Anonymous has been at it again. Following Primary Colors's version of Clinton comes O: A Presidential Novel. Mark Lawson on the tradition of insider political fiction, from Disraeli to The West Wing.
(Guardian article)
Publisher’s book page
Observer review
Thought I recognised the new actress in a trailer for CSI: NY (series 7). Did my usual searching and was right, it is Sela Ward, playing Jo(sephine) Danville, who was great in the TV drama series Now and Again from a decade plus ago. Great actor and always believable.
And memories from Once and Again:
The actress has also published an autobiography “Homesick”:
Publisher’s book page
Sela Ward: 'My Journey Has Been a Journey Home'
A bizarre (for me) post but 2 tweets on my twitterstream recently mentioned (1) going for afternoon tea and (2) an afternoon tea dress by French designer Madeleine Vionnet separately but virtually back to back. I did a quick search (as I am wont to do!) for the designer and this was one of the first image back, spooky . . .
Exhibit at the V&A
Amanda Vickery who mentioned the designer in a tweet
Video of Retrospective Exhibition of Madeleine Vionnet in Paris
Dress designers etc remind me of the TV series House of Elliott
Family ended the half term with a busy Saturday of bowling, cinema (watching Alpha and Omega, not great!) and a great lunch at Mamma Mia’s (the tortellini was amazing) to round it off.
This may be the guy who I had dinner with plus John Zachman many years ago in London during one of John’s Enterprise Architecture seminars.
During the past 3 years Mark has personally trained over 300 people around the globe in Process Analysis and Design and is considered by many as a leading authority in the areas of Mapping and Modelling. In addition he has run workshops and seminars around the world attended by over 1,000 people, to critical acclaim. Mark has a unique background having worked with many of the leading vendors, as well as users from many industries.
(Official page)
Stuck in a job that’s boring you to tears? Slogging away at a business that’s never quite taken off? Still can’t decide what you’d rather do? Well, it’s time to change all that. We’ve reached a remarkable point in the history of work. With the right guidance, it’s now possible for anyone to make a living from doing the things they love.
Written by a career maverick who escaped corporate life, Screw Work Let’s Playis your blueprint to create a work-life full of fun, freedom and creativity; something more like play than work. Packed full of stories from people who turned their passion into their living – or even a million pound business – you’ll discover 10 secrets to transform your working life, starting today.
Discover life-changing ideas and practical plans including:
Ready to play? Join the Play Revolution
(Publisher’s book page)
Spotted the Emerald (the company I work for) connection with these frocks at the Golden Globes earlier this year and were featured in our weekly company update.
Green goddesses: Emerald is the colour of the night for Hollywood's leading ladies
(Daily Mail)
The Hound of Heaven is a 182 line religious poem written by English poet Francis Thompson.
(Wikipedia)
Technology is evolving us, says Amber Case, as we become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of homo sapiens. We now rely on "external brains" (cell phones and computers) to communicate, remember, even live out secondary lives. But will these machines ultimately connect or conquer us? Case offers surprising insight into our cyborg selves.
(Presentation by Amber Case)
Still a student re continually learning (but really an undergraduate and postgraduate), loved this 24-7 Prayer video . . .
Ever wondered why one flavour works with another? Or lacked inspiration for what to do with a bundle of beetroot? The Flavour Thesaurus is the first book to examine what goes with what, pair by pair.
The book follows the form of Roget’s Thesaurus. The back section lists, alphabetically, 99 popular ingredients, and suggests classic and less well known flavour matches for each. The front section contains an entry for every flavour match listed in the back section and is organised into 16 flavour themes such a Bramble & Hedge, Green & Grassy, and Earthy. There are 980 entries in all, with 200 recipes and suggestions embedded in the text.
(Publisher’s book page)
Observer review
Official book site
Wall Street Journal review
Guardian review
Marshall McLuhan, the celebrated social theorist who defined the culture of the 1960s, is remembered now primarily for the aphoristic slogan he coined to explain the emerging new world of global communication: “The medium is the message.” Half a century later, McLuhan’s predictions about the end of print culture and the rise of “electronic inter-dependence” have become a reality—in a sense, the reality—of our time.
Douglas Coupland, whose iconic novel Generation X was a “McLuhanesque” account of our culture in fictional form, has written a compact biography of the cultural critic that interprets the life and work of his subject from inside. A fellow Canadian, a master of creative sociology, a writer who supplied a defining term, Coupland is the ideal chronicler of the uncanny prophet whose vision of the global village—now known as the Internet—has come to pass in the 21st century.
(amazon.com)
In retelling McLuhan’s tale, Coupland makes the occasional misstep. He belabors some points, and his obligatory meta flourishes fall flat as often as they amuse. But those are minor irritations. This is an affectionate, wry portrait that provides a perfect introduction to one of the most influential and misunderstood thinkers of recent times.
(The New Republic review by Nicholas Carr)
A Time video to mark the 10th anniversary of Wikipedia.
Michelle Williams has been a lead actor in a number of recent films that I have been considering for The Culture Club. She was one of the stars of Dawson’s Creek.
Tech luminary, Gordon Bell, and Jim Gemmell unveil a guide to the next digital revolution. Our daily life started becoming digital a decade ago. Now much of what we do is digitally recorded and accessible. This trend won't stop. And the benefits are astonishing.
Based on their own research Bell and Gemmell explain the ever- increasing access to electronic personal memories-both "cloud" services such as Facebook and huge personal hardrives. Using Bell as a test case, the two digitally uploaded everything-photos, computer activity, biometrics-and explored systems that could best store the vast amounts of data and make it accessible. The result? An amazing enhancement of human experience from health and education to productivity and just reminiscing about good times. And then, when you are gone, your memories, your life will still be accessible for your grandchildren...
Your Life, Uploaded is an invaluable guide to taking advantage of new technology that will fascinate and inspire techies, business people, and baby boomers alike.
(Publisher’s book page)
Gordon Bell - MyLifeBits from Gary Wolf on Vimeo.
How modern are our lives? Or are we still living the lives our ancestors lived? Whether political, cultural, or social, there are endless parallels between the ancient and modern worlds. Whether it’s the murder of Caesar or the political assassination of Thatcher; the narrative arc of the hit HBO series, The Wire, or that of Oedipus; the popular enthusiasm for the Emperor Titus or President Obama – over and over again we can be seen to be living very much like people did 2,000 or more years ago.
It’s time for us to re-examine the past. Our lives are infinitely richer if we take the time to look at what the Greeks and Romans have given us in politics and law, religion and philosophy and education, and to learn how people really lived in Athens, Rome, Sparta and Alexandria. This is a book with a serious point to make but the author isn’t just a classicist but a comedian and broadcaster who has made television and radio documentaries about humour, education and Dorothy Parker. This is a book for us all, not for an elite.
Publisher’s book page
Author’s site
Stumbled over this article earlier in the year while looking for Makoto Fujimura content on the web. Makoto is a great Christian artist.
This is his picture Matthew - Consider the Lilies from The Four Holy Gospels
We do love having Sunday lunch at East Bierley Cricket Club. This one was with the Egans, Harrisons, Ronnie C, Ronnie and Dorothy and Ben. I had veg soup, chicken casserole and rhubarb crumble and custard. Great time chatting.
Lazy rest of day including Rachael having a “pass-out” for the evening so the kids and I had a film night with The Game Plan.
Half term school holidays started on Friday. I went on to work all week while Rachael and the kids had a very busy week doing all sorts of stuff including bowling, swimming, taking Kiku to Haworth and the Bronte Museum.
Early bed!
Churches everywhere are suffering from draconian funding cuts, so how do leaders with a heart for alternative ministries fund their passion and build communities that will last? Journalist and commentator Becky Garrison looks deep into the experience of nearly a dozen ministries in the United States and United Kingdom — all of them geared to the growing spiritual-but-not-religious demographic, and all of them highly creative ventures doing a lot with a little money. How did these ministries start from zero with $0? And how could you?
(Publisher’s book page)
Via this Jonny Baker blog post
Shayne Moore is an author, blogger, speaker, mama of three, and outspoken advocate in the fight against extreme poverty and Global AIDS. Shayne is one of the original members of the ONE Campaign, The Campaign to Make Poverty History (www.one.org) and sits on the executive board of directors for Upendo Village, an HIV/AIDS clinic in Kenya (www.upendovillage.org) and Growers First. (www.GrowersFirst.org) Shayne has written for ONE’s blog, Christianity Today’s Gifted for Leadership, FullFill, a digital magazine, and for her personal blog. Shayne is a member of Redbud Writers Guild. (www.RedbudWritersGuild.com)
(Official book site)
Entitled "innocent - our story and some things we've learned", it tells the tale of the first ten years, and is a book for anyone who wants to start their own business, bring fresh thinking to their current one or has been told their idea won't work. innocent is a business that almost didn't happen (we were turned down by every bank and investor in the land), and we hope by telling our story we can encourage other people to have a go at doing their own thing.
Even if you're not that interested in the business stuff, this book does a neat job of summing up our first ten years. It's a bit of scrapbook, and has lots of pictures too. Very important.
(Official book page)
Via (Davina McCall tweet)
An FT article from December with Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter.
Another reminder of my Ancient History “A” Level heritage . . .
We think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did. His aphorism ‘The unexamined life is not worth living’ may have originated twenty-five centuries ago, but it is a founding principle of modern life. Socrates lived and contributed to a city that nurtured key ingredients of contemporary civilisation – democracy, liberty, science, drama, rational thought – yet, as he wrote nothing in his lifetime, he himself is an enigmatic figure.
The Hemlock Cup gives Socrates the biography he deserves, setting him in the context of the Eastern Mediterranean that was his home, and dealing with him as he himself dealt with the world. Socrates was a soldier, a lover, a man of the people. He philosophised neither in grand educational establishments nor the courts of kings but in the squares and public arenas of Golden Age Athens. He lived through an age of extraordinary materialism, in which a democratic culture turned to the glorification of its own city; when war was declared under the banner of democracy; and when tolerance turned into intimidation on streets once populated by the likes of Euripides, Sophocles and Pericles. For seventy years he was a vigorous citizen of one of the greatest capitals on earth, but then his beloved Athens turned on him, condemning him to death by poison.Socrates’ pursuit of personal liberty is a vibrant story that Athens did not want us to hear, but which must be told.
(Publisher’s book page)
Interview: Bettany Hughes on The Hemlock Cup and Bringing Ancient History Into the 21st Century
Author web site
New York Times review
10 Reasons Why Socrates is Still Relevant Today
This book has been out since 2007 but has been coming up a lot as references in other things I have been reading.
What is that makes urban myths so persistent but many everyday truths so eminently forgettable? How do newspapers set about ensuring that their headlines make you want to read on? And why do we remember complicated stories but not complicated facts?
In the course of over ten years of study, Chip and Dan Heath have established what it is that determines whether particular ideas or stories stick in our minds or not, and Made to Stick is the fascinating outcome of their painstaking research. Packed full of case histories and thought-provoking anecdotes, it shows, among other things, how one Australian scientist convinced the world he'd discovered the cause of stomach ulcers by drinking a glass filled with bacteria, how a gifted sports reporter got people to watch a football match by showing them the outside of the stadium, and how high-concept pitches such as 'Jaws on a spaceship' (Alien) and 'Die Hard on a bus' (Speed) convince movie executives to invest vast sums of money in a project on the basis of almost no information.
(Publisher’s book page)
Official book site
Success model
Stumbled over this book via this Observer article on self-help gurus:
Lyubomirsky, a psychology researcher at the University of California and author of The How of Happiness, would almost certainly be genuinely appalled to be described as a "self-help guru" — which is one excellent sign of a good self-help guru. She has led much of the recent research that has started to give some copper-bottomed scientific credibility to certain self-help techniques while casting doubt on others. If you need some peer-reviewed studies to convince you to show appreciation to your partner, keep a gratitude journal, or invest in friendships, you'll find it in Lyubomirsky's work.
Official book site
Author page
Wikipedia entry
In downtown Detroit, the streets are lined with abandoned hotels and swimming pools, ruined movie houses and schools, all evidence of the motor city's painful decline. The photographs of Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre capture what remains of a once-great city – and hint at the wider story of post-industrial America
Stumbled over this Observer article at the start of the year and thought the photos were amazing, depressing and shocking all at the same time.
Ruins are the visible symbols and landmarks of our societies and their changes, small pieces of history in suspension. The state of ruin is essentially a temporary situation that happens at some point, the volatile result of change of era and the fall of empires.
This fragility, the time elapsed but even so running fast, lead us to watch them one very last time: being dismayed, or admire, making us wondering about the permanence of things.
Photography appeared to us as a modest way to keep a little bit of this ephemeral state.
(Mission statement of the photographers)
Official book site
Publisher’s book site
Guardian article about
A related video:
BBC documentary “Requiem for Detroit”
Detroit mayor plans to shrink city by cutting services to some areas
Services such as sewage and policing may be cut off to force people out of desolate areas where houses cost as little as £100
Guardian article
Just finished reading this book which was this month’s Cover to Cover Book Club (Vicars Cafe, Saltaire) selection. One of the best books we have done so far. A good read and kept me interested right through to the end.
Author’s site
Reading Guide
Wikipedia entry for the author
Publisher’s book page
amazon.co.uk (includes author interview)
Guardian review
Finally got to see this film. The whole family went to the Odeon for the Saturday kids film showing. Enjoyable film, better than the 2nd. Currently, reading this book to Hannah on an occasional basis.
Snow on the ground when we got up today. Out with Isaac to this breakfast with other men from churches in Holmewood and Bierley. Warren led and showed us a Rocky film clip. Small group discussion. Always good when Isaac comes to these.
3rd in the series looking at “LIsten Up: A practical guide to listening to sermons”. I led this session with Lyns, Ben, Dave, Tracy and Joly. Good session discussing when we have and have not heard preachers talk about the passage, what we would do if the message was off-message, how we read books/papers and listen to preachers that we do/do not agree with. Lots of things to think about.
Bulk of the meeting spent reviewing the profitability of the cafe plus the impact of the likely government spending cuts on the organisation.
Led the latest Culture Club meeting, the second one of the year, when we watched the film “The Hurt Locker”. I enjoyed the film but I was not convinced it was Oscar winner-worthy.
Attended by Hilary, Tracey, Mark and Ben. Some good discussion but not as lengthy or varied as some of the other sessions we have done.
Meeting details here.
Not posted a music video for a while but just been listening to this Taio Cruz and Kylie Minogue tune – Higher - and loving it.
Watching this new series with Rachael and Isaac. Not usually into sci-fi but I am fascinated by the end of the world type dramas.
A group of courageous pioneers face a unique opportunity: the chance to build a new and better future on another planet.
BBC page
Interview with the creator Ben Richards
Wikipedia entry
Liam Cunningham plays President Richard Tate in Outcasts – leading the Pioneers responsible for building a better future.
Hermione Norris plays Stella Isen, Head of Protection and Security, in Forthaven on planet Carpathia. She has sacrificed everything for the chance to save the world.
Amy Manson plays Fleur Morgan – young, bright and idealistic and a PAS officer alongside Cass Cromwell.
Eric Mabius plays Julius Berger – vice president of the Evacuation Programme on Earth. Berger is en route to Carpathia on board transporter CT9, expecting the power and status he enjoyed on Earth.
A full and productive day with the full set of elders/trustees looking at the vision for all aspects of Holme Christian Community including church ministries and the Care Centre.
Held at the Green Room at Gateway.
Covered the following:-
The following were also borne in mind during the discussions:-
Too many corporations outsource their understanding of culture to trend hunters, cool watchers, marketing experts, consulting firms, and, sometimes, teenage interns. The cost to Levi-Strauss was a billion dollars. The cost to the rest of corporate America is immeasurable. The lesson? The American corporation needs a new professional. It needs a Chief Culture Officer.Grant McCracken, an anthropologist who now trains some of the world’s biggest companies and consulting firms, argues that the CCO would keep a finger on the pulse of contemporary cultural trends—from sneakers to slow food to preppies—while developing a systematic understanding of the deep waves of culture in America and the world. The CCO’s professionalism would allow the corporation to see coming changes, even when they only exist as the weakest of signals. Delightfully authoritative, trenchantly on point, bursting with insight and character, Chief Culture Officer is sure to expand your horizons—and your business.
(Publisher’s book page)
Google Books
amazon.com
Author presentation
Reviews:
Seth Godin, author of Tribes & Purple Cow
“The title of this book is a lie. It's not merely for companies that decide they need a Chief Culture Officer, or even just for those who aspire to that job. It's for you. Right now. If your job involves marketing, inventing, selling or simply investing in companies that make stuff, this book is a must read.”
Contemporary drama series set in a challenging comprehensive school.
BBC programme page
The recent winner of the National Television Award for Best TV Drama Series.
I watch this with Isaac and we have good chats about the storylines.
