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Dec 7, 2011 • Last night I went over to Ian Rosenbaum‘s place, and we went over some of the sketches I’ve got for the new scene 1 of Summer’s Twilight. As usual with a marimba part, you think some things are hard when they’re easy, and you think some things are easy but they’re hard. Sometimes you take...
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Kevin
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Dec 3, 2011 • I wanted to tell you guys about this brilliant piece of practice session/marketing/bringing in the audience that Amanda Palmer did, and I thought I’d try out storify to help with the whole embedding-a-ton-of-tweets thing. Let me know how it works! Also, how much do you love the phrase “party on the internet” for these live...
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Kevin
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Nov 29, 2011 • This is my first cocktail recipe in a while. In part that’s because of Thanksgiving and the associated craziness, in part it’s because of visiting people and throwing parties and not being at home to invent things, and in part it’s just because my prior recipe for bourbon and non-alcoholic apple cider is just so...
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Kevin
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Nov 28, 2011 • I entered this discussion from the point where it causes me personal discomfort: when discussing my career, my art and my work with more quantitative people, I sometimes confront the opinion that what I do is easy, or that I am missing something because I’m on the artsy side of the arts/science divide. (Matt Dunnam...
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Kevin
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Nov 22, 2011 • My last post, about the weird prejudice in technical fields that the arts are easy and artists lacking intelligence, got a great response. It’s a difficult issue to talk about, and I’m glad that what I wrote hit home with some people. If I’m very lucky it’ll make it a little easier for a few...
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Kevin
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Nov 22, 2011 • Artists have a terrible reputation. I find it kind of insulting, but on the other hand I can understand where it comes from. Almost my entire family and most of my friends are deeply technical, scientific, quantitative people. And I’m an artist. These people don’t think less of me for my choice of field, but...
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Kevin
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Nov 16, 2011 • I think the backlash is a little harsh, but I also think the piece in question does really miss the mark. (Do I actually need to link it? Here ya go. As Amanda Ameer pointed out, it’s ironic that it’s on HuffPo.) It looks to me like he’s decrying the demise of arts criticism jobs,...
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Kevin
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Nov 13, 2011 • Ukulele Anthem by Amanda Palmer So. Most importantly, this song is great. It’s just so mad and joyful. It jumps up and down on you and tells you why creativity is awesome while you giggle and roll around on the floor. Fantastic. How is that relevant? But why am I blogging about it? Because at...
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Kevin
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Nov 11, 2011 • One of the weird side effects of coming out of Peabody is that you get to know a fair number of classical saxophone players who are also bizarrely accomplished recording engineers. Ian Richter is just such a one. I’ve crossed his path before, but the first time I got to know him properly we were...
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Kevin
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Nov 9, 2011 • People keep talking about the new wisdom for building technology products, from web apps to phones to enterprise software: “Keep it simple. It’s gotta make sense to people.” “Focus on making amazing things instead of a profit.” “Trust your instincts and your talent, and push them.” “Refine and simplify over and over again.” “It can’t...
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Kevin
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Nov 8, 2011 • Hello drinkers of cocktails. I’ve been mixing this for a while, and Victoria Nece seems to quite like it. Occasionally she asks me to make her one of these, but it turns out I can’t remember the proportions. Sometimes even the ingredients escape me. She’s trying to vote now, so I thought I’d work out...
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Kevin
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Nov 4, 2011 • Idle thought: It’s not often that the basic value of something changes. There are bubbles and fads, like tulips, mortgage backed securities and snap bracelets. But it’s not often that big changes in the value of something we’ve had all along happen in the minds of whole societies. Champagne It happened with champagne in the...
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