Happy Wednesday!Ā This is becoming more of a āwhenever I get to itā newsletter so donāt mind me. Just doing what I can over here. In the last week or two Iāve really been doubling down on my data course which isnāt super fun to write about. But I did manage to sneak in a few interesting things that I think are worth watching/listening to so I figured thatās what I would write about today.
In this issue
šØ Behind the scenes at Disney
š„ Tiny Desk
šŗ Data.Gov
š¹Ā pixelUpdate.003
The Imagineering Story
Disney is usually associated with movies, kids stories, or the theme parks, and itās easy to forget that itās actually a giant corporation worth a kazillion and three dollars. Okay, actually $321B as of me writing this, but thatās already not a real number so who cares. Jess and I started watching a documentary on Disney+ called The Imagineering Story that shines a light on the business cost of opening theme parks in the 50s and 60s.
Itās a perfect tale of how investing in R&D is a smart business move. By hiring a small group of artists and engineers, Walt Disney ensured that his company would be at the forefront of experimentation and tech in entertainment. He found a way to marry art, technology, and business and itās still an inspiring story to hear all these years later.
Tiny Desk
Iām not sure who needs to hear this, but you should be watching Tiny Desk. Itās a small concert series that NPR does on its YouTube channel where they bring on huge stars like T-Pain and smaller upcoming artists as well. Due to Covid, they havenāt been able to do the concerts at their offices (hence the name Tiny Desk, because artists usually perform at someoneās desk) but theyāve still kept it going with small, intimate concerts at different locations.
One of my favorites that Iāve seen in a long time is this one from Spillage Village. Iāve been listening to their album for the last few weeks and I had no idea that they even had a Tiny Desk performance. They blew me away. Itās worth a listen.
Data.gov
It hasnāt been all theme parks and concerts the last few weeks, I have been doing actual work too. Like I said, Iāve been chugging along a data analytics course and one thing that I took note of was just how much data there is about everything. Like me, Iām sure you already know that thereās data about basically everything. But seeing the datasets and the pure volume of information about everything from bike rentals in London to NASA test flights openly available for public use is WILD.
If you have a few minutes I highly suggest just scrolling through the datasets to get a feel for it. There are over 300,000 so good luck getting to all of them, but just going through a few pages can really spark a few ideas about how to use data to make a positive change in the world.
pixelUpdate.003
As promised, this section is dedicated to the ongoing process of me trying to become better at pixel art and at playing with theĀ
OP-Z synthesizer
.
Hereās another quick sketch from the OP-Z and a pixelated Aang.