I know, there was not much blogging going on in September. I just didn’t have the time.

But there will be at least one in October. Promise… :-)

That’s right, I went to see Derren Brown’s Svengali tour in Oxford a few weeks ago.

I must say, it was really rather good too (don’t worry, I won’t give any Svengali spoilers).

Besides, if you’ve already seen his other live shows on telly: Something Wicked This Way Comes, Enigma and Evening of Wonders, you’ll already know what to expect with Svengali – simply more of the same.

Until you see him live, it’s difficult to appreciate just how much of a naturally gifted showman Derren Brown really is. There’s always that thought in your mind that there’s some clever editing on TV, or at least some use of stooges. Now I’m 99% sure he doesn’t need to rely on or use either of those.

There was quite a lot of truly random audience participation in the show (my brother was picked on for a minute for instance) and, I suspect, also some ‘pseudorandom-ness’ going on too. But let’s face it, Derren’s whole act is just illusion, misdirection and trickery at the end of the day. On the trip back home, we’d already come up with plausible explanations for how Derren did 90% of Svengali and I’m pretty sure if I saw it again I could work out the other 10% too. Perhaps between us we’ve watched too many episodes of Breaking the Magicians’ Code: Magicians Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed.

Mind you, the ending was a little weird with a “is this supposed to be happening?” type vibe. Derren later blogged that he’d revised it, so I’m not sure if I saw the original or updated ending to the show. Either way, if you get chance to see Svengali live – it’s definitely worth the money.

“…and eyes open, wide awake.”

You know how events, problems and other issues end up taking over your life?

Well, unfortunately, the last few months have been just that. I’ve not forgotten about Blogalism, I just sadly haven’t had the time or inspiration to update lately if I’m honest.

Still. I’ll try and make up for it later in the year.

Blogalism will return…

Cinnamon Bun Day

Apparently today, the 4th of October, is “Cinnamon Bun Day” when Swedish people up and down their fair land will be praying to the pastry gods and thanking them for delicious baked spicy snacks.

It’s also my birthday. Bahhh. I know which one sounds better.

So Happy Cinnamon Bun Day people!

Here’s the evidence…

Mobile device stats - 1st Feb 2010 - 31st August 2010

Heck, even I jumped on the smart phone bandwagon earlier this year, so they must be starting to reach the masses now.

Blogalism: Mobile Edition!

Ok, so I’m not exactly running Facebook or anything, but visits from iPhones, Blackberry’s and Android phones have still nearly quadrupled since February this year. That’s quite a big increase – so I thought it was about time I started showing a little bit of mobile lovin’!

So, starting from, well yesterday actually, if you try accessing Blogalism with your iPhone, Blackberry, Android or other mobile/smart phone, you should be presented with a new lower bandwidth, faster loading, less heavy duty version of Blogalism that’s much better optimised for your viewing pleasure (see right).

If there’s anything that doesn’t quite work as well as it might, you can switch to the full strength version of any page using the link at the bottom of each mobile page.

Let me know if you have any problems with the ‘All-New Blogalism (Mobile Edition)’, otherwise, enjoy!