I am...Editor

My sincerest apologies for not blogging more these last few weeks, but my Uni work has officially taken over! I currently run my own Birmingham-based events website "Arcane Magazine", and with me having to post and update it with new articles almost everyday, I'm finding it hard to do anything but work on that at the minute.

But fear not faithful Twenty-one and Invincible followers, I am back and I have plenty going on this month to keep you interested - and hopefully make up for lacking in the quick witted and humorous story department as of late!

I thought I'd use this post to share with you a little bit about the magazine that is currently taking over my life, in the hope that you will see why I have had to neglect blogging on here recently in favour of pushing myself forward in my budding career as an established Birmingham journalist.

Arcane Magazine has been up and running since the end of February this year, and what started as a print publication with a blog to run alongside as an extra bit of content for the magazine, has now become a full-blown online magazine, updated almost every day with news bites, previews, reviews, interviews, exclusives and features - as well as video and image content and interactive maps to support my written work.

The team consists of myself as Editor, Clare Evans as a freelance writer, and Rachel Powell (from The Life Of A Pee-Pod) as Press Officer. Being that we are a small team, I write a good 90% of the content myself, I have produced all the video/image slideshows and other interactive content myself so far, I designed and maintain the website itself, I manage the email account and liaisons with interviewees/event hosts, as well as producing and maintaining the online marketing of the site (through Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Flickr accounts).

Clare writes a handful of prearranged previews for me every month, as well as contributing her own ideas and articles as and when she stumbles across them. I have recently upped Rachel's input into the magazine by bringing her in on more of the marketing and promotion for the business. She has started by helping with online marketing campaigns, and hopefully over the next few weeks she will be producing press releases and contact lists for event companies and venues in Birmingham which we could work with and report upon.

Arcane covers a vast range of local and hyper local events happening in and around Birmingham, including club nights, drinks promotions, sporting events, dance and comedy shows, music performances, fashion events...and so much more in between that I'd struggle to list it all here.

Arcane also prides itself on the special retrospect events which we cover, which involve any event which could be seen as being a blast from the past; a forgotten pastime, which once thrilled and delighted our predecessors and has become a mere memory as time has moved on. We at Arcane want to bring these great events back to the forefront, and in doing so we hope to bring back the sense of community in the area of Birmingham which, again, over time has been lost.

As part of our strive to help bring back the sense of community in Birmingham, myself and Rachel ran a week-long "I Love Brum" campaign, where we asked people to post and tweet about why they loved Birmingham. The response was great, and Rachel managed to triple the amount of people who followed Arcane online in less then three days!

We had so many great comments about Birmingham, and the campaign really seemed to get people engaged and thinking about why they enjoyed being a Brummie - so I think we achieved exactly what we set out to do, which brought people to the site and created that sense of community that we had been looking for.

As the magazine has evolved and developed, I have already begun to see more interest in Arcane and what we have to offer, as recently I have had people contacting me asking me to write about their events and help to promote them - and people have been more than willing to conduct interviews with me and send me any info and pictures I might need to accompany my articles. This morning I even got up to find an email off a freelance graphic designer asking if Arcane would like to work with him on upcoming projects. To top it all, Arcane is now being promoted on another long-established Birmingham website/blog called Created in Birmingham, which has been running since 2006 and has a vast following online.

I feel like Arcane is fast becoming a legitimate Birmingham magazine, and our popularity and online community is growing daily. For three students who are essentially running this out of their own homes, we don't seem to be doing to bad with Arcane at all. I can't speak for the other members of the team, but this is more than just a final year project for me. This is a chance for me to showcase what I'm made of and show people in the industry what I can produce. But most of all, I feel a real tie to Arcane because I am passionate about Birmingham as a place, and passionate about the great people within it who make these awesome events a reality.

I have met some really interesting and inspiring people since I have been running Arcane, and by helping to promote the great things that they are doing I feel like I'm a part of all the great things that are happening in my local area - a fact which really cements my beliefs about why I'm training to be a journalist, and why I feel I'm in the right profession. Hopefully Arcane will continue to grow and progress over the next few months, and I do hope all who read this will support me in my work. You can visit the site at http://whatsonarcane.com/, so please feel free to stop by and be involved in Arcane.

Diary of a Birmingham Party Girl

As I am in full editor swing at the minute, I thought I'd share with you all a sneak preview of Arcane Magazine's first feature reviews...Diary of Birmingham Party Girl. Feel free to comment and make suggestions. It's all about improvement for me.

Diary of a Birmingham Party Girl

In the run up to the first ever edition of Arcane, our Editor Louise decided she should get out and about in Birmingham and see what the city has to offer – and she certainly didn’t do it by halves! With reviews on no less than 7 venues, sit back and enjoy the Diary of a Birmingham Party Girl...

February 1^st – Pitcher and Piano

Tonight my best friend and I were out celebrating some personal successes, as we have both done well recently in our professional careers and decided that this was a definite cause for a trip to Birmingham City Centre. We headed to Brindley Place for a quiet drink near the canal side, and chose The Pitcher and Piano to spend the night in.

The venue is laid out beautifully, with plenty of seating, comfy sofas to relax on and a roaring open fire to warm your bones near. From the ground floor, you can look down to the basement room below – which is far from dingy, and instead is bright and welcoming; opening onto the canal side in the warmer weather.

Considering the venues upmarket feel, the price list was not bad at all. Red, White and Rose wine from £3.45 by the glass or £13.25 a bottle. The Pitcher and Piano has a wide variety of draught and bottled beer and cider, as well as a nice selection of shorts and spirits – but it is their cocktail menu that really impresses. With a massive choice of no less than 34 different cocktails and shots, ranging from the classic Mojito to the more exotic Choc a L’Organe – which is an exciting mix of vodka, Cointrea chocolate liqueur, milk and cream – there is sure to be something to suit everyone’s tastes, and many of the cocktails are as little as £6.25 a glass.

However, as this was intended to be a night of celebration for my friend and I, we opted for something with a bit more fizz. The Pitcher and Piano also boasts a decent selection of sparking wines and champagnes, ranging from as little as £18, right up to the extravagant £150 a bottle bubbly. Seeing as how we were not out to break the bank that night, we opted for the £18 Segura Viudas Cava and it was so nice we had another one!

The Pitcher and Piano gets the thumbs up from me, and after hearing they serve food as well, I have a feeling I’ll be popping back there before too long.

February 3^rd – Big Wok and Indi Bar

Having barely recovered from my trip to the Pitcher and Piano and our two bottles of bubbly, I headed out tonight for an evening of fun, frivolity and fancy dress to celebrate Chinese New Year with some of my fellow journalists and industry peers. As it is Year of the Rabbit, we had each donned a pair of bunny ears and headed first to the Big Wok for a meal, before drinks at Indi Bar in the Arcadian.

If I’m totally honest, there are very few Chinese buffet restaurants which don’t feel like the school hall at dinner time, but the Big Wok definitely hadn’t done much to make the dining experience any more pleasurable. The place was hugely noisy, cold and the layout and decor screams greasy spoon cafe – which is a real shame as the food was really very good. They have a wide variety of different dishes on offer, and the freshly made chicken satays were a really nice touch. At only £9.99 for the evening menu, I could hardly complain at the price, but in all truth I have been to much nicer Chinese buffets, and the Big Wok could really do with a revamp.

From there we headed over to Indi Bar in the Arcadian, which is quite a small bar with very little seating, and most of the space is reserved for the DJ and the dance floor – but it somehow suits its purpose. The drinks are really cheap, and it’s not hard to see why this is a student favourite. On a Thursday, when we went, selected drinks are as little as £1 – with draught beer only £1.50 a pint and bottles of wine only £6.

The music is mostly current chart toppers, with some dance and old school R&B thrown in for good measure. Overall, it’s a nice bar, with cheap drinks and a good atmosphere, its only downside being it is quite small so it does get crowded quickly, and the lack of seating is a problem if you aren’t the type to be on the dance floor all night.

February 9^th – Briar Rose and The Victoria

Tonight an old school friend and I decided to have a catch up over dinner and drinks, and so we headed off to the Briar Rose for some food, before heading to The Victoria pub for some drinks later. The Briar Rose is part of the Wetherspoon family, so the menu boasts the same good value for menu and wide range as the others in the chain. The meals are substantial and they really are very good value for money, with many options on the menu falling under the “meal and a free drink” promotion which is offered throughout the week – and, as with the other Wetherspoon restaurants, they offer a wide variety of drinks from across the world. They are one of the only places I know which sell my favourite foreign beer, Efes, so that always goes down well with me! The bar staff were friendly, the food was prompt, there was plenty of seating and the whole bar is nicely decorated and has a warm atmosphere.

After dinner we headed to The Victoria pub, which has become one of my favourite places to drink over the last year. During the week, it keeps its appearance of a quiet local pub - despite it’s location in the city centre – but of a weekend it comes to life with two rooms of alternative and indie music and classic 60s, 70s and 80s records too. The prices are a bit steeper than other pubs in the area, but the atmosphere in The Vic is second to none. With bookcases around the seating areas, carpeted dance floors and antique furniture, it takes you back in time through both the music and the decor of the place. An absolute must for all serious music lovers!

February 10^th – Ask restaurant

Ask is a fabulous Italian restaurant chain, which seems to often be overlooked by food lovers for some reason – despite the fact that in my opinion it produces some of the best Italian food I have ever eaten. I took my best friend for dinner there tonight, and she loved it just as much as I did! With a wide menu of authentic Italian pasta, pizza and risotto dishes (to name but a few), and a bustling and interesting atmosphere it will appeal to all lovers of Italian food – and a fair few who aren’t I should imagine!

The Penne Paesana (pesto drenched pasta, with pine nuts, mushrooms and strips of garlic chicken) is my favourite dish, and at only £8.95 you could afford to eat there every week. Ask also offer great 2-for-1 offers several times a month, so if you want a tasty treat without the hefty price tag I’d suggest you sign up to their mailing list and start receiving the great deals they have on offer.

March 2^nd – Reflex

Having been crazy busy recently, and not managing to get further than my local pub most weekends, I finally made it back to Birmingham tonight for a long-overdue trip to Reflex. Reflex is THE place for 80s music, and ever since I have been old enough to go, this club has to be my favourite on Broad Street.

Venues which are part of a chain usually guarantees you cheap drinks promotions, and you will not be disappointed with Reflex’s offerings. Most bottles, including beer and alcopops, are just £1.49, double vodka Redbulls are only £1.99, and each Thursday all cocktails are £1.99. Bring on the Cheeky Vimto!

The music is great, the atmosphere is great and the whole night is always a blast. Everything from the revolving dance floor, to the DIY pole-dancing podiums just screams wild night out, and my friends and I just cannot get enough of the place.

That’s it for now folks, but for more reviews in Diary of a Birmingham Party Girl visit www.arcanemagazine.wordpress.com to read Louise’s blog.

Arcane Magazine

I am well underway with my final year project this week, and I have to admit I'm getting a tad excited about the possibilities.

I am aiming to produce either two or three monthly editions of an A5, Birmingham-based events magazine which I have entitled "Arcane Magazine".

Arcane will feature news bites, reviews, previews, features, interviews and a whole lot more on upcoming and interesting events in Birmingham.

After my first edition is completed, I will attempt to get my second and possibly third editions distributed across Birmingham, in bars, restaurants, information centres, hotels - any where that will have it really!

So, there's every chance you could be seeing Arcane whilst you're out and about in Brum very soon. Watch this space...

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Mock-up front cover