Sooz is reviving her freelancer community events as Free Agent Jungle with the first event coming up in a couple weeks.
It seems like a good time to for this kind of thing as a lot of people are likely turning to freelance work to increase or replace income.
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Banditos Misteriosos has revealed where you can exchange your found gift as part of their Freeform Gift Swap. The idea behind the swap is to discover an entertaining or whimsical item and turn it into to a gift to exchange by the most important part of presents, wrapping.
Knitters in the South End venture into public art. They've tagged the lampost outside their weekly hangout Flour Bakery with long knitted sleeve.
Image of the installation: TamaraKnits from the South End Knitters Flickr set
In celebration of the post-holidays Banditos Misteriosos is holding their gift exchange at the end of January, just as the winter doldrums will be setting in.
Boston-area Wikipedians are gathering at Wagamama in Harvard Square tonight.
Info:
Wagamama
57 JFK St
Cambridge, MA
Boston Postmortem, the monthly gathering of local game developers will meet on Wednesday, December 17th, from 7pm to 9pm, at Microsoft's Cambridge offices followed by dinner at the Cambridge Brewing Company.
Our meeting this month will be our "year in review" session. We'll be having three fifteen-minute talks.
Info on getting there follows:
Continue reading "Boston Post Mortem: Game Development Year in Review, Dec. 17" »
Boston's favorite proponents of urban fun Banditos Misteriosos are looking for help to design a new t-shirt.
Banditos Misteriosos has another event coming up a Boston Monster Mashup dance event on October 25. Now they've released their instructional video of the moves for their collective dance.
If years of Halloween-themed TV specials and music videos have taught
us anything, it’s that come late October, monsters and ghouls love to
get together and dance. Thus, it is with pride, that Banditos
Misteriosos announces our very own Monster Mash-up!
Consider this a Halloween Dance Party but with all your fellow
dancers dressed as ghosts! But, to give this dance another dimension,
we will be your choreographers. On October 17th, we will be releasing
an instructional video, complete with dance moves and your very own
mentor ghost.
Costumes:
Everyone should come dressed as a ghost, bedsheet style. No white sheets, though — that is *so* last Halloween. Be creative! (and remember the eye holes!)
Dance Moves:
The instructional video will be released on our website and will teach
you the dance moves that we will be doing. The choreography does not
necessarily correspond to the music, but will be based on various
signals. (Don’t get it? Don’t worry! It’ll make sense when you watch
the video.) Learn the moves for a follow-the-leader style dance!
The Watertown Public Library hosts a regular Shakespeare Reading Group. The October play is The Merchant of Venice. The discussions will take place on Oct. 21 and 28 with screenings and other discussion taking place on Nov. 20 and 25.
We’ll meet at the Leif Ericsson statue, located at Charlesgate East and Comm Ave or N 42 20 922 / W 071 05 488, at 6:30pm. From there, we’ll break into teams and depart from statue around 6:45pm. If you’re coming late to the hunt, shoot @skalik a DM or call her at 503-320-0048, and she’ll match you up with a team already on the road.
You don’t need to bring a GPS unit to play; however, if you have one, please bring it, because we still need one or two!
As usual, we’ll end things with a visit to a nearby pub."
Info:
Thursday, August 14, 2008
6:30pm – 9:30 pm and beyond
Charlesgate East and Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA
Banditos Misteriosos' latest event will be a revolutionary water gun fight ideally featuring costumes and fife and drum players. Banditos Misteriosos have put together a number of fun events recently from the Silent Dance Experiment to a Scavenger Hunt. Hopefully, revolutionary combat by water gun won't trigger Assassin game security problems.
The event will take place on August 16 at 1.30pm at a place to be named later. Registration forms will go out on July 28.
"The summer is heating up, thus, it is with pride that Banditos Misteriosos announces the Revolutionary Water Gun Fight.
Consider this event the combination of a good old fashioned water gun fight and the revolutionary battle of our forefathers.
Staying true to Boston’s historical roots,
this water gun fight shall focus on two armies, marching and meeting
each other for a battle in a specific location." (More after the break)
Continue reading "Revolutionary Water Gun Fight From Banditos Misteriosos" »
Young guides will lead an 8-mile bike tour on Sunday June 22 in what could be an interesting perspective on the city. "MYRIDE, Multicultural Youth Riding in Diverse Environments, is a youth-led bike tour of Boston's South End, Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods, followed by a celebratory barbecue."
You can register online in person from 9:30 am to 10:00 am before the tour starts at 10:00 am
Cost: $15
"[A] diverse group of Hub rockers are embracing centuries-old fraternal ideals to become the new face of the Freemasons in Boston.
“It’s not a religion, and it’s definitely not a cult,” said J.R. Roach, drummer for Sam Black Church and bassist for The Men, who also is master of the Masons’ Cambridge Amicable Lodge. “Everything is supposed to be dignified. There’s no hazing. We’re all brothers. It’s a movement for guys trying to find a deeper meaning in their lives.”
The mix of punk and freemasonry
seems unusual but with the masons in decline the group may have more of
an ironic and DIY feel than in its heyday as the meeting place of the
local establishment. (via Boing Boing)
Any regular visitor to Harvard Square might actually sincerely appreciate this April Fool's event by the Boston Society for Spontaneity: a protest against protests.
Suggestion for next event: protesting soliciting or soliciting against soliciting.
Interesting topic at tonight's Boston Post Mortem: virtual goods.
"Our speaker will be Ravi Mehta, Vice President of Publishing at Viximo, also formerly of Microsoft Game Studios. He’ll be giving a talk on the virtual goods market, which encompasses those little $1 gifts in Facebook as well as all the arms and armor people are buying and selling in MMOGs."
Info:
Tuesday, June 10 @ 7pm
The Skellig, Waltham
The Tibetan Association of Boston will be holding candlelight vigils in Harvard Square through March 31 to increase awareness of the Tibetan crisis.
Video of the Silent Dance Experiment organized by Banditos Misteriosos where participants all danced around Faneuil Hall to the same song on their headphones.
Defective by Design will be leading a protest against the Boston Public Library's acceptance of digitial rights management (DRM) systems on items in its collection.
"DefectiveByDesign.org will be taking action this Saturday at the Boston Public Library to demand that they remove DRM technology from their collection! We will be gathering outside the entrance at the main branch of the Boston Public Library (700 Boylston St., Boston MA 02116) from 1pm until 3pm on Saturday, February 9th, 2008.--
The Boston Public Library (BPL) has DRM on its ebooks, audio books, music, and videos. These DRM systems sit between you and the item and restrict how and for how long you can access the information. For example, they may shut off your access to an audio book after seven days or tell you that you can't move the book from your laptop computer to your desktop. This also means that library patrons will be forced to use certain proprietary operating systems to access library materials, because patrons have to use something that is compatible with the DRM chosen by the BPL.
--
The BPL is funded by Massachusetts tax dollars and it is mandated by law to serve as the library of last recourse for the Commonwealth. [BPL president Ralph] Margolis's choice for bringing technology that locks digital ebooks and audio books was one that goes against the public's interests. We believe that the Trust is not acting in good accord with their legal mandate"
Boston's "First Silent Dance Experiment" will take place on February 23rd at the Sam Adams Statue in Faneuil Hall. Like a dancing flash mob, an internet-organized group will converge on the statue and burst into silent dance that's both communal and private.
"[A] silent dance party involves a large group of people assembling at a given area on a pre-decided time. They mill around inconspicuously, and at the signal (in our case, an airhorn), insert their headphones into their ears, hit play on their portable music player and start dancing as passersbys confusingly look on as a swarm of people dance in silence
"The exciting part is that we’re taking it a bit further this time. Instead of simply having everyone playing one song, we’re going to be creating our own MP3 complete with not only grooves, but with instructions and activities interwoven. Participants will then download this song, place it their music player and dance fully synchronized."
Should be interesting to see with a big enough group (so go for it!) and also a bit of a commentary on people isolated from passersby with their iPods but connected to others by what they listen to.
The event is being organized by Banditos Misteriosos, "the city's mysterious playmate" and the group who brought you the Boston Common Pillow Fight.
Details:
"Time: 1:00PM. At the sound of the airhorn.
Date: Saturday, February 23rd
Location: Faneuil Hall, in front of the Sam Adams Statue. (Exact Location/Google Map)
Outfit: Whatever you enjoy wearing when you go out for
a dance on the town. Be fancy if you like. Try to sport a pair of
sunglasses if you can…
Song: The MP3 will be uploaded to our website on Sunday, February 17th."
Discovering the lost waterways of Allston. Kate Bowditch and the Charles River Watershed Association are looking into whether restoring the Allston side of the Charles River to a more natural state, including exposing streams now buried under the city, could reduce flooding and other problems.
"Bowditch said her group's main goal is to figure out how the drainage systems in North Allston work and how to make them work better.
Using old maps of the area, some dating back as far as the mid-1800s, Bowditch and her colleagues have pinpointed several waterways that once drained the area.
One stream, which the group has named Allston Creek, formerly ran from near the Everett Street Interstate 90 overpass to the Charles, just north of the Western Avenue Bridge. Technically, Allston Creek is still there. It's just out of sight, running under North Allston in a series of branching pipes. Bowditch and her colleagues want to bring it back to the surface - to "daylight" it, she says - and break up the neighborhood's large tracts of concrete and asphalt with greenways, public parks, and trees."
An interesting idea that could help make the Allston side of the river more enjoyable. It is fascinating to hear about the layers of history in the city but also the layers of the environment. London's subterranean rivers are well-known but Boston's seem unknown.
Reminder: Writers' Strike Rally with Joss Whedon in Harvard Square today. From the fans4writers website:
"We are planning the event for Friday, December 14th from 12 noon - 3 pm. There will be an assembly of writers, fans (and potentially celebrity guests!) at the distinguished public affairs program Cambridge Forum in the Meeting House of the historic First Parish (Unitarian Universalist) Church, 3 Church St., Cambridge, MA 02138. There, guest speakers (which so far include Joss Whedon, Rob Kutner with a few of his Daily Show crew, and myself) will say a few words of thanks to our fans and talk about the cause they're supporting. Once we are sufficiently pumped up, everyone will march with picket signs and pamphlets throu gh Harvard Square to a rally outside of the famed Harvard Lampoon building, where so many great television comedy writers cut their teeth. It will offer a chance for Boston fans and writers to walk side by side, show the media and AMPTP that we're galvanized in our cause, and we're growing."
McIntyre & Moore and the Center of Naturalism are presenting the December installment of the long-running Davis Square Philosophy Cafe on December 18
"December’s topic, “Reductionism and Responsibility: Did My Neurons Make Me Do It?" will focus on the following:
Brain scans reveal that murderers prone to extreme violence tend to have poorer functioning in the pre-frontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for impulse control. Such findings spark the worry that if behavior results just from neural processes, then people aren’t legitimate targets of praise and blame. Do we have powers that transcend what neurons can do, and are such powers necessary to justify holding each other responsible? If we don’t, might that change our ideas about responsibility and criminal justice?"
Boston Santacon to be held December 9th (?) at least according to this page. Santacon is a gathering (often in bars) of people dressed in Santa costumes as another way of celebrating the season.
Location has yet to be announced but signs look hopeful.
To give an idea of the spirit of the event some helpful rules and reminders have been posted:
"Santa's Rules:
Be Jolly.
Santa apparel is mandatory. A Santa hat is not enough. Get a Santa
suit. Make a Santa suit. Steal a Santa suit. Buy a Santa suit. If you
don't have any money, be creative. If you don't have any creativity,
slap yourself three times and ask your mom to help you. Glue cotton
balls to red long johns. Already have a Santa suit? Make a spare so
Santa can assimilate strangers. Past examples: pimp Santa/Santa
garcia/Santa's naughty little helper. Traditional suits can be bought
at local party stores or ordered online for $12 and up.
Santa's Reminders:
The schedule is open to liberal interpretation by Santa. If you can't
show up for the start, get the cell number of someone who can talk you
in later.
Santa does not make children cry (unless they
whine, snivel, or otherwise deserve it). Really - If you see kids, give
them nice toys, candy, or something pleasant. Feel free to urinate on
their parents.
Watching Santa get drunk and obnoxious is fun. Babysitting Santa while they vomit in an alley is not.
Twisting the holiday paradigm until it screams for mercy is fun!
Getting arrested is not. Santa Claus is friendly and cooperative with
cops, security guards, park rangers, and secret service agents, and
doesn't break any laws (unless they're stupid and deserve to be broken).
Bring gifts -- Naughty gifts to give grown ups; nice stuff to give kids.
Pay your own damn bar tab."
Harvard Law prof Charles Nesson's quest to legitimize poker. He "wants governments to relax restrictions on poker players. He has formed
the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society with some of his students
to promote poker as a fun learning tool and to redefine it as a game of
skill, rather than a game of chance."
Reddit hosted a meetup in at the Burren in Davis Square on Halloween 2007.
Play bridge in Davis Square with the Davis Square Bridge Club: "an informal group of bridge enthusiasts who
meet every Wednesday night at 7:30 P.M. at the Diesel Cafe in Davis Square,
Somerville, Massachusetts, a block toward Porter Square from
the Davis Square T-Stop. We are a group of mixed abilities, some learners, some
tournament grade. We play Duplicate and Chicago Style bridge, and learn from each
other by discussing the bid and play and by reading bridge publications."
