Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

Thanks to Chris for sending us this video which had us in fits.

It seems that there’s quite a trend on You Tube for this kind of thing, with loads of other similar videos appearing.

If you need a good laugh to start your day click on the play button below.

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In what may turn out to be quite an irregular feature, here’s the first offering of observation on Island life from Island cartoonist, Tobe.

The strip’s called ‘Somewhen’. We hope you like it.

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We guess this video below is a great example of why it’s important to learn how to spell.

It could be a matter of life or death.

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Readers may remember the Banana gun flash mob we mentioned last week that was planned for Saturday in Newport. Thanks to VB friend and contributor Lois Prior for sending through her report of the event. Ed

‘One way to your 5-a-day!’
St Thomas’ Square in Newport became a spectacle of banana-wielding gunfighters, who flooded the area at 1.30 pm last Saturday.

I arrived a few minutes beforehand and there was a certain air of expectation around the place.

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If you’ve ever been involved in a Flash Mob event, then you’ll know how exciting it can be.

For those who have never heard of Flash Mobs, it’s not a group of blinged up people rampaging through a town, but an event where a large number of people gather together at a specific time and carry out fairly innocent pre-determined tasks, such turning up for a pillow fight in the middle of a busy shopping centre.

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Having learnt to drive in London, we’re used to tight parking spots but this one takes the biscuit.

We guess this is what after years of driving you can achieve.

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If you were planning to head over to Newport tonight for the Quay Comedy Open Mic Night, then probably be disappointed, but not surprised to hear that it’s been cancelled.

Confirmed on the bill were a range of Islander funny folk including Sketty Kettner, Adrian Besozzi, Seb Wake, the Mighty Scott Anderson and Richard Quigley himself.

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Our favourite satirical news site, NewsBiscuit, has a corker of an article today.

According to one of their ‘reporters’, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is telling us that forcing kids to walk along pavements that have been treated with salt is far too unhealthy and suggest some healthier alternatives.

So for all of us in Ventnor where there seems to be a lack of salt and grit, perhaps we should all start raiding our Parmesan stocks?

Read the article in full

If you’re on a sinking ship, what else would you do but get into your suitcase?

Probably not.

Who would have thought it? Ventnor has made it to the dizzy heights of NewsBiscuit.

You’ll have seen that the Isle of Wight appears quite often on the satirical news site, until recently Ventnor hadn’t had the pleasure.

Today’s news covers the story of a Guardian Angel that had been found guilty of stalking and sexual harassment of a Mrs Maureen Grebe, of Ventnor, Isle of Wight.

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If you’re looking for something to do over the next week, then the site to visit is Events On The Wight where you’ll find all manner of events taking place on the Isle of Wight.

Alternatively, you can sit back and listen to our top tips as we reeled them out on Tom Stroud’s mid-morning show yesterday lunchtime.

You’ll have to ignore the first two events, because they took place yesterday, but lots of music events were given a mention, including Headfunk at Blacksheep Bar or Cozy Flashbak at The Fountain Inn in Cowes.

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Long-time VB readers will be aware that we’re big fans of the satirical new website, NewsBiscuit (headed by author and broadcaster, John O’Farrell).

So we were really chuffed to hear that one of our readers, who we introduced to the site through VB, managed to get one of his stories on the front page of NewsBiscuit yesterday.

Fernandomando (aka. Mike Stradling – pictured here in his more youthful days) might also be a name familiar to VB readers. If we were to add the words, Come Dine with Me , perhaps that might trigger the old memory cells?

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It’s been a while since we ran a T.G.I.F. vid, so here’s a compilation of Failblog’s Top Ten for 2009. There are some real lip-curling corkers in there.

Expect an evening of entertainment and song with national treasure Mervyn Stutter.

Fresh from the Edinburgh Festival, actor, comedian, scriptwriter and satirical songwriter Mervyn Stutter.

He was a founder member of The Flying Pickets, star of Radio 4’s ‘Going Nowhere Fast’, self-styled ‘menopausal Flower Child’ and stalwart of the Village Hall circuit.

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The V-Bay Festival launches in spectacular style this Friday night as the Winter Gardens is transformed for the Big Speakeasy night.

The evening will feature performances from magician, Aaron Isted, award winning comedienne, Hannah George, delightful dancers, The Trinity Belles, Wight Harmony Barbershop Singers, with music from the excellent Phoenix Jazz Ensemble with Nette Robinson.

Start searching through your wardrobes as punters are encouraged to dress up in ‘cocktail with an art deco twist’.

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Des O’Connor is a man who knows a thing or two about theatres in the UK.

During his long career, he’s played in the majority of them up and down the country.

Last Saturday he was singing the praises of Shanklin Theatre during his show there.

The long-time entertainer told the audience that he’d been made to feel very welcome there by the theatre’s management and was particularly complementary of the food he’d been given.

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Quay Arts presents a star line-up at their popular comedy night at the end of the month.

The lineup includes multi award-winning Joe Bor, a hugely likeable and energetic observational character comedian, whose act consists of anecdotes from his upbringing, from working in a school and from failed relationships.

He is joined by Elis James, a 26 year old Cardiff based stand up comedian, who began performing comedy in 2005.

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If you fancy a bit of a laugh, then why not head down to Quay Arts on Friday night for the Open Mic Comedy Night?

The monthly event session is a melting pot of future comedy hosted by Island funny-man, Richard Quigley.

To share your own brand of humour with the audience, book your Open Mic slot with Richard quiggers(at)onwight.net or register on the night.

Help support VB and don’t forget to say where you heard about it.

Image: HiddenDevries under CC BY-SA 2.0

Sorry folks to keep you waiting for so long, but as you know, we always like to announce our competition winners in a novel way.

We were lucky enough to catch a few minutes with the great lady herself, Jan Ravens, this afternoon and she did the honours by opening the virtual gold envelope to announce the lucky three people who will be taking a friend to Quay Arts with them this Saturday to see Jan in the flesh.

Check out the podcast below to find out if you’re the lucky winner.

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Thanks to everyone who took part in the Jan Ravens ticket competition.

This was one of our most popular competitions, receiving a fantastic response with every entry correctly guessing at least three women that Jan has impersonated on the Dead Ringers show.

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Update: The Competition is now closed. Winners will be announced Tuesday morning (there’s a good reason, which we think you’ll like).

VB are pleased to announce we have £60 worth of Quay Arts tickets to give away in our second competition this week.

We all love a good laugh and we’ve had many over the years listening the actress, comedian and impersonator, Jan Ravens.

So we were pretty chuffed to hear that she’s heading over to the Island next week as part of her UK tour and should be having us all in stitches at the Quay Arts Centre in Newport.

In Jan Ravens – A Funny Look at Impression, Jan will reveal how she creates her remarkable takes on politicians and celebrities, treating her audience to many of her most renowned impressions along the way.

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After great success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, don’t forget that Joe Bone, aka Bruce Bane, is back on the Island tonight.

Bane is a hired hand that gets the job done. Join him as he works his way through the city in this dark comedic tale of revenge. One-man film noir parody with live music.

A Fringe Review award winner for ‘Outstanding Theatre’, nominated by The Stage for ‘Best Solo Performance’ and nominated as ‘Best Male Performer’ by the Brighton Fringe.

Tickets: £8 (£6.50 Concessions) Quay Arts Centre, Newport.

Quay Arts are thrilled to announce details about the forthcoming comedy performance by Jan Ravens – A Funny Look At Impressions.

As one of the UK’s foremost impressionists, Ravens takes the experience of her distinguished career and distils it into a revelatory evening of entertainment.

This is a unique glimpse into the fascinating and hilarious world of satirical impersonation.

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After a sell out run at the Edinburgh Fringe ‘Bane’ comes back to the Quay Arts centre for one night only.

Bruce Bane is a hired hand that gets the job done. Join Bane as he works his way through the city in this dark comedic tale of revenge. One-man film noir parody with live music.

A Fringe Review award winner for ‘Outstanding Theatre’, nominated by The Stage for ‘Best Solo Performance’ and nominated as ‘Best Male Performer’ by the Brighton Fringe.

Tickets: £8 (£6.50 Concessions)

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If you’re not going to be one of the 40,000 people descending upon Robin Hill for the 2009 Bestival next month, you might be looking for something else to do that weekend.

If you haven’t made plans for Saturday 12th September then read on.

A group of tweeters (those are people who use Twitter) from the Island have followed in the footsteps of Twitterrati from around the globe and organised a fund raising Twestival.

They have a fab night lined up, with live music from Ben Fiddle, comedy from Richard Quigley and Ric Wharton, a charity auction (raising funds for Gift to Nature) and more.

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