- nota bene
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- n.b.5 | a runway to a new year
New Year's is an oddly important holiday to me. Not just because it makes me sad--no, I don't know why--but also because it's the "cleanest" break we have built into life.
No separation of time is more distinct than that between 11:59 on December 31st and 12:00 on January 1st. It is a moment that we can inarguably say to ourselves, "that was then, and this is now."
I suppose it's for that reason that I spend a lot of time thinking about New Year's and how I intend to approach it.
I wrote about this a long, long time ago, which I'm sure I'll revisit again this month. But there's also another project I want to make a part of my new year: a media tracker.
Last year, I made an attempt at tracking every piece of media I consumed throughout the year in a sort of hybrid "To-Do/Did List". Movies, music, video games, TV shows, podcasts; you name it. It was part of an effort to remember more of the things I experienced and gain a greater ability to recall both creative works and important mini-chapters of my life.
Of course, it dropped off around month five--because of a poor platform choice, I think--but I'm starting to map out a similar exercise for 2023, writing down new things I know will come out, as well as other interests I've been meaning to get to.
Anyway, this is just one of the ways that I plan to be more intentioned with my time in 2023. Fortunately, I have about 25 more days to think about it.
— n.b.
P L A Y :
a graphics playground
In case you need some quick, abstract SVG graphics, this website has you covered. I actually made the header image in about 30 seconds.
Really has everything you can think of, like curvy line shapes, blurry background gradients, and more.
W A T C H :
get ready to ugly cry
Two tear-jerkers for you today.
I'm a bit biased, since my brother worked on this game (Marvel Midnight Suns), but this story is very touching.
A man in England was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and one of last wishes was to play Midnight Suns. The team not only hand-delivered a working level (when NO playable version of the game existed to that point), they also left an easter egg in the game itself: a tree that has the words "LUKE W WAS HERE" carved into it.
A genuinely beautiful advert from the British Heart Foundation about donations. Not much more to say than that. Just watch.
R E A D :
the power of movie soundtracks
I really enjoyed this piece that discusses the power that movie and television soundtracks can have on our musical tastes. It ties a thread between how foundational the "curation" of soundtracks can be to our musical interests, as well as how so many cultural properties today hinge themselves on thematic songs (Strangers Things + Kate Bush, Top Gun + Kenny Loggins).
Also, the mountain that these efforts have to climb in the face of TikTok, streaming options, and more:
It’s not that these efforts haven’t been made since; Drive is a more recent classic soundtrack. The Black Panther soundtrack was basically a Kendrick Lamar and Friends LP. But the individual album isn’t the event it once was, to say nothing of the compilation. The chance for a single movie or TV show to create one of these moments — one that breaks through the cultural stratosphere, exploding in the air over all of us — isn’t huge. They’re just not getting the attention that they used to.
//
no need for eye contact
NVIDIA's latest tech demo has blown my mind. Imagine taking a video call, reading a script that's on your desk, and having your audience see your eyes the entire time.
NVIDIA Maxine uses AI to digitally reconstruct your face to ensure that your audience can see and hear you perfectly. The demo video in the link is wild. Best to prepare early.
Thank you again for reading.
— n.b.