YouTube algorithm got me again. 😆
Fred Armisen at his best.
How big of a Bad Robot fan am I? This is my third watch of Felicity and I can spot a few more easter eggs this go-round (Michael Peña as Bryan Burk AKA “Burkie” 😄).
THANK YOU, MR. SAKAMOTO.
As I was watching The GRAMMYs this year, the In Memoriam… section hit when…
…
How did I miss that? 😔
Now I’m watching the Oscars. The In Memoriam… section just happened, and there he is again. It feels like the right time to say… something.
Let’s start here:
Yeah, he made that.
But that’s not my first memory of his music.
I fell in love with a score he did for a little movie from 1987. No, not that film from 1987. This one:
That was 1999. After that, I dove headlong into his music. Well….I tried.
You see, back in 1999, you had to buy music from a store. Those stores broke out music into categories. One of these was labeled “World Music”, a bit of a catch-all where you could find Mr. Sakamoto’s albums. At the time, his albums were imported from Japan, so… they were a bit out of my price range.
After downloading as many tracks as I could from ✌🏽the Internet✌🏽, eventually I came into a bit of money.
That’s when Mr. Sakamoto collaborated with a brilliant couple – the Morelenbaum’s – and made this: Casa.
Then I found Tango, Opus, Risky… how did all of this come from the same mind?
Cut to: 2020
Japan understood the pandemic, so there were no in-person concerts or performances. That’s when Mr. Sakamoto did this:
And then, something I never thought possible. On December 12, 2020, I saw Mr. Sakamoto perform live (via livestream). It felt like a gift made just for me for enduring the pandemic. I woke up at four in the morning to experience it, and it was absolutely worth it.
As of this writing, Mr. Sakamoto’s work is easily accessible on every major streaming platform. I use Apple Music, and their collection of his works seems complete, so, here you go – https://music.apple.com/us/artist/ryuichi-sakamoto/271593168.
After taking in all that goodness, look up other greatness that was in Mr. Sakamoto’s orbit like his other work in video games, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Akiko Yano. (Especially Akiko Yano.)
I could go on and on, but it’s time I say good-bye and… thank you. Thank you, Sakamoto-san.
This song hits me in the chest every time. It’s even better when Billie and Finneas perform it live.
Miles Morales: Everyone keeps telling me how my story is supposed to go. Nah. I’m-a do my own thing.
Come. On. Academy.
🍿📽️
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: THE JUMP
Tonight’s Oscar Night, so it feels like a good time to tell you about my friend Ryan Serrano’s short film – The Jump.
Since my friends & family screening, it’s been making the short film circuit. I was blown away, but « Levar Burton Voice » don’t take my word for it!
Indie Short Fest: February 2024
- Best Sci-Fi Short: The Jump by Ryan Serrano (USA)
- Best Short of the Season – Runner-up (Special Jury Mentions): The Jump by Ryan Serrano (USA)
- Best First Time Male Director: Ryan Serrano for The Jump (USA)
- Outstanding Achievement Award (Original Score): Simo Virokannas for The Jump (USA)
California International Short Film Festival: Winter 2023/2024
- Best Sci-Fi Short: The Jump by Ryan Serrano (USA)
- Best Actor: Ryan Serrano for The Jump (USA)
- Best Sound Design: Jake McGuire for The Jump (USA)
- Best Editing: Cheryl Serrano for The Jump (USA)
- (This one’s near and dear to my heart. Well done, Cheryl. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽)
We all know finishing a movie’s a miracle, but making a good movie? Even more so.
Congratulations to Ryan & Cheryl and the entire cast and crew.
Trailer
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I’m not sure a bridge goes as hard as Childish Gambino’s Sober.
Yep, here’s your Apple Vision Pro killer app by John LePore (warning - it’s a Twitter link).
Also, about John LePore (who I just discovered today but has been doing incredible work for years) - http://johnnymotion.com/about
Second time in two hours I’ve emailed a lifewire.com article to someone. They’re the best at what they do!
Two people. Same AirPods Pro version (Gen 1). 4 rounds of failure (two for each set) for different reasons, none of them from impact or abuse.
In-ear AirPods are nifty, but they can’t withstand whatever my family’s ears… generate.
Remember Quibi?
I remember when everyone thought they’d be producing content for Quibi. 😅(Born from a line from TMNT: Mutant Mayhem that had me racking my brain for the name of that service.)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem … finally, the TMNT movie that got it right.
Congrats to Jeff Rowe, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, and the whole team.
And another home run of a score from Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross.
🍿📽️📼
At the grocery store and they’re playing some Luscious Jackson. Am I at The Cool Grocery Store or am I just old? 😄
macOS 14 (Sonoma) is creeping up my list of least favorite macOS releases. (#1 being Catalina.) So much weirdness and instability.
Tetris really is a perfect game.
Also see:
🕹️🎮
Another in the category of Ideas That Won’t Make Money, I wish some game studios would venture out into unexpected territory every so often again.
Like, from the makers of Gran Turismo comes… Omega Boost?! (With mecha designs from Shoji Kawamori of Macross fame?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Boost
Or from the makers of Final Fantasy comes… Einhander?!
I stumbled upon Michael Palmisano’s YouTube channel recently (https://www.youtube.com/@Guitargate). Most of these “So-And-So Reacts to (Pop Culture Milestone)!” videos are clickbait, but Michael’s videos feel genuine. Honestly, they’re what I would make if I had an ounce of his musical acumen. 👌🏽
D’Angelo - Chicken Grease LIVE W Pino & Questlove!
Hearing Portishead For The First Time
Yes, yes, yes.
I’ll take those Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi remasters now, please.
👾🕹️
I always forget about the Network Link Conditioner tool when diagnosing network-related trouble with apps in macOS. Shout out to my man Jeroen de Jong for the reminder.
Once upon a time, DVD menu experiences were another huge source of visual inspiration.
There are the obvious choices – any menu from Star Wars Episodes I-III – but this menu for Serendipity influenced the entire visual direction for my first (paid) Macromedia Director CD-ROM project.
Compare that with Edge of Tomorrow’s menus? 😬
Is there no money earmarked for DVD and Blu-Ray UI/UX work anymore?
🍿📽️
Avid Media Composer 2023.8.x still isn’t qualified for macOS 14 (Sonoma), but it’s a sweet, sweet irony that you must remove the AvidTitlerPlus plug-in from “/Applications/Avid Media Composer/AvidMediaComposer.app/Contents/SharedSupport” before it will even launch in Sonoma. 👨🏽🍳🤌🏽
I think it’s time to revisit this movie.
Ladies and gentlemen…
🍿
Oh nothing, just Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s complete “Classic Game Postmortem: Rez” talk (deck and video) from GDC 2016. Fills in a lot of gaps on Mizuguchi-san’s body of work.
👾