The international conference of cool

This month is an important one for trendsetters like me as the annual Google Zeitgeist Conference is held in Hertfordshire. Prince Charles, Nicolas Sarkozy, Peter Mandelson and, it’s fair to assume, all the other most switched-on trendsetters (Dov Charney, Cobrasnake, and this guy natch) are all meeting up to discuss what’s in and what’s out. Obviously we were totally pissed not to be invited, it’s practically a Dos and Don’ts festival after all, but we’re still really pleased that the guys in power are facing up to the significance of staying on-trend. This is what we anticipate them discussing over these two fateful days.

1. The dubstep crossover

Thanks to the success of Burial last year and that Skream La Roux remix, the myth of dubstep’s popularity is going to be the catalyst driving a widening distance between what people actually like and what journalists want to write about. Which is very exciting for print media.

2. Sleeveless T-shirts

Maybe it’s the rise of Hoxton metal, rebirth of pop-punk, and the capitulation of the meterosexual in the face of muscular men who can protect women through recession-themed riots, but big arms are so in that they’re out on display.

3. Brazil

Clearly the country of the moment.

4. The return of the auteur at Cannes this year

What with the intellectual and creative natures of the guests at Google Zeitgeist Conference, this is an issue they’ll be keen to discuss at length. Tarantino, Almodóvar, Campion, Loach and Von Trier all are showing films in France this week, and what a refreshing return to cinematic maturity it represents. It must be the “Obama Effect.” Or is it? The panel will discuss.

5. Is the blipster dead?

Seriously, is he? Who knows? Prince Charles, that’s who.

ADAM WHITE