About Brum

With the temporary return of the Birmingham Big Wheel (hopefully without the Parisian commentary which made it all the more quirky the first time around), are we going to perhaps see a return of the Birmingham Big Screen?

For what seems like almost two years now, the Big Screen has remained resolutely dark, with nothing but a test pixel lit to show that it’s still got mains power. This is a real shame, as the screen’s a definite asset to the city centre; when I moved to the city in 2005 I enjoyed walking past it every day. I watched the news on it in the evening, I caught some short films and sometimes it even threw a few curveballs my way. As well as that, it screened the football and other major sporting events (drawing major crowds, not always without their own minor crowd control problems, but all in all well managed).

But then, one day, it went dark… Read the rest of this entry »

Can you name all the cities Birmingham’s twinned with? I could probably name one or two (Frankfurt springs to mind – if you’ve not been to the German Market at Christmas, you’re missing out!) Other cities include Johannesburg, Frankfurt, Milan, Lyon and, of all the places you’d never guess, Ramallah (intriguing choice, no?)… But Brum’s also been twinned with Chicago, the Windy City, since 1993.

How many did you get from that list? I’m somewhat reluctant to admit I didn’t even score three.

Every so often, there’s a bit of inter-city mingling, as one does when one is twinned with another city overseas, and this year Chicago’s come over to promote itself a little to the Brummagem population. They’re going stealth mode with this – and if you’re lucky, you might get a nice little treat to round off your weekend’s shopping There’s ten taxis (marked with special stickers and logos) that are pootling around the city centre for the next two weeks. The promotion’s been going on since the 15th of October, and it ends on the 15th of November – this last day is important, as on the 15th one of the ten taxis will be giving out free journeys to every passenger! The 15th is a Sunday, so if you’re lucky you might find yourself travelling home from a day of shopping at the Bullring for gratis – much nicer than the Number 11, no?

If you chance upon one of the ten marked taxis, there’s some paraphernalia inside on how to win two round trip airline tickets to Chicago. If you’re feeling lucky, you can enter a competition to stay at a four star hotel and also win a shopping trip which I would imagine works out at quite a decent value given the current £/$ conversion rate. Feeling lucky yet?

The cabs look like this, so keep your eye open for one…

And best of luck with the competition!

Yes yes yes people, once again it’s the most Bostin of days – Talk Like A Brummie Day! 2009 marks the third successful year in which TLABD has been held. It’s dead simple to take part in… Either do your best stereotypical Brummie impression, or just thicken the accent you already have

For some background info, including more on the culprits who set up the inaugural TLABD, head on over to TalkLikeABrummieDay.co.uk. There’s a section on the accent and even a quick ‘n dirty dictionary to help you get started. If you’re struggling to get started, whoohoo’s had an English <-> Brummie translation service up on the web for a good few years now. There are other translators and dictionaries up on the web too, but if I gave you all the links that’d take half the fun out of finding them now, wouldn’t it?

If you fancy giving it a go, don’t forget to RSVP to the Facebook group too so we can see the trend spreading!

BP, bizarrely on a quest to help us save money on petrol (whodathunkit), are tooling round the UK with a specially modified Ford as part of their Fuel Efficiency Challenge. They’re giving people the chance to do a circuit around town and have their driving style analysed – they’ll be stopping by Millennium Point today, and hopefully (if it’s not too busy) I’ll get to have a go in the car.

Marketing and promotion aside, they do raise some very valid points. In all my driving around the city, I’ve noticed that there is some truly hideous driving going on (from myself included) – lots of leaden right feet and late braking abounds in the City centre. Hopefully I’ll learn something useful from this to take away and help improve my driving skills.

I wonder how we can make all road users in Brum adopt slightly more sensible driving styles? It might help a bit with the awful congestion too…

This is the final day the BP guys are in Brum, moving on to reading at the end of this month. AutoCar’s already blogged about what they’re doing, and hopefully I’ll see some familiar faces when I head down to meet them.

… Or slides into a row of parked cars, as I saw earlier this evening. (Turns out that this white powder can also be extremely costly for some people.)

Yes, in case you haven’t noticed, Birmingham has once again been swathed in snow. Local Highways Agency gritter depots run out of rock salt, more salt is brought over on boats from Spain and Italy (but won’t arrive until several days after the worst weather has passed) and people are once again reminded that no, you can’t just put the car into first gear and off you go. High gears low revs, people! And if you have a rear wheel drive car… Just stay at home, it’s best for everyone.

And of course, time for some customary pictures, courtesy of local publications the Brummagem Mail and the Sunday Mercury (here’s their offering). A little word of advice from the Met Office as well, via the Mail’s web site:

A low pressure system from the south is due to hit the region on Monday, bringing with it up to 15cms of snow. And with no thaw on the horizon, any snow is likely to stick and remain on the roads for days.

Flippin’ eck, that means I’m going to have to pack the table salt in the rucksack this week. The Mail’s report continues;

“We’ve got a band of sleet and snow in the north Midlands on Sunday which clears as the day goes on,” a Met Office spokesman said last night, “but the main complication is a low pressure system in the south bringing snow and sleet, which may or may not reach the Midlands. It’s more likely to stick if it does come and then we’re looking at between 10 and 15 centimetres of snow. There’s no sign of a thaw so it could well be more serious than last week. Even if it (heavy snow) doesn’t hit the region, it’s still another wintery week and the hardest hit area will probably be Warwickshire.”

Prepare for some more sledging days telecommuting days as you unfortunately can’t make it to work! For shame.

Moving on to this little corner of the web: I’d like to proffer the excuse that AboutBrum’s not received any updates due to my Internet connection being snowed in for a few weeks, but unfortunately real life has taken precedence. I’m currently almost finished in my final year at University (at BCU/UCE/BBC/whatever they call themselves these days), and projects, coursework and sleep seem to be soaking up more and more of my free time. However, at the last Birmingham Blogger’s Meet I attended I managed to snatch a few minutes of Mr. Booth’s time to run a few ideas past him for this humble web site - and as he didn’t immediately snap back that my ideas were a load of old codswallop, I think my ideas may have a little potential

(Note to readers: if you see a slightly crazed-looking bloke wandering around Brum town centre with a portable audio recorder, don’t approach him. He will, no doubt, be me.)

I have a sneaky redesign planned for this web site too, so watch out for that. Anyway, safe travels and try not to fall over walking to the shops (like I already have once or twice.) Ta-ra a bit!

Welcome to 2009 everyone Been quiet on this blog recently but plan to hit the ground running in 2009 so keep an eye on this place.

If you had your beady eyes open this Christmas (I didn’t!) you will have noticed that Sky used the German Market as the background for their Christmas idents across Sky1, 2 and 3. 

Check them out on YouTube: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7HoTNE0q5II&feature=related&fmt=18

(Hat-tip to Simon Howes for pointing it out to me, I’d not watched Sky throughout the entirety of Christmas so missed it on TV completely!)

This sounds like fun – a shame I’m 80 miles away from Birmingham this weekend, this gig sounds exactly like the kind of thing which could keep me entertained for hours.

As LiveBrum explains;

Project X Presents invites you on a journey into the heart of Digital Dystopia.

A carefully sequenced evening during which many performers combine to present a seamless 7 hour show of sound, light and interaction…an “omnimedia experience”. Three stages and multiple projection screens will allow the presentation of a seamless flow of multi genre entertainment, including bands, performers, comedians, VJs, DJs, dancers, poets.

A few of the Headline acts: 360, Subsource, Marc Reck, Reginald D Hunter, Rich Batsford, Shana Tova. Tickets are £10. www.projectxpresents.com/eflyer/index.html

UPDATE: The excellent Radio To Go podcast has produced a show dedicated to the Project X Presents event on Sept 13 and featuring a great selection of tasters of the music. Check it out for a listen here: http://radiotogo.blogspot.com/2008/08/project-x-presents-4.html

This sounds really quite fascinating – so if you like your alternative music and fancy some stimulation of several senses at once (maybe more if you drink alcohol!) then trip along to BUSK tomorrow evening. Smashing.

A short and sweet entry this time for the end of July. If you missed “Centre of our World”, the six-part insight into Birmingham’s diverse ethnic communities written and presented by Birmingham’s very own Professor Carl Chinn, Radio 4 are currently repeating the series every day this week at 3:45pm. Starting with Birmingham’s Irish community, the programes move onto the Polish, Yemeni, Chinese and Greek Cypriot communities over the course of the shows. At 15 minutes long, the programmes are just right to ‘dip into’ – so go take a listen.

If you missed the first three episodes, you can listen to them for the next few days on iPlayer.

It’s not just canals coming out of the Black Country these days, we have some superheroes all of our own too. Employing the talents of Matthew Craig, Donato’s bringing the Bostin Heroes to the world – and he’ll be on the radio on Sunday to talk about it. From the Brum Mail article about the idea; 

“It will be a Midlands-themed comic, aimed at a broad audience, but anchored in familiar landmarks, such as Dudley Castle and the Bullring.

“Over the coming weeks, teaser images and background material will appear on the website, gradually introducing the characters and their world, in advance of the launch of the ongoing strip.

“I am hoping that it will capture the public’s imagination as there is a hero inside all of us.”

The strip will be written by Matthew Craig, aged 32, from Perry Barr, and illustrated by Jack Davies, 20, from Sutton Coldfield. Matthew, a former molecular biologist, and Jack, who has been drawing since the age of four, have both been tipped as Britain’s next big comic book creators.

…and From Mister Bostin himself:

You’ll be pleased to hear that i will be on BBC WM this Sunday 27th at 2pm ish on Carl Chinn’s show to talk in more detail about the comic and some of the stories that will be unfolding.

If you are not in the UK you can listen to all BBC WM shows live or on play again at hCarl Chinn’s BBC Birmingham feature page along with details how to message Carl at this page too.

If you want to see the comic and meet the team behind it, they’ll both be at the Birmingham International Comics Show this October.

Image credits: Birmingham Mail and Bostin Group

Not got anything planned for Saturday the 31st of May? Well, give The Flyover Show a go. It’s on from 1pm to 9pm (but I’m sure it may well overrun) and… well, when was the last time you got to enjoy a dollop of wholesome fun in such a glamourous location as underneath the Hockley Flyover?

No, you can’t think of a time, can you.

Shameless cribbing from the event’s Facebook page now:

For one day only the entire arena under the Hockley Flyover will be alive with inspiring sights and sounds of ground breaking art and music. Jazz veterans, reggae legends, visual artists, hip hop and grime geniuses from across Birmingham and beyond will be there.This day long festival is a unique celebration of the very best from the city’s urban communities. National and international names, backed by a live band will light up the stage with exclusive performances. The city and the site is the focus of a specially created piece designed by young artists. Cherrelle Skeete, Francis Mott, Nehemiah Smith and Tan, will debut original pieces of music, dance and theatre. Graffiti artists and b-boys will paint pictures across the creative canvass of B19.

Don’t miss this chance to see world-class creativity brought outdoors for the first time to a forgotten corner of Birmingham. Be there to reclaim these derelict spaces and restore the artistic soul of the city!!

So, go and have some fun – why not? The weather will be lovely, the music (and beer, hopefully) will be flowing, and you can get a chance to listen to some quality musical talent and support local musicians and artists while you’re at it. Plus I’d put money on it that there’ll be loads of spots to park.