It’s Just Another Day On Earth

Friday, August 12, 2005

If I had been writing this stuff a decade or so ago, I suppose it would have had a much greater music related content. But these days what music I listen to is generally a matter between me and my iPod (note, just to make it clear that I am way ahead of the curve, I have a first generation iPod. A very early one. And the battery is just fine). Anyway. Perhaps I should rename this blog Recursive Digressions. The point of all this is to express my enthusiasm for the new release (what do you call them these days anyway? Albums? CDs? Works? Platters? Downloads? Bitstreams?) from Brian Eno, "Another Day On Earth". I have been a big fan of Brian Eno back since he was just called Eno, and I like pretty much everything he's done. But this, his first truly solo vocal work since 1978, is exceptional. To me it came as a complete surprise, I had no idea it was on the way. Like much Eno stuff it takes a little while to engage, but when it does, it is addictive. If I had to single out one highlight, it would have to be "Just Another Day". This has it all. Driving, catchy rythym, elegaic lyrics, wonderful ever so slightly detached singing, layer upon layer of sound sculpture, but essentially a classic pop song. This song shows Eno's ability to work at many levels simultaneously. The multi layered detail sets up an atmosphere that would fit happily on Before And After Science, but doesn't sound at all dated. It engages at all levels but never distracts from the song. The arrangements, whilst unique and intricately crafted, never become more important than the song, a trick few of his emulators have ever understood, let alone mastered. Eno's penchant for playing with dark, disturbingly ambiguous lyrics has not gone away either. Since he does retain his talent for being suggestive rather than specific, interpretation has as much to do with the listener as the artist. This particularly true on the last song, "Bone Bomb", where a passively intoned lyric could be easily interpreted as a meditation by a suicide bomber. Not that terrorism would be a new subject for Eno - he was already there in 1978 with RAF. Another Day on Earth is poetic, artistic, bursting with ideas, intellect, humour and above all humanity, all packaged up in fabulous songs.

Recursive Attention Deficit

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Sitting at my desk in the office, I am doing at least 3 or 4 different things at the same time. I'm writing a requirements specification document, in my typical "burst mode" (see later). I'm reading a book on web application design (Making the web work, by Bob Baxley - rather good, despite some poor editing). I'm writing this and trying to fish the word "recursive" from my brain. I'm listen to a very old Supertramp album on my iPod and making various associations. And I'm fighting with a really godawful, utterly braindead SAP application clearly created by a total moron with zero pride in his/her work to log my hours against projects (a work of complete fiction in any case). I'm thinking about web application design, a specific complex project problem, an ancient rockband, and, believe it or not, switching process in polar ice stream flow. And yet I am totally active and alert to each of these tasks, which are all feeding into each other. Of course, strictly speaking, several of them are certainly not what I'm paid to do. But this is how I function...take it or leave it. Not really attention deficit as such, more serial multitasking. But I wonder if this is really a bit extreme. I'm sure there are times when a bit of focus would have helped me considerably. Whilst I think I have the ability to grasp a new concept faster than most people, on the other hand there are many times where I've settled for too superficial an understanding. Burst Mode: This is my natural way of working. It has driven various managers crazy over the years. It goes like this: I write a paragraph very quickly, usually with at least one new idea in it - I then switch to something else, come back in 15 minutes, and so forth. It can look like I'm doing nothing at one moment, then being ultra productive the next. I am pretty certain that integrated over whatever period, I am just as effective, or maybe more so, than people blessed with the ability to work linearly. But I'm also concerned that it has some drawbacks...

Stupid dialog of the day

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

And a prime example of corporate stupidity. I am sure that somebody at Microsoft must have pointed out that "Stop" is hardly the best choice of label here when the user wants to "Safely Remove Hardware". "Stop" a memory stick ? Huh ??? But that somebody's manager's manager will not have seen any political capital to be made from changing it to something sensible... (the followup confirmation is even worse by the way)

Sh*t Creek

Why is it that the larger corporate groups become, the less collective intelligence they show ? You can assemble 10 very clever individuals, and they'll produce some great work?or even 5 (hi there Pier, Carlos, Ralf, Roberto & Fulgi). Take 100 and you're already running into problems ? everything takes 5 times longer, and quality falls off. After that it gets exponentially worse. When you get into 1000s, all vestigial common sense is long gone, and mediocrity, camouflaged by grandiose Mission Statements and Core Values takes over. People who in a smaller group would produce excellent work no longer take any pride in what they actually produce, and motivation comes only from winning turf wars ("you can't plug in that Ethernet cable, you have to ask me, I'm IT, and you'll have to wait 5 weeks") and climbing the corporate ladder. It isn't just frustrating, it is more like a terrifyingly soulless purgatory (yeah, yeah, I know, by definition you can't have a soul-less purgatory ), churning out huge, expensive, hopeless products that are doomed before they start. As for imagination and creative thought, well, see below? Does this only apply to the IT industry ? Certainly it seems to be the worst affected.

Nemo Mobile

Thursday, June 16, 2005

This has to be one of the most pointless things ever - a Palm screen saver. Think about it... do Palm screens stay on long enough to need screen savers ? Whatever. It's fun, and cheap Mobifish, from Mobilisoft.