Pete's personal timeline, a place to collect and share things from Pete's life.
Created by peteashton on Aug 25, 2008
Last updated: 03/11/10 at 08:32 AM
Pete A. has no followers yet. Be the first one to follow.
Smash Bro’z win at UK Hip Hop championships
Next stop, Las Vegas for the World Finals
CAN
Based in Ladywood – “We are a design, media and communication company working with people of all ages and abilities to devise engaging cross media projects that enable participants to express ideas about themselves, their communities and environment”
Arlene Burnett
Birmingham based artist and curator. Currently to be found at the Rea garden on Floodgate Street in Digbeth
Eat My Shorts: Haiti Fundraiser Saturday 13th March
Over at The Edge on 13 March from 8pm. The plan is – “two hours of all sorts of shorts followed by a disco”
Birmingham based 104 films score a double whammy at the BAFTAs
They did Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
An Endless Supply « More Canals than Venice
Interview with the zine folks
Digbeth is Good » Boxxed opens its doors
Excited about this
Creative Networks: Women’s Short Film Festival
“Screening a selection of films from the ‘A Corto di Donne’ Film Festival held in Naples Italy 2009 with the organisers and some of the filmmakers as our Guest Speakers” 25 Feb
The Highlight
Looks like this has replaced Jongleurs on Broad St. It’s a comedy club. I didn’t recognise many of the upcoming acts, but then I don’t know comedy that well so fair enough. Actually, Roger Monkhouse (no relation) makes me laugh and he’ll be there in the next month or so
Facebook | Secret Birmingham
After the kerfuffle around the Secret London Facebook group there’s been a rash of others set up in other places around the country. Here’s the Birmingham one – some good stuff in there
Jewellery Quarter Lobby launches | Birmingham Conservation Trust
What happens when an Initiative, a Forum, an Association and a Group get angry? They get start a Lobby, natch.
© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2010. |
One comment |
Support CiB - £75 per year gets you loads in return
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreatedInBirmingham/~3/N89CgRjnTbE/
Best Twitter avatar ever
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/407386276
The Wire Season One Opening Credits Spoof (via TomaKilo)
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/399370915
In fact, two invitations and a slight apology.
Invitation 1 – THE GRAND OPENING
On Thursday 25 February at 5pm the shutters will be raised for the first time. As well as the chance to have a poke around and sample the merchandise, there’ll be some gentle tuneage from Sister 45 and Colour. Maybe some other stuff if I can sort it out too.
Everyone’s welcome and so are your friends. There are no invites or anything – its a shop after all. We’re closing at 8pm as per (what will be) usual.
Directions – go through the glass doors behind the bull and we’re just on the left hand side (top floor, Debenhams side of Bullring).
Invitation 2 – The Big Sort Out
Tomorrow I’ll be cleaning the unit and painting the walls. There’s quite a lot to do. If anyone can spare some time to help (and a few have already volunteered) then that would be fantastic. Feel free to turn up any time after 11am – just knock on the shutters and I’ll let you in. If you could bring a paint roller and tray too that would be great. Please leave a comment below so I know whether to expect you.
I can’t offer much in return, but I’ll sort out some refreshments at the very least.
The apology
Hopefully you’ll appreciate that things have been rather hectic trying to pull everything together in time. I’ve not been able to reply to everyone who’s offered help, stock, ideas for events, etc. I’m sorry about that and you should hear back from me in the next 24 hours or so.
As a guide the answer to most stuff is ‘yes’ unless you’re asking for me to provide any funding.
© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2010. |
4 comments |
Support CiB - £75 per year gets you loads in return
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreatedInBirmingham/~3/WC4FEhwMPWI/
New Art Gallery Walsall is 10 « area magazine
“To mark New Art Gallery Walsall’s double figure milestone they will be celebrating with Party! an exhibition designed both to celebrate their 10 years of achievements and the range and diversity of visual arts”
Library of Birmingham to partner with British Film Institute
The Library of Birmingham (or LoB, meaning the people working there will be LoBsters) “will become the home of a BFI Mediatheque”. No doubt croissants will be served with a gallic shrug
Art Events for Feb-April « area magazine
A round-up of visitable stuff. I would urge you to go to at least one of these things
a photog blog & more…
It’s a photoblog (spotted by @getgood), presumably by someone living in Birmingham town (I have deduced this based on the photos that are blogged)
GET A GRIP – Handpulled Waterbased Screenprinting in Brimingham, UK
Sam and Kay are based in the Custard Factory. They “Started from a combination of DIY ethics, ecological thinking and a mutual love of Punk Rock”
© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2010. |
Add a comment |
Support CiB - £75 per year gets you loads in return
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreatedInBirmingham/~3/oLG7bKb-4rY/
merlin:
gordasm: Werner Herzog Reads Curious George (via RyanIverson)
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/348173633
A Crafty Beer is a monthly social meet-up devoted to all things craft. If you’re into oil painting, drawing, sewing, knitting, cross-stitching, or jewellery making, or just fancy being inspired over a pint, you can pop into The Victoria pub on Wednesday 27th January, 7pm-11pm.
In honour of the New Year this month ‘A Crafty Beer’ hosts the ‘Everybody’s Skint Special’ where pub-goers will be trading skills and ideas to help save the pennies, replenish those empty wallets after the Christmas break and beat the recession blues.
The group – which is run by current and former Birmingham City University students Katie Moran and Hannah Hilton – meets every third Wednesday of the month and you can keep up to speed with A Crafty Beer via the Facebook group and Twitter account. Alternatively, send your enquiries to ellie_rance@hotmail.com.
© Ian Ravenscroft for Created in Birmingham, 2010. |
Add a comment |
Support CiB - £75 per year gets you loads in return
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreatedInBirmingham/~3/h3jfpm7ebLw/
blech: From the MODIS Rapid Response System, on 7th January at 11 :50 UTC: Snow across Great Britain. (It’s also available even bigger.) (via) (previously)
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/321826131
Lago de Mamori: An Aural Environment by Annie Mahtani is described thusly:
Following her recent participation in the Mamori Sound Project (directed by Francisco Lopez), Annie will present field recordings from the Brazilian Amazon in the form of a 16-channel sound installation. She will also speak about her experience in residence at Mamori Art Lab and engage the audience in an open discussion around the recordings and possibilities for future development of this work-in-progress.
This is part of Modulate’s Sonic Culture Salons and will be at The Gallery in the Custard Factory on Saturday 9 January from 1-5pm. The work lasts an hour, so turn up on the hour to hear the whole thing through. Entry’s free.
Also, it’s nice to see that Annie Mahtani has jumped on Soundcloud where she’s putting full, high-quality versions of her work.
© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2010. |
Add a comment |
Support CiB - £75 per year gets you loads in return
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreatedInBirmingham/~3/xZ__XSjXdqs/
The first of what might become a regular thing, Knowing Me, Knowing You was fun last week. As part of Capsule’s longest birthday party… ever, we got together and invited a bunch of interesting people along to introduce themselves and say (for the sake of getting a conversation going) what they might do if they were to get their hands on VIVID for a little while.
The kind participants were:
Dan Davies
Ben Waddington
Fin & Ken from a new (currently nameless) housing co-op
Sara from Needles and Hooks
Mark Murphy from Surely?
Stuart and Ben from First Fold Records (who’ve blogged about it)
Sarah from Heat and Light
James Yarker from Stan’s Cafe (well, I read out his submission)
One of Eagle and Feather from Kipple
Ben Javens
All ably compered by Jon Bounds with half-time entertainment provided by Charlie Pinder’s cake orchestra.
Truth be told, we weren’t sure what people would come back with or what sort of direction the evening might take. As it turned out, ideas included:
Social spaces
Turning the place into a massive ball pool/packing it floor to ceiling with jelly
Setting up a swapshop
Using it as a place for realising unfinished ideas
Creating an edgeless, white room and projecting images through hung pieces of perspex
Kipple Live
Artist talks
And some other things that escape me just at the moment. To be honest, the suggestions themselves weren’t the most crucial part of the evening. The point was really to get people out, meeting each other and sharing thoughts and ideas. As far as that goes I think the evening was a success.
Capsule have written up the event here with lots of lovely photos. Thanks to them, to everyone who took part and to those who came along to watch.
© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2009. |
Add a comment |
Support CiB - £75 per year gets you loads in return
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreatedInBirmingham/~3/FsIAOjKUozc/
…and the sun shone brightfully (via Thonk!)
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/286552799
De Montfort University’s MA photography students will be showing a load of their work at the Custard Factory from Friday 11 to Saturday 19 December 2009.
© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2009. |
One comment |
Support CiB - £75 per year gets you loads in return
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreatedInBirmingham/~3/d2jsRhjdPlM/
Cropped from this photo.
As you should be aware, this Wednesday the 11th of November is the second annual Eleven Bus day on which people are invited to join Jon Bounds for all or part of his 11 hour journey starting at 11am on the Number 11 bus traveling around the Birmingham Outer Circle bus route. I was unable to join in last year but this year my diary is clear and I am ready.
If you’re a long-time reader of this blog you might remember my attempt to write a travel guide to the Outer Circle which failed before I’d even got past the sketching stage because I was thinking too big. Thankfully Jon’s given me a framework to reign things in with – I only have 11 hours on one day to produce something. So here’s what I plan to do.
Wikipedia says there are 272 bus stops on the 11 route. This is a little misleading. In fact there are 280 bus stops, 140 pointing one way and 140 pointing the other. I know this because I counted them on the rather excellent Network West Midlands Live Travel Map.
The 11 timetable says there’s a bus every 10+ minutes during the day and every 20 minutes after 6pm. If start at 11am this gives me 82 busses to play with. I may start earlier though for light reasons.
I’d like to use this opportunity to study the bus stops themselves but in fitting 140 into one day is impossible and some of them are so close that getting the bus from one to another would be a little absurd. (Yes, I intend to do this project by bus. No walking.) So I got my trusty old A-Z map, last seen in 2006 when I was trying to figure out the Outer Circle, and stuck alternating colours where each stop is:
You’ll notice there’s a fair bit of bunching which seems to correspond to the density of population, which makes sense. And many of the stops sit in pairs, such as here in Handsworth:
So skipping every other stop wouldn’t be too much of a problem. And, it occured to me, next year I can go the other way stopping at the stops I missed the year.
The plan, then, is to travel around the Outer Circle by bus only (no walking) visiting every other bus stop along the route. I will spend at least 10 minutes at each stop where I will do the following:
Take one TTV photo of the bus stop. This will be a portrait showing how it sits in its environment.
Standing at the bus stop, take at least 6 (normal) photographs of interesting things visible from it.
Record one minute of ambient audio.
Make any notes that occur to me while waiting for the next bus.
Photograph the next bus as it approaches
Since this is a predominantly photographic project, available light will be an issue. I’d rather not take a tripod but it might be necessary for the final stretch. To minimise this I’m planning on starting at 7.30am, 15 minutes after sunrise, when there should be enough light.
Seventy bus stops (remember, I’m getting off at every other stop) with a bus coming every 10 minutes will take 11h40m to complete. I’m assuming that the rush hour will provide me with more busses speeding things up at bit but even so I’ll need to complete the project by 4pm, giving me 8h30m or seven minutes per stop. It’s potentially doable but I still have to take the tripod just in case.
And now I’m thinking maybe I’ll just start at 11am anyway which will get me to Perry Barr around sunset so that half the circle is in light and half in dark. That’d be interesting.
Let me think about that for a bit.
Anyway, once I’ve done this I have a few ideas on how to present it. Obviously everything’s going online but it’d be nice to do some kind of exhibition. How one goes about such things when one isn’t a Capital-A-Artist, I have no idea.
If you’ve got a couple of free hours on Wednesday to join Jon on the 11 bus please do. It promises to be a most illuminating experience. All the details you need are on the Eleven Bus site.
http://peteashton.com/2009/11/11bus09_-_my_plan/
The latest from Kate Beatty:
I shot a body of work a few years ago which looked at the decline of independent business called ‘Dying Breeds’. The other is a little personal project that I have called ‘Birmingham artists’ but it’s really about Birmingham people.
These boys Steven and Nathan are PolarBear Records, an independent shop on York Road
© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2009. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us
Post tags:
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreatedInBirmingham/~3/afwQv8hfYnk/
It’s actually a little tricky to find out about local music around the city, I find. This is the stuff I know about, feel free to add other stuff in the comments.
News
Brum Notes is the website for the free, monthly music and lifestyle magazine (Nov issue out now, Oct one online here).
The Birmingham Post have news and reviews here and the Birmingham Mail do rock/pop news.
Fused Magazine’s site does the odd bit of music news, as does the website for sister magazine Area.
Surge Music takes a wider, Midlands-wide view of things, with articles and lists of gigs, bands and venues.
Cul-de-Sac turned out to be a false dawn for this sort of thing, but may come back one day.
@birminghamlive and @brumpunks are good sources for concert info too.
Reviews
Birmingham Live is the obvious choice here – someone from their ranks of volunteer reviewers and photographers will be at a gig in Birmingham pretty much every evening. Steve Gerrard organises this one (Lee Allen and I have also chipped in occasionally).
The Hearing Aid is a blog by someone called The Baron who goes to an impressive number of local gigs.
The Birmingham Mail do gig reviews too.
Get-togethers
The Birmingham Music Network meets monthly at the Department of Technology, Engineering and the Environment (T.E.E.) at Millennium Point. Their website has a good range of resources too.
Audio
I’m on shakier ground here – which radio shows promote local talent There’s Brumcast on Rhubarb Radio and Introducing on BBC WM. I don’t know enough about the shows on New Style Radio, Aston FM or any others.
Are there any Birmingham-based mp3 blogs worth talking about?
Anything else?
Let me know in the comments. Just to be clear, we’re not looking for bands/venues/promoters to plug themselves but if that’s you, where do you look to get featured?
Oh, and see also Birmingham listings.
(pic – The Editors by Steve Gerrard from the opening night of the new Academy)
© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2009. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us
Post tags: area magazine, aston fm, bbc wm, birmingham listings, birmingham live, birmingham mail, birmingham music network, birmingham post, brum notes, brumcast, brumpunks, cul, cul-de-sac, fused, fused magazine, introducing, lee allen, new style radio, rhubarb radio, steve gerrard, the editors, the hearing aid
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreatedInBirmingham/~3/jtDtl5C0i3k/
solobasssteve | TweetPhoto
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/226035554
There seems to be a lot of theatre to talk about at the moment. Must be the time of year or something. This looks like being a bit more than theatre though – “a performance that invites the audience to literally eat the story”.
Kindle Theatre’s ‘Eat Your Heart Out’ will be at the AE Harris Building from 29 October to 8 November. I’m not quite sure how to explain this so I’m going to do the sensible thing – quote the promo blurb, post the flyer and suggest you grab a ticket.
In the last remaining corner of the human world, three cooks are summoned to create a celebratory meal using only the carcass of their once great kitchen.
…the set will be an apocalyptic junkyard made from Birmingham’s own rubbish and installed by designers Tony Appleby and Claire Wearn. Multimedia design company filmcafe will be creating photographs and lighting inspired by the work of Caravaggio, whilst regional composer-musician Phill Ward will work with Kindle performer-musicians to create a score that reinvents the decadence of the Baroque era. The company are also working food designers Blanch & Shock, to design what promises to be an unforgettable menu
Tickets aren’t all that cheap but James at Stan’s Cafe reckons it looks like being good value for money:
At first glance the casual observer may think the tickets quite dear but there is an insane amount of stuff in the plus, live music and food plus they’ve been working manically hard for ages on it, so essentially it’s three nights out in one go and thus good value I would imagine
© chrisunitt for Created in Birmingham, 2009. |
Permalink |
2 comments |
Add to
del.icio.us
Post tags: ae harris, eat your heart out, kindle theatre
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreatedInBirmingham/~3/jbvnoMN9n1I/
10membranes: Hi-speed 3D mapping projected onto the sides of buildings. Unbelievable.
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/187720606
Long-time Pete watchers will have noticed it’s about time for me to move house. Prior to moving back to Birmingham I was averaging a move a year but that’s been getting longer of late. Kingstanding was 19 months, Bournville was a little over 2 years and I’ve been in Kings Heath since August 2007. So it’s about time. Hopefully this one, the 25th place I’ve lived in my 37 years on this Earth, will last a little longer though.
At the end of this month I’m moving to Stirchley, on the border of Kings Heath and Selly Oak, so not too far from my current area.
I’ll be sharing a house with Fiona Cullinan (aka @katchooo). We’ve been dating, as I believe the kids call it, for a while now and it’s been going swimmingly so when her lodger decided to move out we figured we’d give the cohabiting thing a go.
It’s funny how a place can come to define periods of your life. My time in Kingstanding was of a specific nature and Bournville changed me in certain ways but Kings Heath has seen the most dramatic changes of all. I wonder what Stirchley with Fi will do?
Moving itself will probably be piecemeal but if there’s a major move day I’ll be appreciating lugging assistance. Watch the Twitter for requests.
http://peteashton.com/2009/09/moving_again-4/
How SLR Cameras Work – aperture, shutter and iso value – Great interactive demo to teach the basics of photography. Move the controls to see exactly what the difference between f1.8 and f11 is.
http://peteashton.com/2009/08/how_slr_cameras_work_aperture_shutter_and_iso_value/
How SLR Cameras Work - aperture, shutter and iso value - Great interactive demo to teach the basics of photography. Move the controls to see exactly what the difference between f1.8 and f11 is.
http://peteashton.com/2009/08/how_slr_cameras_work_-_aperture_shutter_and_iso_value/
Closed Doors at the Council - One of the questions that's often asked about the decline of local newspapers is how will local government be held to account if no-one is watching? Manchester website MULE decided to have a go, with predictably depressing results. This reminded me of when I first started dabbling in blogging about Birmingham and went to an event at the Birmingham council chamber. Mike Whitby, the leader, spoke for 20 minutes. I had no idea what he said. One might think they don't want people to understand them.
http://peteashton.com/2009/08/closed_doors_at_the_council/
bethdig:
Here Yesterday, Gone Today (Custard Factory before Bennie Gray got his hands on it)
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/153626864
40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes (via MBelinkie)
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/146948808
You’ll remember last month I recklessly decided to trade my old iPhone for some cake. Thinking that the $99 cost of the old 3G model was the retail cost and not realising it was the subsidized cost as part of a contract I assumed that my 18 month old 2G model would be worth peanuts and not worth eBaying I set up an auction blog on Tumblr and took bids via Twitter. The only condition was the bids had to be in cake.
Of course I soon realised that my old iPhone was in essence an iPod touch once you take the SIM card out and they retail for £165 meaning I might be about to buy the most expensive cake ever. But after a sorely tempting offer from Kate, the mighty cake master Ben swooped in and wiped out all other bidders with this:
Phew!
After I confirmed with him that the cakes would be of a sufficient size (we agreed a mass equivalent to 12 inches in diameter and a good 2 inches tall with appropriate decoration (icing, cream, etc)) I declared him to be the winner. And then forgot to announce it.
But yesterday I braved the O2 store and got me an iPhone 3GS which, amongst other things, means I need my cake now. In the pub after the Social Media Surgery Ben and I finalised the terms and the exchange will take place in Digbeth, probably in my office at Fazeley Studios unless someone has a better idea, on July 31st at 6pm. The next 11 cakes will be delivered on or around the 1st of each month and, yes, I will blog them.
http://peteashton.com/2009/07/ben_can_has_iphone_for_cake/
Resistance is futile
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/142114427
Made in Birmingham (via daveharte_uce)
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/129459919
Dramatic Cat (via drwatsondotexe)
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/127181574
Alestorm on Spotify. Do you like pirates? Do you like stupid heavy metal? Do you remember Bal Sagoth in a good way? Check this out!
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/126480189
The Rainbow pub in Digbeth, Birmingham has been issued with a noise abatement order. Like many pubs in the area it’s not simply a drinking establishment - it’s also a music venue and one of the key ones in the city.
Digbeth was an industrial area. The industry is moving out and it’s suffering an acute case of the regenerations (symptoms include a rash of artists and, oh, did I make this joke already? Sorry.) meaning flats have been built where once there were factories and warehouses. Factories and warehouses didn’t mind when music was played of an evening no matter how loud. People in flats, especially those where the developer may well have skimped on the required soundproofing, are more apt to notice.
Fortunately only one person appears to be that bothered by the beats and blares emanating from the various music venues around the place. Unfortunately only one complaint is needed to trigger a noise abatement order. One of those orders was just issued against The Rainbow.
This shit has been dragging on for years now and to be honest it’s way more complicated than my summary. If you want the facts I’d advise you to dig the Internets for them. But the fact remains that one of the better music venues in the city will probably have to close now, setting a precedent for the other music venues in the area.
It seems there’s to be a gathering at the Rainbow on Friday at 6.30pm. I have no idea what this will involve or how effective it’ll be but I imagine there’ll be music and noise and general rousing of rabbles. If you care and can make it then please do. It’s on the corner of Adderley Street and High Street Deritend. Here’s a map:
http://peteashton.com/2009/06/rainbow_silenced_gathering_on_friday/
Ever since his Beatles / Jay Z mashup musician / producer / etc Danger Mouse has been worth keeping an eye on, not just for his musical chops but because he’s often involved in projects which don’t quite fit into the usual way of doing things, but he does them anyway. Ahead of the curve, if you like. The latest project to surface, a collaboration with Sparklehorse and David Lynch resulting in the album Dark Night of the Soul, fits into this pattern rather nicely.
First off, it’s all controversial and that. For unknown reasons EMI decided to block the release of the album (the prevailing rumour seems to be it’s because EMI are fucking idiots intent on digging their own graves) so the record is being released as a blank CD-R ready for burning and a (one imagines) lovely book of photos by David Lynch. Oh, and it’s all being streamed by NPR (the American version of the BBC) who have the story and background on how the project came about.
Sure, there’s loads of publicity to be had here (witness my writing about it now) but it seems to be backed up with a sensible business model. 5000 books at $50 plus an unlimited number of $10 posters should net a decent profit, especially when bypassing the usual routes to market, and the music is already out there on the torrents. It has little financial value in the traditional recording industry sense and the artists know this.
What it does have, though, is great musical value. Sparklehorse are an interesting band as they’ve been on my radar for a while but never grabbed me in an I must listen to their music over and over until I’m sick kinda way. But I like them and they sit pretty squarely in the middle of a trend in American independent-ish music I’m a fan of with the Flaming Lips / Mercury Rev on the bombastic side and the more subdued Iron & Wine / Bill Callahan (Smog) on the other. Throw in Grandaddy and you’ve got the picture.
But as much as I love it this sort of music hasn’t really moved on much in the last decade. What Danger Mouse has done here is move it on, bringing in new sounds, drawing influences from the smorgasboard of guest vocalists and generally raising the bar. Not in a dramatic, disruptive-for-the-sake-of-it way, more giving evolution a kick up the arse. The glitch-tastic Angel’s Harp featuring Black Francis is a great example. And, of course, it’s a great pleasure to hear David Lynch singing. Need to hear more of David Lynch singing. Need to hear it now.
So yeah, album of the moment and justifiably so.
Official Dark Night of the Soul website
http://peteashton.com/2009/05/dark_night_of_the_soul/
Things are still pretty busy at ASH-10 Towers and I’ve been saying no to a lot of stuff lately, which is a nice position to be in but does mean I’m not saying yes to the interesting things. One thing that slipped through the net is Toby Barnes’ Post Digital event which he’s holding to launch Mudlark in Birmingham. Since it’s taking place in the same building as my office and since he only wants me to talk for 20 minutes without any prep, figured I’d say yes.
Plus when your brief is “to do a really short talk, discussing your thoughts on a post digital place, a place beyond websites, a place in a conversational space with people not brands” and you have no idea what that really means (I mean, I know what the words mean and the discrete concepts but as a whole?) then figuring that out on stage with no preparation, well, that sounds like a lot of fun.
Although looking at some of the people I’m sharing a stage with I think I might do a bit of prep. Some good names there.
It takes place at Fazeley Studios in Digbeth, Birmingham on Friday May 22nd, 10am - 4pm. Details and free tickets here.
http://ash10.com/2009/05/post-digital/
Amazing editing but also demonstrates (for me) the sharp decline in Tarantino’s films over the years. via chrisunitt:
jakelodwick:
Classic source material, phenomenal end product. (via ronenreblogs)
http://smursh.peteashton.com/post/105955009
Twitter, as you’ll no doubt be bored to tears of hearing, can be used in as many ways are there are people using Twitter. But that doesn’t help you figure out how you might use Twitter. Catherine Bray just asked this:
I think unless you’re using it as a pure info feed (and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that in itself) the personal is the only way to go. The thing is you have to think of it as part of a larger communication strategy.
Here’s a very rough illustration of how a large-ish organisation like Channel 4 communicates with its customers / audience / fans, etc.
Lots of people inside the bubble communicating in a large number of ways to the wider world. It’s more complex than this, obviously, but in essence we’re talking one-to-many broadcast. Which for Channel 4 is fine. It’s what they do well. And, more pertinently, Channel 4 as an organisation cannot sustainably have a many-to-many conversation with millions of people.
So with that in mind lets add Twitter:
Again, absurdly over-simplified. Here I’m thinking what might the org want to get out of this, the answer being communicating their message to a wider and more diverse range of people. Here the org is still doing the broadcast thing but people within the org are communicating with people outside the org who are passing their message on to their own networks.
I saw this happen when Joanna Geary was working for the Birmingham Post and successfully integrated bits of the newsroom into the local Twitter community (back when you could safely call everyone using Twitter in Birmingham “a community”). How much their reach grew through this is debatable but there was definitely some growth. I’d be interested to see how The Guardian measure the value of Jemima Kiss‘ Twitter account to the organisation. I’d also be interested to see whether that value is attached to Jemima herself rather than The Guardian. But that’s a ponder for another day.
Like I said, this is just one idea of many. Feel free to take it, modify it or dismiss it out of hand.
http://ash10.com/2009/05/a-quick-idea-for-twitter-use-in-large-orgs/
“Turn your mini Maglight into a powerful burning laser pointer.”
http://peteashton.tumblr.com/post/98203266
Eleven of the hottest new talents in contemporary art emerge this spring with an ambitious debut at the Vaad Gallery . Final year students from Birmingham City University will showcase their work in what will be an eclectic display of multi-disciplinary artworks that promises to show the diversity of practices born from a broad education in the visual arts.
Private View: Monday 27 April 2009 6-8pm
http://www.custardfactory.co.uk/2009/04/17/join-bcu-artist-at-their-pre-degree-show-at-vaad-gallery-april-27th-may-1st/
Echidnite’s journal - LIKE, EXTERMINATE!
http://peteashton.tumblr.com/post/95102332
Tom Hume: Swearing in the Guardian
“A few observations:
1. Swearing is growing slowly year-on-year, across the board;
2. Unusually, in 2001, swearing stayed more-or-less level. Bastard declined after 2001 - probably an after-effect of 9/11, after which most other swearing grew;
3. Wank is massively underperforming over the last decade, whilst cock is flat;
4. Shit has grown disproportionately and steadily since 2005, whilst fuck has gone as far as it can;
http://peteashton.tumblr.com/post/92613430
Extreme Sheep LED Art (via BaaaStuds)
http://peteashton.tumblr.com/post/90999088
Dinosaurs Fucking Robots.com: A showcase where artists and comedians can come together and make pictures of… dinosaurs fucking robots… with inspirational phrases.
http://peteashton.tumblr.com/post/90023655
Today there was a Tuttle meetup at 12 where the Brits came together. There’s a pretty big contingent here - prob a good few hundred of us. Someone decided we should do our own panel in one of the rooms that wasn’t being used so at 2pm we did.
We’re now about halfway through Interactive and the edges are starting to fray. For the Brits this seems to be manifesting in an intollerance of awesomeness and the inherent back-slapping nature of events like this. I personally think being in a self-congratulatory bubble for a few days isn’t necessarily a bad thing, recharging the optimism batteries before going back to the real world, but culturally we’re really not used to it. So when the tiredness hits we bite back. And we did.
I’m not going to try and summarise the panel - that would be impossible - but it was frivolous, offensive, passionate, self-indulgent and very very funny. Most panels here have a hashtag which the audience use to communicate on Twitter. We used #kebab and got it to trend. That was awesome.
There are videos out there. I’ll find them later.
It’s going to happen again tomorrow and while I don’t think it’ll quite be the same it’ll hopefully be another useful laxative for the exhausted Brits and, you never know, might even become a permanent fixture at future SXSW’s.
Awesome.
http://peteashton.com/2009/03/sxsw_diary_-_sunday/
The Kaye Family on LP Cover Lover - I bought this record in a charity shop years ago and fell in love with it. I don't miss having a vinyl player these days but occasionally the glory of their music pops into my memory. There are 30 second clips here but the full album download appears to have expired. Still, it's something and, if I'm honest, it's all about the glorious cover.
http://peteashton.com/2009/03/the_kaye_family_on_lp_cover_lover/
Bulldog book – One for the 90s small press comics people (and anyone else interested, of course). Jason Cobley has collected his favourite strips from his Bulldog comic into a 200 page book which he's selling through Lulu. Garen Ewing has the details and his personal history with the character and publication.
http://peteashton.com/2009/03/bulldog_book/
catnip: Straddling the cute/weird boundary, this ad for Hello Kitty cosmetics is totally bonkers.
http://peteashton.tumblr.com/post/82278513
The unnofficial SXSW 2009 music torrent – A few years ago the SXSW music festival put mp3s from all the bands playing in a big torrent. It was a big success but for some reason they discontinued it despite still having the files on the website to download one by one. Thankfully a precedent was set and every year kind souls do the work for them. The torrents went live a couple of days ago and are now seeding nicely so you should be able to download this 5GB of tunes fairly quickly.
http://peteashton.com/2009/02/the_unnofficial_sxsw_2009_music_torrent/
Crayon Physics Deluxe
http://peteashton.tumblr.com/post/79723279
No Junk Mail! (via new folder) “That means you taxi People, Pizza People, High Calorie Snack High-fat People, People advertising cures for broken hearts and herbal Chlamydia cures! Thanks….. ”
http://peteashton.tumblr.com/post/78311196
RoguePlay is the new Birmingham based Theatre Company In Residence at The Custard Factory. Combining New Writing, Physical Theatre and improvisation, Kim Charnock and Lorna Meehan create energetic contemporary performances inspired by behaviour, thought processes, and the reasons why we do the things we do.
With backgrounds in everything from Comedy Improvisation to Installation, Kim and Lorna also offer educational projects in schools and the community, and are programming some exciting artistic events at the Factory Theatre. So if you are a poet, a musician, an actor or anything thats creative then drop them an email or join their mailing list.
And watch out for their barmy-in-a-good-way new piece, Finders/Keepers, set to tour from summer 2009
http://www.custardfactory.co.uk/2009/02/05/rogueplay-theatre-dip-into-the-custard/
As you probably know, Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody is now out in paperback. Amazon have it for £5.99. I’ve found it a very useful book this last year to lend to people to explain exactly what I’m on about. Even if you disagree with his conclusions the examples he gives are worth it alone.
I’m going to buy five copies and send them to people in Birmingham. I want you to tell me who to send them to. And I want to include a letter, written by us, explaining why we want them to read it (I’ll set up a wiki for that later).
Sensible suggestions please. Think of people who will actually read and digest the book, those who have the capacity to understand and be excited by it. They don’t have to be big names but ideally they’ll have the ability to make important changes in the city.
And it doesn’t have to be limited to five. That’s just my commitment. If someone else wants to buy a batch and send them out that’s great. The main thing is we send them to the right people.
http://www.paradisecircus.com/2009/02/05/who-should-we-give-here-comes-everybody-to/
Lolcats - rathergood.com
http://peteashton.tumblr.com/post/75081336
Update Sources