Day 6 -No99, Maiasmokk, Christmas Market, Olde Hansa, Kompressor, Shopping Mall, Airport and My House

Philip and I went to the bicycle party and I hoped that more people from the workshop would come but it was only two others that showed up… It was a bit boring but it was good to go out at least one night because it was our last night. The DJ was awful… There were bicycles where people could challenge each other and compete, on the top floor there was table tennis going on. The building was quite nice though. We came home at around 4ish and prepared for the next day, the day that would be our final day in Tallinn. We woke up at around 10, I could feel me whole body protesting that it wanted more rest. We had planned to go to the Christmas Market and meet one from the workshop, which we did. Then we walked around in the christmas market again and this time I actually found a few things. It was absolutely freezing and we wanted someplace to eat. Philip really wanted to go to the Olde Hansa place where they have medieval style food. However, it turned out to be really expensive so we went to Kompressor  to have more of their amazing pancakes.

After eating we went back to the hostel and explored a bit more around that place and Philip bought some choclate boxes to take with him home and we found a HUGE shopping mall that we hadn’t seen before. I almost found a new jacket but it was too small… 😦 Speaking of jackets, mine has completely given up on me so I have to go hunting for one soon. We went to the airport in a dodgy taxi… it seemed to be home made, but we got to the airport safely and checked in our luggage. Now we had 5 hours until our flight left and we spent it watching a movie and we ate at subway. It was really tough to wait because all you wanted was to be at home in your bed and sleep.

We arrived back in Sweden late and my dad came to pick us up and we made our way to my house. And the final day in Tallinn came to an end and also this story on the blog. Hope that this made you want to visit the beautiful city of Tallinn. In a few final words I would like to say that it has been a great experience and I am happy that I went. Tonight I will sleep and be get back to reality tomorrow. I think it will hit me straight across the face. Thanks for reading and I will post when I have something to post about 🙂 until that time, take care of yourself!

Day 5 – Crap, Guided tour, Kompressor, Ending, Maiasmokk, Christmas Market and Hell Hunt

Hey there blogg, today was the last day of the workshop. It was about site specific sound work and storytelling. As I said in the title, the lecture was utter crap, my ears bled from the music that he played and I couldn’t hear a thing he said sometimes(which was because of his bad english not the “music” he played). It was really annoying. The only thing that I took with me is this awesome video showing what we should do for our task of the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOkQE7m31Pw

It was a really cool concept and I would like to do something similar. Our group did a sort of guided tour with bullshit information like the name Tallinn came from the Tall inn that they had in the town. It was really fun to do. All I have to say about that is Don’t feed the children! 🙂 I do have a video of this *Happy face*

After we were done with the film which took like only 20 minutes, it was the shortest time spent on a project during this week, we went to a restaurant called Kompressor. It is a pancake restaurant where I had pancakes with strawberry jam and ice cream, the pancakes were HUGE. It was really good 😀 When we got back to the academy we showed our movie and we saw the other group’s video which was fun. It was really sad because we are not going back there now, this was the last day. But we all decided to go out for coffee so we went to Maiasmokk.

At Maiasmokk I had a cup of hot chocolate which was kinda okay, I wanted a bit more in my cup but what are you going to do about it. When we were there we decided that we should go to a bicycle party tonight which I have no idea what it is but I guess I will find out later. The majority of our group decided to go and check out the christmas market in the town square and that is what we did. It was pretty much the same kinds of things in the stands so not much to look at. They even had a fashion show where santa claus was commenting…

We went to Hell Hunt for dinner which was really, really nice for our final night. Everyone was relaxed and it’s kinda sad that you are going to say goodbye when you finally feel comfortable in their company. Hopefully, I will see most of them tonight at the party but if not I am glad to have met them.

Tomorrow, I hope I will be able to see a little bit more about Tallinn without my heavy computer bag and maybe go and look in some shops. And tomorrow is our last day in Tallinn which is sad because I really like Tallinn. However, I will be happy to come home to my bed and sleep in, even though I will only be able to sleep in next saturday 😛 so laters!

Day 4 – Perfoming memories, Pika Jala, Aurasma and Noku

Today we had an augmented reality workshop and the beginning lecture was really interesting and if you would like to find out more about it then a small piece you can find here: http://www.mah.se/Forskning/Sok-pagaende-forskning/Living-Archives/ . It was leaving a memory trail behind and someone with the right tools could go and see what you left behind. It was difficult for me to understand that as easy as it sounds but it only made sense to me when I talked about it and found the right mindset, hours after the seminar and workshop had ended. 

For lunch before we started our task we ate at a place called Pika Jala. It was a nice place with really weird artwork on their wall. That is something that I’ve noticed here in Tallinn that there is a lot of things that you miss if you’re not looking properly. I experience it everytime and I find myself thinking “Oh, didn’t expect that to be there”.

For the task we had three different tools to work with Snap Chat, Vine and Aurasma. Aurasma was the one that I used the most because the wi-fi crashed in the school so we could not download the others. Aurasma is basically a program where you can record something and then put it on a tag, like a symbol or picture and if someone is using Aurasma on their phone they will be able to see that recording as long as their phone is directed to the tag. It was a really interesting concept but it’s now based on channels instead of tags which means that you have to follow the channel that put the tag there. It was really a fun thing to try out 🙂

After that workshop we went to Noku again but now in a larger group and we had dinner and socialized.

I am really tired now so it’s a short update. Tomorrow is the last day of the workshop and that will be about Site-specific sound work and storytelling. Until then!

Day 3 – Design Design, Scopes, Von Krahl’s and Texas Honky Tonk Cantina

Today’s workshop was going to be about game design and interactive things. Adam held the lecture and most of it I had heard before but what I really want to get from his are his notes on non-linearity in games, which is something I want to know more about. The funny thing that Philip wrote in his notes that I am going to quote now is that “You know you are not in Visby when Adam has to explain what Zelda,Tetris and Wii is…”. This was indeed true, I am aware that people might not have heard of or played any of this but it was really surprising to learn. We come from a place where everyone knows what we are learning and talking about so it is sort of like a culture shock coming here where a lot of the other participants have no idea what games really are.

The other lecture that we had were about different kinds of scopes, with that I mean like different kinds of ways to portrait still pictures into moving ones. It was sort of interesting because I had no idea what these different things were called. However, he just showered us with difficult words like the first slide was of all the different scopes that he was going to go through and I felt that it was an overwhelming  way to start. It was interesting with the interactive part, making things so that it becomes interactive. An interesting example was Katerina Cizek’s project “Out My Window”. Feel free to check it out here: http://highrise.nfb.ca/

So the task for the day was to make something interactive with a narrative. Maybe something that used the youtube innotations so that you could choose how a story would end, it was all up to you. But first… lunch!

We went to this really nice place, I think it was like a theater bar or something called Von Krahl’s and it was a cozy place with writings on the wall and you could almost feel the theater in the air. I had the Von Krahl Burger which was alright but it became too much in the end and I had to stop eating, I think it was the cheese that did it 😛 During lunch we discussed different ideas on how we wanted to do this task. I got to express my idea of changing between people’s perspective. Like you follow one person, they see another person and suddenly the perspective is changed to the other person and the story takes another turn and continues on that other journey until it swaps again. We wanted to make it interactive so you the audience could choose which one you wanted to follow but we did not have time so we made the presentation verbally and manually choosing the fitting piece.

After this me and the guys went to the Texas Honky Tonk Cantina, which was really, really nice. First of all the service was amazing, our waitress was super good and was all in all a wonderful person. You would want someone like her in every place. When we exited she dropped what she was doing and walked us out which was a surprise. I had the Lone Star Steak here and it was good 🙂 but the mozzarella sticks was a disappointment but at least I shared that with someone else. The most surprising conversation today was that there were Adam and the other guys were talking about Miley Cyrus’s video wreaking ball and they were praising it. It would have been fun to get that stuck on video but the camera came up too late I am afraid to say.

Tomorrow is going to be about performing memories and augmented reality. I am looking forward to it and hopefully I won’t get disappointed as I was with some of the lecture’s that we’ve had. Until next time!

Day 2 – Error, Noku, sparkly poo and Clayhills

I woke up today feeling really tired but at least now I had a good night’s sleep. Today we knew where we were going so it was not as confusing as yesterday. This day was about technological performance and storytelling, which was kinda interesting in a way but the lecturer was all about showing movies that he had done. I wanted him to talk more about the topic instead of throwing movies in my face. Here’s a movie that he showed that I thought was good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HDaXVxJ6Dw
There was another intriguing thing that he had done and that was sort of like puzzle solving, the audience came to see a show but they were locked in and they had to find the key which was in the room. Our lecturer was chained down and he was the only one who knew where it was, they could either torture him to find out where it was or solve the puzzle to let him loose. This was really interesting because it was a game. I saw a lot of the possibilities that could be achieved with this.

The task that we were given was to find the errors in Tallinn, or define what error could be. With the term error he meant something that was not planned. Like he said, he wanted to make a soundbox but instead he made a radio reciever and that in itself was an error. Something that was not intentional. So when we were assigned groups my group went to a really cozy place called Noku. The strangest thing was that if you did not know that it was there then you would never find it. I found that to be very interesting. My group stayed there the entire time and we discussed different things that could be an error.

We thought that it could be brain errors like deja vu or something that was not meant to happen. However, the discussion took a turn for the worst when the word “Sparkly poo” came up. I thought it was a joke but they were dead serious. It was the most surreal and unlikely discussion that I have ever had. We made a video presentation about it and it was surprising that we actually stayed with the idea but the other two in my group really liked the sparkly poo.  Showing the video was really funny and it was a treat to see people react to it. I wish I had filmed it. It was definitely something that I would NEVER do as a serious workshop presentation. In retrospect it was a fun thing and an odd experience. 😛

After presenting me, Philip and Adam went to the gastropub Clayhills. It was a nice and relaxing evening that rounded up this day in a good way. The food was really good and we actually went for the dessert as well. I had the New York Strip Steak… yummy and then I had a selection of ice cream with berry sauce. It was really nice 😀

It’s going to be nice to sleep now and tomorrow Adam will talk about Non-linearity in game design and another lecturer will talk about Moving image and interactive story. Apparently we are going to be doing movies. It’s going to be interesting 😀 Hope you enjoyed this post! laters

Day 1 – Presentation, Maiasmokk and Hell Hunt

I survived the night! I went to the reception and asked for a blanket because as I said it was really cold. She looked at me in surprise and said “a blanket? no…”. She at least said she would look into it and call us when she knew, we were satisfied with that answer because we had a workshop to go to. Finding the Estonian Academy of Arts was quite easy, Philip and I were there in plenty of time and the one’s in the reception said fourth floor so we went to the fourth floor. I was a bit confused because they did not have any signs or indications on where this workshop would take place. When we looked around it became creepier and creepier because it looked like an old mental hospital. We waited until the time was 10 on the fourth floor then we made our way downstairs to try and figure this out. Adam, our teacher was supposed to meet us as well so we texted him and asked if he was on his way. He answered that he was in the lobby. But we are in the lobby Philip said. As it turned out we were in the wrong department, the right one was about a 15 minute walk in another direction… luckily some fellow workshop people happened to go to this place as well so we walked to the right place together which was nice. So to correct myself, finding the Academy of Arts was easy but finding the right department not that easy. 😛

When we arrived they had already started and we missed the introduction. We were however not late for the presentations 😛 Our fellow latecomers were the ones that did theirs first and after that it was Philip, and then it was me. I was feeling really nervous because the ones before me had done some real interesting observations that I will talk about later. The talk was about Non-linearity, and I compared it with a puzzle that is not built in a consecutive order, bits and pieces are built separately and later connecting to tell the whole story. The thing that caught me off-guard was the question that one of the teachers that put this workshop together asked: “Is there anything that has happened to you recently that has been non-linear?” As per usual my mind went black. I almost thought how would I get out of this one. But according to Philip I managed it pretty well. 😀
The things that I thought was interesting that was argued about was that our mind is linear, but is it really? isn’t it non-linear? it’s quite interesting if you look at it like that. In a sense our mind can be linear but change just as quickly as something directs your thoughts someplace else and make you forget the thing that you were thinking about. There was this one girl that did a really good presentation in a non-linear way. I do wish that I had recorded it but you can’t get everything.

After the presentation people wanted coffee so some of us went to find ourselves a coffee shop. What we found was Maiasmokk which was a really cosy place and Philip said that they had the best coffee he had ever tasted, so we are probably going to go back there soon. We stayed there for an hour or two not sure and we talked mostly about things that interests us. It was a bit awkward because when we got into the subject of games, then some people looked lost and just nodded to agree on things. After this I was starving and we walked to a bar/restaurant. Hell Hunt. This was the restaurant and they had really nice food there. We talked about a whole range of things and it was enjoyable. The plan was to go to an exhibition at the same place that we went this morning, the one where we were in the wrong place. So we knew how to get there now at least.

When we got there it was kinda disappointing because it was a 3D film which only accomplishment was to make my eyes hurt. It was really bad and after watching it and talking about it for a while then we left to go and buy me some blankets because I would not freeze this night! I found some really good ones at Hemtex for a really cheap price and I thought that they would either way, make a good addition to my new apartment when I get back to Gotland. When we got back to the hostel we talked to the nice reception lady again and she said that she did not have our number but that she had found a blanket for me. This made me happy because I am not going to freeze tonight. Tomorrow is a new day and we are going to be doing something related to Technological performance and storytelling.

Tallinn is awesome! the mixture of new and old is quite weird but in a good way 🙂 maybe I should do a post all about Tallinn when I get back with pictures and all that.

I better tie this sack together now and I hope that this was not too long… I am dreading how long it’s going to be tomorrow 😛 but we’ll see if there is anything worth mentioning. Laters!

Arrival in Tallinn!

Hey there! Maybe too much blogging about small stuff but just keeping people posted if they want to know. 🙂 After approximately travelling for 20 hours we arrive at our hostel in Tallinn, it left much to be desired but I think I will manage to survive this week. The plane rides over where short and swift but the waiting was kinda hard. Hopefully, I will not freeze to death in this cold room(if I don’t write anymore I probably did!) but I am excited and nervous about the presentations tomorrow.

I will update you on how it went and some more about the people that are here as well during the workshops. Now I have 6 hours of sleep to look forward to, Good Night!

Traveling to Tallinn

Hello there little bloggy. I am going away on a “Jolly” which apparently is ” a trip, esp one made for pleasure by a public official
or committee at public expense”.
Me and my friend Philip are going to Tallinn where we are going to participate in different kinds of workshops on the subject of Non-linear story telling. I will try and give updates everyday on the different perspectives of Non-linearity but I am unsure how it will be in reality. I will try I promise you 🙂

We are currently sitting at Arlanda Airport waiting for our ride to Helsinki which will then take us to the Capitol of Estonia. Until next time!