Media
My recent YouTube watching has been about theme-parks, predominantly Disney. I’m not an theme-park enthusiast but I found both Theme Park History and Defunctland really interesting channels to watch. HT to Reconcilable Differences and Really Specific Stories, which mentioned the two channels. 📺
Also rediscovered Fleetwood Mac, after a long pause since hearing it when I was a kid. Seems “Dreams” is the more popular one (I keep hearing it at the gym), but for myself, I just love the instrumentation of “Little Lies”. 🎵
Rediscovered Nigel Westlake’s Antarctica — Suit for guitar and orchestra. First heard it in Year 11 Music, when we had to study the score. Started listening to it again about a month ago. You’d want the version with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Slightly more refined than the original. 🎵
📺 Sophie Koonin – This Website Is under Construction, a Love Letter to the Personal Website
Saw this boosted on social.lol. A really good talk on why having your own place on the web is worth it.
🎵 Going Home: Theme from Local Hero
This week’s earworm. Apparently I loved this track when I was a little kid. Well, apart from the very 80’s sound (not a criticism), I’d say the younger me had great taste.
📺 Sash! - Adelante (Official Video)
No, you stop scouring the web for a music video from your childhood and get back to work! 😀
🎙 Really Specific Stories: John Siracusa
As an avid fan of all of John’s podcasts, I’ve been looking forward to this episode of Really Specific Stories for a while. I’m please to say that @martinfeld does not disappoint. A fantastic listen.
🎵 Twenty Four Hours from Café Del Chillia
Effectively intermission music but I have found myself liking it. I do, however, think that with just a few tweaks it could be much better. Changing the base line so that it no longer clashes with the melody, for example.
📺 The Computer Programme (1982)
Discovered from reading this Ars Technica article about the history of ARM. Was commissioned by the BBC in the early 1980’s to teach the British public about home computers. Found it to be quite charming.
🎙 The Talk Show: Grand Scale Foot-Shooting
A fascinating episode of the Talk Show. Couldn’t put it down, metaphorically speaking.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: watching cab-rides on YouTube is great, but there aren’t any of the Melbourne and Victorian rail network. Well friends, if you’re tired of the Shinkansen and TGV, this is for you. 😀
📺 The Early Days of id Software: Programming Principles
YouTube recommended this conference talk by John Romero on how id Software did their game development during the early days. Watched it last night, and I really enjoyed it. Amazing how much they got done with what they had.
📺 WTF are all these config files for
Web front-end developers need to find a way to get all their project configuration into a single file. There, I said it! If Java devs can do it, then so can you.
(link via. the front-end developers at work)
This week’s earworm: Hergest Ridge 🎵
Another Mike Oldfield album (surprise, surprise). I’ve only recently discovered this after my dad shared this YouTube video on prog. rock albums. I’m making my way through the list but I’ve naturally started from what I consider the best.
🎙️ Really Specific Stories, featuring yours truly.
Had the privilege of being a guest on @martinfeld’s excellent show about podcasting. Check it out, then make sure you listen to the other episodes because they are all really good.
🎙 Dithering: 13 Sept 22 - Discord AI
Enjoyed the discussion on Midjourney and AI images, but it was the final two minutes on the UIs of Slack and Discord that I found to be the most interesting part of this episode.
This week’s earworm: The Songs Of Distant Earth by Mike Oldfield 🎵
Not necessarily a new one in my rotation, but I’ve been listening to it non-stop all week.
🎙️ No Mercy / No Malice: All Ears
First one of these newsletters that I actually listen to in podcast form, and I really enjoyed it. Happy coincidence that the subject today probably explained the reason why.
This week’s earworm: TUNIC (Original Game Soundtrack) by Lifeformed × Janice Kwan.
Favourite track: To Far Shores. 🎵
After a hard day of work, it’s great to live a little vicariously by listening to the story of how John Siracusa chose the indy life on Reconcilable Differences.🎙️