Why do we love a good beat? Does classical music really make you smarter? Join triple j’s Linda Marigliano and composer Dan Golding as they explore the electrifying fusion of emotion and science in music.
Month: March 2022
DR. DAN GOLDING Twitter Youtube
Associate Professor Dan Golding is Deputy Chair of Media and Communication at Swinburne University, the host of Screen Sounds on ABC Classic, and an award-winning composer and writer.
Dan is the author of Star Wars After Lucas (University of Minnesota Press, …
One of the key reasons that students can feel part of a community on residential courses is because they have made a huge commitment in time and effort just to turn-up. In traditional undergraduate terms this is likely to mean relocating the majority of their life to a new city for three years. It’s not just about the physical buildings it’s inherent in the format. In this sense, belonging is exclusive – available only to those who have the time to invest.
This has me thinking about belonging and its association with collaboration, and how whether if we all had the time whether we would naturally wish to collaborate?
[T]hey are not what happened, they are what we remembered, and how we add meaning to them.
I was listening to a podcast recently on forgetting and its relationship with memory. One of the researchers explained how memories are often prone to being negative or at least bias as “whiteness does not show up on the page” and that forgetting is a healthy approach. It has definitely left me thinking about the place and purpose of memories.
Steve Reich is a legendary composer who was one of the pioneers of minimalism. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music, and the New York Times called him “America’s greatest living composer.” I had the incredible honor of getting to speak to Steve Reich about his piece Different Trains, written for string quartet and pre-recorded performance tape. It was first performed in 1988 by the Kronos Quartet, and they released a recording of it in 1989, which won the Grammy for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. Different Trains is a piece about World War II and the Holocaust. It’s made up of three movements: America – Before the War, Europe – During the War, and After the War. For this episode, Steve Reich breaks down the first movement, which was inspired by his own childhood experiences.
By asking simple questions about the acceptability, the appropriateness, and the feasibility of a proposed change, or new approach, it is probable that we increase the likelihood of its success.
Forgetting is the only safe response to the world’s problems, from a geopolitical perspective, according to author and journalist David Rieff. And forgetting is also a good thing in your personal life, say scientists. It moves us forward.
Forgetting is also important on a communal level. Amnesty derives from the word to forget.
Borrowed from Latin amnēstia, borrowed from Greek amnēstía “forgetfulness, oblivion, deliberate overlooking of past offenses”
There are times when we all need to forget, rather than rubbing raw historical wounds. Communal forgetting is public silence on aspects that different people may not agree about. This is something explored by David Rieff.
David Rieff, an independent writer who has reported on bloody conflicts in Africa, the Balkans, and Central Asia, insists that things are not so simple. He poses hard questions about whether remembrance ever truly has, or indeed ever could, “inoculate” the present against repeating the crimes of the past. He argues that rubbing raw historical wounds—whether self-inflicted or imposed by outside forces—neither remedies injustice nor confers reconciliation. If he is right, then historical memory is not a moral imperative but rather a moral option—sometimes called for, sometimes not. Collective remembrance can be toxic. Sometimes, Rieff concludes, it may be more moral to forget.
What was interesting was the discussion of importance of having social links to aid with forgetting when it comes to cases of PTSD. This is one of the issues with COVID and lockdowns.
This discussion also had me thinking about wider discussions associated with memory and remembering. In particular, the place of technology and social media and the right to be forgotten. When it comes to big data, the focus is on remembering everything. What is the place for forgetting in this situation?
Researcher Jane Waite explains how she summarised current research into teaching programming for a report teachers can download now.
Don’t Look Up is a 2021 American apocalyptic black comedy film written, produced, and directed by Adam McKay, and starring an ensemble cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi, Cate Blanchett, and Meryl Streep. It tells the story of two astronomers attempting to warn humanity about an approaching comet that will destroy human civilization. The impact event is an allegory for climate change, and the film is a satire of government, political, celebrity, and media indifference to the climate crisis.[6][7]
While the film is fast and funny, for me, as for many environmental activists and climate scientists, it seemed all too real. I felt as if I were watching my adult life flash past me. As the scientists in the film, trying to draw attention to the approach of a planet-killing comet, bashed their heads against the Great Wall of Denial erected by the media and sought to reach politicians with 10-second attention spans, all the anger and frustration and desperation I’ve felt over the years boiled over.
Altered Carbon is an American cyberpunk television series created by Laeta Kalogridis and based on the 2002 novel of the same title by English author Richard K. Morgan.[1] In a world where consciousness can be transferred to different bodies, Takeshi Kovacs, a former soldier turned investigator, is released from prison in order to solve a murder. The first season consists of ten episodes and premiered on Netflix on February 2, 2018.[2] On July 27, 2018, the series was renewed for a second season of eight episodes,[3] which was released on February 27, 2020, with an anime film set before the first season released on March 19, 2020. Though the series received generally positive reviews, it was canceled after two seasons.[4]
When it’s firing on all cylinders, Altered Carbon is to hard sci-fi what The Witcher is to high fantasy: a series that just plunges you into its strange and meticulously detailed world, one that’s fun and accessible as long as you understand that the ridiculousness is part of the appeal.
The Witcher is a Polish-American fantasy drama television series created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, based on the book series of the same name by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. Set on a fictional, medieval-inspired landmass known as “the Continent”, The Witcher explores the legend of Geralt of Rivia and Princess Ciri, who are linked to each other by destiny.[9] It stars Henry Cavill, Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra.
Personally, I got a Behringer MS-1 and a Roland MS-101. My wife had promised our children that I was getting a guitar for my birthday, I convinced her to buy my a keytar instead, while I thought the MS would make a good stanley knife. In addition to this, I bought a cheap 10 track mixer. I am currently playing through the stereo, but have found the MS-1 a little volatile in regards to the volume. I was initially playing my synths straight through my guitar amp which was limiting.
Wondering if there any tricks and suggestions in regards to managing the volume/signal short of riding the faders? Also, what speakers do you use with your mixer? I fear the deeper I dive into this world, the less I know.
In short, it’s okay to sit and stay with the horror that is the war in Ukraine. You don’t have to have an opinion beyond whatever you are feeling right now. The temptation to say more than the obvious is being driven by a media system that profits off this compulsion, and only makes things worse in the process.
Don’t add fuel to that fire.
micropolisJS is a handmade Javascript port of the open-source city simulator Micropolis
In history, any starting point bears the vulnerability of arbitrariness. That said, what follows are nine books from the past century in different genres, by authors from different countries, that can help us grasp the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941–1968, by Heda Margolius Kovály
A Czech Jew born in 1919, Margolius Kovály survived the Łódź Ghetto and Auschwitz before escaping from a death march and making her way back to Prague. In her memoir, she recalls how her friends were too afraid to shelter her. After the Red Army liberated Prague from German occupation, she and her husband, Rudolf Margolius, also a survivor of the Nazi camps, joined the Communist Party.
In the end, an IKEA kitchen is a solid option for folks with smaller budgets. With careful planning, some sweat equity, and proper care, an IKEA kitchen can be a beautiful, functional way to upgrade your house, but it’s simply not going to be as cheap as you think it is.
As fans reel from the news of his death, it is impossible to avoid conjuring images of Shane Warne that are not sombre and serious at all. How could a “Warnie” moment ever be sombre and serious, writes Russell Jackson.
It was also interesting watching Leigh Sales’ interview, especially when he discusses his own obituary at the end.
And the first question, he said, “You’ve got to write this. Write your own obituary.”
And I went, “Oh, right” and I had a few goes at it, and I didn’t like, at that stage, I wasn’t happy with who I am and I felt I needed to change, I needed to do a few things and be better.
Jackson also wrote a piece celebrating the life of Rod Marsh.