Sorry about the delay folks, I’m going to start writing more here, if only because I can spur myself to start finishing more projects.
Just some links for now, but think of this as an appetizer for later.
Alex Payne –The iPad as a blackbox
Mark Pilgrim – The Tinkerer’s Sunset
It’s one of those weeks. The career, the girl, the academics and the car all sort of form one giant miasma of stress that hangs over my head. Did you know that my eyebrow kind of twitches involuntarily when I get really stressed? I mean, it’s not the sort of thing that’s visible, but I can feel it happening, and while it doesn’t bother me – it annoys me.
Though I still consider most of the University of California at San Diego’s architecture as woefully unwelcoming for the new student, I now appreciate the purity of the harsh, angular concrete that constitutes the majority of UCSD’s buildings. Far from the welcoming brick and grassy knolls of people’s imaginations, it still holds a certain, futuristic charm.
Geisel Library, UCSD – The spaceship and the shadow
York Hall, UCSD – Carbon-inspired architectural patterns.
Technical Miscellany – Nikon N80, 15mm Sigma f/2.8 Fisheye | Nikon 50mm f/1.8, Shot on Kodak Tri-X 400, Developed with Rodinal
Note – I am still developing and scanning my negatives from the Philippines, so please expect photos of my homeland soon. Not always beautiful, but my heart still yearns for my native soil.
I just came across this idea of ‘live-coding’, or developing on-the-fly generative code for a live audience. While the audience need not understand what is going on before them, the programmer is responsible for transparency between program and audience. Within the ‘livecoding’ philosophy, obfuscation is frowned upon, with screens of raw code usually presented to the audience.
The core fundamentals of this philosophy can be found at toplap. Heavily emphasized is improvization and live performance, and while I haven’t fully read the implications of toplap’s design philosophy, it’s a frontier I haven’t previous considered. It actually runs contrary to almost all my previous design paradigms, which tend to favor robust systems that have been finalized hours, days or weeks before a performance. (Just think of software, it’s not given to a user on the fly, it’s rammed through user testing for months until a final, static product is achieved.)
The difference in perspective is similar to the differences between classical and jazz violin. Whereas in classical violin performance, a musician would practice for weeks, months or years to perfect a piece, constantly running through the stanzas in order to perform according to the set notes before them. Conversely, a jazz violinist in a live set often improvises upon the melody, using his or her own intuition to introduce new and interesting variations, with different performances never quite being the same. I just came across this idea tonight, and believe you me, I’m still trying to come to grips with the implications of such a philosophy.
For the last few weeks, I’ve been (extremely) slowly hacking through Algorithms for Visual Design: Using the Processing Language by Kostas Terzidis, a very theory-heavy introduction to algorithmic art using the Java-based Processing language (I’ll post an in-depth review much later after I feel I have a better grasp of it’s contents; it goes into Bernstein polynomials, which in itself was a four-day research expedition.). I eventually want to use it to perform audience interactive art, but the idea of improvising code on the fly in front of people is downright scary, and being able to wrap my mind around such improvisational possibilities might take some time.
But I digress. I’d just like to show you guys cmfl, the context-free music language, which uses generative algorithms usually created for visual design for AUDIO. How neat is that? Pardon me while I go away for awhile, consider my mind. blown.
Just an image from when I traveled to Agallpampa, Peru in early 2008 as a volunteer with FIMRC@UCSD. Shot from the side of a moving van using a 50mm f/1.8, I’m surprised it came out as well as it did. A little murky, but still a wonderful capture.
(also, I think my margins are a little funky when handling image/texts. I must correct this soon, or else.)
I just received my MCAT Test scores back this afternoon. I did extremely well, taking into consideration how much stress and agony the last few weeks of preparation was. For a very long time, I was dearly, dearly petrified of the MCAT. Many times I would look at and open my prep books, only to shudder in disgust and turn away, wishing that I could just become a college drop-out, or something equally disastrous.
As time wore on, that fear intensified to the point that when any of my friends or family mentioned the MCAT, I would turn pale and change the subject as soon as a I could, simply because I couldn’t bear the thought my nemesis. It became even worse, affecting my sleep in the most awkward ways possible, as I would contemplate, sheets rumpled and eyes wide open, the thought of actually taking the test. No longer was it a simple five-hour test of subjects I had finished, it turned into this primordial monster, with excellent, or even passing scores being no more than fantasy, and defeat almost certain.
It really is interesting to think about how such things form, our phobias. Not overnight and not within days, but formed in months, years of dreadful imagination. And it takes nothing more than a little courage to finally do battle with our own creations. But to amass that little courage, to allow it to flourish and motivate one to battle his enemies – that is indeed difficult.
Some good stuff I haven’t touched in a long time. Very accessible, as opposed to his earlier albums, with a nice funky beat. I’m trying to just showcase some great shadowboxing music; jus’ groove to the beat and let your blows flow.
Putting this on while doing some shadow-boxing on a hot summer’s afternoon really is the bees knees. I suggest you try it sometime.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.