Hello, I am Phil Miller, The Herald's arts correspondent, and I will be trying to blog regularly from my time spent at the various festivals in Edinburgh this August.


... but is it art?
You think you have seen everything, and then you are proved wrong: the climax to the Underbelly's revue last night involved one of the "stars" of the Jim Rose Circus covering a canvass in blue paint, using an unusual part of her anatomy. Its fair to to say half the audience was disgusted, the other half shocked and disbelieving. Jim Rose says he has not been back to Edinburgh for 10 years because he was waiting for a show edgy enough to blow everyone's minds. And turn their stomachs, too, I suppose.

Mills looks to the future
I had an interesting chat with Jonathan Mills, the director of the Edinburgh International Festival - more of which you can read in today's news pages. One little detail he added as we parted was that his initial guestimate on how long he would stay in his position at the festival has changed. Initially, when he took over from Sir Brian McMaster (who ruled for 15 years) was around five years. But the lure of the city has obviously got to him - he now says he is looking at eight years.
And what is he working on right now, now that EIF 2008 is only a week away from opening? EIF 2010: he says its programme is all virtually booked. Scary.

Phil Miller