1. An App that makes me smile

I’ve been a longtime aficionado of lolcats and fail videos and other such memes, so I’ll actually agree with Couros here and list  TikTok here (I never did like Vine, by contrast). I might also include Imgur as well. Before TikTok I also enjoyed Coub (you can follow all of these on various YouTube channels as well).

2. An app that I could not live without

At Bat, the Major League Baseball app. As apps go, it’s not a very good app, either the desktop or mobile version, but what it does do is allow me to watch every Major League Baseball game (or listen to the radio broadcast if I’m away from the screen in my car or on my bicycle. P.S. don’t be fooled by the price on the web page – your MLB subscription is $20/month during the baseball season. It’s a luxury I allow myself.

3. Book on education that I just read that I love

I don’t read books (properly so-called) because there is more than enough free content online for me to read. It’s also usually a lot more up-to-date. But I did read Viplav Baxi’s WhatIf EDU while he was writing it, and it has not been published as a paper-based book (he even mailed me a copy – thanks Viplav!). so that sort of counts.

4. The movie I have watched the most in my life

There are a few – Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes, or Children of Men, but the winner here has to be Luc Beeson’s The Fifth Element. It was so good they didn’t make a sequel. Bruce Willis is perfect as a washed-up taxi driver and Gary Oldman is a perfect villain.

5. Instagram account that inspires me

I don’t use Instagram. I do use Flickr, and here the clear winner is Alan Levine’s account. For years he has been taking photos for the sake of taking photos and sharing them with the world. It’s what photography always should have been, before it was made ‘art’, professionalized, and commercialized.

6. Broadway Soundtrack I love

Waitress. I was already a Sara Barelles fan, and she hits some perfect notes with this soundtrack. There’s a really good concert video with her singing most of the songs, as well as some favourites from her previous albums. What I like about Barelles – all her work, not just this – is that it is reflective, self-aware, and ultimately empowering.

7. An idea for every new parent or grandparent

I love the way my brother and his wife – Bill and Shirley – are so fully involved in the lives of their children. They make sure they have rich and varied experiences so they can follow their interests and passions. Opening the world as widely as possible and giving them a chance to drink it all in – that seems to me to be the best idea of all.