out in my headstraights by appointment only

I’m running ridiculously behind on my blog posts, so I do apologize that this one has gone up a wee bit behind.

A few weeks back was the first ever GeekFest Sharjah, at the Al Maraya Art Centre located in the “you’re hip if you’re seen here” Qanat Al Qasba. It didn’t help that at the same time the Al Qasba ‘Food Festival’ was also going on, so the area was swamped with families and people stuffing their faces (I eventually succumbed to some delights from Feras Sweets).

At the Al Maraya Art Centre I found Mr Rupert Bumfrey, poised at his laptop while waiting for the venerable @alexandermcnabb to arrive. When he did show up a little while later, all I could make out was a faint blur as he whisked around the venue putting up posters for GeekFest (what’s GeekFest without posters!!). I on the other hand set about unpacking what seemed like millions of cables to get GamesFest underway, something that proved to be a hilarious challenge as we had a limited number of power extensions that actually worked. But we got there in the end, and soon the various workshops were all set up.

Right next to me was Catalin Marin who was giving an excellent workshop in retouching your photos professionally, and I’m not talking about slimming your waist or getting rid of spots. With just a few clicks he was able to alter the depth of a photo (is that even the right lingo?) or magically extend a boardwalk so it cut into the shot properly. Next to him was the team from the Japan UAE Kizuna Initiative, who were demonstrating the beautiful art of origami with some paper cranes and other wonderful little creations. I really thought this should have been given more attention than it got, as it was remarkable to see the mix of cultures sitting around the table all chatting away and getting creative with paper.

On the other side behind drawn curtains were the GeekTalks which roused quite a healthy little audience. Manga, music, and art were some of the topics of the night, and it was a cozy little experience for GeekFest novices. I of course had to keep popping out to tend to our little Kinect display, which was showcasing Kinect Sports Season 2 as well as Just Dance for people to check out. Mind you, I did get all four members of my team dancing to “Pump It” which was an achievement in itself. Nokia made a brief appearance to supposedly talk about their new phones, but five minutes later when I turned around they had vanished into the ether.

While this was the very first GeekFest Sharjah, I have to say that it would have been nicer if we had some of the GeekFest Dubai crew popping over to support it. Considering that I live in Dubai and I drove over to Sharjah (which took me about 50 minutes overall in the Thursday traffic), I don’t think it’s impossible for people to attend future GeekFests or events in Sharjah. I saw a few familiar faces at the event which was great, but most of the people who attended didn’t quite ‘get’ the whole idea behind GeekFest. One gentleman asked me if he could go around and give people business cards, and I gave him a sharp look – networking at a GeekFest? THE NERVE OF SOME PEOPLE!

But again, this is the very first time there’s been a GeekFest in Sharjah, so I’m going to lighten up. Alas I didn’t tag any of the gents as #Hubby4Nick as I usually do at the Dubai GeekFests, but there’s hope for the future.

Also, I am happy to confirm that GeekFest Sharjah 1.0 was indeed, an #Olives-free zone.