Maybe a couple pairs would be nice.
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(also watched)
I watched a bit of the first episode of The Beatles: Get Back, until Paul actually creates the song Get Back.
It happens in the morning and it’s so awesome to see his mind work around his bassline, repeating the line, finding a quick melody on top, then words. He knows he has something and wants it, chipping away.
I’m not a Beatles fan but I imagine this must feel so great to see the creative process when you are one.
It makes me want to see the same quality footage of recording of albums or hot R&B #1 songs from the Isley Brothers, Parliament, Erykah Badu, Dilla or Midnight Star. Man, I wish I could see that stuff. There’s probably some footage here and there but nothing like the Beatles have.
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ATL SZN III
Caught up on Atlanta season 3. For now, I am torn about it!
First, it must be said that they probably met so many issues and hurdles shooting it over the past two years that it’s kind of a miracle that it’s here. Respect.
Second, I guess the fact that this season happens in Europe does make it colder. In every way.
Third, they have a formula now and they simply use it. That makes sense.
So, it’s not as special as before. We know the tone.
But I think what bothers me a bit, is the mix of real stories laced into the narrative. I don’t know. It seems dangerous. I understand re-writing the story of Devonte Hart but the real story is way sadder and still present time. I understand using the Tesla lawsuit as a trampoline to speak about reparations, but I feel like it’s way too close to use in a fictional world.
It makes me uncomfortable. I’m not in an adventure with Earn Al, Van and Darius, wondering what’s going to happen. I’m watching knowing what it is about. Ep 3 was too obvious to me. It’s less fiction and more Black Mirror, I guess.
I mean, near-future dystopia or dystopia have been a big market/culture for a while now.
But that’s less enjoyable to me. With this season I travel —feeling wise less and that’s an issue. I want to be back in ATL, wondering where we going, with a smile or a lolwtf??? on my face.
Shoutout to the sound design team as usual. Really great audio in that Ep 4.
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SundayFunday
I had prepared everything for my absentee ballot. Filled out the forms, stamped by the embassy, a month in advance. Receipts everywhere.
My dad wasn’t able to vote for me. Of course.
I’m in front of my computer for our Sunday call at 8pm/11am for me, when the election results come out.
They tell me that the far-right is in the second round, just as I refresh the page online and can see it myself.
No surprise. Pain, though.
I’m finishing my naturalization paperwork this week.
Heavy in the mind.
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Black Futures
It’s a great book. Makes you think, appreciate.
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Meaningful numbers
Speaking of numbers, about that pandemic.
Things are looking better in America, thanks to not having data anymore. We can see some stabilization happening in Asia and Europe. Except for something weird.
In the last two months, deaths per week in Germany have almost doubled. It’s not a little peak it’s a slow, steady increase. Germany has the highest ICU/person ratio in the world, remember. So people should recover better than anywhere else. They are not.
Also to note that its neighbors France and the UK’s weekly deaths are slightly going up recently.
New, deadlier variant? I sure hope not.
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Meaningless numbers
Adriano Ferreira da Silva Filho, a 19-year-old fan from Ilhabela, a beach town in the state of São Paulo, told Rest of World that he wanted to boost “Envolver”’s popularity as a means of paying back an artist who was influential in his life. So, Filho created a series of different playlists to play the song over 2,000 times a day using his laptop and two cellphones to be able to have them all playing simultaneously from different usernames.
“If you only play the track on repeat, Spotify doesn’t count it as a stream,” Filho explained. “They think it’s a bot. So, you have to create a playlist with different tracks and alternate them with the one you want to boost.”
All numbers on platforms are fake or fake-ish. Number of followers, likes, plays, views? All fake. Database 0s and 1s that can be edited however one is pleased. All those numbers are gamed.
I’ve seen someone with half a million followers on Twitter get 3 RTs in four hours. For something about her business. That makes no sense.
Those numbers have zero value, are constantly manipulated and far too many people OBSESS about them.
You’re obsessing about the void, a black box designed for retention, dear. No status here. Focus.
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Perspective on money and ads
Reading a conversation about ads and how much we all dislike them, that we tolerate them until we can’t. How advertising is psychological warfare, etc.
Then I realized that Facebook/Meta in 2020 made $32.6 billion in profit, off ads.
2 years of Facebook profit would pay for the six next-generation nuclear plants that France is planning on building.
Let me rephrase that.
A couple years of one single COMPANY’s profit is enough to pay for one COUNTRY to stay energy-wise, independent. That’s incredible. Staggering.
Ads work way too well. Which is why they suck. Which is why they are still here. Because they work so well.
It must be fascinating/disturbing these days. I can’t wait for the upcoming Netflix Real Reels or whatever.
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Active Meditation
“Meditation is an incredible tool (even if my own report says otherwise) to connect with this world on an entirely different wavelength.”
I have never meditated in my life. But I play my bass daily since the mid 90s.
I wouldn’t be able to stop ever, I think.
It does make me connect to this world on an entirely different wavelength. In the deepest moments of concentration when improvising, when my eyes are closed and my fingers know three to five steps in advance what to do?
It’s indescribable. It feels like I am One with Everything.
I’d always laugh reading musicians speak about that type of thing. A stereotype, indeed. But then you reach that level of expertise and you can only be quiet about it. Because it’s that overwhelming and intense and so serene.
Fun fact: brainwaves are going from 1 to 150Hz and bass guitar is about 40 to 400Hz. I wonder if they synchronize and/or harmonize.
Anyway I always, always need a good ten minutes to get my brain back to being able to activate speech.
Because playing a musical instrument makes me feel like jumping from stars the size of atoms to the size of actual stars, with a grappling hook. I told you, it’s indescribable.