Finally, a way to subscribe to this blog via email!

For the past several years, the only way to subscribe to my blog and get notifications about new posts was via RSS. However, RSS readers have become out of style and several web browsers don’t support the format anymore.

Now, there is a subscription link on the side bar where you can enter your email and have mail sent to you without using an RSS reader. While this is a newsletter most of the emails will be about my new blog posts; new products and other interesting stuff will be part of it as well.

Please leave a comment on how you typically subscribe to a website’s updates. Are you old fashioned and still use an RSS reader, or have you moved to Feedly and their services? What about newsletters, do you filter these out or do you religiously follow them if they interest you?

Song of the Day 003 - Lolly Bomb - Little Big

I discovered Little Big form a friend in Czech Republic who was familiar with Eastern European music and he exposed me to some Russian made songs. It’s just every time when I was shown one of Little Big’s music videos, I always had the same reaction: What the hell did I just watch? The lyrics were a joke and didn’t have much meaning, until you joined it with the music videos.

This is a story of Kim Jung-un, dictator and Supreme Leader of North Korea, falling in love with a missile. Happiness ensued and he started dating it, making out with it and other romantic preoccupations. Kim is devastated when a soldier came in the hotel room and snatched the bomb. It was denotated and it took off much to the happiness of the soldiers, however Kim Jung-un was devastated in tears surrounded by a happy army celebrating the launch of the missile.

The song itself is quite repetitive with constant repeating of “Lolly Bomb”. It was an obvious mockery of the Lolly Pop candy. Depending on how you listen to the song, you can hear both. A sort of McGurk effect if you will. Of course, there’s the occasional romantic expression such as “I never had to chance to tell you how, feels like you’re a part of me”.

Of course, Kim ends up falling in love with a bigger bomb after the break up.

The musical style of this track is obviously Trance. It’s heavily electronic with almost no traditional instruments. This style gets stronger and stronger as it progresses. This is especially obvious before the chorus is repeating one last time.

The music and the video are inseparable and this is what I’m including.

Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly bomb
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly bomb

Girl, you're the bomb
Got me rocking bombers
Yeah, you're the one
When I'm talking numbers
And I wish you could show me
One or two things that I wish you could show me
And I wish you could love me
Wish she can love me

I've never had a chance to tell you how
Feels like you're a part of me
I've never had a chance to tell you how
Follow me, follow me, yeah

Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly bomb
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly bomb

Like a hand grenade
Gimme that Lucozade boost
I can detonate ya
Baby, let's call that a truce
And I wish you could know me
Face in the news every day, you don't know me?
And I wish you could know me
Face in the news every day, you don't know me?
You don't know me
You don't know me

I've never had a chance to tell you how
Feels like you're a part of me
I've never had a chance to tell you how
Follow me, follow me, yeah
I've never had a chance to tell you how
Feels like you're a part of me
I've never had a chance to tell you how
Follow me, follow me, yeah

Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly bomb
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly
Lolly, lolly bomb, lolly, lolly, lolly bomb

- Il'ja Prusikin and Ljubim Khomchuk

Working from home: my hate and my insanity...

The whole COVID-19 pandemic has caused a paradigm shift in terms of what working is going to look like for a long time. Even when things are back in control, we'll still find ourselves being home employees. Employers are taking advantage of this to perhaps save money on office costs  Many venues are closing because their response to COVID-19 has put them into abject poverty or even in bankruptcy. Restaurants, coffee shops, gyms and other places that thrive on a large customer base to function are closing; especially the small ones. 

Working from your domicile means all the home distractions are available to us. I hear of friends with low workloads using Caffeine or Amphetamine to give the illusion that they're working while in reality they're taking naps, watching shows and gaming. My current job is more fast paced and I don't have that luxury though admittedly I've slacked off a bit.

There's a contrast between sitting next to your manager and staying at home with all the freedom you want. You can pretend to work and extend deadlines making your work seemingly more difficult. I noticed my coworkers including my teammates taking their time on tickets that normally take 2 days done in 2 weeks instead. Everyone is playing the lie.

The isolation is something that drives me really nuts. The few meetings and no real interaction makes for a very lonely experience. Instead of walking to a friend’s desk for some help, now you have to send emails and schedule a meeting.

I was hoping to find a way to have company through a shared office space. However, I was alone there as few dared to put themselves at risk. I didn't have the company I was looking for to discuss random subjects and have that human interaction. Worst part, it was unusually expensive no matter the location. It would make things hard to afford things.

I haven't tried coffee shops but these seem more busy. Apparently, these kinds of locations increase creativity and production due to the chatter, less distractions and of course your boss not staring at you. Universities might be a good location too but it seems no one is going there.

What pains me so much is how much time we spend at home because of remote work. Although I argued in my first blog post that we work too much, we'd at least have more time for walks and whatever else refreshes us. However, an extra 8 hours at home just seems too much for me. We’re trapped because we have to be online all the time and our bosses expect instantaneous responses, otherwise they might think we’re unproductive. I try to do things outside of home when I can but it's hard during these lockdown days.

I'd like your opinion on how you cope with working from home and how you stay sane stuck in front of your laptop at home without any breaks. Leave comments.

Fixated (poem)

Petrified, by my mind's reflections. Horrified, by my spirit's ruminations. Bewitched, by my psyche's obsessions. Locked, in my head with no refuge.

How can I live? When eventual is unpredictable? When bygone is unforgettable? When present is depletable?

The sky is painted with vivid darkness. The sounds are aery with insipid harshness. I cannot rest while my consciousness vies to dim the dimmest of blackness.

How am I to become? When my own will not fight to outlive my nightmares, to attain my ambitions?

Fixated, I am, in the likeness of a glacier moved only by the ocean's currents melting away day by day destined to no longer exist.

The past is gone by, when will I forget? Only when my anima no longer is!

Song of the Day 002 - Night Sweeper (Hyper Duel - Arcade) - Hyakutaro Tsukumo

A disclaimer: chiptunes require a certain appreciation for them to enjoy them and compare them against each other. Few people have the acquired taste for this type of music.

There’s one constant that I know Technosoft for is the magician composers they hire for making their soundtracks. Some of my favourite music is from them with my head full of the melodies from Thunder Force IV. Being Technosoft, it’s not hard to guess what kind of game Hyper Duel is, a shoot-em-up, a difficult and unforgiving one. I have the impression that it follows more in the footsteps of the Thunder Force games from the Sega Saturn rather then the earlier Sega Genesis versions.

The game was released in 1993 and then ported to the Saturn with improved graphics and reworked music in 1996, in Japan only. The game is a very typical shoot-em-up that scrolls horizontally with your selection of enemies, mini-bosses and difficult end bosses. It is extremely challenging where a single hit costs you a life, no life bar here.

The chip being used is the Yamaha YMF292 which combines FM Synthesis with clear sounding PCM samples. The channels could be combined in various ways to generate certain effects though honestly this is a bit over my head. It was also known as the Saturn Custom Sound Processor, and the Saturn being known for its complexity, it’s a tricky chip to get good music out of. The chip was used in some arcade boards and the Saturn. The Arcade version used the Yamaha chip while the Saturn version of the used CD Audio for the remastered music.

The rendition that I’m publishing here is the Arcade version which plays in stage 7. It’s a simple song with excellent percussion sounds and has a chorus which will become obvious because it repeats itself so many times. The song is short, extended by repetition. This would be considered a 32-bit chiptune where it combines FM Synthesis to support the main melody with PCM Samples for drums and kicks.