A very nice weekend

Which is what it was.

The MP3 Experiment was altogether quite good fun. We arrived and met up with Kei and Ed who were mad enough to join in and Bluessinger (who is too sane to join in, but had fun of her own with a texan - see link) started dropping ominous hints about physical contact with strangers.

We turned on our MP3s at two and started obeying instructions. The first part was the most fun; we were told to do things like stand up, point to Nicaragua, hug an inanimate object (obviously I chose a tree - who wouldn't?), all whilst interspersed with civilians. It was their reactions of mild curiosity that made it interesting. The physical contact turned out to be an embarrassed hug and a thumb war, so not too much for my resolutely stiff upper lip.

The second, and main part brought us all together for games that were reminiscent of warm-ups for GCSE drama classes. I was hoping for something a little more dramatic like this. Still it was enjoyable (and involved balloons and umbrellas) - we got photographed (that's me through a fish-eye lens not John Belushi - thanks James) and filmed, (not yet available, but bound to appear here) and then went for beer.

Sunday was nicer. I went to see Neil Gaiman read chapter six of The Graveyard book, you can hear exactly the same reading below - or if you like head to his blog to hear each chapter in order and what amounts to a free book - he reads really well. So far I've read only chapter one of the signed copy that came with the ticket, and it's odd that having no knowledge of chapters two to five hasn't impaired the experience at all.



I'm looking forward to the rest of it, though I wish I could have held off reading it long enough to enjoy it for hallowe'en. We also got a sneak peek at some exclusive Coraline footage, an introduction by Vincent Price, some questions and answers, and the Danse Macabre on banjo and cello. Definitely a very nice weekend.