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22 Truths

posted April 2, 2024 #

When I worked at KNI, I had the great pleasure of being introduced to Tom Dolan - a graphic designer, musician, artist and all around pleasant thinker. His passion for design - print or web - was infectious and admirable. It still is. He's alive and kicking and churning out more great work than ever. If you are unfamiliar, steer yourself over to his 2022 - 2024 works, dive into the notes and enjoy!

While you're at it, take some time to peruse 22 Truths, Dolan's book on "art and art-making." It's purpose is to provide sharp anecdotes on a path towards making better art. I have a copy and it is certainly worth procuring your own.

Thinking about "making art" is a difficult undertaking for me. I have made countless graphics, album covers, websites, posters, etc but they always strike me as functional, not think pieces. I also believe that making art is a privilege, not one that everyone has and not one that should be taken for granted. To pontificate how to be a better artist often feels self-indulgent.. for me. But I don't think that's actually the case. I am neurotic. I am filled with self-doubt. The process of making art and having tactics to unblock yourself applies to any challenging endeavor, not just "art."

In the same way that Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies isn't really about the recording story or writing music, it's about changing how you think. 22 Truths can serve a similar purpose; a means to an end of unblocking and thinking in a refreshed way.

Pedal Steel Noah

posted April 1, 2024 #

16-year old Austin, TX resident Noah Faulkner covers classic New Wave tracks on his pedal steel with his brother (Nate) and his dog (Kara). The videos are entrancing, the covers are great. There's even an NY Times profile on him. Word is out, Pedal Steel Noah is bringing the goods.
There's an EP called Texas Madness that dropped today, April 1st. It's three covers - Joy Division, The Cure, Tears for Fears - and two original tracks. It's streaming as well but you know a Bandcamp bump is always appreciated by anyone.

umbrelOS

posted March 28, 2024 #

an entire operating system built for a home media setup. honestly, it looks great and i am very tempted by it but the possibility of it going belly up because it is VC funded makes me also very hesitant.

All Html By Evan Roth, 2011

posted March 22, 2024 #

Thanks to the HTML Review (specifically, the Garry Ing essay), I have encountered Evan Roth's All HTML. It's a bizarre looking website that makes zero sense unless you've ever made a website yourself - just View Source and you'll see all the parts laid bare. Fun.

The HTML Review: Issue 03

posted March 22, 2024 #

If you see someone complaining that "the web isn't fun anymore" - steer them towards The HTML Review, an online "journal of literature made to exist on the web." Take two seconds to look at Issue 03 and you'll get the appeal - a giant spinning table of contents! It's fun, it's beautiful and it's a portal to even more engaging pieces.

This Forest Void by Hannah Jenkins is a series of small poems that reveal themselves and, if you're patient, rescramble themselves. A Cragislist cacophony from Sarah Chekfa, a video game prologue from Nicholas O'Brien. A View Source essay from Garry Ing. These things require you to spend time with them - it's not a single serving stream of swipe left / swipe right / IG stories / text feeds - but they are distinctly Of The Web. It's great to see and even better to experience.

Lionlimb announce Limbo

posted March 21, 2024 #

I've been listening to Lionlimb, aka Stewart Bronaugh with Joshua Jaeger, since their initial, gorgeous, release Shoo back in 2016. The newest album, Limbo was just recently announced and is set for release in late May.

There's only one song available at this very moment but the album writeup speaks of 70's Italian movie influences, funky basslines, melodramatic strings and "making music that could easily belong on Twin Peaks just as much as a Western cowboy film." I'm in.

teable: No Code Database

posted March 21, 2024 #

a fusion of Postgres and Airtable. I dont know who needs to see this but maybe its you.

Castlevania Metroidvania

posted March 21, 2024 #

Castlevania ReVamped is a fan made overhaul of the 1986 NES classic into a sprawling Metroidvania type game. Loads of new power-ups, levels, etc etc. Kind of what you'd hope for from a fan remake of a game with 38 years to percolate on ideas. The trailer looks fantastic.

If you, like me, do not have a way to play a game like this, you can always turn to YouTube to passively partake.

Lynda! Barry!

posted March 20, 2024 #

a delightful read about creativity and getting out of your own way

Pitchfork Lived And Died By The Internet

posted March 20, 2024 #

It seems a little silly for me to post about an article in The Verge as I imagine anyone still reading this blog is also a fairly ardent reader of The Verge. However, there's a lot of content out there, so maybe you missed it. I did.

This piece - possibly entitled "Indie, rocked or Pitchfork Lived And Died By The Internet - is an insightful rundown on the history of Pitchfork, its influence on music and, most importantly, how the Internet was its ultimate demise.

Spoiler alert: music is much less of a valued commodity now than it was in the 80s and 90s when I was young. Turns out, having access to millions of songs makes you less invested than when you only have 12. I don't know that I see this as dire as the article makes it out to be. More music being available also means it's possible for more people to make music. A process that previously cost thousands upon thousands of dollars can be done with free software now. That's incredible.

The eulogy of Pitchfork has been spread far and wide but it's actually not quite dead yet. They're still publishing. I haven't read it regularly in over a decade so I have no idea how culturally relevant it is to anyone. I always found it intentionally obtuse or willfully antagonistic, sometimes both. From reading the article, it seems that was on purpose.

Regardless of my feelings on it, its place in Internet history and music history is undeniable. The article does a nice job of capturing that.

Can A Startup Kill Chatgpt?

posted March 18, 2024 #

If you're not subscribed to Ben's Bites - a daily AI newsletter - you should go subscribe now. Always a morning treat.

They recently linked up this Dan Shipper piece Can a Startup Kill ChatGPT? It's a nice read with plenty of insights worth considering. However, what I really enjoyed about it was the plain and simple reminder of the definition of disruption. These three paragraphs are a nice clip but it really works well within the larger piece. Go read it.
The word “disruption” is used colloquially to mean any instance where a startup beats an incumbent, but in its original formulation, it meant something specific.

Disruption, as theorized by Clayton Christensen in the early 1990s, is a process by which a startup offers a lower-cost product that performs worse along standard dimensions of performance for a small subset of customers outside of the mainstream. The product gets adoption, though, because it performs better on a new dimension of performance that is important to its niche customer set. Over time, the disruptor improves on standard performance metrics so that it can move up-market to higher-value customers, while maintaining its other advantages.

The startup is able to displace a larger, well-managed incumbent because the latter sees that the startup’s original product is lower cost and lower margin, and generally performs worse. So it looks like a bad business. Therefore, the incumbent fails to react until it’s too late.

Evilspeak

posted March 16, 2024 #

The boys over at The Horror Fried Podcast recently covered the 1981 film debut of Eric Weston, Evilspeak. It's brand new to me but take 2 minutes to watch the trailer and I think you'll be as intrigued as I am... Clint Howard conjures a demon from his Tandy TRS-80 to seek revenge on his bullying classmates. If you wanna spoil a bit of it for yourself (like I did), you can watch the conjuring scene. It's like a prophetic, satanic, ChatGPT run through a terminal emulator.. and it's good.

The Wikipedia entry for it reveals that it was banned in the UK (TIL "video nasty") and praised by Anton LaVey. Amusing facts all around.

Venjent

posted March 15, 2024 #

I was recently introduced to Venjent, a DJ / musician / drum-n-bass enthusiast. I suggest an Instagram deep dive but anywhere you start is a good place.
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