I took a few short videos on my Sony DSC-N1 while in Abu Dhabi… I’m always fascinated with trying to capture the “feel” of a place, and audio does a lot for me in that regard. Here’s a short video of the sunset prayer from the mosque in Abu Dhabi.

I promised some more pics of Abu Dhabi, some images that highlight the difference between their culture and the west (or at least the U.S.) Here you go!
First, a beautiful view of the mosque at dawn.

Now, how bout those falcons! No, really, we’re walking around in the convention center, and we suddenly come across about 25 falcons just hanging out.

Here is our new friend Ramin Lebastchi with a very mellow falcon on his arm.

Around the corner from the falcons, there were some women hand-weaving a very colorful rug…

And don’t forget the camel auction!

No, seriously, it was a camel auction. All the camels were sold in pairs, with sets seeming to go for between 50,000 and 150,000 dirhams (around $14000 to $41000 USD). Wow!

Sorry for not posting a thorough entry about the recent trip to Abu Dhabi – I am still slamming away on a deadline today (Wednesday). Will have more time for posting after today is over, for sure. But I thought I’d post up some quick images.
After my trip to Dubai a few years ago, I remember telling many people that the middle east is a lot more similar to the west than it is dissimilar. I think this is largely true about people in general… unfortunately for us in the US right now it is particularly easy to think of the middle east as the “other”, given that our only relationship to it is seeing it in war footage on the TV screen. So my first set of shots here will give you a feeling for how the area is similar. Tomorrow I’ll post up images that show how it is dissimilar.
The Abu Dhabi Marina Mall:

The Abu Dhabi Marina Mall’s Starbucks and Ikea!

The Emirates Palace Hotel:

The convention center:

A late-night concert on Corniche Beach:

I just got to the hotel in Abu Dhabi, after about 30 hours of travel, from Dallas to Frankfurt to Bahrain to Abu Dhabi. The flights were remarkably easy and comfortable – just tiring. I couldn’t really get any shut-eye in on the plane, despite the fantastic robo-seats in Lufthansa business class.
I’ve come to Abu Dhabi to speak on a panel at the conference “The Circle”, a pretty incredible conference focusing on films from the region, film financing, and growing the industry here. We’re going to talk about videogames for interactive storytelling, the game industry in the region (which seems fairly small), and how to use game engine tools for parts of film production. The attendee list here is amazing.
Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that I arrived, I’m sure I’ll post more later. The above shot is the beautiful view from my deck at the Shangri-La Hotel.

MB and I traveled to the UK recently, visiting Cambridge, Edinburgh, the isle of Islay, and London, over the span of about nine days. We traveled by planes, trains, ferries, and automobiles. And wow was it cold! But we still had a fantastic time.
If you’re thinking about traveling to the UK for fun, and you live in the US, I have two pieces of advice. First, if you don’t like the cold, don’t go in the winter. Edinburgh (we now call it Edin-brr) in particular was below freezing, with drizzles of rain and flurries of snow, but it was the biting cold wind that really got you. Needless to say I now have a beautiful and well-used scottish wool hat, scarf, and gloves. My second piece of advice would be to be prepared to spend a LOT of money. Prices for everything were about the same as the US, except that they were written in British pounds, not US dollars. So, that dinner that seemed pretty reasonable at 15… pounds? Well right now, given the state of the US dollar, it’s 30 bucks! Everything feels like it costs twice as much as it should. If this bothers you, may I suggest traveling to Buenos Aires instead? Or Saigon? They are both beautiful, and much more affordable!
I’m being a bit cheeky though, because frankly, we had a fantastic time despite the cold weather and high expense. Cambridge is a lovely old town, very walkable, with many old buildings and a quite pleasant little market on the weekends. Edinburgh has a huge, dramatic castle in the center of town, a beautiful palace, and fantastic nightlife (try the haggis!) On Islay, we were able to really relax amidst the many many sheep and oh, did I mention the whisky distilleries? And landing back in London after a few days on Islay was a bit jarring but we had some fantastic curries, visited the Prime Meridian at the Greenwich Royal Observatory, and enjoyed a wonderful boat ride down the Thames. All in all, a very nice vacation.
Here are just a few pics from our journey.
Edinburgh:

The sheep of Islay:

Straddling the Prime Meridian:

London Eye at Sunset: