Two more ...

Here are two more Manchester blogs for you, and then I'm taking a break until next week.

Mantex is blogger Roy Johnson's writings on design, typography, reference books, music, literary studies and language. Recent posts include a thoughtful rant on the idea of "genius" prompted by Radio 3's recent broadcast of the complete Bach, and a rundown of Oxford's revamped writer's style guides.

There's also Skipper, Bill Jones' blog about UK politics, the parliament and the press, coming to you from Stockport. Yesterday's post considers Bob Geldof's new role as poverty advisor to David Cameron.

More Manchester blogs

There's been a nice response to my earlier post, and I've already received some new additions to the Manchester blogroll, which are listed briefly below. Just so you know, I'm not being too strict about it -- blogs from anywhere in Greater Manchester count, and I'll even take blogs from the surrounding areas of Lancs. and Cheshire.

So, on to the blogs. Phil Edwards writes Actually Existing, another Manchester blog with the enviable tagline “ruthless criticism of all that exists, except for the good bits.”

Blood and Treasure’s recent posts have covered subjects ranging from Iraqi politics and the torture memos to psychogeography – interesting stuff.

Norman Geras, who writes the excellent Normblog, has been a big help to this nascent project, posting about it on his blog and sending me links to the above blogs as well as Topsyturvydom , Rob Spence’s writings on literature, academia and life.

The group blog Counago & Spaves has two members in Timperley, and others with previous Salford and Altrincham connections.

Whew. That's it for now. Thanks for all your emails.

Manchester Blogroll

So you (yes, I mean you, the one person who is reading this blog) may have noticed that the list of Manchester blogs down the side of the screen has quadrupled in the last week or so. This is part of my new effort to provide a really complete Manchester blogroll on the site. I've been pretty amazed and impressed at the variety of Mancunian blogs out there, but in order to find some of them I had to do some very annoying and time-consuming searchin' on the web. So here it is. If you've arrived here because you're curious about who could possibly be linking to your blog, welcome. If you know of any Manchester blogs I've missed (and I'm sure there are many), email them to me at themanchizzle at gmail.com and I'll be happy to add them to the blogroll.

The Great Outdoors

The Live Journal community Manchester's Journal has long proven to be an excellent - and very entertaining - source of information about life in Manc. People write in looking for recommendations on where to go for a night out (somehow, the answer is invariably Jilly's Rockworld), help getting a job/place to live, and suggestions about where to buy certain hard-to-find items (bonsai trees, magic mushrooms, swtichblades, etc.) Now someone has written in soliciting reccs on the best locations for an al fresco shag in the city centre. Marvelous.

Refill

It was a sad day a couple of months ago when the two Manchester locations of Love Saves the Day closed seemingly overnight, in a cappuccino-scented cloud of mystery. Surely everyone must know the real story by now – and we understand that greedy git of a business manager is safely in the hands of justice.

That’s why we were so surprised when the LSTD logo was spotted on a stall in Piccadilly’s food market the other day (yes, we’re nowhere near Manc but our informants are everywhere.) A little research on t’internet reveals that the Deansgate location is going to reopen sometime in early 2006. Good news for all those Castlefield coffee hounds, but not so great for those of us up on the Northern end of town. Guess there’s always Oklahoma?

In a funny little twist of circumstance, Newyorkology reports that the Manchester cafés’ namesake, a funky NYC vintage shop that was featured in Desperately Seeking Susan, is set to close in January after 20 years on the spot.



The landlord has apparently jacked up the rent, and they can’t afford to stay. Leslie Herson, the store’s owner and founder, told local rag The Villager, "New York is losing its individuality because little stores like mine can’t compete.”

Hmmm. That’s something to ponder over your morning lattes, Northern Quarterites.