Russell Davies

Semi-retiring
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i enjoyed this last time...

Life

so here are some more links. It's almost like a blog or something. Maybe it'll have to stop being a cyberstation. Best quote all year: "I would rather be confused for ten minutes than bored for five seconds." Jimmy McGovern as reported by Tony Jordan (I think it's in this bit). A passionate amateur beats a bored professional. All of Jeffre's posts are good. So this one is. Computer entertainment. Best of Contagious. (a pdf) The future of urban journalism. Howies Hand Me Downs. Dark Skies Parks in Scotland. Why do anything else? Less cowbell, more Collings. Printable paper. A good hat. Learn a Christmassy tune. Physics Invaders. (Thanks Boris), A Narrative Map Of London. Predicitions via Stock photography. The joy of the random. Actually, this has always been a Cyber Station.

December 21, 2008 in sites | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

too linky linky

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Some things that might be worth clicking.

PSFK are doing one of their Good Ideas Salon things in London. Mother are up to issue 4 with their Four Feet From A Rat comics. And if they get enough people pledging to buy one they'll make a compilation book. Video worth watching (via Matt and Jerakeen) - 7 minutes from launch to splashdown. A very good game. And the game I've spent most time playing on my touch. Currently in the Internet Cupboard. A crystal chair. The Piano Baschet-Malbos. Beards. Yes. Future Storytelling. Hands playing football. Todd Machover is my new god. You can also hear him talk at the RSA. The other bloke is less god-like. "This is the business we've chosen". Landing a 747. Visual Thinking Reading List. Hear Sir Ken live. Elected to Division One 1892. A project for after Christmas. Runs on a cup of tea. The best Christmas song. And a wish for the New Year - may you be Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace. 

December 19, 2008 in sites | Permalink

cleese

John Cleese is a strange and wonderful man. He obviously has his demons. He has the demeanour of a very experienced colonial Colonel, shipped back to Blighty with all this experience and discipline to pass on. Except his experience is about making silly, silly comedy. I spent quite a lot of time on a plane recently,catching up on his podcasts and they make fascinating viewing. Some of them are meant to be funny and pointful and aren't either - he's trying to make a point, but it ends up so leaden and obvious that you can't watch any more. Some of them are just him doing Stanley Unwin. Or one of his own old sketches.

But some of them are brilliant. There's a speech he did at the National Radio Conference in Sydney in 2006 which is a textbook example of how to do a speech. (Not a presentation.) It's funny, it's clever, it's got good stories and surprising facts, it's about radio. And he plays some of his funny radio ads that he made. It's in many parts: one, two, three, four. He's a real pro. He makes sure to do a lot of stuff that's directly relevant to their audience - and he's clearly made an effort to remember people's names. But he's also not afraid to swing off into a few set-piece bits that are just entertaining. Splendid stuff.

But the really interesting things are two bits of film (here and here) of him talking to film/acting students. He talks about his rewriting his scenes in the second Steve Martin Pink Panther movie - and it illustrates the huge amount of rigour he pours into getting stuff right and believable and right. And he refers to A Fish Called Wanda and Fawlty Towers to make the same points.  It's about the long hard slog of making something really good, not the occasional flashes of inspiration. I suspect the less funny podcast stuff didn't go through the same disciplined processes.

It rememinded me of the sort of thing that Merlin Mann talks about here.

Anyway.

December 03, 2008 in sites | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

scrambling eggs

Lantana

The best thing about reading blogs is the way you get to see behind the scenes. They're an aid to noticing because they let you peer inside places you might not ordinarily see. I've been reading Scrambling Eggs since almost the beginning and it's been a fascinating ride to watch a dream take shape, and to watch someone grappling with Britain's peculiar food culture. (Especially as I'm presumably part of the problem.) But, now the absolute best thing is that Lantana has opened and it's lovely. Brilliant food, splendid coffee, excellent atmosphere.

I still get called quite a lot by journalists looking for quotes about the decline in British cafes (actually I can imagine someone readying a piece about the credit crunch and a return to basic eating even as we speak) and I'm always loathe to give them their ammo because British cafes aren't in decline. They're changing, like they always have. And like they've always been, the best ones are made by people bringing food expectations from other countries and having a bash at feeding us. Lantana is a fantastic example and I bet it's near a lot of people reading this - on Charlotte Place, just off Goodge Street. You should pop in.

October 12, 2008 in sites | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

always push the bees the way they want to go

Matt and I went and talked about the Instorematic at the Do Lectures a few weeks back. You can see our contribution here. And all the other talks here. The one that's stayed with me the most is Gerald Cooper's talk. He's a beekeeper and runs New Quay Honey Farm in West Wales. It's a lovely talk. Humane, sensible, no-nonsense. And full of interesting facts about bees and honey. (As you'd expect.) A splendid thing to watch.

And he used the saying "Always push the bees the way they want to go". That sounds like as good advice as you'll ever hear anywhere.

October 09, 2008 in sites | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

seaside

Bournemouth

The estimable i like is hosting a splendid flickr group called Beside The Seaside, as a companion to a forthcoming show of the same name at the National Maritime Museum. Looking through all the pictures, and my own, to make a contribution, made me feel like summer was ages ago, even though it's only just finished and the weather was pretty much the same as now anyway. Maybe the pace of nostalgia is accelerating.

September 18, 2008 in sites | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

flaming desks

The_idea_shadow

I bumped into Rob the other day and he told me about this excellent Flaming Desks idea. (Explained above, and here) They're looking for thoughts, help, feedback and beta testers. It seems like a splendid thing to me. And I like watching it take shape here. You should have a look.

August 09, 2008 in sites | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

booklert

Booklert

Back in February as part of my ongoing investigation into Tales From The Long Tail I wondered whether there was some way of getting a twitter feed of a particular book's Amazon rank. I imagined such a thing being immensely popular with authors, who get such little feedback about how their book's doing.

Well, Adrian immediately went and built such a thing and it's brilliant. It's just finished and launched and it's called Booklert. You can subscribe via twitter or email (depending how often your neuroticism needs feeding) and regularly watch the random progress of your book through the amazon ranks. Or discover that you're being completely trounced by James.

Read more about it here.

Just like bkkeepr, it's exactly the sort of thing a major book business could have thought of, should have thought of, but didn't.

And, as part of the Tales From The Long Tail experiment, I've signed up to sponsor Booklert with EBCB for a bit, so we'll see how that goes too.

June 17, 2008 in sites | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

bkkeepr

Bookstore

James Bridle writes a lot about the future of books and publishing and all that (here). And very wise, well-written and prescient writings they are too. But his words gain massively greater weight from the fact that he also does something about the future of books and publishing and that. All sorts of things in fact, from the innovative way he promotes Cooking With Booze (having actually written it first ) to organising the London Lit Plus festival to his latest thing - bkkeepr. (Which, in case you hadn't spotted is a disemvowled version of 'book-keeper').

Bkkeepr

It's a splendid and ingenious little thing, letting you keep track of, and share, your reading via your phone and twitter. It integrates with everything you might want it to. It's simple to do and it recognises that many people have their phone near them when they're reading and many don't have their computer.

And it's another perfect example of the sort of little service that some large corporation should have done, if only they had the nouse. I bet there are all sorts of publishers and book-sellers attending conferences about 'branded utility' and sitting in brainstormings about what they could do to extend their relationship with their readers. And James is just doing it. Because Doers like James are building the future, not just writing about it.

June 04, 2008 in sites | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

stealth fun

Dopplr

Dopplr have just added a feature that allows you to specify how you're traveling, which ties in nicely with the Carbon Counter. Obviously the counting of the carbon is the good and important thing, but I love the way they've implemented your transport choice. There must have been many ways of doing this, but they went for the way that allows them to make a little joke/movie reference. It doesn't impair the efficacy at all but it hides a little bit of fun for those that notice.

The Passively Multiplayer blog talks of the way that 'the children of flickr' are building this kind of social playfulness into all sorts of services. We can all learn from that. The web doesn't necessarily let you obsess about the tiny graphic details in the way that print does, but you can still pay attention to the human details and when you do, it just feels better.

Speaking of PMOG. Does anyone want an invite?

April 22, 2008 in sites | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0)

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