June 12, 2013
Writing a Blog is an "Art Form"
Andrea Tomkins asks here: "Is blogging an art form?" She responds:
"I think so. If art is defined as self expression, I think it can certainly be argued that blogging is art. There is, after all, an art to blogging. Just like someone can pick up a brush and express themselves with paint on canvas, I can do the same using digital tools to weave a picture out of words, sound, photo, and video. And it’s a picture that grows a little bit every day.
I think that if you pour yourself into something, and it’s truly the work of your hand working in tandem with your head and your heart, it must be art. If an artist took a giant canvas and painted something on it every day for the rest of her life, is it art? What if she decoupaged the odd receipt or bus ticket or photo in there. Is it still art?"The legal blogger Kevin O'Keefe of LexBlog picked up on the analysis by Andrea and spun off some thoughts on how lawyers should blog. Here's some highlights for me; he said:
"Blog as you talk. It’s a conversation after all."Also of great interest:
"Blog when you feel like it. If you’re blogging in a fashion that is true to yourself, you’ll find time for blogging and you’ll find blogging enoyable."
"I hated to write articles. Still do. I think I have written one article in the last 10 years. Yet I have penned thousands of blog posts."Kevin O'Keefe's blog post in full here.
June 11, 2013
The Original Sin: "Being Boring"
William Giraldi said in the Daily Best that Oscar Wilde regarded "being boring" as the ultimate, inexcusable sin:
"For Wilde, to be boring was the only unpardonable sin."The passage drew a tangent out of a narrative discussion on modern literature that came to discuss Martin Amis, among others. The nexus being that Oscar Wilde was the hero of Martin Amis.
Moving on, this Wilde idea of "being boring" echoes directly the stance of Christopher Hitchens, who himself is the self-proclaimed best friend of Martin Amis and self-professed hater of boredom. Hitchens said to attendees at the Hay Festival in 2003 that he regarded "being boring" as the one thing that "frightens him the most. Watch that here.
It would be wrong not to mention the linkages here, between Wilde, Amis and Hitchens. Three literary giants which shows the incestuous circularity of the writing world. And by that you can tell that I'm not sure if this triumvirate is a good thing or not.
Northern Ireland House Prices at 2003 levels
As sourced from tweet from Newton Emerson:
The utter madness of the property boom in one graph. An undergraduate could have told you this would happen. newsletter.co.uk/news/business/…
— Newton Emerson (@NewtonEmerson) June 11, 2013
Also, here's tweet with link to Stephen Nolan interview with two leading property agents in Northern Ireland:
The average house price in NI is now below early 2003 levels - John Minnis & Jonathan Davis discuss boo.fm/b1444242 via @audioboo
— Stephen Nolan (@StephenNolan) June 11, 2013
June 10, 2013
Dawkins on why the Left-Right Continuum is Insufficient
At 4 minutes 35 seconds Richard Dawkins explains persuasively why the traditional Left-Right spectrum employed to describe political viewpoints is insufficient. Saying that psychologists have long used multiple mathematical models to place and measure human behaviour.
"Bring back Polytechnics" says Think-Tank
Lord Baker who was in the the Thatcher government welcomed calls for bringing back the Polytechnics that had been abolished by legislation in the 1990s. Lord Baker speaking to Eddie Mair on BBC Radio 4's PM show said that the move to remove Polytechnics from the UK's educational landscape was all down to "status".
He went on to say that there is a patent and latent need for traditional vocational training and for the skills that well trained technicians and tradespeople bring.
Read more in the Telegraph here and on the BBC here.
A person who is nice to you, but who is not nice to the waiter is not a nice person
Having worked in two bars before, one in Belfast and one in Toulouse I can say with confidence that the quote in the picture and in writing below, rings very true. The person who said this remains anonymous to me. I found the picture on Bronagh Waugh's Twitter account (@bronaghwaugh). The quote in full:
"A person who is nice to you, but is not nice to the waiter is not a nice person."
One Million Fatherless Homes in the UK
A report by the think-tank, Centre for Social Justice has found that the number of single-parent families in the UK is on the rise, and will top 2 million by the next General Election in 2015.
Liverpool was found to have the highest level of single-mum households. This growth in lone-parent families represents the emergence of what Christian Guy pf the CSJ calls "men deserts."
You can see the Radio 4 clip here. Read the CSJ Press Release here and read what Clare Carter had to say of the phenomenon in the Telegraph here.
Access the Centre for Social Justice website here.
June 08, 2013
David Ogilvy: "Big ideas come from the Unconscious"
Ever wondered how the creative process works? Where the sparks and big ideas really come from? Well here's David Ogilvy's take on it:
"Big ideas come from the unconscious. This is true in art, in science, and in advertising. But your unconscious has to be well informed, or your idea will be irrelevant. Stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational thought process. You can help this process by going for a long walk, or taking a hot bath, or drinking half a pint of claret. Suddenly, if the telephone line from your unconscious is open, a big idea wells up within you."
#BelfastFaces - Amanda Poole Previews the Exhibition
Amanda Poole (@AmandaPoole) , freelance journalist pictured above previews my exhibition, Belfast Faces and Famous Places:
"Pubs, poets, politicians and more feature in the new Belfast Faces and Famous Places exhibition opening tomorrow (June 7 2013). The latest work from artist and writer, Brian John Spencer, runs at the Common Grounds coffee shop (16 - 17 University Avenue) in the south of the city from June 7-29.
The celebration of Belfast includes cartoons of the world famous Crown bar and Kelly's Cellars. Poet Michael Longley, restaurateur Michael Deane, SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell and No Alibis books store owner David Torrens are among those immortalised in cartoon form.
Brian (25) from Stranmillis said:
"The exhibition is a celebration of the city, its well known faces and popular places. I initially focused on Ulster poets and politicians and then broadened the scope."
Veteran journalist and author Eamonn Mallie, who specialises in politics, security and 20th century art, will be speaking at tomorrow's exhibition launch. “He's a rather new wave artist in a sense,” Eamonn said of Brian.
“He is where Jack Yeats was when he started out as a young man for Punch magazine. He's working in a very rich vein of interpretation. I know Brian better as a writer, with a very finely tuned ear and awareness of political and legal evolution. He has a dual approach and a huge capacity for learning. I can't praise the guy enough.”
A big thanks to Amanda for taking the time out of her day to write this up. You can find out and see more about Amanda Poole on her Facebook fan page here.
"[Writing] is Theft"
It was Picasso who said: "art is theft."
This quote has since evolved and spawned several permutations. Steve Jobs famously misquoted Picasso when he said, “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” T.S. Eliot said something a little closer to Picasso's original: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.”
Then there's the writer Austin Kleon wrote a book entitled, Steal Like An Artist. See video below:
Research says you should keep your blog posts and online essays short
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/06/08/you-might-finish-reading-this-post/
Drawing my own finding here but I think it sensible to suggests that crafting a good headline title is super important. Here's some comment and advice from copyblogger: http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines/
Drawing my own finding here but I think it sensible to suggests that crafting a good headline title is super important. Here's some comment and advice from copyblogger: http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines/
Bag-carrying junior barrister in the Leveson inquiry paid £218,606
bag-carrying junior barrister in the Leveson inquiry — Carine Patry Hoskins, who had a fling with Hugh Grant’s barrister, David Sherborne — was paid £218,606 of taxpayers’ money for 16 months’ routine work
The reason why Boris and Christopher Hitchens are such powerful writers...
Marcus Berkmann in the Spectator gives his thinking on why these totemic writers are so very good at their craft:
"The words are his (Boris Johnson) none-too-secret weapon. He is as natural and talented a comic writer as we have; or rather, he is as natural and talented a comic talker — for like Christopher Hitchens, he can write so fast because he is only writing down what he would have said. The rest of us have to work at our words."
In the same article Boris Johnson is quoted from a 2004 interview which gives us an insight into the secret of his writing and speaking success. He says:
"I think it’s important to remember that most people find politics unbelievably dull, so I don’t see any particular vice in trying to sugar the pill with a few jokes."
The Spectator essay in full here.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/8920151/the-wit-and-wisdom-of-boris-johnson-edited-by-harry-mount-review/
"The words are his (Boris Johnson) none-too-secret weapon. He is as natural and talented a comic writer as we have; or rather, he is as natural and talented a comic talker — for like Christopher Hitchens, he can write so fast because he is only writing down what he would have said. The rest of us have to work at our words."
In the same article Boris Johnson is quoted from a 2004 interview which gives us an insight into the secret of his writing and speaking success. He says:
"I think it’s important to remember that most people find politics unbelievably dull, so I don’t see any particular vice in trying to sugar the pill with a few jokes."
The Spectator essay in full here.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/8920151/the-wit-and-wisdom-of-boris-johnson-edited-by-harry-mount-review/
Why does everyone want to go to Law School? Ctd
I think the former barrister Harry Mount writing in the Spectator is onto something:
"There’s no reason why they should be paid any more than other graduates in less overrated jobs. But their high prices, and their dashing reputation, stoked up by Charles Dickens, John Mortimer and a million courtroom dramas, have conspired to produce this delusion of brilliance. It is a delusion many of them fall for themselves."
He's referring to the shrieks and wails of horror being emitted by the legal profession as the Lord Chancellor and non-lawyer, Chris Grayling implements swinging cuts to the legal aid bill.
But it still has resonance with the question of why everyone wants to go to Law School?
Because, as he suggested, Dickens, Mortimer and TV court room dramas have conspired to create a delusion of brilliance. On that is a fiction and but a grotesque characters that does nothing but lead young people up the garden path.
Harry tears into the legal profession, which he calls a "overcharging charade" and the "last unreformed profession", a little more which provides some interesting reading:
"A few specialist areas — banking law, trust law, intellectual property — require brainiacs with Oxbridge firsts, who deserve to be well paid. Most of the rest of it is child’s play. Divorce, death and housebuying are straightforward enough — lots of us manage them with little difficulty — and so is the law associated with them. But over the centuries we’ve let a small group of not particularly gifted people monopolise the legal control of these routine, if crucial, acts."
A little more:
"Most things barristers do for hundreds of pounds an hour could be done as well not just by solicitors but by any intelligent person. Many of the things high-street solicitors do, too — conveyancing, divorces and wills among them — are a doddle, especially in the age of the internet."
Read Harry Mount's piece in the Spectator in full here: http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/8927101/take-it-from-a-former-barrister-chris-grayling-is-right-to-reform-legal-aid/
"There’s no reason why they should be paid any more than other graduates in less overrated jobs. But their high prices, and their dashing reputation, stoked up by Charles Dickens, John Mortimer and a million courtroom dramas, have conspired to produce this delusion of brilliance. It is a delusion many of them fall for themselves."
He's referring to the shrieks and wails of horror being emitted by the legal profession as the Lord Chancellor and non-lawyer, Chris Grayling implements swinging cuts to the legal aid bill.
But it still has resonance with the question of why everyone wants to go to Law School?
Because, as he suggested, Dickens, Mortimer and TV court room dramas have conspired to create a delusion of brilliance. On that is a fiction and but a grotesque characters that does nothing but lead young people up the garden path.
Harry tears into the legal profession, which he calls a "overcharging charade" and the "last unreformed profession", a little more which provides some interesting reading:
"A few specialist areas — banking law, trust law, intellectual property — require brainiacs with Oxbridge firsts, who deserve to be well paid. Most of the rest of it is child’s play. Divorce, death and housebuying are straightforward enough — lots of us manage them with little difficulty — and so is the law associated with them. But over the centuries we’ve let a small group of not particularly gifted people monopolise the legal control of these routine, if crucial, acts."
A little more:
"Most things barristers do for hundreds of pounds an hour could be done as well not just by solicitors but by any intelligent person. Many of the things high-street solicitors do, too — conveyancing, divorces and wills among them — are a doddle, especially in the age of the internet."
Read Harry Mount's piece in the Spectator in full here: http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/8927101/take-it-from-a-former-barrister-chris-grayling-is-right-to-reform-legal-aid/
June 07, 2013
Education's Information Asymmetry, Ctd
https://twitter.com/brianjohnspencr/status/342718475611025408
https://twitter.com/brianjohnspencr/status/342574332817575937
https://twitter.com/brianjohnspencr/status/342574332817575937
June 05, 2013
Hitchens on Cliché
Christopher Hitchens discusses cliché and his crusade to avoid it at 17 minutes 20 seconds of the video above. He also discusses it at 1 hour 14 minutes 45 second of his talk on George Orwell here.
More of Hitchens on cliche on Slate Magazine here:
"Cliché, not plagiarism, is the problem with today's pallid political discourse."Then there's a profile of Vladimir Nabokov on brainpickings.org which includes his take on cliche. Available here:
"Journalistic cliches… ‘the moment of truth’ — ‘the moment of truth!’"
Hankering for Agrarian Society is a Reactionary Fantasy
At 1 hour 6mins 30
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&v=rY5Ste5xRAA
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&v=rY5Ste5xRAA
Islamic Extremism against the United States goes back to 1788
From 2 minutes 5 seconds Christopher Hitchens explains how Islamic extremism against America has nothing to do with George Bush and everything to do with the absolute dysfunction and hatred embedded in Muslim faith.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=xUFAuE6dnZM&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxUFAuE6dnZM
Also, interesting quote from founder of modern Turkey on Islam:
"Islam, the theology of an immoral Arab (the Prophet Mohammed), is a dead thing. It might possibly have suited tribes of nomads in the desert, but it's no good for a modern progressive State."
- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
You should also check out Douglas Murray's new ebook, 'Islamophilia'.
Review here:
Douglas Murray:
'ISLAMOPHILIA' shows how so many of the celebrities above, have, at some point chosen to abandon any hope or wish to criticize Islam and instead decided to profess some degree of love for it. Love, that Murray points out in the book, is often irrational and certainly misguided: Murray is not afraid to name and shame, and the book’s tour includes novelists Sebastian Faulks and Martin Amis, Boris Johnson, South Park, Tony Blair, Ridley Scott, David Cameron, Liam Neeson, Justin Bieber, Random House Publishers, the BBC, Richard Dawkins, the Prince of Wales and even George Bush. Yes, George Bush.
Six men planned terrorist attack on EDL demonstration:
http://m.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/06/islamic-extremists-attack-edl-rally
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=xUFAuE6dnZM&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxUFAuE6dnZM
Also, interesting quote from founder of modern Turkey on Islam:
"Islam, the theology of an immoral Arab (the Prophet Mohammed), is a dead thing. It might possibly have suited tribes of nomads in the desert, but it's no good for a modern progressive State."
- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
You should also check out Douglas Murray's new ebook, 'Islamophilia'.
Review here:
Douglas Murray:
'ISLAMOPHILIA' shows how so many of the celebrities above, have, at some point chosen to abandon any hope or wish to criticize Islam and instead decided to profess some degree of love for it. Love, that Murray points out in the book, is often irrational and certainly misguided: Murray is not afraid to name and shame, and the book’s tour includes novelists Sebastian Faulks and Martin Amis, Boris Johnson, South Park, Tony Blair, Ridley Scott, David Cameron, Liam Neeson, Justin Bieber, Random House Publishers, the BBC, Richard Dawkins, the Prince of Wales and even George Bush. Yes, George Bush.
Six men planned terrorist attack on EDL demonstration:
http://m.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/06/islamic-extremists-attack-edl-rally
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