The famous Jodrell Bank telescope, located 15 miles north of Stoke-on-Trent on the Cheshire plain, is to be home to a major new three-day festival on 22nd-24th July 2016. Electronic music maestro Jean-Michel Jarre will headline the event’s music stage, along with Air, Underworld and Caribou — with Brian Eno doing projection-mapping onto the iconic […]
Archive for April, 2016
The Bluedot Festival
24 Apr 2016 at 14:56
David Haden
Entertainment, Stoke-on-Trent, Techie
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Shrewsbury, home of comics crafting
19 Apr 2016 at 11:56
David Haden
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A new BBC News article today on “Shrewsbury – the unofficial home of the British comics industry”. The large market town of Shrewsbury is on the western fringe of the English Midlands, with fairly good connections to the cities of Stoke and Birmingham, and is also home to The Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival. The Festival is […]
Eastercon 2017 in Birmingham
18 Apr 2016 at 14:32
David Haden
Birmingham, Entertainment, Reading
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Eastercon, the year’s major British convention for literary science fiction, is coming to the Birmingham NEC next year. 14th – 17th April 2017 at the Hilton Metropole, with Guest of Honour Pat Cadigan.
SkilledAfricans
15 Apr 2016 at 07:55
David Haden
Birmingham, Cool sites, Creative industries, Techie, Zeitgeist
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A Coventry man has started a very promising service for remote recruitment and networking of bona fide African talent… “SkilledAfricans, a pan-continental social network that boasts 750,000 members, aims to […] “increase knowledge, and prove knowledge,” says CEO and co-founder Dr. Nicolas Bussard. The website and app — which launches this week — are designed […]
Breakthrough Starshot
The $100m Breakthrough Starshot plans to send light-sail powered space probes to Alpha Centauri, at 20% the speed of light. This major private project was announced yesterday by an all-star panel, including Stephen Hawking, Freeman Dyson, Mark Zuckerberg and others. The final cost seems likely to be around $12bn. Cosmos magazine covers the technical details, […]
Arts funding and local government – new report
13 Apr 2016 at 11:49
David Haden
Arts cuts, Birmingham, Creative industries, Regeneration
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Just released, a new PDF report from the Arts Council and the New Local Government Network. It covers topics such as: the dip in funding that comes via local councils (a 19% cut in the West Midlands, since 2010); the ongoing pressure on small museums; the move toward trusts, home-brewed fundraising and commercial ventures; and […]
Penda’s Fen on DVD
At last… Penda’s Fen (1974) on DVD, albeit in an expensive boxed set.
Pet Shop Boys – Super
Super, there’s a new album from The Pet Shop Boys. Just released, and Super. Yes, the title is just… Super. 1. Happiness. 2. The Pop Kids. 3. Twenty-something. 4. Groovy. 5. The Dictator Decides. 6. Pazzo! 7. Inner Sanctum. 8. Undertow. 9. Sad Robot World. 10. Say It To Me. 11. Burn. 12. Into Thin […]
Gi’ It Some ‘Ommer
The new academic book Regional Aesthetics: Mapping UK Media Cultures has a chapter on ITV’s screen representations of some aspects of Black Country traditions and ways-of-life. ITV’s regional programming in the early 1970s reflected that particular moment in our history when there was an emerging awareness of the enormity of what was being lost in […]
Cat Hampurr
Stoke-on-Trent based cat subscription company Cat Hampurr. A different cat, boxed and delivered to your door each month. No… it’s not actually quite as cool as that. They actually send you a monthly box of tempting kittie-nibbles and feline fun stuff.