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It’s been a long time since I last read popbitch, so I only just found out about this, which was featured in their latest issue (via Scott Peck Pack):

“[Chris Morris] is now working on a movie about Islamic terrorists.  The BBC and Channel 4 have already turned it down, supposedly a wee bit scared about the reaction it might provoke. Good news is that Warp Films are going to support it but are looking for funding.  Anyone prepared to donate between £25 and £100 to the project can have the chance to appear in it…. Anyone interested should email fundingmentalism@warpfilms.com for more info.“

"Cultural leaders have come together to announce a massive poetry buyout: leveraged and unsecured poems, poetry derivatives, delinquent poems, and subprime poems will be removed from circulation in the biggest poetry bailout since the Victorian era. …  We estimate that for the buyout to be successful, we will need to remove from circulation all poems written after 1904."
 - Poetry Buy-out will restore confidence of readers by Charles Bernstein

(Which comes hot on the heels of the National Endowment for the Arts launching a project to build a $1.3 billion dollar poem.  Interesting times for poets.)

Photographs from my trip to Morecambe earlier this year:

I'm back home drying out after the treacherous conditions at Audio, which hosted the after-party for dConstruct 2008.  Today's event was the first dConstruct I've attended and I had a great time.  I spent the morning helping staff the registration desk, which was a very pleasant task thanks to the team I was working in.

During the afternoon I was in the auditorium watching the talks.  I've been a little jaded about the web lately.  Sitting through the four afternoon sessions I felt an excitement I've not felt in some time.  Rather than make me feel sceptical, the ideas, particularly around the 'social internetwork', were fascinating.  I filled many notebook pages during the talks so it will probably be next week before I get around to summarising my thoughts.

dConstruct was also a very friendly conference.  I've been to some tech events that felt cliquey but everyone I encountered today was chatty.  Congratulations to Sophie for putting on a great day.

And, for the record – M. Night Shyamalan wrote Stuart Little.

I've now finished the slides for my Brighton Barcamp 3 presentation.  I used Impress, the Open Office presentation tool, which was mostly easy to use.  I had some trouble setting up bullet points to progressively reveal but found some good tutorials through google.

The final title for the talk is 'Bad XKCD: A Programmer’s Introduction to Deconstruction'.  I've enjoyed writing the presentation, which is obviously important, but it's going to be interesting to see how it's received (and if anyone attends!).   While the title does mention xkcd, literary theory may not be an obvious choice of topic for barcamp.  Still, it has been interesting to look at deconstruction from a different angle and it's made me reconsider certain aspects. 

I imagine the next two days will be very busy as I'm helping out with dConstruct 2008, but I should have time to rehearse the talk enough to polish it for the weekend.  I've not spoken in front of an audience for some time so it will be good to have the practise.

I missed Man On Wire at the Duke of York's but caught it this afternoon at the Odeon (I think it's on at Brighton Marina next week).  This documentary was staged as an artistic heist movie (the tagline is
"1974. 1350 feet up. The artistic crime of the century.") and follows Philippe Petit as he pursues an apparently impossible dream of crossing the twin towers on a tightrope.

It's fascinating seeing the amount of work and preparation that went into creating such a spectacular event for its own sake.  The characters involved were fascinating, seen in contemporary footage and looking back in modern interviews.  The film is also striking for the stories not told, such as exactly how the group's friendships fractured after the event.  I'm very glad I got to see this on a cinema screen, where the scale of Petit's achievement was underlined.

Roger Ebert Review

“I needed absolute detachment. Complete freedom. I needed to be a cast away on the desert island of my dreams.”

I'd been planning to relax when I reached Brighton but instead the last few days have been incredibly busy.  It's all been fun though and I'm glad to be back.  I moved into my new flat last night and already feel settled (despite the fact my furniture is still in Coventry).

It looks as if the rest of the week will be busy too, as I'm now going to be helping out at dConstruct 2008.  Between now and then I have to complete my talk for Brighton Barcamp 3.  I considered a number of potential topics, such as 10 commandments for using an RDBMS, but instead decided to talk about this.  The title of my talk is, currently 'Bad XKCD: An introduction to deconstruction for programmers'.  I don't know it it will be interesting to anyone other than me but it's going to be fun to put it together.

I had no idea what to expect from Shambala, just that some friends went last year and had a great time. I loved it – it was like Glastonbury without the bullshit and marketing. The festival was held in the grounds of Kelmarsh Hall and made good use of the lake and the woods.

I'd heard of very few of the acts playing, which was fun. I ended up wandering around the site, seeing odds and ends. I stumbled on some impressive aerial acts on the Saturday and, on the Friday, was one of a dozen people dancing to the Transpersonals, who deserved a much bigger audience. I caught a string quartet playing I predict a riot and drank lots of coffee of varying quality.

The poetry was interesting. I saw some bloody awful acts as well as some stunning performances. Saturday night started with Yanny Mac, the domestic goddess, followed by Andy Craig Griffiths (I think) Andy Craven-Griffiths, with one of the best live sets I've seen. His poems were about his family and were both moving and funny. This was followed with a brilliant set by Tim Clair TIm Clare, featuring the wonderful poem Mrs F**k.

(Update Poets' names corrected following an irate email from Rosy Carrick.)

I saw so many cool things: the two people who dressed as Bananaman meeting and drinking together; a Rorschach costume; the woman hula-hooping at the lake; the Ugly Camping sign; the sound installation and lighting in the woods; the message going round, "If you're dressed as a bee they want you at the lake at 5"; the excellent book stall. Best of all, the rain mostly held off, which was fortunate since I was camping in a cheap Tesco's tent.

I can't wait for next year – thanks to Ayng and company for a great time!

I'm now hurtling down the M55 to Coventry after today's race.  Sadly it was abandoned half way through as the River Kent was impassable.  I'd been having a good run up to that point, with the trailing wind making me about a minute a mile faster than normal. 

We turned back about five miles in which meant running straight into the wind.  The rest of the run was harsh.  At its worst the wind knocked me back to walking pace.  I spent most of the time with a pack, grateful for the portable wind-break.

While it would have been fantastic to complete the crossing, the race was still an amazing experience.  The bay is desolate with the wind sweeping across it stirring up flurries of sand.  There are lots of small channels to run through with the delight of not knowing how deep they are.  The event (especially the long and weary run into the wind) feels something like a dream now. 

I started today not having run a half marathon and end it still not having run a half marathon.  I'm going to search for another later in the year and will definitely enter the next cross-bay run.

I've arrived in Morecambe with Mum & Dad ready for tomorrow's run.  The town has the faded glamour I like from my seaside towns  but the rain was a bit much.  I'd not packed a coat and was quickly soaked to the skin this evening.  I took some good photos though.

The tide was in tonight, meaning the race course was underwater.  The event sounds daunting but I'll just do my best and see how it goes.

A new parcel of books was waiting for me in Melbourne last night – Spook Country, The Body Artist and Julie Burchill and Daniel Raven's book Made in Brighton.  I don't have any issue with Burchill and Raven writing the book, since Raven has lived in Brighton far longer than I have and, besides, everyone's welcomed to their opinion.  But I had to stop reading at the reference to the "North Laines".  Maybe it's pedantic, but if you're going to write a book about something it's best not to make common mistakes to acknowledge the subtleties.

Anyway.  I've got a load of notes for a last story about circuses that I'm going to type up tonight.  Tomorrow is going to be a long day, with the race and visits to relatives on the way home, but I'll write an entry on it once I have chance.