Kester Brewin

Interesting storm blown up over the Press Complaints Commission’s censure of a piece written by right-wing blogger Rod Liddle in The Spectator recently. In it he wrote that “overwhelming majority” of London’s violent crime was carried out by young, African-Caribbean men. In his evidence to the PCC he provided statistics that confirmed that certainly a [...]

News International confirmed today that their papers in the UK will move to a subscription-based service in the coming months, starting with The Times and moving on to other titles such as The Sun. I’m no supporter of Murdoch or NI at all, but I do have some sympathy for the model they are trying [...]

[ Mash Up 1 ] [ Mash Up 2 ] In the previous two posts I’ve been trying to explore what our relationship is to text, especially when the text we are reading is ‘too comfortable’. David Shields has been trying to shock people into re-thinking what next for literature in his manifesto, Reality Hunger, [...]

In the previous post I raised the issue of reality in our reading of texts. David Shields’ latest book Reality Hunger forces the reader to think carefully about what is true, what is original and what is stolen by virtue (or otherwise, depending on your point of view) of it’s lack of referencing of other [...]

[ Mash Up 2 ] [ Mash Up 3 ] In case you missed it, there has been something of a storm raging in some parts of the world of letters over David Shields’ new book: Reality Hunger. Why? Because in this brave manifesto, he takes on the future of literature by means of ‘some [...]

For anyone interested in video gaming – whether as players themselves or simply vicariously as a cultural phenomena – Tom Bissell’s confessional in today’s Observer is essential reading. After years wasted playing Grand Theft Auto on cocaine, he concludes: Once I wanted games to show me things I could not see in any other medium. [...]

Great story circulating at the moment about one Chris Jarvis ‘the Southend Jedi knight who refused to dehood in his jobcentre and has now received an apology from the manager for the lack of respect given to his “religion or beliefs”.‘ Jarvis says: “I am a Star Wars follower. It means following the Way of [...]

At the British Council tomorrow as part of a roundtable discussion on technology in education put together by SecEd magazine and Dell. Any thoughts on how social networks, new media or the ‘noosphere’ might impact education delivery, do drop me a note and I’ll raise them. Then straight from there to Belfast to join up [...]

[ Lock In [1] ]  [ Lock In [2] ] [ Lock In [3] ] Our interaction with technologies does have an effect on our personhood. While we may not be gadgets, our tool-use is actually an important part of our personhood. It is one of the things that makes us human. The danger that Jaron [...]

Little aside before I get back to the series… We may not be gadgets, but when we coordinate beautifully with machines, the results can be stunning. Just love this!