#26.6.2020

[godsnameisjoy]

No Note

Date: 26 June 2020

Duration: 59 minutes at 11:15 pm

Depth: Sorry. Got nothing to share.

[prosy-days]

June 26, 2020 - Day 7

Some technical difficulties, but a great evening catching up with friends.

[whnvr]

Aaron Out

Well, VR is as amazing as expected. Peace out!

[whnvr]

Brain Drain

NOTE: OUR INTERNET WENT DOWN ON THE 26TH SO I AM PUTTING THIS DAY TOGETHER AFTER-THE-FACT. I HOPE THAT’S OKAY. Okie-dokie. Day three. Let’s go. Gosh.

Some more meta-thoughts on this whole process: 1) Further defining what I’m doing will likely be a common feature of these.  I realised last night that I am essentially doing an experiment on myself, an answer to the question of ‘what if I simply have to write 1500 words of anything a day? what then?’ and simply seeing what happens next. It’s exciting. 2) Along with this I had another realisation as I was going to bed last night. So far, at least for me, this entire practice feels very closely tied into reflective practice, “the ability to reflect on one’s actions so as to engage in a process of continuous learning” according to Donald A Schon from ‘The Reflective Practitioner’ (1), a process of paying “critical attention to the practical values and theories which inform everyday actions” according to Gillie Bolton from the third edition of ‘Reflective practice: Writing and Professional Development’ (2). This is something that my university course is very much centered around , as well as being a way in which I have been working unconsciously for most of my life. I particularly like Neil Thompson’s description of the workflow of reflective practice as it does an effective job at clarifying things:

Read - around the topics you are learning about or want to learn about and develop

Ask - others about the way they do things and why

Watch - what is going on around you

Feel - pay attention to your emotions, what prompts them, and how you deal with negative ones

Talk - share your views and experiences with others in your organisation

Think - learn to value time spent thinking about your work 

This seems to be the exact process I have fallen into following here.

In order to reinforce my ideas I am inevitably reading around topics that I wish to develop, (as well as creating an exciting library of references to go back and read fully once I have the time).

Though I am not asking others directly as this is currently quite a singular process, I am forced to ask questions as I write - often then going on to seek out the answers.

Journaling has made me vastly more attentive to my day, how I am spending my time, and the creative input around me purely by virtue of the fact that writing about it means that I am constantly thinking about it. I have even begun to keep a short-hand notebook of ideas to expand upon in the next Brain Drain whenever they occur to me.

I wouldn’t say I’ve delved into how I deal with negative emotions when they come up yet, but so far I am at the very least recording how I feel each day.

Sharing my views and experiences are an inherent part of this process and likely where all the other facets of reflective practice are stemming from for me. This ‘pact’ I have made with myself to create a format to record, share, and document everything I do seems to be an ideal format for facilitating reflective practice, causing me to think more about what I’m doing as I’m doing it. It creates interesting new problems to solve such as ‘how on earth am I going to document THIS idea?’ or ‘other people will read this so I need to do more research to reinforce my thoughts than I would normally’. Below is an article that does a decent job of delving deeper into the subject, it is where I discovered the Neil Thompson quote:

This is the article. This right here. Go on click it. You totally should.

3) After given it some thought I’ve decided to try doing offline 1500 word (or more) streams of consciousness in order to circumnavigate the issue of ‘filtering’ myself over the next few days before uploading a public, edited version after. I’m not sure which approach is best but this seems like a possible compromise between ‘saying anything’ and actual readability? We’ll see.

The measure of my day:

As has seemingly become habit by this point., this is starting to seem as though it will usually involve some degree of complaining. Then again, there’s nothing like a good complain to rid oneself of blocks to the creative process is there?

I. Am. Catastrophically. Tired. To give a bit of background on my living situation at the moment I am in a tent. Yes, a tent. Don’t get me wrong it has its perks but being faced with a biblical storm like the one we had last night makes for a sleep-deprived Aaron in the morning. In part due to the noise, in part due to inherent anxieties that come with sleeping next to an enormous metal pole.

I have also begun to embark upon something called alternate day fasting! One of my motivations with journaling is the mental health benefits and that is my motivation here also. It’s supposed to have a positive effect on depression, over-consumption of food, and general fitness, so we’ll see how that goes. It does of course mean that ontop of exhaustion I am also bloody hungry today. I have managed to avoiding cheating thus far however.

I do feel a general sense of energy and excitement behind all this however.

News!

To begin with, the big news. Virtual reality is here, and far sooner than expected at that. I’m going to be clearing everything else from my schedule in order to throw an entire day at playing around with it. This will be forming an enormous amount of my creative exploration for the near future so I am, understandably, extremely excited.

(VR, an exercise in looking as dumb as possible.) I’m still listening to SOPHIE, having now worked about 40% of the way through her work (predominantly singles) and reaching her debut album ‘OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-SIDES’ which I will likely do a full review of along with an artist’s profile of her once I’ve completed her discography. Suffice to say it is brilliant and exactly some of the inspiration I’ve been looking for.

As I’ve said already, I’m going to be focusing entirely on getting the VR set-up today so will be returning to progressing with the Unreal Engine learning paths tomorrow, this will likely be a quiet day as a result.

Until then, stay fresh. Whatever that means.

[whnvr]

Song of the Day

SOPHIE - Faceshopping

For me, SOPHIE represents the absolutely pinnacle of what can be done when one takes a typically formulaic genre like club, and uses experimenting with the features that constitute said genre as a backdrop for creative expression. In turn, this song represents the absolute pinnacle of what SOPHIE does

The result is a malaise of 'anything goes', genre-bending, original sound design on-top of shattered traditional club conventions like structure, intent, sonic palette, and sonic range. This is demonstrated no better than 2:16 where she plays upon the club idea of a 'break' designed to give those dancing a rest, which is traditionally based upon elements previously introduced within the song to give the listener an easy transition, by dropping in an almost unrelated musical idea that meets the bear minimum requirements of servicing a technical 'break' in the song. She has therefore identified a repetition emulated by many producers in their creative processes as 'tried' and 'boring', opting to do something entirely different instead. She follows this up with an uncomfortably watered down version of the same motif from earlier that would have no place, sonically, within a traditional club song, and yet it WORKS. She has both changed her target audience, and possibly even created an entirely NEW target audience, by taking the club format but using sounds and ideas that would have no place in a club, resulting in something entirely original altogether.

[whnvr]

Word of the Day

[puregrief]

Being alive ❌ 0/10, 100% would not recommend

[puregrief]

الواد سُفيان ستيڤانز كل ما أسمعه بيغني we're all gonna die في أغنية الرابع من يوليو بيثلج صدري والله، اللي هو أنا حزينة وأنا بسمعك بس بتفكرني دايمًا بالخلاص وإننا هنموت كلنا❤