A Bedroom, a metal cage and thinktank web broadcast::::

Follow a live webcam broadcast from Harry Palmer’s mythological thinktank in which he has installed his entire bedroom into a metal cage (himself included). The seven day (24/7) exploration begins on 18th September at 7pm at The PhD Show in Birmingham. Harry, known for many eccentric activities including reverse pedestrianism world record attempts - will be exploring hoaxes and myths relating to the mysterious Darknosis Project. Classic re-enactments are also involved, attempting to reveal the true nature of the Indian Rope trick….

About The PhD Show.  YOU ARE INVITED!!!  

The PhD Show (Pete, Harry and Diane) will run from 18th -25th September, at The Edge, Birmingham (UK). Launch opening event at 7pm on the 18th. Open to the public. Full details www.phdshow.com

(18th – 25th September 2009) as follows:

*18th Sept 2009:  Launch opening at 7pm

Sat & Sun (19th-20th):  12 midday till 5pm (impromptu tours will take place).

*Mon – Friday (21st – 25th):  5 - 9pm

*With Darknosis Project performance lecture by Harry Palmer at 8pm each evening.

Credit:

Special thanks to Friction Arts for their generous support and sponsorship (www.frictionarts.com)

£1 Award winning for August 2009:

Anwyl Cooper-Willis - The streets of Stoke-on-Trent are paved with Gold (or will be soon).

keep an eye on 2009 awardees click here

Harry’s recent article regarding Summer Edition 2009 was recently posted on the outsider otherside of Birmingham blog magazine BINS - so pop over and read a little about it if you have time.

The Eccentric City newspaper (k/3 - the cockeral that beareth) is continuing to be delivered across the UK and abroad. We have had recent correspondence from English Eccentric 2009 Rob Lowe as well as British Eccentric 2009 (Captain Beany) - as voted by the formal Eccentric Society based in London. We will be reporting on adventures in correspondence with these chaps soon!

The £1 Arts commission continues to inspire and delight. We have overspent and invested in the other things that are peculiar and delightful, all aimed at bringing a little smile to those that ‘discover’ and ’see’ (or taste) what eccentric makers have to offer…..100 pennies are hidden in the streets of Birmingham, whilst a sandwich board appears in a shopping centre in Manchester and lollipops are handed out to ginger haired people as a gift. We will hopefully receive 20 words of wisdom from an older eccentric in Liverpool, whilst our man in Vancouver is still making an eccentric DVD…..we shall see….. Updates as we get them and all announcements on the special 2009 announcement page click here.

Happy eccentric days to those that read this far (and don’t forget, you can still purchase paper on line as well as join our mailing list).

Ta Ta!

Summer Edition 2009, Dublin, Ireland. Meanwhile, worldwide reader Katie at Summer Edition 2009. Simon reads from The Eccentric City (K/3) and Harry intrudes into the crowds to eccentrically read at Summer Edition 2009

The great thing is you want be out of pocket. Oh no! Sales as little as 10p to £25 have made this first and foremost a fun time for all in attendance.

Dates of the eccentric city auctions will be advertised as soon as possible. They take place in The Anchor pub in Digbeth, Birmingham (UK).

Feel free to look at our eccentric pictures here in our gallery section.

We will advetise our next auction here on the website as soon as….Watch this space.

Ranging from nettle beer making, fairground filmmaking, plant pot surveys through to identical collage making….YOUR idea COULD become an ECCENTRIC REALITY.  All details are on our £1 Art Commission section on this website.

Dates for entry 2009: (NOW CLOSED)

May 25th

June 25th

July 25th

August 25th

September 25th

October 25th

November 25th

December 25th

Contact us with you idea (however eccentric)!

Previous awardees (2008)

From the paper’s own categorisation, such titles include Global Eccentric, Egg Photography, Anthropological Ornithological, Naturalistic, Books Eccentric and Olfaction Eccentric for example.

Curious? Well Buy a copy and get a free random gift that is specially for you,  unique to each purchasee.

Eccentric regards,

The co-founders – Harry Palmer (editor) and Si Walker (designer).

‘Together, we are more than enough!’

CLICK HERE TO BUY A GIFT

John Ward: No! – only light bulbs… 

When did you make your first eccentric invention and what was it?

Circa 1968! - an electric spoon, which I still have!

You are considered one of Britain’s most prolific and well known eccentric inventors. Which of your inventions are your most favorite?

Too many to think about! Perhaps the Musical Frying pan!

As an eccentric, featured heavily in the press and media, what do you personally think are the most important qualities of an eccentric?

Don’t ask me! - I think it’s everybody else that is out of pace!

Humour is a wonderful trait of yours, as with many eccentrics, there always seems to be a sense of joy and remarkability! Why do you think this is?

Not being able to be in ‘Carry On Insane’ springs to mind!

Are eccentrics to be taken seriously, especially when the media use the opportunity to undermine the integrity of person and their valid experience. Why are eccentrics important in society?

Not sure - the ability to carry on smiling while the rest of the place is falling apart I suppose!

What makes someone become eccentric – a personal driving force of special and uniqueness?

I have no idea! - I was merely labelled as such and it’s something I grew up with really!

You are the designated inventor for the British Monster Raving Loony Party? How did that happen and what does it mean (roles and responsibilities etc.)??

Minister for Inventions by Davy Such - bless him - and the idea was I was to be in charge of the inventing side of the Party but alas he left us too soon in Life…

What are you working on at the moment and where do you get all your ideas from?

One or two things but top secret! - will let you know in due course!

When people have seen something of your unique work - what are the most memorable moments to date?

Getting away with it all I suppose! - too many to mention really, wait till I do the ‘book’!

Eccentric City meets eccentric inventor John Ward at their Eccentric Auction.

 

 

 

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE ANCHOR PUB

Landlord Gerry Keane supports The Eccentric City

This website is a communication eccentric launch pad, digitizing the written word, the audio visual landscape to make new friends and new discoveries.

Please click away and find out what it’s all about. Please get in touch.

We will be featuring special articles: Eccentric TV, commissioning schemes, latest news and eccentric archaeology as never before!

Issue K/3 newspaper: Our readers and friends at the Goat Milk festival in Bulgaria (2009).

Whilst we don’t prescribe what the content of our editions should include, we always make sure that we feature down to earth genuine (and perhaps unsensational) life stories and personal experiences. So much so, that we are excited by the approach and dedication that authenticates a real life experience.

In many ways, this newspaper intentionally sidesteps the convention of what typifies newspaper tabloids, both in terms of design and content. Clearly we see this as a marvellous and relatively cheap way of staying offline, out and about to hand-out papers and elicit conversations as part of our investigations into the (extra) ordinary.

Very much as a return to ‘the pamphleteers’ - The Eccentric City hands out newspapers, finding spaces outside the planning and policy gentry, who act on ‘our’ behalf. In the days of pamphleteering for example, a key aim was to challenge the politics (the religion) of the day and to passionately reorientate the authoritarianism of dominant culture.

The Eccentric City publishes a passionate state of affairs which celebrates diversity and common decency without the need to reform or commercialise. We would hate this paper to become a glossy magazine, a so called sophisticated acceptance of mainstream culture. From that point of view, we are both pro-culture in a countercultural way, as well as agit-prop.  Eccentricity is celebrated wholeheartedly.

-Harry Palmer, Editor and Co-founder/Publisher.