Posts Tagged ‘ culture ’

Brumcast – show 150

‘Little’ Chris Downing has brought the interwebs 149 podcasts full of “every conceivable music genre, from dubstep to thrash metal, from ska to folk. The only rule is that the music must come from the Midlands.” He’s now reached 150. You can listen live Monday’s at 8pm on Rhubarb Radio, listen again there straight after, or download for your keeping pleasure.

Danny Smith: Tag nuts

So I spoke to the Editor* about what to write about this week and he gave me this, probably to wind me up, which suggests that ten people are responsible for most of the graffiti in Brum. I knew my feelings on graff have been documented ad nauseum in other places. Also I find the weary ‘is it art?’ argument nonsensical and unhelpful and am at loathe to drag it out one more time. So, for once, I thought it would be good to give someone active in that world a chance to reply. The guy I spoke to didn’t want to be named so I haven’t. What do you think of the thought that there only ten people responsible for the graffiti in Birmingham? I doubt the council see it like this to be honest, I can imagine they have a wanted list a lot longer. But who knows. They will have probably whittled it down to their top ten targets who they have literally charted as the top ten. However what they don’t realise is that if your a “tagger” part of that concept is to get up. As many times as possible. More than anyone else....

wevee is a site that a tempts to do something with the vast amount of old film — and there’s a lot of stuff of the Midlands on there. The interface is very slick — you can trim the ends of the clip and place them together on a timeline (very much like simple video editors such as iMovie) and there’s some audio to use too. I was quite disappointed that you couldn’t use the audio from one clip with the pictures from another — meaning you can’t do cut-aways, and that does mean that you can either swap from speech to music (a bit jarring) or drop to silence (or have music over everything). I was enjoying cutting the “modern city” stuff with shots of riots and demolition, and wanted to mix it up that little bit more than the site would let me. At the moment it’s difficult to see how just uploading the archive films to YouTube wouldn’t achieve wider exposure — the editing isn’t really enough, however well the interface is designed, to drag people in. Maybe people sharing stuff might help — but apart from encouraging a little bit of creativity alongside the viewing,...

Books are easy to wrap up as Christmas presents, you know

I’ve read a couple of brilliant Brum-related books recently, and I thought I’d suggest that you should enjoy them too… The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson is a great book about Joseph Priestley — inventor of carbonated water (and hence fizzy pop), discoverer of oxygen and the first man in Birmingham to have what I fancy as a job (local luminaries paid him to muck about — erm, experiment — in return for hearing the results). His time in Birmingham — yes another Lunar Society member — was quite short, and ended in his house being burnt to the ground by religious zealots, but it was a time that epitomised the open collaboration between peers and the ground-breaking ideas that he had been striving for where ever he lived. The book is to a certain extent focused on his influence on the American founding fathers, Franklin and Adams, but it’s a read that doesn’t shy away from making parallels with the modern day — would that our scientists and engineers were equally at home talking politics and religion. If it whets an appetite for lunaticks try Lunar Men: The Friends Who Made the Future by Jenny Uglow which while...

Birmingham Eye — Download our commentary

No commentary on the Birmingham Wheel this year? None when myself and Danny Smith went on — so we recorded our own. Listen here, or download to your mp3 player and listen when you’re going round on the ferris wheel yourself: Birmingham Eye Commentary by bins

The 4am Project would like to invite you to a very special 4am photography event in Birmingham. This event is going to be held at the Bodies Revealed Exhibition at the Custard Factory, and there are 100 FREE tickets for this event! Please visit EventBrite to register for your free ticket(s). “BODIES REVEALED the incredible exhibition about the amazing and complex machine we call the human body. Using real human specimens, painstakingly prepared and respectfully displayed, BODIES REVEALED lets visitors of all ages explore deep within the human body.” What is the 4am Project? The 4am Project, a worldwide community experience, aims to capture a time of day that many people rarely see. Brainchild of UK photographer Karen Strunks, and building on the ever growing phenomenon of social media, the 4am Project is an exercise in global solidarity to encourage the sharing of visual imagery that reflects the world we live in. Utilising Flickr, the web space for sharing images, photographers around the world will be leaving the cosy confines of their beds to create a shared online gallery that illustrates the strange and wonderful life that goes on while we sleep. How to take part: You can get...

A blank canvas

When the ‘City of Culture bid’ was announced, Minister of Fun Martin Mullaney had a list of cultural high spots (it was mostly engineering) and we did too including “Crossroads the Opera” and “Stan’s Cafe’s 24 hour recreation of Take Me High”. But what of your ideas? The Council are asking via website run by Fierce — Canvas Birmingham.

Roll up! Roll up! Get your hot German sausages here! The Frankfurt Christmas Market has arrived in town! Not only can you snack on a tasty sausage, but there are other deliciously delectable treats to be had; German bread and cakes and sweets, more hot food in the form of pretzels, fried potatoes with garlic, schnitzels, all best accompanied by German beer and heart warming mulled wine. If you are looking for gifts, then you will be spoilt for choice for something a little bit different in the craft fair and if you are feeling a bit adventurous have a twhirl on the traditional wood carousel or slide down the helter skelter! And not forgetting, there are tons of great photo opportunities there and it’s especially beautiful in the evening with all the coloured lights…… Have a great weekend! See you next Friday :)

American cartoonist and underground comix artist Gilbert Shelton is going to be in Brum on Friday November 13th at Nostalgia & Comics. He’s the bloke who did The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (which is being made into a stop motion film), and the spin off series Fat Freddy’s Cat. He has also contributed to Wonder Wart-Hog, Not Quite Dead, and is also well known in some circles for his cover art to The Grateful Dead’s 1978 album Shakedown Street. Knockabout Comics have just published The Fat Freddy’s Cat Omnibus and they also have The Freak Brothers Omnibus available., and Nostalgia & Comics is welcoming Gilbert to sign both books between 4.00 & 5.30. It’s at 14 –16 Smallbrook Queensway, Birmingham, B5 4EN. For further details: 0121 643 0143 or noscomic@noscomic.plus.com

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Posts Tagged ‘ culture ’

Brumcast – show 150

Danny Smith: Tag nuts

Zoom cut to the past

Books are easy to wrap up as Christmas presents, you know

Birmingham Eye — Download our commentary

Friday Photo by Karen Strunks

A blank canvas

Friday Photo by Karen Strunks

Fat Freddy’s Bloke

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Is Brum Happy?

Birmingham's emotional wellbeing* on Thursday 17th of May 2012 09:39: 55 % (average)