1AU Global Media, LLC, Olney, MD (2026)

01/05/2026

Happy New Year! If you’re a new reader to my blog, welcome! It’s called “Faster than Light”. I publish on the first Monday of each month, focusing on creativity and its various interactions with mainstream culture. (And, of course, you can like, share, and subscribe!) Here’s the first installment for 2026.

Despite accelerating capabilities of consuming--or even generating—complex media whenever we want, trend lines point to a radical consolidation among a handful of big companies. New work doesn’t stick around as it might have in years past, nor does it have the same cultural influence as it might have in less frenetic times. The implications of this churning, yet often vacuous, media diet are profound. Consider a recent massive media moment that played out on movie screens. Not only did the rainbow fade in the afternoon gloaming, but there’s barely even a song left on the breeze. Welcome to 2026. Click the link to check out my first blog of the year.

Despite our accelerating capabilities of consuming--or even generating--all sorts of polished media whenever we want, trend lines suggest a radical consolidation of mainstream products by a handful of big companies. New works don't stick around as long, nor have the same cultural influence as produc

12/01/2025

Life is hard for most people, regardless of status. It can certainly have its high points and its pleasures, but simple solutions do not fully counteract inevitable headwinds. As the song goes, "Money can't buy me love." As a result, many people to look for meaning whenever they have a moment of clarity. The problem is that daily digital distractions, coupled with relentless ordinary life, often prompt people to pursue easier pleasures than more lasting purpose. For creatives, this dilemma is the real daily battle. My latest blog post is now live, as it is the first Monday of every month. Stay engaged, and check it out!

Life is hard for most people, regardless of status. As the song goes, "Money can't buy me love." As a result, many people to look for meaning whenever they have a moment of clarity. The problem is that daily digital distractions, coupled with relentless ordinary life, often prompt people t

11/03/2025

When did virtual experience supplant actual experience? It's one thing to dream of distant cities and glittering nights on the town. It's another thing to never get off your couch. Modern existentialism has forced us all into a strange abandonment of meaning. In my latest essay, I consider some of the forces shaping this trend, and how you might find a way back to the real world.

When did virtual experience supplant actual experience? It's one thing to dream of distant cities and glittering nights on the town. It's another thing to never get off your couch. Modern existentialism has forced us all into a strange abandonment of meaning. In my latest essay, I consider some of t

10/06/2025

Sometimes you encounter a piece of creative work you didn’t know you needed until you found it. In my monthly blog, I’m putting up a flare in case you’re looking too. In an era when most people don't read much beyond photo captions on Instagram, this novel comes along and asks for our attention. Rich and romantic, daring and visceral, this is a story about people at the edges of our high tech world in a struggle to forestall the loss of something precious for everyone on Earth. These days it often feels like everything is complicated, and the fabric of society has started to fray. This is a story that presents a different perspective about daily challenges. Check out my latest blog, and if you’ve read the book or plan to do so, leave a comment for the community to consider!

In an era when most people don't read much beyond photo captions, this novel comes along and asks for our attention. Rich and romantic, daring and visceral, this is a story about people at the edges of our high tech world in an struggle to forestall the loss of something precious for everyone on Ea

09/01/2025

In my blog this month, I’m reminded how the world of creative invention requires an openness to seeing ordinary things in extraordinary ways. Consider the following account of a recent encounter in a grocery store. Inevitably we must ask ourselves, “It is we who ascribe determinations of whether something is ordinary or extraordinary, or do all things have the potential to transform from one state to the other?” Fortunately, I have you, loyal reader, to answer the question. Take five minutes, click the link, and share your comments.

An unexpected presentation of produce reminds us how ordinary things can take on extraordinary aspects. Inevitably we must ask ourselves, “It is we who ascribe determinations of whether something is ordinary extraordinary, or do all things have the potential to transform from one state to the othe...

08/04/2025

Physical media: it’s quaint, right? Don’t worry, this won’t be another essay about the charming tactility of books and celluloid. (Well, I might riff for a moment or two.) In my latest blog, I consider a portion of a singular publication that’s easily overlooked as an antiquated curio. As someone who makes his living making media, I’m shining a spotlight on this weekly physical insert because I believe it’s a crystalline lattice containing insights into contemporary culture. May I commend to you a few thoughts about a publication where people have taken the time to think deeply? Click the link, take five minutes, and share your own thoughts below.

Most of my daily reading material is online these days, but not all. Six days a week my newspapers are online. They are, more accurately, news-apps and websites. Magazines, essays, blogs, newsletters: like you, I’m reading stuff on screens. But once a week I have appointment reading with a particu...

07/07/2025

Memes last a picosecond. Do you remember the coolest hotness in your feeds last summer? I’m guessing no. Remember anything from your feed last week? (See what I’m saying?) I’m guessing you probably DO remember a book or two that moved you when you were young, or a famous painting, or even a movie. They matter because they inform your present, even if you don’t have them in front of mind all day every day. But what happens when we can no longer recall any aspect of our collective culture beyond a collision of easily forgotten memes? My latest blog (hardly disposable!) is now live.

Memes last a picosecond. But tell the truth: do you even remember any of them from week to week? I’m guessing you probably DO remember a book or two that moved you when you were young, or a famous painting, or even a movie. They matter because they inform your present. But what happens when we can

06/02/2025

Hold it! Hold it! I see you scrolling right past this blurb. Back up, back up, back up! In fact, that’s the whole point of this month’s blog entry. The daily flood of information is now so deep that we hardly allow ourselves even a moment to consider much of anything beyond a few seconds of snarky text coupled with a heavily filtered, often disposable image. The flood fills the valley, but this month I’m writing about building a raft. You’re invited. Click the link and check out the view from above the deluge.

When a constant stream of information becomes more important that the ideas that stream might contain, culture risks losing its ability to think critically. What happens to a society when complex ideas or shared cultural reference points are overshadowed by fleeting moments of relative irrelevance?

04/07/2025

Perhaps you’re a specialist. You focus on one narrow field, expert in every way. Are you good at what you do? If so, you’ve inevitably come to that expertise after years of work and determination to refine your skills. But where do IDEAS come from? Where do leaps in insight, in understanding, in surprising innovations or solutions to problems that have until their moment of revelation did not exist? In my blog this month, I present the idea that thinking, just like doing, cannot be reduced to linear pursuits. Good work comes from focus and effort. Great work comes from allowing the rest of the world to invest itself in unexpected ways. Take five minutes and give yourself something new to consider.

Innovation requires expertise that has the wisdom to draw lessons from other disciplines. That requires not only an openness to otherness, but a curiosity and respect for otherness—infinite diversity in infinite combinations, in other words. This is, ironically, something that’s been happening a...

03/03/2025

It’s rare that a creative person finds ideal time to do creative work. There’s always something tugging at attention, bills to pay, dishes to wash, laundry to be folded. One of the best ways to get going when the going needs a jump start is to pay special attention ordinary things. What about that laundry? What about that stack of bills? Is there something compelling about filtered sunlight illuminating a mound of unfolded bedsheets? Are there narratively compelling implication of unseen forces lurking behind those invoices? When we see ordinary things with fresh eyes, we unlock parts of ourselves that were trying to get out in the first place. Suddenly, we’re back where we want to be: making stuff that matters. Need a moment of inspiration? Check out my latest blog, live now.

When the creative get-up-and-go needs a jump start, pay special attention ordinary things. Laundry in a basket becomes sculptural when sunlight adds shadows and flares to the pile, but only if you notice. When we see ordinary things with fresh eyes, we unlock the part of ourselves that was trying t

02/03/2025

Victory chocolate? Victory coffee? Victory….stock photography? With a massive merger in the works between two of the three biggest stock photography companies on Earth, the shape of the global creative conversation is about to change. It’s an old lament: when fewer people are in charge in the flow of information, the quality of discourse, invention, and critical analysis declines. This is true in creative spaces as much as it’s true in social and political spaces. It’s not that you won’t be able to find a photo of a balloon bouquet or a sleeping dog when you need one. It’s just that you’ll be doing business with one fewer option in the marketplace. Considering how few there were to begin with, the implications are neither good for the buyer nor the photographer who makes a living selling to the ultimate vendor victor. Commerce meets creative work: culture faces consequences. Start your considerations of this conundrum in my monthly blog, now live.

Fewer outlets for creatives to do business reduces their leverage in the marketplace. It may be good for the corporate winners, but it's not so good for those making the stuff that keeps the markets open. My blog this month examines a proposed merger between two photographic giants, and considers th

01/06/2025

Happy New Year! We’re one quarter through the century, and if there’s anything we should know by now, change is the only constant. As much as I’m interested to see how new voices and new styles will meet the endless churn of our short-attention-span days, I cannot help but try, try, try to hold on to aspects of cultural life that move at a more thoughtful pace. That’s why I’m starting the year with a Trojan Horse of a blog. Framed around the challenges of museums that have lately adopted QR codes in place of location specific presentations, I’m also calling out a larger challenge. When we live our lives in the thrall of our devices, we miss being present with the real world. For 2025, make a point to get to a museum of your choice and fully immerse yourself in the exhibition on display there. Need a push? Start here with my first blog of the year. (You can put your phone down after you read it, ok?)

Why go to a museum if you're just going to look at your phone? With the growing trend for museums to use QR codes as means for visitor interaction, one has to wonder if the many people are simply missing the whole point. Museums may not have deep resources these days (sad), but hand-held augmentatio

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