116: Frankophilia!, Blank Market and cauliflower cheese

Three until close at work today; what an annoying shift, and only about four or five hours.  Hardly seems worth it for minimum wage.  I have no idea what hours I am working for the rest of the week, for reasons I won’t go in to, but I had better not be rota’d in for tomorrow afternoon/evening.  I’ve got an exhibition to go to!  Huzzah, it’s the opening of Frankophilia! the exhibition of Frank Sidebottom tribute art at the Chapman Gallery, Salford University.  I’ve got a couple of sketches and a painting included after the curator contacted me through the blog!  The first door that the blog has opened for me and it only took a hundred or so days of typing; huzzah, and again huzzah!

The opening of the exhibition is tomorrow (Tuesday) 16^th November from 6-8pm; there will be free drinks as is always the case.  The exhibition then runs from 17^th Nov – 18^th Dec 2010 (Admission: Wed-Sat, 12-5pm, FREE).  The Chapman Gallery is in the Chapman Building, University of Salford, M5 4NT.  “An exhibition of fans’ artwork celebrating Frank Sidebottom.  Illustration, animation, sculpture, scarecrows...”  

It’s going to be ace, you know it is, it really is.

http://www.myspace.com/franksidebottom

http://www.radiotimperley.com/

http://www.franksworld.co.uk/

And now I’ve run out of things to say.  Oh, I know!  Make sure to check out the Blank Market Open All Hours exhibition.  It’s an art trail around Manchester city centre running until 18^th November.   The work of more than thirty artists can be seen in ten different shop and office windows 24/7; to discover the locations download the map here.  All works shown are available for purchase online at Blank Market.  Start your art collection now; I command you.  If I wasn’t technically a pauper I would definitely buy a few pieces, and a large building to put them in.  If you’re not technically a pauper you have no excuse for not buying one or two.

Yesterday we had our friends and their little baby boy around to hours for some roast chicken, cauliflower cheese, roast potatoes and gravy.  We whetted our appetite by watching Life in the Undergrowth; there is something so appetising about watching a gigantic poisonous centipede hanging from a cave ceiling and grabbing a bat out of the air, before slowly consuming it.  In a nod to common decency we switched to Wall:E while we ate; perhaps it would have been even more decent to turn the bloody tele off while we ate, and have a normal human conversation.  If it’s any consolation, Wall:E is pretty much a silent film, so it’s like an expensive digital photo frame.  And it looks amazing on the big TV.

Then I fell asleep during X-Factor and when I woke up everyone was getting ready to go.  How rude of me.