What do you think when you hear the word “Salford”?

It’s the city with… No speakable shopping centre, yet it’s own cathedral. It’s often seen as the brutish older brother to Manchester, with it’s newly emerging “glamour girl” persona. It’s fair to assume that the two could be seen as polar opposites, just by taking a stroll from Deansgate to Chapel Street you’ll see the differences once you cross over the border (neighbouring the posh and expensive Spinningfields!). Perhaps this is why Salford is quickly gaining a massive student following, with roads full of pubs full of cheap drinks, situated neatly by the bustling sweating nightclubs of Manchester.

But not everyone wants to leave the pubs that quickly. At least that is to say, one pub in particular.

The Black Lion.

You might wonder why that it is. Well you see, The Black Lion isn’t your run of the mill pub. It’s a pub with a very bright idea.

That idea, is an arthouse. The sort you’d expect to find in chic Paris, but one that got lost on it’s way the Eurostar and ended up in Salford.

The Black Lion stands in it’s spot proudly like it’s namesake, belittling the disbelievers with it’s towering 3 floors. And don’t disbelieve just yet, it’s a Salfordian instiution- it’s been a watering hole for over a century, and has dowsed the thirsts of many- including George Orwell!

This little sprightly tiger (sorry, lion) is a shining gem in the grey drabness of Salford. If you’re a fan of ANY type of cinema, I implore you to give a try. Even if you’re a blockbuster only type, there really is something for everyone here.

What can you expect from a night at the Black Lion? 

State of the art HD and 3D cinema viewing, with a bevvy in your hand. The top floor can also cater to fringe theatre and production companies, so honestly there’s a pretty wide repertoire you could expect! You’ll be able to see feature documentaries to provoke the mind, classic old films to stir your heartstrings and music EP events to get your feet tapping.

If you’re interested in acting, an intense 2 day introduction to acting course is to run in the pub on the 25th & 26th August, with further dates in 22ndand 23rd September, and the 20th and 21st October. [Early bird offer of £70 for both days if you sign up early!]

Honestly? It’s a complete jib-jab of creativity and that’s why it’s completely perfect. Less pretentious than The Cornerhouse, more up-market than your living room- to keep the Black Lion alive and prospering (and have a bloody brilliant night!) check it out, you’ve got nothing to lose… Right!?

For more info, visit blacklionsalford.tumblr.com.

Where to find them:  Black Lion, Chapel Street, Salford, M3 5BZ

Clare Havelock

The Warehouse Project has announced their first weekend line-up of the new season. And my, do they look set to kick it all off again in a big way.

What seems like a lifetime ago, The Warehouse Project upped-sticks from its adopted home under arches of Store Street, Piccadilly, and upsized to a large, disused warehouse across the road from Old Trafford, spending a small fortune in the process. Two successful events at Easter tested the waters and the reaction was extremely positive, with patrons lauding the scale of the new venue and likening more to a festival rather than a larger-than-life club.

Friday 28^th September will be the first night of the new season which culminates on the 1^st January, no doubt with a typical WHP New Year’s all-dayer.  The night will be host to globally popular London community radio station Rinse FM’s 18^th birthday celebrations with an enormous party with nigh on 40 artists confirmed. Peddlers of all things Bass, Rinse’s line-up includes the cream of the UK’s Dubstep, DnB, Grime, and Garage scenes. Chart bothering Katy B will headline the night, supported by favourites Skream, Diplo, and Boy Better Know (other highlights include P Money, Pearson Sound, Lianne La Havas, and Kode 9). For the full line-up and ticket information/booking (at a tiny £20), click here.

The following night (Saturday 29^th), whilst lacking in comparative quantity, certainly makes up for this in its quality. Electronic pioneer Four Tet returns to WHP for a DJ set amongst an exciting selection of young, fresh, international House producers like headliner Nicolas Jaar, Seth Troxler, and Jacques Greene, the UK’s Maya Jane Coles with Heidi, Julio Bashmore, and Joy Orbison, alongside the excellent Manchester based Krysko & Greg Lord. Fans of the scene will have already snapped up £25 tickets for this unmissable gig, but if you’re lagging behind like me, you can go straight here or even here.

Of course the rest of the season’s events are being kept under wraps until everything has been confirmed. WHP themselves have set 9am on the 25^th July to reveal the completed line-ups. Keep an eye on their website (or ours of course) for that information. What we do know is that Bloc Party and Animal Collective UK tours will see them play at the Warehouse in October and November respectively. Whether this is part of bigger events or solo gigs we can’t be sure, but all will be revealed later on this month.

Keep you posted.

ADAM HAYDEN

After the two dismal offerings of Batman Returns and Batman & Robin the Batman film franchise was pretty much dead in the water so a reboot was planned. The project was given to Christopher Nolan, a rising director who had previously made the brilliant Memento and the solid remake of Insomnia. Co writing with Blade writer David S. Goyer, Nolan looked to Frank Miller’s graphic novel Batman: Year One and went back to the beginning. In 2005 Batman Begins was released.

Batman Begins:

As a young boy, billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has his parents killed in front of him by a street mugger. Years later, after the parole hearing of his parent’s killer, Wayne disappears from Gotham, travelling the world and eventually training to fight crime after being taken under the wing of the leader of The League of Shadows, R’as Al Ghul (Liam Neeson).  Heading back to Gotham City to clean up its streets, he uses his new-found skills and wealth to turn himself into the vigilante hero, Batman. In Batman Begins, he defends the his hometown from The Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) and The League of Shadows, who have devised a plan to bring about the city’s destrcution.

By going back to the beginnings of the legend, Nolan creates a new generation of Batman for film. It is a darker and more realistic world than the camp day-glow version seen in the previous two films. It shows a city where crime is rife and people live in poverty and desperation. The visual effect of The Scarecrow’s neurotoxin is effective and surprisingly scary for a 12a superhero film. He pulled together a cast of great actors including Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman and Rutger Hauer. Christian Bale bulked up to play the billionaire Wayne, a man who could convincingly take down several street thugs while also looking good in a suit. The early scenes of Wayne’s training in the mountains are beautiful and exhilarating and the film comes full circle with its ending set piece in the dark, criminal and fear-filled streets of Gotham.
The film is fun but is not without its flaws. You never get a sense of the scale of Gotham, it just feels like a series of small sets and never a cohesive city and the burnt down Wayne Manor looks like it’s in the English countryside. The Scarecrow isn’t used enough and is never developed into a full blown villain and his send off is disappointingly quick. The film has several plot holes and the fight on the tram is taken from (and arguably done better) in Spiderman 2.
However, Batman Begins does do what all good first instalments should do. It establishes its main characters and introduces its world. It effectively introduces us to Bruce Wayne and his back story and shows the details of his progression to become Batman. It also features a great ending scene, perfectly teasing and creating instant anticipation for the sequel.

The Dark Knight:

After directing the magical thriller The Prestige, Christopher Nolan returned to Batman with The Dark Knight (released in 2008). Riding on a wave of anticipation from a well thought out advertising strategy and a great trailer, Nolan set The Dark Knight on a more grand scale, making Gotham look like the world-leading city it is supposed to be and taking inspiration from films such as Heat. Returning with the cast of old favourites, and adding a few new talents, he crafted a hugely well received and record breaking film which stands at number 8 on Imdb’s 250 greatest films and number 12 of the highest grossing films of all time.
Set soon after Batman Begins, The Dark Knight picks up with the criminals of Gotham running scared from Batman. Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), Batman and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) work together to take down the mob. A new criminal, The Joker (Heath Ledger), appears causing mayhem and in his efforts trying to reveal the bad nature of people. Tearing apart the city and the group, Batman attempts to stop The Joker before he kills more people and make Gotham lose hope.
Starting off with a heist scene (which took its place as one of the greatest ever filmed) The Dark Knight is packed with brilliant action set pieces. The film takes up from the good groundwork laid down by Batman Begins and builds on it. It grips and entertains for its lengthy running time. Nolan directs with confidence and bravura giving us beautiful swooping shots to go with its emotional character action. We get to see the human side to Batman, a man who struggles to endure the death caused by his existence and the genuine hurt of losing those close to him.

The September 11th attacks hang heavy over the film. Its villain, a terrorist who is beyond normal understanding and who easily blows up people and buildings, and its images of firemen walking amongst the rubble, of burning buildings and fire engines, played on the fears of an audience with the shadow of terrorism still hanging over them. The film doesn’t play on the all American hero saving the day cliché and ends not with Batman being the triumphant hero but with him being the exile; villainy defeated but with a string of dead bodies left behind them.

At the centre of The Dark Knight is a career high performance from Heath Ledger, an initially odd casting choice, as The Joker. Taking on the role nineteen years after Jack Nicholson effectively defined him, Ledger gave a vicious and scary performance which earned him a posthumous Oscar and made The Joker an instant and enduring figure in popular culture. At turns terrifying and hilarious, The Joker is one of the greatest villains ever put on screen.
With more intelligence than a hundred blockbusters, its brilliant plot, acting, exhilarating set pieces and great soundtrack/sound design, The Dark Knight stands up as the greatest superhero film of all time.

Nolan has since directed the well received intelligent thriller Inception and has continued his Batman saga using key members from its cast.

The Dark Knight Rises released on Friday 20th of July and tickets can be booked for the Manchester IMAX here

COURTNEY BUTTON

I’ve got to admit that when a friend of mine invited me to his local gym “Fighting Fit” (situated snugly right beneath my flat) I was a little perturbed at what I was going to find in there. I had visions of hulking sweaty men pulling trains with their teeth (I watch a lot of daytime telly…), but thankfully found none of that. Maybe they only do that on Wednesdays?

 Anyway, I digress.

 The point of this article, is that MMA is hitting Manchester big style, thanks to Fighting Fit. The gym specialises in a wide variety of mixed martial arts (I had no idea that’s what MMA stood for either), with teaching classes from beginners to experts and also regular competitions. The one I’m here to talk (well, write) about, is a specialised form of MMA called “No-Gi”.

 Now, I had no idea what No-Gi was, so I’m not expecting you to either. Essentially, it’s a form of Ju-Jitsu. Which isn’t what you’re thinking.

No-Gi comes from the tropical paradise that is Brazil, and is based on the same skill sets as as traditional Brazilion Ju-Jitsu, focusing on controlling your opponent and forcing him (or her… it’s the 21^st century after all!) to submit with a variety of established moves and locks to entrap.

 The Labs, a team of Manchester based lads interested in bigging up the MMA scene have sorted out their 2nd No-Gi Grappling Competition on the 29th July 2012. The first being such a resounding success, means they’re pulling out all the stops this time.

 Doors open at 10am with a £2 spectator’s fee, giving you plenty of time to find a parking space [pro-tip there is free parking at the rear of the gym] and suck in your beer pack before you hit the gym scene to see the fights take place. All fighting will take place on the “dojo”, with plenty of ample spectator viewing space around the side, and there’s even a midday BBQ for all the fatties in the hood, hollerrrrr! Fights will be staged for different levels of No-Gi, so if you’re curious about becoming inducted you’ll have a good idea of the different levels of fighting and what you’ll be expected to know from the off set. 

 All in all, it’s a good thing to get introduced to if you’re a little curious about the mystical world of MMA. MMA is becoming extremely popular with the sporty and non sporty set alike, and it’s not all “Alex Reid” like you’re bound to think. Give it a try, for £2 you can’t really go wrong! It’s within the city centre confines, so after fights you can even treat yourself to a few bevvies afterwards- brilliant!

Doors open 10am on Sunday 29th July 2012, with an entry fee of £2.

This event will be sponsored by Monkey Nutrition, you can visit their Facebook, Twitter or site here

CLARE HAVELOCK

We will continue to have more of these for you as we have gathered a decent haul of victims as of late! So stay tuned.

Picture #1: Girlfriend takes picture of pretty food.

Picture #2: Boyfriend sees girlfriend in food picture taking trance and decides to whip out his phone as well.

Picture #3: Boyfriend starts taking picture along side girlfriend. “Monkey-see, Monkey-do” psychology confirmed.

-the Food Bombers

Screening on 26th July at the usual time of 7:30PMish, this month’s spectacles are the trashtastic Master of the Flying Guillotine and Riki-Oh (The Story of Ricky), which from the trailers (below) look to be on equal levels of awesome awfulness.

The team have a new venue this time around, one that goes by the name of Charlie’s Bar and is situated at Number 1 Harter Street, M1 6HY. If you don’t know your way round Manchester, stick it in your phone’s GPS and it’ll sort you right out. If you have a phone that doesn’t have GPS like a Nokia 3210, we don’t want your kind coming anyway.

Tickets are a measly fiver and can be bought on the night as per usual. We’ll be right at the front, also as per usual.

Master of the Flying Guillotine trailer:

Riki-Oh trailer:

FAREED ATHMAN