A VERY MANCUNIAN CRIMBLE

Bah! Humbug! I must admit I am a bit of Scrooge when it comes to Xmas. However post bonfire night I am prepared to accept it is that time of year once again. So before the chaos begins here’s a taster of what Manchester will have to offer in terms of festive cheer.

1) Hallelujah for pretty, sparkly, twinkly things. Catch Mr Hudson and X Factor by-product Alexandra Burke switch on Manchester’s Christmas Lights in Albert Square – 7-8pm, 12th November 2009.

2) Cheers to Manchester Christmas Markets and multiple mugs of mulled wine *hic*. Enjoy a month of merriment from the 18th of November – 21st of December 2009.

3) Lets skate.. or in my case slip, slide, fall on my arse and make a complete t*t of myself. If your more Torvill and Dean than Bambi book your dancing on ice moment here.

4) He’s behind you… he being evil Tony Gordon of ‘The Street‘. Fingers crossed he won’t be hiring a hitman during the Opera House Manchester’s production of Aladdin where he’ll be treading the boards as baddie Abanazar.

5) You don’t need to hike as far as the North Pole this Crimbo for a drinkie-poo. Head for Spinningfields where The North Pole, this winter’s finest watering hole will be able to oblige (I have to say I am intrigued by the vodka infused Winter Crumble) – and if your feeling peckish they’ll be serving pizzas c/o Strada. It all starts from the 12th of November 2009 until the 3rd of January 2010.

6) Stuff yourself silly, in traditional Xmas stylee, at Mr Thomas’s Chop House. Grub includes seasonal starter Mr Tom’s famous crispy corned beef hash cake, turkey dinner for mains and fig and dark chocolate sponge with lashings of warm chocolate sauce… Mmmmm.

7) There is nothing camper than Christmas at the Birdcage. You can spend the season of good will with the Stars and enjoy special festive frolics on the 7th, 10th, 14th, 17th and 21st of December. Book now to avoid disappointment!

Meet Father Christmas (okay maybe one for the kiddies) at Manchester Arndale’s spectacular grotto – open from 21st of November 2009. You can even book online in advance to meet this tech-savvy Santa (whatever next elves on Facebook and tweeting Reindeer!?!?), and that means avoiding the queues… whoop, whoop!!!

9) Start jingling those bells earlier and see IMAX-tastic A Christmas Carol 3D at the Odeon Printworks… showing now.

10) Snow… okay this one might be a long shot, but I am sure we might get a little of the melted kind… commonly known as rain.

c/o patrick h. lauke licensed under Creative Commons.

Filed under: events & festivals, food & drink, manchester, shopping , spinningfields, rain, christmas, printworks, manchester christmas markets, patrick h. lauke, birdcage, santa, grotto, farther christmas, manchester arndale, elves, facebook, reindeer, mr thomas's chop house, turkey dinner, crispy corned beef hash cake, fig and dark chocolate sponge, warm chocolate sauce, north pole bar, crimbo, strada, winter crumble, vodka, ice skating, bambi, skate, torvill and dean, coronation street, tony gordon, aladdin, opera house manchester, abanazar, snow, christmas carol 3d, mr hudson, alexandra burke, christmas lights, x factor, albert square, mulled wine, a christmas carol 3d, imax, odeon, scrooge

CAMERA MANCURA – WHO’S THE DADDY? (AKA PART 18)

If you hadn’t already guessed I support the Manchester team (yes I know their home is in Trafford) – and well I’m not a born and bred Mancunian so it goes without saying!!! Therefore I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate Mr Wayne Rooney and, the former queen of ASDA, Coleen Rooney on the birth of their first son Kai Wayne Rooney.

The bookies are already offering 125-1 on whether Kai will play for United… after last nights performance at Old Trafford I’d get his boots ready for Chelski on Sunday.

c/o toksuede licensed under Creative Commons.

Filed under: manchester, sport , baby, manchester united, mancunian, old trafford, wayne rooney, rooney, reds, kai rooney, birth, coleen rooney, bookies, united, chelski, asda

ALTER EGO

Now for those of you that have been paying attention you may have noticed I have been a little quiet on the Twitter front over the past couple of days.

I know it’s not much of an excuse but at the end of last week I was kicking off my studies at the University of Salford and as part of the learning process I have introduced to the blogosphere my alter ego SocialBedia – (cue shameless plug) which maybe of interest to any of you folks into all things ‘web 2.0′.

Do not fear I will be doing my best not to let rainycitytales get neglected and keeping my finger on the pulse of Mamucium, as well as hopefully providing a bit more of the goings on from across the Irwell.

While I’m here you might be interested to learn about one of Manchester’s most exciting venue openings in recent weeks. Blackdog Blackroom has joined the ever growing list of Northern Quarter watering holes – make mine a JD and Coke if you don’t mind. Whilst in other news don’t forget to November In Manchester begins tomorrow… I can’t wait!

Image c/o margaperez licensed under Creative Commons.

Filed under: food & drink, manchester , alter ego, blackdog ballroom, blogosphere, irwell, jd and coke, mamucium, margaperez, northern quarter, november in manchester, shameless plug, socialbedia, twitter, university of salford, watering hols, web 2.0

CAMERA MANCURA – RAINY CITY TAILS (AKA PART 17)

Well I’ve heard of the urban jungle… but the urban desert?

This cheery duo is brought to you today c/o of my Spinningfields Spy. They were out creating some animal magic to promote easyJet’s new flight from Manchester to Marrakech.

Filed under: advertising, manchester, marketing , amimal magic, camels, desert, easyjet, flight, marrakech, spinningfields, spinningfields spy, urban jungle

RAINY SUNDAY, SPINNINGFIELDS

Take a look at my travels around a damp, crafty and tasty Spinningfields…

• Hive of activity at the 2009 Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair – landing in Spinningfields for the first time this year. Lots of talented folks displaying their wares.
• Rather over facing Mushroom Burger at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Feta, aged cheddar, pesto, rocket, mayo and relish – not to mention the side order of chips and garlic mayo = stuffed!!!
• Meet in Spinningfields
• 3 Hardman Street
• The Avenue opening 2010 – Manchester’s luxury shopping district. Better start saving now or locking up the credit cards.

Filed under: art & design, events & festivals, food & drink, manchester , 3 hardman street, craft, gbk, gourmet burger kitchen, great northern contemporary craft fair, luxury stores, mushroom burger, spinningfields, the avenue

(BELATED) CAMERA MANCURA – PART 16

Things I love about October in Manchester:

1) Huddling over a liquid lunch at the Soup Kitchen

2) Kicking through leaves on lazy Sunday walks through Heaton Park

3) Consuming Wigan’s finest export, Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls, to keep me all aglow in the North Stand at Old Trafford on a Champions League night

4) One month to go until cheeky mugs of gluvine at the Manchester Christmas Markets… let the countdown begin!

c/o BinaryApe licensed under Creative Commons.

Filed under: manchester, nature, photography , aglow, autumn, binaryape, champions league, gluvine, heaton park, leaf, leaves, liquid lunch, love, manchester christmas markets, mega bus, mufc, north stand, october, old trafford, soup kitchen, sunday, uncle joes mint balls, walks, wigan

DARWIN INK.

Day 28 of 40: albanerpetontid

Okay I admit it I have always been too much of a wuss to get a tatt. Despite this I do have a strange fascination with this form of body art so I had to fill you in about this latest project from Ultimate Holding Company.

UHC’s exinked is celebrating Darwin’s 200th birthday in unique fashion by encouraging 100 volunteers to get inked with the image of one of the UK’s most endangered species. The public (those with a higher pain threshold than moi) can pick from 100 illustrations, then have it etched onto themselves for all time by a professional tattoo artist from Ink Vs Steel. How does a great crested newt, boring millipede, black scabbardfish or big blue pinkgill take your fancy?

An exinked exhibition starts on Thursday 12th November at 7.30pm and continues daily until the 1st of December 2009 at Unit 108, Chapel St. Walks Development – Salford. The tattooing commences on the 26th of November until the 29th.

exinked is also raising awareness of the great work of the Marine Conservation Society, Buglife and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species. In order that this event can happen donate here… any profits will go to the conservation partners.

c/o busymonster licensed under Creative Commons.

Filed under: art & design, events & festivals, manchester , big blue pinkgill, birthday, black scabbardfish, body art, boring millipede, buglife, busymonster, chapel st. walks, chapel st. walks development, darwin, endangered species, exhibition, exinked, great crested newt, ink vs steel, marine conservation society, people's trust for endangered species, salford, tatt, tattoo, tattoo artist, tattooing, ultimate holding company, wuss

CREEPY & KOOKY, MYSTERIOUS & SPOOKY, ALL TOGETHER OOKY

Stop hiding behind that cushion and be prepared to be scared as Manchester’s first horror festival comes to the Printworks. Grimm Up North! will be terrifying the good people of Manchester from the 30th of October – 1st of November 2009 with a range of films and parties.

To get your blood curdling the festival will be holding no less than 15 film premieres – including the world premiere of The Reeds. Films will be inter-spliced with Q&A sessions with leading directors, actors and producers. They’ll also be something for the gamers too with exclusive playable demos of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles in the gaming room.

And if you need a stiff drink after all the nail-biting action Opus will be able to oblige with after-show parties until late. What a way to spend Halloween… if you dare!!!

c/o Mr Tickle – Wachoo Wachoo Tribe Congressman licensed under Creative Commons.

Filed under: entertainment, events & festivals, film, manchester , actors, after-show, blood curdling, directors, film premieres, films, gaming room, grimm up north!, horror festival, Mr Tickle - Wachoo Wachoo Tribe Congressman, opus, parties, playable demos, printworks, q&a, resident evil: the darkside chronicles, scared, the reeds

WE’RE OXJAMMIN’

Looking for a warm fuzzy feeling inside from support a worthy cause and the opportunity to throw some shapes to the ‘funky’ music? Oxjam Manchester is made for you.

Oxjam is a series of music related events that will be taking place across the country this month, with the aim of raising lots of wonga for Oxfam.

Leading the way in this mission is Manchester… with their main event the Oxjam Manchester Takeover (Saturday 25th October 1-11pm) – a small but perfectly formed festival in and around 8 venues across the Northern Quarter. The Takeover will include Manchester legend Peter Hook and a raft of other uber cool bands and artists are performing. Tickets are just £7 in advance and a quid more on the door.

Other events for Oxjam Manchester include a 60’s Magical Mystery Tour in conjunction with Urbis, Oxfam Originals Acoustic Takeover, at Oxjam Speed Dating at Rain Bar.

The moral of this story is… get gigging and start giving.

Filed under: events & festivals, manchester, music , 60's magical mystery tour, charity, cool bands, festival, manchester legend, northern quarter, oxfam, oxfam originals acoustic takeover, oxjam, oxjam manchester, oxjam manchester takeover, oxjam speed dating, peter hook, rain bar, uber cool, urbis, wonga

CAMERA MANCURA – PART 15

Tipping my hat to the father of In The City (18th – 20th October 2009) this week ready for when the action starts again on Sunday. Just as Mr. Manchester would have wanted ITC 2009 will featuring 32 of the best new bands – perfect for all your toe tapping, hip swaying and booty shaking needs.

R.I.P. Tony.

c/o spinneyhead licensed under Creative Commons.

Filed under: art & design, culture, events & festivals, manchester, music , booty shaking, hip swaying, in the city, itc, mr manchester, r.i.p., spinneyhead, toe tapping, tony wilson