Lost Coat Found in Mall Exhibition

Yesterday was the coldest of the autumn so far, and I was tempted to dig out my twenty-four-year-old coat. I had second thoughts; it's still not cold enough for such drastic action.

The old coat, once lost to animation pioneer, John Halas, in a mix up at the South Bank, (FULL STORY) can now be seen as part of the Discerning Eye Exhibition at The Mall Galleries.

The paintings by Ashley Hanson will be on show from 13-23 November 2014.

Further details on how the coat came to be included in Ashley's series, The City of Glass, can be found here.

Brown Coat & The City of Glass

Brown Coat @ The Plough

Pitching it at CMC

I've reviewed three pitching sessions from the Children's Media Conference.

Pitch-it!
Mini-Dragons
Put your money where your mouth is

CMC. Doctor Who writer discovers a new word.

Phil Ford, executive producer and co-creator of Wizards vs Aliens was speaking at last week's Children's Media Conference in a session entitled, 'Transmedia - Where Do I Start? The writer was intrigued by a word he had not heard before. 

Mind Candy's COO, Divinia Knowles, explained that Moshi Monsters would always be bigger than just the digital side, describing the property as ‘Toy-etic.’

‘Toy-etic, that’s a new word for me,’ said wordsmith, Phil Ford, who has also written  for Doctor Who and Captain Scarlet. The panel then considered if merchandising was part of transmedia – Phil stating that the great thing about toys is that children can make up their own stories with them.

The full story on Transmedia and why Phil Ford belives the Doctor Who online games are cannon can be found on the CMC Blog

Home Grown Scandi-Noir

Monday nights are not going to be the same again... at least until a second series of Hinterland is given a similar BBC Four airing. It's a dark series, its troubled detective's empathy extending to fellow estranged fathers, be they convicted arsonist or wife batterers.

Prosecco, Olives and Grenades

The odds about having the same birthday and deathday should be 365.25 to one, as long as you're not born on 29th February.

Birthdays invariable involve alcohol, so the odds are reduced somewhat.

I decided to put this to the test, yesterday, when my wife and I met up with old friends, Peggy and Bone, to eat olives and drink prosecco on a sunny afternoon to celebrate my birthday. 

Sure enough, my odds of achieving 'The Double' were reduced when a fossil hunter decided to dig up a World War 2 hand grenade and take it into the Heritage Centre behind our sea-view perches.

Not that we, or anyone around us, were aware of the situation for a hour or so. Eventually people were herded to the far end of the beach in dribs and drabs only to be told the device was going to be destroyed in a controlled explosion near the beach cafe where we had taken refuge.

After moving up the cliff, we were then moved back to where we had started, to witness the Bomb Disposal Unit blow up the grenade.

More details from
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/11147495.UPDATED__Hand_grenade_found_on_beach_blown_up/?ref=var_0