Every Wednesday I share five things I've liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s Five Things…

1. I know you've been thinking this too... Where are all the aliens?
    
2. Do you want to be more creative? Try pretending you're someone else: "Creativity is not an individual trait, but a 'malleable product of context and perspective.' Everyone can be creative, as long as they feel like creative people".
    
3. Self-healing clothes? Self- healing electronics? How about a self-healing Wolverine-like artificial skin? Researchers at the University of California, Riverside might have a fabric to make just the thing.
    
4. I really like this advice from Charlie Munger: "I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you." Are you a learning machine?
    
5. In the past week I've booked tickets to see two of my favourite musicians play shows in London. So this week's musical recommendation is a track by each of them. St Vincent performing Black Rainbows and Nils Frahm performing Toilet Brushes - More. Can't wait to see them both live again!

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed it, subscribe and you'll get the next one delivered to your inbox.

Colours

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s Five Things…

1. Since the passing of David Bowie a year ago, there have been many great articles written about him. This might just be my favourite. I particularly love this quote: "How starstruck, after all, can anybody feel after the object of one’s veneration says, early on, without a trace of irony, that he was excited to start a new project because: 'Now I get to do one of my favourite things. Go to a stationery store and get Sharpies and Post-its!'" Rock star, musical genius and stationary fan.
    
2. I recently stumbled on a BBC series from 1972 called "Ways Of Seeing". So far, I've only watched the first episode, but highly recommend it. You can watch the whole series here on Youtube.
    
3. An interesting piece on the importance of music in our lives.
    
4. A long and moving read on B.J Miller and his "Quest to Change the Way We Die". He's a fascinating guy. A doctor, triple amputee... and the proud owner of a motorbike. 
    
5. I've just discovered the music of Julia Holter... I have no idea how or why it's taken me so long to hear of her music! Here she is performing her song In The Green Wild on KEXP. 

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed it, sign up to receive future posts or check out my previous Five Things posts.

Somewhere or nowhere

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s Five Things…

1. I've watched this three or four times despite the fact it makes me feel a little on edge! Cyclist Danny MacAskill explores the roof tops of Gran Canaria on his bike. The behind the scenes videos are worth watching too. 
    
2. I'm pretending this isn't true — The Best Music for Productivity? Silence.
    
3. An excellent long read on A.I., machine learning and the team behind the new, much-improved Google Translate — The Great A.I. Awakening.
    
4. Despite the ominous title, this article is well worth reading! Alain de Botton is one of my favourite writers, I can't get his voice out of my head as I read his words — Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person.
    
5. Whoever wrote Iggy Pop and the Stooges' rider has a great sense of humour and way too much time on there hands. 

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed it, sign up to receive future posts or check out my previous Five Things posts.

A Walk In The Park

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s five things…

1. Note To Self is one of my new favourite podcasts. It's a technology podcast focused on "being human" in the digital age. Their two most recent podcasts Mindfulness on Demand and Come and Sit with Marina Abramović were great.
    
2. Talking of being human, watch this... Can We Auto-Correct Humanity? (3m 27s). It might make your day a little better.
    
3. Everyone likes being comfortable, but it's not always what's best for us — The Healthy Uncomfortable.
    
4. You might not have heard of the term McMansion, but you've probably seen one. A recent episode of 99 Percent Invisible did a great job explaining what makes them so terrible. I don't think I'll be able to look at certain buildings in the same way again. For a more in depth (and hilariously snarky) look at these monstrosities check out the blog McMansion Hell.
    
5. On reading a couple of Wait But Why posts earlier this week, I was reminded of a great Anne Dillard quote... "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives". The posts in question, Your Life in Weeks and 100 Blocks a Day, reimagine life and time as a series of blocks, and ask the simple question: How do you use your blocks?

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts in your inbox.

A little bird told me

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s five things…

1. Two great pieces on having ideas. A 5-Step Technique for Producing Ideas and How to have an idea (this one's my favourite!)
    
2. More wisdom from Seth Godin (he's a regular feature here!). The chance of a lifetime.
    
3. I often like to try to imagine what the future will be like. Where technologies like artificial intelligence, driverless cars and virtual reality will take us, and how they'll change our lives. Last week, I came across the article 'Speak, Memory'. It's a fascinating read about something I'd not given much thought to at all. How the technologies that help shape our lives, change our relationship with death. It might sound morbid, but it's a brilliant piece that's well worth reading. — "When her best friend died, she rebuilt him using artificial intelligence"
    
4. Anohni on art, corporations and the music industry. Her thoughts on the state of the music industry particularly resonated with me. (Don't be put off by the weird text formatting or colour scheme of the website!)
    
5. "Yes!" to all of these. 33 thoughts on reading by Austin Kleon.

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts in your inbox.