mssv

Reading More = Reading Better

June 25, 2019

·

5–7 minutes

·

No comments on Reading More = Reading Better

Issue 8 of my newsletter – subscribe here It’s hard to shake the feeling you’re having the same thoughts and ideas as everyone else if you just watch and read and listen to the same content – which these days tend to be the most upvoted or retweeted. This is a problem if your job involves…
Telling Tall Tales on Twitter

June 16, 2019

·

5–7 minutes

·

No comments on Telling Tall Tales on Twitter

Issue 7 of my newsletter – subscribe here When you listen to a stand-up comedian, you probably know their stories are being exaggerated for comic effect. That’s fine! Everyone understands they aren’t watching a documentary. We don’t need a disclaimer on the front door telling us the events depicted inside are fictional, even if we might…
Money Illiteracy, Apple Arcade

June 9, 2019

·

8–12 minutes

·

No comments on Money Illiteracy, Apple Arcade

Issue 6 of my newsletter – subscribe here Since buying a house a couple of years ago, I’ve noticed more and more people talking about overpaying their mortgages, and I find the whole idea mystifying. The mechanics of mortgages were alien to me until recently, and they may well be to you as well. In the…
British Servility, Gamification of Jobs Inside the API

June 5, 2019

·

5–8 minutes

·

No comments on British Servility, Gamification of Jobs Inside the API

Issue 5 of my newsletter – subscribe here The rise of Conservative MP Rory Stewart has sparked an intense frustration in me. Many people who would never vote for a right-wing party have confessed liking this “British eccentric with preternatural intelligence“, as Hadley Freeman from the Guardian described him. What is it, precisely, that Freeman admires…
90s Hagiography and Half Marathons

May 31, 2019

·

5–8 minutes

·

No comments on 90s Hagiography and Half Marathons

Issue 4 of my newsletter – subscribe here Now that millennials are ageing into their status as Prime Consumers of culture, it’s no surprise that our childhood era of the 90s is being mined for nostalgia. Not all of this is cynical – I’m as charmed by games like Hypnospace Outlaw that harken back to the early…
The Cultures Ep 296: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?

May 26, 2019

·

1–2 minutes

·

No comments on The Cultures Ep 296: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?

Listen to episode 296 of my weekly podcast with Andrea Phillips and Naomi Alderman: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? The Rise of the Meritocracyby Michael Young, the book that coined the term satirically Liquid Death sells water to punks who are too cool for alcohol Note: No Naomi this ep
How to Read The New Yorker, my new TV, and the Playdate

May 23, 2019

·

6–8 minutes

·

No comments on How to Read The New Yorker, my new TV, and the Playdate

Issue 3 of my newsletter – subscribe here The New Yorker is the most consistently well-written longform magazine I’ve read, and it’s been the source of so many of my ideas over the years. It’s also the one of the most unread magazines out there, gracing coffee tables across the world in artistic tsundokus. For the…
The Mapping Problem

May 20, 2019

·

6–8 minutes

·

2 comments on The Mapping Problem

Issue 2 of my newsletter – subscribe here There’s the book I’d like to write. And there’s the book I ought to write. Last year, someone from Samsung’s strategy team asked to talk to me about whether “gamification” could be a possible use (if not a killer app) for a hypothetical augmented reality heads-up display. I…
The Cultures Ep 295: Alternis

May 19, 2019

·

1–2 minutes

·

No comments on The Cultures Ep 295: Alternis

Listen to episode 295 of my weekly podcast with Andrea Phillips and Naomi Alderman: Alternis on Serial Box “A Taste of Armageddon” (the Star Trek ep Adrian was talking about) Memories of the Alhambra Note: No Naomi this ep
Wandering Through Designed Storytelling Environments (aka Exhibitions)

May 16, 2019

·

8–12 minutes

·

1 comment on Wandering Through Designed Storytelling Environments (aka Exhibitions)

Issue 1 of my newsletter – subscribe here I have friends who can’t imagine a worse punishment than visiting Disneyworld or sailing on a cruise. These lifeless environments are smeared with the fingerprints of designers desperate to part you with your money, whereas – I imagine them saying – nature demands no payment. And I get…