Hi there. How you doing? Last 2 years have been shit, right? Yes. This year I've had the most new subscribers (and it's only August), since my first year in business, in 2013 when I had 4000. If this Twitter account is mildly good, please subscribe. RT? ichoosebirmingham.com

Friday the 13th: traditionally bad news for teenagers in horror films, considerably better news for anyone wanting free fireworks in the @BirminghamJQ. Christmas arrives in Golden Square on November 13, with the annual light switch-on bringing two hours of music, festive food and an excuse to start referring to every drink as a Christmas drink. Running from 5pm to 7pm, the free gathering features two acts from The Jam House. The Black Jeans bring their Best of Birmingham set, working through a musical family album featuring Black Sabbath, Dexys Midnight Runners, Duran Duran, ELO, UB40 and Ocean Colour Scene. Plenty to sing along to, even if your contribution is mostly confident mumbling. Heavy Beat Brass Band supplies the Mardi Gras energy. The six-piece has been mentored by Keith Frazier of New Orleans’ Rebirth Brass Band, so expect enough brass-powered exuberance to bring a little Bourbon Street to Vyse Street. Nearby cafés, bars and venues will serve festive food and drinks, with Thai street food doyens Buddha Belly joining on the square and warming tums. At 6pm, a special guest hits the switch, followed by whizzbangs. Free entry, big tunes and things exploding overhead. A persuasive argument for moving your usual Friday evening plans off the sofa.

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Follow the White Rabbit. Bring your financial curiosity. Down the AI Rabbit Hole is turning @mac_birmingham into Financial Wonderland on October 31 ichoosebirmingham.com/malice…

Transporty McTransport Face

HUGE INDOOR ACTIVITY PARK COMING TO STARCITY Finland has given us saunas, Moomins and the sort of national happiness that suggests nobody there has tried merging onto the Aston Expressway. Next up: SuperPark, a vast indoor activity playground heading for StarCity’s former Genting Casino. Aiming to open around the turn of the year, subject to building work staying on schedule, England’s first SuperPark will fill 30,000 square feet with more than 30 activities across three zones. Think football, freestyle sports and opportunities to discover that your child has considerably better coordination than you. Some pics are of the Glasgow SuperPark. Designed for ages three upwards, the Finnish concept puts children, teenagers and adults in the action together. Parents participate, meaning your usual supervisory position beside a coffee may require some renegotiation. Technology plays its part too, making movement interactive while helping develop confidence, coordination and physical skills. Essentially, screens with considerably more running about. Work is already underway inside the former casino, which has served as Genting’s office space since closing in 2017. Management recruitment has also begun. From poker faces to very red faces, then. We’ll bring you the opening date when it’s confirmed.

BOOK NOW: 20% OFF FOR ALL ICB FOLLOWERS Daniel Craig in a dinner jacket is (effortlessly) doing some of the heavy lifting here, but the CBSO will be putting in a proper shift. Symphony Hall has three blockbuster nights lined up before October’s out, with Bond, dragons and the world of Azeroth all getting the full orchestral treatment and YOU landing yourself 20% off ticket prices. First up, the firebreathers. This very Saturday, October 24, How to Train Your Dragon 2 in Concert sends Hiccup and Toothless soaring across the big screen, with John Powell’s score performed live by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Expect secret ice caves, wild dragons and considerably more emotional investment in an animated reptile than you’d planned. Tickets from £31.50 but apply the code HTTYD2 at check out for 20% off. bmusic.co.uk/events/how-to-t… On Friday, October 30, Casino Royale in Concert gives Daniel Craig’s first outing as Bond the orchestral treatment, with the CBSO performing David Arnold’s score live alongside the film. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, it’s an opportunity to revisit the poker, the parkour and a man whose tailoring survives substantially more than a night at your local balti house. Tickets from £42.50 but apply the code CASINO at check out for 20% off. bmusic.co.uk/events/casino-r… Then, on Saturday, October 31, World of Warcraft: 20 Years of Music brings Azeroth to Birmingham through a two-hour celebration featuring the CBSO and choir. From the original game to Dragonflight, expect epic musical landscapes and absolutely no requirement to explain your character’s backstory. Tickets from £31.50 but apply the code WARCRAFT at check out for 20% off. bmusic.co.uk/events/world-of… All three start at 7.30pm. Don’t forget your discount codes.

PAY 1986 POSTAGE - BACK IN STOCK AND LEGALLY PRECARIOUS Birmingham’s most cylindrical soft drink endorsement is back. Having sold out about a year ago, our 80s Rotunda pin badge returns, complete with a legally questionable interpretation of Coca-Cola’s logo. Yours for £13, it’s a tiny tribute to a time when Birmingham’s skyline came with added fizz. To celebrate, we’ve dragged postage back to 1986: just 20p, the price of a large letter stamp back then. Stick it on your lapel and enjoy it before someone in Atlanta checks Twitter. ichoosebirmingham.bigcartel.…

Birmingham lost a legend four years ago to the day ichoosebirmingham.com/dave-o…

Somewhere underneath all that is a man looking for the extension lead.

Where can I find a pint of prawns in the West Madlands?

Money talks. Some people’s money appears to have its own microphone, parliamentary pass and reserved seat at the table. How that happens, and what it means for the rest of us, is the subject of The Assetocracy, a free-to-attend panel discussion at @unibirmingham, on October 29 ichoosebirmingham.com/whos-b…

THE MOST ICONIC HINDI MOVIE EVER MADE... NOW WITH ADDED ORCHESTRA! On November 1, Symphony Hall screens Sholay with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra performing R. D. Burman’s score live. The 1975 Hindi epic follows two crooks recruited to capture a fearsome bandit, mixing Western swagger, romance, comedy and action. This 4K restoration reinstates the original ending and two deleted scenes previously removed by the censors. Following a sold-out Royal Albert Hall performance, conductor George Morton leads Birmingham’s screening, presented in Hindi with English subtitles. It starts at 5pm, with tickets £31.50–£61.50. Link in bio. bmusic.co.uk/events/sholay-i…

Your television’s soundbar has had a good run. ichoosebirmingham.com/most-i…

"I haven’t quite worked out what happened to me at 53 Prospect Road, in Moseley. Maybe that’s the point." mailchi.mp/ichoosebirmingham…

NEW BAR. Kings Heath’s drinking scene gets another shot in the arm this Friday (Oct 16) as Perro chef-owner Matt Wilden opens Snake Oil, an intimate new cocktail bar in Kings Court. And he’s brought in some serious firepower: Katie Rouse of Couch Stirchley, officially the UK’s best cocktail bar in 2026, has helped devise the drinks menu. Expect a Tonka Bean Boulevardier, Salty Scotch Old Fashioned and a Spicy As Fuck Margarita, alongside Modelo on tap and a secret shot menu. Inside, it’s snakeskin, neon green, concrete and deliberately unfinished walls, with hip hop on the speakers and occasional DJs. PERRO supplies weekend snacks, while Monday opening gives hospitality workers somewhere to unwind. It’s relaxed, a little rough around the edges and considerably more sophisticated than its name suggests. Find it behind 90 High Street, in what I think was former MilkCake Man unit.

£5 for a night of live comedy? £2.50 if you’re a student? Finally, some financially responsible happiness. Barbara Nice hosts Ha-ha-Happiness Night at the University of Birmingham on November 13, joined by Birmingham’s Shazia Mirza and Halesowen’s Jon Hipkiss. Celebrating 50 years of the Baggs Memorial Happiness Lecture, this Brummie comedy triple bill takes over Elgar Concert Hall from 7pm–9pm. Bring friends, bring your student ID if applicable, and leave having spent less than the price of a disappointing pint. @unibirmingham birmingham.ac.uk/events/the-…

Sylvia at @brumhippodrome on until Saturday. You could say we quite liked it: ichoosebirmingham.com/sylvia…