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I’m on the bandwagon

Just published a privacy policy. The styles don’t really support multi-level headings right now, that will have to come later.

It’s probably overkill to have such a long privacy policy for a personal website, but it felt like a useful exercise. I like the fact that an essential part of GDPR is that these policies have to be readable and easy to understand. That makes them both a policy and an educational opportunity. A lot of people don’t really know why they need to be careful with their data or how to do that and honestly, that’s fair enough. Data privacy has been under-appreciated for a long time. If we talk about it enough though, and be patient with one another, that can improve.

There are downsides to the GDPR hullabaloo though… so many people are applying quick, artificial fixes. Pop-ups, spammy-looking emails saying “please re-register!” that themselves feel like spam… It all feels a little web 1.0 at the moment. There’s a real fine line between being considerate and useful vs being shouty and in the way of day-to-day life on the web. There’s no quick fix really, it takes time and care to look long and hard at this stuff.

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🌈 + beata viscera iridis at the Royal Academy

Rainbows + Beata Viscera Iridis performed by Musarc at the Royal Academy, May 2018

Musarc performed Rainbows + Beata viscera iridis on the Burlington Gardens staircase at the Royal Academy on Saturday 19 May 2018 as part of the RA’s 250 birthday celebrations.

Rainbows is devised by artist Sarah Kate Wilson, and Beata viscera iridis is a simple arrangement of a medieval conductus by myself and architect Toby O’Connor. This is, I believe, the third staging of these pieces together.

A few of the performances at the RA had a lower key than usual. An interesting register to work with, the energy is very different. The clip here includes the introduction and the beginning of the conductus.

Photo by Justine Trickett. Recording courtesy Sam Belinfante.

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Rehearsing Rainbows

Early last year, Sarah Kate Wilson approached Musarc with a concept for a performance involving coloured mirrors. Around the same time, Toby O’Connor and I were mulling over ways of working with Beata Viscera, a conductus by medieval composer Pérotin. These experiments blended well and in April 2017, Musarc opened and closed the 3rd Do Disturb festival at Palais De Tokyo with Rainbows + Beata viscera iridis. Watch a video documenting Musarc’s various PDT performances on musarc.org. These pieces were performed again as part of MK Gallery’s 2017 CityFest and at Rochester Square’s Open Day on 24 June 2017.

Musarc rehearsing Rainbows

Musarc rehearsing Rainbows + Beata viscera iridis at Central House just before the building was sold by London Met Uni.

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Tiny pat on the back

The e-newsletters we made for Penguin Classics got a mention in a recent newsletter from The Better Email [✉ ∞]. Made me smile. Here are a few newsletters from the Penguin Random House team that I particularly like.

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Leather strap repair on straw bag repair

Brown leather strap repair on straw bag

Replaced the broken leather straps on my mom’s old straw bag with my new (new to me anyway!) favourite tool.

Speedy Stitcher Sewing Awl

Edit 2018.08.29 at 15:08
This bag has seen a lot of action this summer and the handles are holding up well. The straw (it’s more like thin rope…) is starting to fray at the top though. I’ve lashed it together with invisible fishing line for the time being. I’m expecting sections of it to give way eventually, at which point I’m considering doing some sort of makeshift crochet/embroidery thing to keep it patched up. That’s where that black line came from, it was a little band made of the same straw material that wrapped round the whole bag. It was totally eaten away in parts, so I unwound what was left and replaced it with black embroidery floss.

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Allsorts

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GitHub repo for lobste.rs

lobste.rs is a link aggregator by Joshua Stein that runs on Rails. See the About page for a run down of it’s features and the reasons behind them.

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What Do We Lose When It’s Easy to Use? In Defence of Inefficiency

Lecture by Andy Pressman of Rumors and Verso Books for DWP.

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“The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge” by Rainer Maria Rilke

‘There are no beginners’ classes in life. What is required of you is always the hardest thing, right from the start.’

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before sleep at the end of love (description of a lullaby)

Tuesday 27 September 2016, 7–7.30pm
Bold Tendencies, Car park floors 7-10, 95A Rye Ln, London SE15 4TG
Tickets £8 on door

An opera by Sarah Hardie. Music composed collaboratively with Jack Sheen, choreography by Eleesha Drennan. Performance by Sarah Hardie, Angela Hardie, and Musarc. I’ve really enjoyed working on this and am looking forward to the performance.

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