So Good They Named It Twice

Well, it is great to be back in New York. Multiple times this year – hurrah! I’ve just got back from the Times Center where all the speakers have been running through their talks to smooth out kinks of various kinds (technical glitches, run time, etc). The senior TED people are here sitting in the auditorium and one by one we come up and go through things to give us a chance to get familiar with the stage, and to hear any thoughts or comments. (See tiny picture on the left.) People have done really good jobs preparing, and so most comments are simply ones of congratulations, with some small suggestions here and there with regards points of confusion, or sound levels, or run time. We’ve got six minutes. You heard me right – I must explain all of particle physics and research in string theory in six minutes. I like my challenges… Well, I spent a lot of time designing the content of the talk, and as you know from previous posts, a lot of time drawing the images once I decided to do it graphic novel style. In rehearsing privately I got something working in about 6 and a half, and ran a bit long in the live run-through, but will be able to tighten it up for the day itself….and you may be pleased to know that late on Tuesday I finished the production of all my slides in full graphic novel style, as promised (see earlier posts). Every single illustration is drawn, right down to the figure showing the inner workings of the LHC, or the Planck satellite out in space, and of course, various scenes of the character (see previous post) doing her physics work. This was a good exercise (both for the science graphic novel project – I learned that I can turn out a lot of pages in a shorter time than I ever have, and to get something fun and useful out there for people to have access to)… And it is certainly the most amount or prep time I have put into anything (including in film and TV work) compared to the amount of actual screen/stage time there will be.

Anyway, the event is tomorrow, and it should be fun to engage with all the excited young participants for the whole (very long) day. I think we’ll all get a lot out of it!

-cvj