Every year, around the end of June, San Francisco is home to probably the biggest and most famous Pride festival on the face of the earth. The world comes together to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture in one of the most open minded and gender diverse cities in the world. People travel from all over the world to attend the annual event described as “the largest gathering of LGBT people and allies in the nation” on the official website.

The centre of the festival is the parade. It takes place on the Sunday morning. It runs between 10.30 until about 3.00 pm, west along Market Street. This usually starts with the renowned “Dykes on Bikes” (also known as the Women's Motorcycle Contingent) which features several hundred motorcycles ridden by mostly women, although, as it is a LGBT festival, they do not discriminate against gender and allow anybody to participate. Another one of the well established groups is the PFLAG, which consists largely of the parents and families of LGBT people who march in favour of LGBT equality, often alongside their LGBT relatives. There are also religious, small minority groups and LGBT friendly businesses represented in the parade. With over 200 contingents, this is a spectacular event that will impress anybody watching.

The festival is usually held on the last weekend in June, which roughly marks the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a series of violent demonstrations against the LGBT discrimination in the50s and 60s where members of the LGBT community battled against the police in New York City. The rainbow LGBT flag was actually originally created for the Pride Parade in 1978 by Gilbert Baker. The pride festival in San Francisco dates back to 1970 with a small march down Polk Street, but has been formally organised since 1972, and although the name keeps changing, still remains world renowned to date.

The festival itself takes part in the Civic Centre, although the whole city gets involved with various booths and stages popping up around the area of the parade and indeed all over the city. There have been a number of notable performers such as the Backstreet Boys, Lady Gaga and The Weather Girls over the years, demonstrating their support for their cause. It is organised by the non-profit organisation “The San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Celebration Committee” and is funded by community projects, corporate sponsorships, city grants and donations. Every year, they select a theme for the event which is reflected in the advertising and logos for the upcoming event. The festival lasts for two days, although is preceded by an individually organised Trans March occurring on the Friday before the event.

Although the main theme is to celebrate and represent the LGBT community, the whole festival is about being yourself and accepting of everybody's diversity, and it can be enjoyed by anybody from any background. It is the perfect way to show some minorities in the community that you care about them, and to party and to celebrate while supporting your fellow citizens.

Meteor showers are celestial events where it appears that a number of shooting stars originate from a single origin in the night sky. These meteors consist of cosmic matter or debris, which we refer to as “meteoroids”, as they enter the earth's atmosphere at great velocity. In reality, most of these meteoroids are smaller than a grain of sand, and so disintegrate in the atmosphere without ever touching the earth's surface, but create a bright stream of light in their wake which can be observed from the ground.

Most of the well established meteor showers happen pretty much the same time every year as the earth follows a predictable trajectory through it's orbit. What does fluctuate is the visibility of the showers, depending on the weather and also the brightness of the moon. More often than not, meteor showers are best viewed after midnight and when the moon is in it's smallest quarter, as anything more than a half moon can obscure the visibility of the meteors with light pollution. Information about upcoming meteor showers and viewing conditions can be found on the amsmeteors.org website.

As with stargazing, it is also important to find a location far from any artificial light pollution to best view the night sky. If you intend to photograph the event, make sure you have a study tripod and a good understanding of manual photography so that you know how to best capture the night sky. There is a very in depth article on the AMS website (http://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/how-to-photograph-meteors-with-a-dslr/) explaining the best long shutter methods and the correct equipment to best capture the event.

Between January 1st and January 5th every year is the Quadrantids Meteor Shower. This peaks during the night of the 3rd and on the morning of the 4th, however in 2018, this will be difficult to view as the moon will be particularly bright.

Later, the Lyrids Meteor Shower also runs annually but between 16th and the 25th of April, although somewhat less dramatic, peaking at about 20 meteoroids every hour. The best time to view this is on the night of the 22nd and the morning of the 23rd, and this year we should be expecting very dark skies for optimal viewing.

In May, between the 19th and the 28th, is the Eta Aquarids, which should show a lot more meteoroids than Lyrids, producing up to 60 meteors an hour. This is best viewed from the southern hemisphere, however from the US you can expect to see up to 30 meteoroids an hour. This will peak on the 6th and the 7th, and while the moon is relatively bright in 2018, you can still expect a good show.

One of the best showers to observe in 2018 will be the Perseids Meteor shower, producing up to 60 meteors an hour in the northern hemisphere. This will peak on the 12th and 13th of August, during a thin crescent moon that will allow for excellent viewing.

Lastly, peaking on December the 13th and 14th is the Geminids Meteor Shower. This can produce up to 120 multicoloured meteors every hour, and shortly after midnight the first quarter moon will set, leaving dark skies for excellent viewing. The best time to watch this will be just after midnight from a dark location.

Postmodern Jukebox

is a musical project which started with pianist Scott Bradlee in 2011. It consists of a rotating group of performers and session musicians who effectively take the popular music on the radio and the most famous hits from the last decade and recreates each song in a vintage style. For example, they have released a New Orleans Jazz version of the White Stripe's classic rock song “Seven Nation Army”, and have remixed the controversial “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke in an upbeat and lighthearted Bluegrass genre. The group has in excess of 70 performers from all over the globe and they are constantly touring and releasing new music, and with over 2 million youtube subscribers, the group's success continues to grow.

Bradlee is an American musician from New Jersey. He fell in love with Jazz music at the age of 12 and has since developed a serious musical career. As well as PMJ, he has worked in off-broadway theatre and succeeded in the New York Jazz scene. He helped to compose soundtrack music for the video game BioShock infinite as his mixture of ragtime, swing and jazz styles fits in perfectly with the vintage steampunk setting. His biggest success, however, has been PMJ.

Bradlee began shooting videos with some close friends in Queens. In an interview he described his love of classic styles of music but explained that he had decided to take the music that his friends were listening to and to recreate it in a style that he could more personally connect with. Like many successful musicians, he struggled for a while until he released a video titled “a medley of 80's songs done ragtime style” which went viral. Famous author Neil Gaiman tweeted about this, and this is generally considered the beginning of his online popularity.

The first really popular video under the Postmodern Jukebox title was a swing cover of Macklemore's “Thrift Shop” sung by Robyn Adele Anderson. This acquired over 1 million views in it's first week and over 4 million views in it's first year. The most popular video to date has been their cover of Radiohead's “Creep”, perfectly executed by Hayley Reinhart which has been critically acclaimed and has over 9 million listens on Spotify and 32 million views on YouTube. Most of the videos are filmed in Bradlees living room using a single camera, and apart from the “reboxed” versions, they all feature him on the piano.

They frequently put out talent searches to recruit new members who may otherwise not be noticed in a sea of eager musicians and have members from as far away as Sweden and Germany. The group are constantly touring extensively around America as well as Europe, Asia and Australia/New Zealand as well as releasing new videos every single week. The enthusiasm and talent of the performers is enough to bring a smile to anybody's face, and audience members often feel the need to dress up in art deco and vintage clothing to add an extra level of authenticity to vintage style.

Palm Springs International Film Festival

is, as the name suggests, a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. It occurs annually in January, and is organised by the Palm Springs International Film Society. As well as the main festival in January, a smaller festival celebrating short films is held in June called the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films. While featuring a lot of American media, the focus is on international films.

The festival is particularly notable for screening foreign Oscar nominee films, with 42 of the 71 movies submitted for the foreign language film prize in 2013 being screened at the event. Every year, around 135,000 people attend from all over the world to watch the films an to attend the glamorous award ceremonies which are abundant with famous actors such as Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio.

As with most film festivals, there are awards to be given out for particular acting roles and for the makers of the media on display. Some of these include Director Of The Year, Film Composing, Ensemble Performance Awards and Best Narrative Feature, and see the industries' top minds competing with one another with their latest films to gain international recognition.

During the time that the festival is active, there are a number of parties all around the area. Often attended by some of the top names in Hollywood, these are some highly sought after events. Some of the parties are more international themed to go with the concept of the film festival, with past events including french language parties and world cinema parties. Over options linked to the event include organised dinners with movie screenings happening simultaneously in the same room and seminars and panels to support the awards.

The 29th Event will run between January 2 and January 15, 2018. The opening event is a gala at the Palm Springs Convention Centre. Screening of films and media begins on the 4th and will carry on until the end of the festival.

The Palm Springs International Shortfest is the largest short film festival in North America, receiving more than 4000 submissions every year. Many of the short films submitted have gone on to receive Oscar nominations and awards. It is particularly notable for breaking conventions and for being such a casual event with such high importance in the film market.

The films are played in 90 minute screening sessions, each containing between 4 and 10 short films that have been carefully selected to have a common theme. There are Q&A sessions with the film makers and panels to enhance the whole experience. There are also a number of discussions, masterclasses and panels with industry professionals who want to share their knowledge and techniques with the public and with those looking to get more involved with the film business.

A full breakdown of both of the events can be found at the International Film Society's website (https://www.psfilmfest.org) along with information on past events and past winners of the awards.