Pass the remote: July

Upcoming events and recommendations from the remote body and others

July approaches as we in Europe roast under a fiery sun. I hope everyone is managing to stay cool. I have surrounded myself with fans and filled my freezer with ice lollies. Here are all the events I found before my computer overheated and I had to go lie down with wet towels over my face.

Tuesday 7th July 19.00-20.20 BST, Dragons and their Hoards, £6

The folklore society hosts this talk by Jeremy Harte all about dragons. He suggests that the hill of the dragon is not the mythical reflex of actual barrows, but instead a local and short-lived variation on images created as Germanic people engaged with Roman soldiers, Oriental textiles, Mediterranean snake-cults, Latin storytellers and Christian missionaries.

Tuesday 7th July 19.00-20.00 BST, Wilder Communities Webinar: Moth Week, free

Join John Atiwell, a community ranger with the Essex wildlife trust for a talk all about moths. An unabashed celebration of Essex’s most magnificent moths. Includes tips on how to welcome these splendid and ecologically vital pollinators into our gardens.

Monday 13th July 18.30 - 20.30 BST, Writers Salon | A letter to the monster with Lo Cleary, free

A letter to the monster: disability, poetry and comics.

Come and join Connect through Creativity’s CRIPtic x London Writers Centre for a workshop on writing prose and pairing it with image. This will focus on combining a strong narrative voice with sequential imagery. This is an introductory session to experimental comics and introduces new ways of illustrating lived experience.

Tuesday 14th July 18.00 - 20.00 BST, Disabled Makers Zine Commission: Introduction Workshop with River MacAskill, free

Glasgow Zine library is currently looking to commission two disabled zine-makers. This online workshop is for people who are interested in applying but who do not have experience of making zines, or filling in applications for creative opportunities.

Wednesday 15th July 19.30 BST, Leaving a Mark: 125 Years of Fingerprinting at the Met, free

Learn how fingerprinting has evolved over the last 125 years, from the first murder case solved with fingerprint evidence, through to the technological advances of the present day. Explore the role of fingerprint evidence in solving crime and supporting victims and how new technologies and challenges have led to new innovations in the field.

Monday 20th July 14.00 - 15.00 BST, Make art online, free

Join Outside In artists and ambassadors Corinne and Josh Edgington for a monthly art group. You are encouraged to bring your own projects to work on and share with the group if you would like to. There will be a creative activity that you can get involved with.

Tuesday 21st July 19.30 - 21.00 BST, No Such Thing As A Fish: Live Podcast Recording, £11.02

The award-winning podcast bring their unique mix of incredible and hilarious facts to the Royal Institution for a special live recording.

Every show, each member of the team brings the most interesting thing they’ve discovered in the last seven days. In their 600+ episodes to date the team have covered scientific topics as varied as Neolithic dentistry, NASA’s inflatable owls, why astronauts don’t snore, how long it would take to cook a pizza on Venus, the scientists who were called Einstein but weren’t Albert, crime-solving carbon isotopes, concerts louder than the Big Bang, the kangaroo’s fifth leg, the world’s slowest shark, rats in trousers, blushing turkeys, dead geckos, and the most painful place to be stung by a bee (the nostril).

Wednesday 22nd July 10.00 - 11.00 BST, Online Life Drawing: Francoise, £5-£7

Join for a relaxed and friendly untutored life drawing session, open to drawers of all abilities and levels of experience.

The unclothed model will hold five 1-minute poses, five 3-minute poses, one 10-minute pose and a final 20-minute pose. These sessions run every week so well worth checking out their other classes.

Monday 27th July 18.00-19.00 BST, Why did the cave bears become extinct and what can we learn from them? free

Join Dr Jennifer Jones from the University of Lancaster to discover new research about cave bear diet and extinction, and how this knowledge can help bears today.

Wednesday 29th July 19.00 - 20.30 BST, Wilder Matters: What’s next for Somerset’s Coast? free

Celebrate National Marine Week with the Somerset wildlife trust by finding out more about the Somerset Coast.

Thursday 30th July 19.30 - 21.30, Rivals, Runes and Ravens, £3.50

Award-winning performers Jason Buck and Harry Frost present this two-man show live. A night of skaldic tales of battles, blood feuds and black magic. From the ice and fjords of the far north, to the untamed wilds of Germania’s deep forests, hear of Icelandic sorcery pitting brother against brother, the duel of two kings long destined to fight, and follow the rise of a new cult amidst the invasion of the dark, pagan forests.

Char recommends:

The latest issue of the ASAP journal available online for free here. (Char has an essay in this about two films that were in RestFest, which is well worth a read)

Jenny recommends:

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman - You can read the whole web comic free online here.

B to the F: The novelisation of Back to the Future by Ryan North - This is Ryan North recounting his experience of reading the novelisation of back to the future. It made me laugh so so much. You can buy the ebook for a few euros here, or read the whole thing for free here (on tumblr).

Dinosaur comics by Ryan North - Look. I love Ryan North and you should all go and consume everything he’s ever written, is what I’m saying here.