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rainy sunday, spinningfields

 Take a look at my travels around a damp, crafty and tasty Spinningfields… Hive of activity at the 2009 Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair – landing in Spinningfields for the first time this year. Lots of talented folks displaying their wares. Rather over facing Mushroom Burger at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Feta, aged cheddar, pesto, rocket, mayo and relish – not to mention the side order of chips and garlic mayo = stuffed!!! Meet in Spinningfields 3 Hardman Street The Avenue opening 2010 – Manchester’s luxury shopping district. Better start saving now or locking up the credit cards.

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darwin ink.

 Okay I admit it I have always been too much of a wuss to get a tatt. Despite this I do have a strange fascination with this form of body art so I had to fill you in about this latest project from Ultimate Holding Company. UHC’s exinked is celebrating Darwin’s 200th birthday in unique fashion by encouraging 100 volunteers to get inked with the image of one of the UK’s most endangered species. The public (those with a higher pain threshold than moi) can pick from 100 illustrations, then have it etched onto themselves for all time by a professional tattoo artist from Ink Vs Steel. How does a…

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creepy & kooky, mysterious & spooky, all together ooky

 Stop hiding behind that cushion and be prepared to be scared as Manchester’s first horror festival comes to the Printworks. Grimm Up North! will be terrifying the good people of Manchester from the 30th of October – 1st of November 2009 with a range of films and parties. To get your blood curdling the festival will be holding no less than 15 film premieres – including the world premiere of The Reeds. Films will be inter-spliced with Q&A sessions with leading directors, actors and producers. They’ll also be something for the gamers too with exclusive playable demos of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles in the gaming room. And if you need…

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we’re oxjammin’

 Looking for a warm fuzzy feeling inside from support a worthy cause and the opportunity to throw some shapes to the ‘funky’ music? Oxjam Manchester is made for you. Oxjam is a series of music related events that will be taking place across the country this month, with the aim of raising lots of wonga for Oxfam. Leading the way in this mission is Manchester… with their main event the Oxjam Manchester Takeover (Saturday 25th October 1-11pm) – a small but perfectly formed festival in and around 8 venues across the Northern Quarter. The Takeover will include Manchester legend Peter Hook and a raft of other uber cool bands and…

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taking a belle vue

 Needing a caffeine pick-me-up last week I hot-footed to Northern Quarter fave An Outlet – who are now selling rather tasty looking chocolaty treats… there goes the healthy eating campaign again! Anyway as well as picking up my latte I had the pleasure of coming across Belle Vue. For those of you that remember the days before blogs or even the interweb there was the humble creation known as the fanzine. In this digital age Belle Vue is lovingly embracing this medium once again. And the Belle Vue Fanzine extolls the virtues of… you guessed it Manchester. Issue 1 hit in late 2008 and now it’s back covering a range of…

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love in the city, love for the city

 I don’t know about you but I *heart* Mcr! It is this and the love of social media that has inspired Manchester based writer Tom Mason to create November in Manchester. SEO copywriter by day, budding novelist by night Tom has launched November in Manchester describing it as a ‘social media novel’. The project, which will run across dedicated blogs, Twitter accounts and the like encourages folks across Manchester to shape the direction of a tale of romance based in the city. Anyone and everyone are being encouraged to submit piccies and video of their favourite locations across Manchester. The collected media will be then used to complement the story;…

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into the night

 This week’s Camera Mancura is brought to you care of Salford based photographer Jon Shackleton (@tdmphotography). On Sunday the 11th of October Jon is launching his first exhibition which will showcase his ‘light photography’ at Manchester’s Font Bar (land of the curly fries). The shots have been taken at unusual locations across Europe and Jon’s distinctive technique involves sloooooow shutter speeds and lighting up the backgrounds with coloured acetates, flash guns, torches and other light sources. The results are atmospheric and terrifically technicoloured. ‘Into The Night’ runs until the 31st December 2009. All are welcome to preview night this coming Sunday (6 – 9pm) where they’ll be some extra treats in…

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thrills ‘n’ spills and belly laughs

 Today I am mostly looking forward to nipping down Salford Quays cultural heart, The Lowry, next week. I am off to see ex Never Mind the Buzzcocks funny man Simon Amstell perform there as part of his Do Nothing tour. He’s not the only one tickling Mancunian funny bones at this glorious venue in the next few months. Here’s who else is out to make them laugh; Russell Kane – Sunday 25th October Adam Hills – Sunday 1st November Reginald D Hunter – Wednesday 4th November Alistair McGowan – Sunday 8th November Pam Ann – Sunday 15th and Monday 16th November Stewart Lee – Sunday 29th November Marcus Brigstocke –…

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here’s one i made earlier

 Did you enjoy a bit of Blue Peter cut and stick when you were a kid? Forging cereal packets into the classic Tracy Island? If so why not get back in touch with your crafty side at the Ministry of Craft. No Pete Tong hasn’t taken up decoupage.. the Ministry of Craft is a Manchester based group offering a range of courses in the arts of knitting, crochet, digital photography and much more. Courses take place in Chorlton and in central Manchester in conjunction with the  the Northern Quarter’s home of arty goodness Fred Aldous – where disciples of the Ministry of Craft can receive 10% discount in store. So…

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manchester blogoscars

 I am still rather aghast that these ramblings of mine have made it into the shortlist of the 2009 Manchester Blog Awards – Best City & Neighborhood blog. As something that started out, not that many months ago, as an outlet for my mildly creative urges it is an honour to be in this recognised in this fashion. So a BIG thank you is due to whomever nominated rainycitytales and those folks that drop by this plot of cyberspace from time to time. It is also a privilege to be in the same category company as this talented bunch; The Manchester Zedders – Mapping Manchesterford A to Z style Levenshulme…

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