I am Nostalgic for iPods
I love technology. I have a handful of my defunct eletronics from over the years, from my first Droid phone, and a few between, to my most recent Surface Duo 2. I don't have an iPod. And I should.
I am nostalgic for iPods.
I watched this video of someone customizing / refurbishing an iPod and found myself wanting one. I don't need it. I don't even need it for the purpose of breaking from streaming. We don't pay for streaming music and I have a home Plex server that I can stream our music from.
What I realized is that this is less about the technology item itself. It's not about an iPod. It's about my being nostalgic for the feeling of excitement at the unfolding of new technology. Going from a portable CD player to an iPod felt like jumping to light speed for the technology around us.
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My favorite Beatboxer
Granted, I am far from an expert. But Vahtang jumped up the list when I started seeing his videos on social media.
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This morning's work music
I don't always go for lo-fi music. I actually have a few go-to videos but this morning I felt I needed something more chill.
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Saturday of Woodstock
You know how people talk about Woodstock being so incredible? I think this Saturday evening lineup is a good reminder of what it was:
- Grateful Dead
- Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Janis Joplin
- Sly & The Family Stone
- The Who
- Jefferson Airplane
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Possibly Elton John's Final Performance Ever
He's said this would be his last performance ever and he delivered. We'll see if it does end up being the final one ever or not.
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On the Sound of Silence
This evening I'm dealing with a bit of (comparative) insomnia. Hardly major as even now it's only 12:30, but I am normally quite regular in being able to lay down and immediately fall asleep around 10pm. So, as I wait for my body to realize that it is tired, I'm on the computer doing what I do - futzing with code and listening to music.
I've been usually hitting songs I know and like. Or songs suggested to me from my YouTube history via the algorithm. Nothing new. But I did find a new video for a song I know well.
I came upon this video of a voice coach's reaction to Disturbed's Sound of Silence. While the video is wonderful and enjoyable, the thing I most loved was seeing this comment from it:
The beauty of this version is that it sounds less like a “new” version than a progression, something that I think Paul Simon felt when he gave the seal of his approval to David Draiman. Someone said that the original “Sound of Silence” was a plea to the world, a warning, and this version is the anger that the warning was ignored, which I think says it all.
What a perfect description of it in contrast to the original. Gives me chills.
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Eurovision
Just finished watching my first-ever Eurovision championship. I, of course, knew what it was but only in the dictionary sense. I had never really seen it. Due to my friends who live in Europe I probably knew more about it than most Americans, but it was still only from afar and without having a real understanding of it.
Katie and I put it on, seeing it available on Peacock. And as we were about six countries into the introduction I decided we needed to stop and watch it with our friend Annie. We had been planning to do movie night tonight but we pulled an audible and watched this year's finals.
As far as first viewings, we really enjoyed it. And we also appreciated the ability to fast forward through some of the VERY drawn out segments. I'm all for giving the countries the ability to chime in and be involved, but the vote counting was a part we jumped through.
Katie and Annie were both very disappointed to learn that people could win Eurovision multiple times. They felt it should not be allowed.
I can definitely see us planning to tune in for it next year, we'll see if we watch it live or wait for the recording on streaming. Also, I can't help but wonder if we would ever see a similar competition in the US, separating by state and protectorate. Probably not, but who knows. Then we could have the classic SuperVision, between Amerivision and Eurovision champions.
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Watching Air on Amazon with Katie and while I am enjoying the movie, I have to say it has an absolutely incredible soundtrack.
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Ken Thompson on his music box project
Ken Thompson is one of the creators of Unix and here he is giving a talk about a longterm project of his for making a music machine. It's a good journey through the evolution of technology through this ongoing project.
I had, back in college, the vision for a similar project which I had called 'Ainur' after the singing demigods of Tolkien mythology. At the time, the idea was a portable computer which I could take to parties or conventions and it would run a wifi mp3 streaming service entirely autonomously, and also be available as a file sharing FTP server. It's still an idea I have, and would probably be Raspberry Pi built these days - but in the era of music streaming, it feels like a less and less needed project.
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This morning's soundtrack
I've been a long time fan of this channel on YouTube. I love listening to the foreign music because, first, it's usually fantastic. And second, being non-English, it helps me not get distracted by the music.
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Guy discovers Rage Against the Machine
YouTube randomly put this video on my feed. I assume because I went through a bit of classic rock as background music during D&D this Saturday. Always love seeing people react to great music.
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Wayne Brady covers Thriller with Postmodern Jukebox
Wife came across this tonight. We love Wayne; he got his start at the same improv comedy club we met at (before our times.)
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This morning's music as I work
A relatively modern composition of classical music from 1995. This is performed by Croatian Chamber Orchestra and is simply divine.
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Believe cover by Okay Kaya
Watching Industry on HBO Max and heard this lovely cover. Had to share here.
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A fascinating look at the intertwined history of the banjo and black history
Sadly the racism is not altogether surprising given the south's overt history, but I never thought of it in this particular lens. I particularly found the segment about the 'ring shout' tradition fascinating.
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Alexandr Hrustevich Vilnius 2013 A.Vivaldi-P.Fenyuk. The four seasons "Summer"
I will never be as good at anything as he is at playing that instrument. Amazing.
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