Burning of the Clocks

We went to Burning of the Clocks before we went our ways to celebrate Christmas with family, and it was a very Brightonian affair, with some great samba batucada by the Brighton School of Samba, and some very lovely fireworks. There was a tangible intimacy to the event, and it felt rather special. Some photos (that do not do justice to much of it at all) below. Sweet memories of breathing the same moment.

Talk to the Moon

Talk to the Moon, by Coney. Quite a lovely little ‘game’.

The Swede goes to Frankfurt

We had a lovely time. Christmas markets, watching lots of architecture, going to Städel museum (which was surprisingly good), and the film went down OK on top of that. Some photos below…

Strangely true

MFM Christmas do

Secret Santa gave me the most theatrical cornflakes I have ever seen, and a retro game rain poncho. I am pleased as punch. Dinner was great – lots of little tapas-y dishes that were cheesy, bready, and tasty. I am seriously into comfort food at the moment. It is cold. And I am very tired after this week, which has been very intense, but successful.

Bed. Soon.

But in the meantime, read this: Finally! Exposed! The deficit myth! So, Cameron, when are you going to apologise?

I always thought there was too much relish in the cutting and slashing that the Tories have been doing – it is clearly based on ideology, not on numbers.

Wow.

Awesome timelapse filming

Take a look at this: The Mountain

The Rolling Jubilee project – how cool is this?

The Rolling Jubilee project, connected to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Raising money to buy debt from banks at rock-bottom prices, but instead of going after the debtors, like debt collecting agency would, they cancel it! To date, they have raised nearly $500,000, which buys (and cancels) just shy of $9 million in debt.

And this is why this is a good thing:

Dragon House – Illusion of Choice

This is awesome!

So much to do, so little time. Punchdrunk, Stoke visit, and Rufus Wainwright to top it all off

Life has gone into overdrive, with working with Punchdrunk, visiting Stoke for data gathering and a big old general catch up with Nachi and the team, and then a somewhat improvised, but fabulous evening at the Dome with Rufus Wainwright and friends last night.

It has been very interesting to work with P-drunk. I will not write too much about it here, as I am doing that elsewhere. But it was the right decision, of that I am sure.

A nice discovery was Dishoom in Shoreditch – a restaurant concept based on the Iranian cafes in Bombay, where everyone can meet regardless of cast. I was impressed with the decor – the designers had gone to town to get it just right.

In Shoreditch, I saw the most beautiful chicken wire I have every seen. The central sections were woven as lace, whereas the main framework was ordinary chicken wire. Just gorgeous. Picture below!

The Stoke visit was productive, constructive, and, not to forget, fun. It was really good to catch up with Nachi, Rob, and Aoife. We had supper together on Thursday night – in an Italian restaurant in a garden centre that was like a Northern England, small-scale Las Vegas on the Christmas decor side of things. I can’t resist delusions of grandeur – they just do something unholy to me.

The new lab is amazing. Kitted out with (almost) everything you’d wish for, and huge. Lovely space. Brendan did his debut and went down very well with everyone.

Rufus was very entertaining. We ended up on stage at the end, during the “Bacchanalia” that was the encore. Not a lot of po-faces there. But such an abundance of talent in one band. Teddy Thompson is part of the band (saw him solo a few years ago and was impressed), and has an amazing voice. So does Krystal Warren. Her voice alone brought tears to my eyes during her warm-up set. Every single person in that band is, or could be, an artist in their own right.

Below, a few images from the lab (including Brendan), and a couple of pics from the gig. And the garden centre, lest I forget.

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