This year I finally made it to Playful, an event I’d heard so much about that I was almost exploding with enthusiasm.  My anticipation was amply rewarded with a generous supply of tea and biscuits.

A few highlights:

• Mark Sorrell‘s round up of “computer mediated games” (NOT video games), including the frankly astonishing Dark Room Sex Game
• Siobhan Reddy’s preview of Tearaway, the stunning PlayStation Vita game from the same stable as Little Big Planet
• Bennet Foddy, creator of QWOP and CLOP, explaining that games don’t need to be *fun* – no pain, no gain, kids!

If you like, have a look at my Prezi, produced to share my thoughts on the day with the lovely folk at Essence.

Sadly I missed the last couple of sessions: other, better write ups are available from the likes of Mary Hamilton, Engine and PHD.

A most excellent album launch.

A view across the Worldscape

I met the delightful Alex Haw at a dinner party after Digital Shoreditch, and we got talking about longitudinal cuisine.  He described the concept behind Global Feast, and I was sold: 80 guests seated around a magnificent, sculptural, geographically accurate map of the world, sampling 20 different regional menus over the course of the Olympic Games.

I was lucky enough to get tickets to the East African evening, catered by the incomparable Selina Rajan – she’s launching Kuhama Supper Club later this year, and I’d be delighted to go back for seconds!

Dessert: sweet semolina roasted in butter with cardamom, saffron and pistachios, authentic sherbet, and homemade coffee flavoured chocolate!

Tickets are still available for some of the remaining feasts, and you’d be crazy to miss it!

BBC Question Time Tweetalong

The premise:

1. Put 150 politically engaged (largely left-leaning) hipsters in an uncomfortably hot room
2. Live stream Question Time
3. Enjoy the fireworks

The excellent drinking game:

Drinkalong

The coverage in the national news (look mum!)

Land of Kings

What with the popularity of Game of Thrones, you might be forgiven for assuming that Land of Kings is some sort of fantasy convention or LARP event. It is not. Land of Kings is a multi-venue music festival centred on Kingsland Road, Dalston. Here’s a little round up…

Friday

We Were Evergreen – a delightful combination of ukulele, glockenspiel and synth, with trumpet solos.

We Were Evergreen

Trophy Wife – somewhat distracted by the twats throwing beer on the front row.

Trophy Wife

Slow Club – really played like a headliner, which was impressive, considering they were in a banqueting hall with a chandelier.

Slow Club

NZCA/LINES – Okinawa Channels was particularly mesmeric in a packed room upstairs at the Vortex.

NZCA/LINES

Saturday

The Hall of Mirrors – the recently renovated Servant Jazz Quarters was the perfect backdrop for this eerily psychedelic band.

Hall of Mirrors

Stealing Sheep – a Liverpudlian Warpaint? Indie folk with delicious close harmony. Listen to Shut Eye for an example.

Stealing Sheep

Factory Floor – a punchy finish.

Factory Floor

Highlights

• The Pothole Gardener (watch the mini-documentary, Holes of Happiness)
• Richard Wilson’s Turning the Place Over
• Ivo Gormley and The Good Gym

Favourite musical interlude: The London Bulgarian Choir

London Bulgarian Choir

Is it just me, or is the uneven pelmet *really* annoying?

My Top 5 Speakers

• Tim Steiner – Hand Dryers : A Beginners’ Guide
• Toby Dignum – The Square Root of Two
• Helen Keen – History of Nasa
• Dr Felicity Ford – Vending Machines of the British Isles
• Adam Curtis – BBC Continuity (the bits between the programmes)

Here are some delightful sketched notes by Eva-Lotta Lamm, which are both more beautiful and more interesting than any effort I could possibly muster.

The Swag

• 1 Boring 2011 grey notebook (standard school exercise book)
• 1 biro (Bic, obvs)
• 2 badges, 1 saying “boring”, 1 depicting a filing cabinet
• 4 postcards of London ATMs (honourable mention to Jess Burton for correctly identifying the Shaftesbury Avenue cash machine)
• 1 bag of Haribo
• 1 salacious Maoam
• As many cans of sparkling white wine as you could carry

BEST CONFERENCE EVER.

Art Terrorism for Beginners

Is it a Banksy? It wouldn’t be the first time one has popped up on my street overnight.

UPDATE: the text now reads “KNOW YOUR ENEMY”

What did we learn?

• Dave Coplin from Bing knows a lot about bees
• Never do a live Google search for the keywords “ass cam” during your presentation (we’re looking at you, Tom Ollerton)
• The word “malling” will be added to the OED if Amy Kean has anything to do with it

Favourite moment:
Watching the guys from Market Sentinel bring in a giant plush stuffed toy, courtesy of their friends at Squishable.

Snail Squishable

And the music?
Dog Is Dead rounded off the evening very nicely with their exuberant close-harmony loveliness. Impeccable live performance, and all round sound lads.

Dog Is Dead - image courtesy of the IAB Flickr stream