Pete kicked off discussions about how to follow on from the CiB Shop, The Little Chill looked like fun and involved pretty much every promoter in town and Supersonic’s line-up started coming together.

There was a lot of kerfuffle around the filming of Turbulence, with lots of people getting involved in that too, and people seemed to be printing big flyers for things. I didn’t make it to Taste of Birmingham but people tell me it was pretty good. We also flagged up the work of Sweaty Eskimo.

BARG announced some fun and games at the Mac, Haji Noor Deen visited The Hubb, the Cut Out Shop folks made The DIY Times and I did a bit of a write-up from the BE Festival. New Art Gallery Walsall hosted the Taylor Wessing Photography Prize for a while and the entirely excellent-looking Six Summer Saturdays started.

There was news of cuts from the new government and I tried to wrap my head around the mess that was being made of sorting out a LEP for Birmingham/West Midlands. The flyering/postering issue got another run out too.

Birmingham didn’t get the nod for City of Culture 2013. Ah well.

Play isn’t just for kids! Come and join BARG as they host 2 ridiculously fun summer events at the mac to introduce you to the world of pervasive games.

With any luck you won’t need any more convincing and will just run straight over to register for one/both of these (it’s free).

Register for Sunday 15 August and games such as Bull Hunt, Parse the Parcel, Sonar Goggles and Search and Replace will be yours for the playing.

Register for Sunday 29 August and get MYSTERY! Although Enter The Arena makes me think, for reasons not worth explaining, of Prodige Namor’s ‘Mission‘.

I kinda don’t want to know too much about this before doing it, which makes telling you about it a little difficult.

All I really know is that it’ll happen on 18 December at 6pm in Birmingham. You can sign up on the Subtlemob website. People use the words small, gorgeous and filmic to describe it.

If you want to know more then I’ll direct you towards the good people of Barg and also this video:

These games, much like the Emergent Game a few years ago prove that interactive play doesn’t have to be homed exclusively online or in the playground but can explore geographical areas in new ways, look at how we now communicate online and off, and give a chance for grown adults to play.

Another Nicky doing good work in the city is Nicky Getgood who writes the blog Digbeth is Good. She uses social media stuff like maps, videos and games within her blog which demand importance in the real world and sets the context firmly within the geographical area and a real community. The most interesting projects I have seen recently rely on this process of interweaving online and offline participation, such as 4am Project and other activities like Flickr meetups which happen in the city.

Now spring has sprung the BARG group are taking games onto the streets of Birmingham, with the aim of  taking a fresh look at neglected parts of the city, and reclaiming them much like how skateboarders do. This Saturday between 2pm and about 7pm they will be hosting an afternoon of play and picnics on Curzon Street. For more information and maps etc go to Nikki’s personal blog.

The Feb Creative Networks is the 3rd Creative Forum event with special guest speaker Ash Atalla, the writer and producer best known for producing The Office. The Creative Forum bit is usually a series of stands from organisations like Business Link and Screen WM on hand to offer advice. 5.30pm – 10.00pm

The first BARG happened last month; games were played, cake was eaten and their was a whole lot of enthusing and exploring of social mechanisms. The Second BARG will feature: a look at rapid prototyping kits for game, discussion of a planned St Patrick’s day game, evolution of the Emergent Game and more.

If you didn’t attend last month, you can still get in on the fun by turning up at The Lamp Tavern, Digbeth at 7pm.