Russell Davies

why?

Now I've got nothing against Staffordshire. But why? Why Staffs particularly? Mainly pottery I suppose. 

On the other hand, which county has more claim?

No country strikes me as particularly creative. That's just not how you think of counties.

On the third hand, this is perhaps the smallest thing I've ever worried about.

much disgruntlement in the business class lounge

trunk escape

It's says something about the world that such a device is neccesary. But I loved these little graphics on the 'emergency trunk release' in my rental car. We at first assumed it was there so hostage victims could escape from gangsters. But then worked out that any sensible gangster would have removed the emergency trunk release prior to installing his or her victim. Maybe it's the running figure that makes it feel so 'noir'.

the power of blurb

Here's a little gallery of sci-fi covers I scanned the other night. The covers are interesting, but the stuff I really love is the blurb. There's some great blurb here.

talent

This man creates the most fantastic websites. Some you'll probably know (10x10 and wordcount). Some you might not. My favourite is oralfix. A mint company that really seems to know how to talk to people. And the pages from his sketchbook (see above) are just gorgeous.

he kneads the dough

I was in a cafe the other day. Having a meeting. But also glancing at someone present to someone else with a laptop, at an adjacent table. I was just being nosey.

It was clearly some kind of business plan thing. I could read the headlines on the slides but not the bulletpoints.

All the usual slides went by - 'strengths and weaknesses', 'goals and objectives', 'timing and deadlines'.

And then came 'rolls and responsibilities'.

I was sniggering at the typo until Neil suggested 'maybe he's a baker'.

It would be lovely if he was.

egofication

More ebcb coverage today. Very exciting. Pieces in The Guardian, The Sun, The Independent, The Mirror and Metro. The PR company doing the announcement for Yahoo seems to have done a really good job.

Everyone seems very keen to describe me as 'wacky' though. Wish is a shame.

(And is it just me or is The Mirror's website the slowest in the world? Have they only got a dial-up connection or something?)

bizarre phenomenon

My website eggbaconchipsandbeans.com has been nominated as a Yahoo 'Find Of The Year'. You can vote for me here if you feel so inclined.

But what's weird is, as a result of this, I've already done interviews with three newspapers and some local radio is on the way. it is very strange. Is there no real news around?

On the other hand, my ego is obviously delighted.

fun with maps

Been thinking a lot about Mind Mapping recently. Partly because it's been a popular meme. Started by Jeremy Deller winning the Turner Prize.

But then picked up by journalists very quickly, because they're always looking for ways to add something visual to dry, complex stories. And MindMaps do it very well.

So here's the Times explaining relationships inside the Labour Party:

And here's the FT trying to make an engaging visual out of the broadcasting industry:

My favourite MindMapping tool is Inspiration. They think about the learning needs of kids and I find that anything designed for kids works well with advertising people. (Kidpix is a great example. Remember KidPix? - used to be much better than PowerPoint).

I use Inspiration for thinking and presenting. And it's great for making a brainstorming appear productive.

And I've just downloaded The Brain and started playing with that. Looks interesting, if a little high-powered.

There's a great resource here which links to all kinds of thinking tools like these.

And over at City Of Sound, there's a great post about mapping music. Fascinating stuff.

high-culture/hi-rez

Various video games stuff lined up this week...

On the BBC's Front Row on 3rd Jan there was an interview with four of the UK's culture barons. (The people who run the big UK arts establishments). The talk at one point turned to the conflict between live, high-art and video games. The talk began predictably enough - with dismay over diminishing attention spans - but then Michael Boyd of the RSC actually said something interesting:

"I think the attention span required to really get a sense of satisfaction from a Final Fantasy computer game, or San Andreas, or GTA...the dedication, the concentration required by that...I think equips kids really well to cope with the complications of narrative and actually makes them an awful lot less naive than maybe our generation was when we were that age, about interpreting Shakespeare...much more skeptical, much more used to intervening and making choices."

Which reminded me of the little article posted above from Wired. Orchestral performances of the Final Fantasy soundtrack are popping up in concert halls all over the world.

And I was reading Icon magazine - reviewing GTA: San Andreas as a design/architecture exercise. Which reminded me of this fantastic post over at thingsmagazine.