New Shop Stuff!

Check out the new cards we've got for sale in our ETSY SHOP! Then buy them! If you don't particularly like Etsy, send us an email at youngexplorerzine@gmail.com and we can come to some other kind of arrangement if you like. You can still buy our badges and zines and things there too. And next week we're launching some embroidered badges for you to spend your cash on too. Here's a sneaky preview.

Left: Bear, fox, cloud, badger, mountain
Right: Small cloud, small bear, small mountain, small badger, small fox, acorn

S

Gig Frenzy

Most evenings we find ourselves going to bed at 10pm. If we don't get our eight hours sleep then we're both liable to be extremely grumpy for much of the day after, so we haven't been going to many night time things for a while. However, the last eight or nine days or so have seen us go to THREE gigs! We've made the conscious decision to do more fun stuff and to hell with the horrifying fatigue related consequences. Here's what we went to!

I've wanted to see Grandaddy for ages and ages. They were one of the first 'good' bands that I liked, just as I was coming out of my ska/pop-punk phase. I didn't get to see them before they broke up so I'd resigned myself to the fact that I'd never see them live. And then earlier this year it was announced that they were coming back! Last week we went to see them at the (HMV) Ritz in Manchester, which isn't as glamorous as it sounds. I've embedded a Grandaddy video up there ^. They didn't play that song, possibly because it's not one of their finest moments, and also because it's really Jason Lytle solo rather than an actual Grandaddy song. It's a good video though!

I was prepared to be extremely disappointed by their live performance. Possibly because I vaguely remember the internet saying they weren't a great live band, possibly because I'm pessimistic like that. Anyway, they were really good! They missed a few songs that I would have liked to see live, but you know, you can't have everything can you? They did a cover of Here by Pavement, too, which was nice.

The day after we'd planned to go and see the super trendy Grimes at Sound Control. And then we realised the gig had been moved to the Ritz and then the lack of sleep from the night before started to kick in and we decided we'd rather stay at home. At about 9pm we changed our minds and decided that, as part of our new fun loving attitudes, we'd go mad and go to our second gig in two days. Mental.

After queuing for about half an hour to get in, we made our way to the balcony so we could get a decent view of what was going on. It was great! We pioneered a new type of dance that was perfect for Grimes, but it was extremely strenuous in the knee area. Maybe one day we'll post a video tutorial or something.

Then, just over a week later we went to see indie pop band Allo Darlin' at the Deaf Institute. Once upon a time I used to make rubbishy music and I'd supported Allo Darlin' at a Pull Yourself Together gig at Fuel in Withington. Now they're playing real venues and doing European tours and getting played on the radio and stuff. Wow! I'd like to say that it could have been me, but that would be a lie. Allo Darlin' are actually good! I hadn't seen them for a while and the news songs they played were super fun. Go and see them if you get the chance!

In other news, we're going to be launching some new stuff to buy in our Etsy shop very soon! Liz has made some lovely things that you'll be itching to spend your hard earned cash on, so keep your eyes peeled on our Twitter for updates, ta.

See yer.

S

Sneaky peek!

We've been working on the next issue of Young Explorer over the last couple of weeks and we thought we'd give you an exclusive (!) look at the front cover to whet your appetite and that. Stuff to expect includes: Phil Elverum, Haiku Salut, buses and dodgy record collections. Oh yeah, the theme is 'collecting'!

S

Rochdale Canal Festival

This year's Rochdale Canal Festival has, for the first time, been extended into Manchester city centre. The Rochdale Canal comes into Manchester just across the road from where we live, so we've been taking advantage of some of the things that have been organised as part of the festival. Best of all, it's all been free!

On Thursday evening we popped over to the car park on Ducie Street to watch a screening of the Wes Anderson film The Life Aquatic. The film was projected against the wall of a multi-storey car park and there were deckchairs available for people to sit and watch. You could also park your car up and tune into the audio for the film through your car's FM radio. We arrived a little later than planned so we had to make do with a bench.

I'm a big fan of The Life Aquatic but I hadn't seen it for a while. I quickly remembered why I'd liked it so much. It's funny without being completely daft, poignant at times without being too schmaltzy, and it has Jeff Goldblum and Bill Murray in it. What more could you want?

The amazing Malaysian restaurant Ning were also there, serving food from a little marquee. I had the Kuey Teow Goreng, which is a mix of chicken, beansprouts and thick noodles in a slightly spicy chilli sauce. Liz had the Chicken Lime Curry and we both shared some lamb samosas and vegetable spring rolls. Pretty tasty stuff. I think we're going to pop over to Ning at some point soon hopefully!

Also as part of the festival, artist Kerry Howarth has yarn bombed the Brewer Street Bridge over the canal. We saw her the day before busy tying all the bits of yarn to the railings as it was starting to rain. We think it looks great! Definitely worth all the hard work. It looks like extra bits are been added too, although it might just be us not noticing things the first time round.

LomoWall is a new permanent lomography exhibition on Tariff Street. It's made up of loads of photographs taken on lomography cameras and you can see a little bit of it in the photo underneath. If you click on the bit that says LomoWall back there <--- you can watch a video of it being put together.

It's not too late to go and have a look yourself! The LomoWall and the floating garden at Jackson's Wharf (Which we don't have a photo of!) are permanent and free, so you can go and see them any time you like. Also, I've just seen that there's a BBQ at New Islington Marina on Sunday, after moaning about not being able to eat barbecued food in the last post. There's loads of other stuff going on as well, between midday and 4pm. LOOK AT THIS FOR MORE INFO.

See yer.

S

Tea Party

On Sunday we had a vegan tea party for our lovely friend Rebecca's birthday. We tried to make lots of nice food that she'd like which included a homemade carrot cake, Moomin shortbread and a whole host of different vegetables. We also made soy and balsamic glazed tofu, which was alright! I think next time I'd use more soy sauce than balsamic vinegar though. It was a bit too zingy for me (That's a professional chef term, by the way).

We watched the film Practical Magic, which wasn't the whimsical children's film that I was expecting, and then we went for a walk along the canal. We were hoping that we'd be able to have a picnic somewhere, but yet again the Manchester weather foiled our plans. Stupid weather! The tea party was nice though. 

We're determined to have either a picnic or a barbecue before the end of the summer but we're quickly running out of time. If anyone reading this is planning one of the above, invite us please! 

S

Solva Mill

We have just returned from a holiday in Tenby, Pembrokeshire. Although we didn't get the best of weather we both had a wonderful time. There will be another post about our Tenby fun when we get the photographs back from Boots. Something to look forward to!

On the way home from Tenby we called in at Solva Mill just outside of St David's. Solva mill is the oldest working woollen mill in Pembrokeshire, which is still using traditional shuttle looms to produce their cloth. I had spotted it when I was on work experience at Melin Tregwynt (another woollen mill) earlier this year. However, I didn't finish work early enough to visit so it was a real treat to get the chance to return and I wasn't disappointed! Not just is it set in beautiful surroundings but it is also producing wonderful Welsh woven fabric. I would highly recommend a visit.

E x

Southport Fun!

How much fun can two people possibly have? It must seem, to you outsiders, like our lives are spent constantly visiting places that aren't Manchester and having a nice time. That's not quite true, but a week after going to Liverpool and Llangollen, we made the trip over to Southport.

Ostensibly the trip was for a football match. I support Grimsby Town, for my sins, and have spent the last 15 or so years of my life being repeatedly disappointed by them. Don't worry, this isn't a post about football. To make the idea of going to see rubbish football more appealing, we decided we'd make a day of it and invite Liz's sister and brand new husband (Remember they recently got married and Liz made a blanket for them? Corresponding blog post here) along to share the misery.

Obviously no trip to the seaside is complete without a game of crazy golf. Initial fears that the course might not be particularly crazy were allayed when we saw the obligatory windmill on the third hole. We both found the course quite challenging and finished comfortably in the bottom two places in the standings.

Liz managed to get a fantastic hole-in-one on one of the more tricky holes, whereas my performance was fairly terrible throughout. Liz's sister came out on top by being consistently alright, rather than being a dead talented crazy golfer. Although I might be saying that because I'm a poor loser.

We recently popped over to Project Atelier to have a go on their rowing boats but, sadly, they'd had to be locked away due to some 'unsocial behaviour'. Hopefully they'll be back out again soon! After this disappointment we jumped at the chance to go on the swan pedalos in Southport. Up there's a shot of them in the distance, all lined up and waiting to be pedalled.

Liz and her brother-in-law were in charge of pedalling and, after about ten minutes, were suffering from severe leg cramps, leaving us floating aimlessly around the boating lake. A swan in distress. The weather was nice though and it was quite pleasant just floating around on our own (We were the only swan in action). Eventually the pedallers managed to summon up the energy and leg strength to propel us back to shore safely.

After that we went and got some amazing ice cream (More on that in a later post) and then went to the football, which was about twenty minutes walk from the town centre. The match was predictably dull and any pre-season excitement had well and truly disappeared by the end of a disappointing 1-1 draw.

The result didn't matter too much, though. We'd had a lovely day in Southport despite the football. The next time we go and see Grimsby play I think we'll try and organise something actually enjoyable around the match again.

S