I consider myself extremely fortunate living in Birmingham as there are two pretty sizeable wildlife parks, Lickey Hills in the South and Sutton Park in the North. This means that I get to be an urbanite and still enjoy flashes of nature.
Today involved a stroll through Lickey Hills. I decided to use My Tracks on my Android phone to monitor my footsteps. Below is a map of the walk.
View A Walk in Lickey Hills in a larger map
I’m sure that every film-maker will have tales to tell regarding the amount of work creating a film entails. Birmingham resident Andy Spencer could probably regale you with stories regarding the making of his film, The Casebook of Eddie Brewer. Not only did he make it with a budget that most Hollywood directors would use just to buy coffee, but he also managed to assemble a cast predomentaly made up of Midlands based actors.
The film stars Ian Brooker, who Ambridge fans will know as Wayne Foley. He plays paranormal investigator Eddie Brewer and judging by the trailer, he is certainly coming up against all manner of rather frightening phenomena.
Not sure when the film is going to be released but since it was shot in my home town of Erdington, I cannot wait to see the finished picture.
This video has probably been shown many times and in many places. I don’t want to feel left out, so I’m showing it here too.
An individual has made the connection that the Cookie Monster and Tom Waits sound alike. So being a rather clever individual he has put them both together in a rather enjoyable manner.
I’ve had this in my inbox for a little while. It’s organised by Andy Killeen who runs the Prince of Wales Writers’ Group. The information is copied directly from blurb.
Pow-Wow Litfest
Saturday 17th September 2011
An afternoon and evening investigating, debating and celebrating the written (and spoken) word, in the garden of Birmingham’s best traditional pub.
Listen and talk to publishers, agents and writers, in a friendly and informal setting. Learn about the craft of writing and how to reach readers. Then be entertained by literate, witty and unpredictable performers.
Speakers include Sarah Ballard, literary agent whose clients include Julian Barnes and Blake Morrison, Catheryn Kilgarriff of independent publishers Marion Boyars, and Luke Brown of Birmingham based Tindal St Press. Performers include poets from Nine Arches, Dan Holloway ofYear Zero Writers, and stand-up philosopher Matthew Hammond.
Litfest is happening from 1pm on Saturday 17th September, at the Prince of Wales, Moseley, Birmingham B13 8EE. Tickets are now available at
http://litfest2011.eventbrite.
This blog may be in danger of becoming PR for Dirty Bristow magazine but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I also need to disclose a personal interest in the success of the magazine as I have a short story published within its rather stylish pages.
For those who may not be aware, Dirty Bristow is a literary manifestation that aims to publish the best prose the editors can get their dirty editorial hands on. Most magazines tend to edit and publish articles based upon the advertising space that they have to fill. Dirty Bristow has a rather different attitude – No Ads, No Rules.
As a consequence, financing this little gem requires a little imagination of the fund raising kind. So last night they decided to host an event to launch issue two – The Bristow-lympics.
There was music, booze, comedy, booze, games, booze and a rather tawdry spectacle of a man dressed as a gorilla. For this, there can be no excuse. You can view some photos from the event here and here.
The magazine itself is the finest piece of self-financed art that two people can produce. Not only are there words of rather irresistible joy but there are also accompanying illustrations of equal lusciousness. My own little tale is entitled, The Young Man & The Reservoir. A story of youth, love and fishing. Here’s a little excerpt:
His unconscious mind very quickly created dreams. He was submerged in water but somehow still breathing. Indefinable things would float past him. He tried to swim after them, but his body would remain in one place, no matter how much he tried to move. He then saw something slowly coming towards him. It was shapeless yet he felt that it somehow belonged to him. It was a huge mass of nothingness that was getting nearer to him, ready to be formed as something. He tried to reach for it but it disappeared. Simon was left floating alone again. He then began to hear sounds like distant voices, but still he couldn’t move. He then saw something else begin to take shape from a distance and it swam towards him at a great speed.
If you want to read the rest of it then you will have to buy a copy of the magazine. This may sound mercenary, but just bear in mind that all those involved don’t get a single penny for their work, so the least that you can do is a buy copy you cheap bastards.
I’ve always been told that it’s best not to be rude to potential customers, so I would like to rephrase my last sentence. Could you please, for the benefit of writers, artists and for the sheer pleasure of possessing something wonderful purchase a copy. I hope that’s sold it to you.
“To see what is front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” - George Orwell
The good people at Dirty Bristow magazine (Jon Bounds & Danny Smith) are embarking on a writing adventure that resurrects the heady days of writer as journalist and embraces a very American activity with a very British phenomenon. They will be driving to all remaining fifty six pleasure piers in England and Wales in just two weeks. So it won’t just be the road to Wigan that they will be taking.
The road trip may seem like a legacy of US beatnik literature (with Kerouac as designated driver) but ultimately its soul is rooted in classic and ancient text. What is Homer’s Odyssey if not On the Seas. However, On the Buses is a completely different beast. But I digress.
As they have already shown with their free e-book, Concrete and Cocktails, Jon & Danny have the capacity to pump out prose about the everyday and fuse it with the big theme of our relationship with our surroundings. With Pier Review, they will be exploring the British psyche’s relationship to the structures that have allowed sunburned pedestrians traverse the gap between land and sea. As they explain it:
Piers are the phallic symbols of our desire to own the motherly sea; our Victorian forefathers covered them with the lace dressings of amusement to prevent the working class getting too excited. Since then they’ve rotted slowly, like Britain’s empire and its self respect.
All that is left to say is that anybody who embarks on a great journey needs support and they are no exception. So if you like your writers to be tainted with booze, cigarettes and fatigue then you will be pleased to know that you can help them on their journey.
All we have to do now is sit back and wait.
N.B. – Pier Review also has a tour manager. Read Midge’s words here.