What he says (Sent from my iPhone)

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s five things…

1. A conversation with Alexander Shelley (conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra & music director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa) on the architecture of music and the importance of art and culture to society. It's one of the best things I've listened to this year.
    
2. A learning hack backed by science? Yes please! — The Secret to Better Learning That Most People Don’t Know.
    
3. A great post on originality by Austin Kleon titled Steal Old Stuff — "When any art form or medium becomes primarily about people imitating the dominant form, we get stifling art. If you look at all of the great filmmakers, they’re all ripping someone off but it was someone 50 years ago."
    
4. A very useful cognitive bias cheat sheet (make sure you check out the 'diagrammatic poster' at the bottom of the post) — Because thinking is hard.
    
5. If you didn't know it already, Elon Musk and his company SpaceX are awesome. Last week they announced their plans for Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species. They seem to be very serious when they say they want to send humans to Mars. Redefines what it means to be ambitious!

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts in your inbox.

Ipswich By Night

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s five things…

1. "If you can learn it, it's a skill. If it's important, but innate, it's a talent." The difference between what is a skill and what is a talent is often lost or confused. As Seth Godin succinctly explains here, there is a difference and it's an important one.
    
2. The idea of being too inspired, isn't one you probably entertain too often. But seeking out inspiration versus actually doing original work is a fine balance. This is a great post on the topic by Jason Fried — "Don’t be influenced too much. Be aware of what’s great, but don’t get other people’s work too deep in your head or you’ll be doing their work, not yours."
    
3. Much to the annoyance of my brother I've watched this several times. — Monty Python’s Argument Sketch performed by two vintage speech synthesizers.
    
4. This year I've really embraced the idea of sharing more of my work and ideas for free (here's one example of that). There are obviously pros and cons associate with this, but for me, I think the upsides far outweigh the downsides. Using photography as an example, these articles both make a great case for sharing more, rather than less.
    
5. Earlier this week I finished reading Sam Harris' book Free Will. It's a mind blowing book and I highly recommend it. The audiobook read by Sam is particularly good.

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts in your inbox.

Hollywells Park

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s five things…

1. I really dislike having to own a car. I CANNOT wait for the time when I won't have to own one, and luckily for me it looks that time might not be too far away.
    
2. 12 Kinds of Kindness: A 12-step experiment designed to open our hearts, eyes, and minds — A cool project by designers Jessica Walsh (who I mentioned a couple of weeks ago) and Timothy Goodman.
    
3. Aimed at photographers, but applicable to other domains, this is a great guide to producing more original and creative work by Death To Stock Photography.
    
4. I can't remember if I've shared this here before, but even if I have it's worth watching again. Wintergatan's Marble Machine uses 2000 marbles to make music — Martin Molin is a very smart guy!
    
5. Clouds Over Sidra — Everyone should watch this short film. It's a very powerful and moving virtual reality tour of the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan (home to 130,000 Syrians, 50% of which are children). There is so much hate and negativity towards refugees in the media, let's not forget they are people too.

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts in your inbox.

Kick Music Schools

As you may or may not know, I run Kick! Music Schools. Kick! run five-day music workshops for 11-17-year-olds in Ipswich and we have one more Rock School this year. If you or a son or daughter are into music this is for them!

The Rock School will take place from the 24th-28th October. Learn more on Kick!'s website.

Reach

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s five things…

1. "Despite leaps in technology over the past hundred years, the instruments we play have barely changed, and the new ones look a lot like the old ones. So where are all the new musical instruments?" — A great article on the invention of new musical instruments. Which reminds me... I'd love one of these!
    
2. I absolutely love Anika Nilles' drumming. She has many great videos on youtube but this one is my favourite. So many great little moments!
    
3. Watch evolution in action. These videos are incredible... and terrifying!
    
4. "We've trained people to be certain for years, and then launch them into a culture and an economy where relying on certainty does us almost no good at all." — Seth Godin on traditional schooling. 
    
5. This website brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye — What did David Bowie do at your age? (ps David Bowie’s final recordings are being released next month!)

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts in your inbox.