I used Wordle.net this week for the first time. It’s great! I used it to do a quick analysis of some qualitative responses to a survey we had conducted amongst the members of the association I work for. It’s a good way of getting a quick overview trends in the text and the word clouds…Continue readingClouds and words
We were late in discovering that Mumford & Sons were playing in Utrecht last Monday, so we turned up to a sold out show without tickets. Fortunately we picked up a pair of tickets at face value (€15 each) from someone who’s ill friends couldn’t make it. Hurrah! The band was recommended to us by…Continue readingMumford & Sons – Tivoli Utrecht – 26.04.2010
“The bicycle is the most civilised conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.” So wrote Iris Murdoch in The Red and the Green. I couldn’t agree more, although I’ll admit that the evening “rush hour” in Amsterdam can feel anything but civilised, particularly…Continue readingIn praise of: bicycles as a civilising influence
What an enjoyable gig! Tunng delivered a really tight performance in the Melkweg last night with interesting rhythms, hummable melodies and plenty of good humour. There were six people on stage, with up to five voices blending together in harmony at times. The combination of loops and samples with two live percussionists worked really well.…Continue readingTunng – Melkweg – 20.04.2010
Finally some sense! Close to the end of her show in the Oude Zaal at the Melkweg last night Laura Marling explained that she would do two more songs and that would be it. She said that being a regular gig-goer in London she resented the fact that every single gig involved having to call…Continue readingLaura Marling – Melkweg – 05.04.2010
This is my favourite tool for sending files that are too large for email. Nice simple interface, the option of password protection, and up to 100MB per “drop” free of charge. http://drop.io (Bonus factoid: the .io domain name is from British Indian Ocean Territory, which happens to be where the Chagos Archipelago can be found.…Continue readingJust drop it off
Back when I worked in a role more focused on media and technology I used to have a printout of the latest Web Trends map from Information Architects pinned above my desk. The maps attempt to capture the most significant websites and online trends of the moment in the format of a public transport network…Continue readingMapping web trends
This is a fantastic compendium of essential online reading – it dates from a couple of years ago but still seems to be up to date. I had been aware of many of these blogs already, but it’s interesting to get this overview of where they came from, how they’re funded, who writes them, etc……Continue readingThe world’s fifty most powerful blogs
We went to see Tom McRae at the Melkweg last night. I’ve been aware of him for quite a few years but never really got around to listening to any of his music. The gig was reasonably good – and very much enjoyed by the core of dedicated fans up at the front. His five…Continue readingTom McRae – Melkweg – 29.03.2010
In this era of randomly shuffling through your entire music collection there’s a lot to be said for music selected and playlisted by humans, particularly if that music happens to broadly match your musical tastes. Det Elektriske Barometer is a digital and internet radio station from the Danish national public broadcaster. They play a mix…Continue readingIn praise of: The Electric Barometer from Danish Radio