I’m glad to see more female faces popping up at FITC this year. I really do hope it is a reflection of the industry as a whole where, in time, more women enter the industry as designers or developers.

What I find strange is that while I was in design school, women outnumbered men by a ratio of 3 to 1 whereas the industry continues to be male dominated. What happened? Where have all the women gone?

I’d hate to think that women who have dedicated 3 or four years of their lives to their careers suddenly gave up…or worse…got married, had kids, and stayed out of the industry altogether. At this pace, it looks like it will be another few years before more talented women level out the field, but hey, I’m hopeful.

So here is my version of FITC (not nearly as interesting as Brodie’s). I haven’t really participated in any FITC like I have in this one, I was at the FITC get a job event, where I met several very talented people that were kind enough to share their work and their ideas with me. I have to admit that I an encouraged that our industry does have some options to choose from when it comes to interactive talent. I was also on two panels Young Talent and Process with some very cool people like Ryan Wolman, Bradley Grosh, Andrew Bell, Ben Palmer, Ivan Todorov and Scott Prindle.

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FITC was like having sex with a Bangkok prostitute. A linear series of moments bleeding together with an undercurrent of filthiness and an overwhelming sense of having to up your game.

Times where your face is scrunched up and you’re thinking “huh?”. Brief glimpses of knowing that something wonderful is happening but you’re unsure if you are actually connecting. Then confusion about what to give back, and random feelings of pride, thinking to yourself “I could do that” but feeling guilty because the shameful reality is though you may have the capability, nobody knows about it and really…whose fault is that in the end?

Finally, being brave in the face of the big finish, not wanting it to end but knowing, that when it’s all over and you collapse in a mangled heap, overwhelmed by the colors and lights, you have experienced a beautiful thing and hopefully learned some new moves along the way. A memory that will inspire you to think differently about all you do and how you perceive the things around you.

With a fire extinguisher filled with paint and a thirsty desire to hack into the systems that define our environment, Evan Roth and his mystery associate Katsu have the ability to tag an entire side of a four-story building in under 30 seconds.

He proved it too, with an eloquent audacity, showing a video of their late night escapades to an early gathering at this year’s Toronto Flash In The Can. Katsu, whose face was obscured on camera, plastered the side of the building with a gushing stream of splattering black paint.

It was an aptly planned presentation, fitting nicely into the 2008 FITC theme of “Break-it”.

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