Robert Vaughn to live in the Rotunda? The Man from B.R.U.M.C.L.E

Something to do with Hustle supposedly coming to Brum to film, he said: "my wife said 'you've got to find out where I'm going to live!' So tonight after the signings I'm going down to the Rotunda in the Bullring, which is apparently the best place for apartment-type living." [link]


Virtual Brum

A good bit of work from Matt Murtagh with Google Street View:


StreetViewBrum from Matt Murtagh on Vimeo.

I’ve also found something funny.


Join the 4am photo walk in city this Saturday!

UPDATE: I have got another photo permission from Birmingham Wholesale Markets! It will certainly be one of the busiest, if not the busiest, areas of the city centre at 4am. It’s a hive of activity with tons of photo opportunities!
 
So, here is the plan.
 
4am meet at the bronze bull, walk to New Street station, then head to the Wholesale Market. After 5am we can all go for a well deserved breakfast and a nice cup of tea!
 
 
B4AM - Resevoir Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham

Resevoir Road, Egbaston at 4am by Karen Strunks

As part of the 4am Project I’m organising a 4am photo walk through Birmingham city centre on Sat 4th April at……4am!
 
It’s a great opportunity to take a unique tour of the city at an often unseen time. Part of the tour will include Birmingham New Street station who have kindly given their permission for the ‘4am-ers’ to take pictures.
 
The meeting point is the big brass bull outside the Bullring shopping centre at 4am. Please be on time, and don’t forget your camera!
 
We shall be joined by Birmingham: It’s Not Shit host Mr Jon Bounds who will be interviewing willing participants for his and Julia Gilbert’s radio show, The Big Paws, on Rhubarb Radio which will be broadcast later that morning!
 
Hope to see you there!
 
If you have any queries you can tweet me @karenstrunks or @4amproject
 
Or drop me an email: karenstrunks (@) hotmail.co.uk
 
:)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

That's £4,400 please… for a Masters degree in Facebook

Predictable outrage from the papers about Birmingham City University's new MA in Social Media, BCU is at the forefront of working with and in online media and it would be remiss if they were not studying this stuff in depth. [link]


The Big Paws Listen Again 28/03/09

Tear yourself away from your Bangkok fireman and listen to this week’s Big Paws (it’s sorta like Radio BiNS):

Listen to The Big Paws on Rhubarb Radio


Moseley Folk Line-Up

Includes Jethro Tull, St Etienne, Beth Orton, Bert Jansch and Adrian Edmonson(!)… [link]


Aston Manor Road Transport Museum facing eviction

The museum housing Birmingham’s historic collection of bygone buses and trams has been cast in to doubt after city leaders axed funding. [link]


Birmingham Circus features animals

Holloway Circus that is, where two escaped pet rabbits are living. [link]


You Can Plan Lozells, but not without effort

From the comprehensive Life in Lozells blog I’ve just found out about a housing consultation — with some exciting computery features. First up, there’s a website —vision-lozells.org

Vision Lozells - Welcome to the Vision Lozells website
Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

… which does very little but point you to the exciting You Can Plan Lozells “computer programme” (sic) – “a bespoke 3D virtual environment which allows you to view the proposals interactively in 3D. This software has a number of special innovation (sic) created for the Vision Lozells project “.

Now, I believe far more can be achieved by letting people talk to each other (a la the Big City Talk project) rather that flashy gizmos that people need to learn, but still — Virtual Lozells, that’s going to be exciting, and at least they’re trying something different. But,  it’ll be PC only I think, as a mac user I’ll not be able plan Lozells — wait, there’s a mac version (yay!).

So I dowload, install, agreed to the bizarre Terms and Conditions (no screenshots, not sharing etc.) watched as I trusted Birmingham City Council to install something on my computer, launched and:

YouCanPlan Lozells

Oh. No contact details on the website, nor any readme.txt file with the installer. I’ve found a contact on the last page of a PDF on the site, I’ll let you know how my planning of Lozells goes.


Friday Photo By Karen Strunks

Alpha Tower by Karen Strunks

Alpha Tower by Karen Strunks

I’ve never set foot in Alpha Tower. Never taken the lift to the top floor to see the views. In fact, I’ve barely acknowledged it’s existence on the city’s skyline. However, it could prove a good viewing point over the city with the benefit of not being able see Alpha Tower itself!

Sorry, that’s a bit harsh. It’s just that it look like such officious and unwelcoming building and doesn’t do anything to tempt one inside – whether you have any business in there or not. It doesn’t arouse any curiosity. I guess it’s just a bit outdated looking especially since there are new tower blocks on the….erm, block.

Oh great. Now I’m feeling sorry for it.

Here are a few facts about Alpha Tower from Sky Scraper News:

  • Alpha Tower was constructed as part of the ATV Studios being constructed in Birmingham City Centre in 1965.
  • It was completed in 1970 and has been the cities tallest tower block for the last 35 years.
  • Alpha tower lost it’s title of the Tallest tower block in Birmingham when the 130m Holloway Circus Tower was completed mid 2005

Have a great weekend! Until next Friday…


  1. Birmingham: It's Not Shit loves Birmingham, its people, arts, animals, buildings, parks, grass verges, factories and bus stops. We've even got a soft spot for the Black Country.

    B:iNS runs The Brummie of the Year Award, Talk Like a Brummie Day and organises odd stuff like spending all day on the eleven bus.

    BiNS is mostly by Jon Bounds, a Birmingham based social web consultant, producer and writer. You can hire him to work on your stuff, or follow him on twitter. There's also stuff from Danny Smith and Karen Strunks.

    Feel free to send us anything you're interested in - or think we might be.
    If you've got gigs to promote, best to chuck them on the talk board.
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