Just So Festival

Hello and welcome back! Yes, it's not just a welcome back for you, but for me as well. I'll admit I neglected this blog recently, it's been waiting for the day I could come back and wow you all with my recent adventures. So, like a man blowing off the cobwebs from his favourite suit, it's time for me to dust off this blog and give it a new entry. With no further ado, it's time to relay my thoughts and opinions about my most recent venture, to the "Just So Festival"...

Why was I there?

Just like my visit to the Towersey Village Festival, I was volunteering with the Institute of Physics on their "Physics In The Field" stand. On this stand we used everyday objects (bottles, marshmallows, handkerchiefs, etc) to demonstrate principles of physics. I was on the stall on the Saturday and Sunday of the event for most of the day, meaning I didn't have much time to explore the festival, but I gave it my best shot!

Tell me more...

The Rode Hall Estate. Lovely.

As you wish, the Just So Festival was a family arts festival taking place at the Rode Hall Estate in Cheshire over 15/16/17 August. As a family festival, it aimed to provide something for the kids to remember, but also something the parents would take pleasure in. A difficult balance, as too much of a focus on child-friendly content can leave a parent bored and the inverse, well, can get a bit inappropriate. But clearly a lot of care had been put in to get the programme right, with child-friendly performances galore during the day and more adult themes later on.

Oh no!

Talking of themes, the festival theme (from what I could guess) was one of general fantasy and wonderment. This theme presented itself everywhere, from the festival areas ("Lazy Days Glade", "High Seas", etc) to the events taking place (Circus acts, wandering tea ladies, a mirror maze). All around the festival site there were posters saying of the disappearance of the "Fairy Queen", who could only be brought back with the help of festival-goers all around the site! Now, I'm not sure on the details, but I believe families could tie bells to trees to help bring her back. The bells showed children still believed in her and sure enough, Sunday evening she had returned! Hurrah!

    
  

Yep, it's a frog.

Animals of all shapes...

The festival-goers were split into various tribes, which competed against each other to win the "tribal tournament". However, the real competition was definitely in who had the best costume, with some people putting in ridiculous amounts of effort to transform themselves into foxes, fishes, frogs, stags or lions (I might have missed one).

Spot the odd one out. I know, purple?

Performances

Time for a song!

During my brief time at the festival, my highlight was wondering into the "Spellbound Forest" and seeing a performance entitled "The Story Giant". A tale about a dying giant desperately trying to find the last unknown story, with his 4 companions. A whirlwind story full of other tall tales ranging from that of a woman with a magical bag to the wise man who came to dinner. Taking place on a stage in the "Spellbound Forest", the performance of the Shanty Theatre Company was thoroughly impressive, with the surroundings also lending themselves to the mystery and fantasy elements of the story. I would definitely recommend seeing any performance of theirs if they're at a festival near you!

Guess which one is the giant. No, it's not a trick question.

Information (Or lack of)

The one disappointment that springs to mind is the lack of information available about and from the festival. For example, on Saturday I asked the information centre if they had the number of a local taxi company. This is information a festival should have listed down. After a brief discussion between the two women on the desk, I was told they didn't know and that I should 192 it, as I didn't have internet available. I was unable to find basic information on their website about their programme, or even their festival map. This is basic info that I'd expect from a festival.

Finishing Touch

To finish off, apart from the information issue, the festival itself was a enjoyable experience. However, it must be noted that I spent little time there, so I will have missed a fair bit, but from what I saw, it seems like a great weekend for the whole family. It's perfect if you've got a flair for fancy dress!

Watch out!

Hallé Orchestra

Hello again, you appear to have stumbled upon another blog post of mine! Very recently I was fortunate enough to see the Hallé Orchestra perform at Bridgewater Hall. So if you are interested in classical music and even if you aren't, this post will be perfect for you!

Hallé Orchestra

The Hallé Orchestra, for the vigilant, have been mentioned in this blog before (here). They are a world-class orchestra, based in Manchester. They do regular performances at Bridgewater Hall, but have been known to venture elsewhere, such as Jodrell Bank. For a complete novice in classical music, I have to admit I was skeptical as to whether I would enjoy an evening performance of pieces which I was unfamiliar with. Well, I had nothing to fear. The mixture of the beautifully designed hall (below) and the extremely talented orchestra ensured that I was in for an experience I'll happily have again.

Have a look at that. Breathtaking.

The Pieces

I'll list the pieces which they played, if you want to go and have a listen: 

Stravinsky-Symphonies of Wind Instruments

Mendelssohn-Violin Concerto in E minor

Tchaikovsky-Symphony No.5

If those mean nothing to you, you're in the same boat I was. But it didn't matter that you had no idea how the music went, as you could very easily lose yourself to the music. I think this was the nature of the Hallé.

The piece by Stravinsky was most probably my favourite of the evening, a 10 minute piece performed purely by wind instruments. It was short enough that you could listen to it when you had a small bit of time, yet it still contained all of the elements of classical music you would expect to find, if you wanted to delve into the genre.

The Orchestra, just warming up.

The piece by Tchaikovsky was performed in the 2nd half, after the interval. It was a piece which demanded its own section, a thrilling foray through the voices of many, many instruments, spaced with audacious pauses. These pauses could catch a beginner, like myself, out. Luckily, I had an experienced listener sitting next to me, so I knew when to react. So be careful when listening to that one in public, or risk looking the fool.

When?

The performance which I saw was part of the Thursday series by the Hallé, which takes place at Bridgewater Hall.

Cost?

The cost depends, if you are a student, then the cost is £3 on the door! Huzzah! You can get the experience of seeing a world-class orchestra for a shaving of what you would expect the price to be. Winners all around, so don't miss out!

MSF 2013- 21st Century Coffee House (Penny University)

Lucky you, you've stumbled across an explosive blog post, with lasers and fire! I'm not a liar, you really have. Recently I went to a the Penny University event at the Manchester Science Festival (MSF) 2013 and I want to tell you all about it. So grab a coffee, sit back and relax...

21st Century Coffee House- Penny University Live

Yes, you did read that correctly. University for one pence. I must admit, it's not technically a whole degree for 1p, rather some talks by experts in their respective fields for 1p. If you did the maths though, you would still see it is much better value than £9000 a year! 

21st Century Coffee House? Penny University?

Yes, the name stems from 17/18th century coffee houses, which cost only 1p to enter. It didn't matter which class you were, as long as you paid 1p, you could enter and join in with discussions. They apparently very quickly became well-known as alternative places for learning, as you could speak with scholars outside of the traditional university environment. You could also get coffee there.

This event had a similar theme, where it cost 1p to enter and you could then buy coffee and listen to experts talk about their research in their specific fields. Hosted at MOSI's cafe, there were talks by 5 people, plus a quick intro about coffee and the old coffee houses themselves. 

The talks were about a wide range of topics, from bronze-age mummies to how we may have a possible cure for cystic fibrosis. The bronze-age mummy talk was very interesting for me in particular, as apparently quite a lot of mummies found in the British Isles were actually a mish-mash of various different bodies! Lovely. Another talk was on how smog is created over cities, especially in the morning, how this relates to climate change and some of the events being taken to prevent this increase in temperature. This included an example which involved oranges and lasers! 

Oranges and Lasers?

Science right there.

Yes, that famous combination, oranges and lasers. Originally, the laser was directed through the vial, but the beam wasn't visible. The orange peel acted as a pollutant, which reacted with some ozone which was already in the vial. When Sarah Moller (the speaker, pictured) shined a laser through the vial, the laser could be seen! This showed that the principle of how clouds work, by having particles which the water can grab onto. This creates bigger particles, which gets more water. You see the point. 

But this wasn't the only experiment of the night. No, no. No. Make way for exploding custard!

Exploding Custard!

Yes, exploding custard! Science communicator Ian Russell isn't a scientist. But he is brilliant science communicator and has been doing a show for years, all over the place, to get kids interested in science. This has taken him to places like the Royal Institution in London and even to Russia! He explained to the audience how children can notice things that adults can't. Why? Because adults are boring and have had most of the creativity drummed out of them at school. Startling, but it's true. 

Not to leave the audience on a low, he then showed us one of the tricks he uses in his show. That was exploding custard powder. By having the custard in powder form and mixing it with a lot of air at a high temperature, you can make it explode! So that's what he did. Have a look:

Put the powder in the tub, ready for all the air and fire...

BOOM!

Ta-dah! Exploding custard!

Cost?

It's in the name! Penny university! It cost one pence to get in and then you could buy coffee for extra.

Will It Happen Again?

Alas, this was a one-off event for the Manchester Science Festival. However, there are plenty more awesome science events during the rest of the festival. So have a look at the guide here and see what you fancy. If you want to find out more about the Penny University, their website is here. But for now, I'm going to try and cram in some more science festival fun! Bye!

MSF 2013- Science Showoff

Hello! The time is upon us, by that I mean the Manchester Science Festival (MSF) 2013 is here! This great city is currently experiencing a flurry of science-related activity, which anyone can get in on. However, there are so many events for you to go to, what happens if you miss some? Don't worry, that's where I come in. Over the period of the festival I will be visiting several events and shortly afterwards, I will be blogging about them. You can then use my blog as a guide to see whether you should visit these events the next time they are town. Anyway, enough chat! Let's get down to business...

Science Showoff

What?

I have to admit, it's quite a jazzy logo.

Science Showoff is an open mic night for scientists, teachers, students or just anyone who wants to talk to an audience about science. Each person gets roughly 8-10 minutes to talk about their topic of choice. They are generally aided by background slides, but don't be mistaken, this isn't a lecture. These talks are humorous, intriguing and relaxed. You get a range of performing styles, from the traditional (person talking to the audience for 8 minutes) to the bizarre (somebody not saying a word). 

Who?

The general set up. The lack of people is because this was
during the intermission, so they are at the bar.

The entire show was comprised of 7 performers, each doing a 10 (ish) piece. Yet the show needed somebody to make sure the show ran smoothly. This role was filled by Steve Cross, a man who prided himself on not knowing any science. This may sound odd, having a scientific novice hosting a show all about science, but it worked extremely well. This was mainly because he was a very laid back and funny individual, who was not above mocking certain members of the audience (chemists) and giving anecdotes.

It would take too much space to list all of the brilliant acts in depth, so I'll try and give a quick overview of my favourite 3 acts:

Katie Steckles- Without saying a single word or using any limbs to control an instrument, she played several tunes using a floppy disk drive. One of my favourite moments was when she played the Eastenders theme using the drive, recreating the opening sequence by using google maps to zoom out over London.

Tom Bishop- Talked all about the behaviour of "weaver ants" in the rainforest. One of the best things I learnt from him was that to form their many nests out of leaves, weaver ants will squeeze their young larvae. This forces a glue out of the larvae, which is used to stick the leaves together.

Yes, those are the lyrics to the chorus.

Chella Quint- "Adventures in Menstruating". An interesting title, I know. Chella took the audience on a journey through the advertising history of period products, as she tried to eliminate the social stigma about periods and make us all "period positive". A highly informative talk, I was unaware that the advertising techniques for period products haven't changed in over 80 years. We're on to you bodyform. Her piece was then rounded off with a song titled "The Crimson Tide", which was designed to explain the menstruation cycle as though it were being done on Sesame Street. A tad strange, but very enjoyable.

When?

Sadly, Science Showoff was only on once during the MSF. They do tours of the country and visit several cities. They are also in London a fair bit. However, I am sure they will be making a reappearance in Manchester very soon. Their website can be found here.

Why?

Why? Because it's fun, that's why.

How?

Now you're just being silly.

Is There Anything Similar?

Luckily for you, there are some similar events happening during the MSF. There is "Punk Science", hosted at MOSI, by two comedic members of the Science Museum. They plan to explain how humans love, laugh and feel pain, using very loose scientific demonstrations. There is also "Bright Club", which I believe aims to be a mixture of comedy, music and anything vaguely related to science. So never fear, the MSF schedule (found here) has you covered!

My day in London.

Hello again! Before you leave, let me tell you this: Just because this post is about London, it doesn't mean I've run out of ideas. On the contrary, in fact I hope to show you somewhere you may not have known about the big (overused) city.

My Location Within London

I started my day early, so I fortunate enough to be in Trafalgar square at 9 AM. At this time of day it isn't too burdened by tourists, so you are able to easy move about and get some decent photographs if you wish. You don't have to worry much about people walking into your pictures, which is always a relief. To prove the lack of people, I took some pictures! Have a look:

Notice the lack of people climbing on the lions.

St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Hahn/Cock. Yes, a giant blue cockerel.

Yes, a giant blue cockerel is occupying the fourth plinth at Trafalgar square at the time of writing. I was confused as well, but it does make an interesting addition. I also went into St Martin-in-the-Fields, a very nice inside, with plenty of the homeless having a nap.

Pub

You've heard it before, you'll hear it again. Drinking in central London is expensive. However, you can save yourself some dough if you use the happy hour, like I did. Happy hour brought a pint down from over £4 to £3. The bar I went to was called Kamique, it was a cocktail bar with a wide range of Mojitos. I would recommend it to anyone in the area who has a lot of cash to spend.

Comedy club

Now, the real reason I'm writing this post isn't to bore you about overused London landmarks. No, in the evening some friends and I went to the Lion's Den Comedy Club. Located in the west end of London, in an underground nightclub. Tuesday night is the open mic night, called the Lion's Den Comedy Car Crash, where anybody can turn up and perform.  The acts had 4 and a half minutes to do their sketch, before they were thrown off the stage. If they didn't finish, well, the MC would make sure they wrapped up abruptly. It might seem brutal, but it worked.  

The Lion's Den in all its glory.

Due to the nature of it being an open mic scenario, there was the risk of there not being a single act who made you laugh. However, I was pleasantly surprised the mixture of talent. There was a person who played guitar, a person who read from their diary, even a person who did some hip-hop! 

The entry price was £4, which was a good deal for the amount of acts that were on. However, the price of drinks in the club was, in my opinion, extortionate. A friend paid £4.85 for a bottle of lager. This boils down to the location (west end of London) and the fact it was a club.

Summary

If you have never been to an open mic night before, then I recommend the Lion's Den (website here- http://www.lionsdencomedy.co.uk/comedycarcrash.html). It was easy to get into and the acts were easy enough to laugh along with. As for the bit about Trafalgar square, well, you knew all that already. I just wanted to show you a few pictures.

49th Towersey Village Festival

Hello again, it has been a while. Recently, I have been to the Towersey Village Festival (TVF- http://www.towerseyfestival.com/). Not as exotic as Dublin, I know, but still an interesting journey. The reason for my visit was due to volunteering on a physics-based stall, but that isn't important. What is important is what I thought of the event.

Background

This was the 49th TVF, which traditionally takes place on the August bank holiday weekend. They didn't seem to worry about larger festivals taking their audience away. The main genre of music was folk, though you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. You didn't have to venture far to find bands performing "gypsy-jazz", reggae and rock n' roll. This all acted to allow new people such as myself to find something new which they enjoyed (for me it was the gypsy-jazz).

Beer (and Food)

If you wanted it to be, you could ensure that this was hardly a sober event. On offer were 20 real ales (at a guess), all from independent breweries around the country. The wonderful thing about independent ales is that if you find a bad one (unlikely), you aren't likely to have it again soon. If you find a good one, well, that's just a bonus. The ales varied in colour and taste, from flaxen to dark, bitter to not-so-bitter. For those who wanted to test their tastebuds, there was an one off ale-tasting event on the Friday morning, which you had to be aware of. It wasn't on the main schedule and had a low capacity, resulting in several people only finding out when it was too late and being turned away.

Food was available, but if you are low on funds then I recommend taking your own. Nothing against the festival itself, it's just festival food prices. Sorry.

Dance

There was wide variety of dancing on offer, ranging from drunken stumbling to waltz. Granted the waltz was part of a ceilidh, but it was there. Ceilidh dancing, for the uneducated (like myself), is a group dance. It involves a lot of spinning, turning and hopping, which means you can get caught up in it very quickly. If you are a novice, like myself, then take the following advice. Have a drink (a real ale perhaps?), turn up nearer the beginning of the event, grab a partner (politely) and just get involved. Believe me, you want to dance in it while you can.

Bands

The bands, as I mentioned previously, was mainly of the folk genre. However, other types were easily available. One of my favourite bands there was called Manière des Bohémiens. They were a gypsy-folk/eastern European swing band, who weren't afraid to suddenly delve into a bit of classical music. I found them to be a refreshingly intense change from the mainstream, who were more than able to get the crowd jumping. They are also all fantastic guys, who were very easy to chat to and to drink with!

                                                                                                       

                                                                

Another band who I enjoyed thoroughly were a band called Orkestra Del Sol. Through the use of brass instruments, which you would normally associate with slow and dull music, they delivered a truly electrifying show. They were more than happy to laugh at themselves (and the audience) through the use of props (fake hair), quick drama pieces (a Towersey news report) and on-stage music battles. If you ever see the name Orkestra Del Sol against a more mainstream band at a festival, I say this from my soul (sol?) that you should ditch the mainstream and see the Orkestra. You will not regret it.

Orkestra Del Sol, in all their glory. Notice the dressed up man in the middle.

Those were two of my favourite bands at Towersey, I could rattle on about so many more (Sunjay Brayne, Jess Morgan, etc...) but I would bore you.

Location

If you going there by car, great. You'll be fine, as there was free parking. If you are not as lucky (like myself) and go by train and walk the rest, here is a word of warning. Get a decent map. I'm not talking Google maps. Go for Ordnance Survey as a lot of the walking takes place on public paths through fields, rather than roads. Other that than, you'll be fine (Watch out for the cows).

Summary

To sum it up: If you need to detach yourself from the everyday world for a while, then there is no better place. Ditch the laptop, smartphone and all-sorts and grab a partner for the ceilidh. Thank me later. Perhaps with a real ale?