BloggingBrum

I’ve just read an article on the Birmingham Post about yet another survey that states the Brummie accent is one of the most disliked in the country. Only 1% of the country would choose a Brummie accent by choice and 80% of Brummies wish they didn’t have the accent.

I too spent my birthday celebrations over the weekend (the big 3 oh if you’re interested) being teased that my future child will be brought up with a Brummie accent - and this from Somerset locals! Ooo arr!

Now I don’t personally dislike the Brummie accent however the image associated with it throughout the UK certainly isn’t one that gives you a head start in life.

Is it just the accent or is the accent associated with the image of old Birmingham?

Repeat after me “The rain in spain falls mainly on the plain…”

Cor what a racket, eh? Here’s what my Zoom H2 picked up during tonight’s thunderstorm. It’s about half an hour long, and sounds best with your headphones on. Think I might pop it on my iPod for sleepy time.

Download the MP3

Birmingham Power 50 figure Jon Bounds is making it his personal mission to save another venue from the cold dead hands of banality.

From Jon’s Facebook group:

The latest live music venue in Birmingham to be threatened by “canalside living” is the Flapper & Firkin. We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it any more.

Get yourself signed up today and support another great venue before it’s too late and we all have to turn up in our dressing gowns to lie in front of the big yellow beasts.

I subscribe to the Guardian’s Tech Weekly podcast, one of many great audio offerings from the erstwhile Groiniad and listen every week to Aleks Krotoski’s slightly embarrassing puns and the rest of the team’s chatter about…stuff.

I like the show, but imagine my dismay when I fire up the iPod and hear that this week, they’re having a Manchester special and not only that, but apparently Manchester is now the UK’s second city.

I put this down to Alex not being from around these parts but besides being deeply patronising that is in fact irrelevant. Have I had my head up my arse for the past few years or so - yes, but that’s also irrelevant - or have we suddenly all decided that Birmingham, the second largest city in the UK is no longer thesecond city? Did I miss a meeting? Do I still get a vote? Can we bring in the Irish to sway the result on this one? [Little bit o’ politics there]

According to this BBC news article I’ve been pretty slow off the mark here; apparently this has been the case since 2002. Why wasn’t I informed? Ever since my 5th-year schoolteacher told me Birmingham was the UK’s “second city” that knowledge has been quite secure in my head, but now up is down, black is white, and I don’t know who I am anymore!

I don’t know if it’s possible to feel any sense of outrage or indignence about this because quite frankly, I can’t think of any great reasons why Birmingham should top Manchester if a new Mori poll were to be commissioned. Our biggest band is UB-bleedin’-40, the only reggae band notable for not playing any reggae. You might think that Black Sabbath are bigger: they’re not, it’s just that Ali Campbell doesn’t have his own reality show…yet. Perhaps the best thing we could say is - and perhaps this should form our new slogan - “Birmingham: at least we don’t have a congestion charge”.

I don’t want to get onto a downer here. I’ve been fighting a personal fight lately to be “interesting” and I think Birmingham needs to do the same. It’s a great place to live, a great place to work, there’s some good nightlife and a lot more greenery than anywhere else. And then there’s the canals. But I think maybe we need a big campaign. Nothing that says “we’re Birmingham and we’re better than them up north” but maybe something more akin to “there’s more to Ireland dan dis”.

This stuff is already happening. The Big Picture, Creative Republic, Fearce Festival and bags more. Indeed, the first Birmingham Bloggers meetup was fueled by a conversation about how Birmingham could become a stronger force for blogging. The thing is, how many people even inside Birmingham know that these things are going on, so that they can be proud of it? That’s how we become a city with power and influence: not by displaying billboards advertising a new exhibition, but by getting people talking about how great this place is, so that that message permeates through the walls and out into the open.

So here’s a thought. If you’re a Twitterer, why not write a new tweet starting with “I love Birmingham Because”? Iºll use Summize to gather them together and we’ll display them here at bloggingbrum.com.

Look out for mine: my username is marksteadman. What will you say?

I have entered the Birmingham to Oxford bike ride this year on the 6th July.  I will be hoping to raise £200 for the Jennifer Trust for Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  I have setup a page at http://www.justgiving.com/kevinrapley which you can sponsor me through.  Please sponsor me for the event and if you are able to come and support please do.  I will be having a pint or 2 in Oxford to celebrate the completion.

Further to my earlier post the Birmingham half marathon is now accepting entries at £22! Blimey not cheap I’ve entered marathons for less. It starts at 9:30AM on Sunday 26th October and has the theme of “Race against Climate Change”.

I’m hopeful for a personal best as Nell McAndrew is running so I’ll be trying to keep up with her!

See you there!

A new site: signposter.com, which lets you create your own billboard ad (a real one that will go on a real billboard) is throwing a big launch bash in Edgbaston Cricket Ground on June 26th.

If you own a small or medium-sized business and you fancy getting your hands on some outdoor advertising space instead of giving it over to big brands, it could work out a lot cheaper than you think. At least, that’s what they say. You can register for the event at www.signposter.com and make your own mind up!

I’ve recently read about a new online project that is being launched shortly called MyBrumTV - the first time I’ve found an interesting article in a free paper posted through my door! It’s created by a partnership of Birmingham Independent Group and South Birmingham College and looks like it’s essentially an online directory but sounds like it trying to use more alternative media to promote those listings e.g. footage of business and interviews with owners.

I’m interested to find out more but I’ve got 20 days odd to wait if you take a look at the countdown. However it does look like the cat might be out of the bag a bit if you search Google as what looks like the development site is available through mybrumtv.net - there is a media pack here that might be of interest but everything else seems not to be working at this time. Perhaps it’s just a place holder because otherwise they’ve got a lot of work to do in 20 days!

I’m disappointed with the social media impact of this project as I can’t find a thing about it (feel free to point me in the right direction). I would have thought a project like this should be leaning heavily on social media at least locally to boost the profile.

And if anyone is reading this who is related to the project please update the holding page to give it a page title other than “Untitled document” - a pet hate of mine.

Stuart and I have just built a wordpress blog site for NBSE which will document and assist in establishing a social enterprise that will provide North Birmingham with adult training in social media to disadvantaged groups such as the unemployed.  This is likely to branch into a few other social issues that are currently present in the area.  We will be firming this plan over the next month before holding a meeting currently set for June 11.  Further details can be found on the North Birmingham Social Enterprise website.

If you work for yourself or you take on freelance projects on the side, whether you blog or not, the new Freelancers in Birmingham Facebook group could be a great way for you to widen your network of contacts. It can be a lonely life especially if you don’t have a dayjob to go to or you’re part of a coworking space, but who knows, if the group takes off, there may be chance for the odd meetup.