Get PhysiDigital with me at NXNEi this June (and save!)

I'll be speaking at NXNEi this June (2012), giving a talk entitled Let's Get PhysiDigital: How to Convert Online Memories Into Offline Artifacts. To quote the write-up on the NXNEi site:

Now that social media has become a black box recorder for countless emotionally significant moments, artists and brands are searching for ways to turn our digital milestones into physical keepsakes. The results include a .poster of your Tumblr followers, a book filled with your favorite Tweets and a unique origami shape built around the content of your favourite text message. But what is driving this newfound interest in physicality? Is it a reaction against the ephemeral nature of digital communication or simply the result of the online world bleeding into the offline? Drawing on my experience as co-creator of txt2hold and tweet2hold, I will explore how fleeting digital communications like texts and tweets can be converted into permanent memory objects. While locating the sometimes fragile intersection between the online and offline world requires careful research, the creative opportunities are numerous for those willing to get PhysiDigital.

If you are looking for an incentive to attend, here is a discount code good for 10% off: NXNEiRocks

Don't say I never give you nothing. Visit nxne.com for more info on the festival.

When in doubt, quote yourself

In November of 1999, Mike Usinger, writing in Saturday Night ("Call him Nardwuar") noted that: 

“But what's really made Nardwuar infamous is that, like those who read America's leading white-trash tabloid, he has an enquiring mind and he wants to know. With his high-pitched voice -- which doesn't sound so much like nails on a chalkboard as a chalkboard being dragged though a nail factory -- he's become North America's pre-eminent guerrilla journalist...”

Almost 13 years later, Usinger was interviewed for a Feb 21, 2012 RRJ profile of Nardwuar by Sara Harowitz: 

As [Mike] Usinger says, “Most of us don’t have the balls to dress up in a plaid tam and speak in a voice that sounds like a nail factory being dragged across a chalkboard.”

Given that I can't remember what I ate for breakfast last week, Usinger clearly has an incredible memory.

Welcome to NYC 1YL

I'll be blogging with a bit more frequency again in order to tone and condition my writing muscles. Shorter posts, but more often. The world needs a few more Bigge Ideas. Or Bigge Snark.

I'll start with my concept for a new Toronto restaurant called NYC 1YL. That's short for New York City One Year Later. It's a simple idea -- every month or so, the restaurant will switch up and serve whatever food and cocktails were popular in Manhattan exactly one year previous. Decor will also change accordingly.

Shockingly, since Toronto is at least 12-18 months behind Manhattan when it comes to food and drink (witness the painful delay between the pre-prohibition cocktail craze in New York and its appearance here) NYC 1YL will probably manage to stay ahead of the curve.