38: Magicians guard an empty safe
On the magic of comedy, CGI, cell-shading and deposit return schemes
Last of the year! It will not be an annual roundup.
A friend recently lost his job and gamely joined a stand-up comedy class to relieve the daily horror of job applications. Their newly-formed collective put on a night in a tap room under the railway arches and we drank and laughed as trains thundered overhead.
First, we’ll save the world
Here’s Oli Frost being brilliant again with a campaign to coincide with the budget. A sensible idea, wrapped in humour and backed up by technology: one quick click to email your MP.
Demain (2015), the French social and environmental documentary was released 10 years ago.
It’s very french, quite long and feels naively optimistic today. The stuff on local currency made me pine for Bristol. I cried for the bikes of Copenhagen and schools of Helsinki. The food section made me want to setup a farm in France.
We paired it with the more sombre American documentary The Grab (2022) that exposes the terrifying global forces vying for food and water dominance.
Happy Christmas everybody!
Let’s perk things up:
Romania went from being Europe’s recycling basket-case to smashing its targets in only two years thanks to a deposit return system. Well, duh.
Greater Manchester has a new participatory playbook (PDF) which neatly explains things like Citizens’ Assemblies and Legislative Theatre (policy play-acting, in other words!)
ACTIONISM posted about “the first step” (i.e. starting small, like clearing an alley) and the cascade effect (i.e. the pleasing way little things grow bigger)
Re-Action Collective are encouraging #CitizenFriday again — a reminder to (1) share stuff (2) repair stuff and (3) get some fresh air, bruv.
Then we’ll check our AI stocks
Here’s a Boom or Bubble dashboard to keep tabs on how far we are from the next 1920s / 1980s / 1995 / 2008 “rich get richer” moment.
I love this blend of old tech and new tech. Real human actors (!!) paired with real-time computer wizardry.
Reminds me of 2008 and the day I got electrocuted playing Wizard of Oz at the Pervasive Media Studio. A large screen featured Tarim as a parallel universe Santa Claus, below which protruded some stuffed tights on an office chair so residents could enter the grotto and “sit on his lap”. From behind a curtain, I selected pre-recorded bits of dialogue, then plugged in Clare Reddington’s 1970s Christmas lights to reveal their gift!
I wrote in October about Waymo. Here is why autonomous vehicles, fun as they may be, are an abomination. This “roboherd” running the length of a street is 🤯 😭 😭 😭
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Let’s invest in culture instead!
This chap is losing $25m a year keeping MONA open, the Tasmanian Museum of Old and New Art. Seb Chan linked to a great article about David Walsh’s unusual approach. (He earned his coin running a sneaky betting syndicate).
I love the look of this “immersive odyssey” from VIVE arts and La Philharmonie de Paris (less fun video thumbnail) Quite possibly the future of classical music.
The subtitle of this melancholy and poetic take on modern life from 23 year-old Amber caught my eye: how we disappear chasing lives that aren’t ours. It is littered with lines like:
Before our feet touch the earth, our eyes have already wandered into someone else’s world.
A quick play before bed
Messenger has been widely shared and is remarkably browser-based. You deliver letters on a tiny, cell-shaded sphere. And the NPCs are other players 🙊
This bit of competitive socialising got lots of press.
Gameshow LIVE! is the world’s first live, interactive gameshow experience launching in Central London in Spring 2026! Inspired by classic TV gameshow nostalgia fused with cutting edge tech and a dose of Vegas showbiz, 200 players in 40 teams compete for crazy prizes in a night out filled with competitive buzzer-bashing fun.
“Magicians guard an empty safe.”
Love this aphorism. There are many more tidbits in this interview with Hollywood’s Deceptive Practices. Like this, about magical fulfilment:
If I ask, “Would you like a ham sandwich?” and you say, “Yes,” it doesn’t matter how magically I produce it, the appearance of that sandwich can’t be a miracle. At best, it’s a neat trick.
But if we’re hanging out and you say, “I could really go for a ham sandwich right now,” and I say, “Reach into your coat pocket,” and you find a neatly wrapped sandwich…
Did you know I toured the world as a card magician? It was a LONG time ago.
Meanwhile, I’ve been running lots of creative sprints for teams that want to make better playful experiences.
Winter solstice isn’t far off! And there begins the gradual climb back to summer.
I’m going to jump into a cold river (after a warm sauna) with my family.
What are you up to?
B.
PS - a LinkedIn post (soz) but a brilliantly simple collective moment with almost zero snazzy tech. Magic!
