Boing Boing » london

Mat Ricardo's London Varieties returns May 30

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:54:22 +0000

London impressario Mat Ricardo writes in with news of the next London Varieties show:

We had a ball last month at London's Leicester Square Theatre with a show that featured the very silly JOHANN LIPPOVITZ, very naughty EASTEND CABARET, very incredible LISA LOTTIE and the very legendary PAUL DANIELS - plus I risk my life! And you can watch it all right here, for free! The next show happens on May 30th, and it's going to be a doozy. We've got the astonishing hip-hop improvisor ABANDOMAN, One of the UK's hottest stars of magic PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON, ORIGINAL STREET DANCE, and veteran variety performer MICHAEL PEARSE, and I'll be debuting one of the most complicated juggling routines I've ever attempted!
There are only three more shows in this limited season, and they're all one time only line-ups. You can book tickets at http://leicestersquaretheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows/873489348/events And find out more about the next show here. You can find out some of the surprises we have in store for upcoming shows, by following me on twitter @MatRicardo.

UK spooks' candid opinions of the Assange affair revealed

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:54 +0000

Julian Assange has presented a set of ~~freedom-of-information~~ data protection act liberated messages from GCHQ, the UK spy headquarters, concerning his own case. According to Assange, the messages reveal that UK spies believed that the Swedish rape inquiry against him was a "fit up" aimed at punishing him for his involvement in Wikileaks (many believe that the Swedish government would have aided in Assange's extradition to the USA, where there is a sealed Grand Jury indictment against him). He also revealed cables relating to the spies' candid opinion about his sheltering in the Ecuadorian embassy:

A message from September 2012, read out by Assange, apparently says: "They are trying to arrest him on suspicion of XYZ … It is definitely a fit-up… Their timings are too convenient right after Cablegate..."
...A second instant message conversation from August last year between two unknown people saw them call Assange a fool for thinking Sweden would drop its attempt to extradite him.
The conversation, as read out by Assange, goes: "He reckons he will stay in the Ecuadorian embassy for six to 12 months when the charges against him will be dropped, but that is not really how it works now is it? He's a fool… Yeah … A highly optimistic fool."

GCHQ acknowledges that the messages are real, but, "The disclosed material includes personal comments between some members of staff and do not reflect GCHQ's policies or views in any way."

Julian Assange reveals GCHQ messages discussing Swedish extradition [Giles Tremlett and Ben Quinn/Guardian]

Top UK government officials tamper with inquest into Brit assassinated by Russian spies in London, suppress evidence

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 18 May 2013 21:36:08 +0000

Marina Litvinenko, widow of Alexander Litvinenko (a British citizen who was assassinated in London by two former KGB agents who poisoned him with radioactive polonium) has accused the British government, Secretary of State William Hague, and PM David Cameron of sabotaging the coroner's inquest into her husband's death. Hague and Cameron intervened in the coroner's hearing to seal key evidence that implicated the Russian government in Litvinenko's killing.

Sir Robert Owen, who is leading the inquest and who has seen the material, characterised it as "documents that examined whether UK officials could have done more to prevent his murder." 's widow says that this is part of "a secret political deal with the Kremlin." This comes against a charm offensive by the UK government to increase Russian investment in Britain.

The former Labour government severed all contacts with Russia's FSB spy agency in 2007 after concluding it had played a leading role in Litvinenko's assassination. Putin is the agency's former chief.
Mrs Litvinenko added: "This is a very sad day, a tragedy for British justice which has until now been respected around the world, and a frightening precedent for all of those who have been trying so hard to expose the crimes committed by a conspiracy of organised criminals who operate inside the Kremlin."
In his ruling (pdf), Owen said the inquest scheduled to take place later this year might now result in an "incomplete, misleading and unfair" verdict.
The coroner said he would consider inviting Theresa May, the home secretary, to hold a public inquiry instead. The inquiry could hear the sensitive evidence buried by Hague in secret sessions.

Alexander Litvinenko widow accuses William Hague of sabotaging inquest

London's getting a blood-filled swimming pool strewn with floating body parts

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:00:23 +0000

Miss Cakehead writes, "This set of Zombie Swimming Pool Rules was comissioned from graphic designer Pictographik to promote the Resident Evil Revelations blood swimming pool, and was based on an the iconic traditional British swimming pool rules. The pop up 'blood' filled swimming pool opens in London next week to mark the release of Resident Evil Revelations. In addition to its bloody appearance the swimming pool will offer floats in the form of human torsos, feature brains and intestines as lane markers, have Zombie lifeguards on duty and even offer a diving board in the form of a 'freshly killed human corpse'."

Zombie Pool Rules (Thanks, Miss Cakehead!)

The rogue reptiles of the River Thames

Rob Beschizza — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:59:27 +0000

The Fortean Times' Neil Arnold surveys the current monstrous inhabitants of the Thames and its tributaries, and the not-so-cryptozoological creatures that they might turn out to be: "There have even been reports of alligators."

8-bit tubemap

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:56:29 +0000

Chris Evans sez, "I made this 8bit London Underground map a while ago, entirely in Tile Studio with a bit of Gimp to add text."

Finished Super Mario Bros 3 Zone 1 tube map. Now without stupid watermark and decent resolution.

Short UK documentary about woman threatened with terrorism charges for videorecording cops while they stop-and-searched her boyfriend on the tube

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:00:38 +0000

Gemma sez, "You wrote a blog post about how I was assaulted by the police after filming my boyfriend being searched, back in 2009. The publicity we got from your post and the other press we got (Guardian and BBC) helped make thousands more people aware of this issue which led to the Metropolitan police eventually having to change their guidelines on photographing and filming the police. It was always my aim to get section 58a of the terrorism act clearer to all citizens in the UK and this hasn't changed. Today I'm releasing the animated short film about the case - It deals with broad issues of police accountability and citizen''s rights as well as the specifics of my case. We also hope it entertains you on its way."

Act of Terror

Video of Mat Ricardo's London Varieties show

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:54:10 +0000

Mat Ricardo sez,

Mat Ricardo's London Varieties Episode Two is now up online for anyone to watch, enjoy and share - for free to course! In the show I host The Boy With Tape On His Face, the hilarious Elliot Mason, and the amazing magician Peter Wardell, plus I interviewed Al Murray, away from his Pub Landlord persona, about his life and career. It was very fun. We somehow ended up talking about pixies..
The next show happens at the Leicester Square Theatre, in the heart of London's West End, at 9.30pm, on Thursday the 25th of April, and features cabaret stars Eastend Cabaret, the astonishing Lisa Lottie, the very silly Johann Lippowitz, and to top it all off I'll be interviewing the legendary Paul Daniels, and he'll be treating us to a couple of his classic routines.
Oh, and I'll be attempting the single most dangerous trick I have ever tried, because I'm a bloody idiot. Come see the show live! You can book tickets by calling 08448 733433, or by clicking here. For more info about the shows, go here.

Mat Ricardo's London Varieties: Show Two (Thanks, Mat!)

Walk 1.4 mi. in London, take photos of 140+ CCTVs

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:34:32 +0000

James Bridle photographed every CCTV between his home in east London and Dalston Junction, a 1.4mi walk with about 140 cameras. Welcome to London, where we have 11 CCTVs per red blood cells.

Every CCTV camera between my house and Dalston Junction (via Super Punch)

How the global hyper-rich have turned central London into a lights-out ghost-town

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 01:01:19 +0000

In an excellent NYT story, Sarah Lyall reports on "lights-out London" -- the phenomenon whereby ultra-wealthy foreigners (often from corrupt plutocracies like Kazakhstan and Russia) are buying up whole neighbourhoods in London, driving up house-prices beyond the reach of locals, and then treating their houses as holiday homes. They stay for a couple weeks once or twice a year, leaving whole neighbourhoods vacant and shuttered through most of the year, which kills the local businesses and turns central London into something of a ghost town.

“Some of the richest people in the world are buying property here as an investment,” [Paul Dimoldenberg, leader of the Labour opposition in Westminster Council] said. “They may live here for a fortnight in the summer, but for the rest of the year they’re contributing nothing to the local economy. The specter of new buildings where there are no lights on is a real problem...”
Meanwhile, prices are rising beyond expectation. For single-family housing in the prime areas of London, British buyers spend an average of $2.25 million, Ms. Barnes said, while foreign buyers spend an average of $3.75 million, which increases to $7.5 million if they are from Russia or the Middle East...
The most visible, and also the most notorious, of the new developments is One Hyde Park, a $1.7 billion apartment building of stratospheric opulence on a prime corner in Knightsbridge, near Harvey Nichols, the park and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which functions as a 24-hour concierge service for residents. Apartments there have been purchased mostly by foreign buyers who hide their identities behind murky offshore companies registered to tax havens like the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands.
It is rare to see anyone coming to or going from the complex, and British newspapers have been trying since it opened two years ago to discover who lives there. Vanity Fair reported recently that as far as it could discern after a long trawl through records, the owners seem to include a cast of characters who might have come from a poker game in a James Bond movie: a Russian property magnate, a Nigerian telecommunications tycoon, the richest man in Ukraine, a Kazakh copper billionaire, someone who may or may not be a Kazkh singer and the head of finance for the emirate of Sharjah.

A Slice of London So Exclusive Even the Owners Are Visitors [NYT/Sarah Lyall]

(via Beyond the Beyond)

Cake hotel whose rooms were filled with edible fixtures and decor

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:03:35 +0000

Last week, Tate & Lyle Sugars created a one-day pop-up cake hotel in Soho, where the rooms were stuffed with edible fixtures and furniture:

A Mediterranean-inspired bedroom, with edible furnishings, a caramel popcorn-filled bathtub, floating meringues and edible pearlescent popcorn bunting, all created using Light Soft Brown sugar. The perfect location for a midnight feast!
A Pirates of the Caribbean room, with a giant treasure chest full of edible pearls, ginger spiced doubloons and cutlasses, which visitors can spray gold themselves, and rum and raisin chocolate brownies and tea cakes – all made from Taste Experience Caribbean-inspired Light Muscovado sugar
A British-inspired Golden syrup sugar room, with a giant golden-syrup lion, patriotic treacle tarts in the shape of the British Isles and a giant tower of doughnuts
A Mayan-inspired room hidden in the cellar featuring a Mayan fudge temple, complete with floating meringue ‘clouds’, ‘sacrificial’ salted caramel and chocolate hearts, and Mayan-inspired carved gold cookies all made from Taste Experience Mayan-inspired golden caster sugar
A Mississippi-inspired ‘Mardi Gras’ room featuring a five foot long rainbow cake in the traditional colours of green, yellow & purple, gold baby heads and of course King Cakes
A Barbados-inspired library, with edible shells, and beautiful hand-painted cookies, fruit cakes and florentines showcased as museum features inside vintage glass jars, all made from Barbados inspired Dark Muscovado sugar
A Guyanese-inspired room, complete with a sea turtle cake, and cake ‘turtle eggs’ buried in mounds of Demerara sugar
A South Pacific-inspired room with a huge two metre high Easter Island statue, made entirely from chocolate mud cake baked using Golden Granulated sugar

SWEET DREAMS… WORLD’S FIRST CAKE HOTEL OPENS TO THE PUBLIC (via OhGizmo)

Launching the UK edition of Rapture of the Nerds TODAY at Forbidden Planet London

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 05:49:42 +0000

Hey, Londoners! I'll be launching the UK edition of Rapture of the Nerds today at 1PM at Forbidden Planet. Although the book is available across the country at finer stores, this will be your only chance to stroke the marvellous 3D printed Space Marine Stross and have your picture taken with it.

Cory signing Rapture of the Nerds at Forbidden Planet London tomorrow

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:55:49 +0000

Hey, Londoners! A reminder that I'll be signing the UK edition of Charlie Stross's and my novel Rapture of the Nerds, tomorrow at 1PM at Forbidden Planet. Charlie can't make it, so I have fashioned a cunning 3D printed Space Marine Stross to accompany me, which you may rub for good luck if you attend.

Cory at Forbidden Planet London with Rapture of the Nerds this Saturday!

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:31:57 +0000

Hey, Londoners! A quick reminder that I'll be signing the new UK edition of Rapture of the Nerds this Saturday at Forbidden Planet on Shaftesbury Ave at 13h. Come on down and say hi!

Video of the first Mat Ricardo's London Varieties show

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 23:45:20 +0000

Mat Ricardo sez,

The first episode of the 2013 season of Mat Ricardo's London Varieties is now up, online, for anyone to watch, completely free! This is the edited version of the brand new variety show that comes live, once a month, from the Leicester Square Theatre in the heart of London's West End! This months episode features juggling, magic, circus, comedy, music and two middle-aged men making fools of themselves with some hats. It was a fun night.
Some Boing Boing readers have said hi to me at previous shows, so I hope you all watch, enjoy and share it to your hearts content! The next show is on March 28th, at 9.30, and features Al Murray The Pub Landlord in conversation, plus performances from The Boy With Tape On His Face, award-winning magician Pete Wardell, and the hilarious Elliot Mason. Oh, and I'll be attempting a feat of strength and dexterity that killed a fellow juggler in 1936. Tickets available right here.

Mat Ricardo's London Varieties: Show One (Thanks, Mat!)

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere as a BBC radio play

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 07:34:21 +0000

Dan sez, "The BBC have produced a radio play of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere with a host of great British actors. Sounds exactly like you want it to sound."

Photos of suffragettes in Holloway Prison

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 19:12:23 +0000

Charlotte sez,

It's International Women's Day today and the London Feminist Network (to whom I proudly belong) have organised the most awesome fundraising event for our conference later this year, a film launch for "Banners and Broad Arrows." In 1832 the women of the United Kingdom were excluded from the Parliamentary franchise. After 71 years this injustice remained. In 1903 the Women's Social and Political Union was formed. This is the story told through their own eyes.
A lecture by writer/director Nigel Shephard, who will be presenting his work so far on the film Banners and Broad Arrows. He tells the story of the Suffragette Movement from its inception in 1903 to its demise at the outbreak of war in 1914, using original still photographs taken by the Suffragettes themselves. The really cool thing about this lecture is that there will be a whole load of pictures on display that have only recently been released from the Official Secrets Act. These never previously published photographs were smuggled out of Holloway prison by campaigners.
This is a great opportunity to discover the history of the suffragettes through their own photographs and to meet the director and share in developing ideas for the film. Please, please come along to demonstrate your support at this first fundraising event to take the film into full production. It's only £10 a ticket and all profits are being split equally between the film producer and the London Feminist Network."
THE KINGS HEAD THEATRE UPPER STREET ISLINGTON 7.30PM SUNDAY 24TH MARCH 2013

Banners and Broad Arrows - never before seen photographs of the suffragettes in Holloway prison (Thanks, Charlotte)

Rapture of the Nerds hits London on Mar 23

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:13:32 +0000

The UK edition of Rapture of the Nerds hits shelves on April 12, but we're having a sneaky early release at Forbidden Planet in London on Mar 23 at 1PM. Tell your friends! (I'm pretty sure that Forbidden Planet will take advance mail-orders for people who can't make it, and I'll sign and personalise every one of 'em).

Lost Lectures in London

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:23:44 +0000

The Lost Lectures are fascinating presentations given in secret locations around London and Berlin. If you sign up, you can get tickets (and the hush hush info) necessary to see them live — or you can watch them online from anywhere after the fact. I kind of wish I was in London on March 22nd, when the series is featuring both Alice Taylor — a melder of games, toys, and tech who also happens to be Cory's wife — and science blog god Ed Yong. What a great lineup!

World's largest panorama: London

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 04:26:30 +0000

Jeffrey sez, "I spent the last 4 months stitching 48 THOUSAND images together into a single panorama which lets you see things up to about 15 miles away. This image is about 4 times larger than the previous world record image, a 114-gigapixel image of Shanghai (at the time incorrectly labeled as 271 gigapixels) The panorama was shot from the top of BT Tower, using 4 cameras, lenses, and robots for moving the cameras. Three photographers using about $100,000 of gear spent 5 days up there. Ultimately we used 1 set of images which was shot over 90 minutes. Stitching was done on two workstations with 192GB and 256GB of RAM, using Kolor Autopano Giga stitching software. Sadly, the software choked on the gigantic dataset, and the stitching work ended up taking about 3 months longer than planned. This took a serious toll on my mental health. I am extremely happy to be finally putting this image out to the public and letting it see the light of day. Of course there are errors in the image. In the end we had to deliver it to the client with a deadline which had already slipped by months. At any rate, there are FAR fewer errors in the image that I expected. I hope you enjoy it. Can anyone find the pig?"

BT Tower 360 Panorama of London (Thanks, Jeffrey!)

Mat Ricardo's "London Varieties" is back and in the west end!

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 07:11:52 +0000

Mat Ricardo sez,

Last year I started a monthly variety show in a small East London venue. It was a little personal project that let me show my vision of what a variety show could be. Well, happily, it was a bit of a success - all the shows pretty much sold out, we got nominated for some awards, and The Stage named us the best light-entertainment show of the year. We were very pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a passionate audience for the kind of shenanigans I staged!
So for the 2013 season things are getting bigger and crazier. "Mat Ricardo's London Varieties" will run a season of six shows, once a month, and we're in a London West End theatre! I've been working hard for the last few months putting together the absolute best variety bills you could wish for. Some big names, some not so well-known, but every single performer is the absolute best at what they do. Magicians, circus performers, acrobats, clowns, comedians, singers, dancers, purveyors of thrills, skills, spectacle, beauty and silliness - every single one of them a top-of-their-game headliner through and through.
There hasn't been a real, knock-down, drag-out, no-apologies variety show in a West End theatre since the heydays of my heroes in the 60's and 70's, and this is a real labour of love - a childhood dream come true for me, but also something special for the performers and for all the fans of variety who have seen something they love go out of fashion. Well, we're back, and we're taking no prisoners!
The opening night is Feb 28th, at the Leicester Square Theatre, London, at 9.30pm.

"Mat Ricardo's London Varieties" comes to London's West End!

Tickets

(Thanks, Mat!)

Guerrilla Benchers replace street furniture removed to discourage homeless people

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 02:17:47 +0000

The Camden Council in London removed many public benches, apparently in an effort to chase out vagrants. A group of Guerrilla Benchers were offended by this, and responded by reinstalling their own benches on the sites of the old street furniture.

Camden council in London decided to remove several public benches, for the benefit of the public last year. Along with a scheme to convert all bus stops to be fitted with un-usable benches. The basic plan seems to be to move on undesirables and homeless people away as they don't fit in with the aesthetics of the area. Rather than addressing these problems they have taken the usual tactic of moving them on and hoping that someone else will deal with them...
...Due to the colossal and inorganised nature of local councils, and their cunning disguises the guerrilla benchers were not approached or questioned by anyone as they installed the benches.
Unfortunately however the drills ran out of batteries just after the first bench had been installed. In true workman style it was obviously time for a fry-up breakfast and cup of tea whilst the batteries re-charged.

Guerrilla Benching (via Beyond the Beyond)

Cryptofloricon: say (whatever) with flowers!

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 04:03:05 +0000

Ed sez,

Inspired by traditional Victorian floriography, writer and artist Ed Saperia developed a series of over 200 "flower codes", allowing you to express anything from a simple romantic gesture ("I adore you") to a loaded question ("Someone else?") or even an insult ("Creep!") using nothing but a few common flowers.
"We are a messaging culture, submerged in an endless deluge of communication. Sometimes, though, we are lost for words. This system makes it a little easier to say those difficult things." An online dictionary and decoder may be found at www.cryptofloricon.com, and if you're in London from 8th-10th February a pop-up florist near Brick Lane will feature a range of bouquets spelling out the various codes.
Boing Boing's favourite will probably be three carnations, one lily and a gerbera, which translates to "Help, I'm trapped in a florist's!".

Cryptofloricon (Thanks, Ed!)

London's FREEDOM anarchist bookstore firebombed

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 06:33:52 +0000

FREEDOM, a legendary anarchist bookstore in east London, was firebombed on Friday morning. This is the store that Peter Kropotkin helped found in the 19th century, and the home of a monthly newspaper that published Emma Goldman. No one was hurt, and no one seems to know who did it, or why. The store was uninsured.

They're having a community clean-up day today. I wish I could go, but it's my daughter's fifth birthday, so I'll be donating to the repair and rebuilding fund. This is a ghastly, senseless act.

The bookshop has been firebombed. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but there’s quite a lot of damage from both the fire and the water used to douse the flames.
If you’d like to help us sort out some of the mess, please come down to the shop on Saturday 2nd February from 1pm and give us a helping hand. See here for details.
We’re still assessing the damage, so watch this space for further news.
If you’d like help us out financially, cheques or postal orders made payable to Freedom Press can be sent to Freedom Press, 84b Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX.
You can also help by ordering books through our website here and then emailing us at subs@freedompress.org.uk to let us know that your purchase was a donation.

I can't say enough about what a tragedy this is. FREEDOM is an institution and an incredible bookstore.

Freedom firebombed

(Photo: International Times)

TV made out of a grid of discarded remote controls

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 03:09:09 +0000

Artist Chris Shen made a TV out of 625 discarded remote controls, hacking their LEDs to light up in a grid, creating a low-rez moving image. The Evil Mad Scientists posted his loving documentation of the the technical aspects of the project:

The main change to the Peggy was to solder molex headers instead of LEDs: this is to allow the wires to be easily plugged in and out of the board which is necessary when dismantling and reassembling the piece. Yes, all 625 remotes are numbered so they can be removed from the frame for transportation! The current and voltage was also adjusted fo IR LEDs as opposed to visible LEDs.
While researching, the main thing I was looking for was the ability to play video (live) on a low-res matrix. I looked into various ways of doing this but once I found the Peggy 2 kit it gave me confidence to go ahead with building Infra because of the open-source nature, existing work done by Windell, and Jay Clegg’s video Peggy mod.
I connect all the remote controls via 500 meters of speaker wire to the Peggy, held into the frame by a simple looped elastic band. The circuit is mounted to a sheet of acrylic as the circuit bowed with all the wire attached. Each remote had to be opened to solder the wire directly to the LEDs legs. The wire is then routed out through the back of the remote and closed back up.

The TV is on show in London, at 18 Hewett Street, London, EC2A 3NN, until 3rd February 2013.

Infra, a TV built from remote controls Artist Chris Shen made a TV out of 625 discarded remote controls, hacking their LEDs to light up in a grid, creating a low-rez moving image.

Edible horror installation in London

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:45:27 +0000

Last night I finally got to see one of Evil Miss Cakehead's edible horror installations in person. The Helpers is a grotesque, edible pop-up shop in Bethnal Green Road near Brick Lane, which opened last night. It features dismembered bodies, murder weapons, cigarette butts, car batteries with wires, blood-spattered knives, bags of vomit, Chinese takeout meals, and even a television -- all made of cake, all edible, and all delicious. There really are no words for the dissonance presented by such a scene. But it's pretty special.

So last night we opened The Helpers – a experiential experience serving cocktails and cake all themed around the movie of the same name – a stunt for Koch Media. The creations were incredible and (never thought I would say this) we pushed the limits so far we are all looking forward to some pretty cake projects for Valentine’s Day and beyond. You can see all the cakes over on Miss Cakehead’s Facebook page, and them featured on This Morning here. Just bear in mind they were for a horror film so they are made to the brief set by our client Koch Media. We have not just lost our minds and started making really dark cakes. In fact the chocolate gun was so disturbing and realistic we gave it as an extra present to someone who has always been massively supportive of our work (I had to get it out of there!). Huge thanks to Original Content London for creating an awesome and very disturbing set.

The Helpers – Horror Movie Edible Installation

"Both"

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 01:00:41 +0000

Needs comma

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 18:47:29 +0000

Kids' soap opera, with a cameo by Nick Hornby: "Dead Ends"

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 05:07:13 +0000

Lucy writes,

Best-selling author Nick Hornby has a cameo role in a new soap opera, written by young people at the creative writing centre he co-founded in Hackney. Created through after-school workshops with input from EastEnders writers, 8 young writers devised and scripted 4 episodes of a new soap opera inspired by Hoxton: 'Dead Ends'.
The project is a new venture from UK charity the Ministry of Stories, co-founded by Hornby and celebrating its second anniversary this month. The Ministry chose to work with soap as a genre that young people engage with and understand. Writing about their own local area and in a style they enjoyed, young people turned themselves from audience members into confident, motivated writers.
Dead Ends follows the stories of Andrew, a young man trying to put his troubled past behind him; his mother, Lou, who has a dark family secret to guard and the hapless Chloe, a local girl who has fallen in love with a man that she can't have. These individual stories combine towards a dramatic and shocking climax!

Ministry of Stories is my local literacy charity (my office is a block away in Hoxton), and they do awesome work. And they've got a secret door. And they sell screams in jars, as well as candied ear-wax.

Dead Ends | Ministry of Stories (Thanks, Lucy!)

BRING ME THE 3D PRINTED HEAD OF CORY DOCTOROW

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 20:00:44 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, the nice folks at Sample and Hold asked me if I'd like to drop into their east London studio to get my head 3D scanned. Not long after, my daughter's school shut for a professional development day, so I took the opportunity to bring us both down to Dalston for a 3D scanning adventure.

What followed was the most cyberpunk experience of my life, straight out of a William Gibson Sprawl novel. The Sample and Hold studio is at the bottom of a vibrant market where hand-lettered signs offer cheap money-wiring to Ghana and Nigeria amid stalls with huge displays of fresh fish on ice, dotted with more stalls selling astoundingly off-model cheap toy knockoffs -- Dora the Explorer toys that look like they cast from molds sculpted by someone who was working from a description conveyed over a crackling phone-conversation, Transformer robots that turn into random kitchen appliances and stylized skulls, logoed tees whose Disney characters look like they spent a turn in a toaster oven.

At the bottom of the market, we found a big, rotting warehouse building with a (loud, excellent) Jamaican record store on the ground floor. Ed from Sample and Hold led us up the dim, worn stairwell where there a telltale wisp of smoke spoke of one of the artist's studios where Friday night was starting early. Ed's studio was a spacious concrete box with blackout curtains and cheap desks. Half the room was taken up with a gigantic "scanning" array: a cluster of DSLRs on stands, arranged in a rough, careful sphere around an adjustable stool on a handmade wooden turntable. Next to each DSLR was a large white LED panel, all wired to a laptop on a stand.

Ed and his partner sat us each on the stool and clicked the laptop, causing all the cameras and all the light-panels to fire at once. They shot several exposures, before switching to a more traditional laser-based scanner to do the tops of our heads. Within minutes, we had a low-rez render, stitched together in software from the DSLR exposures. The Sample and Hold folks explained that a full render would take a couple of hours for the giant tower PC under one of the desks to run. They showed us around the studio, letting us see the art pieces they made, and the museum pieces they'd copied for the British Museum to lend out to sister institutions around the world.

It was an exciting look at one of the futures of 3D scanning: stitching together bitmaps and inferring the 3D spaces they described.

Last night I got the first render of my head from them. It's just a hi-rez 3D model, without the bitmap skin that the DSLRs captured (that's coming later). I've popped it up on Thingiverse under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license (it joins the earlier scan that I had done at the BotCave in Brooklyn, using a much lower-tech, more cumbersome laser scanner -- cool to see how much the technology has progressed!). Have at it!

Cory Doctorow's head