Birmingham
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Dream Palaces: Wonderland At Birmingham Museum And Art Gallery
The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery partially reopened it’s doors yesterday, hosting a series of pop up exhibitions. Amongst the offerings is Wonderland, a collaboration with the Flatpack Festival that is a showcase for Birmingham’s rich and varied cinema history. As an architecture nerd with a serious interest in old cinema’s, this was catnip for me, so I went along to have a closer look. The history of our cinema buildings is a story of modern times. Beginning in the early part of the 20th century, the first cinemas were often buildings converted from something else, old chapels, former vaudeville theatres etc. This period was supplanted by a period of…
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Fatal Attraction; Seriously Good
Fatal Attraction was the movie of 1987. An high octane thriller with some well timed shocks and a stellar cast, it wowed audiences across the globe. Now it has been turned into a chilling, but very stylish stage play that opened in Birmingham at The Alexandra Theatre last night. I was intrigued to see how it would transfer to the stage, but am happy to report that it is seriously good, with a knockout cast who deliver all the right blows, a brilliant set which allows the story to move from office buildings in New York to deep in the countryside, and an alternative ending that is far more effective than…
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Emma Case – Wedding photographs without the cheese
I love weddings, but, let’s be honest, wedding photographs can be really cheesy! You have the bride and groom, arms entwined as they drink from champagne flutes. Or the ones with the happy faces superimposed onto conjoined wedding rings, and don’t even get me started on the wistful bride staring out of a window, looking for her handsome groom. These pictures can often make even the most romantic soul gag. So we need to thank heaven for the wonderful work of photographer Emma Case. Emma is a Birmingham based photographer, who looks to the ghosts of weddings past for vintage inspiration. I was lucky enough to meet Emma ( and…
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Home improvements: Planning For Spring
January is often the month that plans are made for home improvements. We may not actually start them now, it’s too cold to have windows open for painting, or doors open as workmen come in and out, but we do start making the plans, booking the tradesmen and generally working out how we want our homes to look in the year ahead. It is also crucial to look at the big jobs that cannot be ignored, broken or old and ageing boilers, faulty central heating systems and leaky roofs. All can cause terrible issues down the line if they are ignored, so it makes sense to get them checked, or…
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Jersey Boys Is Just Stunning At The Alexandra Theatre
The return of the much anticipated musical Jersey Boys had its press night at the The Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham last night and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Sparkling set pieces, uniformly excellent performances, and those magical songs ensured that the packed house was on its feet by the end of the show, all hoping for one more song before they trooped off into the bitterly cold night. Even an enforced change to the actor playing Frankie Valli at the interval couldn’t stop it from being perfect. It was just that good. Jersey Boys is the story of the Four Seasons, the New Jersey band who had hit after hit at…
