Bits and Bytes

Entirely by accident, I came across the 8 Bit Lane that Disney have set up at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane in London to promote their new flick “Wreck-it Ralph” via good old Twitter. And as I’d planned to head out on one of my favourite runs in London – Tower Bridge to home – I thought I’d combine the two.

So all layered up, I headed out to Brick Lane, enjoying some of the wonderful street art and the way to the Brewery.

Finally at the Truman Brewery I took in the great 8 bit art on show. It’s an interesting stunt and I throughly enjoyed it. I didn’t play the life-sized Wreck-it Ralph game via the Blippable building – and I didn’t see anyone else giving it a go either. Instead, everyone had their smartphones out and were taking photos. The explanation on the poster was straight forward – but to me it was just another example that while these augmented reality apps, nifty little gadgets that they are – just aren’t mainstream enough and perhaps require more effort in their implementation.

Also, unless you recognised the angry looking character from the Wreck-it Ralph game (I didn’t) or knew that this was about the soon to be released Disney flick (I didn’t), there was no messaging I could see explaining the exhibition to passers-by. Only through googling once home was I able to pull it all together.

How can you not love that wee ‘pixel pup’ (HT @surfpunkian) with his little bit of digital doodoo?

All pixeled out, I stripped off my trousers, vest and jumper – garnering some rather alarmed glances that quickly turned to relief as people realised I was wearing running gear underneath – and headed off home.

2°C and scattered clouds. 9.1 miles, 1h19m18s, 8m40s/mile – via Strava

No points for guessing why this is one of my favourite runs in London: it goes right past some of the most inspiring sights in London, all the while being dwarfed by the newest addition to the London Skyline, the Shard. Of course you do have to contend with the all the tourists, especially around the Tower of London, along Embankment and especially by the Houses of Parliament.

The beautifully restored Albert Bridge signals that there’s just under 2.5 miles left to go bringing my total for the Strava Run Base Mile Blast 57 miles in 13 days. Chuffed to have kept my January runstreak going so far!

All images from the day are also on my Flickr and edited using Snapseed for iPad for some added oomph (loving the ‘Drama’ filter).