An Unexpected Convergence
Posted 18th July 2008 at 12:04pm by M1ke, tagged as Random, Video | Commenting Closed
I wrote a while ago about the big freeze that happened in Grand Central Sation, New York, the video of which was posted on YouTube. That event was organised by a group called Improve Everywehre, and it turns out they have plenty more to offer. The purpose of the group is to perform random activities, some large scale and some smaller, that go against what people expect, and with the emphasis on the idea that no one involved is in contact with anyone else. For the larger events clever signals are used - in one case a man moving his hands between his chest and a bin some distance from the group, and in another the instructions have been pre-recorded on MP3.
The activity is known as flash mobbing, and has some following in Europe as well as the States. For example some folks in Prague decided to set up a first class set on an underground train - bringing in a rug, chair, table and coatstand one by one before a business man boarded and sat down at the next station. In Manchester a large pillow fight was held. I've picked out some of the best videos to link here - others can be found on the Improve Everywhere website or general searching on video sites.
The first is a large number of people gathered in the windows of a department store in New York.
The second is a small baseball game in America that the Improv guys decided to give the big league treatment - including commentators and a blimp!
This one is the first class tube train from those crazy guys in Prague.
Finally one from the folks back in Manchester - a huge pillow fight in St. Peter's square!
I'd definitely be up for something like this - maybe starting on a smaller scale with more focus, but it seems like amazing fun. I'll keep you posted!
Midnight Snack
Posted 15th July 2008 at 12:09pm by M1ke, tagged as Random | Commenting Closed
A few years ago I was randomly bestowed the title of Doctor Who. It lead to some amusing events at the time, but since then I've seen that its a bizarrely awesome compliment. One of the coolest things about Doctor Who is that despite his being a time lord, amazing space craft and genius - all that stuff - the reason he still enjoys adventuring is because he acts on impulse, random maybe even to him, and does things unexpected by everyone around him. Many events in my life have made me realise the value of this randomness, of doing something that comes to mind despite perception or occasionally reality holding you back. Obviously there are limits, which is also something Doctor Who shows, but these random events have been some of the most enjoyable of my life. Sometimes they're one off and only continue to have their effects in memory; other times they've had more far reaching consequences. So that's the ethos I guess. Live life with that spark of randomness always in mind - by all means do what you need to survive, do good for yourself and others, but don't always do it in the way people expect.
That build up (and something I've intended to put to copy for a while now) serves nicely as a backdrop to last night's activities, which featured a planned pub visit which led onto a late night supermarket visit which neatly led to a 1am barbecue, via a ride on a very bumpy track and a misty journey across some moors. Little more needs to be said, simply because it was all just random.
Lake District Peaks in Google Earth
Posted 8th July 2008 at 8:50am by M1ke, tagged as Google, Places | Commenting Closed
I stumbled upon a handy site last night that contained a KML file (Google Earth's data format) containing 214 Lake District Peaks marked out in Google Earth. Unfortunately the titles and descriptions were the wrong way round for regular browsing, and a number of the titles were spelt incorrectly or wrongly capitalised. Luckily KML files are just a type of XML, so can be opened and edited using Notepad. After a bit of work the file looks much nicer and is far more useful for panning around looking at the peaks.
Download the Lake District Peaks KML file.
Incidentally if you are browsing round the Lake District in Google Earth, make sure to check out the amazing Gigapan layer, which contains brilliant 3d panoramas that can be zoomed in to very high resolutions.
Shining on the Water
Posted 4th July 2008 at 12:20am by M1ke, tagged as | Commenting Closed
I plan to begin my journals of the holiday once I'm settled in at home (at the moment its been rather topsy-turvy moving about everywhere), but I felt I had to share this photo, from the sunrise that Tim and I went to watch on Friday morning. It was a truly magnificent event, watching the burning orb slide over the Mediterranean horizon, with a few clouds to give added effect to the stunning light show.
Venturing Beyond
Posted 22nd June 2008 at 2:01am by M1ke, tagged as Random | Commenting Closed
Early morning posts are clearly in at the moment. I'm up late because tomorrow morning I take my first venture beyond these British Isles, a venture which consists of a week in l'Escala, on the coast near Girona in the north east of Spain (or Catalan, depending on your view of break-away states). It will be the first week in recent years when I can honestly say I have nothing that needs doing - other than liberally applying the factor 200 sun cream to prevent my inevitable dry roasting. If I can find a computer I may blog from there, and if I can work out the tariff I may drop the odd mobile Twitter. Failing that I've got a note pad and will write about the week, in a week! Buenos noches!