Okay, here’s part one of my planned schedule for the Flatpack Film Festival, Birmingham’s celebration of the slightly odd aspects of the moving image. This isn’t necessarily a recommendation as I’m going in blind to most of these. That’s they way I like festivals – they’re about discovery, not seeing the same old stuff. The … [Read more…]
Gareth Courage is a Stirchley-based graphic artist who produces a downloadable PDF magazine of his work every few months entitled Viewer. The above is taken from issue 4, released today. Gareth works with found images and his own photographs and is a fan of expired film, usually loaded into the old and broken cameras. His … [Read more…]
Following on from the Venue Surveys, which prompted this thread on LiveJournal, I’ve been thinking more about the Carling Academy and what’s going to happen to it when the area around Dale End is redeveloped. Plans are still sketchy (the page on BCC’s site is somewhat old) but it’s going to happen, probably in the … [Read more…]
Birmingham author Catherine O’Flynn’s debut novel What Was Lost was released by local publishers Tindal Street Press this month. “A lost little girl appears on CCTV screens at the Green Oaks shopping centre, evoking memories of junior detective Kate Meaney, missing for 20 years. Kurt, a security guard with a sleep disorder, and Lisa, a … [Read more…]
Last year Digital Central undertook a survey of live music venues in the West Midlands to try and pinpoint where investment is needed. They questioned 184 people, 141 of whom were audience members with the rest being promoters or performers. You can download a PDF of the report but here are the conclusions: The most … [Read more…]
A weekly grab from the Birmingham Flickr community. by Photo-Gedden by nobody knows anything by Tippeh by ADAMSKI01 To suggest photos for this feature post them to this thread on Flickr or leave a link in the comments here.
Antonio Gould has started a series of podcasts, New Media 4casts, for the Channel 4 4talent site exploring how creatives can use new media techniques and technologies effectively. Two shows are online so far on selling online and building a website and he’ll be covering the music and film industries soon. Here’s the RSS feed … [Read more…]
Gigbeth, the three day free music festival in Digbeth (see what they did there?), takes place on 1-3 November this year based around the Sanctuary, Barfly, Custard Factory and Glee Club amongst other venues. Bands and musicians from all genres are welcome to apply to play and will be paid at least Musicians’ Union rates. … [Read more…]