Strands of Genius: Four Ideas for Post-Covid Cities, Rapping Deconstructed, Polyamory

Guest curated by Mike Piggott

Jul 29, 2021

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, MIKE PIGGOTT ::

LOCATION: United Kingdom
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: The Marketing Society

Since 2013 I've been working as Editor for global membership organisation The Marketing Society. I know Faris through that. Now I freelance for the Society and others, mostly around hosting podcasts, creating a digital publication and content, things like that.

Editor’s Note (Faris): I checked and Mike and I have been emailing back and forth about ‘content’ for The Marketing Society since 2015. That is a long time to have an ongoing email relationship! Over the years we’ve discussed various things, I’ve sent him words here and there when I had some, and he has been unfailingly pleasant and patient and understanding when I just stop replying for a while for whatever reason. However, I have never met him in person, and because of that I never really knew what I would call him. I know his name but in emails I tend to use colloquial terms of endearement, perhaps because I was never sure if he was a Mike or a Michael, or even a Mick, or (unlikely) Mickey? Mikey? Anyway, now I know, Hi Mike and thanks!

:: THE LINKS ::

FROM GARDEN STREETS TO BIKE HIGHWAYS: FOUR IDEAS FOR POST-COVID CITIES - VISUALISED

I hosted a podcast on the future of retail and the death of the high street near the end of 2020. This sort of thing fascinates me. How do we reinvent our cities and our high streets? The answer mostly seems to lie in less cars, more space and more nature. In this Guardian piece they ask four architecture firms to share their vision of what cities should do to better design everything. (The Guardian)

RAPPING, DECONSTRUCTED: THE BEST RHYMERS OF ALL TIME

This is an old VOX video from 2016. If you haven't seen it and have even a passing interest in words, music and rhythm, you'll find it fascinating. They take rappers and break down their style, flow and how they layer rhymes — from MF Doom to Mos Def and Biggie. Note: I write and perform spoken word in a rappy style myself, so this is my thing. (You can check that out at the link at the bottom - Faris) (YouTube)

POLYAMORY, A TED TALK BY LEON FEINGOLD

Polyamorous relationships consist of individuals of multi-partner relationships and families. Leon offers an insight through his journey in finding polyamory as the means to creating intimate, valuable relationships with multiple people. Through his journey and explanation, Leon debunks myths and presents the values of polyamory.
Co-Founder and former President of Open Love NY, Leon Feingold has become a polyamory activist on a national scope. He co-authors "Poly Wanna Answer?" a monthly polyamorous relationship advice column, and has discussed polyamory on The View, Huffington Post, PolyInTheMedia, Jezebel, and other media, plus the HBO movie "Americans in Bed". In 2014 he helped launch New York's first openly polyamorous residence in Bushwick. (YouTube)

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:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: Star Realms

:: City :: New Orleans — a couple of years ago I was there for Mardi Gras: the food, the music, the fact that every single bar person can make a decent Old Fashioned at the drop of a hat. I love that city. I want to go back.

:: Book :: Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell. It takes a little while to get going, but gets better and better as it goes on. By the end I was hooked, and then sad when I finished it. I wanted more.

:: Podcast :: Script Notes. A podcast about screenwriting and things of interest to screenwriters.

:: Album :: Massive Attack - Heligoland

:: HARIS NUKEM ::

There's a London-based artist I'm really into called Haris Nukem. He has a really distinctive style. Google him. Here's one of his images.

You can find a summary of me, my contact details and the things I do here

And also on social: LinkedIn, Twitter. And if you're into spoken word.

I also have a film and TV blog and write music reviews for music website The Indie Scene.

Mike Piggott

mpiggott20@gmail.com

twitter | linkedin | website

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

Strands of Genius