0422 retina

0422 retina

0421 fact check

 0421 fact check

no blurb today

[note to self: didn't master this.. so in the future, if it stands out as obviously not mastered, master it, fool!]

[future self to 4/21 self: I'm a fool? You're the one who neglected to master the thing while the project was open... FOOL!]

[4/21 self: I didn't have time/energy/gumption/etc. after spending all morning cleaning and organizing the studio! you have no idea what my life is like!]

[oh shut up. nice job on the visuals, though.]

[aw I love you, future me. let's never fight again.]

[yeahright]

0420 forces

0420 forces

here goes:

version A: 

Forces deals with the universal dance of tension and release, the ebb and flow in and of all systems, molecular, physical, interpersonal, emotional, societal, structural, universal in every state of being and timescale.

(too pseudosciency)

version B:

We observe things reacting to other things, from the simplest to the most complex. The way things react with each other determines their properties. We conceive meaning in this ebb and flow, and the meaning-giving becomes part of the reaction sequence.

(tries to be all philosophical and stuff)

version C:

Shit happens. Whoa.

(for fun and to wipe the slate)

version D:

Sound and visual forms are grounded in physics. When we recognize the logic of how these change from moment to moment, we understand its language.

I really like this one. It offers a way into the piece if anyone wants it. Once in, the audience can be as pseudosciency, sciency or philosophical or "whoa" as they like. (or not)

0419 razor

0419 razor

most time-consuming part: selecting photos

last step: learning how to ease in and out keyframes

I suppose this is about subverting visual assumptions and how we are always wrangling nature to suit us.

I'm half-assedly working on my ability to come up with concise blurbs describing the artist's intention of a work. We go to tons of exhibitions in Busan and I'm stunned by what some artists manage to write about their work on those little placards and gallery flyers(?). By stunned I mean everything from profoundly impressed to roll-your-eyes embarrassed at how ridiculously obfuscatory and pretentious these can sometimes be. When I look back at what I've written attempting to describe my music, I'm more often than not cringing at how bad I am at it.

Anyway, my career goals necessitate the improvement of this skill.

so I'll try to improve the one I wrote above (without AI):

Razor is an attempt to subvert visual assumptions while implying a certain violence of human encroachment upon natural landscapes.

Better? Less hesitant and conversational maybe. But still kind of pretentious and sterile. But at least it's short. I can't stand the ones that go on and on. Leave long analyses and observations to the critics and zine copy writers. Save the in-depth explorations for future guest visit talks and Q/A sessions, if you're lucky enough to be asked to do them. Until then, no one cares enough yet. Is that harsh?

I'm almost certain artists today are using AI to polish their exhibition blurbs. Many of them have that same sterile academic drone to them. 

To be fair, 10 years ago I didn't think much of these things, assuming that I was just too simpleminded to get what they were on about, and that often does still hold true - I have so much to learn and understand. But now that I've read a ton of them, I can better see where the strata lie. Some of them at least kind of deserve a chuckle. Some of them are super good: very well written and are astutely helpful in the understanding of the artwork. Most of them are fine and do the job they set out to do with a minimum of grandstanding. But a few are reaaaally bad. They really seem to be compensating for a repressed inferiority complex of some sort. These are the ones that I really want to avoid imitating when I learn to write them. It's like that one person you went to college with who blew your 18-year-old mind who now you look back on and think, yep, their mouth wrote checks their actual work couldn't cash. I can think of a couple from music school.

Well, that kind of got away from me. Sorry to indulge. Anyway, I'm trying to develop in good ways with my feet on the ground. And I'll never, never ever use AI to write those blurbs, I promise you that.

somewhat related:

It has dawned on me recently that if someone asked me, "What is your dream?", I would have difficulty answering. I suppose that's good, but not having a dream to work toward seems.. wrong. Sad. Of course I have a dream.. what is it? I had to think about it a bit, and I think I've got it: I want to be an AV artist that does everything themselves: the music, sound design, all the visuals and puts the hardware together to install it and can possibly perform it live for small audiences. I want to work solo and collaboratively. I'm kind of wading into that ocean now and I have a ton to learn, but at least now I know that that's my direction these days. I'm about to start a course on Video Production this week taught by an Emmy nominated documentary filmmaker friend of mine and this daily project is giving me a lot to work on. So.. Ever onward!

0418 aperture

0418 aperture

0417 when

0417 when

this one surprised me

I set out to NOT spend 9 hours on a daily piece as I did yesterday and leapt into it with a simple idea about cutting up a piano recording and rearranging the pieces

the music ended up sounding pretty serious

heading into my old videos folder, I put together something that quickly became deeply personal and (maybe too) emotionally honest

from start to finish: 2 hours, 45 minutes

I'm reminded that inspiration is not something that comes to you while you sit passively before starting to work.. but rather find through activity.

0416 Veritas

0416 Veritas

I have a crush on geometry

there

I said it

0415 cliquish

0415 cliquish

0414 tessellations

0414 tessellations

thought of calling it "tessellation row" but nah

visuals:

photos of 24 varyingly crumpled up pieces of paper

and a lot of manipulation of color and texture

and of course.. compositing.

I imagine real visual artists might look at all this and think, "seriously, more compositing??"

but I haven't worked it out of my system yet

every time I find something new and cool to do with it.. it's cool to me anyway

0413 bossa

0413 bossa

woke up

got the tripod out of the closet

set up the camera in the LR

Misun did some subtle dance moves w bossa nova playing in the room

selected a 2.8 second bit of it that kind of loops well

exported every third frame (30 fps to 10 fps) to GIMP

printed each as reference

Misun sketched 28 frames

made music and adapted recent PureData patch to handle them in various random playbacks and speeds while she worked

I photographed each (nts: buy scanner)

messed with the images

exported those into a folder

finished Pd patch to animate them

captured 4 performances using OBS

dropped those into Davinci Resolve w music

messed around with them

exported, posted

did a little dance of my own with no one watching

0412 topo

0412 topo

0411 plaid

0411 plaid

0410 Wondong

0410 Wondong

Patrick Carle writes:

First nice day in a while. Along the Nakdong, staring at the restless water.

The piano opens — short phrases, tentative. The clarinet answers, or doesn't quite. 

"You know..."

Monosyllabic, halting. Like two people who've said the necessary thing already and are now just sitting with it. Eye contact. A sigh.

Said enough. The piece ends unresolved — but somehow that's ok.

0409 interject

0409 interject

0408 sleep well

0408 sleep well

0407 participate

0407 participate

0406 look at those scientists go

0406 look at those scientists go

0405 Artemis2 part 1

0405 Artemis2 part 1

This mission has captured my soul

By the end, human beings will have extended the distance we have ventured from our home

We stand to learn much about the moon and earth

and will be another step closer to returning to the moon's surface (hopefully in a few years)

Things like ethnicity, gender, nationalities, religions, wealth, tribalism.. 

these divisions all fall away into ridiculous pointlessness at this scale of perspective

Last night the moon shone through our window, illuminating the floor at midnight

Since I was a child, the moon seemed to beckon to me

It fills me with a sense of wonder and melancholy longing

I always think the same silly thing: 

I wish I lived there.

The earth could be a paradise

were it not for the power of greed and stupidity

So I imagine being far away

somewhere quiet.

0404 malice

0404 malice

some days, you know?

0403 typog

0403 typog

2026-03-31 Raiders in Concert

 REPOST FROM:

2026-03-31 Raiders in Concert

Brother mine: That soundtrack represents everything we got into music for in the first place. [Takes a drink.]

On Saturday, Alissa and I went to see the Madison Symphony Orchestra perform the score for Raiders of the Lost Ark in sync with the film itself on a large screen suspended over the orchesta. The conductor, Kyle Knox, stood facing the orchesta and the screen, but he also had his own small screen positioned just above his score. That screen showed timing cues and other information he needed to keep in sync with the action.

Knox gave a 30-minute talk before the show to a small crowd of interested ticket holders about John Williams and his place in cinema score history. He also talked a lot about leitmotifs. It was a good little lecture, with examples.

Out in the lobby there was a small display about archeology in Wisconsin with a couple of experts there to answer questions. There were Native American artifacts like arrowheads and a video about an ancient canoe found at the bottom of lake Mendota, archeological dig tools, and a real field notebook. You know I enjoyed thumbing throught that.

Many concertgoers were wearing their idea of Indiana Jones-style fedoras and leather jackets. None of them were even close. I wore my normal fedora, but I checked it with my coat. I wasn’t going to wear a hat in concert hall! What kind of uncouth nerd would do that?

I was wearing my Alden Indy boots, though. Only I and Alissa knew how cool I was.

I didn’t bring my whip.

The performance was thrilling. Many was the time I forgot there was a live orchestra there. But I brought my opera glasses so I could get a close look at the percussion section, with the snares, bass drums, timpani, triangles, bells, chimes, tamborines, and especially the slap-stick, which they repeatedly percussed while Toht’s face melted off his skull. Music to my ears.

There were some noticable flubs, especially in the horns and some of the more difficult flute and reed parts. That is to be expected. It wasn’t the London Symphony, and they only had 24 hours to rehearse. But it sure was fun to watch the strings pizzicato through the tarantula scene and the trumpets blaring out the Raiders theme!

You would have loved it, Rob. Vale.

------

Brother mine,
I'm sure I would have loved it.
I assume they mixed the music out and left the other sound in the film playback (sfx, dialogue, foley, all that) but have to ask: was the orchestra mixed in higher then in the cinematic version? (not super important, just curious)

Wow, what a super tough score to play. I can imagine there were some flubs.
When I listen to the truck chase scene, I think: "oh those poor French horns"
and "those glorious trumpet solos!"
One day of rehearsal for that would positively terrify me as a musician.

I'm listening to the the OST as I type this and between this and Williams' 1977 score for Star Wars, yeah, this is the music that first fully introduced to us the magical, transformative, evocative, life-changing power that music holds. All the music we fell in love with since then sort of followed through that opened gateway, didn't it?
John Williams has a lot to answer for. ;)

I've seen a ton of interviews with modern working film composers from obscure to household names and they all bend a knee when talking about Williams, for good reason. Zimmer is critical of the space opera approach, but he still respects Williams.
I used to teach a course called Music on Screen and I always did two full sessions (4 hours) on Williams alone. He's perfect for introducing things like orchestration, thematic development, scene transition, leitmotif, and his work dovetails beautifully with Wagner, Mahler, and Erich Korngold who laid a lot of the groundwork for film music as we know it today. The students at that time mostly knew his music from the first Harry Potter film, and everyone knows the Darth Vader theme. :) Showing them scenes from Star Wars, Superman, JFK, Jurassic Park, Lincoln, and even the Olympic fanfares, it's easy to get swept up in his music.

The archaeology display thing sounds like it was a nice touch. I wonder how many archeologists today were originally drawn in by this film? Honestly, if I had chosen a path in the sciences, that would have been a tempting option.
Was that part of Sylvia's way into her studies?

as ever,
your brother and fight choreographer who always got killed by your Indy in the movies we made in the basement

0402 wings

 0402 wings

musicianing requires a lot of waiting around;

I bring a book and my TASCAM DR-07XP.

0401 four and three

0401 four and three

various influences here but I hope to have taken it in a newish direction;

thinking about how the world seems to be run by quantization analysis.. the few ideas that come from large businesses begin on spreadsheets and if they look good there, they are implemented in the real world, despite their impact on living beings beyond wealth extraction. 

but I like numbers and I like the mathematical side of music: the interconnection of music, sound and physics and time. 

so in these Pure Data experiments I'm playing with math a lot, but the element of living in an increasingly digitized/quantified world is not lost on me.

this is the patch for today, very similar to the one I made for 0329 threshold.