So that happened.

Outriders is one of those terms that I’ve been in love with for years and it would be great to say that when Jamillah approached me for help in coming up with a new name for the BBC’s Pods and Blogs show I immediately fired it at her.

The truth is that we spent time brainstorming some great (and not so great) titles when at some ungodly hour of the night she was the one who  nudged me about outriders. It’s a term I’ve used more than once when describing anyone out on the edge of the mainstream doing interesting work and of course it was a perfect fit.

So to be completely honest it was Jamillah who put the new name in the target, but I’m quite happy to take the blame if anyone out there hates it. So far though the response seems very positive.

I was myself interviewed for Pods and Blogs a year or so ago with @documentally while helping raise awareness for Bletchley Park. My few minutes aside, the show has always championed those of us who are doing something ahead of the pack. So by definition:

A guide; an escort.

One that goes in advance; a forerunner.

It’s a fun place to live and even exploring the occasional dead end and dangerous route is vital to those that follow or simply decide to run in the opposite direction. One way or another most of the people I admire have been outriders and I’m proud as punch to have had a small hand in the evolution of a BBC show that itself lives out on the edge.

Plus Joel McCrea is pretty cool.

There were only a few of us at school who listened to Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Dio. I’m not sure what I would have done without that kind of music at such an impressionable age. It lead me into the world of art as narrative for sure and made sure I had a life long love of a good guitar solo. For me punk rock, Frank Zappa and Morricone came later. Everything started with the Metal.

I don’t think I’m overstating matters when I say that the voice of Ronnie James Dio not only inspired me as a kid, but has also stayed with me my entire adult life. Some things get blunted by repetition. A Dio record is not one of them.

I’ll miss him even though he’s never ever going to go away.

My heart goes out to all those that knew him.

What is that little thing?

I’m good at avoiding the trivial (yet am pretty good at trivia – go figure). Twitter brings hints that there’s a wider world out there – a mention of a footballer here or a pop star there. If what ever it is that they’re doing (besides shifting tabloids) explodes into something big enough to become a movie or get referenced in a (good) tv show then off I’ll go to Wikipedia for the context. I’m aware Michael Jackson died, but I’ve heard maybe four of his songs. I did actually buy the Thriller album on vinyl, but for the Vincent Price bit after seeing the John Landis video – still confused why they ruined a perfectly good zombie/werewolf short with all that dancing crap. Come to think of it I’m not sure I ever played the other side of that record.

My dad had a lot of Johnny Cash and Charlie Parker records.

But let’s get back to that little pixelated white dot. Little doesn’t mean trivial:

Descent of Phoenix with a crater in the background taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

The Reddit thread I spotted this on is worth a read.

“Although it appears that Phoenix is descending into the crater, it is actually about 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) in front of the crater.”

O_0

All this made me think of Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot. Good to revisit that every now and again – Voyager 1 is too busy.

Next time you get bored of the tabloids or are about to complain about the weather just look up. You need really good eyes, but the imagination part is helped along a lot by some little metal things doing their thing on an entirely different planet. On behalf of us.

High five.

When I try to think of the people, authors and creations that influenced me over the years (and continue to do so) there are so many that it’s easy to forget some of them. Then you lose one and you suddenly realise what a large hole they’re leaving behind and how much you owe them for sharing something so wonderful.

I woke up feeling sorry for myself this morning – still ill, still coughing – and then got the news via Twitter that Oliver Postgate had died. Now I just feel sorry for everyone outside of my generation and the UK who will never quite understand just how much an impact a Welsh steam engine and a saggy old cloth cat had on our psyche.

I just watched the opening of Bagpuss on YouTube and it still kills me:

I’d forgotten how HUGE he was…

Even Bagpuss himself, once he was asleep, was just an old, saggy cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams… But Emily loved him

When people ask me why I’m so keen on pulling random people together and breaking down as many barriers as I can I’m always a little taken aback. Then again people also think I’m mad for trying to keep up with all the people I follow on Twitter too. The thing is I have no idea where the next interesting project or idea is coming from. I have certain people in my circle who generate some fascinating concepts and sticking close to them means it’s a safe bet my life won’t get too dull anytime soon. But I’m also interested in the stuff that seemingly comes out of nowhere. The Black Swans if you like.

Like everyone else I have no clue as to where the next one is coming from, but I do know that it’s vital to keep as many routes in and out of my own echo chamber open as possible. My favourite example of the benefits of this is, like all the best stories, perhaps not entirely factually correct.

But it should be.

In 1966 Robert Wise shot a movie called The Sand Pebbles partially in Hong Kong. It’s a movie well worth checking out if you haven’t seen it. Now the story goes that this was the first chance for local stuntmen to see up close how the Hollywood crew put together fight sequences. Wise also left behind the Panavision cameras he’d used there and his Chinese assistants went on to start up their own film companies once the Americans had moved on.

This combination of new ideas, skills and technology lead to a new martial arts boom in the late sixties and early seventies. It lead to Bruce Lee.

Before that Akira Kurosawa was influencing Sergio Leone who in turn gave us Clint Eastwood who gave us Unforgiven. Go back before that and you can pencil in the Westerns of John Ford as one of the main influences on Kurosawa. And if he’d never have made Hidden Fortress I doubt Star Wars would be around today.

So would Uma Thurman have kicked so much ass in Kill Bill if Robert Wise had chosen to film The Sand Pebbles in a more controlled and less risky studio environment thirty seven years earlier?

We’re still experiencing those ripples today and that’s what I love about mixing things up. The potential is huge. Risks, failure and looking foolish are all part of the same game, but pass quickly. Without others taking those risks maybe I’d have never got to see a Jackie Chan movie. Imagine that.

I think risks are worth taking and looking foolish is simply part of being human. The exciting thing is none of us knows how we’ll influence each other in the next 18 months. Ain’t that a kick in the head?

Cross posted on Amplified08 and Creative Coffee

The reason I keep reading blogs at a time when so many people are abandoning them (reading or writing them – take your pick) is because of posts like this one. Coincidentally the reasons I love working in the field I do, the reasons I used to work in wonderful book shops and most certainly the reasons my most cherished possessions are still literature despite all the gadgets I’m surrounded with can also be found in this post.

my desire to see publishing move with technology and survive as the guardian and helpmate of literature. But it’s also another product of my own ongoing, irresponsible, ever-growing and never-sated love affair with books. I can’t stop reading them, cherishing them, and trying to work with them, and I hope you’ll continue with me on this journey

I’m known James Bridle for a while now. Back when I was with Londonist he’d send me unique books to play with and since then we’ve become real friends thanks to platforms like Twitter, a shared interest in scribbling on paper as well as the Internets and the occasional alcoholic beverage. He’s constantly surprising me, but this project, this Bookkake, takes the soggy biscuit.

It’s brilliant stuff like this and the amazingly talented people behind them that keeps me actively interested in all the great ways the world is changing around us. Where others see doom and gloom the brighter people amongst us see opportunity. And not just for themselves. Individuals finally have the tools to match their skill sets and the passion to make new things happen for all of us.

Bookkake and Someone Once Told Me are the kinds of projects that give me an extra thrill when it comes to working with the ICA. I’ve already been talking to them about putting five or so projects like this up on a stage. Brief presentations, brief Q&A sessions, live streamed and archived in front of a physical and virtual audience that is capable of helping the projects along. Then we hit the bar. Even simply in terms of raising awareness the potential is huge. This is the kind of thing I love discussing both at the Tuttle and Creative Coffee. It’s the reason I’m so interested in a Network of Networks and the reason I’ll always fly the flag for the people around me – these motherfuckers are talented and more people should know about it.

I’m still cooperating.