Photo of the day – 133
Today’s photo of the day was a passport photo. Don’t wear glasses. Don’t smile. Sit up straight. Eat your vegetables. Etc.
Photo of the day – 132
It took me quite a bit longer to cycle to work this morning. There was all sorts of cute along the canals, so I had to keep stopping to take photos.
I’ve come to the conclusion that while I prefer ducks to geese, geese have cuter babies. But I spent half the morning trying to remember what they’re called.
“Gooselets? No… that’s not it…”
Photo of the day – 130
At the shiny new MAC with my shiny new Mac.
I spent the day at the MAC today, consulting with Birmingham radio legend, Robin Valk. The whole place has been done up over the past couple of years and it’s just reopened.
It looks amazing, has free wifi, good coffee (if you survive the wait) and interesting things going on all over the place. And as it’s at what must be the prettiest park in all of Birmingham – and it’s a pleasant enough (albeit hilly) 15-minute bike ride from my house – it’s probably going to be my summer haunt.
I also got to make good use of my shiny new Macbook Pro, which I love to bits, and provide a nice play on words that I won’t get sick of for quite some time.
Photo of the day – 129
This, believe it or not, is a pile of work that was waiting for me when I returned home from Macclesfield this afternoon. There’s a lot to process here, but I have to say – as far as work goes, I can think of far worse ways to spend my time…
Photo of the day – 128
This man took an impression of my face.
Not something you do every day. As part of UnConvention Factory, there was an art project in which ten people’s faces were made into a sort of circuit board mural thing. Still not quite sure why, but it was very cool.
Weird experience, of course. My face was covered first with that stuff that dentists use to take impressions, and then with plaster. Only my nostrils remained uncovered. So I could breathe, obviously.
Here’s a picture of the finished product and a close-up of my bit.
I'm the Director of MTF Labs, a Senior Researcher at the Industry Commons Foundation, advisor to ArtEO and founder of New Music Strategies.
I'm an author of books about technology, culture, music and radio. I'm also an award-winning broadcaster and filmmaker, a public speaker and lecturer, record producer and festival director. I am closely following developments in emerging technologies and the cultures and ethics surrounding them, and my projects typically focus on issues of justice, inclusion, and sustainability.
Most of my work involves surrounding myself with incredibly smart and talented people who would have no other reason to ever be in the same room as each other. That's when amazing things happen.
I tend to talk a lot about music (often jazz-adjacent and particularly on vinyl, but also playlists and mixtapes). I'm enthusiastic about food and cooking, the intersection of art and science, new technologies, vintage technologies, education, social progress, silence, innovation, narrative, data commons, culture, sound art and the spoken word. This blog will continue to reflect those diverse and shifting enthusiasms. I may also digress.
I'm from Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland in Aotearoa New Zealand, I have Scottish ancestry, I've spent a decade in the south of Birmingham UK, and another in a forest in the north of Sweden.
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