Features
Film Reviews
Art / Exhibitions
Poetry Events
Music / Festivals
Book Reviews
The Life Update Bit
I'm also pretty active on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr (say hello!).
Hope you're all doing ok out there in Hell World.
Showing posts with label nottingham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nottingham. Show all posts
Saturday, 2 May 2020
Writing Dump / Life Update
Because I like everything in its right place, here is all the stuff I’ve written over the last couple of years for Left Lion, Now Then and Reel Steel.
Funnily enough, I've got some time to work on my blog again. I now live in Sheffield, work in tech, and have a boyfriend who knows a lot about German.
I'm also pretty active on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr (say hello!).
Hope you're all doing ok out there in Hell World.
I'm also pretty active on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr (say hello!).
Hope you're all doing ok out there in Hell World.
Tuesday, 3 April 2018
Five (Left) Lions
Nottingham treasure LeftLion Magazine reaches its 100th issue this month! It's a must-read if you're in the city, and free to pick up from many a fine Notts establishment. I'm dead chuffed to have been doing a few articles for their website recently, here they all are if you fancy a gander...
1. Nottingham Writers' Studio to Host Joint Networking Event with Society of Authors
A little plug for our beloved Notts Writers' Studio, which is well worth a visit.
2. 10 Nottingham Watering Holes with Pub Sports and Games
I had so much fun researching for this (2-3 pubs per week for a month).
3. Art Review: Strike Site at Backlit
Review of an exhibition about the refugee crisis at indie gallery Backlit.
4. Fluent Females: Third Annual Women Say Stuff Event at Cafe Sobar
Write up of a female-led poetry event for International Women's Day.
5. Film Review: The Square
Getting bitter and preachy about the mad world of contemporary art.
1. Nottingham Writers' Studio to Host Joint Networking Event with Society of Authors
A little plug for our beloved Notts Writers' Studio, which is well worth a visit.
2. 10 Nottingham Watering Holes with Pub Sports and Games
I had so much fun researching for this (2-3 pubs per week for a month).
3. Art Review: Strike Site at Backlit
Review of an exhibition about the refugee crisis at indie gallery Backlit.
4. Fluent Females: Third Annual Women Say Stuff Event at Cafe Sobar
Write up of a female-led poetry event for International Women's Day.
5. Film Review: The Square
Getting bitter and preachy about the mad world of contemporary art.
 |
| Playing Ringing the Bull at Ye Olde Trip (plus mystery observer) |
Monday, 27 November 2017
A Tale of Two Bookshops - Scarthin Books & Five Leaves
Not a review as such, but a CELEBRATION of two brilliant independent bookshops! If you’re in the area, why not give ‘em a visit?
Along with whole rooms dedicated to Art, Music, and Children, Scarthin’s is creative in its categorising. There used to be a shelf labelled “all of them witches” for their Wiccan/Occult section (which I adored as a teen goth), a shelf near the ceiling of “old books too beautiful to hide”, and an eye-openingly generous section on Cats. You will leave wanting a bigger house.
There’s a wee vegetarian café upstairs and loads of nooks and crannies to explore. Stay a couple of hours! Before the refurb, someone had stuck up a photo of an ambiguous object, asking what it was. I wrote “a weapon of mass destruction” and by my next visit “a real and present danger” had been added.
Book people are the best people, and Scarthin’s is always staffed by bright young things. I was looking at Chomsky’s latest offering and was told “he has written better books”, before being guided over to the epic Politics section.
The layout is dreamy too, having to duck and squeeze through all those old tomes. It would be a wonderful place to take a date; peering over each other’s shoulders and getting to know their taste (one of my first dates with my partner involved browsing films in CeX - a huge success). Scarthin Books is a Labyrinth, a Pandora’s Box, an Aladdin’s Cave. It is one of my fave places on earth.
Click here to visit the Scarthin Books website
Five Leaves attracts a radical yet very polite crowd, and the staff leave you alone. Somebody even apologised for having to walk around me, which is amazing as this never happens (I am small, meek and constantly apologising for my own existence). It’s a lovely place for an introvert to go when Nottingham city centre gets too much. I should probably buy something next time though!
Being a one-room shop, they have to be discerning - so you get the best of everything. This is a bookshop run by people who really appreciate knowledge and want to share it with you. It’s all killer and no filler. There are lots of interesting titles that I remember from English Lit and Performing Arts.
You’ll also notice pretty early on that it’s fabulously left-wing. If you’re fond of the phrase “Social Justice Warrior” or “Loony Left”, you may want to sod off sharpish. I enjoyed the choice of Corbyn books, colourful selection of cultures and worldviews, and indie publishers. Five Leaves’ heroes are your heroes. It’s a safe space, down to the noticeboard of therapy hotlines and yoga classes.
Click here to visit the Five Leaves website
Have you got a favourite bookshop near you?
Scarthin Books, Cromford, Derbyshire
If you love books, Scarthin’s will make you weep. This gem of a shop has three floors of books, old and new, stuffed into every corner. It has a rickety Harry Potter vibe - held up purely by stacks of books and magic. There was even a fundraiser to ensure it didn’t collapse. It’s now better (and safer) than ever.Along with whole rooms dedicated to Art, Music, and Children, Scarthin’s is creative in its categorising. There used to be a shelf labelled “all of them witches” for their Wiccan/Occult section (which I adored as a teen goth), a shelf near the ceiling of “old books too beautiful to hide”, and an eye-openingly generous section on Cats. You will leave wanting a bigger house.
There’s a wee vegetarian café upstairs and loads of nooks and crannies to explore. Stay a couple of hours! Before the refurb, someone had stuck up a photo of an ambiguous object, asking what it was. I wrote “a weapon of mass destruction” and by my next visit “a real and present danger” had been added.
Book people are the best people, and Scarthin’s is always staffed by bright young things. I was looking at Chomsky’s latest offering and was told “he has written better books”, before being guided over to the epic Politics section.
The layout is dreamy too, having to duck and squeeze through all those old tomes. It would be a wonderful place to take a date; peering over each other’s shoulders and getting to know their taste (one of my first dates with my partner involved browsing films in CeX - a huge success). Scarthin Books is a Labyrinth, a Pandora’s Box, an Aladdin’s Cave. It is one of my fave places on earth.
Click here to visit the Scarthin Books website
Five Leaves Bookshop, City Centre, Nottingham
I’ve only just visited this place, even though it’s been open a few years now. It sits up an alleyway off Market Square, near to not-quite-bookshop The Works. If Scarthin’s is an old wizard, Five Leaves is its younger and hipper cousin.Five Leaves attracts a radical yet very polite crowd, and the staff leave you alone. Somebody even apologised for having to walk around me, which is amazing as this never happens (I am small, meek and constantly apologising for my own existence). It’s a lovely place for an introvert to go when Nottingham city centre gets too much. I should probably buy something next time though!
Being a one-room shop, they have to be discerning - so you get the best of everything. This is a bookshop run by people who really appreciate knowledge and want to share it with you. It’s all killer and no filler. There are lots of interesting titles that I remember from English Lit and Performing Arts.
You’ll also notice pretty early on that it’s fabulously left-wing. If you’re fond of the phrase “Social Justice Warrior” or “Loony Left”, you may want to sod off sharpish. I enjoyed the choice of Corbyn books, colourful selection of cultures and worldviews, and indie publishers. Five Leaves’ heroes are your heroes. It’s a safe space, down to the noticeboard of therapy hotlines and yoga classes.
Click here to visit the Five Leaves website
Have you got a favourite bookshop near you?
Monday, 9 April 2012
"Magic Roundabout" collages.
A group project at uni. We’d decided to make an advertising campaign for an art festival on Nottingham’s BBC roundabout.
Above are some of the guests who would've turned up.
These were the camping and leisure facilities available.
Aaand, I GO ON HOLIDAY TOMORROW! I’d say goodbye, but I’ll be taking my laptop with me because I’m a money-grabbing workaholic.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Separation Anxiety photos.
Here are some photos I took for Nottingham-based band Separation Anxiety; a good bunch of people to work with, serious about music! A wider selection should be on their band page shortly...
(http://www.facebook.com/separationanxietyuk?sk=wall)
They're pretty rough and ready pics, but in my defense it was dark and my camera (and knowledge of photography) is not great. Excuses excuses. Taken at Sitwell Tavern in Derby, on a gangsters and molls night, hence ties and pinstripes all round!
(http://www.facebook.com/separationanxietyuk?sk=wall)
They're pretty rough and ready pics, but in my defense it was dark and my camera (and knowledge of photography) is not great. Excuses excuses. Taken at Sitwell Tavern in Derby, on a gangsters and molls night, hence ties and pinstripes all round!
Ahh, I was in a band once...le sigh...
Monday, 19 December 2011
My first video, 'WE ARE ROBIN HOOD'.
Just back from seeing my old friends in Nottingham, I’ve really missed it. On that note; here’s a video about Robin Hood I made on my art foundation, at college a few years ago.
It was a week-long project and we had to make something about an “Icon” (I nearly picked Harry Potter oops). At the end of the week we got to vote on each other’s work and somehow, mine won joint first place. This was actually my very first experience of filmmaking…and believe me, you can tell!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)