Mancubist received its half-millionth hit recently, which seems pretty decent for what is essentially a blog. It’s currently ranked 17th in the ‘Local’ category on Blogtopsites and has 160 RSS followers and 170 email subscribers – including new additions from Arts About Manchester, the Not Part Of organisation and even the Guardian Media Group.

So I guess I should write something! Thankfully, there’s always plenty going on in Manchester…

The more romantic among you may be interested in the ‘And then he kissed her…100 years of Mills & Boon’ exhibition currently up at Manchester Central Library. What’s more, the organisers are asking people to submit their real-life romantic stories, no longer than 500 words, by 31 July. M&B author Penny Jordan will pick a winner, who will get an intimate dinner for two and a hamper of Mills & Boon centenary prizes. More information here

A bit of media indulgence now. Ahead of the BBC’s big Salford move, How-Do reports that only two members of staff have so far applied for its ‘generous’ relocation package. It goes on today to suggest that things are therefore looking good for North West-based journos – though one comment suggests that having more vacancies than good applicants may soon become problematic…

Prior to the big move, Manchester will welcome a Media Festival on 26-28 November. Northwest Vision and Media, which will be running the event, promises ‘world-class speakers and a content-packed conference programme’. People from Endemol, Channel 4, mediacity:uk, Sony, Last.fm and MTV are among the confirmed speakers so far. What makes it a festival and not a conference though?

And finally, a quick mention for a gig happening tomorrow, Friday. Geoff Berner is doing a tiny Glastonbury warm-up show upstairs at Briton’s Protection. He’s described as being ‘like early Billy Bragg except that he’s from Canada and plays an accordion’, though he’s much better in my opinion. Check him out for yourself here.