a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by goobster
goobster  ·  1435 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: December 23, 2020

Daily Fun

I gotta tell ya... if you haven't popped for one of mike and his wife's DragonFjord A-Puzzle-A-Day calendar puzzles, you are really doing yourself a disservice:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dragonfjord/a-puzzle-a-day

These are just wonderful and cost about 2 lattes. (Yesterday's - Dec 23 - took me all day to figure out. Today I got it on my first try.) And they are great during Zoom meetings... I can listen and focus on what is going on, while doing something with my hands that doesn't detract from my participation in the meeting.

I'm giving five of these as Christmas gifts this year.

Sitting and Waiting

Today my company closes down until January. Everyone is already checked out. I can see who is online via Slack, and it is basically customer support, me, and ... that's it. But I have a meeting in two hours, so I sit here and do my Syntorial synth tutorials, and wait for the day to end after the meeting... at which point I will continue my Syntorial progress, just as if the meeting never happened... :-)

Making Music

It looks like there are several of us here on hubski who like to make music, and I've just signed up for a month-long music writing/producing class that I think others might want to join in with.

Andrew Huang is a YouTuber who has been making music online for more than a decade. He had a project where he wrote a new song and created a video for it every single day for a year, which was audacious, amazing, and led to him running out of ideas and using YouTube comments for inspiration... which resulted in the epic Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows.

He is an EXCELLENT product reviewer and demonstrator of all kinds of music-making hardware and software, and recently released his first music production app called Flip for the iPhone, which is quite a stunning tool.

Now he has worked with Monthly.com to do an intensive one-month course on modern-day songwriting: https://monthly.com/andrew-huang-music

In the class you will write three complete songs, end-to-end, even if you have never written a song before. He goes through the equipment and tools for music production, how to actually write a song (using good music theory), and - here's my point - people get to go through the course in pods/cohorts and work together as a group.

It is a 7-10 hour per week commitment and the class is about $250. But at the end of the class you will have three songs, completely written, recorded, mixed, and mastered... and most importantly, will have an agility with the tools of the modern bedroom songwriter... DAWs, synths, drum machines, etc.

I've already signed up.

If anyone else wants to do this, I can refer you and you'll get a $20 discount. And we can work together in a collaborative pod throughout the month. Class starts on Jan 4th. If you want in, DM me your email address and I'll get you invited.

Have a great holiday, everyone. 2020 officially ends on Jan 20th, so let's see if we can survive it all for one more month... good luck to all my hubskites!





mk  ·  1434 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    I gotta tell ya... if you haven't popped for one of mike and his wife's DragonFjord A-Puzzle-A-Day calendar puzzles, you are really doing yourself a disservice:

It is my daily ritual with the morning coffee.

steve  ·  1435 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    if you haven't popped for one of mike and his wife's DragonFjord A-Puzzle-A-Day calendar puzzles, you are really doing yourself a disservice:

This is the best holiday gift I have ever given. I have only met one person who didn't like it... but he doesn't like puzzles... and may god have mercy on his soul.

c_hawkthorne  ·  1435 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Y'all got yours? Mine hasn't come yet. Two are getting gifted and one I'm keeping.

mike  ·  1432 days ago  ·  link  ·  

They seem to be coming in to different countries at random times, but they've been arriving as far away as Japan and Australia, while some people in the UK are still waiting. Big variation in what's happening with post offices in different areas. Hope you get yours soon!

c_hawkthorne  ·  1421 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Got it yesterday, it's awesome! Thanks again for putting such a cool thing together, a big hit with the family.

mike  ·  1421 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Awesome! Can't believe how long mail took this last month. Thankfully, everyone has been very patient. Have fun! (PS: you can post and compare solutions on our Facebook page).

wasoxygen  ·  1434 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Still waiting for fulfillment here. Got an international delivery today (from Canada) but it was just some books.

mike  ·  1432 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Canada seems to be one of the slow countries. I'm guessing their postal service is overwhelmed this season. Hope you get it soon!

wasoxygen  ·  1422 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Received in time for Jan 1.

Fastest solve yet this morning.

mike  ·  1419 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Would you like to order a bonus pack of irregularly-shaped pieces, perfect for completing those hard-to-solve dates?

:-)

mike  ·  1432 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Thanks for the shout-out goobster! Glad you like it!

user-inactivated  ·  1434 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Ok, ok, OK. I bought it <twice> already.

Mine’s coming late January. :)

mike  ·  1432 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Awesome! If you've filled out the survey (so we have your address) yours will have been sent out on December 9th... so you should have it soon if not already!

user-inactivated  ·  1431 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I had ordered mine the moment I was reminded by goob’s comment (Dec 25th). No rush! Your book is on my wishlist, and watching your TEDx (again) with my SO when we get home. Keep rockin’. :)

mike  ·  1431 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Awesome -- thank you! It's been a busy few months, with KS, book and talk. Usually not this successful, I'm more used to attempting ambitious projects and watching them crash and burn (well, usually wither and die). But the Puzzle-A-Day at least is really taking off.

We've gotten a ton of orders this week, and packed them all up this morning, so yours will be in the mail tomorrow! Hope it arrives trouble-free!