PauseTalk Vol. 99

PauseTalk Vol. 99 was held on Thursday, October 23 at Bananafish Books, and ended up getting the biggest turnout yet for a PauseTalk session in Shanghai, with 20 participants. It was a lively bunch, with of course a long intro roll at the start – that itself ignited a lot of questions and discussion as it was still going. Topics throughout the night ranged from community (why we join them, how to run them), whether language used influences who attends the event more than any cultural influence (i.e. why an event like PauseTalk tends to be expat heavy), some takes on fashion in the city, and yes, good ol’ AI, which tends to be a recurring theme, with strong opinions on both sides of the debate on its use. As one of the topics touched on filmmaking, and more specifically, a few in attendance had participated in the recent 48-hour Film Project, we capped it off with an impromptu viewing of the short they had produced (“The Greatest Show-Off”), which ended up winning the top prize.

Below, the list of participants:

• Alberto Sanseverino (Creative Director)
• Ano (AIGC Creator)
• Bill Glennie (Would-be Actor)
• Candy (Trade Assistant)
• Cliff Chiu (Game Designer)
• Dorothy Foo (Filmmaker/IP Creator)
• Gemma Li (Filmmaker/Director)
• George Hubert (The Man)
• Gordon Wang (AI & Digital)
• Jean Snow (Game Developer)
• Juliette Xue (E-commerce Marketing)
• Kat (Brand & Community)
• Kuan Tong (Voice Actor)
• Maria Razzhivina (Robot Lover)
• Mason (AIGC Creator)
• Olga (Marketing & Communications)
• Paul Copeland (Filmmaker)
• Tessie Wang (Pending New Role)
• Yegor (Phsyics Teacher)
• Yumeng Gai (Sculpter & Designer)

What’s next? As I had shared last time, I am still planning on producing a zine to commemorate the upcoming Vol. 100, and the collecting of material for that (for those who would like to contribute a page) is likely to mostly happen in the WeChat group we have – but if you’ve ever attended a PauseTalk in the past (either in Tokyo or Shanghai) and would like to contribute something, do get in touch.

As for the next session, PauseTalk Vol. 100, that will normally happen sometime in December, and I’ll share the details here when they get confirmed. I would like to do something special for it (on top of the zine), so we’ll see what I come up with. In the meantime, the best way to stay updated is via the WeChat group (contact me to be added).