Penser en fête

Brussels style festival

This week-end in Brussels at the famous and infamous Fagey we have a festival of philosophy “Penser en fête”. Might as well be the first one of its kind and it’s already at the second edition.

Starting from the premise that Europe is a mix of language, culture and currents the festival offers a mix of conference, debates, interviews, film, music, and theatre. And a rich program it is. You can give it a look on the Flagey website , I’m sure you’ll find a reason to go there if the notion of “philosophy festival” isn’t enough.

Enjoy!

Next ‘08

Next08 took place the week-end of  8&9 November @ Brussels Expo.

Gaming convention unlike week-end destination for a girl you say?  Not when your other half is a Digital Arts and Entertainment student or you happen to work as hostess there.

When you say convention two pictures spring into mind: long boring lectures (see cardiology convention) or people with an unnatural passion for sci-fi (see star wars/trek conventions).

This one was closer to the lather, as there were even costumed characters walking around (Lara croft, etc). Basically 2 days, 2 pavilions at the Brussels expo and all the game consoles you could see featuring all the latest and all the most popular games around.

Things that caught my attention were:

• A whole bunch of music based game, see Guitar Hero, Sing Star and similar.
• Wii Fit Caravan. Where you could test things like Yoga, Step, Ski, etc on the Fit stepper accessory from Wii. step aerobics really as demanding as I last remembered it from the gym, yoga totally fun. Got a pair of socks for testing
• Raving Rabbids. Nice set up. People got bunny ears for playing. Didn’t get to … long lines.
• More Wii. Tried out Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2. Great fun. Something I actually won at.
• The Howest booth. Students from their DAE department showing off skills used in actual game making.

You could also stumble upon some home entertainment systems displays and some for photography. Not too popular, sadly enough for the poor dealers. Speaking of which, the only retailer around was MediaMarkt , sporting a not too rich offer, despite having a good deal on a Wii + Sports package for 235€ .

Futurotextiel

If you follow the many banners and flags to Futurotextiel and you find yourself in a place that looks pretty much deserted, don’t be discouraged, you did not miss the exhibition, it does not happen to be closed on that very day, it’s just the way it look. The entrance is under the “exteriors” sign, yes the door with no markings on it.

It would have been incalculable more interesting/appropriate/etc to hold it in such a pavilion as shown inside. Or at least I as expecting long flowing banners or any form of textile on the outside, like the ones in the Grote Markt , which were a brilliant form a promotion.

Pretty much a design and tech exhibition, in a very cold room. Must be a secret way to promote those self heating clothing. To bad you couldn’t actually give those self heaving battery powered tights a test run.

Despite the cold, don’t put your gloves on just yet, unless they’re fingerless, as Futurotextiel is a very hands on exhibition, literally. And do use that, just to know how clothing made out of corn, bamboo or basalt feel.

If you’re thinking textile= clothing, you’re in for a treat, as the use of textiles is apparently limitless. Which brings me to one of my favourite pieces, the Recyclable Car, with tires based on, again, corn fibbers. The car is the work of a UK University and reaches 140km/hour and looks much like a 50 F1 car.

My all time favourite piece is MidiMinuit, a interactive dress with embedded led that react to music, and to test it, you have a synth, the rest is up to your musical skills.

I had no idea of the range of fabrics and their uses that can be viewed at the expo, in medicine and welfare alone… .Clothes to make you feel better, to make you healthier, clothes that thell you when you’re not well, the range was so big that I do have to generalize, despite that it may sound like a cliché.

And I do wonder how fashion would look if these innovations were seriously taken into account, if the fashion industry accentuated function half as much as it accentuates form

web campaigning , now with live video feed

On-line campaigning. For the past year and so myspace has been just torturing me with the promotion of the US elections. It should have come as no surprise as social networking campaigns hit Europe, well mainly Romania.

Over a week ago the media signalled the case of a politician recruiting voters on facebook. And over the last week I’ve also seen there discussions on this topic and other cases of politicians doing the same.

Today a new form of web campaigning pop up: live video feed.

A couple of young politicians running for seats in the Romanian Parliament set up a webcam in their home and use it to broadcast 24/7 on their blog.

I’m talking about Bogdan Petre și Roxana Ionită and they can be found on

http://bogdanpetre.ro/ (don’t ask me why the blog is in his name only).

You can find there also their CVs, projects and such, as the actual webcam has no real relevance to the political situation.

More devious things have happened, like ex-president Iliescu starting a blog, so I don’t doubt as much the truthfulness of their action. To their support come their CVs, which tell me they just really might be open minded people, people of this generation.

If I’d vote for them? I don’t even know when the elections are, sadly enough. Maybe I will if they go full out with web campaigning. It would be totally wicked for someone to win a seat though such means of promotion alone. A politician with all of the Romanian web force behind. Sadly enough that is not the case as they will only be voted by people in their own college.

Well good luck to them.

US elections, I care why?

I’m sick and tired of the US elections. I don’t care. I’m not pro american. I do feel that the best interest of the US and those of the rest of the wold do not coincide. Despite I might have sympathised with Obama at first, I do not trust anyone whom can smile continuously for a 18 months. Why must I see something related to it every freaking day? I do realise the importance of the outcome however, I can’t influence it, so why uselesly  suffer the media agression?

And for the days you just felt like punching one of them in the face, let’s say Palin we have this :

KUNG FU ELECTIONS

So, pick your candidate from the following:

and have mortal kombat type fight … so run along and have fun!!

kungfuelections.com

Student party no. 2

As if making up for my non-partying  student days from my BA, less then a week after great ULB Nocturne I hit the student party in kortrijk.

This one was a bit different to start with as it was for by students, for students(and against the students) it was by city, for the students, so we had a bit more organised things, not necessarily in a good way, as the party was restricted to the square in front of the Culture Center by fences. There  was an entrance and an exit and if you walked back with your glass of beer you couldn’ walk back in with it….no booze from outside rule.

The local universities had  tents on the side, amongst the beer, food and asbl tents. Didn’t actually get to see what the Unis were trying to present as the place was pack and you could hardly get by from one place to another. Also amongst the many tents there was also  a booth to which all the thirsty students had to pass by for it was the ticket booth. Yes, you had to queue first at the ticket booth to get ticket and the again at the bar. And in case you didn’t perfectly estimate you drinking prospects, well you had to queue again. In the case you over estimated your alcohol absortion capabilities you got stuck with extra tickets= wasted money/booze. As people don’t like wasting either of the two, one ended either pushing ones limits or buying drinks for all those around you, which is a rather cool thing. About an hours after the last act got off stage there were still people leaning against the bar  with a stack of tickets in their hands.

People didn’t seem to mind one bit thought. If the 5° outside didn’t keep them from partying no organisational complication would. This was fueled by the line up as well. Headlined by Shameboy , supported by A Brand, Balthazar, Steak Number Either and   Curry and Coco.

Friday morning, half a day after the party, they hadn’t managed to clear off all the beer glasses from the square.

F.A.C.T.S. 2008

It came at a complete surprise how big Belgium is on otaku events. I started looking for such a convention here to kill time and found at least 6 or 7  just at a first glimpse. The most recent one that caught my eye is the Fantasy Anime Comics Toys Sci-Fi Convention 2008, in short F.A.C.T.S. 2008

Apparently, according to their website , a quite, long running event this being the 18th edition. Which makes the convention older than significant number of participants , I assume.

Another element which stands behind this particular convention is their association with well know manga publishing house, Kana, whom are sponsoring a Bleach cosplay section  and other competitions.

So yes, there will be cosplay at F.A.C.T.S. Featured section being: manga&comics, movies & sci-fi and  a kids section, all this aside from the Bleach one.

Guests at this year’s edition are :

-in the artist section: Michael Golde, Apparently, according to their website , a quite, long running event this being the 18th edition. Which makes the convention older than significant number of participants , I assume.

Another element which stands behind this particular convention is their association with well know manga publishing house, Kana, whom are sponsoring a Bleach cosplay section  and other competitions.

So yes, there will be cosplay at F.A.C.T.S. Featured section being: manga&comics, movies & sci-fi and  a kids section, all this aside from the Bleach one.

Guests at this year’s edition are :

-in the artist section: Michael Golde, Terry Moore, Eric Basaldua, Steve Niles, Sarah Wilkinson, Romano Molenaar, John Mcrea, Renee Witterstaetter and Lectrr.

-in the actors section: Battlestar Galactica’s Richard Hatch, Paul McGillion of Stargate: Atlantis, Cliff Simon and Morena Baccarin also of Stargate.

Judging by the presence of Kana I’m thinking / hoping there will be a lot of goodies to buy there . The full lenght program is to be announced at the  start of october .

F.A.C.T.S. 2008 is being help at the I.C.C. (Internationaal Congres Centrum )in Gent, which according to Google Maps is like 15min walk.

Tickets are 9€ per day.

Judging by the excitement and considerable number of members on the forum it definetly sounds like it will be a lot of fun… even with an after party