Last night I attended an excellent event put on by the Public Policy Forum called Social Media and Democracy: What Can Be Done? at which no less than 5 smart and highly informed guest speakers from journalism, government, academia, civil society and the tech sector discussed the state of the internet and the threat of 'surveillance... Continue Reading →
Meeting the Underdog: A Mingus Epitaph Memoir
On June 3,1989 I spent the better part of three hours onstage at Alice Tully Hall in New York's Lincoln Centre alongside Gunther Schuller, John Handy, Wynton Marsalis, John Abercrombie, George Adams and literally dozens of other legendary jazz musicians in what was called by the New York Times, “the jazz event of the decade.”... Continue Reading →
Revolutionary Wachowski Series Sense8 Triggers Media Blackout
As of this writing, a week after the release of the extraordinary Sense8 Christmas special on Netflix, Rotten Tomatoes lists only 5 reviews of the show. Barely enough to trigger the Tomatometer. This is ridiculous and needs explaining. For by rights this mind-expanding, action-packed and shockingly beautiful adrenalin shot of television should be widely celebrated and... Continue Reading →
Empathy and Technology – Damned Journalists
This is the first in a series of posts about Empathy and Technology. The next installment will be on Surveillance -- As you may know, I have been following the Leveson inquiry into media ethics in the UK and it continues to yield amazing entertainment and insights. Among other things it demonstrates how very little... Continue Reading →