Anyone want Giant African Land Snails?

I have two giant african land snails that my son begged for and lost interest in. They are less than six months old, and still relatively small (about 2" long). They are very easy to take care of. Feed them a slice of cucumber every day and they are happy. Spritz them with a little water and keep their soil moist.

With the snails you also get the tank, instructions, and their birth certificates.

These snails are free to anyone willing to give them a nice home and take care of them properly. I live in North Oxford and would be happy to meet somewhere in Oxford with them. Please email me if you are interested.

New Page on OCG

Oxford City Guide has added a new page to our 'Tourist Info' section called Oxford in Books & Films. Oxford University and the city of Oxford are the setting for numerous works of fiction and films. Find out which ones.

What's in the Cinema this Week? (Feb 9-15)

Opening in Oxford this week is the comedy Epic Movie, starring Kal Penn, Adam Campbell, and Faune A. Chambers. Two of the twisted minds behind "Scary Movie" tackle the biggest mega-blockbusters of all time, taking in snakes on planes, an "X"-community, a chocolate factory and the enchanted world of Gnarnia. (12A)

Also opening this week is Music and Lyrics starring Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. Hugh Grant stars as a washed up singer who is given two days to compose a chart topping hit, and enlists an offbeat younger woman to help him with the lyrics. (PG)

Hannibal Rising also opens this week, starring Gaspard Ulliel, Li Gong, and Helena Lia Tachovska. From witnessing his parents' violent death as a child to his medical training as a young adult, Hannibal Rising charts Dr Lecter's formative years and the making of serial killer. The film contains strong bloody violence. (18)

The kids have something to look forward to with the opening of the animated The Reef (aka Shark Bait), starring the voices of Freddie Prinze Jr, Rob Schneider, Evan Rachel Wood. This is a cute underwater animation about a young fish called Pi who embarks on an adventure to save the girl he loves and his coral home from a big, bullying shark. The film contains mild comic violence. (U)

Also for the kids this week is Charlotte's Web, starring Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts (voice), and Oprah Winfrey (voice). With a cast of cute farm animals, and starring the voice of Julia Roberts, the film tells the story of one pig's plan to stay alive with the help of the spider that lives in his sty. The film contains very mild language. (U)

Get showtimes for all the cinemas in Oxford

What's in the Theatre this Week? (Feb 9-15)

The Oxford Playhouse:

If I Were You - Alan Ayckbourn's 70th and latest play - Mal and Jill have their share of problems. Secret concerns, which they carefully hide from each other, sometimes to avoid hurt, often to avoid confrontation. Like most of us.

King of Hearts - When a handsome young heir to the throne falls for a very unsuitable girl, he finds himself at war with the Prime Minister and the identity of Britain at stake. Out of Joint returns to the Playhouse with this new play by satirist Alistair Beaton.

Old Fire Station:

Company - Musicals of Oxford presents one of Sondheim's most innovative musical comedies, a witty and sophisticated look at relationships through the eyes of Robert and those "good and crazy people" his married friends. Accompanied by a stunning score, this is a vibrant new production of the show that changed the face of musical theatre.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Summer, 1952 - Tennessee Williams' classic tale of sexuality, greed, lost love and, above all, mendacity. Seductive Maggie is determined to win back her alcoholic husband, Brick, and inherit the bulk of the family fortune when his father dies. An unforgettable cast of characters crowd surround her, all attempting to foil her plans, but, 'There’s nothing more determined than a cat on a hot tin roof.'

Burton Taylor Theatre:

The Weir - by Connor Mcpherson - Four guys. One girl. One pub. Four supernatural stories.

All in the Timing - by David Ives - A collection of brilliant and bizarre comedies featuring chimpanzees Attempting to write Hamlet, eight variations of Trotsky's death, the triumph of love over absurdity and several barrels of laughs.

Play on Words - by Tom Crawshaw - OUDS New Writing Festival. A hilarious tragi-farce, as two actors struggle to remember through re-enactment.

Lost Property - by Nick Bowling - OUDS New Writing Festival. A socially inept teenager; a misanthropic games teacher; a corrupting influence; so much lost property

IFU Theatrical Information Section - by Ben Arnold - OUDS New Writing Festival. A dystopian black comedy from an award-winning writer

Vigils - by Robert Morgan - OUDS New Writing Festival. Seven soldiers act out their sexual tensions after the first battle of the Crimea.

New Theatre:

Aida - Opera

The Chuckle Brothers - Wicked knockabout humour and slapstick capering that is enjoyed by children everywhere.

College Theatre:

If Strangers Meet (Twice) - O'Reilly Theatre, Keble College
"Unique, exciting and deeply affecting… if strangers meet (twice) takes performers from the FreeFall Dance Company and the fields of music and theatre to present an evening of exploration into e.e.cummings' poem whilst also considering the very nature of the artistic disciplines involved"

The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau - Bernard Sunley St Catherine's College
Jean Cocteau was a French playwright but also a director, poet, artist and film maker. Collaborating with great names such as Coco Chanel and Picasso, he put on one of the greatest Greek tragedies, the myth of Oedipus. We want to recapture the sense of 1930s Parisian sense of glamour in which Cocteau staged his Greek myth. Cocteau lifted characters familiar from Greek tragedy off their pedestals and wittily humanised them as figures of pride and decadence.

Oxford Amnesty Lectures 07 - Incarceration and Human Rights - Sheldonian Theatre:
Oxford Amnesty Lectures invites internationally respected figures to debate the future of human rights. Lectures are open to the paying public and texts published as a book. OAL has to date donated over £100,000 to Amnesty International

Speaking this week: 16th Feb Shami Chakrabarti: Asylum and Incarceration

For all theatre information, times and dates, click here

What's in the Theatre this Week? (Feb 9-15)

The Oxford Playhouse:

If I Were You - Alan Ayckbourn's 70th and latest play - Mal and Jill have their share of problems. Secret concerns, which they carefully hide from each other, sometimes to avoid hurt, often to avoid confrontation. Like most of us.

King of Hearts - When a handsome young heir to the throne falls for a very unsuitable girl, he finds himself at war with the Prime Minister and the identity of Britain at stake. Out of Joint returns to the Playhouse with this new play by satirist Alistair Beaton.

Old Fire Station:

Company - Musicals of Oxford presents one of Sondheim's most innovative musical comedies, a witty and sophisticated look at relationships through the eyes of Robert and those "good and crazy people" his married friends. Accompanied by a stunning score, this is a vibrant new production of the show that changed the face of musical theatre.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Summer, 1952 - Tennessee Williams' classic tale of sexuality, greed, lost love and, above all, mendacity. Seductive Maggie is determined to win back her alcoholic husband, Brick, and inherit the bulk of the family fortune when his father dies. An unforgettable cast of characters crowd surround her, all attempting to foil her plans, but, 'There’s nothing more determined than a cat on a hot tin roof.'

Burton Taylor Theatre:

The Weir - by Connor Mcpherson - Four guys. One girl. One pub. Four supernatural stories.

All in the Timing - by David Ives - A collection of brilliant and bizarre comedies featuring chimpanzees Attempting to write Hamlet, eight variations of Trotsky's death, the triumph of love over absurdity and several barrels of laughs.

Play on Words - by Tom Crawshaw - OUDS New Writing Festival. A hilarious tragi-farce, as two actors struggle to remember through re-enactment.

Lost Property - by Nick Bowling - OUDS New Writing Festival. A socially inept teenager; a misanthropic games teacher; a corrupting influence; so much lost property

IFU Theatrical Information Section - by Ben Arnold - OUDS New Writing Festival. A dystopian black comedy from an award-winning writer

Vigils - by Robert Morgan - OUDS New Writing Festival. Seven soldiers act out their sexual tensions after the first battle of the Crimea.

New Theatre:

Aida - Opera

The Chuckle Brothers - Wicked knockabout humour and slapstick capering that is enjoyed by children everywhere.

College Theatre:

If Strangers Meet (Twice) - O'Reilly Theatre, Keble College

"Unique, exciting and deeply affecting… if strangers meet (twice) takes performers from the FreeFall Dance Company and the fields of music and theatre to present an evening of exploration into e.e.cummings' poem whilst also considering the very nature of the artistic disciplines involved"

The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau - Bernard Sunley St Catherine's College

Jean Cocteau was a French playwright but also a director, poet, artist and film maker. Collaborating with great names such as Coco Chanel and Picasso, he put on one of the greatest Greek tragedies, the myth of Oedipus. We want to recapture the sense of 1930s Parisian sense of glamour in which Cocteau staged his Greek myth. Cocteau lifted characters familiar from Greek tragedy off their pedestals and wittily humanised them as figures of pride and decadence.

Oxford Amnesty Lectures 07 - Incarceration and Human Rights - Sheldonian Theatre:

Oxford Amnesty Lectures invites internationally respected figures to debate the future of human rights. Lectures are open to the paying public and texts published as a book. OAL has to date donated over £100,000 to Amnesty International

Speaking this week: 16th Feb Shami Chakrabarti: Asylum and Incarceratio

For all theatre information, times and dates, click here

This Week's Classical Music (Feb 9-15)

The Holywell Music Room will host this week's Coffee Concert, featuring the Navarra String Quartet. Also at the Holywell this week are the Allegri String Quartet, Roderick Williams, Baritone and the Oxford University Music Society presents The Fischer Trio in a chamber recital

The Jacqueline du Pre Music Building is hosting the Oxford Music Festival - see a selection of Festival prizewinners perform in concert; Music for Africa - raising money for education with Colin Carr, Caroline Wolff, Tereza Rejskova, and local young musicians; and Jean Philippe Rio-Py performing new piano compositions and songs in a romantic style.

The Sheldonian Theatre is hosting the Oxford University Orchestra, who will be performing John Adams - Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Leonard Bernstein - Suite from On the Waterfront, Aaron Copland - Symphony No. 3; and the City of Oxford Orchestra will be preforming Salute to Love, featuring Albinoni, Pachelbel, Berber, Handel, and more

There are two free recital performances at Queen's College, this week - a violin recital by Sarah Dupuis, and an organ recital by Nicholas Prozillo of the Royal College of Music. There is also a free recital at the Jacqueline du Pre Music Building featuring Katherine Platt, soprano.

The other notable performance this week is at the Mini Info Centre at BMW Group Plant, and features Oxford Philomusica performing A Night at the Movies.

Get information for all classical music events in Oxford

This Week's Jazz & Blues (Feb 9-15)

Friday, Johnny Boston (sax) with Frank Harrison (piano) and Tim Dawes (bass) are performing at The Old Parsonage and LeBurn is performing at Merton's Bar at the Eastgate Hotel; Sunday has Andrea Mann with Frank Harrison (piano) and Tim Dawes (double bass) at Gee's; The Backroom at the Bullingdon Arms is featuring Funkydory from the UK (pictured) on their famous Monday Blues night, and the Tom Grey Quintet on Tuesday; also on Tuesday is Tamara Parsons & Adam Dutton + Pawel Kuterba at Bar Milano, and The Green Onions (Blues Brothers tribute) at The Music Market; Wednesday has Blues for Pablo at The Big Bang; Thursday has Toni Kofi on Sax at the SPIN jazz club at the Wheatsheaf, Roger Tarr at the QI Club, and Charlie Winston with Widdas at The Lemon Tree.

Get information for all jazz and blues music events in Oxford

For music other than classical, jazz, and blues, check out our extensive gig guide