Recently updated blogs

The second of a series of posts in which I document my progress learning to play the ukulele. This post is long overdue. I started writing it several times but I have never been focused enough to do it. As with writing on my blog, also my exercising has slowed down. The previous diary entry ended with strumming rhythms and changing between the C, F and G chords. I was …

Growing up in New York, first in the city and then later in Albany, a young Herman Melville made frequent trips to stay with his uncle, Thomas Melvill, who lived on a farm near Pittsfield, in the Berkshire mountains of Western Massachusetts. In 1850, Thomas decided to sell his property. Melville, now with a young family of his own, arrived that summer for what they believed to be his final …

Kaleidoscope, the classic TV organisation, is holding a day event on the Television Play at the Midlands Art Centre (MAC) in Birmingham on Saturday 7 September 2024, 10.00-5.30pm. The event will include screenings of plays made for Armchair Theatre, Saturday Night Theatre, Thirty Minute Theatre and Television Theatre From The Midlands, and there will be a screening of The Mystery of Cader Ifan (1967), a rare Conan Doyle adaptation featuring …

4.5 years after my initial podcast inventory, with COVID and a career change under my belt, with my OPML file growing from 566 rss feeds in 2022 to 771* in 2024 (with quite a few of my fave NPR podcasts dying), and my backlog mounting to 43GB (according to this script, my outstanding episodes: 11915 (played: 22451)), I am now needing to declare podcast bankruptcy.

Not movie related but… TRANSGESSIONS, my latest collection of short stories is out now as an eBook and paperback. You can order your copy here. If you like it please consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads.

It is well known today that Iran is one of the most dangerous countries for LGBTQ+ people. However, thanks to the actions and determination of one woman, Maryam Khatoon Molkara, Iran now carries out more sex reassignment surgeries than all but one country.

A deeper understanding of the relationship between seeing and thinking is necessary to designing for sustained attention. The connection between the eye and the mind is mysterious. It’s not that it is completely opaque to us; we understand many aspects of how our sense of sight interacts with the brain. But the obscurity of the eye-mind connection is also well represented by common phrases we often use in describing the …

My relationship with photography continues to evolve. Lately it’s become much more personal, useful for holding memories of family and travel close to the heart and less to discover poetry in light. Yet there are moments, camera by my side, that still speak up and scream for attention. Most times they are the calm ones, between sentences, when my mind actually has a moment to focus on the wider world …

Today, on the tenth anniversary of Overcast 1.0, I’m happy to launch a complete rewrite and redesign of most of the iOS app, built to carry Overcast into the next decade — and hopefully beyond. Like podcasts better than blog posts? Listen to ATP #596 for more! What’s new Much faster, more responsive, more reliable, and more accessible. Modern design, optimized for easily-reached controls on today’s phone sizes. Improvements throughout, …

Growing Up in Alphabet City: The Unexpected Letterform Art of Michael Doret. Hardcover, 10 × 10¾ inches, 328 pages (including 7 concertina fold-outs).Get your copy Doret is a lettering legend whose instantly recognizable artwork has helped define the look of popular culture for over fifty years. Since the 1970s, he has brought his unique style to magazine covers, posters, signs, and typefaces. He created logos for sports teams and fast …

In the US, it's common for local governments to focus on tax revenue produced by a property, without considering the costs it adds to the city's budget. This is like measuring how far a car can drive without considering how much gas it uses to get there. Different properties create different long-term cost burdens for the city. One of the biggest contributors to that variance is the amount of infrastructure …

🏳️‍⚧️ Today marks 5 years since I came out as trans on the internet. Time for a little ✨ gender update ✨. 💖 Check the release notes for all the details!

The more I think about my life, the more of a loser I realize I am. There might be a tinge of regret of not making different decisions, of ultimately taking the safe path in life. But we’re told that regrets are for losers. (Things are getting quite circular here.) Nevertheless the inner gothpunkrebel of my teenage years would spit on my face now seeing how ultimately petit-bourgeois I have …

You know those last five seconds of a green light? The ones where the guy in front of you suddenly has to stop for a bit but just enough so that you can't escape? Yeah, that one. Yesterday when returning from the office I faced a similar situation but I had already crossed the white line and I could either move forward or stop in the middle of the road. …

A new children's book now available, and updates about other projects