This week Roo catches up with two very special guests - legends, no less, from the world of gaming at London's favourite 'unconference', Game Camp. Elsewhere, snacks man Dave introduces us to unexpected new breakfast options, Leila gets some sounds from under London, and we all play games (of course).
Posted: May 18th, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Our guest this week has been keeping a watchful eye on the Large Hadron Collider since it booted up again in March, but luckily he's very well-qualified. In fact, Jon is a Professor of Physics at UCL and via the ATLAS experiment, pushes the boundaries of so-called science over at CERN on a regular basis. Well, we don't know much about science, but we know what we like, and it was a joy to learn about everything from the mystery of mass to the mystery of the LHC rap.
Over in parallel dimension, we review chocolates with unexpected mass and discuss the space-time implications of discussing the Time Traveler Convention on this podcast. And now we've just blogged about it, too. Oops.
LINKS: Jon (academic) | Jon (blog) | Jon (Twitter) | ATLAS | LHC rap | Time Traveler Convention | LHCsound.com | Jon at the Geek Pop festival | Dave's site Snackspot | Buy a tape of this episode | Donate to Shift Run Stop | Add us on Twitter
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Posted: May 13th, 2010 | 7,730 Comments »
This was the week we finally understood some physics.
Jon is a Professor of Physics at University College London, and researcher in the High Energy Physics group on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
But what does the LHC actually do? How do you make a black hole? And what happens when it all goes wrong? Tune in on Thursday to find out!
Posted: May 11th, 2010 | 15 Comments »
This week we catch up with games publisher James Wallis in the suitably recreational environs of a sunny London park. James is an ambassador for storytelling - his company Magnum Opus Press recently published The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Learn about that, the geography of World of Warcraft, and how to win a World Record for endurance D&D playing, in this geeky(-est? ever?) episode.
Back in the studio, our very own Sophie Dahl of snacks, Dave Green, has some refreshing drinks for summer (more of which on his site Snackspot) - and we offer James's books to give away! Buy a tape of this episode and win The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen; guess how many feet Roo is holding up to bag a copy of Magnum Opus's witty RPG manual Dragon Warriors. As ever, we can be emailed.
All this, plus the origins of branching narratives, Florence Nightingale facts, 
ambient birdsong, and oh, you know, the usual squabbles. Are you sitting comfortably? Good! Then let's begin.
Links: James Wallis's blog | Magnum Opus press | Magnum Opus on Drive-Through RPG | Baron Munchausen (Wikipedia) | Baron Munchausen (Amazon) | Dragon Warriors (Magnum Opus) | Slides of James's OuLiPo talk | Game Camp | Dave's site Snackspot | Buy a tape of this episode | Donate to Shift Run Stop | Add us on Twitter
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Posted: May 6th, 2010 | 14,564 Comments »
James is big news on the UK games scene. He's a game designer and book publisher, one of the organisers of Game Camp (coming up this weekend), creator of the Baron Munchausen book and game, and reviver of the 80s classic Dragon Warriors - among many other things!
Full episode goes up on Thursday the 6th of May - in the meantime check out James's publishing company and games consultancy blog.
Posted: May 5th, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Writer-performer Isy Suttie drops in this week. Isy is a hit with geeks everywhere thanks to her role as Peep Show's winsome I.T. worker 'Dobby', but her talents reach far and wide. We discuss her performing career and her personal passions, which include The Office and The Wicker Man - and she plays the piano for us. You don't get that on This American Life.
Elsewhere this week, Dave Green joins us for more al fresco international snackery, bringing his expertise to bear on some Californian chocolate supplied by generous US-based listener Leo Vegoda. (If you live 'abroad', why not send us some snacks to review?) We eat, we laugh, we all fight about Star Wars again. Oh and don't forget you can still buy tapes of these shows, or, if you already have enough rubbish in your house, just donate.
Remember Sarah "Spacedog" Angliss from way back in episode 9? The Brighton Festival is coming up in early May and you should check out her Uncanny Valley show on May 5th if you get the chance, it sounds ace:
"Spacedog are teaming up with Professor Elemental to bring you a delightfully unsettling evening, probing our very human fears of the almost human, from zombies to ventriloquists’ dummies. Accompanied by Sarah’s unusual musical robots, we’ll be singing songs of love, death and the uncanny as we explore the darkest reaches of your mind. With theremins, taxidermy and strange automata."
Links: Isy Suttie (Wikipedia) | Isy (IMDB) | Peep Show | The American Office | The Wicker Man | Dave's site Snackspot | Brighton Festival | More about Sarah Angliss's show | Buy this podcast on tape | Donate to Shift Run Stop
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Posted: April 29th, 2010 | 6,080 Comments »
Shift Run Stop by Leila Johnston and Roo Reynolds is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.