Creative Times: A trip worth taking

On Wednesday night, I attended the launch of the Abandon Normal Devices in Manchester. Having navigated several of the opening night venues and walked a great deal of Manchester I reached a stumbling block, literally, at the Salutation Pub, where burger in hand I took the kind of slow motion fall that would have made even Buster Keaton stare in awe. As it was, I dismissed the concerns of friends and strangers and thought about puns for my blog!

A trip down memory lane



As a veteran since the very first festival in Liverpool, I wouldn’t let a mere grazed knee stand in the way of my enjoying the feast of international artists and activities that the Abandon Normal Devices Festival has to offer. I have left the North west, but something about this festival draws me back every year to partake in a whimsical look at digital art and quirky ideas allowed to develop and flourish.



The Saturday night, headline act, Trixxie Carr, follows in the footsteps of All About Evil 2010’s interactive horror drag show which I blogged about here. It’s a welcome return to the festival for the San Francisco performer challenging the very concept of a traditionally male led drag performance!



Falling into the unknown



Of course the hook of the festival is the new, unique and different. The idea of artists curating different spaces, whilst not new, continues to have an infinite number of permutations. The transformed spaces here are caravans, a travelling mobile republic which includes a broadcasting booth and a gastronomic smelling experience where you create your own spice combinations using a futuristic machine straight out of HG Wells.



Truly unqiue and bizarre is the The Master/Slave Invigilation system which is something that has to be experienced to be believed. Moving between sites you are taken on a tour of the AND exhibitions by a artist Jeremy Bailey who is based at a remote venue (downstairs in Cornerhouse) and offers a idiosyncratic insight into the shows through a digital ipad screen mounted on a mute robot “slave”. Visually intriguing, it turns out that I actually knew the first robot I encountered but the experience obscures their identity presenting a curious androgynous form with digital imagery.

http://www.andfestival.org.uk/events/masterslave-invigilator-system/



Finding new ways to present film is always a challenge, so the ambitious Empire Drive In, an open air (YES in Manchester!) cinema showing retro classics befitting the post apocalyptic space. Robocop has gone, but Mad Max 2 Beyond The Thunderdome is still to come, although probably sold out by now.



The programme is a lovely snapshot of stories rarely told and experimentation of method and contains films I will be actively seeking out, in particular a film about Manchester genius Alan Turing father of the internet, which of course makes such an innovative festival possible.



This year may be its last in the current form, so whilst you have the chance, Cornerhouse is once again inviting you to come out and play and I hope you fall hard for it like I did! The spectacle continues until Sun 2 September at various venues across Manchester and the mobile republic will also be on a limited tour. See http://www.andfestival.org.uk/ for more details.



My Favourite Fictional Women - Diana Trent

When I was younger, I decided that as a young adult I wanted to be Lynda Day, as a professional - Shiela Sabbatini and to grow old disgracefully in the mould of Diana Trent. Feisty, fierce and with hints of a wicked past, she had all her marbles in tact (firing on all cylinders in fact) and wit and humour in abundance. Today at my place of work some young kids perpared food for some elderly residential home residents and some of our staff. I was sat next to Lily, a whip smart former bus conductor from Sierra Leone by way of Liverpool. As a Sierra Leonean descendant, and former Liverpool resident, we had loads to talk about and got on like a house on fire and she got me thinking about Waiting For God and how my final years may play out. I hope she has as much fun as Diane Trent - and Tom for that matter - seemed to have, in spite of facing patronising relatives and institutional incompetence. Whilst I am a fan of the institution of marriage in the right circumstances, this clip is a golden nugget of Diana Trent always makes me wet myself! (nothing like incontinence to form a bit of solidarity with the elderly)

 

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Hi Guys, I didn't post in June because I was on a a secret geek mission (more on that in October) and I was here:

I'm getting back into a UK state of mind and I'll be back very soon!

Turning you square eyed - Part One: Youtube

How are you, fine followers?  Seriously - how are you? What have you been doing/seeing/creating - please comment.

As some of you know I have nerdish tendacies, so today I am sharing my discovery of myriad youtubers who make my insomniac soul lollop like a carefree matress in the swamps of Sqornshellous Zeta.  For each one I've linked both the channel and picked 1 or 2 of my favourite videos.

The five awesome girls - self explanatory title. They were collectively awesome interent friends who posted on monday to friday in 2008 for the year to get to know each other better as they live in different parts of the US.  Since then they posted less frequently on the 5AG channel but are individually awesome (they already were of course) on their own channels. Hayley was probably my favourite here she is being delightful about her "political views" including a great reference to Adele's ex boyfreind.

the vlog brothers - John and Hank Green are brothers who have one long chat with each other on the internet and have fun with history and science.  Their aim is to raise nerdy to the power of awesome - they are VERY successful at it.  Also they created the Don't Forget To Be Awesome label and a Vlog adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

nerimon aka Alex Day- The sarcastic one!  Not always sarcastic, he explained the lost finale with stick figures, but if you want a rant he's your man.  Fans of Creationism or Twilight please look away now. I would completely subscribe to him interpreting the whole bible. (obviously impractical it would take forever). Sample quote [paraphrased] "adam puts all the blame on eve, which is well unfair"  He's also a talented musician who releases music without the backing of a studio and dissects ridiculous music lyrics. 

Also fantastic crossover video with 5AG's Kristina.  Because I think we should all revisit the My Little Ponies as adults.

Right only a few more links to go - bear with me folks I'm saving the best for last!

On to Alex Day's flat mate Charlie McDonnell aka charlieissocoollike - so many fun videos to choose from but I LOVE a couple of his songs and he messed up a meeting with Tim Minchin in the most endearing way, but that was already on Rude Tube so I'll leave you with his duet with himself and song about fancying people and one of his challenges where he tells you lots about himself - yep he loves Dr Horrible.  Sweet.
Finally my nerd video of the week: I may be late to this particular party but the HISHE Youtube channel is full of win.  I submit for your pleasure : How Iron Man Should Have Ended

Final, last mention, a new webshow filling my void until the return of The Misadventures of  ABG is Jan, part of a channel called WIGS. The cast is fanastic, and Stephen Moyer needs to rock his normal accent more often (no offence True Blood fans).  There are lots of different shows yet to come with interesting premises and magnificient actors.  What's not to love.

Right off to indulge in a spot of nerdfighting.  Do Not Forget To Be Awesome folks.

Response Blog - Overshare

I was reading this blog  which referenced the silly survey, I am a sucker for those surveys too, but usually it's the same old questions, whereas the one posted on Caulk and Crinolines had me stumped by question 3.  I had to google my university and primary school mascots.  So here are a few things you probably never cared to know about me:

And here we go!
Do you have a favorite number?
My favorite number is 8.Weirdly the same as AJ.  I can't remember why, maybe it's a born in August thing.
How many goddamn chickens could you eat right now?
Always several.  I love Chicken.  My mum's pepper chicken is the reason I knew I wouldn't be a vegetarian forever.  The Drum (my work)'s jerk chicken sizzler platter is a major contributing factor to my inability to stay on budget at the end of the month.
What is the mascot of every school you’ve attended?
I don't think my infant/junior school had one - maybe an aeroplane
Secondary school - Edward the Lion
Uni - the liver birds?
I just set your house on fire; what one thing do you grab on your way out?
laptop.  On second thoughts a lighter - yiu just set my house on fire, I'm bringing REVENGE!
Personality trait most likely to make you never talk to someone again.
Rascism.
We all like different crap. Name one food, band and movie that you hate that everyone else seems to like.
Food: Raw tomatoes are wrong on many levels. And rich tea biscuits.  anyone from my 1995 Italy trip can tell you why.
Band: 1 Direction.  I don't so much hate them as realise I've never heard thir stuff and looking at them makes me not want to bother.
Movie: The Tree of Life.
Now name one food, band and movie that everyone hates, but you like it because you’re a stupid dick.
Food: I can eat sweetcorn on nearly anything.
Band: I once listened to a podcaster I love rant about how bad the Counting Crows are.  I love 'em.
Movie: Con Air is awesome. 
What social situation makes you the most uncomfortable?
I have a pathologically poor memory for names.  Even for people I have known for years, lived with or am related to.  In my defence my mum has 5 sisters, dad has 9 siblings so family members are very hard to keep track of.  But family occasions where people ask "do you remember me..?" often result in me saying "No"
Honestly, how many friends do you have that you would willingly spend a day with? If the answer is not in single digits, you are a fucking liar.
Loads of them.  I could easily spend a year spending a day with a different friend each day.  That woud be pretty cool.  Also I am totally capable of spending an entire day watching tv/movies with someone - which really fills a lull in conversation.
Is there anything worse than The Big Bang Theory?
The thought that one day, The Big Bang Theory will no longer exist. 
I wanna know… have you ever seen the rain?
I lived in Manchester for nearly a decade.  I live in England.  There are days when all I see is rain.
Would you rather have diarrhea 10 times per month or vomit once per month?
This isn't all that hypothetical. Mixing spirits and wine results in the vomit a month scenario.  And lets face it, after some waffles and rehydration all is good.  Noone wants constant bottom malady.
Would you be interested in spending an evening with me watching sports and eating Easy Mac?
No Formula One.  If it's golf you'd pretty much have to look like Ryan Gosling to make that happen.  Otherwise sports are fine.  I love pasta. I could rock some Easy Mac (assuming it's some instant Macaroni Cheese stuff)
Assuming no penalty, would you kill another human being (you can choose who)? If you say no, once again you are a fucking liar.
I work in customer service.
Which Disney moment makes you cry the most because Disney is a dick of an entity that demands the death of at least one animal per movie?
Dumbo's mum protecting her baby and them being seprated always gets me.  Mumfasa's being trampled to death comes second.
Name one abnormal thing about your body.
I'm constantly surprised it still works given the abuse I've thrown at it.  Superhuman ability to withstand a diet which is largely stuff with sweetcorn, pancakes, waffles chips and chocolate.

Films, Festivals and Fun

Hi guys

It's been a pretty busy month. Which means I have neglected you kind people. Apologies, I hope absence has merely made the heart grow fonder.

The oscars were just plain "fine" in the end, barely worthy of comment on the fashion or eventfulness scale. Even Ryan seacrest's ash bath and Angelina's leg have faded.

March is always a busy month for me. In Birmingham there's the flatpack festival and in Manchester the Viva Spanish and Latin American film festival.

I managed a pretty great weekend of festivities which took in Blank City - a documentary celebrating outrageous and innovative cinema, Quadrophenia - disillusioned youth and a great cast of character actors.

then on to Manchester for a cross section of Spanish Langauge films - sublimely surreal black tragicomedy The Last Circus, La Mirada Invisible the tale of a repressed teacher with hidden passions and Primos a sweet comedy about love and family.

Viva! closed with the start of this exhibition of Spanish filmmakers at the Instituto Cervantes on Deansgate, which is well worth a look before 30th April.

I've also got my act in gear and caught up on some films I've missed so I finally saw the amazing The Interrupters, the above average Rise of The Planet of Apes and mildly depressing but revelatory Dreams of a Life.

They win for me respectively the awards for Most ridiculously overlooked documentary, most egregious failure to recognise Andy Serkis if not with the best supporting actor oscar (and Christopher Plummer's speech was one of my highlights of oscars night) but surely with his own category! And finally film most likely to make you call that person you should speak to more often.

Of the more mainstream fayre, Tom Hardy has impressed me with his humour in This Means War - funnier than I thought it would be , I went for the eye candy but left having enjoyed the humour. I also FINALLY caught Warrior, which given it's a film about fighting was way darker than I expected. God Nick Nolte, you were a fine deadbeat ex vet drunk. I also secretly love it when there is accent revenge in a film. For every yank pretending to be a brit, there is Warrior containing a brit and an ozzie pretending to be yanks.

Also Zombieland came around on my rental list and I saw The Hunger Games which proved that Woody Harleson has range with his rocking drunk, cranky, crazy characters. Each one uniquely bitter and brave!

To say I saw The Woman In Black is to totally undermine the meaning of the word "saw". on a statistical percentage, I glanced The Woman In Black with audio. Way too scary for a wimp like me, but some people like that kind of thing. (Thanks little sis for the nightmares). Oddly I am still going to watch The Cabin In The Woods. Any association with Joss Whedon can dispel my fears!

Very few links and tweople today. However there are a few things on my cultural radar I want to big up...

Did you see Son of Rambow? No? Rent it now!!! It was a lovely british film about friendship, which I wish had done better and featured pre gossip girl Ed Westwick as brother to a supremely talented Will Poulter.

Need more convincing? Luckily you can head down to the cinema right now and see him in Wild Bill the debut directorial effort by my 2nd favourite member of the Junior Gazette (Lynda Day was my role model through my entire adolescence) and featuring another Press Gang alum - and potnetial serious BAFTA contender Charlie Creed-Miles.

Is it also a coincidence that Dexter Fletcher was also my original favourite stealth Brit? I was delighted to discover that the american ("an american. there are more than one of us you know") was actually relatively local!

But I digress. I am crazily enthusiastic about this film. I love having reasons to support British filmmaking as it makes it better for the arts as a whole when there are British creative sucesses and I people are buzzing about it, but I want more people to go!

Also something you may consider for your Easter weekend - West Bromwich! No I'm not joking. the pink palace also known as The Public is hosting an indie music festival called Now We Are Weekender.

Finally I haven't plugged a book in a while, so in addition to buying Leeanne Stoddart's superb poetry book for family and friends - there are another 2 books I want to plug.

If you like vampires and the supernatural, is suspect you will love Sire: The Vampires of St Troy by Thomas Galvin a very entertaining blogger.

And if you want to go the extra Geek/Nerd mile then check out Lab Coats in Hollywood by David Kirby. I once had the great pleasure of attending a course he led on Science on Screen and he has some amazing insights into the relationships between "real science" and "film science". Here's a great wordpress review of the book.

So find some festivals and some films and show them some love!

Happy Easter from a Happy Esther!

https://twitter.com/#!/wildbillfilm

https://twitter.com/#!/Dexfletch

https://twitter.com/#!/PoulterWill

https://twitter.com/#!/thomascgalvin

https://twitter.com/#!/p_nut_butta

and Me!!! check out my more concise ramblings/observations and bizarre humour here....https://twitter.com/#!/shegeekmcr

That special time of year: Oscar predictions

Here we go: After much thought and seeing a couple of movies, but not as many as last year or this guy:

The best actor race is a curious one. I am pretty certain it is in the bag, but I actually would be thrilled by a Gary Oldman upset. If George Clooney wins I will be shocked and annoyed, because it'll be the second time I wished 2 other people got the award ahead of him. Also I would have loved Michael Fassbender to be nominated for Shame.

The women, a nice range of nominated roles both for lead and supporting actress. I have lost an article I wanted to reference on this, which I will post in the comments if I track it down. But are there any more different women than Marilyn Monroe, Maggie Thatcher, Lisbeth Salander and Megan from Bridemaids!

As I haven't seen as many films as usual, my technical category picks are pretty much out and out guesses - whatever I put for these categories I basically thought, well if it's not...then it'll be Hugo.

Screenplay - my most consistently poor prediction record. I went for Tinker Tailor... out of patriotism and because Peter Straughan's bafta acceptance speech, was eloquent and elegant and brought tears to my eyes.

See you on the other side, and we can laugh about how crazy I was thinking Hugo would beat The tree of Life for Cinematography.

Happy viewing.

BEST PICTURE: THE ARTIST
BEST DIRECTOR: Michel Hazanavicius, THE ARTIST
BEST ACTOR: Jean Dujardin, THE ARTIST
BEST ACTRESS: Viola Davis, THE HELP
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christopher Plummer, BEGINNERS
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Octavia Spencer, THE HELP
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
BEST ART DIRECTION: HUGO
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: HUGO
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: THE ARTIST
BEST EDITING: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
BEST MAKEUP: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: THE ARTIST
BEST ORIGINAL SONG: “Man or Muppet,” THE MUPPETS
BEST SOUND EDITING: HUGO (this was DRIVE until this morning)
BEST SOUND MIXING: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: RANGO (I actually want Chico and Rita to win)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: PINA
BEST FOREIGN FILM: A SEPARATION
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: TIME FREAK
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM: DIMANCHE/SUNDAY
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM: THE BARBER OF BIRMINGHAM: FOOT SOLDIER OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT (because if a film mentions Birmingham, any Birmingham, it gets my vote!)

Birmingham Casting Call

I have been asked to circulate a casting call for several Birmingham based 15-20 year olds and 1 older guy (40-50) for a film about the riots - Broken Society.

Shooting this month in Birmingham. Details to follow.

Directed by Actor/Director Neil Reidman

Contact details on his website: http://neilreidman.com/index.html
Or post below/message me on twitter for info.

*** Unrelated Geek squee - Neil was in a Tennant Doctor Who episode! ****

Related event plug - I have been trying to get a Birmingham screening of highly acclaimed US film The Interuppters and it's happening this month at The Drum. It's about people in Chicago who are proactively trying to stop crime by interrupting perpetrators.

I would be delighted if you can make it - and at £2.50 a ticket, why wouldn't you give it a try? Roger Ebert calls it one of the greatest Oscars snubs EVER (well that's how I read it) in his blog. See if you agree.

****
tweeps in this blog: @neilreidman @shegeekmcr @TheInterrupters

Redesign and updates in progress ...Please bear with me

This page is due a thorough update - so I am doing it gradually over January/February.

New Year, New Possibilities, New People

Previously on Planet Esther...

Shameless
What’s that you cry across the far reaches of cyberspace? Where is the link to the long agonised over review of Shame? Alas it never came to be, so Manchester Salon was not left rapturous over my succinct profile and erudite words of wisdom.

In the end I felt I didn’t really know what I could add to a discussion. Yes it’s about sex addiction. Yes it’s fantastically acted, insightful, full of pathos and incredibly engaging. You will never hear “New York New York” the same way again. Yes, I recommend you watch it. It is a fantastic portrayal not just of loneliness, and obsession and futility but also of siblings with a complex family dynamic.

So there you go, my micro review. If you fancy something meatier, the review that did appear in Manchester Salon is here. http://www.manchestersalon.org.uk/shame-cornerhouse.html

So that was last year. This year has come and it’s full of new possibilities. And new films.


Square eyes, round belly
As usual, I am trying to see as many awards nominated films as possible, but I’m generally behind with my viewing and refusing to watch War Horse so it’s not as comprehensive an attempt as last year. I’m also watching more TV these days, I’ve finally caught up with Fringe, I'm addicted to The Good Wife (they could kill off Alicia and I'd still stay for Diane, Kalinda, Eli and ven Cary and Zach) and I have found a new addiction in the form of a webseries called “The Mis-adventures Of Awkward Black Girl”. http://www.awkwardblackgirl.com/episodes

**Warning ** It does contain some offensive language but is genuinely sweet at it’s core. In fact if you, like me, are facing a Valentine’s Day without a special one, this shows hope that there is someone for EVERYONE! After uber-nerd Carlton Banks left my life, I never thought I’d relate to a TV character who shared my ethnic roots and I never really looked for it, so this has come as a delightful surprise. Not since Ross’ “you’re over me, when were you under me?” and Aeryn Sun/John Crichton’s galaxy wide struggle for true frelling love, have I been so much so invested in a fictional romantic decision. Note to self: do not start watching a series 24 days before the season finale airs. That's going-to-see-a-Katherine-Heigl-film-with-high-hopes level of torture (curse the 27 dresses anomaly!)

Please enjoy Season 1 online and wait eagerly with the rest of the Awkward Nation for season 2. What other webseries fans, whilst waiting for the show to go live, send me recipe tips for show related food? More importantly who doesn’t want Angry Birds Cup Cakes!! http://thecraftingchicks.com/2011/03/angry-birds-cupcakes.html

Perfect Poetry

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, some people have a gift for words, and I can’t say it enough, Leeanne Stoddart’s poems are positive and full of joy, and if you want to impress your other half with words which will enlighten their soul. It’s more original than flowers and chocolate and will last longer. Preview it and buy it here! http://leeannestoddart.com/bookpreview

Spread a little love and it all comes back to you...
I’m all about discovering new and interesting creative people and met this guy recently. In addition to being added to the list of people whose blogs I would happily spend a Sunday afternoon browsing he has also recently sent out an altruistic post aimed at getting work for his mates: read his stuff, buy him a pint if you meet him http://iam.peteashton.com/hire-them/

Next time on Planet Esther...
I will be overwhelmed by your support of Leeanne’s book. Having propelled it to best seller status and I will be regaling with tales of my travels Leeanne’s PA/publicist a post necessitated by her global success. Make it happen people!

More likely I’ll be talking about the Oscars.

Some tweeps mentioned in today’s blog:
@shamefilm ; @manchestersalon ; @awkwardblackgirl; p_nut_butta ; @peteashton and of course me- @shegeekmcr

See you in the future.