For the Love of Sci Fi is This Weekend

 

SF convention For the Love of Sci Fi returns this weekend after a 2-year COVID hiatus. On the roster: Jean Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Mads Mikkleson, a quartet of Back to the Future cast (that don’t seem to be available for a group photo although I’m sure they were a few days ago), Anthony Daniels (C3PO) and many more. 

I was going to get that Van Damme and Lundgren double photo op, but I’m not sure I can justify shelling out £225. I paid a little over £40 for Danny Glover and Peter Weller each, and around £60 for Michael Bisping. The prices seem to be getting steeper. 

I’m going on the Sunday, as Saturday sees the Saddleworth Santa Dash take place, a 5km run through Oldham’s outback with 500 Father Christmases. I have done this a few times in the past, but ilness last year and lockdowns before it have put paid to my involvement. There are are less than 200 tickets remaining!

Find me on Mastodon

Anti-vax space nut Elon Musk has bought Twitter. I can’t see any real difference in it so far other than the return of a degenerate reality TV former president resurfacing. 

Either way, a number of people are migrating over to Mastodon, a new social media platform that looks a lot like Twitter used to. I’ve signed up. Feeling my way around, as it stands. 

I missed Liverpool Comic Con. By the time I called the box office, the entrance tickets had sold out for one day, and the photo ops I wanted had sold out on the other. Shit. For the Love of Sci Fi is in 2 weeks. I still need to buy tickets.

Why Male Loneliness Matters – and What We can Do About It

A good friend of mine Dan Rowe of support group Andy’s Man Club was one of the key speakers at a fascinating talk covering all things men’s mental health related on Thursday night. 

Why Male Loneliness Matters and What we can Do About It took place in 53Two bar on Watson St, along with former rugby player Danny ‘Scully’ Sculthorpe, now a mental health first aider on behalf of State of Mind Sport, Adele Owen from Shining a Light on Suicide and Max Dickens, author of mental health book Billy No Mates, all compèred by Virgin Radio’s Tim Cocker. The night was comprised of a series of presentations from a few different local support groups, including the aforementioned, but also: 

A Band of Brothers, an award-winning charity matching older mentors to younger men, mostly who have come through the justice system, preventing them from returning to it.  

Dadmatters, helping dads have successful relationships with their families, particularly vulnerable families.  

Directions for Men, offering groups across Greater Manchester on different days of the week. 

A Q+A session with the panel allowed for a conversation about mental health in general. The main takeaways – 

• a reiteration that there’s a difference between being physically alone and feeling lonely, that the feeling is more that something is missing rather than your proximity to other people. 

• An encouragement for dads to discuss mental health in front of their children so they grow up knowing that it’s something they can talk about in the future. 

• A change in circumstances – the end of a relationship, or moving to a new town, for example- can mean a change in friendships in adult life, something a lot of men find incredibly difficult. 

• London-based Lions Barber Collective are a team of men’s barbers. Describing itself ‘as a place for haircuts and headspace,’ the Collective offer mental health conversations and a haircut. The movement isn’t restricted to Carnaby St, though, as they are affiliated with The Hub of Hope, finding mental health support systems based on your location. 

At the time of writing I’ve just tried out this particular site, inserting my postcode. I’m offered different headings of afflictions I might need support with – addiction, disability, eating disorder etc. I chose the anxiety option. The top 3 results: Tameside, Oldham and Glossop Mind, Healthy Young Minds Oldham, and Andy’s Man Club Oldham. This website in particular is something I’ve been hoping someone would create for people looking for support across the UK. Back to the event:

• A lady from The Samaritans explained her organisation was looking to expand, and to work with other organisations like Groundwork, working with prisoners and veterans, etc. 

A really rewarding, interesting and reassuring night with some brave speakers.

Hacienda 40

May 1982 – some months before I was born – saw the opening of The Hacienda, a legendary Manchester nightclub. In the late 90s I grew up listening to Kiss 102, a Manchester dance music radio station, and I would hear DJs and advertisers raving about the club, the DJs, the bands and the music. I couldn’t wait to grow up and visit. 

The Haçienda lost its entertainments licence in June 1997, a month before my 15th birthday. 

My plans were, suffice to say, scuppered. As much as I grew up going to some house music clubs, and as much as some were really memorable (Ampersand leaps to mind) none had the legacy that Hacienda sustained. 

12th November ‘22: Many of the (literally) old acts, DJs, singers and promoters banded together for Hacienda 40, a night of old skool house, featuring many of the faces that – I understand – were regulars of the Hacienda scene. 

A good friend of mine managed to get me a ticket, so to the immense operational cavern that is Depot Mayfield we went, making it through the door at the bizarrely early time of 6pm. 

Set times had already began. 4 rooms – Concourse, Plant Room, Archive and Depot – ran concurrent DJ sets, which led to some unfortunate but inevitable clashes, and some walking due to the overall site of the Mayfield setup. The first big name I came across: 808 State in Depot. 

 

 

Over in the Archive, I think: CeCe Rogers told anecdotes of trips to the Hacienda back in the day. He DJ’d alongside A Guy Called Gerald, here playing his most-known hit, Voodoo Ray. 

 

 

Marshall Jefferson also shared these decks. 

 

 

Later, again in what I’m guessing is the Archive, possibly Happy Mondays. 

 

 

This brief, blurry footage definitely is Happy Mondays: 

 

 

In what I’m pretty sure is the Concourse, I found David Morales’s set. He played a lot of music by Frankie Knuckles, legendary house music producer who passed away in 2014. The 2, I gather, were good friends. 

 

 

Also, in this room, I bumped into Nev Johnson, DJ on what was Galaxy 102 in the 90s/00s. Good guy. Back in Depot: Orbital. Loving the Jawa outfits, guys. 

 

 

Loads of people I knew were there, but most of them I only found out later through social media that they’d attended. The place is so large, there was minimal chance of just ‘bumping into’ someone you’d know. Most recognisable faces we found in The Plant Room, a smaller, more intimate area adjacent to the main building with plenty of potted fauna (one was mint). I gather The Plant Room is technically part of food outlet compendium Escape to Freight Island? Also in this room we saw DJ Pierre, pioneer of Chicago acid house, perform a set. Making it home from a massive club just after 1am was a novel experience, but more so seeing some incredible 90s dance music producers with great friends. We should do this more often.

Shapeshifters, Liverpool Comic Con

Big week ahead. 

On the blog: 

A huge club night packed with famous house music singers and DJs. 

Happening soon: 

House music group Shapeshifters (Lola’s These) are playing Joshua Brooks Friday. I don’t know anyone going, sadly. 

Liverpool Comic Con takes place Saturday / Sunday. Saturday is a sellout. Sunday, there are tickets (that I still haven’t bought). Lots of TV and movie stars in attendance. If I go, I’m spending a horrendous amount.

Exhibition Launch

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Managed to blag the opening of Exhibition, a new bar at the top end of Peter St, near Central Library. 

A message to the Instagram page got me an email, which got me in at the door. No cloakroom on entry, sadly, but good funk music and disco-style décor made for a change to hip hop. Steady service at the bar – a new team is going to need practice – but the cocktail menu looked good (I was driving). 

Friendly customers (including a guy who looked like Mandrake from Coming Home in the Dark) with hipster haircuts. Plenty of seating on offer in the middle of the venue, the outsides of which have numerous kitchen spaces for small traders (think upmarket Mackie Mayor). These, I gather, are yet to be up and running. 

Worth a visit over the coming weeks.

Santa Dash Prep

 

Saturday 3rd December sees the return of the annual Saddleworth Santa Dash, a 5km dart through the leafy villages of far-flung Oldham, featuring around 500 Father Christmases. 

I missed it last year due to suspected norovirus. As it stands, I’m healthy. I could be healthier, though, and after fitting back into my suits recently, I allowed myself a relapse into chocolate and takeaways. This ends today. I’m now 73-74kg, 11’9’2. Hence, clean food, recipes, gross veg smoothies, body weight exercises, running and gym classes will dominate the next month. I’ll try and beat PBs at the gym, and beat my local 5km route PB too.

I am BACK into the suits

Last month I mentioned that I hadn’t been able to fit into any of my suit trousers since seemingly the middle of 2018. Years of antidepressants had ballooned me. 

Now I was off the meds, I knew it was time to readjust. 

Hence, after many disgusting vegetable smoothies, avoidance of junk food, a few recipes from books, tons of endurance and cardio exercise, and lots of trying to keep my phone out of my bedroom (to not disrupt my circadian rhythm) I was down to 72kg (11’5’8) – from 90kg (14’2’0). Last Saturday, the suits fit. 

Over the last week, I’ve allowed myself a curry and some chocolate, which was regrettable (but inevitable). I’ve put another kilo on. The suits still fit, just about.

Not bad for 3 weeks’ graft. How did I do at the gym? 

I focussed on body weight exercises, something that I’d likely improve on if my weight went down. Since 8th October… 

I’ve put 1 more on my overhand chin-up record, to 21. 

1 more on my underhand record, to 19. 

10 more dips, to 140. 

3 more extra-wide chin-ups (the palms face each other about a metre apart) to 15. 

I’ve done a lot of gym classes, involving a lot of bodyweight exercises, so I’ve sweated a lot of the fat out. 

Also, I’ve got a running route I do once a week. It’s a little over 5km. Since starting this project I’ve knocked about 2+1/2 minutes off my record. 

When you’re 40, the moment you eat any junk, it immediately congeals and you put weight on. Hence, I’ve had my treats. Back to the graft. I have a ton of spinach and kale to eat. 

This is the first of 5 projects that I've been meaning to complete before my 41st at the end of July. Hopefully I should be able to attain a few others soon.

Meeting Tom Daley

Olympic Diver Tom Daley (3 bronze medals and 1 gold, double FINA world champion) is in Manchester tonight, Tuesday 1st November, to discuss his secondary passion: knitting. 

“Once you’ve cast off a certain amount of stitches,” he says, “you’re committed. I like to do things that can be interesting shapes. I have to concentrate, then go into a trance for a bit.” 

His new book, Made With Love, a guide to knitting and crocheting, is released this week, a venture undertaken in the last year while he’s been away from the pool. Waterstones Deansgate are hosting Tom’s first signing up north. 

“This is not as much pressure,” he claims, comparing to the south of England. “A lot more people have got into the knitting community since in 2020. My husband (American screenwriter Dustin Lance Black) suggested it to me. Crocheting and knitting gives kids a skill to get away from social media.” 

After Tom got back from the Tokyo Olympics (where he clinched a long eluded gold medal in the synchro alongside Matty Lee), there began a 10 week turnaround to the release of the knitting book. 

Knitting, Tom tells us, has its ethical benefits over regular sewing. “If you’re going to make a garment,” Tom says, “with sewing, so much goes to waste. With knitting, there’s little waste. You can make bags with a tough material.” 

Tom lauds other benefits to knitting, including improvements to mental health. 

The Waterstones compère asks, what’s next now the book is complete? 

“Maybe more books, or knitting kits,” muses Tom. Clothes for pets is a novel idea he floats. “Every dog deserves a little hat.” 

The compare hands the mic out to audience questions.

Q: What do you find challenging? 

A: “I start something small. This is something you can take into every day life: if it goes wrong, start again. You’re not starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience. Zone everything out. It stops you from doomscrolling or going to the fridge.” 

Q: What are you working on now? 

A: “I’m currently making a pink balaclava with mirrored sleeves and spikes down the sides.” 

Q: Are you making Christmas presents? 

A: "No, it takes too long."

Q: Would you consider teaching knitting? 

A: "At age 4-6, kids can pick it up quickly. Some places have kids knit for ICUs."

The last audience question: is there anything you’d like to knit that you haven’t? 

A: “I saw a guy on social media who knits hats for penguins,” Tom tells. (It was probably Alfred Date, Australia’s once oldest man who died in 2016 at the age of 110.) “I would like to knit a turtleneck for a giraffe.”