MCR Pride 2011

With the #ILoveMCR campaign, Manchester Pride, Jenson Button driving down Deansgate and it being a bank holiday on top of all that, there was a lorra lorra love going around Manchester this weekend. One of my personal highlights was watching the Manchester Pride parade. *SO* much fun and a lot of smiling faces. Great to see a lot of big organisations and companies from Manchester getting involved. A big well done to everyone involved!

London Riots – Social Media to the Rescue!

After all the blame social media (wrongly) got in the press for the London riots, it’s fantastic to see that social media is now helping to bring communities together to clean up the mess caused by a few idiotic and selfish thugs.

At the time of writing this blog post, @Riotcleanup has over 61,000 followers and the hastag #riotcleanup is trending. Following the tweets, shared pictures and videos of all of these people coming together to put their communities right again is extremely heart-warming and a reminder that most of us are decent and caring human beings.

Well done and thank you to all involved in the #riotcleanup – the rest of your country salutes you.

Getting down and dirty

Local heroes

Barneys Vintage Photo Shoot

One of the last projects I managed while at my old PR agency was the Barneys Vintage photo shoot. From using the power of Twitter to find creative and upcoming photographers to mooching around the Northern Quarter to source suitable venues, there was lots to do but the hard work was well worth it. Take a look for yourself:

Twitter Trouble in Tottenham

Just a few days after I wrote a blog post about how social media was being blamed for gangs of youth descending on to Beech Road Festival in Chorlton, social media is now being blamed for fuelling the riots across London this weekend.

Headlines have included “Thugs use Twitter to call for copy cat riots across the UK” (Daily Express) and “How Technology fuelled Britain’s firsts 21^st century riot” (Daily Telegraph).

The Sun wrote about how “thugs used social network Twitter to orchestrate the Tottenham violence and incite others to join in”, while the Daily Mail described how “as the rioting escalated, trouble makers on Twitter seemed keen to orchestrate the violence bringing scores more people into the area”.

Social media is now the scapegoat for anything and everything. Do people honestly think that social media is to blame for these horrific events though? If Twitter and Facebook weren’t around, these people would still find a way of rounding up the troops and causing havoc, whether via text message or carrier pigeon.

Thugs use carrier pigeons to fuel naughtiness

Social Media: Respect the Beast

We’ve all heard a story or two about a teenager who, after being left home alone by their parents, has decided to hold a bit of a shindig and invite their friends via Facebook, leading to word of an adult-free party zone with booze and members of the opposite sex spreading across a ten mile radius.

The result? Swarms of revellers stampeding on the house and destroying it like a plague of locusts, causing much trauma and telling off for the naïve teenager who decided to announce the gathering on one of the most public mediums there is.

Now, social media is being blamed for Beech Road Festival, which is held annually in Chorlton, being “overrun by gangs of youths”. After the festival saw an unprecedented 20,000 people attend, who were blamed for littering and “urinating in gardens”, the organisers have decided not to run the event again next year.

An article in the MEN on the matter stated: “The organisers blamed publicity of the event on social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter for the overcrowding.”

Poor social media, always getting the blame.

The problem with social media seems to be that although everyone wants to use it to promote their event, product, service, company or self, many users aren’t prepared or equipped for when their online efforts actually work. When social media comes into its own and spreads a message further and wider than any other unpaid or traditional method could, what the hell are you supposed to do??

I’ve used social media in the past to promote events and campaigns on behalf of clients. My efforts have usually ended up with modest results and there has always been something in hindsight that I could have done to make a bigger and better impact. But then again, maybe it was better that I didn’t? I mean, I don’t know how on earth I would have coped if 20,000 uninvited people had turned up to a product launch, which we held down in London with a flavour-of-the-month celeb. The dozen or so paps were enough of a handful!

So should we blame social media when things get out of hand? No. Should we treat the beast with caution? Yes. Social media can be a very valuable tool, but users need to appreciate the potential strength of it. When social media is good, it’s very very good, but when it’s bad, it can be wicked.

Social media: The modern day Chinese whispers

These days, news spreads quicker than a bout of Chlamydia in Freshers’ Week. Unfortunately for some, it also means that rumours and inaccuracies spread just as quickly.

Only last week, Channel 4 news presenter Jon Snow was forced to apologise for regurgitating what appeared to be ‘news’ on Twitter that Piers Morgan had been suspended from his CNN show. It transpired that the tweet had been sent from a fake Twitter account and wasn’t actually true.

But this wasn’t the first, nor will it be the last, case of online Chinese whispers.

A few months ago, a tweet about a photo shoot taking place in central London raised the alarm that there was an actual gun man on the loose.

Stylist and fashion writer @candicebailey tweeted: “Street style shooting in Oxford Circus for ASOS and Diet Coke. Let me know if you’re around!!” Within a matter of minutes, Twitter was in a whirlwind of panic of this ‘shooting’ and people were reportedly told to stay indoors. And to make matters worse, all of this Twitter action was taking place at the same time a police training email, looking at a hypothetical gunman situation, was accidently leaked.

You can see how easy it is for gossip and rumours to spread on Twitter. I’ve got to admit that I once had my wrists slapped for tweeting something about someone which wasn’t technically quite correct…luckily there were no hard feelings though (after I grovelled for forgiveness , that is).

It’s just that the ‘retweet’ button is so easy to press! And then if you quote someone else talking about a story, it’s easy to edit it down so that it’s not revealing the whole story (we've only got 140 characters!!).

What’s more, there is a real feeling on Twitter and other social media channels that you’ve got to be the first person to know when something happens. Were you the first person in the world ever to find out that NOTW had shut down? Of course you were...you and a few thousand other Twitter users. There is an urge on social media to pass ‘news’ on as quickly as possible, to get it while it’s hot, a real life game of hot potato.

But where does the responsibility lie? Should people tweeting take more care to check their facts are straight before broadcasting them to the world? Or should it be up to the people reading tweets to take everything with a pinch of salt and not take every tweet as gospel?

I think this Reuters blog by Felix Salmon sums up the whole issue very well:

 “Twitter is more like a newsroom than a newspaper: it’s where you see news take shape. Rumors appear and die; stories come into focul people talk about what’s true and what’s false.”

What do you think? Should we all practise more caution when our curser hovers over that retweet button in the future?

Caitlin Moran Saves Lives

Yes, I know, quite a claim… But turns out the Times journalist and funny gal Caitlin Moran is making a huge impact on the lives of women up and down the country.

Last night, I went to see Caitlin talk about her latest book How To Be A Woman at Waterstones, Deansgate. I expected the evening to be entertaining, funny and inspiring – and all these boxes were ticked. What I didn’t expect was for the evening to be quite so humbling…

For those of you who don’t know, in her new book, Caitlin draws on her own experiences to highlight some of the issues that women face today. From intimate waxing to taking out a second mortgage to buy a designer handbag, from lap dancing clubs to the rise of the WAG, and from the reality of giving birth to the reality of abortions - Caitlin explores these subjects and encourages fellow females (and males) to look at them, question them and basically ask: WTF??

It appears the UK has been gagging for a book like this to come along. Many of Moran’s own stories and views echo the millions of murmurs, whispers and gossips of women all over the world. How to be a Woman is currently number five in Amazon’s bestselling list, and Moran told us last night that there is going to be a film, sitcom and second book to follow. Wowza, looks like the latest trend is a big fat dollop of feminism. Who’d a funked it?

Clearly, I wasn’t the only person at the event last night who found Moran’s book refreshing and entertaining. There was a real buzz and energy in the room, and much ROFL-ing ensued. However, it was the comments from a lady sat in the row in front of me that really put this book into perspective.

The lady was from the Pankhurst Centre, a women’s community centre based in Chorlton on Medlock, Manchester. She stood up and told Caitlin how much of a powerful tool her book was, not just for the staff who work there, but also for the women that they help.

Some of the women that the centre supports may be victims of sexual assault or domestic violence. Some of them may be homeless or addicted to drugs. Some of them may be facing debt, unemployment or family issues. Some may never have a strong female role model or the ability to stand up for themselves.

Regularly during workshops, someone from the Pankhurst Centre reads an extract from How to be a Woman to the rest of the team and visitors to the centre. The book provides a lot of discussion among the women about how certain issues relate to them and their experiences. With the help of Caitlin’s words, curses and humour, they are empowering the women that they support gain confidence, restore their self-respect and rebuild their lives.

Last night, the comments from the Pankhurst Centre worker sliced through me and I’m still thinking about them today. For me, Caitlin’s book was enjoyable and empowering, making me think things like: ‘YEH, why the hell should we spend twenty odd grand on a wedding and make ourselves look like porn stars??’, but thanks to the comments from some of the guests last night, it made me realise that, actually, this book is pretty much a life saver for some women out there.

Pulp: A Tweet Shot at Social Media

I’m not angry, I’m not upset, I’m just … disappointed.

As a Pulp fan, I’m very excited that the Sheffielders have once again joined forces to pump out their Brit pop belters across the world. I’ve signed up to the newsletter and am following them on Twitter in eager anticipation for when they announce some further UK tour dates (I have it on good authority that there will be at least one Sheffield date, which I’m determined to get tickets for).

But, alas, it is their presence on Twitter which fills me with disappointment.

Now, if you’re a social media user, then you don’t need me to tell you what a wonderful tool it is for people to interact and engage with others. One of the beautiful things about the likes of Twitter is that it allows us ‘mere mortals’ to speak directly to musicians, artists and bands without having to linger by back stage doors, stalking them. We can tell them that their new album is ‘sick’, gush over how amazing their gig was last night or offer them some constructive criticism on their terrible new album, all directly through our smartphone or laptop. We can praise and diss the rich and famous while multi-tasking – isn’t technology a wonderful thing?

Of course, that’s not to say that we should expect any sort of interaction back from them…they are after all busy people – and as someone who works in PR, I know only too well that many Twitter accounts will be handled by a publicist or marketing bod.

But there are certain levels of interaction that you may be forgiven to expect…

I’m clearly not the only Pulp fan out there who is excited about the reunion of the band and its current international tour. On last count, the @Pulp2011 had 8,615 followers and appeared on 253 lists. Pretty decent figures. Until you look at the other side of things, that is. At the time of writing this blog post, @Pulp2011 had tweeted only 41 times (its first tweet was 1st January 2011) and is following exactly zero people. Yes, zero. Nil, sip, zilch, nought.

Tweet tweet...Pulp is a selfish Twitter lover

As I’ve already alluded to, you wouldn’t necessarily expect a band like Pulp to interact and engage with every single one of its followers or every person who mentions them. However, I can’t help but think that this is a huge opportunity missed for the band in terms of social media.

Looking through the selection of tweets in its timeline, I strongly suspect there is a marketing person, manager, or parent/child/partner/roadie tweeting on behalf of the band. But whoever is responsible for the band’s social media, it is such a lacklustre attempt at using digital channels that it suggests that either they can’t be arsed, or they really just don’t ‘get’ social media.

What do you think? Are there any bands or musicians using social media who you think Pulp could learn a thing or two off?

PRs – be careful with your freebies

This article on the Vice website is hilarious. And a lesson to anyone in PR to be careful about what freebies they are giving to which journalists. Enjoy!

Condiment Conundrum

Of all the things to have become an issue from moving in with a boy, nothing could have prepared me for this. The smells, the piles of dirty pants, the cigarette butts in glasses, the fact that he uses all of my expensive shampoo and doesn’t understand why I get in a huff when he suggests I clean my hair with washing up liquid – all of these things I can handle. I had expected these challenges and been warned about them by my fellow double-X chromosome beings.

No, the biggest issue about moving in with a boy is far more difficult to cope with. Mainly because it is so bizarre. So surreal that even Dali would struggle to portray it accurately in a painting. And it is because of the surreal nature of it, which is why I could never have prepared myself mentally or emotionally for it.

The problem is – condiments.

I should have noticed the warning signs before. During the early loved up days when I would come round to his flat laden with Aldi 3p carrier bags brimming with cheap, continental delights which I would attempt to fashion into a culinary treat. I would purchase dressings for summer salads, Tabasco for Delia’s chicken jambalaya (or Gambalaya, as I like to call it after myself) and wholegrain mustard to sex up the potato part of bangers and mash.

A few days later I would return to his flat. And the condiments, bought only 48 hours earlier, would be gone. Vanished. The vessel would be sparse of content, apart from the congealed remains lingering around the lid.

My boyfriend, it appears, has a condiment compulsion – a habit for honey, a dependence on dips, an obsession with oils and a ridiculous reliance on relish.

Not a bottle of Heinz ketchup, nor a jar of cranberry jelly, or vessel of soy sauce can last more than a few days. But how, why?? Sure, I’ve noticed he tends to lay on the mayo thick across his side salad and drown his chips in tomato sauce – but I still can’t understand where it all goes. He must actually just sit there and drink the damn stuff.

Like any irrational irritation, my internal fury over the matter is unexplainable. But one thing is for sure, this can not continue. I am declaring a vinegar vendetta. SAVE OUR MAYO.

New Obsession: Readers’ Comments

I’m slowly getting obsessed with readers’ comments…they’re so much juicier and more extreme than the article in question. My current favourite debate is in response to Amelia Gentleman’s article ‘Pregnant? Wait till the boss hears’ in the Guardian. Guardian readers never fail to disappoint with their views and opinions … and some of the reactions to this story are so outrageous I can only laugh. Here is my personal favourite:

Matthew206: I don’t understand maternity leave. So a woman, in her spare time, decides to get pregnant. Then she decides to keep it. Fair enough. But then she expects her work to pay her not to work, while keeping her job for her, because of her own lifestyle choice. I suppose if I was working in a company, and I went water-skiing for 9 months, I’d get paid for that too, right? I understand that we need babies to be made, but I don’t get why companies need to accommodate for women’s lifestyle choices such as having a baby.

Are the reactions to the BeautifulPeople.com ‘PR stunt’ OTT?

As someone who works in the PR world, I know how difficult it can be to crack the nationals with one of your clients’ stories. Even if you manage to woo the editor with a kick ass feature synopsis, you then need to fight your corner until the ink has dried on the paper to make sure that the journalist tasked with writing the article actually uses your spokespeople, your case studies and your statistics rather than run away and ‘borrow’ (i.e. steal) your idea without citing your client.  

With this in mind, I stumbled across the article “Dating website for beautiful people dumps 30,000 members” on the Guardian website. The article looks at how the dating website BeautifulPeople.com (which, as the name suggests, is strictly off limits to us mere mortals who should probably walk around with a bag over our heads) has been forced to kick tens of thousands of new members off the site after a computer virus called ‘Shrek’ meddled with the software which sorts the wheat from the chaff of those who are brave (or vain) enough to apply.



Who you callin' ugly?



Now, although the article itself was interesting in an ‘oh em gee I can’t believe people are so shallow, but I wonder if I’m pretty enough to become a member’ kinda way, it was the reader’s comments that especially caught my eye…


EnglishLord: “Ack, why is The Guardian featuring empty PR puff from a media savvy dating company? It’s fine to have celebrity news etc etc but not this pathetic see through rubbish. It denigrates your whole output. Have they paid for this to be featured?”

Craigam: “FFS … whoever was responsible for publishing this as news deserves to be giving a stern talking to. The whole thing – fake virus attack, deliberately provocative quotes, rejected customers desperate to get back “in” is about as sh*t a PR set-up as you could possibly imagine.”



CunnyMonster: “Utter bollocks dreamed up by their PR agency, just like their numerous other totally seethrough stunts. Well done Guardian for participating.”

The latter commentator also went on to point out a case study that appeared in PR Week in December 2010 about how Golden Goose PR, BeautifulPeople.com’s agency, had executed their ‘Festive Fatties’ campaign, which highlighted members of the dating site who had overindulged and got a bit podgy over the Christmas period.



 If these cynical Guardian readers are right and the story was in fact a PR stunt rather than a ‘legitimate news piece’, then the newspaper isn’t the only one to ‘fall’ for it. The story has also appeared on the BBC website, the Telegraph and ABC News – to name but a few.

But hang on a minute… to all those readers who have voiced their disgrace at media outlets reporting on a ‘PR set-up’… can I just ask where you think the majority of your ‘news’ comes from?



All across the world, companies, brands, charities, governments, politicians, celebrities – basically anyone or anything who is or has been in the media spotlight – has some sort of media, marketing, PR or communications person or team working for it/them to ensure their message is delivered in a ‘desirable’ manner. Whether it’s a consultant advising David Cameron on how to react to the latest events in Libya or a publicist telling a not-so-anonymous footballer what to say (or, more likely, what not to say), there is a whole industry driving and shaping local, national and international news agendas.

Granted, some media outlets pride and sell themselves on delivering more ‘newsworthy’ news than ‘PR puff’, but if there is a line, then where do we draw it?

Manchester to Brighton: The marathon blog post

So if you follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook no doubt you’ve got fed up of my non-stop tweeting and posting about the Brighton Marathon. “Oh em gee I’m totes excited for the marathon”, “Just got a fly in my eye during my 18 mile training session – ROFL”, “Wowza, did I mention I’m doing a marathon?” Shut. Up. Already.

 If you’re friends with me in real life – you know, not from just behind your shiny mac, iPad, laptop, Blackberry – then no doubt you’ve also got fed up of me droning on about “oh no, I couldn’t possibly drink a drop of alcohol, I’m training for a marathon”, “It doesn’t matter if I eat ten whole pizzas, I’m burning soooo many calories during my marathon training”, “don’t you think I’m much better than you cos I’m doing this marathon and you’re just sitting your arse?”.


But rest assured people – it’s now over. And we can all go back to our usual lives without any more marathon chat. Well, once I can walk again and after this blog post is written / read, that is…


So what made me sign my life away to do the Brighton Marathon? Well, it all started last May when I took part in the Great Manchester Run with some of my colleagues. I’ve never been a runner. NEVER. Sure, I dabbled in the likes of hockey and netball at school, took myself off to the gym once in a while at uni to try and tone up the freshers wobble that was an infamous side effect of consuming a strict diet of full fat beer, fried foods and lard. But I was never one to break out much of a sweat (unless on the dance floor throwing shapes to dirty techno beats, but I’m not sure real athletes look at that sort of behaviour favourably).


But through training for the Great Manchester Run I went from managing to run for the 86 bus from Chorlton to Manchester city centre (OK, I’ve never actually ran for the 86… if I miss one, it just wasn’t meant to be. Why risk looking like a dick trying to run for the bus when you’re going to inevitably miss it and there’ll be another one along in six minutes anyway?) to being able to get around a 10k course dressed as a green superhero (or ninja, as some of the crowd thought we were).


The 10k was fun, the crowd great and my fitness had actually improved pretty quickly. Not bad this running malarkey, I thought. So I signed up to a half marathon and then the Brighton marathon.


So how did I get on? Here’s a mile by mile account (you lucky things):

Mile 1: Fuck, I’m already sweating and out of breath. Why did I sign up for this? WHY? I can’t run 26 miles. I’ve only ever done 18 miles. I. Am. An. Idiot.


Mile 2: Wow there’s a lot of people running this. They all look like proper athletes too. Except for that person dressed up as a rock. Or is it a tortoise? (It turned out to be a rhino).


Mile 3: Come. On. Surely I’ve done at least a mile by now?? I’ve not even seen ONE mile marker yet. “Lady with the posh GPS watch, where are we? Oh we’ve done three miles? That’s a relief”.


Mile 4: It’s not a relief, there’s still more than 20-odd miles of where that came from.


Mile 5: Yay there’s my mum, dad and Noel. Whoo – look at me, look at me!! Here! Yeh, here I am! I’m running – whooooo!!!!


Mile 6: Wow, there’s a lot of hills coming up. Where does that hill in the distance even end? I don’t think it does. It probably just falls off the side of the earth.


Miles 7 – 12: Really. Bloody. Hilly. I thought this was a “flat and fast course”. And mister “I’m a seasoned runner”, this bit isn’t “technically flat but with a bit of a gradient”, it’s a bloody mountain. Shut up.


Mile 13: Oooo Noel and my parents are going to be at the half way mark with the Parkinson’s UK supporters. Whoooo!! Where are they? Where? Helloooo???? Oh god, maybe I’ve missed them. Maybe I’m too slow and they’ve gone somewhere else. Probably the pub. Oh look there’s my mum and dad!! HIYA!!!! Where’s Noel?? Oh there he is. Why is he dressed as an Arab?? What’s he doing with my leopard print scarf wrapped around his head and neck? Jeez I’m delirious.


Mile 14: It’s really hot. I’m thirsty. And hungry. I’d murder a burger.


Mile 15: Wonder where my mate Woollven is? He said he’d be at mile 15. THERE HE IS!!! HIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Woollven!! WHOOOOO!!!!

Mile 16 – 17: Well look at all these spectators with their BBQs and booze drinking. Alright for some. Another jelly baby? Why not.


Mile 18: La la la, these caffeine blocks have definitely kicked in. maybe I’ll just eat shit loads of these before a night out instead of drinking vodka red bull? Ooo look there’s the parents again. HI! Bit hot innit??


Mile 19: This is WELL EASY. I’m gonna ace this.


Mile 20: This is not easy.


Mile 21: Ow.


Mile 22: Whimper.


Mile 23: Walk / limp.


Mile 24: COME ON NOT LONG TO GO.


Mile 25: Yaaaaay helloooooooo Noel and Woollven hanging outside of the hotel window. I can see you!!!! LOOK I’ve nearly finished!!!!!!!!

Mile 26: Run, run, run.

Mile 26.2: Slightly teary. Huge smile. Job done.

So there you go – that’s five hours and two minutes of my life summed up in 26.2 miles. My knees are buggered, my feet are blistered and I’m walking around like a knock kneed duck. Fab weekend though. And thanks to everyone who has sponsored me to raise money for Parkinson’s UK. If you still haven’t coughed up but you have a tickle in your throat – let it all out on my Just Giving page here.

OK, that’s me done with the marathon chat. Normal life can now commence. Until next time…(?)

Tune of the day...

A lil' bit of Cage the Elephant (Shake me Down) on this slightly grey hum dum of a Tuesday:

Tune of the day...

...from fab Manchester band Everything Everything - "Photoshop Handsome". Enjoy on this sunny spring afternoon.

PS - WEEKEND FEVER!!!!!!!!

Ouch... Manchester brand Henleys shows us how not to use social media

You may have heard the news this week that Manchester-based fashion brand Henleys is shutting all of its 18 stores across the UK and closing its retail arm with more than 200 job losses. The company, which in the past has been a firm favourite with chavs (am I allowed to say “chavs”? Is that derogatory? Ah well.), quite clearly thought social media could be part of its reputation management with its consumers.

On Tuesday, Henleys posted this on its Facebook page:

Well, that’s alright isn’t it? The chavs can still buy their luminous garments online.

Hang on a minute... Henleys – you did tell all your staff about what was happening and think about how they might have reacted to that status update, right?

Oh.

Perhaps some of your staff might have taken it alright though? Appreciated the fact you were using Facebook to tell the world where your at? What’s a-happening? What’s the 411? Yo yo. Keepin it real. Always look on the bright side of the Beetham Tower?

Ah.

Well, um, perhaps your staff can reflect on the good old days, the fun times they’ve had?

Hmmm. Not doing so well here.

At least you can still sell your quality garments to your customers.

Bugger.

Tune of the day...

...hearting this from the Pigeon Detectives ("Done in Secret"):

Jameson Cult Film Club comes to Manchester

A big (belated) thank you to Jameson Cult Film Club (and also Noel 'Filmrant' Mellor for taking me as his plus one!) for putting on a great evening at Manchester Academy 2 last Thursday. It really was a double decker of a Manchester entertainment sandwich. The bread and butter was the plentiful Jamesons cocktails that were in sweet (very sweet... almost sickly?) abundance (but I'm not complaining, I heart sickly abundance booze). The juicy filling started with a thin layer of Manchester band 1913 (think a moody, Editor-esque, Joy Division-inspired quintet...if they were a sandwich filling, they'd probably be tuna paste), followed by a screening of Anton Corbijn's Control (big fat slabs of good old cheddar cheese) finished off with a dashing off Clint Boon playing all your Manchester favourites (the pickle). Overall, a really enjoyable night - made even better because it was all free (recession proof fun!)! And a winning formula from the Jameson's Cult Film Club gang - they definitely know that Mancs are always hungry for Manchester-filled goodness.

Manchester International Festival line-up announced

So Manchester International Festival line-up was announced today – and wowza is it good! Björk will be gracing the city with her presence for three weeks for the world premiere of her Biophilia live show. There will be six shows taking place at Campfield Market Hall with audiences of 1,800. Expect homemade instruments, choirs, unusual use of technology and no doubt a fantastic light show to give a weird, wonderful and atmospheric ambience.

The lovely Damon Albarn will be showcasing his new project Doctor Dee, which is directed by Rufus Norris. According to the MIF site “Doctor Dee explores ritual and symbolism in this country, past and present, using John Dee – one of England’s greatest but largely forgotten men – as a catalyst.” Not sure what to expect here... opera? Accessible? Fun? Who knows... but will no doubt be more than interesting.

Snoop Daaawg is also hitting the Capital of the North to perform his debut album Doggystyle in its entirety. With special guests due to be Warren G, Daz Dillinger, RBX and Joe Cool, expect all the wannabe ghetto kids to come out of their wannabe slums (i.e. Chorlton) and pretend to be all gangster for the night. Now pull your pants up young boys.

No doubt tickets are going to be sold before I’ve had time to pick up the phone when they go on sale at 10am tomorrow. GUTTED that it’s a week until pay day and I won’t be able to buy tickets for all of the shows I want to go to (which is all of them).

Johnny Vegas, Sinead O’Connor and Victoria Wood are just some of the other acts confirmed for this year’s event. See the MIF website for full details.

Foursquare finds Manchester is the F*@king rudest city

 

So Manchester is the rudest city in the world eh?

 

F*@k off!

Location-based social network gadget gizmo thingy Foursquare has imported a load of numbers into some big fat virtual online calculator and out of the end came a screaming foul mouthed Mancunian.

According to Foursquare’s engineering blog, Manchester folk are the most like to swear when checking-in at their chosen destination (i.e. the pub).

Foursquare says: “It’s good to see that the Mancunians truly are not only the rudest people in the UK, but the rudest people globally, only El Paso comes close.”

So every other sh*t city in the world – you must try harder.

Manchester Artist’s Plectrum Portrait a Sure Pick at Auction

Manchester-based Ed Chapman is one of the country’s leading mosaic artists. He has created portraits of some of the most iconic people of all time – including John Lennon, David Bowie and Debbie Harry. Last night, one of his more unusual mosaics – a portrait of Jimi Hendrix made from 5,000 Fender plectrums – was expected to reach up to £16,000 at Cancer Research’s Sound & Vision music heritage auction at London’s Abbey Road Studio.

On his website, Ed says about his plectrum portrait:

"Jimi Hendrix is a guitar legend and nobody played a Fender guitar quite like him.

“I decided to use plectrums to create a portrait of him because I like experimenting with different materials and textures and I think it is a fitting tribute to the musician.

“There’s no better place for it to go on sale than at a legendary home of music and I hope it raises as much as possible for charity.”