Wednesday 28 October 2009

NaNoWriMo 2009 in 2 days!

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The Infinite Monkey Theorem posits that a monkey with a typewriter given an infinite time frame would eventually type out the complete works of Shakespeare.

WANNA PROVE THEM RIGHT?! NaNoWriMo has been set up for that exact cause. The only difference is that due to the scarcity of infinite free time, they've cut the time frame down to one month and drastically upped the number of monkeys.

Over the next month (beginning at a second past midnight on the morning of November the 1st and ending at midnight on the 30th of November, hundreds of thousands of people will challenge themselves to write an original 50,000 word novel or die of exhaustion and caffeine abuse (whichever comes first).

Worried that you don't have what it takes? If you never try, you'll never know. Worried that you don't have a good enough idea? Meh, most of us don't. Once you get writing, it all comes to you.

No novel is great after the first draft and yours won't be an exception :o) but by the end of November you'll have created at least the best part of your own work of fiction. Your own world. Yours to behold, brag about and if you put the effort into polishing it up a bit... you can even $ell it!

So come join in, because seriously... what else are you planning to achieve with your dull and pointless life? All you have to do is register for FREE at http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Out There Festival 2009

Last month something pretty great happened in Yarmouth; the 2009 Out There Festival. Over the weekend, Yarmouth was transformed into somewhere you might actually want to be as the dog shit on the pavements dried and shrivelled up, the chavs took their hoods down to see what was going on and the town-wide stench of stale piss and broken dreams was replaced with that of unwashed carnies on a hot day and general mirth (they’re hard to tell apart actually). For 48 hours we experienced our very own mini Koninginnedag. And it was good.

It actually reminded me of the Koninginnedag quite a lot. That’s Queen’s day for those of you who are ignorant of Dutch culture – an annual nation-wide excuse to get high, wander around, get fleeced by opportunistic, price gouging salesmen, be crazy, watch others being crazy and generally take a break from trying to irritate, stab and run each other over.

I never thought that kind of thing would be possible in Yarmouth, but it turns out I was wrong. It seems the chavs just needed to be shown how. And by dotting street performers and attractions around the town, they seemed to start to get the idea and I had a great time wandering through it all in typical Ulyssian fashion.

IMO it's exactly the kind of thing we need in this run down ex-fishing port. It's definitely money better spent than the casinos, fast food franchises, and nightclubs that make up most of the rest of Yarmouth anyway. The outer harbour might not be operational yet, but it seems that the Koninginnedag found its way over already.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Dave Chameleon
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The Gaiety Engine
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Abi Collins - Une Femme Exposée
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Willet & Patteson's The Amazing Camera Obscura
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Zigmund & Froyd
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Mandinga Arts Street Artists (Slightly Disturbing Fish)
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Didier Pasquette and Company Altitude
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