Creative Times: If Only I Could Teleport

The Wedding Scene from Don Giovanni

Hello noble  readers.

This weekend I am going to a wedding which promises to be a superlative couple of days amongst some fantastic friends.  That said, being fond of performance and pop culture I have to say this weekend is one of those times I wish I could teleport or clone myself to magically indulge in some serious cross UK, cross cultural activity.  So for your delectation my futuristic fantasy of what 24^th – 25^th November would hold.

Saturday:
I’d take in the Celebrity Couples conference at the university of  Southampton – hopefully catching the sessions on The Romantic Myth of Kate and Spence or Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith: From Latin Lover and Hollywood Bad Girl to Loyal Husband and Aging Female Star .

Unfortunately in order to catch the vows in sunny Manchester*, I will have to miss Watching the Throne: Beyonce and Jay-Z: Managing Celebrity Authenticity in the Blogosphere by a Salford based media lecturer, Dr Kirsty Fairclough.

Ah yes, if I had the power of instantaneous travel, after the food, speeches and first dance at the  Magnificent Manchester Wedding, I could take a breather and merely mosey across to Nottingham for my second viewing of the current Opera North run of Don Giovanni featuring a crazy wedding and an even crazier gatecrasher, and the best “appeasing a jealous boyfriend”  scene I have ever witnessed.

Then back to raucous antics in Manchester for the end of the wedding and possibly a hangover to end all hangovers.

Sunday:

What better way to ease my hangover than by catching up with friends over breakfast lunch and in a blink I could either return to my home turf at The Drum to take in a film. Since there is a Q&A with   Express Punjab a documentary about drugs in Pakistan that would be one option, or I could take full advantage of sci-fantasy transport methods and head even further south.

My second afternoon filmy choice would be attending the brand spanking new Underwire film festival  addressing why women “can’t” make featurefilms, with Dreams of A Life director Carol Morley and (I’m trying to be sooo cool about this and failing) my new twitter follower Hannah McGill, lists amongst a magnificent cv being former Artistic Director of the Edinburgh Film Festival.

After that I could Stealth Salvatore across time and space indulge in some mulled cider at the German Market and a brat-best (they could never be called wurst!) and finish off the night listening to the dulcet tones of Terri Walker back at The Drum . 

Alas without the aid of a tardis, this weekend will remain a fantasy and perhaps that’s for the best, after all friends and family are pretty special in themselves.

*the blogger accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of this statement or choking fits suffered by readers.

Creative Times: October Fests

Hello Readers,

It's your sporadic blogger here (guess who re-watched Clueless recently!)

A couple of things you should be checking out this month:

Online: All Animated. animators community  I started following them on facebook this week and already been introduced to this little gem:


Birmingham - Afrovibes festival at The Drum.  It was a fabulous success last time and features international dance, theatre and music.  It's also touring around.

It's worth just popping down for the photos on display in the cafe by South African Artist Tyler Dolan : Here's his website and the festival website

Also it's October, so it's Black History Month and there are fabulous events accross Birmingham.  I am planning on heading to the mac on Sunday with photographer Vanley Burke.  You can follow the Birminum trail featuring places from the photographs in his exhibition charting Birmingham immigrant communities.

Anyone else excited about the new lady in charge of the London Film Festival, Claire Stewart?  just me - can't be!  I probably won't make the festival, but this piece on shorts programmer Phil Ilson has me seeing if I can rework my schedule.

Also perpetual PlanetEsther fave, Cornerhouse is merging with the Library Theatre and recently announced it's new name.  I am not quite used to it yet, but as long as it has the same ethos, I suspect I will have no problem making it my occasional Home.

Happy October folks!