BlackLab

Four people have separately mentioned BlackLab to me over the last few weeks, so it feels like the right time to tell you about them. BlackLab is a self-described "visual society" organised by David Oates, Liz Lock and Mishka Henner, based in Manchester. Here's their mission:

"BlackLab is here to revel in images old and new. We want to breathe new life into the presentation of still pictures by experimenting in collaboration with artists, musicians, film-makers and designers. We want to dispense with conventional forms of exhibiting photographs and create spaces in which images can collide and collude with film, soundscapes, slogans and texts."

On Friday they're hosting Trawling the Visual Wreckage, a night of screenings, socializing, and conversation about photography, imagery and film at An Outlet on Dale Street. "Meet the city’s thriving community of bloggers and image-makers (if they show up) and participate in a thrilling raffle for a prize that’s out of this world." Sounds like a great night and an especially good meetup opportunity for the many photobloggers in Manchester. The fun starts at 7:30.

New blogs: The like, totally tubular edition

Hey, I'm back with some new additions to the blogroll for your reading pleasure.

They are: A new local politics blog, Tameside Eye. New music blog Friend Rock Manchester Not one but two new fashion blogs, avantgarde and kisses and cross stitches. And journalist Louise Bolotin's media blog Here's the Kicker.

New personal blogs Mind of Mine , The Amazing Adventures of Pottywoman and Manchestreker, about cycling in Manchester.

A healthy new crop of writerly blogs to add: Yes, I will Hold , Stories that will lead you along strange ways, The Journal of a Diet Poylmath (all published recently on Rainy City Stories), Dirty Sparkle, A Life in Manchester , Metafiction and What Daisy Did Next, through whose links I found Contrariwise, a website dedicated to literary tattoos. Supercool.

Writer Benjamin Judge has turned his attentions from the award-winning Cynical Ben to his new Wordpress site, Who the fudge is Benjamin Judge.

Socrates Adams Florou, aka"Mister Chinatown," has written a novel. You can read all about it over at his new website, Everything's Fine, which lists a blog and a tube gallery among other impressive features and benefits. The picture up there is from the tube gallery, which makes more sense when you read Everything's Fine.

Hello January!

Greetings comrades. 2010 has been a little rough on the re-entry so far. Snow, ice and, for my part, more work than I know what to do with. That last one is generally positive, apart from the whole not having time to write blog posts thing. I'm sorry about that, but experience has taught me that my readers are steadfast and stick with me through thick and thin. Right? ... Hello? Oh, hi. You're still there. Good.

It has recently been suggested to me that bloggers who don't shell out for their own domain name don't take themselves seriously enough to be worth reading. I don't really agree with this (I certainly wouldn't want to be accused of taking myself seriously), but I have been considering buying my own domain for a while. Maybe I should give myself a new url as a little present.

I haven't bought a domain name for this site in part because I do a lot of work helping people start blogs, and I want to show them that it really is super easy and free to create a blog. Buying a domain name is great, but it's not necessary. That's part of the reason I've stayed on Blogger, too - I've used both lots and I genuinely think the interface is easier for less tech-savvy people (counting myself in there) to deal with than Wordpress, though the latter looks way cooler and can do so much more.

I haven't experimented with Posterous yet but I know a lot of people really like it. Anyone prefer this platform to all other blogging platforms? I'd be interested to hear what you think.