There’s nothing better than going for a five-hour wander – particularly when Manchester offers blue skies, not grey clouds, overhead. That’s exactly what I did yesterday, and I returned with the following knowledge:

The infrequently used platform 12 at Piccadilly Station is currently showing off Manchester’s music venues, past and present, with a photography exhibition. All those you expect to be there are, plus a couple of surprises, such as the Jolly Angler pub, just behind the station, and the Hardrock Concert Theatre in Stretford. Turns out the latter, a 3000-capacity venue, hosted shows by David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Bob Marley, James Brown and Elton John!

The 16th outing of Viva!, the Spanish and Latin American film festival, kicked off yesterday at Cornerhouse. From reading through the brochure, Solo Quiero Caminar (Just Walking) looks to be one potential highlight – especially ‘if your dream film is a mash up of Pulp Fiction and The A-Team’, as someone described it earlier. That’s on tomorrow, Monday 8 March at 8.10pm.  There’s also a short film festival-within-a-festival on Wednesday from 7.30pm, and a live musical accompaniment to Segundo de Chomon’ silent shorts on Monday 22 March from 6.30pm.

Upstairs in Cornerhouse’s Gallery 1, Carlos Amorales, one of Mexico’s leading contemporary artists, has just opened an exhibition that runs for the duration of Viva! (6-27 March). I took a peak yesterday… it’s very video- and ambient music-heavy, in a good way.

If you follow Whitworth Street West down from Cornerhouse and take a left just before Deansgate, you’ll find yourself at Castlefield Gallery. Right now, this often-neglected space is playing host to a two-person exhibition by Leo Fitzmaurice and Kim Rugg – full of pain-stakingly detailed montages of ‘communication art’. Read CreativeTourist.com’s write-up of this exhibition, which continues until 3 April. It’s well worth the eight-minute walk.

Here’s an event that’s been cleverly marketed over the past few weeks, with vague stickers in shop windows and such throughout Manchester city centre:

I’m Here, a 30-minute short film; is at the heart of the new Absolut campaign, ‘In An Absolut World, Ordinary Is No Place To Be’. I’m Here, a robot love story ‘In An Absolut World’, is set in LA and celebrates a life enriched by creativity.

The highly anticipated film collaboration with Spike Jonze will be launched nationwide this month, with a series of exclusive screenings in London, Manchester and Edinburgh. Across the UK, billboards and graffiti sites have subtly built intrigue around the collaboration, offering consumers the chance to attend exclusive preview screenings of the film ‘in no ordinary places’.

In Manchester, ‘no ordinary places’ equates to a car park – the shiny, round, silver one in Shudehill to be exact. At 7pm and 8.45pm tonight, Jonze’s film will play out to an invite-only audience. Visit the I’m Here site for more information.

Salford’s annual film festival, once on rocky ground, is back with us bright and early in this, its sixth year. Here’s their call for submissions:

Salford Film Festival is seeking short films and features for the Sixth Salford Film Festival, scheduled for the third week of November 2009, final dates to be confirmed. The Festival prides itself on having a local accent but a truly international perspective: We are particularly keen to receive work with a strong Salford connection (and failing that a Greater Manchester or North West focus), but we welcome submissions from all over the world.

Submission forms and contact details are available from the festival’s website. There’s no submission fee and the deadline’s still a while away – the end of August to be exact. Good luck.

Despite its plentiful supply of restaurants, Didsbury Village is noticeably short of good, independent drinking establishments – especially ones where you feel equally safe order a coffee as you do asking for a pint. I was in The Art of Tea on Barlow Moor Road on Saturday and, when I’d finished being distracted by the halloumi salad, spotted details of a regular event that’s launching there tonight:

Gesampt is a new night bringing together all things creative and offers people an opportunity to exhibit their work for one night only in a Salon style – this could be anything from paintings to objects and videos to soundtracks.

Gesampt will also be showcasing acoustic and folk musicians that are either traditional or experimental in style.

Offering acoutic entertainment this evening will be Luffy the Acoustic Man, Clare Helen, Callum Plowright and Dan and Lee from No Drones for Leopold, while Cygnus and WEAR will be providing ‘experimental electronic shenanigans’. The event kicks off at 7.30pm and runs until about 11.30pm. Visit the Salon Gesampt blog for more information about future events.

The Manchester Film Co-operative is a non-commercial group that runs a monthly film night at the Kings Arms, one of Manchester’s (well, Salford’s) best pubs. It launched in May 2008 and has since offered a selection of films aiming to ‘challenge current economics, politics and society’:

Screenings are followed by informal discussions led, where possible, by activists and experts. They provide a lively and friendly space in which progressive alternatives and ideas can be explored. The screenings bring together a diverse range of people and groups committed to exploring political alternatives as well as specialist cinema fans. It aims to inform, educate and inspire as many people as possible through film and discussion.

This month’s event – tomorrow, Tuesday 20 January (7.45pm, £3) – features Garbage Warrior, a film that’s apparently about a guy who creates a radical solution for sustainable housing, waste and power. The discussion afterwards will be hosted by Urbed, another Manchester-based co-operative specialising in urban design, renegeration, sustainability and community involvement.

I’ve never heard of Garbage Warrior, nor really any of the other films they’ve shown – but it looks like an interesting group and well worth checking out. It being a co-operative, you can buy a share (for £5) and get involved by proposing films, speakers, themes and the like.

MFC is similar to the Chorlton Film Insitute that I mentioned previously. That institute continues with Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead on Thursday 19 February at St Clement’s Church.