-------------/O\---------------by suselstahl.

Runny Nose

by Doug Clarke.

Graffiti ruined by 'Stop tagging Moseley' commentsby olulabelle.

via JRD who says:

Anyhow, I also get stuff from the Alternation people who used to run a club night at the Bear Tavern near where we live. It seems that they are reopening at the Barleycorn soon. I visited there at the weekend, and they seem to be under new management, and cooking up a nice line in curries. Anything that keeps the godawful idea of a casino at bay sounds good news to me.

Summer in the Cityby kate&drew.

Baby snake born at Nature Centre. Mother and child doing well. First meal a baby mouse.

In related news, another snake is pregnant and can be watched on the webcam. Meanwhile there's a Dudley Zoo Penguin-cam. It's like 1998 all over again!

Frozen Faggot Fight. The penguins have escaped from Dudley Zoo and are heading for the Faggot Factory in Wolverhampton. Stop them from destroying it by throwing frozen faggots at them. A not-very-seasonal game from the Bostin peeps. via B:INS

Drop Beats at the Que infoby marcreck.

Since I'm a bigshot tosser on the Birmingham media landscape these days (hah!) I got contacted by someone putting together an inflight magazine wanting some filler. Eventually I threw together some words and sent them to her. Since it might not make the grade and if it does will no doubt be edited for coherence and only seen by people in the sky, here are my five favourite things in Birmingham.

The Bacchus Bar in the basement of the Burlington Hotel is simply bizarre. Ostensibly a relatively upmarket drinkery the decoration takes every possible interpretation of the God of Wine and mashes them all into one space, throwing in a bit of Egyptian nonsense to boot. I think the interior designer was having a joke and got away with it.

The Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath used to be a dirty boozer with a sideline in live music. It's recently had a bohemian overhaul meaning it smells less of wee and the emphasis on gigs has been expanded. You're more likely to see outlandish stuff here than in other venues. I'd particularly recommend the Curates Egg nights run monthly by local band The Courtesy Group.

A walk or cycle ride along Birmingham's canal network is always a joy. Most of the towpaths have been tarted up and you'll find yourself touring the industrial heritage of the West Midlands without the traffic noise. Routes that take you through the Jewellery Quarter are particularly recommended with a good starting point being Brindley Place.

Digbeth is currently being rebranded as Eastside with a whole slew of redevelopment due to occur over the next decade. So if you're a fan of urban decay you should make you way to the roads around Fazeley Street before it all becomes shiny and new. I'm a fan of urban decay.

While you're in Digbeth, pop by the Custard Factory, a vibrant community of artists and creative businesses. Rooty Frooty, a vegetarian cafe, should be your destination for a reasonably priced cup of tea. Plenty of free wifi in that area too.

Blogroll: The Golden Side Of The Moon, another political blog for the list, this one from Lib Dem campaigner David Nikel of Bearwood.

wodsepia01by Matt Murtagh.

A summit on the future of Digbeth organised by The Stirrer on Thursday 6th September at 7.30pm at the Spotted Dog pub in Alcester Street.

"With Digbeth earmarked for significant regeneration, many existing business owners and others with a love of the area fear the development of a new "Irish Quarter" will come at the expense of the traditional "craic".

"Andy Tollett of the NAUS group will explain the virtues of the recently unveiled Connaught Square development, and councillors from licensing and planning will be on hand to explain the constraints under which they work."

Breaking news: Bearsuit are playing the Sunflower Lounge on Friday September 7th. This makes me very happy indeed.

Blogroll: Birmingham, B29. A brand new blog about the B29 postcode district, otherwise known as Selly Oak.

Blogroll: Meridimus. I met Max at the Flickrmeet today (Here be his photos) and he mentioned his blog. Also works for Made Media. Nice when everything joins up, as it so often does in this city.

Blogroll: Make Lard History. A dieting blog from a self described fat man. With, thankfully, other stuff going on as well. Nice reading.

Click to download full PDF for printing and distribution. Created by the Keep Digbeth Vibrant folks.

If Deirdre Alden doesn't become a Conservative councilor she's developing a role for herself as a recycling evangelist. Her blog is becoming an essential resource for anyone wondering what they can or cannot recycle and why.

The above photo was posted on her blog last month from a stall she'd been involved with running at Harborne Farmers Market and in this post she goes into more detail.

"Birmingham's green multi-material boxes are for empty food tins, glass bottles and jars, and plastic bottles. These can be see through bottles such as those used for pop, water and washing up liquid, or opaque and coloured bottles such as those used for milk, bleach and fabric conditioner. The Council currently doesn't have the facilities to deal with margarine tubs, yoghurt pots, sandwich boxes, fruit punnets or other food containers - regardless of whether they have a recycling symbol on them or not.

The plastic bottles from the multi-material boxes are made into other plastic bottles, garden furniture and fleeces. The glass is mixed with tarmac to make road surfaces. Glass from bottle banks is turned into new glass bottles.

Items such as yoghurt pots should be put into the black bags. Unlike most Councils, Birmingham landfills very little of its waste (currently less than 20%). The rest goes to the incinerator at Tysley where the heat generated is used to light the streets around the plant and the ash is used to fill holes in the roads."

kicking ass in Centenary Squareby amyclarke_uk.

Stoic

by suselstahl.

A gig slut no more, Laura is now blogging at Careless Genes.

"I live in Birmingham, work in an office, and have that curious mix of an over-inflated sense of self-worth and lack of self-confidence that seems to characterise most bloggers."

Yup, that's about right.

Andre Dubber has a new blog: Whisky for Beginners.

"I'm learning to appreciate whisky. If you're a connoisseur, I'd appreciate your help. If you're a novice, like me, perhaps you'll be interested in avoiding some of the mistakes I make, or discovering some of the things I find out along the way."

A regular Friday night music night at the Rainbow. More at myspace.com/kamikazeevents.

Damo Suzuki

I intend to be there.

Moseley Green Man
by tina_manthorpe.

New groups on Flickr are two a penny but Green Men of Birmingham has a neat snippet of information.

"Green Men are the foliate faces which look down on us from many buildings in Birmingham. As an architectural feature the Green Man was used by the Romans and appears also in India and the Middle East - and in thousands of medieval churches throughout Europe. The Victorians rediscovered the Green Man with great enthusiasm and there are over one hundred in the city centre."

Nick Booth has set up a Birmingham Bloggers group on Facebook. Not sure what it'll achieve, but the beauty of these things is you never know when they're going to produce when you set them up. So if you're using Facebook go join and we'll see what, if anything, comes of it.