark, who is now laid down with the cold after an intense eight weeks recording the show, revealed: "I'm actually happy everything went the way it did. It was so intense towards the end and although I loved the experience and will for the rest of my life I've got some other plans which I'll reveal shortly."
Mark who caught up with his family on his return said it was a real experience living in London with the rest of his band Drive.


He said: "We were staying in this incredible flat in Knightsbridge with its own pool, tennis courts and gym. It even had a reception desk. We never got a chance to use it though because we were always so busy going out and rehearsing."
He added: "Some of the boys took it in turns to cook and then as the programme got more intense they gave us our meals in between the rehearsals."
Mark said he loved the experience and got chatty with Dannie Minogue afterwards.
He said: "I got high praises from all the judges. Dannii told me I was great and that I should keep doing what I do. All the judges were amazing."
"We had a great wrap party and Graeme Norton wished me all the best too."
Mark also revealed he knew Scots contestant Jordan Harvey before the show because the two boys went to uni together.
He said: "It was nice to hear another Scottish voice on the show."


- Posted with love from Scotland by theShowbizLion.com

Friday 24 February 2017

BLIND SIDE ACTOR PRAISES GLASGOW CABS ON SCOTTISH FILM FEST VISIT




THE Blind Side actor Quinton Aaron says he thinks Glasgow cabs are the best because he can fit into them no problem.
The six foot eight actor from the Oscar winning movie with Sandra Bullock was in Scotland for a few days after the European Premiere of his new film Halfway at the Glasgow Film Festival.
Speaking at a reception in the new iMetaFilm office, which digitises old films, he said: "One of the coolest things I've seen in Glasgow is that the taxis are huge here. We got into the taxi and I stepped in the taxi, standing up before sitting down. I was like
'Are you serious?'."
He added: "Scotland smells and looks pretty cool. I see parts of downtown that remind me of different States back home. You get that same feel almost of New York here that I've seen, people just on the move, walking in front of cars."
Halfway tells the story of a black man who had recently been released from prison and working in the white heartland of a family fame in Wisconsin.
It is produced by Edinburgh born Jonny Patterson.


Quinton said: "Jonny is cool. He's like my little little brother. He's super cool to work with and I spent the whole process trying to mimic his accent."


- Posted with love from Scotland by theShowbizLion.com

Wednesday 22 February 2017

DUNDEE GETS HUGE FESTIVAL WITH MARK RONSON, RUDIMENTAL, CLEAN BANDIT AND MORE




MARK Ronson, Rudimental, Clean Bandit, Basement Jaxx, The Fratellis, The Cuban Brothers, and Prides are lined up to play Dundee's Biggest Music Festival this August.
Carnival Fifty Six at Camperdown Park will take place on August 12 and 13 in association with 71 Brewing – Dundee’s urban craft brewery and will be the biggest music event there since Radio 1's Big Weekend in 2005.
Organisers have revealed an eclectic line up of some of the industry’s biggest and most exciting names at the fest which will be hosted by Arielle Free.
Boxed In (Oli Bayston), Dundee's The Law join pals Be Charlotte and Vladimir, Edinburgh-born Elle Exxe, Glasgow's Jonnie Common, Model Aeroplanes , Fat Goth, The Mirror Trap and Kashmir Crows along with rockers White, Tijuana Bibles, Crash Club and Miracle Glass Company.
There's plenty more electronics over at the official festival site too. http://www.carnivalfiftysix.co.uk/


Festival Director Craig Blyth said: “We are really pleased to be announcing this year’s Carnival Fifty Six line up. Mark Ronson is in a class of his own, few artists match the energy of Rudimental live and Clean Bandit are one of the biggest acts today. We’re delighted to have them join us as headliners in Dundee on a bill which has real depth and quality. There is a huge buzz about the festival, with a few more surprises still to come, and know the artists will get a massive response when they hit Camperdown this August.”
Duncan Alexander, Founder of 71 Brewing and proud Dundonian, added: “Carnival Fifty Six will be one of Scotland’s biggest music festivals and what an incredible line-up for the first year. It will definitely put extra swagger in the Dundonian step. The fact that everyone will be drinking 71 Lager in my home city makes me excited beyond words to be a part of this."

Day tickets from £40 (+bf)
Weekend tickets from £76 (+bf)
VIP tickets from £58 per day (+bf)
Weekend VIP tickets from £110 (+bf)
Phase 1 tickets are limited and available at www.carnivalfiftysix.co.uk.


- Posted with love from Scotland by theShowbizLion.com

Tuesday 21 February 2017

LAUREN LAVERNE ON BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC FESTIVAL IN GLASGOW




LAUREN Laverne can't wait to host the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival in Glasgow - and get back to her Scottish roots.
The Dj and presenter who this morning hosted her own show from The Glasgow School of Art revealed that her father was born in Dingwall and that she was brought up on a diet of Scottish folk music.
She enthused: "I am really excited we are in Glasgow. I spent so much time here over the years. Last time I was here I was covering the Turner Prize last year.
I've loved this city since I was a teenager and had nights out here with my pals in the nineties - hazy nights at Optimo and I loved it. You couldn't get a more vibrant misic scene to plug into and art and music are beautifully integrated in this festival.
She added: "Dad was brought up in Dingwall and so I'm half Scottish and proud of it. His name is Les. He is a bit musical actually - he does play guitar and is an academic these days but the house was full of music so that's the reason I'm here.
We listened to lots of folk music which was a big passion of his and a lot of Scottish folk music like Davey Graham and Burt Jansch. I knew the difference between Scottish then Glaswegian music when I was growing up and being a nineties child Primal Scream was an incredibly important band and I thought 'Who did the cover art for Screamedelica?' and everything intertwined into everything else and being a musician myself in the nineties I made friends with Mogwai and Arab Strap and going to Arches and discovering music there was fabulous and I went to Barrowlands this morning. I'm pretty sure last time I was there was watching Underworld and there's a fantastic bill at the festival and obviously we are broadcasting live today."
Lauren can't wait to get stuck into the bill at the festival and even do some of the after parties.
She said: "We did an episode of the show in the art school before and it's great to be back. We have something like thirty six acts across four venues and it's quite complicated. I'm not sure I can simplify the weekend. It's full of music by day and there's a portion of festival talks and interviews and some elements of music and film. We are screening Lost in France by day and then there's the evening portion of live gigs and some late night sessions.
I used to go to Optimo when it was still at the Sub Club and it was the first place I heard Zombie Nation."
6 Music Festival takes place Fri 24–Sun 26 Mar 2017.



- Posted with love from Scotland by theShowbizLion.com

Tuesday 14 February 2017

WHAT DID AMY MACDONALD COOK UP FOR VALENTINES DAY?




AMY Macdonald managed to cook up the perfect treat for loved ones on Valentines Day - a deep fried Mars Bar!
The Scots singer who is about to release her fourth album Under Stars this week, was in Germany appearing on a telly show there when they asked her if she'd make the 'traditional' Scots dish.
Although she was more than a tad amused, she obliged by cutting the bar into tiny pieces before putting it in a deep fat frier they supplied.
She then garnished it with some cocktail umbrellas.
She said: "On German TV this morning they had me deep frying a mars bar for Valentine's Day. I love Germany."
After some fans accused the dish as being stereotypical, she added: "Ha! I did tell them that in my 30 years in Scotland I had yet to meet anyone that had ever tried it."
Amy, who appeared in Hamburg to perform a gig, travelled to Berlin for her cook off on Fruhstuckfernsehen which means Breakfast TV on Germany's SAT 1 channel.
She is returning to Glasgow this Friday for an appearance at HMV Argyle Street and Edinburgh's Ocean Terminal the following day


- Posted with love from Scotland by theShowbizLion.com

Thursday 9 February 2017

LOUIS WALSH JUDGES FASHION NOT MUSIC AT JUNK KOUTURE SCOTLAND


LOUIS Walsh admitted he was doing his first bit of work this year as he joined Saturdays' singer Una Healy as judge at the live final of Junk Kouture in Scotland.
And although he claimed he was anything but fashionable, Louis was in fine fettle as secondary kids from across Scotland battled it out with some weird and wonderful creations made from everyday junk.


TheShowbizlion.com was massively impressed by the intricacy of the designs on offer and we saw an array of outfits that could easily grace events like the Oscars or Emmys.
Lady Gaga would have had a field day.


Telly gal Cat Cubie presented the awards while X Factor runners-up Reggie ‘n Bollie entertained crowds at the final, at the SEC Armadillo. Winners included Hillhead Academy who won the performance award for their Highland Cow based dress which included pigs’ trotters.


Una handed over the trophy to the Junk Kouture Scotland overall winner which went to St Paul’s RC Academy with a dress made from old maps.


Louis said: “I've been resting since Christmas and I'm ready to get back to work now. This has been great. The standard this year has been really high and I think we’ve seen some great people for the future of the fashion industry.”
Una who has just released her Nashville inspired solo album added: “We were scrapping backstage to pick the top three. And we were blown away by everybody.”




- Posted with love from Scotland by theShowbizLion.com

Monday 6 February 2017

DOCTOR WHO REVISITS GLASGOW UNIVERSITY FOR TIME TRAVEL COURSE




DOCTOR Who fans can now examine his time travel theories and experiences during a new Glasgow University course.
The short course entitled Dr Who and Philosophy: Time Travel And the Nature of Reality will see tutors examine if time travel is possible, and if it is, what it tells us about the nature of reality.
Students who attend on Monday June 5 or Saturday July 1 are promised a tour of philosophy's deep mystical questions using characters and episodes from the series during the course which will take place in June and July this year.
The uni which has previously offered a Game of Thrones Philosophy course as well as one inspired by The Simpsons says the £30 course is already proving a hit with Doctor Who fans who want to explore the possibilities of having a tardis of their own.
Tutor Dr John Donaldson said: "This is a course offered by a part of the University Centre for Open Studies to give people a taster of the courses we offer. They are open to the general public."
Following the success of our Simpson's Introduction to Philosophy we looked at other figures in popular culture and Doctor Who has quite an obvious connection with Philosophy and Metaphysical questions of Time Travel.
There will be twenty five students in the class from 10am until 4pm and I'm still working on what clips from the show we will use, but there are two main issues in the philosophy of time; first the nature of time and what time is and the second issue is of time travel itself.
The nature of time brings up some big metaphysical and philosophical issues and there are different views we will examine from the Block Universe View which says the universe is an unchanging four dimensional block where time exists equally in the past present and future.
We will also look at the Growing Block view where only Past and Present exist, not the Future and and thirdly we will examine Presentism where the Past and the Future don't exist.
It is most obvious how time travel can occur if the Block Universe View is used but there are theories about the other models too, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.
"With regards to Doctor Who and his Tardis, travel into the future is in theory easier than into the past. Relativity theory says the faster you travel as a proportion of the speed of light the slower time goes for you relative to someone else, so time for them will go much faster than it will for you.
"Even today we can build a spaceship to travel ten to twenty percent to the speed of light and even when we got on a plane and off a plane we become a few milliseconds younger than when we got on.
Travelling into the past however, like the Doctor also does, is a lot harder because to travel into the past, if you accept what physics says, you need to build a wormhole and use it to travel back to the time when you first built it."
Dr Johnson is planning to illustrate his course with some episodes which see the Doctor Who travelling back and forth in his tardis.
For example, in one story called Father's Day the Doctor and his companion Rose travelled back into the past to save Rose's father from dying but the result was a paradox in which monsters known as Reapers destroyed almost all life on Earth until the time stream was set back on track.
Dr John Donaldson explained: " To the question, 'Can I visit myself?' You build a wormhole and wait while you travel back to meet yourself just after you built it. We run into serious issues with the grandfather paradox though because if time travel into the past is possible then it's possible to travel back into the past to kill your grandfather before your grandfather meets your grandmother, or even directly kill yourself. It means you'd never come into existence."
"Doctor Who approaches time travel differently from Back To The Future and we will examine the complex debates surrounding his method. We won't be looking so much at the technology but more about the issues surrounding it.
Dr Donaldson is unsure at the moment if the actual Doctor Who who is said to have studied at the university, will use his tardis to attend his particular course, but he laughed: "If anyone wants to wear a long scarf I'd be more than happy to have some Doctor Who's in thr audience. We all time travel to a point when we fly on a plane but I haven't had the opportunity to go inside a time machine. I would be severely tempted if I had the opportunity. I'm not sure if our physics department are working on that.


- Posted with love from Scotland by theShowbizLion.com

SCOTTISH LADY GAGA FANS WAIT FOR HOT DATE AS SHE ANNOUNCES 2017 TOUR




LADY Gaga has just announced the first dates of a world tour following her epic Super Bowl performance.
The brilliant star who is a favourite of TheShowbizlion.com since we met her years ago when she supported (yes supported!) The Pussycat Dolls in Glasgow, announced the Joanne tour just hours after her stellar show Stateside.
This is Lady Gaga’s first solo tour since her 2014 Monster Ball extravaganza, and is in conjunction with her fifth album Joanne.
It starts Off in Vancourver, Canada, on August 1 – before Gaga heads across the United States and into South America.
Gags will then play her first Europe date, in Barcelona, Spain on September 22 and also has scheduled in three UK dates so far.
She'll play the 02 London on Monday October 9 then the Birmingham Barclaycard Arena on Sunday October 15 and Manchester Arena on Tuesday October 17.
A Scottish date has not yet been announced but we know Gaga loves her Caledonian fans so we're sure it's only a matter of time...


The Super Bowl performance last night showed off the stars singing, dancing, piano playing, jumping and ball catching skills against a backdrop of illuminated drones and has already notched up millions of views online. Her set list consisted of the tracks below and we're sure she'll include these and more kn her next tour.
Presale Tickets are available this Thursday at 9am.

This Land Is Your Land
Just Dance (excerpt)
Edge Of Glory (excerpt)
Poker Face
Born This Way
Telephone
Just Dance
Million Reasons
Bad Romance



- Posted with love from Scotland by theShowbizLion.com