In 1994, Microsoft designers Mark Malamud and Erik Gavriluk approached Eno to compose music for the Windows 95 project.[38] The result was the six-second start-up music-sound of the Windows 95 operating system, “The Microsoft Sound.” YouTuber syou2at has taken all the sounds on your computer under the Windows operating system, and recorded a pretty cool EDM track for your dancing pleasure.
Neil Gaiman On What Stories Are Really About
Listen.
If someone tells you what a story is about, they are probably right.
If they tell you that that is all the story is about, they are very definitely wrong.
Any story is about a host of things. It is about the author; it is about the world the author sees and deals with and lives in; it is about the words chosen and the way those words are deployed; it is about the story itself and what happens in the story; it is about the people in the story; it is polemic; it is opinion.
An author’s opinions of what a story is about are always valid and are always true: the author was there, after all, when the book was written. She came up with each word and knows why she used that word instead of another. But an author is a creature of her time, and even she cannot see everything that her book is about.
Why do we need the things in books? The poems, the essays, the stories? Authors disagree. Authors are human and fallible and foolish. Stories are lies after all, tales of people who never existed and the things that never actually happened to them. Why should we read them? Why should we care?
The teller and the tale are very different. We must not forget that.
Ideas, written ideas, are special. They are the way we transmit our stories and our ideas from one generation to the next. If we lose them, we lose our shared history. We lose much of what makes us human. And fiction gives us empathy: it puts us inside the minds of other people, gives us the gift of seeing the world through their eyes. Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.
Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, and What Science Fiction Is and Does
Muhammad Ali (1942-2016)
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali – one of the world’s greatest sporting figures – has died at the age of 74. The former world heavyweight champion died late on Friday at a hospital in the US city of Phoenix, Arizona, having been admitted on Thursday. He had been suffering from a respiratory illness, a condition that was complicated by Parkinson’s disease.
He was, and will always be, The Greatest. Rest in peace, Champ.
https://youtu.be/EYoh62jUFpk
Steve Miller’s Isolated Vocals For “Fly Like An Eagle”
Steve Miller’s Fly Like an Eagle went to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the week of March 12, 1977, kept from the top spot by “Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)” by Barbra Streisand. The single edit can be found on Greatest Hits (1974–1978). Live and on the radio, it’s usually played in tandem with Space Intro, but the song also segues into Wild Mountain Honey.
https://youtu.be/q67kd0c5Irg
What your phone looks like when you’re famous
Demy de Zeeuw is a Dutch soccer player that runs a soccer-based Instagram account. Look at what happens when he posts a photo.
Canada’s Original Canadian Idol Bobby Curtola Has Passed Away
Bobby Curtola, the original teenage heartthrob and music trailblazer has passed away at home in Edmonton, Alberta on Saturday evening June 4, 2016.
The family has released a statement at this time:
It is with heavy hearts that we confirm the passing of our father, Bobby Curtola. He was an amazing man who did so much for the people in this world, but even more as a father, uncle, godfather and Nono. His entire family requests privacy at this time while they grieve their loss.
To his fans…he loved each and every one of you more than you will know, and never took for granted the life you gave him. He would want you to do something kind for one another today and each day. He would also want you to know he loves you, and that you have another angel watching over you
– Chris and Michael Curtola
The 1906 Recording Of The Edison Phonograph Advertising Itself
I Am The Edison Phonograph (Advertising Record), recorded by Len Spencer in 1906, would have been heard at most Edison phonograph dealers in the early part of the 20th century.
How frustration can make us more creative
Challenges and problems can derail your creative process … or they can make you more creative than ever. In the surprising story behind the best-selling solo piano album of all time, Tim Harford may just convince you of the advantages of having to work with a little mess.
These dancing holograms are the coolest way to learn to play the piano
I took exactly one lesson in piano, and hated it. Couldn’t do it. Still can’t play an instrument, even the kazoo. But MIT has developed a gran ambitious project that just might influence the next generation of piano superstars.
Andante visualizes as animated characters walking along the piano keyboard that appear to play the physical keys with each step. Based on a view of music pedagogy that emphasizes expressive, full-body communication early in the learning process, Andante promotes an understanding of the music rooted in the body, taking advantage of walking as one of the most fundamental human rhythms.
Andante from Tangible Media Group on Vimeo.
Musician Dave Swarbrick Of Fairport Convention Dies at 75
Musician Dave Swarbrick, best known for his work with influential folk group Fairport Convention, has died at the age of 75.
The band shared the news on their website, and they posted the following message:
We have just had the sad news from Alex Swarbrick that his father, Dave Swarbrick, has passed away. Swarb, as you know, had been seriously ill for some time and, although he had showed recent signs of improvement, died in hospital this morning. Our thoughts right now are with his wife Jill and the Swarbrick family.
Described by Ashley Hutchings as ‘the most influential [British] fiddle player bar none’ Swarbrick’s style has been copied or developed by almost every British, and many world folk violin players who have followed him. He was one of the most highly regarded musicians produced by the second British folk revival, contributing to some of the most important groups and projects of the 1960s, and he became a much sought-after session musician, which has led him throughout his career to work with many of the major figures in folk and folk rock music.
His work for the group Fairport Convention from 1969 has been credited with leading them to produce their seminal album Liege and Lief (1969) which initiated the electric folk movement. This, and his subsequent career, helped create greater interest in British traditional music and was highly influential within mainstream rock. After 1970 he emerged as Fairport Convention’s leading figure and guided the band through a series of important albums until its disbandment in 1979.
He also played in a series of smaller, acoustic units and engaged in solo projects which have maintained a massive output of recordings, a significant profile and have made a major contribution to the interpretation of traditional British music.