Matt Tuckey is a writer from Oldham, England. He covers celebrities, night life, Manchester, fitness, creative writing, social media, psychology and events. Some of this may, in some way, help others. Or maybe it'll just entertain you for a while.
Back
in 2010 I met SF author Peter F Hamilton when
he was signing his newly-released novel The Evolutionary Void. I've
not got around to reading it yet. The Evolutionary Void is the third
book in his Void trilogy after The Dreaming Void and The Temporal
Void, and is currently the biggest book in my (very large) pile of
unread books. It's my intention to read all three of these books by
New Year's Day 2017. I might as well get as much of this done as poss
in January seeing as it's cold and everyone's broke.
An
opportunity in every problem, as the saying goes!
Not
everyone wants to stay in now the Christmas period is over. Manchester
will inevitably be quiet on the bar scene, but Meetup will still be
bustling with events.
Monday:
Stockport folks can get fit at Vernon Park with the Bootcamp group. First week is free!
Tuesday:
Urmston types should get into badminton: it's one of the fastest,
most reflexive sports going.
Wednesday:
Ever wanted to improve your public speaking skills? Presenting to a
crowd is nerve-racking for most people, and we'll all probably have
to do it at some point. Didsbury Speakers
assist people with exactly this field, offering example speakers,
opportunities to practice, critiques and leadership training. It
sounds fantastic- I'd love for somebody to guest post about this for
me.
Thursday:
Indoor climbing in Stockport
with the Walking group? Why do it outside where it's cold? And why
not meet people while you're getting your Stallone-in-Cliffhanger on?
Saturday:
The First Saturday Night Drinks of 2015 with Young Professionals in Manchester
will take place in the Soviet-themed
Kosmonaut bar in the Northern
Quarter. I've been to the venue once before: it's not quite like
other bars. You'll feel what I mean.
Sunday:
if you're not out late the night before I'd appreciate your feedback
at Writers Connect.
I'll be asking for advice on the first 1000 words of a feature-length
screenplay about a graduate recruited into a terrorist faction. 1pm
in Nexus in the Northern Quarter.
There's
plenty more on Meetup if you rummage around.
I
left a comment on a Facebook page
that garnered 458 likes. Anyone remember South Park's Sexual Harassment Panda?
I've
never received that many likes before. I'm currently looking into
whether there's a way of finding my most popular comments using
perhaps an add-on program for Facebook. There may be a way of doing
this with Youtube comments too. Do you know of any?
Wolframalpha
offer analytics for Facebook. This is my most-commented picture.
Well
then. 27 comments on this pic of me and a girl I met in Magaluf in
'10. I'm saying nothing more.
Moving
on: amid the parties this week I polished off the Jack Kourac
classic novel On the Road, a tale of a couple of guys touring the USA
in the 50s on a budget, grabbing whatever work or women or drugs that
they could, crashing parties and musing on the apparent pointlessness
of their own lives. Directionless, chaotic but utterly absorbing, the
novel is an early example of “beat” writing expanded upon by the
likes of William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. It's supposed to be an
all-time classic- I certainly enjoyed it but I've read many things
like it (mostly that came after it. I'm guessing it was the first
manically-written 20-something lads' novel). Well worth a look.
January
will be quiet but I will be busy- I have more blog posts in the
pipeline.
A
share of a Facebook post by Sankeys Warehouse landed a group of us VIP entry to the
first major party of 2016. Sankeys Warehouse, the outfit currently
taking over Victoria Warehouse on an
intermittent basis, picked us out of the people who shared and gave
us fast track entry and access to the upper balcony. This allowed
decent views of the acts and shorter queues at the bar.
A
few minor issues on the night: even with wristbands we still had to
queue to get in, 2 of the cash machines were out of service, the
wristbands we won got us access to the upper level but not the tables
where VIP were, so we got the second best views. I suspect Sankeys
Warehouse hadn't sold as many tickets as they'd hoped, as the upper
level was quite spacious.
What
occurred to me was that it was actually more expensive to drink in
there than it was in celeb hangout LIV.
I still had tokens from the last time I was at Sankeys Warehouse (the
bar doesn't take cash, so you buy bulk tokens on entry) so I brought
them.
Anyway:
fantastic music with great people, mostly whom I've met through the
Party People
group. Great start to the year.
Loud
rapper and star of Celebrity Big Brother Fat Man Scoop dropped into Tiger Tiger last night to
see the new year in. A group of us got tickets early on at a fair
price and queued up early. When I joined the queue I quickly realised
my printout ticket had vanished, so I searched around on the floor an
asked the promo girl. She said there should be something in my email.
I
headed back to my car to see if I'd left it on the seat. On the way
back I checked Outlook on the Windows app- it only showed recent
emails and none of my flagged messages. (There's one of about 20
reasons not to get a Windows phone, for the record.) I checked my
emails in my web browser (somehow managing to remember my password)
and the email was right there. I downloaded the Adobe reader app...
…and
found my ticket on the pavement next to my car.
Ridiculous.
So I joined the queue again. It was fast moving. When I got in I
found my team quickly and joined the bar next to the Philip Seymour
Hoffman lookalike and the Gennady Golovkin lookalike. Not long into the night some
utter cock sprayed champagne all over the crowd. After this a group
of people- we suspected gypsies- were booted out after getting into a
mass brawl in the karaoke booths.
They
missed out- just before midnight Fat Man Scoop took the stage dressed
in pure white and started busting out his hip hop hits. Entertaining.
Couldn't quite manage a selfie with him, but I did get this...
A
top night. A smart club but with chavvy clientele, but if you've got
a fading star from Celebrity Big Brother as your main attraction,
you're advertising to the masses, and you're going to get that.
Christmas:
you're done and dusted! Let's take a look at the week ahead,
including new year celebrations.
Sales
in Manchester and the Intu Trafford Centre have been in full swing
since 6am on Boxing day, including these sad bastards queuing up in
the rain. I was in a state of drunken REM at the time. Some good deals listed
in the article though.
For
new year itself, most people have their plans set. If you're at a
loose end, Meetup might just save you.
If
you're in the Prestwich end, Vicki's Social Nights have a buffet
going down. Get on that!
If
you want a Northern Quarter New Year, then Have an Absolutely Shite
NYE with Manchester Social Scene. Their name, not mine. Cheesy music in The Abel Heywood pub and heading on to The Ruby Lounge. Certainly not my thing; 77
people seem to think it'll be a good one though!
If
you're into soul and motown, join Manchester Social Group. They're
heading to the Irish World Heritage Centre for a night of golden
oldies.
Saturday:
Garage group The Artful Dodger perform at
Static nightclub on Lloyd St. Remember
Rewind and Moving Too Fast? Great tunes, great times. If you fancy
joining me the meetup event is
here.
There are still club tickets.
