It's hard to remember that 21 years ago the run up to the end of the millennium was a Really Big Thing (even if there was mathematical dispute about whether December 31st 1999 actually was the end of the millennium or not). Prince had told us that it was time to party like it was … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1999
This week I've learned: do I spend too much energy trying to make other people happy?we really should have turned the WB-40 Donate Page on earlier.the relentless tide of meetings is starting to get to all of us.football eh? Ask me again after the 12.30 kickoff on Saturday.being asked by someone to mentor them is … Continue reading Weeknote 489: bolt upright
Making Bones is an album I'd completely forgotten about until making this list, and more is the pity. A mix of hip hop, drum and bass and a heavy side helping of jazz. Pretty much perfectly sums up my listening in the late 90s. https://open.spotify.com/album/43T9blwnSifY6kro3uZUFe?si=9VtBsZpHSse4FVRqY3YEHw You can see the #51for50 project to date here: https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/category/projects/51-for-50/
This week I have learned: I think my core purpose in life is bringing communities of people together. I certainly get an immense sense of pride from doing it.That 29 years after I founded the Student Radio Association with a bunch of other folk in a draughty lecture hall at Loughborough University, the organisation is … Continue reading Weeknote 488: rock turning
In 1997 there was a Gilles Peterson show that I had recorded (in the days when he broadcast at lord only knows what o’clock) from which I ended up going out and buying three albums. One I can’t remember, one was by the delightful Japanese group United Future Organisation and the third was Roni Size’s … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1997
This week I have learned: we all need to take a stand.that when events start to reinforce the message that you have been giving, it's not necessarily reassuringthat parakeets appear to have had enough and are now regularly dive-bombing our back windows to a certain death.lockdown continues to take its emotional toll, particularly on our … Continue reading Weeknote 487: facing up to the past
This week I have learned: when I saw a queue of traffic for the first time in months, it felt somewhat sad. I've enjoyed the quiet.the power of a shopping trolley analogy.our new MP is very responsive on Twitter. This is a good thing.I need to think about my corporate "brand". That I know this … Continue reading Weeknote 486: now that was a CPU
In my hip-hop obsessed teens, alongside the Run DMCs and Mantronixs, I had a special thing for the cut-up merchants like Double Dee and Steinski and I guess to an extent people like The Art of Noise. Beats and pieces sampled and scratched together to produce audio collages. Roll forward into my music-obsessed twenties, and … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1996
In the course of my research for Who Shares Wins, I was told the possibly apocryphal story of how email was introduced into a law firm back in the early 1990s. The senior partners had been sceptical about this new-fangled communications medium, and had resisted its introduction. However a more tech-friendly group of employees started … Continue reading Let them play
This week I have learned: getting out into the countryside was nice after two months.how nice it was to be contacted out of the blue by someone asking a little bit about something I was involved in the foundation of 29 years ago.how a £12 bit of software can transform your image.what a lot of … Continue reading Weeknote 485: Memories
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