Interesting2008

Russell Davies

Yesterday was the awesome Interesting2008 organised by Russell Davies. Roo had told me all about last year’s Interesting2007, so I was very much look forward to it - and I wasn’t disappointed.

The talks covered a diverse range of subjects and they were all interesting - as you would hope for such an event. Here are some of my highlights of the day.

Roo Reynolds

Roo opened with 3 minutes on Lego. With 30 slides playing through behind him, he even remembered to breathe. A great start to the day. Roo has now posted his slides with audio on slideshare.

[![Michael Johnson](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3129/2599889067_aa0be9d138_s.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/knolleary/2599889067/ "Michael Johnson by nol, on Flickr") [Michael Johnson](http://www.johnsonbanks.co.uk/thoughtfortheweek/index.php?thoughtid=336) gave us tour through the history of guitar music and graphic design. Was this just an excuse to play Jimi Hendrix on a stage in front of 300 people? [![Matt Dent](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3179/2600722260_5d6ac67806_s.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/knolleary/2600722260/ "Matt Dent by nol, on Flickr") [Matt Dent](http://www.mattdent.com/) spoke about the new coin designs he did. Fascinating insight to the amount of detail that goes into this type of thing. [![Lloyd Davis](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3036/2600738854_34a6554e4e_s.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/knolleary/2600738854/ "Lloyd Davis by nol, on Flickr") [Lloyd Davis](http://perfectpath.wordpress.com) played the ukulele and then helped the whole room meditate and bring the mountain within. And relax. [![Anna Pickard](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3092/2599909929_f1505d9c32_s.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/knolleary/2599909929/ "Anna Pickard by nol, on Flickr") [Anna Pickard](http://littleredboat.co.uk/) just about kept a straight face whilst talking about unintentionally funny words. I was most pleased to see Plinth on the list. [![Andrew Walkingshaw](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3055/2599894769_b29359881a_s.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/knolleary/2599894769/ "Andrew Walkingshaw by nol, on Flickr") [Andrew Walkingshaw](http://wwmm.ch.cam.ac.uk/blogs/walkingshaw/) explained why naming things is hard. [![Jim Le Fevre](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/2599911605_ddb5f5f055_s.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/knolleary/2599911605/ "Jim Le Fevre by nol, on Flickr") [Jim Le Fevre](http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/U5241804) amazed us all by showing off his turntable-based zoetrope. I could have watched this for hours. Definitely something to play with in the future. _Update:_ [Russell](http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/2008/06/jim-on-youtube.html) has linked to a YouTube video of this stuff - amazing. Russell did a great job of organising the day - I'm very much looking forward to Interesting2009. [![Russell Davies](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/2599912947_a3302fdab1.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/knolleary/2599912947/ "Russell Davies by nol, on Flickr")