RAM: An Experience
You cannot judge music from your first impressions. I’ve discovered this since listening to RAM for a second time. Tip: It’s much better with headphones!
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed how much not just I, but the whole world has raved about Daft Punk’s new album in recent weeks. We’ve been waiting a long time for new material and if you discount the Tron soundtrack, it’s been almost 8 years. If you are a fan, you should now be used to the awe and mystery that has always surrounded the duo, and this time around, there are no exceptions. Random Access Memories is set for release this Friday, but was leaked to the internet just yesterday, only to be immediately followed by an official full album preview on iTunes. Coincidence? I think not. Whoever markets Daft Punk knows exactly what they’re doing.
Dear Papyrus users, I have lost all respect for you.
Ok, call me crazy, but Typography is something I have a great passion for. I’ve seen that in the past few years, a lot of great design has spawned from great typography. Content is king and the font you use is 95% of the design. Ignoring typography would mean the difference between something mediocre and something solid.
Although I must admit, I never used to give much thought to typography myself. Companies today do not give enough priority to the font they use in their promotional material. Clean, minimal, sans-serif fonts are currently “in fashion” (I appreciate them at least) and any company who has a clue about advertising should have already taken note. Whether people consciously recognise and appreciate typography or not, I can assume everybody will notice, at least on a subconscious level.
I may have gotten ahead of myself here. I don’t intend to discuss the intricate ins and outs of font design (not today anyway), but I thought you may be interested in a few font usage tips?
Is music streaming really the future?
Twitter’s new #music discovery service launched this week and I have to say, I seem to be the only person around decidedly unimpressed. The UI, especially in the new iPhone app looks great. But what does it offer me that I so desperately need? A few 30 second iTunes previews and some big beautiful profile pics? I deleted the app after 10 minutes.
Twitter is by far not the first to bring music discovery to the masses. I may be wrong, but from what I can remember, the whole idea of ‘discovery’ started way back with services like Last.fm and Pandora. The newer streaming services, namely Spotify, Rdio and others also recommend music you may like, ‘based on your tastes’. But don’t get me wrong, this is a great feature, I’m always open to discovering new music and I’ve found that Spotify and Pandora generally do very well here, but this is not my reason for leaving.
Media Hint: An extension worth talking about!
I wouldn’t usually post tutorials on this blog. Then again, I don’t usually post anything at all.
YouTube’s rules, especially when you’re a partner can be a bitch, and given the circumstances I’ve found myself in before, I’m not too willing to risk losing partner status again!
I’ve made a few videos in the past that I probably would have to reconsider were I to upload them now. Videos like the one on Hotspot Shield, a clearly “questionable” way to access US only content sites, and then other ones such as How To Download YouTube Videos, probably my most popular video so far, which only afterwards I found out is, in fact, against YouTube’s rules. Oops!
I could honestly listen to this all day long. Really is another work of art by Joel (aka Deadmau5).
Frustration!
So I guess I haven’t written a blog post in a while! A couple of people have asked me if I’ve just abandoned this blog or not. The answer is yes… and no.
I’ve been very inactive over the past year due to school exams. It’s really important that I push through these to get to college (to study computer science), and as much as I’d love to be making videos every week, I just don’t have the time right now. It’s been a 2 year long process but I will finally finish by the end of June this year so I can get on with the good stuff!. As is obvious, I’ve been skimping on new content over the past year, with months even between videos and that’s not how i’d like it to be, but trust me! There’ll be a lot more in your subscription boxes from July onwards.
Woah! What just happened?
That title pretty much encapsulates how I feel right now. It’s already August and it feels like the Summer isn’t even here yet! Well… if you live in Ireland you’ll know what I mean. I know, I haven’t posted here in a while, neither have I made a video! (I’ll get on to that in a sec)
How’s your summer been so far? June for me was pretty “successful”, if I can call it that. It’s always been a month where I get loads a stuff done. Stuff that’s been on my to-do list for the past year! (yes, I keep a to-do list). July was busy and……not at the same time. Spent June relaxin’ and July workin’. Might have taken a little holiday too. Trying to keep up the study this month too, just one more year left in school!
