No Vacancy Exhibition

Yesterday I travelled to the Wolstonholme Creative Space in Liverpool to see an exhibition of visual arts based on my good friend, Greg Gibson's, poetry, and I must say; it was fantastic! The exhibition itself was put on by Young Pines, a Liverpool and London based collective of illustrators, designers, and creative writing. It also featured work by Will Daw, Christine Gore, and Thom Isom.

At first I was a tad apprehensive - mainly due to the fact that Greg was busy and therefore I had to find this place, initially, on my own (yes, I got lost, even when another lovely friend of mine agreed to come with me) -  and because I had no idea what to expect, but moreso I was excited to see my friends hard work in an exhibition. 

Greg's poems explored overpopulation by imagining a crowded hotel used as a refuge by survivors of a natural disaster, with each poem being a different room. The building itself suited the pieces very well, as it seemed a tad run down (and it was extremely cold; I must admit I was shivering by the time I came to leave). 

Now poetry has always baffled me a little, even in my poetry modules at university, but these were brilliant, they effectively painted a vivid picture within each, of characters, point of view, and theme in all of the rooms. There was even a recording of an animated bus driver (turned preacher) on repeat at the very end, with pews to sit in and read another string of poems alongside of his speech.

Undoubtedly, my favourite part was the box that had a spy hole in it.


I peeked inside and was absolutely blown away; there was a tiny, dishevelled, bedroom inside! According to the guy who was working there; a lot of people who had come to the show had walked past it without looking inside. Fools! they missed out on something very special. 




One of the poems that resonated within me the longest was called 'Room 28 - You'. I think it stayed with me the longest because it read a little bit like a tongue twister and was repeating itself in my mind long after we had left. It had one line of the poem encased within a string frame on the wall. I loved it.

 

'There is an air between us, like static made of spiderweb that will tangle people if they get between, like catching flies.'  - Greg Gibson

This is definitely a must see, but unfortunately tomorrow is the exhibitions last day! So hurry up and get to Liverpool to see it if you can! If not, go to the Young Pines website and see if you can add your name to the list of receiving a hard copy.  

Needless to say I was overwhelmingly impressed and I am ridiculously proud of my friend!

Another Bucket List Update

It appears to be that time again, time for another new post about what else I can scratch off my Bucket list! This time I can only cross off two things, but it's better than nothing.

Number Forty-Three: Steward Leeds Festival 2012
I applied, put down my deposit, and am just hoping my referee for this will give me a glowing recommendation (I'm sure they will!) and so it is (pretty much) a definite go ahead! I can't wait! I am even toying with the idea of working Bestival too; summer will be awesome!
 
Number Fifty: Go back to gigs in Manchester
Where this wouldn't really hold much significance to anyone else, but it is still a feat for me, I won't bore into the details however. Saturday the 17th of March I went to ManchFESTer 2 (special thanks to Andy for being an absolute legend!!) which is an all day festival organised by my friend Kieran (Kelly) and I had a fantastic time! The lineup included favourites of mine: Apologies, I Have None (who are both awesome musically and the loveliest guys I have ever met), Above Them (ditto), ONSIND and many, many others. Will there be another ManchFESTer on the horizon? I will be keeping my eyes, and ears, peeled.

Number Sixty: Start getting work experience towards my PGCE/TEFL (Update)
I have officially started my TEFL training! It is all online, but thanks to wowcher (urgh, I hate the advert for that website so much) I saved a bundle on the price. I wish myself luck!


Very short post this time, but, hopefully, I will have more to cross off next month, who knows.

World Book Night

I am more than thrilled to announce that I have, infact, been chosen to be a Book Giver for this years World Book Night! For those who don't know what WBN is, let me enlighten you!

It is a very new organisation, this year marks it's second birthday, put together to celebrate books and reading, which will hopefully prompt more people to shut off the television and pick up a book (which we all need to do, even myself and I've got three books at the side of my pillow on a daily basis). 

Anyway, what happens is that twenty-five titles are chosen by a committee of book lovers; including authors, librarians, booksellers, and even book givers from last year's WBN, then they are printed by the thousands. The successful applicants then receive twenty-four copies of one of their book choices and distribute it to the general public through whatever means they like! To learn more about the night, or to just bookmark the page so you can participate next year go to: http://www.worldbooknight.org


This year the books are:
Pride and Prejuice - Jane Austen
The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks
Sleepyhead - Mark Billingham
Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
The Take - Martina Cole
Harlequin - Bernard Cornwell
Someone Like You - Roald Dahl
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Room - Emma Donoghue
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
Misery - Stephen King
The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella
Small Island - Andrea Levy
Let The Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrell
The Damned Utd - David Peace
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff
Touching The Void - Joe Simpson
I Capture The Castle - Dodie Smith
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak


It was extremely difficult to narrow it down to just three choices from the above list, when I already love a good fifty percent of them and the rest were (and still are) so tantalising. But somehow I managed it and was even lucky enough to get my first choice: Roald Dahl's (amazing) collection of dark short stories 'Someone Like You'

So come Monday April 23rd 2012 keep your eyes peeled for me in the streets of Manchester and you might just receive your very own copy.

Story Time Just Got Real....

Story Time With Jess appears to be growing in audience with each passing week. In the past few weeks I have read a multitude of books to a variety of different audiences; the most notable is to the class I work in at the nursery!!

Now I've always had a bit of a fear of reading outloud; mainly reading my own work, mainly due to a stutter that I have when I'm nervous, but it occasionally occurs even if I'm reading someone elses book, so it comes as no surprise that when the day finally came for me to read a story to the class; I was a wreck. My colleague sprung it on me and before I could protest (further) she had already asked the children and they were a-buzz with story anticipation.

I then read them all a brand new pop up story of Jack and the Beanstalk! The moment I started I immediately eased into it and remembered just how much I love to read stories to people, both children and adults alike, and the class loved it! There is nothing quite as lovely as seeing how happy and excited the children get about story time, especially one of mine.

Other stories that I have read to individuals and small groups of the children include:

•  Funny Bones
• Stick Man
• The Gruffalo 
• The Gruffalo's Child
• Inspector Croc Investigates
• Hug
• Where The Wild Things Are
• Dexter Bexley And The Big Blue Beastie
• Goldielocks and The Three Bears

And a multitude of others which I just cannot remember! It's nice to see that quite a few of the stories that were read to be as a child are still just as beloved today (especially Funny Bones, I read this to one child on a daily basis and he joins in!).

I cannot wait for the next story time I get to have with the class. I definitely want to read the Gruffalo to them and see if the children (of ages 2 - 4) react in the same way as Toni did. 
x