Interesting 2008 – thirty more interesting things

This time last year I made a list of thirty interesting things at Interesting 2007. Let’s try that again.

1. After an amazing welcome (including a singalong) from Russell I kicked things off by claiming that LEGO is full of WIN. [slides] [video]
   
2. Gemma Teed told us about horses’ blind spots. [video]
3. Collyn Ahart Chipperfield talked about nostalgia and fantasy (nostalgia is dead, let’s not limit ourselves to reality).
4. Steve Hardy shared his thoughts on the importance of creative generalists (curious about everything, experts at nothing. They balance and feed the specialists). [slides]
5. Daniel Raven-Ellison talked about guerilla geography.
6. Michael Johnson gave a history of guitar music and graphic design.
7. Phil Gyford talked about acting and masks. [clips]
8. James Wallis presented a geographical survey of the World of Warcraft. [video] [video] [theory]
   
9. Matt Dent talked about how he designed the backs of the new UK coins (which are stunningly cool, and fit together to form one large image).
10. Matt Webb shared an alternative history of Patagonian telecoms networks and the Conquistadors. [slides]
11. Andrew Webb gave a heartwarming account of the making of channel4.com/foodmap.
12. Andrew Walkingshaw talked about informatics and the naming of things (a computer, like a cat, has three names).
13. Andrew Dick shared his tales of insomnia, and how bad story tapes help him overcome it.
14. Jenny Owen told us her favourite things about Churchill.
15. Matthew Irvine Brown conducted a 30-strong impromptu Guardian-sponsored orchestra of recorders (Russell: “You wouldn’t get that at TED”) [video]
16. Lloyd Davis played two songs on the ukulele and led us in mountain medidation
17. Beeker directed a mexican wave.
18. Simon and Curtis James accompanied Ken Hollings reading an extract from Welcome To Mars. [audio]
19. Anna Pickard shared her favourite words (including biscuit, duck and flange. Plosives are funny)
20. Younghee Jung talked about her ambient interest in the toilets of the world
21. James Bridle instructed us on the relationship between booze and civilization [essay]
22. Kim Plowright presented a cultural history of the vacuum cleaner
23. James Houston showed his ‘Big Ideas (don’t get any)’ video which has been Big On The Internet in recent weeks, and was his final year Graphic Design project. He graduated yesterday with a first. Congratulations James.
24. Jim Le Fevre got lots of wows with his Technics Zoetrope. [video]
25. Gavin Starks talked about acoustic cosmology and the application of music to the cosmological theories of n-dimensional space. Oh yes.
26. Joel Gethin Lewis taught us about the meaning of the word ‘Hiraeth’, which might be a cross between a longing for home and knowing that you belong there.
27. George Oates talked about ‘the raw material of social engineering’, especially crappy Flickr groups.
28. Lea Becker talked about scribbles.
29. Leisa Riechelt presented some thoughts on the brain, including synaptic pruning.
30. Max Gadney told us about his interest in World War 2.

(Each photo is a link. Thanks to Ged Carroll, Steve Bowbrick, Meg Pickard, Jenni Lloyd and Nick O’Leary,)

More stuff:

• Flickr group
• Russell made a timelapse video
• SlideShare event (add more!)
• More discussion here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here here and yet more.
• Roundup from Russell.
• Guardian video series.