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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!