Manchester International Festival: Day 3
- 30 Jun 07, 10:16 AM
I opened the front door this morning at exactly the same time as the woman next door. For a few seconds we both surveyed the day around us. “Miserable again”, she said. “Well I’ve not been up long,” I replied. But I’m sure my spirits will be lifted as day three of the Manchester International Festival turns its attention to food as Manchester Dines.
For three hours this afternoon I’ll be on-air stuffing my face with some of Manchester’s finest food, and not a Tesco in sight.
I once tried to eat my way around the world without ever leaving Manchester. I think I managed about twenty-five different countries before I had to break off for lunch in the BBC canteen. I got a real flavour of the diversity of food available daily. But the great thing about today is that I don’t have to drag my belly round town as all the food will be in one place, just outside the Festival Pavilion.
Meanwhile inside the Pavilion one of those famous chefs will be serving up his Chilled Summer Treats (just the weather for it). I was taught at catering college not to mess with food and I’m sure Heston Blumenthal would batter me over the head with a number one ladle if I even suggested for one moment that he was ‘playing’. I think he has a more scientific approach to his work. But is it any good? Or is it a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes (or Chef’s New Big Hat perhaps), with no one daring to say it tastes like that grey stuff they used to put gravy on in school and called ‘lunch’.
All this talk of food (apart from the school reference) has given me an appetite so I best get myself ‘in the zone’ as they say. With a bit of luck Greggs over the road won’t have sold out of sausage rolls just yet.
Other blogs
Stephen Newton has been blogging from his phone in the Festival Pavilion.
Manchester International Festival: Day 2
- 29 Jun 07, 12:03 PM
I feel like a goldfish in one of those bowls that they tell you not to put them is as they can’t get enough air. I’m still gasping. Last night was probably, no defiantly, the best night I’ve ever had in Manchester.
I managed to blag my way behind the press barrier at The Palace Theatre with other members of the Paparazzi in order to get some fairly decent snaps of celebrities with the camera I invested my daughter’s university savings on so that I could bore the pants off people who come to visit – “this one is the back of Dennis Hopper’s head”, “that guy there was someone who looked really important but turned out to be a passing Big Issue seller”, that kind of thing.
To be honest I was expecting elbows in the face from the other photographers, but what a nice bunch of guys they were, most of the time. I suppose if you spend most of your life stood outside fish and chip shops in the pouring rain waiting to see that guy with the hair from Big Brother 2, you need some kind of professional camaraderie to keep the spirits up.
Of course all that goes out of the window when Dennis Hopper does turn up and you find yourself been thrust into his face by some guy with a lens longer that anything those dodgy e-mails can promise you. It just turned into a free-for-all. Cameras everywhere and me trying to ask politely if that was the guy from that film with a motorbike. Suddenly it was over. He was inside and the camaraderie returned as the woman next to me showed off her cracking picture she managed to get with her mobile phone.
I put my camera away and made my way to the other side of the barrier so that I could take my seat for the show. On the way past the photographers I put my hand up to avoid the flashing lights. I needn’t have bothered.
The show, Monkey: Journey To The West was amazing though and then at the after-show party I got to meet Alan Rickman, but those stories are for the nights when my friends don’t want to look at my photos.
Please let us know if you're blogging about the Festival and we'll give you a link.
Manchester International Festival – Day One
- 28 Jun 07, 09:25 AM
I’ve been asked to be the eyes and ears of the Manchester International Festival for BBC Radio Manchester.
I can’t remember when I was so excited about a Festival, but there is one heck of buzz around the place as the red carpet gets its final beating over a gigantic washing line across Oxford Road (metaphorically speaking of course).
So here we are on day one, and I was up at the crack of dawn, which may turn out to be a mistake as I’m not due on the radio until 10pm. But before that there’s the opening party (with buffet) to attend and then the small matter of the world premier of Monkey at The Palace Theatre.
And if that isn’t enough excitement to cope with for one day, I’m told that none other than Alan Rickman (Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films and that cold-blooded terrorist in Die Hard) will be joining me and Phil Wood on BBC Radio Manchester from 10pm.
I’ll be keeping an eye on what the bloggers think of the Festival. Let us know if you’re going to any of the events as we’d love to link out to you.
Alan Rickman
Due to popular demand I'm pleased to report that the Alan Rickman interviews are now available for all to hear. Just click this link and see how Alan became a BBC microphone stand for the night.
No children were harmed in the creation of this page.
Rain, Sweat, Days Out in Liverpool, Linking and France - It Must Be Summer
- 25 Jun 07, 01:16 PM
The past days have brought many reminders that summer is now well and truly upon us: the summer solstice, the mud scenes from Glastonbury, the rain delayed start of Wimbledon... oh, and did we forget to mention the rain?
You might think that going on holiday might bring some respite from it. But The Airport Diaries reminds us that travel isn't always as pleasant as it sounds by describing the scenes at Manchester Airport:
"The sweat of a thousand strangers hovers in the air, your own stink mixed in. Sweat pools under your belt, under your arms and under your hair... The more water you take on, the more you sweat. The air is foul and thick with moisture; the walls drip, expanding and pulsing with the density of summer."
Yuck.
IckleWeb, unfazed by the weather nor, apparently, by fears of airport induced sweating, headed to Speke Aerodrome in south Liverpool. Outside he photographed an old DeHavilland DH89 Dragon Rapide.
Speaking of Liverpool, The Marple Leaf says that "The ongoing debate about Liverpool v Manchester takes an intellectual leap forward" with an expertly distilled selection of quotes from a lengthy NewStatesman feature. See, reading blogs can save you the time it would have taken to read entire articles. Which would seem a good idea if it weren't for that rain...
The last time we heard from A Free Man in Preston he wasn't in Preston at all, but was traveling around America tasting wine in Napa Valley (24 May 2007) and later hiring a bike in Yosemite National Park (25 May). Maybe I'm just overlooking something, but I can never figure out how to link directly to posts on AFMIP.
Craig McGinty, who often blogs useful tips on getting the most from your blog, points us towards a useful new feature of typepad - the ability to, with the change of a setting, include links allowing readers to easily add a post to del.icio.us or Digg [what?]. He explains:
"Basically it means site visitors can spread your work across the internet with just a click placing it in front of other people who will already be following the subject you cover, but who may have never crossed your site.
It all comes down to the power of the link and the fact that your article never moves from its spot on the internet, which means people can easily access it from wherever it is featured elsewhere."
Another one of Craig's blogs, This French Life, is also packed full of useful tips - in this instance, about relocating to France which, considering the summer we've had so far is beginning to sound like a pretty good idea...
Monday morning rain
- 25 Jun 07, 09:10 AM
Google has about 165,000,000 entries for rain, equivalent to the number of gallons of the stuff that’s soaked into my trousers. Some guy on the radio this morning said we were in the middle of a European monsoon (but I can’t find a reference to it on the internet, so you’ll have to take my word for it.) Anyway, in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s raining. So will folk blog about it or is it old news in Manchester? I’ll keep my eye open.
In the meantime, Broken Down Angel has made me chuckle all weekend with a story she’s got on her blog about a guy in America who sued his insurance company because they refused to pay out on his claim for burnt cigars. It’s hilarious and a real pick-you-up on a wet Monday morning.
I need to dry off now.
Free food
- 21 Jun 07, 11:00 AM
I must admit that when I heard they were giving away free Takeaways in Manchester, I started to plan what to do with all my spare dinner money.
But it’s a good job I didn’t splash out on that bright orange T-shirt I’d spotted in Primark as thanks to IckleWEB I discovered that the free Takeaway is in fact a garden and as such not edible (unless you’re one of the many slugs victimising me with their little smug slug faces as they chomp away on that plant that cost me a small fortune).
Initially I don’t think he was impressed with what he got in his little box, but having spent the night mulling it over it seems that IckleWEB is now well on the way to be a tree hugger.
Bernard Manning
- 19 Jun 07, 12:03 PM
I expected a flood of postings about Bernard Manning, but unless my eyes are as bad as the optician would like me to think, I can only find one reference.
"I have never laughed as hard as I did when I saw Bernard Manning perform," says The Marple Leaf, "He dared you to laugh at him."
But will we see the likes of him again? Perhaps not, but The Marple Leaf makes this interesting observation, "Peter Kay is but a cleaned up version with tamer references to his Nana".
This stop please driver.
- 18 Jun 07, 01:49 PM
I still cry into my beer when I remember that the 43 Blog is no more. And there’s nothing I hate more than watery beer with a hint of salt, well that and the theme tune to Countdown.
But wait, what’s this? Move aside 43 because here comes The 53 Bus complete with it’s own song and a bit of fashion advice thrown in for good luck, or taste, or not.
Sadly The 53 Bus is just one posting on Crinklybee, but one lives in hope of there being a series of 53 related content.
Manchester Bloggers Facebook Group
- 11 Jun 07, 09:53 AM
Each day, around 100,000 people join facebook, a social networking site that allows you to keep track of and communicate with friends and colleagues. Or, at least, that's how I would have described it a few months ago, before facebook started to allow [NY Times Registration Req'd] users to do all sorts of customisations to their profiles, like pulling in RSS feeds from blogs and integrating services like twitter.
Facebook was started by a student at Harvard University as a way to help new students meet one another. He then rolled it out across the American university system and, then, opened it up outside of academia. What once was just for students is now, some of those students complain, being taken over by their parents.
Social networking services like linked in myspace, facebook, twitter and others aren't for everyone but I often find them a useful way to keep in touch with friends and contacts. If you're on facebook, or fancy giving it a go, why not join the Manchester Bloggers Facebook Group that we just started. You never know, someone might poke you if you do.
(PS. Don't forget to think about your own personal safety when posting personal information online. See the BBC's Chat Guidefor more information.)
Burnt To The Ground
- 5 Jun 07, 09:15 AM
The musical highlight of the year so far has got to be Arthur Brown's appearance at Burnt To The Ground on Sunday. So where was Manchizzle when the inimitable Mr Brown set his helmet on fire? Stuffing her face full of Dim Sum. I mean, really.
Despite that Manchizzle has posted a fine report and links to laptoppingpong and Spinneyhead who captured the event on their Flickr pages.
Women!
- 4 Jun 07, 11:42 AM
What did you do on Saturday? I was out discovering the amazing Wythenshawe Hall in Wythenshawe Park in Wythenshawe of all places. Beautiful surroundings and glorious weather - not the kind of day you'd want to be dressed up in full Tudor dress, poor Ali.
Clive at Kitchentable spent part of his Saturday at the Race For Life in Manchester. Not running, but supporting and finding time to ponder on how the sexes differ:
"Women get on, don't they. They can chat to other women whom they don't know, really easily. Men can't. Men are rubbish like that. It was great that it was an all women event; that union, that support was obvious." Read the full posting.
Well done to Amazed.
So have you blogged about your Saturday?
So been there
- 1 Jun 07, 08:41 AM
I can totally sympathise with poor old (perhaps not so old, you have to be so careful) Weenie Blog who has undergone some serious root canal work in her mouth (like it can be done somewhere else). I once endured two one-hour sessions on my tooth only for it to turn out to be the tooth next to it that had caused all the trouble. Still, I didn't have to stump up the £200 Wennie Blog had to, which in itself must have felt like a kick in the teeth.
A blog post about a blog post about a blog post
Mancubist posts about the Dale Street fire benefit event taking place this weekend. He was reminded of the event by Manchizzle and Mancubist has quoted Manchizzle's comments about the event called Burnt To The Ground. So you can read the original post on Manchizzle or the subsequent post on Mancubist or just re-read this posting.
All this cross-promoting of Blogs can get a little confusing as to who's posted what and when - but it is fun!
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