Popular culture
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It was really really really really really really good! That’s 6 reallys from a 5 year old. And in a world with much competing for little ones’ attention, that’s no mean feat. Get ready to sing, dance, and celebrate with your favourite CBeebies stars – the ultimate CBeebies House Party Live! is coming to Lowry, Salford… and you’re…
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Diana, Princess of Wales, punctuates my memories on occasion. Sporadically, but meaningfully. Occasion 1 – one of my earliest memories is of a humble plastic flag. A Union Jack plastic little flag on a plastic white stick, provided to me in 1981 to fervently and obediently wave inside my childhood home. 2 and a few…
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Love me a short film. So I was happy to receive an invite to the premiere screening of new short, held at Salford University at MediaCity. Know what else I love? Connect 4. The 14-minute comedy-drama, set in the traditional social clubs of the North West of England, joins young Connect 4 star “Frank” as…
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I think if we were asked to write a list of our triggers, well apart from the very act being very triggering, I bet we wouldn’t automatically be able to put a comprehensive list together. The thing with triggers, is that we don’t always know what our personal ones are. Until they pop up and…
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There was a point where I was attending film preview screenings on the regular. On one occasion, Sony brought out the big guns and took our phones off us until after the screening had finished, lest we use them for nefarious reasons. Last night wasn’t quite that extreme, but we were asked to put our…
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Imagine me starting a blog post on a dark note. Well now you don’t have to. But when I lost my Dad, I had what was I’m sure a very common reaction to the life event and, indeed, my perspective on what we’re all doing here. What it’s all about and all that jazz. Part…
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There’s something exceptionally special about stepping into the artist’s studio. In 2023, the exhibition, ‘From Moss Side to Marseille: The Art of Michael Brown and Eric Cantona’ launched at the National Football Museum. Whilst paying a visit, I was enthralled to discover that artist Michael Browne was in residence throughout, creating a new piece as…
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Or Aviva Studios. But Factory International above all else. So I’m going to go in on this straight off, as I tried it out, once. Wizard of Oz and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. The gig is that there’s an incredible synchronicity in theme, tone, tempo and narrative if player out simultaneously. Completed…
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I hope Nathaniel Hall won’t mind me adding in those brackets. But it’s quite integral to my blog post, because you see I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Toxic before. It premiered at HOME in the October of 2023, and I went, I saw, I felt and I duly did write. But when I was…
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No shame, long-time lover of this classic piece here. That had potential for issues. I’m so in love with it, can I possibly see anyone else in the roles? Will it bring with it, an interpretation that I’m blind to the benefits of because I love the televised Play for Today 1977 version so terribly…
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If something comes to under the banner of ‘winner of the Shelagh Delaney new writing award’, you know that it has to be something special. Rayla Clay (and the following day), written by Drayla Kasheen, and directed by Roni Ellis, is something special. I have to remind myself that this is new writing, which has…
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I start off by by damning the very brilliant Manchester Film Festival. Damn you very brilliant Manchester Film Festival ,for opening your 11th edition with a feature that was guaranteed to leave me a blubbering mess, but that I knew I’d have to bear witness to as I’m ‘doing it for the blog’. See also…
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Art is food for the soul. There are different ways you can feel connected to art, if you feel so inclined, of course. There’s no pre-requisite for how you’re supposed to react or indeed feel when you experience a piece of art. That’s if you feel anything at all. And there are levels of immersion,…
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This week has been rich. Rich in reminders of what keeps me living in Manchester, nearly 25 years after moving here. And it will be no surprise to regular readers (hi mum) that a mainstay of these reasons is the cultural offerings the city bestows. Over the last week, I’ve been lucky enough to experience…
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How do you say goodbye when words were never there?Arjun’s father never learnt to sign, and now that he’s gone, Arjun must find his own way to honour him. In a world where ancient traditions meet modern reality, Arjun embarks on a deeply personal and visually mesmerising quest to create a farewell ritual for his…
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It’s that time again, the popular PUSH festival has returned to HOME for a biennial celebration of North West creative talent. As HOME reliably (and accurately) tell us, over two weeks (our) stages, screens and spaces will be dedicated to showcasing fantastic works from around the region, as well as offering opportunities for creatives to…
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Let’s start on a positive before I get lambasted for the abhorrent festive oversight I’m about to confess to. Christmas films I have seen (not exhaustive or including, to my shame, those afternoon ones on Five where top exec who relocated to city returns home to twee town she grew up in, for Christmas, falls…
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The football pools. I was too young to partake at their peak but that doesn’t take away memories of the pools man knocking on the door every week and the parental mad dash to find the coupon, and random shouting out of numbers, each corresponding to a fixture that weekend…each a prediction of a score…
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It’s Wednesday afternoon, in Manchester. I’m fresh from the office, taking a late lunch to catch a matinee show described as a love letter to Birmingham, exploring Black masculinity through Beyoncé lyrics, techno raves and the deeply intimate relationship between a man and his barber. And I already know this particular lunch break is going…
honorary manc 