A few months back I won a photoshoot with the estimable Lee Allen of Lee Allen Photography. I first met Lee a while back at a lacklustre gig at the Barfly – I was reviewing, he was photographing. Since then we’ve covered a fair few gigs together so, uncomfortable as I usually am having my pic taken, it wasn’t quite so bad when we spent a morning gadding round Digbeth and Fazeley Studios.
Lee’s a talented guy and he’s turned out some snaps i’m dead pleased with and it’s good to have a stash of profile pics for next time I need one. Anyway, here’s the slideshow:
I was expecting these to be rich pickings for some LOLs but I’ve been spared that, save for this one by Pete Ashton (and that was gentle).
I’ve not long returned from the Birmingham Social Media Surgery held as part of Blog Action Day 08. If you’re reading this there’s a fair chance that sentence makes sense to you. If not, it was a chance for folk from community and voluntary groups to sit down with some soi-disant social media ‘experts’ and get some free advice.
Nick Booth posted in advance of the event here but the reality must have far exceeded his expectations. I arrived 15 minutes late to find the scene in the pic above – several people crowded round each ‘expert’ with some serious learning going on (on both sides).
It really was great. I spoke to some people about sharing calendars, how to sort out hosting, what WordPress is and how blogs could be used to support film making projects. I hope my advice was helpful; I certainly learned a lot about how to pass this sort of information on and apply it to the concerns of those trying to make a difference.
Anyway, as mentioned it was scheduled as part of Blog Action Day. The object of BAD08 itself is to get as many bloggers as possible talking about poverty and raise awareness/start a conversation/etc and so on.
I wouldn’t say I’ve got anything groundbreaking to put offer besides my own experience of this evening. Instead, I’d like to highlight a post Cat Bray has written called Blog Action Day: Shelter, a conversation. Essentially it’s an IM chat she had with her fella about charities, in the course of the which she said:
i think one of the most effective things charities can do is tell you where your money is going, or better, show you
Which is just what I (and several others) have spent the evening telling community/voluntary orgs to use social media to do via blogs, video, podcasts, etc.
Hopefully we’ll get the chance to do the same again sometime soon.
This is a small rant. You see I’ve just got back from the Hadley Stadium in Bearwood where my usual footy game has been cancelled due to some idiot double-booking the pitch.
This is no occasional kickabout we’re talking about. The AtisReal 7-a-side league (now there’s a website that needs updating) has been going for the past 10 years and every Tues and Thurs (ok, not over the summer) 6 fixtures take place.
Except this week. The first batch of fixtures were halfway through when two 11-a-side teams turned up and, after some arguing, the 7-a-siders were told to do one.
To summarise
Someone at the Hadley Stadium somehow managed to forget about a league that has provided a steady stream of income for the past 10 years on the same days and at the same times.
It was the regular, loyal customers who were told to piss off.
Those previously loyal (now very pissed off) customers outnumbered the strange newcomers by about four to one:
2 teams of 11 = 22 (plus subs)
12 teams of 7 = 84 (plus subs)
There might’ve been a compelling reason for pissing off as many customers as possible. I’d love to hear what that reason was (in the comments please). However, until I find that out I’m left with this…
My conclusion
There are idiots at the Hadley Stadium in Bearwood.
**UPDATE** The manager of the stadium has sent unreserved apologies and arrangements have been made to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Work
If you want me for anything work-related then my company's Meshed Media.
