‘Don’t you just hate the way all this sales-speak has divvied up the city into Quarters - as if we lived in fucking Paris.’ The quote’s taken Penny Feeny’s Between Hope and Paradise, a short story in Naked City, an excellent book I picked up from Route’s stall at Manchester Literature Festival’s Independents Day.

It’s actually about Leeds, though the same could be said for Manchester, with the property developer-coined Green Quarter and - worse still - the Southern Quarter, which seems to incorporate anything that’s cool between the university and Portland Street. I spotted that one in Itchy Manchester, for your information.

Anyway, today BBC Manchester is reporting that the Museum of Science and Industry - or MOSI, to give it a cooler name - is getting a �54m revamp. MOSI, the Beeb says, will form part of a so-called ‘Museum Quarter’ in the city. So get out your OS maps and marker pens:

The museum quarter will stretch nearly a kilometre from the River Irwell to the Hilton tower.

Here’s MOSI director Ian Griffin with some more:

‘The newly-redeveloped MOSI would create a modern, environmentally sustainable museum while transforming an under-appreciated area of the city into a vibrant new quarter with its own distinct character.’

Which got me thinking about other areas of the city and what they might eventually become: Castlefield as the Quiet Quarter, Cathedral Gardens as the Kids’ Quarter, Chorlton as the Over-friendly Quarter and… well, leave a comment with your own suggestions.

It was yesterday actually. On Sunday, the BBC website reports, 67 glorified postboxes gathered at the Museum of Science and Industry - currently home to the biggest ever Dr Who exhibition.

This meeting of loveable geeks in home-made Dalek suits was arranged to set a world record for ‘the biggest number of people dressed up as daleks in one location’. Strange, I thought, that such a record didn’t already exist…

Anyway, there’s a Flickr photo set of the occasion and a YouTube video of this ‘proper Dalekfest’, as one commenter calls it. Check out the related videos if you’re after 25 minutes of non-stop Dalek footage.

Thanks to MoSI worker Unpopular Superhero and super-blog BoingBoing for the tips.

So I go away for a couple of weeks and return to find that we’ve lost one of the few people who could claim to be a ‘Manchester celebrity’ while keeping a straight face.

Anthony H Wilson’s funeral took place today at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church - the Hidden Gem - before 200 mourners, including several familiar faces.

There’s a floral tribute outside the Hacienda but the BBC reports that there are plans to create a permanent memorial in the city. On Facebook I noticed a campaign group for a statue - and an online petition already has over 900 signatories.

I never met Tony, though I did hold the door for him at last year’s In The City. I didn’t think much of it at the time - he was a permanent fixture in Manchester, I thought, and he wasn’t going anywhere soon.

I just bumped into the Manchizzle in Magma bookshop on Oldham Street, where she reminded me that the benefit gig for victims of the Dale Street fire is taking place this Sunday, June 3. The event’s Northern Quarter-based organisers, Ear to the Ground, have only gone and called it Burnt to the Ground!

The Manchizzle’s already said all that needs to be said about it so, in the true spirit of originality, here’s one blogger quoting another blogger:

The best part is that the Arthur Brown, he of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, will be performing his scary 1968 song “Fire.” Also performing will be a whole slew of musical acts including… Mr Scruff, The Unabombers (who’ve graciously put up with their 24 Lever St. offices being the alternate entrance for the entire building for weeks), Polytechnic, Broke n’ English, Marc Riley, Rita & Sue, Magic Arm, Peter & the Wolf, The Mekkits and the deejay stylings of clans Fat City, Tramp, El Diablo, Rockers, Jayne Compton, Solja and Flotsam & Jetsam. Loads of these people work in or around the buildings, or are otherwise connected with them.

Burnt to the Ground runs from 4pm til 11pm and even if only a fraction of the square’s 5,000 capacity pay the �2 suggested donation then I’m sure a lot of fire-affected people will be much happier than they are today.

This one pretty much speaks for itself:

Naked Bike Ride 2007 Manchester

June 8 at 7pm we will be riding naked to protest oil dependency.

We will meet at 6pm at The basement, 24 Lever street, then ride naked through the streets of manchester.

Hope to see you Bare!

Meg Fenwick
Manchester Naked Bike Ride Coordinator

Full details available on World Naked Bike Ride’s Manchester wiki entry. You can also watch a documentary about the event on YouTube and see a few photos of what to expect on June 8 [not quite safe for work].