Big People and Small People in London

  By

These two just demand to be seen together.

Little People – A Tiny Street Art Project has many pictures of "little handpainted people left in London to fend for themselves". Very idiosyncratic, and very enjoyable.
And via 3QuarksDaily here is an entrancing YouTube video of a very big handpainted (?) person fending for herself in London, with some help. Part of the Sultan’s Elephant by Royal De Luxe, last May in London.

You may want to see it full screen, which you can do here.

Continue reading

Finney passes to Nugent

  By

For the first time in my lifetime (just) a PNE player has scored for England. I know it was Andorra, but still.

Now for the premiership.

Link: BBC SPORT | Football | Internationals | Finney delighted with Nugent goal.

Sir Tom Finney has spoken of his pride at seeing David Nugent become the first Preston North End player to score for England in 49 years.

"It was only a tap in but nevertheless he scored and that was very important on his debut," Finney told BBC Sport.

"It gives me a bit of a thrill to see a Preston player wearing an England shirt – the club itself will be very proud."

Finney was the last Preston player to score for England when he found the net against Northern Ireland in 1958.

Continue reading

The Long Tail 12 – The Infinite Screen

  By

This is another part of my critical reader’s companion to The Long Tail, and it discusses Chapter 12 – The Infinite Screen. Part 0 is here. You can find a complete list of the Long Tail pieces here.

Should we give Chris Anderson a break when it comes to Google Video?

The second sentence of Chapter 12 is "On January 19, 2006, Google unveiled Google Video, the ultimate Long Tail marketplace of the moving image" [193]. Of course, Google Video has been what us pre-digital folks call a "total bust" and YouTube (which doesn’t get a mention in the book) is everywhere – so much so that Google bought it.

Well, in January 2007 Chris Anderson admitted that he got it wrong:

This is not to say that there aren’t many things I don’t cover in the book but should have, and a few things I did cover but shouldn’t have *cough* Google Video *cough*.

So yes, let’s give him a break. I mean, who knew? Not me. So let’s put it on record that I’m giving him a free pass on this one.

But … Continue reading

Tims Spey Way Challenge

  By

This post is for anyone who knew me from PHGS and who is as out of touch with people from school as I am.

I went to Friends Reunited for the first time in ages to look through people’s entries, and was shocked to see that Tim Lester has recently been diagnosed with motor neuron disease. A couple of weeks ago he set off on a fundraising walk through the highlands of Scotland, where he now lives, so go donate at http://www.justgiving.com/timsspeywaychallenge and show your support for Tim. There’s a clickable link in the right hand column of this page as well.

Here’s what he has to say at Justgiving – Tims Spey Way Challenge.

On Wednesday 29th November 2006 I was diagnosed as having Motor Neuron Disease – www.scotmnd.org.uk . Once I had picked myself up off the floor I thought I had to do something positive and decided in a moment of lucid thought that I would walk the Spey Way and try and raise some money for charity along the way. This is one of four designated long distance footpaths in Scotland and follows the course of … Continue reading

The Long Tail 11.2 – Living in a Niche Culture (2)

  By

This is another part of my critical reader’s companion to The Long Tail, and it discusses the second half of Chapter 11 – Living in a Niche Culture. Part 0 is here. You can find a complete list of the Long Tail pieces here.

The Rise of Massively Parallel Culture [182-185] reveals yet another of Chris Anderson’s weaknesses: as Editor of Wired Magazine in San Francisco he is surrounded by "geek friends" [182].

The Long Tail worldview is digital-optimist-libertarian, is characteristic of Silicon Valley – a culture called Cyberselfish in the book of the same name by Wired contributor Pauline Borsook. As The New York Times summarizes:

Ms. Borsook contends that many of the favorite arguments of technolibertarians come from ”bionomics” — that is, they like to use metaphors drawn from biology to explain economic behavior and endorse a decentralized free-market system. Reduced to a bumper slogan, Ms. Borsook writes, bionomics states that ”the economy is a rain forest”; in other words, it suggests that ”no one can manage or engineer a rain forest, and rain forests are happiest when they are left alone to evolve, which will then benefit all the happy … Continue reading

The Long Tail 11.1 – Living in a Niche Culture (1)

  By

This is another part of my critical reader’s companion to The Long Tail, and it discusses the first part of Chapter 11 – Living in a Niche Culture. Part 0 is here. You can find a complete list of the Long Tail pieces here.

We’re getting towards the end of
the book now, and it is moving on from the core material to some
speculative asides about broader issues. The material in this chapter
illustrates the reasons for the book’s success and also one of its most
pervasive weaknesses – which is all about the meaning of the title.
Throughout the book, Chris Anderson uses the phrase "The Long Tail" to
mean several different things.

  •     It’s a business model (create a profitable business by "selling less of more")
     
  • It’s a commentary on the benefits of Internet commerce (online commerce is more diverse than those old physical shelves)
     
  •     It’s a trendspotting book about changes to contemporary culture (the end of the hit parade, the fall of the blockbuster)

    • The shift back and forth between these different meanings is … Continue reading

    The Long Tail 10.1 – A Short Note

      By

    This set of posts has been a lot of fun. Thanks to those who have given me feedback along the way, and to those (like Dave of How To Furnish a Room and RAD) who have linked to it and said nice things about it. If you’re looking for a book to read, by the way, How To Furnish a Room is a great source of ideas.

    I had some notes on each chapter and an idea of what I wanted to do with them once I finished reading The Long Tail, but it really is true that writing is a way of finding out what you think, so my views on the book have expanded along the way.

    When I started out, I thought it would be enough to just go through the book as I have been doing, but now I don’t think that will quite do the trick. The book is really a Big Picture book, so once I get to the end (four more chapters) I think I’ll post a couple of Big Picture posts to wrap it up. Then I’ll really have to return the book to the library and read something … Continue reading