Lounge Ruminator

How do naming and branding decisions affect people’s willingness to adopt food substitutes?

In this episode, I discuss a common theme that I enjoy across various media: memory.

Introducing a new format… Lounge Bite!

How can we be more considerate of the energy that we use when we’re online and who really has a say about the changing face of our cities?

I delve into Rushkoff’s (2016) concept of ‘digital distributism’ and ponder why people feel the need to assign gender to menu options.

It’s one of the most controversial foods on the planet… but for those who love it (and other similar cultural icons), what does it mean when such a thing is changed or a new variant is thrown into the mix?

Prompted by the great TV show Curb Your Enthusiasm, I consider how technology of any given period contributes to the writing and portrayal of comedic situations, which may not be possible or credible at a later time.

Borat… some people love the character and others hate it—I’m with the former group.

During a weekend dinner at my in-laws’ place, I briefly left to take containers of leftovers home—as is the custom—around the corner before returning for dessert.

After reading an article about an author’s difficulty in finding time to skydive—then struggling to fit podcasting into my own weekend—I consider the challenge of maintaining serious leisure alongside work and family commitments.

I’ve long been fascinated by the German language—both for its precision and ridiculously long words—but I’ve never sat down to analyse how I came to enjoy it.

Following a research rumination, I consider the power of visual media that—due to either technological limitations or intentional creative decisions—omit speech.

To celebrate the first anniversary of my Lounge Ruminator podcast, I give a quick update on what I’ve learnt so far, the friends that I’ve made and how I’ve realised that you don’t have to be perfect all the time.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Natasha and I reflect on the opening ceremony and how the event was hyped during our respective childhoods.

In this quick update, I discuss my shared launch of a new podcast, called Hemispheric Views (with friends and fellow microbloggers Andrew and Jason) and reflect on a recent trip to the cinema with Natasha to see Christopher Nolan’s Tenet.

I’m joined by Craig Nealon to discuss what sparked his long-term interest in technology, the products and apps that have inspired his creative work over the years and the art of predicting whether devices will succeed or flop.

We tend to think of history as something that exists purely in the past or in photos, however it can return in odd, little ways that can surprise us—even in places that we know well.

This week, fellow Microblogger Miraz Jordan joins me to discuss the value of simplicity in our lives, whether in using plain language, finding ways to be kinder to the planet or even just being willing to leave a rubbish TV show halfway through a season.

For this episode, I’m joined by friends (and fellow Micro.blog users) Andrew Canion and Jason Burk.

I ruminate on the perceived authority of print and consider how we define the word ‘computer’ in 2020.

Often we just do the same old thing—going around in circles.

More and more these days, I hear people using a very specific kind of phrase as they begin to offer their own opinion or take on an issue.

This week, I chat with David Sharpe, who is undertaking PhD research into entrepreneurship in the creative industries in Australia (through the University of Wollongong).

Recently with family, I had the absolute pleasure of watching In My Blood It Runs, an Australian documentary by filmmaker and director Maya Newell.

For this episode, I explore the concept of persona—just how many people make up the person that is you?

This week, I discuss a range of topics: the value of individual reading; what Twitter’s purpose is as a company; how ever-changing corporate names can become confusing; and the function of the TV recap in the streaming era.

As has already been written many times over the last month, Apple’s WWDC 2020 was a true departure from its previous annual developer conferences.

Television sets have long determined not only where our furniture goes, but also how we interact with others at home.

Turn on your TV to watch a sporting match in Australia and you’re sure to see advertisements for various betting apps and services.

Every year, on a particular day in June, I get up at 3:00 am in Australia to watch Apple’s WWDC keynote address.

In my media-ecological research, I have been fascinated by the development and implementation of the ‘tetrad’ by Marshall and Eric McLuhan.

This week, I reflect briefly on the history of radio, discuss the need for more international content in TV streaming and share the story of a bizarre photo album that went from digital to print.

Continuing the retail-focused theme for rumination this week—let’s face it, I overthink a lot stuff at the shops—Natasha and I made a quick trip to Aldi on the weekend, after we had visited Coles and Country Grocer, where we buy our fruit and veggies.

My last rumination was inspired by a trip to the shops and so is today’s.

Niche communities, identities and communication channels—they are a sign of the great diversity of interests, views and cultural groups in our society… but they can also be a sign of fragmentation.

These days, most people take their devices for granted.

Whenever I do the grocery shopping with Natasha, she often has to hurry me along as I spend time too much shaking my head at some of the ridiculous marketing, packaging and product installations that can be found around the supermarket.

This week, I discuss the true purpose of technology education, according to Postman—somehow weaving my favourite sci-fi series into it—then conclude by ruminating on what it means to be still.

I explain my early research into the world of niche tech podcasting and discuss an uncontrollable urge that many people experience: the desire to buy more books than can ever actually be read.

Inspired by Myke Hurley’s semi-recent tweet about how he ‘likes choices’ in his computing, I thought that I’d share the latest development in how I use my iPad Pro as a kind of secondary desktop, when not in pure tablet or laptop form.

This week, in honour of the late, great Jerry Stiller (aka Frank Costanza in Seinfeld), Natasha and I discuss the best TV show in history, how it brought us together and some of Stiller’s most memorable moments as Costanza.

Now that restrictions on visiting others have been relaxed a bit in New South Wales, Pete joined me on the rumination lounge to discuss the power that music has to transport us to different times and places.

How many things that you enjoy manage to end on a high?

It has been too long since my last PhD journal entry here on Lounge Ruminator, however to be clear, I am also attempting to maintain a journal to document my lessons and efforts in podcasting and a separate one for my thoughts and ideas as I read… on top…

How do fans respond to the release of something that doesn’t fit their expectations?

This week, my younger sister Jodie joins me on the podcast to discuss growing up, the habits that stick with us and the argument of nature versus nurture.

Typography surrounds us—yet so many people ignore it.

In celebration of my wife Natasha’s birthday this week, I invited her on the podcast to discuss one of her absolute favourite things: cake.

During last week’s episode of the Lounge Ruminator podcast, 17.

A strange, yet mundane interlude to usher in a week of remote work…