I'm heading to Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival where I'm appearing with the wonderful Ada Palmer on August 12th at 845PM (we're talking about the apocalypse, science fiction and hopefulness); from there, I'm heading to the 76th World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose, California, where I'll be doing a bunch of panels, signings and a reading. Read the rest
When the £5m Autosafe Skypark opened in Edinburgh, it was heralded as the UK's most technologically advanced car park, but in 2003, the owners went bankrupt and turned off the computers that controlled the lifts that raised and lowered cars into their bays. Read the rest
An unknown yarn-bomber has taken to the streets of Edinburgh with a political message, opposing the tramway expansion underway there. Yarnivore Rose says, "Actual political speech in yarnbomb form, rather than 'mere' decoration! BRING IT!"
More from The Scotsman:
Grant McKeenan, who owns the Copymade Shop on West Maitland Street and who has started his own anti-tram poster campaign, said he thought the protest was “excellent”, adding: “Anything speaking out against the trams is good in my book, and clearly someone’s gone to a lot of trouble.”
Councillor Lesley Hinds, the city’s transport leader confirmed that the council had removed the colourful protest.
“When unofficial banners are put up it’s normally the process that they are removed, in case they come loose and flap into the face of a pedestrian or into the path of a cyclist.
“It did look like nice crochet work though, someone had clearly spent a lot of time on it.”
The city council added that the blanket was still in their possession if the owner wished to claim it, no questions asked.
Mystery knitter vents Edinburgh trams fury in ‘yarn-bombing’ blanket protest
(Thanks, Rose!)
(Image: a downsized, cropped thumbnail of "The embroidered tram work protest which was attached to the fence on Princes Street," a photo by Mary Gordon) Read the rest
Juggler and impresario Mat Ricardo sez,
After six months of sell-out shows and fun times in London, we've arrived at the Edinburgh Fringe where Mat Ricardo's London Varieties has become The Voodoo Varieties! We're all very excited - we have a completely different line-up of the best cabaret, variety, circus and comedy acts every single night - and we've got some amazing guests in the next few days, including professional wrestling superstar MICK FOLEY, Scary genius RICHARD WISEMAN, comedy star THE BOY WITH TAPE ON HIS FACE, PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON and lots and lots more.
Every night is going to be a one-off, unique show, and we're adding more names all the time. I am, if you can't tell already, giddy like a schoolgirl about some of the people I'm going to get the chance to host. The show is running at The Ballroom, The Voodoo Rooms at 8.15 every night except Mondays, and my new one man show "Vaudeville Schmuck" is at the same venue at 5.45pm every night.
Boing Boing readers have been so supportive of the Varieties project, so I wanted to make sure that any of you that are around the fringe this month knew what fun would be going on over at the Voodoo Rooms. You can book tickets for the Varieties here and for Vaudeville Schmuck here.
Voodoo Varieties with Mat Ricardo
(Thanks, Mat!) Read the rest
"Crash," Gary McNair's one-man Edinburgh Fringe show, asks audiences to rethink their relationship with money, and culminates with audience members feeding banknotes through an office shredder:
McNair promises a "five-step programme" to "release you from the terrors of the financial system". En route he takes in the history of monetisation, the notion of the collapse of trust in money (the bank run); and orchestrates a vigorous bidding war for an unspecified number of banknotes contained in a sealed envelope. Bids have, in the past, reached £100, although on his opening night in Edinburgh the bidding stopped at £26.50.
He also bartered with an audience member for her treasured necklace – her eventual price was a tour round Edinburgh, a bike ride, home-cooked lunch and the promise that he would come round and assemble her flat-pack furniture. Afterwards McNair said: "I wasn't expecting her to say she lived in Austria but if it's viable, yes, I will go to Austria and put up her shelves."
The climax of the show was, however, the moment when he suggested members of the audience feed their hard-earned cash through an office shredder, "as a vaccine against the disasters of the future, so that money and greed will lose their grip on you". Five did, with £10 notes as well as £5 notes returned to their owners as useless slithers of paper. (Destroying banknotes is not an offence, as commonly believed, though defacing them is.)
Crunch time at the Edinburgh festival: audiences step up to shred cash
(via We Make Money Not Art)
(Image: downsized thumbnail from a photo by Murdo Macleod) Read the rest
I'm about to fly to Edinburgh for a gig at the Edinburgh Festival, tonight at 8:30PM. There are still a few tickets left.
From there, I'm headed straight to Renovation, the World Science Fiction Convention in Reno, where I'll be doing a ton of stuff:
Wednesday, August 17 11.00-11.45am - Author in the Library, Sierra View Library (off site), 4001 S. Virginia St, located in the Reno Town Mall across the street from the Reno Sparks Convention Center -- reading, autographing, and Q and A with library community, host: Christine Johnson
2.00-3.00pm - Reading, Reno Sparks Convention Center room A05
Thursday, August 18 8.55-10.00am - Stroll with the Stars, (off site) meet at Stroll Meeting Spot (Walgreen's parking lot, 3495 S Virginia St, about 5 minute walk north of Atlantis), will stroll down to Reno Sparks Convention Center, with Stu Segal, Bill Willingham, Julie Bell, Boris Vallejo, Lawrence M. Schoen, Lauren Beukes, and Ellen Datlow Read the rest
