A brief status update

Inspiration Monday is on hiatus.


Leonard

Aphex Twin - "Avril 14th"

The link

Aphex Twin - "Avril 14th" on Youtube

As far as I know there is no Aphex Twin YouTube channel. Music videos of his on YouTube are rehosted. Even Aphex’ own website seems to have disappeared. 

What it is

“Avril 14th” is a short piano piece by Richard D. James, who is better known as “Aphex Twin”. It can be found on the 2001 album “Drukqs” and is, in one word, lovely.

Aphex Twin is one of the pioneers of, for lack of a better term ‘non dancefloor-oriented techno’. See the Wikipedia page linked above for Aphex’s opinion on the ‘Intelligent Dance Music’ genre he is often put in.

Please find the two minutes of time required to listen to this song.

What it means to me

For me, there are two levels to “Avril 14th”. On the surface, it’s just a well written piano melody. At second glance, it’s a well written piano melody composed by Aphex Twin.

Aphex Twin made a career out of music that is, shall we say, not easily digestible. Techno is not a friendly genre at the best of times, and Aphex delights in distorted ‘I want your soul’ samples, 5 minute video intros  (rather explicit) and powerful abstract soundscapes. While some people think this is great, many others just hear noise.

And then Richard turns around and gives us this. It’s a testament to the man’s genuine musical talent. Talent he usually expresses quite differently.

“Avril 14th” is also surprising difficult to play. I downloaded the sheet music from the Aphex Twin website back when it existed, and struggle to play it (*) – mainly because part of the actual recording’s charm turns out to be that the piece is very slightly off-meter. There’s a terrible hardcore remix of this song on YouTube (I won’t dignify it with a link), which uses an instrumental played from the score (probably by computer), and it just sounds mechanical.

This song is an excellent reminder that there is a difference between talent and its expression – it’s always worth investigating whether you don’t like an artist, or a genre.


Leonard

* I wouldn't claim to play the piano particularly well.

Priorities

The link

Akimbo Comics on priorities

What it is

Akimbo comics is a webcomic (or many?) I don’t regularly read, to be honest. I saw this particular comic linked somewhere on the internet, and it really hit a nerve.

This particular comic, while on the long side, is worth reading. I’ll assume you’ve red it from now on, so the text below may contain spoilers.

Akimbo seems to focus on personal and philosophical topics. I also liked this one I found poking around the site.

What it means to me

“Stop making excuses”.

This comic hammers home the point that you have room for choice everywhere in your life. Things you personally may not even consider to be choices are in fact completely open. As the comic says implies, it’s easy to become rich if you let go of being a ‘good person’. Where you draw the line is deeply personal, but you should draw it on purpose and stand by it. A decision can only be ethical once it’s a decision.

You can pick whatever you want out of life, and that’s okay. Just don’t lie to yourself.

How many people do you know who are unhappy at their job but stumble on anyway? When I switched jobs, I quit before having something new lined up. Reactions to this were hilarious, from blanket ‘congratulations’ to straight unbelief. What I remember most is the amount of colleagues who had trouble accepting mentally that this decision was even possible.

Other people go to this same priority process, consciously or unconsciously. They may come out of the same environments with radically different outlooks and priorities. Looking back, many of the conflicts I’ve had with people were a matter of perspective. Keeping contact with the other person might have helped to diffuse the situation. In fact, one of the most common mentoring conversations I have reverts around ‘the person you’re having difficulty with isn’t crazy or malicious; he or she just has different interests than you do’.

This realization came at the same time I started to appreciate official governance. Escalation of a conflict isn't necessarily an admittance of failure. Instead, it can force a decision on a conflict that is priority based.

Ultimately, the only thing that breaks through these situations is honest communication.


Leonard

Project Runway

The link

Project Runway official website (at Lifetime)

Project Runway on IMDB 

 

What it is

Project Runway is a reality TV series about fashion design. It’s set up in classic contest mode: 16 or so contestants enter, they perform a challenge per episode, one wins, one is sent home.

The show is currently in its 14th season, and has a few spin-offs (which I’ve never watched). There are international versions as well, although the only one I’ve seen (the Dutch one) was lower quality than the American one.

The Lifetime website mentions you can watch the episodes there, but I haven’t gotten that to work. There are DVD sets available, and individual episodes occasionally end up on YouTube. (YouTube seems limited to the international spin-offs). If that doesn’t work, you might actually have to consult your television schedule.

What it means to me

I don’t like reality TV. Reality TV tends to go for a lazy 'look at these people’ angle, which I just don’t find interesting. You can always get people to yell at each other if you lock them up long enough and put a camera on them.

Project Runway makes up for its occasional drama moments by spending the vast majority of time showing people who are really good at what they do. Which is interesting. The designers they get every season range from talented to amazing. The show has guaranteed ‘look at that!’ moments each episode.

The challenges Project Runway gives its contenstants range from quite classic to off-the wall: in a memorable episode in season 7, contestants had to buy their materials at a hardware store. The winner spent days weaving garbage bags to look like this. The fun is in seeing what everyone will come up with (and, admittedly, in a tiny bit of schadenfreude at people who botch it up completely). For someone who likes to sew, the creativity on display is great input.

I appreciate Project Runway for taking its contestants seriously. The jury consists of professionals, and is tough but honest. The ever-lovable Tim Gunn provides mentorship and hugs to designers. Focus is on the work people are doing and the challenges they meet (and overcome) along the way. People who have to leave are treated respectfully, particularly later in the season. ‘Project Runway’ gives off the vibe that is wants to showcase and promote great fashion designers, and that the race is to be better, rather than less awful.

Finally, Project Runway helps my understanding of fashion. High fashion is notoriously hard to decode: witness all the “you would never wear that in pubic” reactions to every fashion show ever. The jury consists of designers, magazine editors and label owners. Each episode, they give no-holds-barred commentary on everything that they see. This helps you understand their thought process, which is most interesting when the opinions differ.

Project Runway has actually influenced my wardrobe. It has also led me to label almost anything I do as ‘Project ’, because it somehow sounds cooler.

If you like snazzy outfits or just like to look at pretty things, give Project Runway a try for your next binge watch. At 14 seasons and counting, it’ll last you a while


Leonard

"12 Angry Men"

The link

12 Angry Men on IMDB

 

What it is

“12 angry men” is a 1957 film starring Henry Fonda. It was nominated for three Oscars.

The “12 angry men” in question are a court jury, and have to decide whether a defendant is guilty of murder. What follows is a tense character piece, as individual jurors come to terms with the biases they base their verdict on. The film was originally a stage play, and the film keeps those trappings. Barring an opening and an ending scene, the whole film takes place inside a single room.

There’s a 1997 remake made for television, but the 1957 version is the classic. It has dated supremely well. The film is available on DVD, often in the bargain or ‘classics’ section.

What it means to me

Believe it or not, I first saw this film in a communications class. After the viewing, we discussed how the various jurors try to influence each other, and which ways to persuade did and didn’t work. You can take a variety of lessons from the way Henry Fonda’s character behaves, from making room for the opinions of quieter people, to physically walking over to show his support of someone. (Although I try to keep this post as spoiler free as possible, it should come as no surprise that Henry Fonda plays the good guy).

Where I think the film shines, though, is as a masterpiece of storytelling with minimal means. All the action is in a single room, no-one enters or leaves, and the biggest props are a table and a piece of evidence. Everything hinges on the performance of the actors, and they deliver in spades.

The filming is clever too: the beginning is mostly distant shots showing the entire room. As the debate gets heated and the stakes get higher, more and more shots are in close-up, bringing the emotion near to the viewer. At the end, you feel the same claustrophobia as the jurors. Sidney Lumet earned his Oscar nomination for best director (Lumet would later receive the 2005 Lifetime Achievement award).

The strength of the narrative comes through in how much the film can disregard: we don’t know the names of the jurors, the proceedings of the trial, or even what happens after the jurors decide. We are never shown whether or not their decision is right. “12 angry men” is all about the events in one room, on their own merit.

If you want suspense without violence or creepy music, and enjoy good acting, give “12 angry men” a watch. And always try to be more like Henry Fonda.




Leonard

xkcd

The link

xkcd main page

xkcd: Did you know you can just buy lab coats?

xkcd: Map of the internet

xkcd: Tech support flow chart

xkcd: Christmas Carols

 

What it is

‘xkcd’ is a self-described ‘webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language’ written by Randall Munroe. It updates on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. After years of reading it, I still don't know whether xkcd was ever supposed to stand for anything (it doesn't, according to the FAQ).

The comics are usually in black and white, with stick figures for people. Randall himself has admitted he’s not much of an artist. The quality of xkcd is in the text, and in the research behind it.

Comic topics tend towards science, wordplay, computer related things, and absurd humor. If you feel that you don’t ‘get’ a particular comic, it’s probably a reference to something.

After reading a comic, make sure move your mouse over it and wait for the pop-up text box. There’s an extra joke there.

What it means to me

xkcd is comfortable being itself. 

I understand a large number of the references, and share xkcd’s love of irreverent and of-the-wall humor. What I like about the comic the most is how deep it is willing to go, an how it xkcd assumes its readers are smart enough to figure out what it references. There’s no hand-holding or demographic research: the comic is just ‘I’m Randall and I like this’. That approach has directly influenced this blog.

Speaking of deep: every once in a while the comic will give a gigantic graphical breakdown of some subject. Randall has a knack for juxtaposing things you wouldn’t normally compare, like animal diving depths and pressure effects on household objects. Even the research comics still have funny Easter eggs to find!

XKCD’s popularity helped launch other projects – such as ‘Thing Explainer’, diagrams of complex things using only the thousand (‘ten hundred’) most common words in the English language. It started as a single comic and is now a book. “What if” is another project,  using real science to tackle strange hypothetical situations. For example, “what if everyone filled in multiple choice quizzes randomly”?

xkcd is the perfect one minute workday relief. Always good for a chuckle, sometimes a 'huh?', and sometimes a 'wow, that's cool!'.


Leonard

Kami

Kami

The link

Kami on the Google Play Store

Kami on iTunes

Kami on Steam

 

What it is

Kami is a puzzle game from State of Play games, designed to look like colored paper. The goal of the game is to change the field to single color in the fewest amount of moves. A move consists of coloring a field, joining it with any adjacent fields with the same color.

Kami is available on Android, iTunes and Steam. Android and iTunes have a free downloadable version (which you can upgrade to the full game), so you can see for yourself whether you like the game.

What it means to me

Kami has the most satisfying paper animations I have ever seen. The whole field is made of little paper squares; when you change a field the color change spread out with little flipping squares in a way that is just magical.

The sixty-odd puzzles you get sixty-odd in the full version are decent. The difficulty curve works well, and each section has a distinct theme. You could, however, make these puzzles in Microsoft Paint. Kami is first and foremost a triumph of aesthetics, with a consistent look that’s really well designed.

Kami serves as a reminder that good presentation can count for a lot. I’ve played games with similar mechanics that didn’t hold my interest, and still remember Kami years after I bought it.

Just download the trial version to your phone and try it in your next elevator wait. Don't let the pretty animations make you forget to get out of the elevator again, though!


Leonard