That’s right Chris Cox has won our first ever FestBuzz Twitter of the Year award– rewarding the best Twitter based shenanigans at the Edinburgh Festivals.

Chris, Twitter alias @bigcox, has been a keen-user of the micro blogging system for the last 8 months, but his usage has really kicked off while in Edinburgh in August, having tweeted over 300 times in the last 27 days. This is in between running his own show, Mind Over Patter (8.30pm, Pleasance Dome), appearing in Mark Watson’s promenade theatre piece as the mind-reading concierge, Eric, and making appearances across the Fringe in a variety of variety shows.

While garnering some excellent reviews from established critics, what caught FestBuzz’s keen eye were the reviews he was receiving from fans via Twitter. 37 of these have been measured by FestBuzz’s sentiment detection software, giving him a 5 star rating overall.

Quotes from audience members:

“Making the impossible possible, with laughs.” @kateweb

“I was delightfully baffled by @bigcox‘s Mind over Patter.” @shell_here

“Very awesome freaky mind thingies.” @tashadhanraj

Chris also featured in @tiernandouieb’s second Twitter Comedy event– but due to technical difficulties was forced to tweet his show from backstage at a tech rehearsal for Mind Over Patter. He still impressed the audience though with a trick which forced their feet to rotate without their own volition.

Perhaps the most important aspect of @bigcox’s Twitter usage is interaction. Unlike some comedians who set up Twitter accounts and don’t interact with their fans, Chris has a rating of 79% for Conversation Quotient, meaning he has replied to a large amount of the @ messages he receives.

Thank you to Chris for attending Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe show today to accept the award, and for performing some mind reading stunts on the spot. FestBuzz can’t wait to see what he’ll be tweeting this time next year…

FestBuzz have awarded Chris Cox, the comedy mentalist magician, the first ever comedy Twitter of the Year Award at Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe.

Cox has been given this prize for his creative and prolific use of Twitter which has helped garner him almost 3,000 followers on the site, and ensured his popularity at this year’s Fringe festival with his show Mind Over Patter. He has tweeted around 300 times this August, conversing with fans and fellow comedians about comedy, the internet and his show. Chris’ online name is @bigcox, and his mind-reading and magic show combines other new social media such as Facebook to create some excellent tricks for his audience.

Fes­t­Buzz is a new way to find cool stuff at the Edin­burgh Fes­ti­vals. It’s a project from Affect Labs, a data pro­cess­ing com­pany based in Edin­burgh, and is sup­ported by Chan­nel 4’s 4iP fund. FestBuzz aggregates “tweets” about shows and then uses sentiment detection to create a star rating for the act: reviews are crowd-sourced directly from the people who are seeing the shows, rather than critics.

Twitter has become an internet sensation in the last 8 months: functioning a little like Facebook status updates, you simply tell the site what you’re doing (in 140 characters or less) and then read what other people are doing from their “tweets”. The attraction of Twitter is following other interesting or famous people’s tweets about their lives, creating a stream of consciousness type feed which illustrates the changing mood of the moment.

The prize will be presented to Chris Cox at Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe show starting at 1pm on Thursday 27th August. Stutter has been running the revue since 1992 and will be presenting his own Spirit of the Fringe awards on Sunday 30th August.

http://www.festbuzz.com/

Who: Tommy and the Weeks
Where: Pleasance Beside
When: 5.15pm until 31 August 2009
How Much: £7-£8.50

In 140 characters or less: “Tom Bell and Ed Weeks are complete opposites, but wonderful, beautiful things can happen when opposites attract.”

As songstress Paula Abdul once so rightly pointed out, “It ain’t fiction, just a natural fact. We come together, cause opposites attract”. This is certainly true of sketch duo Tommy and the Weeks, regardless of the fact that neither of them is an animated cat.

Making up in gags what they lack in numbers, Tom Bell and Ed Weeks kick off proceedings with a good old sing-song of some eighties classics, with the audience heartily joining in. This is a slick show and the boys slide in and out of sketches so naturally it’s sometimes surprising to realise you’re in a new sketch.

There are some really original ideas in here, be it a clubbing shepherd or a mathematical faun. There’s a genuine sense of fun about the show, clearly demonstrated by the fact that the pair are enjoying themselves so much on stage. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the show and find yourself truly touched by the moments of pathos. Both are excellent actors and pull off the act of talking over each other for comic effect better than it’s been done for years.

It’s hard to talk about the show without spoiling all the gags, but it’s a quotable and laugh-out-loud adventure. Ed Weeks exudes confidence, and Tom Bells oozes indie charm. Watching their love/hate relationship unfurl is a truly enjoyable experience.Whatever these boys do next, it’s great to see someone taking comedy so seriously.

Highlights include Ed Weeks solo song, Tom Bell’s worst (or best) ever date, and some really great painting. See this show: you’ll be moved, amused and leave with a smile on your face.

Festbuzz Rating:

Words: Elise Bramich

You can follow the live twitter comedy event — kicking off in just 10 minutes — through our specially constructed sites: the ‘twitterfall’ that updates in real-time, or if you’ve missed a gig, try the ‘recap’.

Of course, you could always be boring and use Twitter Search instead!

(Note: We’re experiencing some timeouts with the Twitter Search API tonight, so you might do as well. Typical!)

FestBuzz Photo Competition: Show us your Festival

For each day one week we’ll be giving one lucky FestBuzz Facebook fan a pair of tickets to a show of their choice (subject to availability) for sending us the best picture that sums up their festival.

We’re allowing 3 photos from each user every day, so to enter simply join our Facebook group (search FestBuzz in the Facebook to find us or click the link below), and upload a photo.

We want photos that sum up your festival experience– regardless of where or when in Edinburgh that’s happening. FestBuzz is covering all the Festivals, not just the Fringe, so if you’re enjoying the Art or Book Festival let us know about it by tweeting about it using the tag #festbuzz or uploading a picture to our Facebook group.

Not only will the best picture win the photographer a pair of tickets, but we’ll also feature it on our blog as well at http://blog.festbuzz.com

We’re not worried about high quality images, though it would help if we can tell what the pictures are of, but the subject can be anything Edinburgh Festivals based, so be creative!

Get snapping and get uploading!

But first: Become a fan!

FestBuzz on Facebook

At 7pm, you’d better be tuned into Twitter, as a lineup of top comedians will be delivering a series of jokes… in 140-character bites. By following the event’s hashtag (to be released later today) you’ll be able to tune into the buzz and the backchat, but if you want an uninterrupted front-row seat, tune into our special Twitter Comedy web page to see nowt but the jokes.

At the Twinge Party itself, one screen will project the comedians’ sets and another will show the crowd’s responses to their jokes, about the party and other acts. It will be a great chance for people to get a taste of what’s on offer this year at the Festivals, whether they are at the party itself or just logging on from home.

The Twinge Party, sponsored by Informatics Ventures, is being run by Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The first Twitter Comedy event, organised by up-and-coming stand-up Tiernan Douieb, went live in June this year, and was highly successful with thousands of “viewers” logging on from around the world to watch, read, laugh and tweet heckles back at the acts. The Twinge Party will replicate some of this comedy buzz with a short series of Twitter sets, with the acts tweeting live from the party to the world.

FestBuzz will randomly select one tweet in each 24 hour period that is tagged with #festbuzz, so get your fingers at the ready! Tweet us about anything festival based, be it reviews of the shows you’re seeing, celebrity spots, Royal Mile antics, or even just about how busy it is in the Courtyard. Just make sure you use the tag #festbuzz at the end to be in with a chance! Good luck!

In 140 characters or less: “Warehouse 364: Where good things happen to bad people. Like Cube meets In Bruges.”

A tale of interconnected, but seemingly disparate, strangers embroiled in dastardly goings on as a result of some farcical misunderstandings. Warehouse 364 would have all the makings of a turn-of-the-century parlour comedy were it not for the brash language and motley crew of unsavoury characters which inhabit this slightly surreal underworld.

The show is about the singular part time prostitute Eleanor, better known as simply E. Oddly starting the show with a monologue about loss of innocence, childhood, and distance, Anna Sherriff plays an aimless yet brave heroine whose fate is determined more by happenstance than any of her own failings.

The story follows E as she aspires towards a better life after a chance meeting and miscommunication with villain Tuffnell (a world weary Tom Warren), and a fleeting glimpse of the money and potential power that could be hers.

As a result, she finds herself in the gangland hangout of master drug criminals, (though slightly more eccentric and eloquent than I imagine real drug runners are), trying to escape a maze-like series of rooms, chased by her hapless roommate Sally (exasperated mother-figure Laura Wishart), and a bizarre selection of thugs desperate for blood, revenge and answers.

Will Vickers is a bit of a treat as head thug Lipson, whom he has chosen to portray as something of a Malcolm Tucker, the anti-hero spin doctor from BBC hit satire The Thick of It. A psychopath in the true sense of the word, his scathing remarks are far more chilling than the rest of his gun-toting antics, and it’s a proper delight to watch his underlings squirm under his gaze.

The only unsettling thing about Warehouse 364 is the lack of a moral centre: while I don’t believe any piece of art needs a singular purpose or ethical message to be successful, I was left doubting my sympathies for any of the characters, and feeling slightly disappointed that there wasn’t any real resolution to the plot. However, though the sudden ending left me crestfallen, I heartily enjoyed the ride.

Festbuzz Rating:

Words: Elise Bramich

What have we done? Well, in case you’re not quite as — shall we say — familiar with the site as we are, a hint: begins with a t and ends with a weet. Yup, that’s right — tweets are now live! You can see from the home page that some shows are already attracting a number of tweets, though we’ve stripped out retweets for now to give a less spammy overview. (However, we still count them, ‘cos being retweeted counts for something in our book…)

Now, before you get pernickety, a side note; we’ve got everything on what we like to call safe mode for now, as the tweets start to flow in, so our data gnomes can keep an eye on things and get the system all perfect. This means we’re being particularly careful about matching tweets to shows right now; we’ll loosen the filters up as time marches on.

However, we’d like to hear from you if there are any glaring errors or flaws, obviously!

What can you expect to see next? Well, that’s partly up to the gnomes. Pesky things. However, one of them was heard muttering loudly about star ratings, and another has been repeating the word ‘widget’ over and over in his sleep, so…