A Proper experience

When was the last time you went to the theatre? Ok. Now when was the last time you got paid to go to the theatre? Not often i bet. The Theatre isn’t somewhere I go, I like the idea of it, but I don’t have excess money, and when I do I use it to treat myself on DVDs CDs or going to see a live band or watch a film. Theatres, plays and musicals are an extra luxury - or possibly an extra-extra luxury.

Recently I’ve been lucky enough to work on behalf of MediaSnackers with the Everyman theatre group up in Liverpool, that were putting on a production of Proper Clever. And it is here that I got my first chance to experience a play since I was 12yrs old, playing ‘winky’ in rather majestic performance of ‘wee willy winky’ at school. I held the lamp btw, and I’m certain I was selected for the part due to my cute factor (no really) … I was small for my age, blond, cute, confident and had to sing a song - I dreaded doing it, and it possibly scarred me for life, but hey doesn’t everything?

Soo, the play in question felt rather odd to start with, the only similarities I had in my mind was going to ‘The Brand New Heavies’ (youtube link) in Colston Hall, Bristol 15yrs ago, when I went upstairs to the seats for a good view and gradually edged open my jacket to reveal my homemade BNH t-shirt (yes I was that much of a fanboy - and still am, minus the t-shirts). The playhouse theatre took me right back to those days, expecting a band to come on and be mesmerised by people standing still, moving only their fingers. Proper Clever basically performed a full frontal lobotomy on me within the first 10secs with impressive visuals and captivated my attention throughout with almost flawless young actors and a constant stream of remarkable dialogue from writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce (imdb link) that must have researched his target audience with the same precision of David Attenborough poking his fingers for several months into a pack of lions.  

The play was dripping in digital references and had visuals that left me wondering how it was all created - things have clearly moved on in the theatre going world, since my stage debut. By the end of the experience, I was definitely wow’d, my eyes had been opened up to something missing from my experience for over 20yrs. Luckily the subject matter was bang on my mentality and I could identify with most of the references made and in jokes played. 

Regarding my involvement, I had been lucky enough to spend some time training and assisting young people ages 14 - 19 to develop their media skills to become Digital Journalists. Throwing young people in at the deep end to try things they have never done before, is always a risk, as the whole project could backfire if the ole teenage rebellion kicks in, but I honestly have to say that kids came up trumps… everyone achieved beyond our expectations and stepped up to the challenge with great results. Don’t take my word for it, stop by their blog and watch the action unfold each night as the performance runs. 

In a nutshell the Everyman crew hired MediaSnackers to spice up their project and introduce some new ideas technologies and platforms for connecting with their audience. That we did, in bucket loads. But that’s not what this post is about - working with people that want to learn and develop their skills into positive future for themselves, is what makes me get up in the morning… and the more work I can do like that, the better. 

out - Mark

I’ve decided to create a timeline of my life… for this I’m going to need lots of help. Starting with my family. And probably involving you lot too. It should be fun

Click through for the timeline, I’ll be adding to it as I recall things, and its open for anyone else with a more reliable brain that me to post stuff too: dipity / Mark Mapstone

*Edit* hmm.. actually I don’t think ‘anyone’ can add to my timeline… I think its only for people that have dipity accounts.. sorry about that, if its any different I’ll let you know.

*Edit* Good news and bad news… people without dipity accounts ‘can’ (attempt) to add a new event, by clicking on the ‘List’ link at the bottom of the timeline - a ‘add an event’ link appears in the top right - however whenever I try to add something, it fails eg: the panel just sits there and doesn’t post anything (FF and Chrome and IE btw)

… more news as I get it.

Designers are a funny bunch. 

They think and think and think on your behalf, are dripping in ideas and think sideways. They execute with passion and understanding and quality. They are artists. They are worth every penny, and worth twice as much as you think they are worth. They really are hard to pin down. Good designers don’t need steering, they don’t need you to do their thinking for them - infact, every sentence you utter to steer them, loses the value you can get out of them. Think about that. Every single sentence you speak to guide them in your direction, steers their thoughts away from their design and your success. Physically, mentally and financially. 

When you see a design, you see it with fresh eyes. A designer cannot present the ‘thought’ that comes with the physical look that you may debate. You get it cold. Effectively, you won’t understand it. Its like a new language interpretation of what you have already known, either in your product, service, website or field of delivery. This sudden ‘jarring’ of the brain, when you view something ‘cold’ is the same reaction when experiencing modern art for the first time. It creates a reaction, and that reaction lodges inside your brain to become unforgettable. Anything that creates a strong positive or negative emotion becomes memorable. And that, essentially is what you want from a designer - to be memorable. To make people ‘know’ who you are, what you offer and to be able to recall your product or service as soon as the sector you are involved in, is mentioned. 

But designers are artists, and all artists struggle to be understood by the masses, they have to fight for their designs, they have to dig their heels in and try try try to explain why ‘this’ works, why it will work for you and why you should use it. Very often, they will not do a good job of justifying their actions, they will fail to convince you, and you will see that struggle of justification and offer your own thoughts in trying to make clear their thoughts… and then it happens - you open your mouth, words fall out, and the design is compromised.

The designer implodes, and you have instantly lost money. 

Some times, some people, some companies trust their designers - they won’t understand them, they won’t necessarily agree with them, but they will value the person they employ so much that they will believe in their thoughts… and, just, go with it.

This is how things like http://flickr.com/explore/panda happen. And isn’t it beautiful? isn’t it challenging? isn’t it memorable? You are looking at the value of trusting a good designer. And it is worth many many times more than you’re prepared to pay them - even if its not immediately clear why.

Everyone that views the panda, will love it… they will wish that it was theirs, doing for their company what it is already doing for the competition. You will get your panda too, however it probably won’t look anything like a panda, except through the eyes of a good designer.

You may now forward this post to your boss on the day you quit.

nanowrimo isn’t far away and I’ve committed myself again for another month of solid writing until a substantial mess is completed. Last year I missed the official get together, but this year I’m prepared and ready to join in with everyone else. 

this year I only have a vague plot - gawd help me.

I have me eReader… and now I need to blog about it. But I don’t want to talk about what it is, I want to talk about what it will be. 

The moment I switched it on, and saw the screen quality, was the moment I realised that all my printed books would slowly become obsolete. Remember the first time you converted, ripped or downloaded an Mp3? that feeling that everything from here on, is set to change - that’s the same feeling I had over this shiny brushed metal machine.

The reading surface is what I want to shout about. Not the technology from the brand, the screen, or ’surface’ - which is probably a better name for it. It isn’t a screen, it doesn’t resemble anything I have ‘ever’ owned. Think about that. Or anything you have ever owned.

Consider your LCD watch, your laptop, your calculator, your microwave digital timer, your tv screen, your phone, your mp3 player and now consider that the screen on the eReader does not resemble any of those at all. This is new. New like the iPod touch. Its that new. Not ‘new’ as in recent, ‘new’ as in different, revolutionary and unprecedented.

Its a surface, not a screen. It isn’t backlit, it isn’t glossy, and this is the big one…. the brighter the day the better it works. You have to try one of these things to understand what I’m talking about. Every other electrical device you own, that has a screen of some sort, fails in sunlight. This thing excels. This is the very first digital electrical device I have ever owned that I want to take outside in the blinding summer (ok autumn) sunshine.

This surface (not this product) will replace books, it will make your book collection obsolete, publishers are right to be worried, paper now has a serious competitor and one day you will understand exactly why I am this certain.

mark

I have ordered my eReader…

…and I have a lot to say on the subject: risking boring people to death with it. But that’s for the bloody good reason that, no-one, and by that I mean ‘no-one I know’, realises how important it is to have books available in a digital format on a dedicated device - *mark sighs.  Ok I’ll explain simply. Firstly take music, its primary format is ‘live’ … played by people as a performance. You cannot get any more simplified than a musician playing an instrument. If you did, it wouldn’t be music. Live music is perfect, but its not portable, therefore a portable recorded format is necessary in order for people to enjoy it away from the stage. With me? right I’ll continue…

Now writing…

Books are the primary format of writing. It can’t get any more simplified - otherwise it would move into the realm of ’storytelling’, which is actually in the same same vein as audio performance and will fall into the ‘music’ category for an audible format. No, books are without doubt the primary format of writing. This is great, however books aren’t portable. Yes, 1, 2 or even 5 are… but 10, 20 or 60 aren’t. ‘but Mark, no-one is going to read 60 or even 10 books in one go!’ … uhh yes they are. Lets take book publishers, or proof readers that will skim through acres of manuscripts searching for the next bestseller, or maybe Uni lecturers that have 60 5,000 word assignments to read through and have a 3hr train journey ahead of them. Better still how about the students that won’t have to carry around a dozen reference books about in order to complete their paper - and don’t even think about reading on a laptop, you’d have to be insane to think that, that is a comfortable experience. Ohh I’m not done, how about people that travel frequently? or those that have a bloody long journey ahead of them, or those that just can’t face reading an unappealing 500 pages of ugly dull text? And its not just me… actually it is ‘just me’, with my millions of diagnosed and undiagnosed dyslexic friends. Lets look at that one a second. The main requirement for someone with reading difficulties to read a book, is formatting - we’re talking, margins, font size, whitespace, number of pages, number of chapters, paragraphs, line and sentence length and so on… even the title and cover can put people off! Remove all of the above (with the exception of sentence length) by using an eReader or similar and suddenly even War and Peace becomes within reach of anyone that can read - no matter how long it may take them. The point is, the formatting of the publication will not put them off trying in the first place. 

Also…

How about writers? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get published? About as simple as it is to get a record contract if you’re a musician - 1 in a million. And yes, I know the cream always rises, but that hasn’t stopped millions of bands from recording their own tunes and letting the public decide whether they are worth listening to. Why should the publishing world be allowed to remain an exclusive club? Digital readers will allow the free and easy distribution of novels, plays, scripts and research papers to find anyone and everyone, regardless as to whether a publisher thinks otherwise. 

I haven’t even scratched the surface of ’short stories’ or ‘poems’ or childrens titles, or the importance of constantly changing, frequently re-read documents - like newspapers, blogs or RSS feeds. Nore have I touched on the eco friendly paperless argument for normally ‘printed and wasted’ documents. 

C’mon - its not rocket science is it? I read all over the net and newspapers about miserable old people complaining about how published / printed books are the essence of society, are the pivot of good education and are the essential bond between parents and children - and I read these sentences, and I believe them too. But there’s so much more about writing than printing out a fixed format document. Books will never die out. Its the primary format remember, all thats being provided is a convenient portable format. And when has a digital conversion of a format ever ‘not’ been a good idea? Sure we might go through a few ‘DRM’ issues and have copyright legalities and even the old Betamax vs VHS war all over again, but the basic principle of a portable digital format is still a winner - and the sooner more and more new and old books are available in this format the better we all will be. 

And I can hear people muttering how this technology won’t reach the masses like I’m claiming because of the costs. A book is under a tenner, whilst an eReader is £200 + the cost of the title. Yes, now it is. But in time it won’t be. just like people can now afford incredible pieces of complex technology wrapped up in a small monthly payment for a mobile phone, or perhaps you’ve forgotten how the once mightily expensive MP3 players can now be bought for less than a tenner? The important thing is, items that are normally printed, are digitised - that’s all I’m stating really. 

Sooo…. the only reason I’m buying an eReader now, is because it effects me directly now. One day, it will effect you directly too, and you will then also find yourself embracing a digital document to read. It may not ever be on a dedicated electronic reader, but it could end up being embedded in the next coffee table you purchase - either way, its coming to a pair of eyeballs within you, whether you like it or not. Because its a good idea, and because the world needs it.

I am done with the japan photos now…. seriously, I feel like I’ve shot my eyes off. This is from floor 48 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building… we looked at it the whole time we were there, but only got up there on the last night. Click through for the last few shots. 

More fresh fruits, Ueno zoo, restaurant adventures, IAPS conference tour, and Tokyo Harbour etc… get clicky clicky:

http://flickr.com/photos/markmapstone

Arigatou - mark

a few places that we’ve been trekking to: 

Roppongi
A popular Ex-Pat area, found by stumbling through many backstreets from our first tubestation experience. Fell into a great restaurant which had a touchscreen computer on each table to order food - and even with all menus in Japanese, we were able to order a number of edible items - mine of which, looked and tasted like pork and chewed like Goodyear tyres and eventually left my body like an Oyster on a HelterSkelter. Why exactly the joint had a sign on the entrance door saying ‘Caution: Police stop here’ I couldn’t figure out. Why would a restaurant advertise to its customers that police arrive occasionally? Or maybe it was telling the police that they aren’t allowed to go beyond that point? Anyways, we pay and leave without the assistance of the Japanese Mafia - which I consider to be a good thing. 

We had 2 unsuccessful attempts that night: first was to try and gatecrash a private members only Karaoke bar and the other was finding Space Lab Yellow nightclub. The best we could manage was Paddy Foleys Irish Pub - oh and it rained so we bought a £3 umbrella which appears to be so trendy with the local during ‘its chucking down’ time. 

Akihabara
Tech heaven we’d been told and it sure was. The narrow streets were fantastic to walk about, lots of market trader type of feeling to everything - including us being treated to some miserable teenagers banging drums in a street parade thing, whilst a very enthusiatic skantily dressed girl gyrated upfront for the shoppers. What that was all about I don’t know - but it was a feature, so it was welcome. We didn’t buy anything electrical, however we did find a rather cool ‘Linux Café’ which did the best food and wandered about 6 floors of intense gaming in the Sega building.

Shibuya
This place is the rich and trendy area with cool kids wearing whatever they liked and all the major worldwide brand names pimping themselves in the golden shop fronts. We were in the area looking to visit the contemporary Art Museum, but apparently, they don’t do Monday’s - bah. We settled in the Myspace Café - which had nothing to do with Myspace other than stealing the name (more on that later). Em bought some fancy trainers and the shop assistant bowed each time he handed her a shoe to try on - elsewhere it would have been weird - but here, it is normal practice, including the unison chorus of goodbyes from all staff members when leaving the building. 

I have more photos to ‘flickr’ - but haven’t gotten round to it yet. 

There are many other things worth mentioning, but I’ll save it for later. We’re just getting ready to train it out of the city in to the country to see Em’s mate Colin. Looking forward to that, as it’ll be nice to get some contrast from the urban environment. 

ok, I’m done, laters - mark

Things my eyeballs captured in the short time I’ve been in Tokyo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markmapstone/show/