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.

Wordpress. It’s my all-singing, all-dancing blogging platform of choice. If you’re a geek you can set up your own souped-up blog, as per Mancubist, or alternatively they can host one for you at Wordpress.com - try it out.

A week today (Wednesday 16 January, 5.30pm until 7.30pm) the MDDA on Portland Street hosts the first Manchester Wordpress User Group meeting. It’ll cover designing for Wordpress and security issues, it’s free and refreshments will be provided. For more information email MDDA’s Alan Holding or phone 0161 224 8211.

Elsewhere, Vice (a free, often controversial international magazine available in Vinyl Exchange and other places) will be bringing three trendy new bands to town on Thursday 31 January.

Jacksonville’s Black Kids, plus Metronomy and Ipso Facto (both from London, naturally) will be playing at Mint Lounge on Oldham Street - and, best of all, it’s free. All you need to do is sign up on the Vice Live website. If you’re attending and use Last.fm, visit the event page here.

Still on the events front, Showclix.com now lists over 100 upcoming gigs in Manchester - though I still much prefer Last.fm’s Manchester gig calendar - and Skiddle.com lists more general Manchester events. I’m trying a feed from the latter on Mancubist’s sidebar.

Finally, I hear next Saturday’s blogging workshop - also at MDDA - is now fully booked up!

The Guardian seems to think so. Manchester is one of five cities highlighted by the recent article, which includes quotes from Kate/Manchizzle and Aidan O’Rourke, who talks about his old site:

In my former site, Eyewitness in Manchester - a kind of forerunner to a blog - I was able to give a personal slant independent of the standard newspaper way of doing things. People appreciated that. The Manchester Evening News site Manchester Online offered me a contract to produce it as a freelance contributor. That was from 1998 to 2005.

It was also the precursor to Aidan’s current site, Aidan.co.uk, which is one of the most comprehensive and regularly updated blogs in the city.

I’m going to use this rare moment online to dump information about some news and events I’ve recently discovered:

BBC 6 Music reports that Manchester City Council is considering a proposal to rename Whitworth Street West (home to Green Room, Rainbow Snooker Club and the Brickhouse nightclub) in honour of the late Tony Wilson. Two-thirds of residents will have to approve the name change to either Tony Wilson Way or Anthony H Wilson Way - I personally prefer the latter.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, is of course the date of the Manchester Blog Awards 2007 - for which Mancubist is nominated in the arts and culture category. Remember, the venue has now changed from MohoLive (which now opens in late November) to Matt & Phreds, also on Tib Street. The city’s music bloggers will be DJing (or MP3ing…) and blogger-cum-published-writer Caroline Smailes will be doing a reading. It’s free and starts at 7pm.

Also happening tomorrow is a low-key media event called MELD. It aims to generate ideas by ‘melding the skills of Northern Journalists and Interactive Designers’. The long-term goal is to pitch ideas by 20 of the region’s hacks and geeks to ‘major industry players’. The project’s Manchester launch event takes place in Selfridge’s Moet Bar from 6pm. If you think you fit the bill email info@just-b.com.

And finally, another lovely (lapsed) blogger called Kate tipped me off about a free event happening on Friday. A Wall is a Screen is ‘part guided tour, part film night’ and invites the public to view nine short films projected on buildings across seven secret city centre locations. It’s part of Manchester Urban Screens (11-14 October, check out their other events) and begins at 9pm outside Kro Piccadilly.

See you at some or all of the above…

The first Saturday in ages that I haven’t bought a Guardian and I end up being featured in it! Well, by featured I mean a five-line mention in the Guide’s blog column - but it’s much better than nothing. I think I’ll continue not to buy it in the hope of further recognition.

So a warm welcome to my fellow Guardian readers - feel free to subscribe by email or leave a comment if you like the place. And regular Mancubist readers, check out the other sites to be blogrolled here.

Meanwhile, back to the usual Manchester miscellany: someone on urban exporation website 28dayslater.co.uk has done a recce of what they call ‘Manchester Underground’ - a series of air raid shelters under the city, accord to this poster:

There are 17 shelters in all and most of them have sub sections A. B. C etc… these are joined by one long corridor… there are numerous blocked up exits and stair wells… but the most jaw dropping feature was the toilets, the whole place was maze of small wonders…

Check out the rest of these excellent photos here.