Blog

  • Everyday Magicians

    July 13, 2006

    Today I have been thinking about magic as a profession. If you think about it, we’re exposed to magic constantly, and often don’t realize it.

    Magic Pairings

    I have been following the recent split between Amanda Congdon and Andrew Baron, the two most recognizable people from video blog Rocketboom. They’ve split due to creative differences, which I find interesting because the story is (1) unexpectedly melodramatic and (2) tales of business partnerships gone awry provide interesting insights into motivation. Nevertheless, the combination of Congdon and Baron created a successful video enterprise; Dave Winer commented that “they have a magic thing”. It’ll be interesting to see how they fare individually through their continued work on the Internet. It’s not often that a creative team splits in a medium as immediate as video blogging. It’s a bona fide soap opera, unfolding in something close to real-time across the Internet.

    These kinds of magical pairings are all around us. Every piece of music we hear on the radio is a product of magical synergy between music producers with incredible ears, technicians who know how to wring the best signal out of any recording environment, and vocalists who somehow can resonate with our very souls…they’ve somehow all found each other, and together they can create 10x experiences. Individually, they are mortal like the rest of us.

    Digital Magic

    While browsing Congdon’s website links, I came across this kgpost linked from Karmagrrrl. The reel, created by Manhattan digital production artist collective R!OT, shows before and after shots of various commercials they’ve worked on. It’s magical…as a friend of mine said, “you’d be surprised how much out there is fake”. Digital effects have come a long way, to the point that they are utterly invisible and convincing in our everyday media viewing.

    0713-riot01.jpg0713-riot02.jpg0713-riot03.jpg At the same time, being exposed to all this fakery can lead to false expectations of ourselves. For example, there’s a rather startling sequence of actress close-ups, with their less-than-perfect skin, baggy eyes, and too-wide noses…they are transformed before our eyes. As Karmagrrrl notes, To all the grrls outs there. The next time you see a makeup commercial, with perfectly beautiful models, remember this video!.

    That aside, the editing rhythm of the montage itself is fun and snappy that initially seems to be just another commercial reel, but slowly starts to wow you with what they’re showing you: the secret world behind the imagery. It’s like watching a close-up magician at work; you only experience the magic even if you know how the trick is done. It’s a joy to see a trick superbly executed by someone of great talent.

    Being Comfortable with Magic

    When I see work of this caliber, it makes me wonder how digital artists deal with impossible client requests. Because they’re magicians, maybe they just wink and say, “That sounds impossible. Sure, we can do it.” The normal reaction would be to start covering your ass and put conditions on everything, but that’s an energy-sapping approach, and isn’t fun for anyone. I’ve been guilty of it myself more than once for even minor projects, and now I’m feeling a little embarassed about it.

    After seeing these two pieces, I’m thinking I should make an effort to be more of a magician in my day-to-day. Back when I was seriously pursuing video game development, I used to talk with my friends about showmanship and the impossibility factor as elements of creating a powerful impression. I seem to have forgotten that.

    So this is yet another brick I’d like to add to my foundation: become a practical magician, with the confidence to create those moments of impossible synchronicity. One thing I’ve recognized that helps is that my “creative DNA” is firmly anchored in the visual design of data, not so much in “pure creative”, and that raises a question: what does it mean to be a magician in the context of information graphics?

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    DSri Seah
  • GTD Retrospective: What’s Going Wrong, What Might Work

    July 11, 2006

    It’s time to see at how Getting Things Done is working for me!

    I can confidently report that my first attempt at GTD has shuddered to a halt, kicked its left hind leg once, and crumpled to the ground with a heavy sigh. It’s not completely dead: it’s just tired, and maybe a little bewildered. Some things have worked, actually; I can say I have been a tad more productive.

    Among my small-but-significant advances are:

    • Applying The Two Minute Rule. It rocks! I can actually apply the two-minute rule to more than just work. It’s an easy-to-remember principle that is my favorite take-away from GTD. I also apply it in reverse, looking for actions that can take about 2 minutes worth of effort.
    • Implementing a General Filing System. This rocks! I am at least 50% more organized in terms of having a specific place to put things, thanks to the alphabetical filing system. It is immensely reassuring to know that the random documents on my desk (currently, one from Psychology Today about Flirting, and another on using SOAP with PHP) will go into their new home folders (respectively “Dating” and “Web Development: PHP”). I also created an area on my computer called General Reference, and am applying the same organizing principles. I had previously had “categories” of folders, but it frankly was quite cumbersome and only worked well for my numbered project folders.

    • The Weekly Review. Although GTD isn’t working for me quite in the way I imagined, the system I had set up to track projects (which in GTD are just lists of tasks) has been useful for maintaining “what’s next” state. Before, I just used a ToDo.TXT file on my computer and kept notes in it, but setting up the multiple text files under one TextPad “workspace” has made it easier to keep track of multiple projects and jobs.

    These advances aside, I can’t say that I’ve become super productive. On the other hand, I’m realizing that I never had a clear vision of what that meant. I’m not even sure what it is supposed to feel like. Is that where I went astray? (more…)

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    DSri Seah
  • Printable Tanabata Star Festival Streamers

    July 8, 2006

    Tanabata Basil Plant I was reading about Tanabata, the Japanese Star Festival, for the first time a couple nights ago. Tanabata has all the ingredients for a good festival: a poignant backstory about two lovers separated by the entire Milky Way, a begrudging Sky Emperor that allows them to meet ONLY ONCE A YEAR, plenty of regional variation in the tradition, and of course awesome decorations. You also get to make a wish on Tanabata, writing them down on pieces of paper and hanging them on bamboo trees in the hopes that the two lovers will see them as they cross the Milky Way.

    (more…)

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    DSri Seah
  • The Twin Towers Will Sail Again

    July 7, 2006

    Stumbled upon this article about the USS New York, a ship being partially built from steel recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Center that will, once complete, participate in “The War on Terror”. The symbolism of this is very moving; steelworkers at the shipyard building the New York postphoned their retirement so they could be a part of the construction team. It also reminded me of the Japanese animated series Space Cruiser Yamato, in which the ruins of the WWII battleship Yamato are rebuilt into a space-going warship to save the Earth; this series has been called Japan’s version of Star Trek in terms of cultural impact.

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    DSri Seah
  • bLaugh!

    July 7, 2006

    Buddy Brad Fitzpatrick is doing the daily cartoon on bLaugh! , a new addition to the Lockergnome empire! Check it out! bLaugh covers news from the blogosphere, in friendly cartoon format; it’s a perfect venue for Brad to use his creative powers in a way that is, frankly, rather alarming given today’s eyeball-searing comic about Amanda Congdon leaving Rocketboom. Congrats on the launch, Brad! Rock on!

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    DSri Seah