aberdeen round up november 12 simple minds and japanese art Good morning Aberdeen, it's an exciting day with lots of good news in store. Simple Minds Competition is Alive and Kicking It is expected that more than 20 bands will slug it out for the opportunity to support Simple Minds when the band play in Stonehaven on Hogmanay. Such has been the demand that the venue for the "Battle of the Bands" has been switched to the Blue Lamp in Aberdeen on Sunday, November 24, starting at 3.30pm. We talk to the organisers about this very unique event. Turning Japanese in Aberdeen It is a country full of colour, bustling with life but Aberdeen artist Carl Randall wanted to do something different when he decided to capture Japan in his own unique way. Now as his greyscale artwork hangs in Aberdeen Art Gallery as part of the 2013 BP Portrait Award exhibition, Caril talks to STV aboput his journey. I think it's one of the reasons why I use grey; this scene in life is quite colourful it's quite busy, actually quite noisy. But by painting it in grey, it transforms it into something quite quiet and quite solitary," he says. The piece is just one in a series of works entitled "In the footsteps of Hiroshige: Portraits of Modern Japan', which was awarded the BP Travel Award in 2012 following a pitch to paint contemporary Japanese life. Students head off on American dream A group of University of Aberdeen students will fly the flag for the UK this week when they compete in an international event hosted by Ivy League University, Cornell. The Scottish university is the only British university taking part in the fifth annual Cornell International Real Estate Case competition. The competition will see each team be given an actual real estate transaction and then be given time to analyse the case and make an investment recommendation.