Quizzezzezzezzes

Hello,

I'm planning a super cool fun music quiz night to raise money for charity and I was wondering whether anyone had any good suggestions for:  Rounds to include?  What types of questions people like?  How long it should be? AND, most importantly... a super cool name???

Please leave a comment with any thoughts, your help would be much appreciated!

I'm doing it to raise money for Bluebell Wood, a children's hospice in Nottinghamshire which does lots of very good work for sick children & their families.

Thanks for your help!

Bex
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Play-doh-ground event TONIGHT!

There's an awesome event on in Nottingham tonight.  Famous gaming designer Keita Takahashi has been involved with planning the re-development of a children's playground in Woodthorpe for a while now.  The latest stage of this process involves an evening of "fun, games and whimsy" as part of GameCityNights at Antenna.

This includes a competition for teams to take inspiration from Keita's work and basically have a giggle with Playdoh to create something that you'd like to see in the park.  Whether you want to create an inspired object of absolute silliness or a feat of skilled engineering is up to you!

For more details on this unique event check out the Game City website or the Facebook event.

My New Favourite Thing

I heart Mario.

Jumpers For Goalposts

A quick reminder... it's Jumpers For Goalposts  tomorrow night at the Alley Cafe.

We've got Hawks & Other Birds playing live. New band out in Notts.

We've got Anders & Holly (Polka Dot Promotions) playing charity shop vinyl as an homage to the wonderful Music Exchange (read below).

PLUS

We've got a great creative competition with some truly MEGA prizes to be won*.  Because the band are Hawks & Other Birds and because Nick is a big girl who's afraid of flapping things like birds (sorry Nick! xx) we got to thinking about phobias... so you need to come and show us what you're scared of, via the medium of plasticine, googly eyes, crepe paper and talent.

See you there!

Bex
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Some pictures from Jumpers past...

 
 
* in this instance the word MEGA = a bit rubbish

Go West!

Yesterday after a slightly disappointing trip into Sherwood me and Anders ventured into Nottingham to find various birthday & Father's Day presents. Turns out WH Smith is pretty much on the money with books for Father's Day and Fopp furnished us with some good CD based treats for our respective Dads (Seasick Steve & that ole Piano Man Billy Joel). A bit more looking for birthday presents and we were ready for a bite to eat (Anders) and a sit down (me), so we made our way up to the West End Arcade, and this is the reason I'm writing this post. I just wanted to say that if anyone hasn't been up there for a while then go now!

Here are the reasons why:

- It's got really cool old 70's signage:

 - There are 2 record shops. Yes, two! One's alright (The Heavy Sounds), but doesn't tally exactly with our tastes. The second is awesome, because not only does it stock really good stuff (including local labels like Gringo & our very own Hello Thor), but it also raises money for charity - The Music Exchange should be your new favourite shop. Read more about it here.

- There's an awesome-ly bad new gallery shop. Sorry if you own it and you're reading this, but it really is awesome-ly bad. Sorry too if you're one of the artists featured. It's a really nice place for a gallery, lots of light, big square windows, a lovely little shop, but the stuff in there is random and incredible. I won't describe particularly bad bits, because I just won't be able to help being really rude, but you definitely need to check it out. Me and Anders wanted to buy a whole wall's worth, just because it's so amazing.

- Al's shop Recreation is great. This is it a little while ago, and yes there you can spot Nick, Tom & Anders goofing around.  

The shop stocks a brilliant mix of really desirable vintage pieces of furniture, ceramics, stereos etc alongside stuff made by designer-maker-craft people in Nottingham. I've bought a beautiful ceramic necklace in there before shaped like a moustache with a lovely blue floral print. It gets very positive reviews every time I wear it. I've also bought a couple of prints and some really nice T-shirts by I Dress Myself. I'd really recommend it if you want to buy yourself or a stylish friend a present.

- Finally, last but not least, there is the magical, magnificent creperie, Aubrey's. I can't say this strongly enough, GO! We've been for lunch a few times on a Saturday and it makes you feel like you're on holiday. It has only a few small tables, so you have to be lucky to get one, and serves delicious savoury galettes (with lovely garlic mushroom, olive tapenade, raclette etc flavours) and amazing sweet sweet crepes (with ricotta & berries, orange & cardamom and more). Plus the hot chocolate is the best in Nottingham, the crockery is vintage and makes you want to sneak it in your bag when no-one's looking AND they have the papers on a Saturday. What more could you want? It's well worth the walk up from Market Square and away from costa, nero, starbucks & the rest.

One more pic:

Hope you go soon!

bex

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Amazing digital art

Battle of Branchage from seeper on Vimeo.


This is an incredible film showing a digital projection onto an old castle. I love how it uses the fabric of the castle and creates an amazing animation around it and I love seeing it above the town lying peacefully below.

If you check out the website of the people who made it there's also an ACDC vs Ironman one.

Bex
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Video by Little Kingdoms for "Ace is the way" - Fists

Fists 'Ace is the Way' from Little Kingdoms on Vimeo.


Don't think I've posted this up before. If not, silly me. This is an ace animation created by a friend of Fists, Little Kingdoms. You can check another of his video's out here: http://vimeo.com/10556873.

Awesome.

Bex
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Yunioshi @ Nottingham Contemporary

Saw Yunioshi play the Nottingham Contemporary bar over the Bank Holiday weekend. We very nearly didn't make it and were gutted to miss Japanese Sleepers & Spaceships Are Cool, but were delighted that we made it in time to hear Team Yunioshi launch their new EP.

What a fun gig! We missed the craft section but luckily there were still a man hanging around with foil wrapped round his head, and one man totally dressed as a robot. The sound was awesome as we came down through the building and didn't disappoint when we got into the bar. I had suspected it may feel a bit cold and sterile for performances, but the atmosphere was fantastic and the bar looked really cool. It was a bit like walking into a super cool party in a film.

Yunioshi sounded better than I've ever heard them sound live before, big props to the sound man for that. The new songs sounded ace, the old songs sounded fresh & everything was perfectly in proportion. Here's some pics:

Bye! Love Bex