Moose doesn't really seem to care about having big plans on his birthday, but in my family, a birthday is always a thing to be celebrated! It's a chance to lap it up, be spoilt rotten and generally have a good time! All for just being born! What's not to love? So while he was ready to simply meet up with friends and have a few drinks, I decided to book a little surprise. I was fortunate to find out about an exhibition called Digital Revolution over at the Barbican in London. I didn't really know what to expect, some reviews said it was a little gimmicky but everything I read sounded like the sort of dorky fun we'd enjoy, so I went ahead and booked us tickets, and I'm really glad I did! The exhibition is sort of divided up into three different sections. The first was a really nice display of old vintage computers, consoles and gaming systems. What was extra nice was that it wasn't just all the standard retro stuff, it had things like an original version of Conway's Game of Life, JODI and Manic Miner, as well as random extras like working Speak & Spell machines! The first room was packed with consoles and computers including the original Tomb Raider, Pong and Pac Man. There were also a bunch of very small games I'd never heard of, but no doubt had been instrumental to game development back in the 1970s and 1980s. Kind of wishing I bought a manual, now! The exhibition went on to show various ways in which we use computers and technology in media with behind the scenes looks at How To Train Your Dragon, Gravity and Inception. It also had a pretty nifty area dedicated to Minecraft, complete with interviews by Notch and Yogscast! As we went on, things got a little strange! These birds were a strange exhibit where you could ring a number specific to each bird, and it'd call them up! And they'd dial up, clock in and respond to you! The whole bird was made out of mobile phones, right down to their wing "feathers". It was really neat! There was an emphasis on digital art and representation, which included some nifty camera action and special effects.... My favourite part of the visual section was a part where they had three screens behind a small body of water. Each screen had your shadow projected onto it, and the shadow changed depending on what you did and how you interacted with it. In the first scene, if you lifted your hands to the sky, the shadow would create birds that would fly down and land on your hands, and eventually you would fade away as they sort of pecked away at you. The second scene was similar only this time, the birds landed on you. The third screen was the best, though! The shadow literally gave you wings! I gotta admit, I actually got a little emotional here! You didn't just lift your arms in the air - if you just raised your arms, you'd be left hanging awkwardly. Instead, you had to sort of throw them upwards which, accompanied by a huge woosh-ing sound, erupted these gorgeous feathery wings from your arms. And they moved pretty realistically too, folding the way they would fold if they were real. I left the exhibit with the desperate need to create a winged humanoid character because, man, I got all emotional and silly! I want feathery wings, dangit!
There was a mini section devoted entirely to indie games, where we got to sit around playing various titles like Thomas Was Alone, Fez, There Shall Be Lancing and Cave Story, among many others! Actually made me really excited for Eurogamer next month! There was also a smaller section downstairs where the whole room was dark and lit by lasers which reacted to your motion and "touch", so you could form shapes with them or push them around to each other. Pretty neat, but not it didn't hold our attention very long sadly. The whole exhibition was really fun, and a really good way to spend a couple of hours in London doing something different and nerdy. I think the show's still going on until September so you've a chance to pop down and see if you want! We celebrated the rest of Moose's birthday by catching Guardians of the Galaxy (absolutely awesome) in Wimbledon's Imax, hanging out with friends in London, nomming at Bodean's (killer 'Real American' food) in Soho, and stalking the Inbetweeners 2 red carpet premier (though the girl in the front of the crowd didn't much appreciate my shouting "I CAN SEE THE ONE IN GLASSES!" - well excuuuuse me if I don't watch the show!)
0 Comments
Tags:
Last week, my parents and I went to see a performance of Singin' In The Rain at he Bristol Hippodrome! It was absolutely incredible! I've actually never seen the movie (I know, for shame!) but I'm a sucker for old musicals and I knew it'd be right up my street. I'm just itching to watch the film now because the show was just so darn good! The whole troup as a whole was probably one of the strongest I've seen on stage, the leads were incredibly talented and the guy playing Cosmo (Stephane Anelli) was absolutely perfect for the role, had me laughing like a loon the whole time and just seemed hand picked directly out of a 1950s comedy. He was perfect. The others were great too, James Leece playing Don Lockwood had a voice to die for, and of course, they could all dance!
The show features thousands of litres of water raining down from the sky, leaving the actors dancing on inches of water during that iconic number and scene. The front row became a literal splash zone (I'm sure the actors purposefully try to get people soaking wet with their swooshy dancing!) Seriously wonderful performance. If you have a chance to catch it on tour I totally recommend it. I'd watch the show again in a heartbeat! For now, I think I'm going to hunt down a DVD of the original movie instead. Tags:
Sarah's birthday isn't until May, but she wanted to do something a little earlier so we all planned to go to London for the day. Initially, the plan was to go and see a performance of Les Misérables but the ticket prices were way too high, so Sarah suggested we go to the Natural History museum instead. I wasn't really all that sure it was the best idea, since it's half term at the moment and everywhere is packed with people, but we had a pretty good day out anyway! I first met Moose at the Udderbelly Festival at Southbank. The Udderbelly has become a bit of a special 'us' thing since we spent so much time there the first year we started dating. Since then, we've made a point to try and get there every year. We were spoiled with gorgeous Summery weather today, so he and I sat down with the sun on my back and a really cold pint of Guinness, and we had a game of Magic the Gathering while we waited for the others to arrive. After leaving Southbank, we headed to the Natural History museum. Sadly, my predictions were correct and there were queues everywhere! We were ushered around the back to avoid most of them, but it did sadly mean we couldn't see any dinosaurs because the line to get into the dino area was just insane. Still! We had a fun time looking around the mammals and creepy deep sea creatures before heading back to Southbank to meet our buddy Wrath and grab some dim sum. Lovely day out, but honestly I'm happy avoiding tourist destinations on half term holidays, I think. Sure wish I was back in Southbank playing Magic with the sun on my back!
Tags:
I spent the past couple of days in London with Moose since he's back there over Easter for work. On Tuesday, we decided to check out the Loading Bar, a gaming bar that opened up a few years ago now in Cornwall and has since expanded to London. They recently changed venue, from a very convenient little cafe in Soho to a pub all the way out in Dalston. It's a shame the new venue is so far out of the way, because the whole place is far more suitable for gaming. While Moose, Wrath and I waited for Kingsley to arrive, we played a little Magic: The Gathering upstairs. Well, I spent most of the time sleeving my new commander deck (Power Hungry red/black/green) while the guys played, but still! It was then we noticed a TV crew was in full swing getting ready for ...something! We kept low and when the game was over and Kingsley had arrived, we decided to pack up and go find food before the evening's Tabletop Gaming. That was when a guy came over to us and asked us to keep playing so they'd have gamers on camera. They were filming for a new channel that's started up in London called London Live and they were doing a feature on Loading Bar. Uhh, okay! But Moose and Wrath really didn't fancy being a part of it, so they decided to play... Snap. With Magic cards. I can only hope a real MtG fan watched and wondered what the hell we were doing, haha. Anyway, after food we headed back to the bar for Tabletop Tuesday! The bar doesn't actually open officially in its new location until Thursday (today, in fact!) so we weren't sure if many people would turn up, but the place was actually packed by the time we got settled into a great long game of Smash Up! I won. Turns out wizard dinosaurs, alien ninjas or steampunk pirates really aren't much of a match for a cavalry of giant plant bears.
Loading Bar is an amazing idea - gaming pubs and bars is something I've wanted to see happen for the longest time. It's unfortunate their venue is now so far away from even a local tube stop, because I can't imagine many people who aren't locals will make the trek. I hope I'm wrong! I appreciate London prices make good location + decent venue impossible maths, but I wonder if maybe the idea would be better suited to a smaller city with a more centralised hub of gaming fans. Like Bristol. Just sayin'. Tags:
Firstly, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who stopped by my table to buy prints or just simply to say hello! I was super ill Saturday and Sunday so if I seemed a little 'off' that's why! I love meeting you all and nerding out about ponies and video games! You were all awesome, as usual! <3 London Comic Con (or MCM Expo, depending on how long you've been attending!) is the largest geek event in the UK. It runs twice a year (May and October) and typically the October event is the largest of the two. I haven't heard official numbers yet, but this one must have been their largest ever. Normally, I love MCM. The whole thing has a really wonderful feel to it. People go there to have fun and dork out with friends first and foremost. I don't often get to any of the events because the queues are far too long and because I'm usually behind a table selling art in the Comic Village, but the feeling and vibe of the whole place is awesome regardless. Sadly, this year was really soured for me because I got struck with a horrible cold Saturday morning. I guess I'm glad it hit then and not earlier, because it allowed me time on Friday to bounce around the convention. Friday's my favourite day of the con because it's far quieter and, frankly, more fun. I don't sell on Friday generally because it's my day to actually have fun with the con and I don't feel I'm missing much potential trade. Saturday and Sunday were pretty awful for me, though, health wise, and I ended up leaving Sunday night instead of staying on until Monday like usual. It really made me upset because, heck, I look forward to MCM for months and months and then bam, illness. It made it extra hard because MCM Is my busiest convention in terms of table sales, and I had to be 'on' with customers and friends when all I really wanted to do was curl up in bed and sulk. I even debated not selling on the Sunday because I was feeling so rough. Ugh. But anyway, enough about being ill! More about MCM Expo! This year, MCM made a huge point of hiring out both sides of the Excel Centre, doubling its size, we thought. It really didn't work out that way, though. The extra halls were entirely ticketing, a huge Yu-Gi-Oh tournament area and a smaller hall dedicated to some signings, the main stage and a few things that just felt shoved out of the way, including the ever popular Steampunk section and Origami workshop. I'd really like to hear feedback about the extra hall because I can't imagine any of the dealers or exhibitors got the exposure they're used to in the main hall. Having both sides of the hall open for events also created the worst case of crowd management I've ever witnessed at any event. Usually, MCM demonstrates a flow where people are directed in a one way system towards the doors, but this time it just became a manic crush. I'm not one to whine about health and safety nonsense but I absolutely despair to think what would have happened had there been a fire or other emergency while we were crushed in the entrance! I've heard of people being sick and unable to get out, so that must have been really unpleasant. I had a friend leave early on Saturday because he has difficulty walking and couldn't avoid being pushed around. I dread to think how people in wheelchairs or with prams dealt with the Saturday crush. It was absolutely horrible. Even with my exhibitor's badge, it took me a good ten-fifteen minutes of slow shuffle-walking from the doors to my table. The show itself is great but they really do have to sort out the crowding issues. I don't know if the best option is to either open up more room or limit ticket sales, but I know it can't continue this way. I'm very lucky I can attend Friday (and even Sunday, as that's far less manic, too) but anyone only attending on Saturday must have such a horrible time trying to see or do anything. I've heard of people queuing up for hours for signings only to be turned away. I've even heard that people were told certain celebrities would be doing later signings, only to find out that they weren't (and later heard that those celebrities were in the local pub because they didn't know they'd been scheduled for extra signings!) just lack of communication and organization all over. I'd be surprised if people stick with MCM if it stays like this, and I find that such a shame because, frankly, it's my favourite nerdy event and I'd hate for it to be ruined and soured like this. Grumbling aside - as I said, Friday and Sunday were actually pretty good days to have a look around and get involved. We managed to play some boardgames, and I ended up buying a copy of Zombie Dice after playing it. Great, simple fun! There were some video game demonstrations we tried out, but nothing really outstanding to me apart from maybe Dark Souls 2, which had a queue a mile long the whole time. I was really disappointed to find out I'd actually missed a Wildstar panel on the Sunday! I'm eagerly anticipating that game and had initially hoped there'd be playable demos at MCM, which there weren't, but I'd have totally attended the panel if I'd known about it! Oh, well! I can't wait for May, when hopefully I won't be ill and I can make up for this one. Anyway, here are some photos! Mainly of League of Legends cosplayers, because Moose and I tell ourselves every time that we'll join in the League cosplay fun, and maybe someday we actually will! I love you, MCM, crowds and all. I'll be back in May, in full health and able to make the most of you!
Tags:
Well, kind of. My friends Laura, Jess and I decided to take a trip to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London. We booked an evening slot (5:00 pm) to explore the studio at our own pace. It worked out to be perfect timing; as the night drew near, the whole place thinned out and we were able to enjoy everything properly. And wow, it was awesome! I actually have a slightly checkered past with Harry Potter, as I refused to read the books or care much for the franchise for the longest time. I had this silly stubborn idea that I wasn't going to be drawn into the fad, and my halfhearted attempt to read the first book only solidified my dumb opinion when I put it down and scoffed that it was childish and simple. As the years went on and Deathly Hallows had a release date, I couldn't avoid the craze. Everyone was nuts about Harry Potter and, struck with the knowledge that this was the last ever book, and that if I wanted to give it all another go, now was the last big shot I'd have at it, I threw myself into the first book again. This time, I'm happy to say, I loved it. I devoured the whole series in a matter of weeks, just in time to attend the midnight release of Deathly Hallows at Waterstones in Bath. Dressed in my finest robe and Gryffindor tie, I even won two cinema tickets in their fancy dress competition (take that, Actual Children). Safe to say, I was hooked. The Studio Tour was absolutely amazing. I'm a fan of the movies as well as the books - reading them sort of alongside each other, I had the movie images in my head but allowed the books to fill in the (huge) gaps the films had left out. As a result of reading the books along with the movies, they formed my hippogvision of the characters and scenarios, so it was wonderful seeing all the props and sets in real life, right in front of me. Sometimes, it was pretty hard to actually get my head around the fact that these were the actual props, that the actors held and used, and when we got to the creature shop, I was absolutely blown away with how lifelike the animatronic creations really were. We stood near Buckbeak and he started to move, and in that moment I couldn't see anything but a living, breathing hippogryph in front of me. It wasn't like the stunted movement of a puppet on a Disney ride. It was a real creature. It was all absolutely breathtaking. Oh, and I finally got to try some Butterbeer! There are only two places in the world licensed to sell Butterbeer (the other one being at the Florida themepark) so this was a big highlight for me! It tasted like liquid caramel ice cream. Om nom.
Tags:
|
Hi! I'm Selena an artist, blogger and gamer!
Dream Somehow is my little corner of the internet where I talk about life, the universe and everything! Here, you'll find travel, adventures, vintage style, life in the South West of England, a little bit of Disney dreaming and a whole lot of geeky nonsense. If you'd like to learn a little more about me, click here! Instagram
Archives
January 2021
|