Some links for you:

• Birmingham: A Cinematic Backwater – the debate – My ranting on twitter and on my blog turns into an event: “We’ve put together a panel of three of the big film faces from the city (Professor Roger Shannon, Ian Francis and Dan Lawson) to lead a debate on what needs to happen next. How do we cultivate the venues, the audiences and the distribution channels that will open the floodgates for non mainstream film and prevent us from lingering as a ‘cinematic backwater’? What kind of developments can the local market support?” The date and timing of the event isn’t listed – to come no doubt.
• twopointouch | Surrender! Foucault and Twitter – Superb article – the kind of writing I wish I could do: “…we somehow accept social media networks as empowering, democratic and all about spreading fresh ideas. The reverse may be the case: any given information about ourselves donates some portion of control to another party.” Hat-tip Tom Watson MP
• Applying for your first job in the music industry – 7 tips | New Music Strategies – “I wanted to share some thoughts on what companies like SoundCloud are ‘really’ looking for nowadays and hopefully provide some useful tips on how you can improve your chances if you’re one of the thousands of people looking to make their first steps into the digital music industry.”
• YouTube – A look behind the Microsoft Intelligent City Proof of Concept project – “As part of the first steps in making Birmingham the UK’s first Intelligent City, this is a look behind a project to show how digital technology could be employed to make it easier to get round Birmingham. Involving a consortium of partners, including the council’s Digital Birmingham partnership, Coventry University Enterprises, Microsoft and Virtual Earth developer Shoothill, it focuses on bringing together two of the region’s strengths – digital media and transport technologies.”
• TheHill.com – Why Washington doesn’t get new media – “Those who think new media is about technology fail to grasp the significance of what is happening in today’s media environment. Those who don’t get it will continue to assign new media to the IT division. Those who partially get it will continue to appoint “directors of new media” [….] But none of them, in the end, will “control the message,” that rusted Holy Grail of a rapidly fading era.” Hat-tip Stuart Harrison (@pezholio)
• Sweeble – Simply brilliant publishing to both print and web for FREE – Saw these guys present at JEECamp: “Simply brilliant publishing to both print and web for FREE (In fact, we help you make money!). Create professional printed newsletters, magazines and brochures plus a free website. Add your own articles, pictures and adverts to sweeble’s free desktop publisher and let us print and deliver.”
• Events West Midlands | e-business, emarketing, AdWords, Analytics (National B2B Centre) – Tuesday 9th June, Warwick University, Coventry. “Social Media has hit the headlines as celebs flock to use Twitter, the PM broadcasts on YouTube and President Obama gets elected on the back of his Facebook page! Is this just hype or is there something worthwhile in here for small businesses to use?”