APOLOGIES for the lack of blogging over the past couple of weeks. It's been surprisingly hectic for the silly season when we're usually scrabbling around for things to fill the newspaper. It's times like this when I realise what a diverse job I have - last week was all about the Everyman, that wonderful little theatre that's somehow managed to survive all these years with funding coming and going, and this week was all about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the final film in a series of global blockbusters.

 Image courtesy of Warner Bros

I've written hundred of words on these already so rather than repeating myself I will link to those pieces.

So, first up - the Everyman's closure...

THIS cryptic press notice arrived from the Everyman yesterday:

Intriguing but all will be revealed on Tuesday so watch this space.

ART Media Contacts has released its Top Ten Art Blogs of 2010. Their criteria was as follows:

Number one in our judging criteria is that the blogger must have something to contribute to the debate on art. Secondly that they have carried out genuine and independent research on their subject. First-rate writing is not enough either, a good blog needs regular postings and an interactive community or readership too. We all love great design here at Arts Media Contacts, and good-looking blogs with interesting graphics and images score well in this pageant.

Here's the full list, with AMC's comments. I already follow quite a few of them and will be checking out the others over the next few weeks.

WHILE I was writing a column for today's Daily Post about a visit to Mini Hollywood, the film set in the middle of the Almeria desert in Spain, where Sergio Leone filmed his Dollars trilogy, it struck me that it would be more interesting with photos.

So here is an embellished version - illustrated with some pictures and video.

THERE are no spurs on his trainers but this doesn't stop the office worker-turned-aspiring cowboy from striding boldly over to the bucking bronco and leaping, gazelle-like, to its back.

An onlooker places a coin in the slot and we wait, our breath baited and our knuckles white, for the beast to begin lurching about and unseat its unwelcome passenger.

PRETTY chuffed by this - after I posted a photographer of New Jersey man James Lehr's John Lennon tattoo as part of this blog post about the late Beatle's 70th birthday celebrations, he found the blog and commented on it.

Here is what he had to say. . .

Thank you liverpool for John Lennon. This has not ben the first celebration for John nor will it be the last. I was compelled to get that tattoo that got me recognized by Tina Fineberg in Central Park on that beautiful Sat morning.

I had just had the tattoo done a few months ago and had not realy displayed it till that day.

IN PICTURES, here is how John Lennon's 70th birthday was celebrated around the world yesterday.

WE'RE not the only city in the world to be currently holding a biennial. These images are from San Paulo's 29th - featuring the work of 159 artists from across the globe and based on the idea that you cannot separate art from politics.

The festival opened last weekend and runs until December 12, 2010, - just in case you happen to be heading that way.

Self Portrait IV- Killing Ahmadinejad by Brazilian artist Gil Vicente

Before you click the "continue reading" link, I should point out that one image contains nudity.

HAN FENG has been announced as the winner of the first ever John Moores Painting Prize China - a new version of the award that has been based at the Walker Art Gallery for the past 53 years.

This is his painting, Big Plane (2008), created in acrylic on canvas. In reality it measures 2m-wide so is no doubt much more striking than it seems here, and you'd be able to see the texture better.

THIS is a new blog that will complement the Daily Post's in print LDP Arts pages and our online arts and entertainment section.

While I believe we do a good job of covering Merseyside's cultural venues and events - and in fact the Daily Post dedicates more pages to the arts than any other regional paper in the country outside London - there are always too many shows to write about and too many exhibitions to fit in the paper.

I'm not certainly not complaining about the wealth of culture in the city. It just means that we have to find other ways of covering it, and this blog is one of them.

As well as widening the geographical area of our coverage to events readers will be interested in across the North West and further afield, I will be sharing behind the scenes gossip and giving you a chance to share your views too.

Don't forget you can also follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Hope you enjoy reading...

Title "red curtains" image by KRO-Media