http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/index.phpIDEAS FROM POP CULTURE TO POLITICS, TECHNOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY, BUSINESS, MEDIA, SPORT, AND LIFEennoreply@blogger.com (CB)Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:41:30 PDTBlogger http://www.blogger.com122125This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site.http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2009/06/twitter-interactive-fiction.phpnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:30:41 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-3642021586186614632When you sit in media symposiums or conferences a winning comment is always that people need to see beyond the broadcast capabilities of Twitter and use it as a social tool. Interaction in networks is key to creating connections. And connections connect. But when you are writing short fiction like...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2009/04/twitter-fiction-and-short-stories.phptwisterfictiontwittershort_storiesnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:59:47 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-8581698204532774818@Twae is my latest Twitter experiment. The early stages of any social media platform is a great time to try out new formats and styles before we all get hard-coded into predictable patterns of usage. Twitter demands that every post be less than 140 characters so why not try and create fiction and...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2009/04/twitter-guide.phpguidetwittermedianoreply@blogger.com (CB)Sun, 12 Apr 2009 05:34:40 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-1069669731028351249Twitter is the latest social network phenomena. By phenomena I mean it is reaching a tipping point in the public conscious, unlike say Seesmic or Qik, that might be hotter commodities in emerging social tools, but are still largely the domain of very early adopters. As with all these tools the...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2008/09/hockey-night-in-canada-theme.phpcreativemusicnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:45:28 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-6608762172421505934My good friend Dan Sombach and I have written, performed and produced a new submission for the Hockey Night in Canada theme competition. Have a listen: http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2008/04/clarity-capital.phpeconomicsinternetbusinessnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:33:47 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-6192122821602924425When not working on finishing my PhD and teaching online journalism at City University I am kept very busy in my role as Director, Creative Industries for Clarity Capital. This involves recommending investments in the creative industries and developing web 1.0-2.0 strategies and sites for Clarity...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2008/01/this-weeks-sign-of-apocalypse.phpnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:01:49 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-9128494454059077968Russian students attend teetotaler sex camp, Chinese students buy stocks, and when British students aren't busy inviting Bill Murray and Hugh Grant to crash their parties, they apparently turn off the footie to watch property shows and scream "BUY IT, BUY IT ... IT IS ONLY GOING UP!". According...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/10/swiss-cheese-politics.phpculturereligionpoliticsnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Fri, 12 Oct 2007 12:50:56 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-2264255432602837704What on earth is going on in Switzerland? The poster on the right is plastered all over bus stops, train stations and post offices in Swiss cities (except in Geneva where the campaign was banned by city council) in anticipation of federal elections on Sunday, 21 October. It is a rallying cry from...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/09/football-sociology.phpethicscommentsportinternetsociologynoreply@blogger.com (CB)Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:44:45 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-7534281950076090219It is a great pleasure to sit in the Emirates and watch Arsene Wenger's Red Army play Total Voetbal. But for the sociologist the culture around the beautiful game can also be a goldmine of sociological insight and investigation. For example, the unexpected and rapid departure of Jose Mourinho as...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/09/review-crucial-gizmo.phpcomputingbusinessnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Mon, 17 Sep 2007 08:08:37 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-2590934137038995684Caveat Emptor!! Let the buyer be very aware when they deal with the company Crucial. They are a big market player in portable media storage. I had heard pretty good things about them that led me to buy two Crucial Gizmo 2GB USB drives on the Web. Never again!! While one worked fine the other one...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/06/glastonbury-2007.phpculturemusicnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:31:45 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-8522010079486499745They say some people are suckers for punishment. But how can it be bad if it feels so good? Eleven years ago Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire entered Glastonbury folklore with the quote: "They should build a bypass over this shithole". But low and behold if it isn't those same Nicky and...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/05/superhumanity.phpsportphilosophynoreply@blogger.com (CB)Sat, 26 May 2007 08:19:51 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-342457605289546666Albert Einstein once wrote that "reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one". The incredible exploits of Wim Hof (aka the Iceman) and Manjit Singh (aka the Ironman) suggest that perhaps we live far too literally, encased in our self-made glass boxes, framed by a self depreciating...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/05/supernova.phpreligionsciencenoreply@blogger.com (CB)Wed, 09 May 2007 08:15:58 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-8074036552735219219Your typical supernova occurs when a massive star suffers gravitational collapse resulting in a transient luminosity comparable to an entire galaxy. It is probably the root of the phrase "going out with a bang". What makes it so incredible is that after about a month all the matter fades away...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/01/scrubs-air-band.phpvideofunnynoreply@blogger.com (CB)Wed, 31 Jan 2007 08:23:04 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-2475079103196492595As a kid my friends and I spent two weeks practicing our New Kids on the Block air band routine for Hangin' Tough. We performed it at the epic annual Battle of the Air Bands in front of all the teachers and cool kids from participating schools. Everything went well until bandmate Steve slipped out...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/01/blogger-hacks.phpbloginternetnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Wed, 31 Jan 2007 07:27:31 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-5569978089501309028Blogger Beta is a minor upgrade for Blogger users who have their own domain and do not use the hosted option. But thankfully the software has been around long enough now that hacks have been created for virtually any missing functionality. The following is a round-up of the ones that are used on...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/01/sometimes-you-just-have-to-laugh.phpvideofunnyfilmnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Wed, 31 Jan 2007 06:59:08 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-4084199781339996667The best work Tom Hanks has ever done is in classic Money Pit moments. Watch two comedy scenes from the film. http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/01/surreal-life.phpculturenoreply@blogger.com (CB)Sat, 27 Jan 2007 12:27:36 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-9208425981948512057Surreal is a beautiful word that has been hijacked by continuous flagrant misuse so that little apparently remains of the original meaning. In the Second Manifesto of Surrealism (1930) Andre Breton states that the surrealists strive to attain a "mental vantage-point (point de l'esprit) from which...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/01/theory-of-everything.phpacademiasciencesociologynoreply@blogger.com (CB)Sat, 27 Jan 2007 10:12:32 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-8035257238742748328Tensions in academia between science and social theory are largely the result on an over-inflated sense of righteousness and self-importance from both sides towards the other. Sometimes they have far more in common than they are willing to admit. For example here at Goldsmiths computing research...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/01/paul-halliday.phplondonphotographycultureacademiasociologynoreply@blogger.com (CB)Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:56:12 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-6220952737410538002Photo by Paul Halliday Visual sociology is a still emerging but exciting form of social practice as researchers seek to harness the powers of multimedia to contribute to understanding social life. At Goldsmiths College, University of London my colleague Paul Halliday recently completed a 20-year...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/01/civil-liberties-in-uk.phplondonculturelibertysociologynoreply@blogger.com (CB)Wed, 24 Jan 2007 20:00:24 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-3824898576347313373As a teenager in the process of establishing social and political consciousness I was swept away by John Stuart Mill's On Liberty and questions of "the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual". Witnessing the erosion of civil liberties...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/01/cynical-capitalism.phpeconomicscultureinternetmedianoreply@blogger.com (CB)Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:00:07 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-1034252017975335475One of the most annoying things about living in a capitalist culture of consumption is the way third rate shysters can follow a successful and legal path to material success. Of course everyone loves a good spammer, filling his pockets and your inbox with trash that earns on 5 in a million. That's...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/01/blogger-guide-to-ftp-labels.phpbloginternetnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Wed, 10 Jan 2007 07:41:36 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-8104119025337030038It is odd what gets you inspired to blog again ... and again ... and again. Everyone knows that the trick to succesful blogging is to write quality posts frequently. But sometimes it is just not interesting enough to participate regularly and the Blogger revamp addresses a key issue in opening up...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/01/lovelylondon002.phplondonphotographyculturenoreply@blogger.com (CB)Tue, 09 Jan 2007 08:25:32 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-8031199900264570972When considering life living in London I am equal parts Samuel Johnson ("bored of London, bored of life") and the Guardian's Lucy Magnan ("sit in a bathful of your own sweat and burn twenties"). But there is a quiet sensitivity to the city that is often underplayed. As life moves in a buzz, most of...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2007/01/2007.phpcanadaculturenoreply@blogger.com (CB)Tue, 09 Jan 2007 08:48:47 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-116778417781333094Back in 1999 I took a trip to within 100km of the North Pole to experience a slice of real Canadiana outdoor spirit. Coming back for Christmas from my Phd studies in London this year made me realize that this spirit lives in every outdoor ice rink, ski trail and breath of cool fragrant oxygen. It's...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2006/10/tiger-woods.phpsportnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Tue, 09 Jan 2007 08:49:10 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-116014786436579810Last week I went to the Grove golf course near Watford to watch Tiger Woods. There was a golf tournament going on as well of course, or at least I think that's what those other players were doing walking around with stern expressions looking much smaller than they do on TV. But like many other...http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2006/09/reflections-on-911.phpculturecommentpoliticsnoreply@blogger.com (CB)Tue, 09 Jan 2007 11:25:01 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5839171.post-115803808859633638It feels fitting on the fifth anniversary of the planes crashing into the World Trade Centre in New York to watch the film United 93 -- an informed fictional account of the only plane not to connect with its target on that fateful day. What strikes the viewer is the suffering of the innocents as...