‘Oh look, they’ve rolled out the red carpet T’ I commented as we crossed Piccadilly on a rainy Saturday night to get to BAFTA. I’d spied some velvet ropes and given this was after all the UK premiere of the ‘World’s first cinematic interactive movie’ – Late Shift, it seemed logical.
‘Ah, I see they’ve got a super car at the entrance’ was T’s response.
So far, so unexpected. But then in a world where one can choose a date to suit one’s location, deciding where you want your movie to go is simply another option on an ever extending smörgåsbord of perambulations and possibilities in life.
Past the super BMW, through the red-carpetless maze we went, entering the auditorium to a screen which gave us the app downloading instructions. As options flashed up during the movie – enabling us to decide which turn it would take – we would vote on our phones. It was simple: ‘Getting in control is easy’ read the text above our heads.
“Ah, the crystal of Belarus; unsurpassed” said a man leaning against one of the many bars at this elegant townhouse club in Soho, holding his whiskey glass up to examine it.
I have to say I empathised with her dilemma – certainly at the beginning of the evening.
Cold glittering pavements met my snow boot shod feet as I left the house. This was a night for adventurers, curious people, resilient Londoners. With a temperature of – 2 degrees layers were required to brave weather so freezing that it hurt ears, numbed hands and nipped consistently at already chilled faces. But oh, the reward.
Conversations with Strangers 