Before driving up to Birmingham for the Flatpack Film Festival, I pored over the events calendar, watched numerous trailers, marked out the films on my iCal and staked out the venues on my phone maps; yet despite all the extensive itinerary prep, none of my expectations could have prepared me for the amazing experience that laid ahead. →

Unpacked, Flatpack’s titular “Show-and-Tell Day”, gives the audience a chance to discuss all the different aspect of a filmmakers’ work.  The event was split into four parts, the first showcased David O’Reilly. However jet-lagged the animator was, his presentation was brilliant. →

When I sat down to watch One Night in the City at the electric cinema, I really didn’t know what to expect.  The Flatpack film festival had thrown me a cocktail of films of so far with a diverse range of genres and mediums. The only thing I knew about this film was it promised to be a “stop-motion-animated feature-length black comedy horror film.” →

At the Flatpack Film festival, in Birmingham, I was lucky enough to get a chance to watch “In a Dream” at the beautiful Electric Cinema and the film has been running through my mind ever since.

I sat down to watch the film, coffee in hand, prepared for an edgy, philosophical, plunge into the mind of Philadelphia’s prolific artist, Isaiah Zagar.  What I found, instead, was a film that I truly connected with like no other.

In the beginning of the film we are introduced to Isaiah and his beautiful mosaic murals that cover over 50,000 square feet of Philadelphia. →

As always, Apple has dropped another new gadget without warning. The new iPod Shuffle is even smaller than its predecessor with the removal of the click wheel. The controls can now be found on the right earbud cord (similar to the iPhone 3G’s microphone controls).

With 1000 songs squeezed into its tiny frame and the voice over reading out the names of artist and songs (in 14 different languages), Apple has raised the bar again. →

When my friend Simon told me he had managed to secure tickets to the pre-release screening of the Watchmen I was excited, the event was run by “the secret cinema”. The poster for the event humbly stated that it had “film, music, performance and design fusing to create an immersive experience” in the SE1 club underneath London Bridge. I wasn’t really interested in that, I was just happy to see the film two days before general release. →

The new year of the Earth- Ox arrives in Tibet with the region under armed guard.
Last October Britain’s government had been the only one not to formerly recognise China’s sovereignty in Tibet, instead accepting de facto control. After discussion with Chinese diplomats, Britain, apparently ignorant of the importance of the issue to China and exiled Tibetans, tactlessly changed policy in a bland statement published on the internet. →

TED annual conference brings together fascinating minds from around the world; challenging them to give the “talk of their lives” in 18 minutes.  In this video Juan Enriquez – one of the world’s leading authorities on the economic and political impacts of life sciences – discusses facinating advances in cell, tissue and robotic engineering and the “reboot” they will cause.

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For more on this year’s TED conference, visit: http://www.ted.com/

“British jobs for British workers” raises questions.
In 2008 it was predicted that Britain’s unemployment figures would increase continuously throughout 2009. Then two months into the year, official unemployment rate hit the roof. Experts forewarn a continuing rise well into 2010, as the recession deepens and the effects of the slowdown manifest itself.

On the 28th of January, hundreds of workers from the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire UK were on strike, they protested against the presence →

Anticipating the return of Street Fighter
When people think back to the nostalgic games they grew up with, Street Fighter II is there more often than not amongst the usual suspects. At the forefront of the UK golden era of arcade gaming, Street Fighter II machines were guzzling pocket money and forging childhood memories all across the country–well before they invaded living room televisions with the likes of Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) cartridges.

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