Events

  • Writer, film-maker and leading thinker, Paul Mason, is coming to Manchester on 30 April 2019, to discuss his latest book, Clear Bright Future: A Radical Defence of the Human Being, with BBC 6 Music’s, Stuart Maconie. On the eve of publication, Penguin Live, will play host, at The Dancehouse, Manchester, to what promises to be a…

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  • ‘Twas a Monday in October when a woman who was still recovering from her (cough)th birthday party two nights before, did approach a table laden with 30 wines. 30. What craziness is this? I hear you cry. Get this woman an intervention. Or Graham from Jeremy Kyle. Or…just something. But you see it was ok.…

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  • Head HOME for Christmas

    It’s the most wonderful time of the year and so on and so forth. In fact, let us not mess around. Let’s just go straight to Chris Rea. Ish. Because this year, Mancs, Honorary Mancs, Visitors to Manc… I’m going HOME this Christmas… Why, you ask? Well I can’t wait to see those faces. Whose, you…

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  • ‘Mandy’ at HOME Mcr

    Earlier in the week I told you about the brilliant FilmFear season at HOME Mcr until 31 October 2018. Review on Mandy now in on sister blog What the Projectionist Saw and all I will say is two words: Nicolas Cage…. https://whattheprojectionistsaw.wordpress.com/2018/10/28/mandy-how-happy-you-made-me/ Next showing at HOME on Monday 5 November and Friday 9 November.

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  • The third annual horror fest, FilmFear, returns to Manchester’s HOME this week – in association with Film4. From 26 – 31 October, residents, visitors and all round horror fanatics from Manchester can enjoy 6 days of cult films, extreme cinema and an all round fright fest on the big screen. With a mix of new…

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  • It was back to school for me this week. I wish I was young enough for that to be true in the traditional sense but for every realisation that you’re not getting any younger, there is a silver lining. To be over the age of 18 is to have your name on a more important…

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  • I haven’t been to the circus since 1985. Well that was true until a couple of weeks ago. Circuses (circii?) are like buses etc etc. People with a passion for reading about circus-based shows showing in Manchester in August by a local blogger, will be familiar with the anecdote told in my post Theatre review:…

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  • I last went to the circus in Great Yarmouth circa 1985. Obviously this was a remarkable feat considering I hadn’t yet been born. Ok, I’d been born a bit and enough to remember the thrills, spills, gasps and heart-stopping happenings that went on – and that was before we’d set foot in the ‘big-top’. My…

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  • Penguin Pride is winging its way to Manchester next week, with a wonderful line-up of LGBTQ+ writers, poets and performers to celebrate the city’s incredible diversity. Taking place at Z-Arts on Thursday 23 August, poet and playwright Toby Campion hosts this special event which will showcase some of the UK’s most exciting queer talent. Presented in partnership…

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  • I read an article once which gave a rundown – nay, a gallery, of last meal choices from death row. It was brilliant. It was food porn. It was deeply inappropriate to enjoy the article. And this is my confession, I do often think about what gastronomic decision I’d make on death row. I’m not planning…

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  • There is a lot being done to raise awareness of male mental health at the time of writing, which is both joyous and tragic. Joyous that those afflicted or potentially afflicted are being offered support, reassurance, an outlet, and above all else, a message that they are not alone. Tragic that the above is all…

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  • Billed as Sting’s personal, political and passionate musical, this was a ship that I wasn’t prepare to let sail by without an inquisitive look. On a tour of UK and Ireland, The Last Ship sailed into the Quays last night, making its debut at The Lowry theatre. I have already used two puns both based…

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  • I eat, you eat, he eats, she eats, we eat, they eat, Manchester Eats! And how. Manchester foodies lend me your ears! And your tastebuds. There is a brand new Food Festival in town – hold onto your hats, we all have a whole new reason to eat… to be..to love Manchester. Manchester Eats festival hits Heaton Park, on…

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  • A (by no means exhaustive) list of popular films and programmes that traumatised me as a child: Dumbo E.T.* Born Free Dot and the Kangaroo Watership Down They all have one thing in common – creatures and animals in challenging and sad situations. *Ok, technically E.T. was an alien but he’s pretty much in that category. The…

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  • I have two things in common with performance artist, David Hoyle; we’re now both Manchester based and we both grew up and spent our formative years on the Fylde Coast – he in Layton, me in Thornton-Cleveleys, both a pebble’s throw away from Blackpool. Oh a third – we were both in Theatre 2 at Manchester’s…

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  • My late father was a musician and, at 16, the youngest at that time to be accepted into the Royal College of Music in London. We were blessed with many stories and anecdotes from my Dad’s life as a professional musician, over the years, but I remember two life tips he gave me in particular:…

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  • Whenever I go for tapas I’m reminded of a probably not that amusing exchange I overheard about 12 years ago in the Living Room, Deansgate. Two, I’m sure lovely, gentlemen were discussing life and loves (although talking about one lady they met on holiday the word ‘love’ may or may not have been used: Salt…

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  • I like to think of myself as a touch bohemian. I’ve been to Matt and Phred’s more than 10 times, I’ll have you know. And not only when the free pizza offer is on. To be fair, I’ve also gone international with my fondness for jazz and its clubs, for example paying a visit to New…

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  • Walking into HOME theatre on Thursday night, my plus 1 and I discussed the subject matter of the production we were about to see; that of the Falklands War. Both of a similar age (he 15 months older – devil is in the detail), we both agreed that the Falklands was one of the first…

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  • Coming home from The Lowry theatre last night, my designated plus 1 in theatre and basically life, told me the story of the snail and the ginger beer. It’s a little like the owl and the pussycat. Well actually nothing like it. The snail and the ginger beer was the court case Donoghue v Stevenson, which…

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