Ok, if you’re a geek insider, you’ll get the jokes…
Category: Digital Life
Brene Brown: About Vulnerability, Authenticity and Belonging
I finally was able to get a walk in last night. One of the critical elements for a good walk, in my system: a good podcast. For several years one of my favorites has been Design Matters with Debbie Millman (I’m not sure how long I’ve been listening, but this post of mine from 2014 says I’d been listening for a few months.) I highly recommend subscribing, even if you’re not a designer or artist. Design thinking’s value extends far beyond graphic arts and design.
The episode from October 23rd features Brene Brown. Sadly, I’d never heard of her before. It’s sad since I have a deep interest in the subjects of her work. I’ll be adding a few of her books to my reading list. Plus she has two, TWO TED Talks that I have missed. So, I’ll be addressing that over the weekend.
I particularly appreciated her thoughts on vulnerability and trust. Elements which are critical for healthy for relationships, but far too scare, I’m afraid. And the current political environment does nothing to help. But I digress.
Anyway, give the podcast a listen (below). I’ll also put in links at the bottom to connect with her.
I’ll leave you with my favorite quote of hers: “Courage is contagious. Every time we choose courage, we make everyone around us a little better and the world a little braver.” A great idea with which to move forward, methinks.
Connect With Brene:
Feeling Hopeful
My son just introduced me to this video by the British group “Bars and Melody“: Hopeful. The guys sing/rap quite well, but I find the anti-bullying message of this song powerful. It looks like this is a key part of their identity, which I fully support.
Now, it’s important to note, this video is from 2014. They have a pretty cool story of rising up via Britain’s Got Talent, getting a recording contract, and making a way via the arts through one of the new arts delivery channels.
Anyway, enjoy the video and let me know what you think in the comments.
Oh, YouTube Red, so close, yet so far
I’ve been hoping for YouTube to make upgrading to Red family plans easier for a few months. Imagine my delight to read this, then:
So I scurried over and clicked the “Upgrade Now” button, and…well…nope:
I thought myself so clever, setting up my family on a Google Apps “Standard Edition” (ancient predecessor for G Suite) back in the stone age (they stopped supporting it in 2012). It’s been nice having the family email accounts all together and under my administration (“Dad…I forgot my password…again…”). So, no Red Family plan for us…for now, at least. I suppose I can use an independent gmail account to do this. I wonder if I can share with a G Suite account from a personal account? Hmmm…
Anyway, I’m annoyed. Not angry, not going to abandon the Googleverse just yet. But, well, “harumph”!
The Cure’s “A Forest” and the Evolution of a Band
I’ve heard this song countless times. Today, Youtube popped this up in the recommended list and I happily listened. Seeing other versions in the sidebar from 1979, 1981, and 1992 made me wonder about how different each one sounded. I enjoyed witnessing the evolution of Robert Smith’s personal style as well.
Below is the 1979 version, which has a more traditional punk vibe (it says something that I can say “traditional” and “punk” without any sense of irony).
This one is from 1981. Not a huge transition, but I notice a less punk style and something that becomes much more recognized as The Cure.
By 1992, we have a clearly distinctive style that is The Cure, and not confusable with anyone else.
Thanks for giving a few minutes of your journey through the vast wasteland that is the internet. Let me know what you think in the comments, and give me a share, if you’re so led.
Food for Thought: Anil Dash’s “The Year I Didn’t Retweet Men”
I’d forgotten about Anil’s post to Medium a “little ways back”, so I was able to look with fresh eyes.
“The Year I Didn’t Retweet Men”
I really appreciate his efforts to amplify responsibly. And have tried, over the years, to take the same idea to heart. I may not have Anil’s reach, but I have a significant online following. Significant enough that I feel a certain responsibility to use my platform justly.
I like how his efforts changed:
- the nature of his online interactions
- the flavor of his feed
- and how it changed his perceptions about the world
- made his experience on Twitter happier
Though not a fan of the whole “resolution” thing, and since it’s August, seems kinda silly anyway, I like the idea of making purposeful decisions.
I intend to be much more thoughtful about what I share. I have tried to avoid the meme-du-jour, and things everyone else is doing. I also have avoided any hate-retweeting. Our world has enough rage, including the things that drive me towards rage. I have been trying to focus on the positive, yet avoiding a Pollyannaish approach. Positive and effective efforts, change, thoughts: that’s what I try to amplify.
So, doubling down on this. Thanks, Anil, for the reminder and motivation.
Watching the Flash with my son
My son and I have been watching the Flash on Netflix. It’s been a fun little bonding thing.
I love the show. Watching Barry Allen, and the people surrounding him evolve really delights me. And the ensemble of cast and crew gel very well.
We’ve made a pledge to not watch without the other, so that were in the same place in the continuum. Now I need to add that I grew up reading Flash comics. So there are times I see what’s coming since I now the new characters. But they’re done a good enough job tweaking their TV universe that you can’t assume a character’s comicbook identity will track. It’s a clever way to give homage to the DC legacy but not be terribly predictable.
Now, at times they flirt with the edge of cheesy. Every one of their Christmas episodes makes me worry. Though I have a bias about the weird games screenwriters play with any sort of holiday, but they’ve done well so far. Yet, I still wonder about the need for holiday specials, but that’s just me.
Now we’re about halfway through the second season. Netflix has through season three. It’ll be fun, especially if we get more seasons. If not, we’ll then move over to Arrow and keep the DC stream going.
Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir Live “Cloudburst”
I love Eric Whitacre’s work. His music speaks deeply to me. His Virtual Choir pieces, though, achieves the highest levels of awesome.
This one, Cloudburst (where gets bonus points from me as he based on an Octavio Paz poem) is stunning. Inspired by a Midwestern thunderstorm, the song captures the audio essence of the storm. From a musical perspective, I adore his use of clapping and finger snapping to achieve the feel of heavy rain. And his interweaving of harmony and dissonance really strikes a chord (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun).
Regarding the virtual nature, in addition to the choirs in the auditorium we have 30 choristers in 30 countries, all Skyped in. Pushing the technical boundaries, too. I delighted at the way Eric dealt with the lag: the piece was written to use it. Turning a liability into an asset is genius.
So, please, enjoy Eric Whitacre’s virtual choir performing “Cloudburst” at a TED talk.
And now, Google Music
I value knowing what’s going on in the tech world. Yet, there is so much change, coming so fast, that sometimes I miss the obvious.
I subscribed to YouTube Red some time ago. My focus: ad elimination. So much of my family’s video time is spent on YouTube, so it was a prudent investment.
I didn’t realize that the subscription includes Google Music. I discovered this today, so used it as my music delivery mechanism. Music is such a core part of my being, that the way I access it has value.
I like the interface. So far, the selection has been solid. Spotify, of late, has been quite a resource hog. Accessing via a web browser seems to use resources better, or at least more gently.
Anyway, I’m exploring shifting over fully, and cancelling my Spotify account. I’ll be diving deeper into Google Music and share what I learn.
Contemporary Communications
A current cultural value: speed. Faster, faster…get more done sooner!
So, with that, one of my recent personal observations: I need to slow down. In the grand flurry of work, I find it easy to wrap myself up in the frenetic nature of life and reactively communicate. My most common culprit: email, though other medium catch that, too.
Taking that moment to consider “what am I trying to say?” and “what do I want to happen?”, then evaluating my content against those proves itself valuable again and again.
Also valuable: thinking through medium. Is an email the best tool to get the results I need? Sometimes I end up shifting to a phone call after a few emails where we talk past each other.
Quite often slowing down, getting focused on quality ends up being by far faster. In my experience, I find that true more often than not.