What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?
This is the place for casual discussion about our pets. Photos are welcome, show us your pet(s) and tell us about them!
I recently got promoted and my new position is about 70% travel.
Planes are loud.
Airports are loud.
Malls are loud.
I'm looking for really good noise cancelling, over ear headphones that have a hidden mic.
Ideally they would be good at playing audio on a plane and for taking zoom calls on my laptop. Bonus if switching between my android phone and MacBook is simple/without known issues.
Price is not a concern.
Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like gpl, linux and 1password. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was observing closely.
But one of my favourite tags happens to be offbeat! Taking its original inspiration from Sir Nils Olav III, this thread is looking for any far-fetched offbeat stories lurking in the newspapers. It may not deserve its own post, but it deserves a wider audience!
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
I was gifted a set of tarot cards last year, and found myself quite stunned at how well they seemed to work. The cards led me slowly toward witchcraft as a broader area of investigation and study, and I find myself quite keen to take on the mantle of “witch.”
That said, I have no earthly idea where to begin practising. There are no covens (that I am aware of) in my area to learn from, so I guess that means it’s books and online resources for me!
Are any of my fellow Tilderen witches? How did you get started, and what do you recommend I do as a complete beginner?
I don't normally give my own examples for my own questions, but for this one I think it'll help with clarity for what I'm trying to get at:
I mentioned recently that we're in a golden age of N64 decompilations/recompilations with several high-profile games getting releases that make them run on modern machines with huge quality of life upgrades, and many more in the works (one for Extreme-G just came out two days ago).
I know that, with everything going on seemingly everywhere in the world right now, it can be difficult to think of things in terms of abundance and prosperity, but I also think there's a lot of it around if we look for it, especially in niche corners.
Goooood morning dear users, humans, non-humans, and things.
I write to you all because I recently thought of asking for some help for art criticism and general feedback on one of my latest pieces that I have created. To my background, I am currently studying in my last year of photography, and I am currently, or rather should be, writing and designing my bachelor project, but here we are doing everything except working on my project.
I saw the recent post about abstract art and that not all people hate it and many people are either interested in art or even like it. I, myself like art. I sometimes even try to create some art myself, even though it sounds just so performative when I say that but that is another topic all together.
So I discussed this with another user on this site in direct messages and they suggested that I could make a post on tildes (here) and show my art and ask for feedback, criticism and maybe even discuss it in some way.
Now I really liked that suggestions. In my past I am fortunate enough to participate in some exhibitions. Which would most likely be the best way to display your art. Sadly this is currently not really feasable and I also don't know if this art would be even fitting.
This project is still ongoing and currently has 2 pieces. I once shared one of the pictures back in winter I think not sure brain empty and stuff
I took polaroids with my RZ67 Zinstax of different cracks on the floor on the wall or just anywhere in the city. My idea was to display sort of these "scars" or blemishes of the city just as a person would when they have an accident or get surgery for something.
Here are the 2 unstitched polaroids and a test I did
I tried singular thread and also embroidery thread. When I tried the single thread it was really tough to get it tense and also that it would look good. This is why I tried embroidery thread. Embroidery thread is basically 6 individual threads in one. It stood out much nicer in real life and also was a lot easier to tighten and overall looked way better.
I tried to connect these 2 Polaroids but still wanted to respect the borders of the polaroid. Also in those 2 Polaroid there is a slight color gradient from the top left which the concrete is the lightest towards the bottom right where it's the darkest.
It might look like they were shoot in the same place but they were not.
Also the definition of gash:
a strong sweeping cut made with a sharp instrument
It is a type of wound or type of injury.
These pictures again were made with my RZ67 with the Zinsstax back.
Here are the raw and some tests I made with a spare polaroid.
To the Gallery
I really wanted to get a medical or a surgical look with the lighting and that's why I choose color polaroids. I set up some lights which I could control the color temperature and I set it to I think 5000 K which is very neutral light.
I also wanted the light to kind of look like flash. Like one of those photographers that take pictures of the crime scene. Kind of that was the vibe I was going for.
When I first sewn into the polaroids I really struggled with not bending the polaroid too much while punching through with the needle. I fixed this with an awl. I tried different size of gaps and I also tested how many threads I wanted to use. In the gallery you can see the test I created and in the lower stitch the gap was too narow and I also used the 6 threads. Then I spaced it more apart and only used 3 threads. I liked the threads much more but the gaps were too wide. So I had to do basically a middle ground with the gaps and kept it at 3 threads.
For the stitch I used a chain stitch. I wanted it to look like the extremities were tied up and that was the ideal stitch for me.
I want to signal to the viewer that this perso is tied to something or as I mentioned tied up. I also aligned the images this way because it can almost look like these are either multiple people or someone is hanging upside down or they were cut up in half.
Definition bound:
something that limits or restraints.
I really liked creating these and also writing this post. Thank you for reading this or even looking at the images.
This little exercise is reminding me of what we used to do in class. Criticize each other's work, which I always really enjoyed. And I do miss. So maybe if someone else wants their work to be criticized, please let me know; I will gladly take a look at some other artworks or work of some other people. Potentially this could even be a scheduled post if enough demand is here and available.
Also if you think you don't have enough knowledge about the medium or the technique, THAT IS NOT IMPORTANT.
Feedback and criticism is always valuable you may see something from a entirely different point of view that I or "we" have never considered. ˙ᵕ˙
If you need further clarification or have further questions, just ask. ˙ᵕ˙ I won't bite I think unless you want me to*
So, thanks so much for reading this and I wish you a nice day.
Anways that's all
Best regards,
your neighborhood creature
I'm attempting to make a font for a little kids book I'm working on and realized I don't know anything about the "theory" of font making. I feel like the choices I'm making aren't adequately reflecting the feeling I'm going for.
Has anyone attempted to make their own font? Are there any guides or materials you suggest looking at? If you're up for it I'd love if you could share it and talk about your process! Looking for a combination of guidance and inspiration!!
Cheers!
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
I've only had one cavity in my life and that molar was removed today. I've got about 2-3 weeks of a super soft / liquid diet ahead of me, but I'm running low on ideas.
Tuesday was day one and I had:
Breakfast:
Dinner:
Breakfasts will stay the same, but I will be adding in slamming a raw egg like tough guys did in the 80s.
Today (Wednesday) is likely to be a cooled butternut squash soup and whatever else I can think of.
Anybody go through this and have any good suggestions? I'm a good cook and I can buy anything else and I'm not in any pain, so nothing is off the table so long as it fits the soft/liquid format.
Do you call it a bacon double cheeseburger or a double bacon cheeseburger?
I have two 40k Armies, Orks and Necrons. I don't know current point values, but if I were to venture a guess, it's probably somewhere on the order of 6000-7000 points worth of stuff. I have something like 200 Ork Boys, 40-50 Nobz, Trukks, 15+ Deffkoptas and all kinds of stuff. Necrons are significantly smaller, but probably something like 3000-3500 points.
But I hate 40k. I don't like the Lore, I don't like the game and I don't really enjoy painting the models. The last time I played was 7th Edition about 8 months or so ago and I didn't have any fun with it and prior to that, I played a handful of games of 10th, both full scale and campaign and really didn't enjoy myself all that much then. So it's only been about a week since I came to the conclusion that I should finally sell my armies.
I've been thinking about selling my Orks for quite some time, but only recently came to the conclusion that I should dump the Necrons as well, because I just have no interest in playing the game or even painting the models. But I'm struggling with the decision. 40k is what introduced me to Wargames and I thought it was pretty neat at the time, but not too long after that, I discovered historical Wargames (Bolt Action, in particlar) and those are very much my jam.
I still have a bunch of Age of Sigmar, as I prefer it to 40k, though it's still far from a favorite of mine (Something like 3500 points of Gloomspite Gitz and 3500ish of Nighthaunt), so I still have access to Warhammer if friends want to play, but...yeah.
I'm not exactly certain why I'm making this post. I went and bought boxes today for when I'm ready to start the process of taking pictures and selling stuff on eBay, but I just feel weirdly attached to some of these models, even if I have absolutely zero interest in them anymore. I do think I'm going to keep one kitbashed Ork Battlewagon I made, but beyond that I'm ready to just let go all of this stuff.
The internet is loaded with clickbaity articles like these (note: I specifically made these up, so apologies if any sound interesting). They were already somewhat low effort content, but they've gotten far worse in the age of AI.
As such, I thought it might be cool if we could make our own hand-crafted, artisan, bespoke humanslop ones here. You know, for fun.
Be as serious or as nonsensical as you like. Be as generic ("top games of 2025") or as specific ("games that kfwyre spent more time setting up than playing") as you want. Create the video game listicle of your dreams, with as little or as much clickbaitiness as you like.
We all know the big-name ones: Dune, 1984, The Martian Chronicles, etc.
What are some sci-fi books that you loved that you never hear about or that won't be making those top-of-all-time lists?
Why do they stand out to you?
What do they do well?
Why do you think they didn't get wider appreciation?
What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)
Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.
You can make a chart if you use last.fm:
http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/
Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.
What I've had so far:
Yaeji - Waking Up Down (2020)
https://youtu.be/pNNf4I1dc_U
Diverseddie - Sparkling Clean (2020)
https://youtu.be/6UwAjJLxwMU
Game Changer Improv Karaoke - To-do List by The Supremes (2022)
https://youtu.be/z4uAd1g9BKs
Looking for more to make a playlist to keep myself entertained when doing tasks. No limits on genres or languages!
This is a monthly thread for those who need it. Vent, share your experiences, ask for advice, talk about how you are doing. Let's make this a compassionate space for all who may need one.
I love gaming and I love lots of different genres of games. Yet somehow I can’t get into gta. I’ve tried. I played it a couple of times. I looked at the extended gameplay reveal. Yet, it doesn’t seem to click.
Now that’s all perfectly fine. Not everyone has to like everything. But because it’s such a huge game in terms of people playing it, I am really curious.
Is there anyone here who does love playing gta? And do you mind sharing what you love about it?
I don’t want to argue or convince or be convinced. Just really interested in learning about your perspective!
Is it static, or does it change?
How does that feel to you?
How does it play out in your day-to-day life?
What thoughts do you have about rigidity/fluidity in general?
(As always, I'm using LGBT as an umbrella term here, so this question applies to anyone with minority gender, sexual, or romantic identities)
Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
And why do you still keep it?
Whether it's a loading bar on the google play store, the metronome on a guitar tuner or the progress bar of an offline audio player downloaded from F-Droid... everyone seems to have adopted the squiggly line loading bar seemingly overnight, and I can't fathom why, as it can be really distracting at times to have multiple moving things on screen.
I can understand wanting to renew the look of an otherwise boring loading bar on the app store, but does a music player really need to have a progress bar with a wave animation? Is this a new trend or design choice in the tech world? It's driving me insane...
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
I won't be surprised if this is moved to ~misc or something, I thought transport might be most appropriate since it's about EV's, but I'm probably wrong.
I made the jump to an EV this week (Ioniq 5), and for the first time, I'm charging away from home. My work has free level 2 chargers (via ChargePoint), but I can't for the life of me activate the charger by tapping my phone to the terminal, I have to activate it through the app.
When I tap my phone (Pixel 9 Pro), it seems to act like I'm tapping a credit card, I get an error screen:
Card rejected error
Card not supported
The only things I can find online are in response to iOS people who apparently have to add a virtual ChargePoint card to their wallet, but from what I've read, this isn't necessary on Android since the ChargePoint app can interface directly with the phone's NFC capabilities.
I'd appreciate any tips on where I may be going wrong.
This is the place for casual discussion about our pets. Photos are welcome, show us your pet(s) and tell us about them!
It seems like I may be dipping my toe back into "reading" through audiobooks. I realized that instead of listening to random YouTubers at work, I can listen to more intentional writing this way.
How do y'all feel about them? If you listen, what sorts of productions do you prefer? Are there any particular ones you think are spectacular, a cut above the rest? Do you listen to them in addition to reading the book as like a companion piece or instead of the book?
I've listened to some GraphicAudio books now and I like having a full cast for the characters, they've got some good voice actors. Though they're listed as unabridged, I worry they've still perhaps dropped paragraphs. But I think I'd end up zoning out more on single narrator books.
Part of why I never engaged before is because I have poor auditory processing, so I figured I just couldn't keep up. At least for simpler texts, I haven't had much problem, and it may be helping me improve in that respect. I hadn't tried before, but now I can watch YT vids at double speed without missing anything.
I started since my partner was interested so I set up audiobookshelf and some other services for grabbing files. It's been a great piece of software to use, there's other software that can manage and serve audiobooks, but none puts them first like abs does. Do recommend if you're interested in self-hosting audiobooks.
One of my cousins (age 23), at the end of weeks-long stay at an inpatient psychiatric facility, came out as trans to his parents. They are very supportive, if a bit surprised.
I want to help them and my cousin out and link them to some online forums/discussion spaces. He’s (AMAB, hasn’t mentioned what the new pronouns are) very online, so I’d be most interested in stuff for him. I know some of the sites don’t have the best reputation, or are very polarizing, so I’d like sites that are positive and supportive.
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
Tildes is a very serious site, where we discuss very serious matters like dolly parton, tim curry and algorithms. Tags culled from the highest voted topics from the last seven days, if anyone was topical.
But one of my favourite tags happens to be offbeat! Taking its original inspiration from Sir Nils Olav III, this thread is looking for any far-fetched offbeat stories lurking in the newspapers. It may not deserve its own post, but it deserves a wider audience!
For all the Morrowind enthusiast here - GOG.com has added OpenMW and Tamriel Rebuilt as curated mods for Morrowind. They say on the website: "GOG’s curated selection of the best Mods, directly packed with the game for the smoothest installation ever. Install and play right away."
I haven't tried it yet, but I guess it means GOG Galaxy (that I don't use) will automatically install OpenMW and enable Tamriel Rebuilt as a mod in it and launch OpenMW instead of old Morrowind executable. Maybe someone will know if it works this way.
I just wanted other people to know, as Morrowind is my beloved game and I see it as a nice addition to have mods on the GOG as well as the game, even more so if it can be installed alongside the game hassle-free.
For people who doesn't know:
The thing is - Is it good that GOG adds such mods and integrates them with the game (somehow)? Will the mods be kept up-to-date when I install them with the game?
All of my SWE friends and coworkers agree this is a deeply weird time to be in the industry. LLM coding has dominated many (but not all) tech companies. Some of it is cool and exciting, but a lot of it is terrible and horrifying. I thought it could be a good time to do a vibe check.
Some possible questions to answer if you’d like:
Also it would be useful to give whatever background info you’re comfortable sharing to help ground things like: size of company, years of experience, type of role, location, etc.
Any and all discussion around the industry is welcome!
Figured I'd make a general discussion thread since there's a lot coming out of the event.
What are your thoughts on the games being shown? Are there any which you're excited to see more of or disappointed by?
I made this thread on mobile, so apologies for any mess-ups.
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
Planning a trip to Japan fall 2027 or spring 2028. Japan seems to be a place I can spend my entire life savings in, fill three warehouses, and still come away with want. So here's a different question than the usual: if I don't care about Instagram sightseeing or the latest fashion trends or Michelin star restaurants, what are some crazy cheap things to do or places to stay?
Old fahsioned and dingy is fine, anything above "downright dangerous" is completely okay. We could do one fancy pants Ryokan and one cheap one if the cultural difference in expenses are worthwhile, otherwise cheap cheap cheap please.
I am most interested in hands on traditional crafts making workshops or experiences, like touring wagashi kitchens, basket weaving, leather workers, fibre and paper arts, wood crafting, kintsugi pottery repairs etc.
Kaga Traditional Craft Village Yunokuni no Mori, Komatsu -- Ishikawa Prefecture : this has been recommended to me, would love reviews and other recommendations. Kyoto has a lot of English workshops: are there cheaper ones outside?
BOOK OFF chains and Mega Donki for cheap, used consumer goods? Osaka for used kimono? Where do people get rid of their unwanted traditional arts and art supplies? Kyoto has a bunch of flea markets: still good spot or tourist junk I can get for much less elsewhere?
Any arcades that take an entry fee and then it's all you can play? (Asking because I super suck at games but I love them, and Japan has the whackiest arcade games)
I'd be perfectly happy to eat konbini & ramen & gyudon & cheap foods for the entire time. What other kinds of food are cheap? (I'd also do one or two seafood meals for sure but spending money = easy to find reviews)
I want to hear all the cheap things about Japan :) my goal will be to (1) avoid the over tourism spots and be less of a nuisance for locals (2) experience things (3) save all the money for the end of the trip to see Akihabara, spend it all on gunpla, anime and gaming goods.....
Maybe worth mentioning I am trying to learn as much Japanese as possible in a year, with background in Chinese language and college first year level Japanese. Language tips also welcome.
Edit: other Japan tourism threads by gpl, rosco ,AugustusFerdinand and shared -- also excellent
This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on.
Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just ideas.
If you have any creative projects that you have been working on or want to eventually work on, this is a place for discussing those.
Recently, I have found myself almost unable to find things online to engage with, Tildes being the rare exception. I feel like I used to be able to find my way down Youtube rabbit holes, scroll on Reddit endlessly, and for a period even get lost on Instagram reels. I still have the urges, but now when I indulge it doesn't feel like an effortless dopamine hit, I feel like I'm fighting the platforms for something, anything engaging.
The channels I enjoyed, even the small ones, seem to all be chasing monetization and the lowest common denominator. Even Beau Miles, one of my favorite people on earth, joined the absolute deluge of people focusing on renovating a crumbling "historic" building or just rehashing his old fun ideas. Gone are the days of the inspired videos like the Human Bean. The miniature painters all seem to be hocking their own inventions or models. It feels like capitalism has crept into every video. Reddit is even worse, where it always feels like there is an agenda or a link to a patreon or scrappy youtube channel and I just feel manipulated by the posts being made.
For lack of a better phrase, I'm just constantly feeling the "ick" being online. I'm actively trying to search out things to engage with, anything even remotely genuine or authentic, and running up against a wall. It just feels bizarre. Maybe I'm alone on this. Or maybe I'm reaching a different stage of life and no longer the target demographic. In any case I just feel myself reaching for my laptop less and less and less. For most folks I think that would be a good thing, but when it's dark out, and I'm too burnt out from work to make progress on whatever home or art project I'm doing it was a really nice way to turn off my brain.
Is anyone else having a similar experience? Are folks happy with this version of online content? Are we entering the dead internet? I'm trying to figure out if this is a real trend or just a personal experience.
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
I've been having a bit of a midlife crisis (well, I'm 31 so technically not there yet but...) and was hoping maybe some kind folks on Tildes could give me some perspective. Apologies in advance for the long-winded post.
I currently work my "dream" job. I put that in quotes because I'm a freelance translator which, as you might expect, has not been the best place to be at for the last couple of years. Nonetheless, it was the job I wanted to do when I got into university 7 years ago so it's what I'd say is the only "calling" I've had.
Because I've only ever done this, I feel like I missed out on opportunities and soft skills that a person might typically develop early in their career at more typical jobs. I was fortunate to have an accommodating family who really let me try as hard as I could in the translation field until I could succeed, which unfortunately I haven't as much as I wanted to.
Because of all this, I've now been looking for non-specialized jobs anyone can do in order to at least have a more stable income. But I feel like just working at say a McDonald's or other less skilled jobs won't get me very far in life. Yes I can do translation on the side as a supplement and maybe one day I'll get lucky enough to score a well-paying client (I know it's possible but just haven't had the chance yet), but that's a lot of ifs for comfort. At the moment I can't even focus on paying my bills, let alone try to have a life outside my job or a partner or basically anything, and that's what also sorta torpedo'd the intense anxiety I've been having.
So I've been pondering seriously going back to university to get another degree, as some of my friends and acquaintances have done. The problem is I just don't know how to even go about finding something that can give me a better professional life and that I connect with in some capacity. I've been so sheltered and non-diversified for 7 years that now I have very little to connect with.
I thankfully live in a country where university is not a big financial investment, so that's not an issue. But as I've been warned by others (and agree myself), jumping into a degree when I only have nebulous ideas about my future in it is a good way to ensure I burn myself out and waste my time. I can't just pick a degree because "it'll pay well." It has to be something I can actually concentrate on and feel the drive to work toward. Otherwise I'll probably be back on this road again, just in a different way (low end skilled work is as poorly paid as unskilled work where I live).
I've been eyeing typical big engineering degrees like computer science and mechanical engineering. Looking at jobs they can provide makes them sound somewhat interesting (robots are cool, right?), but it still all feels very nebulous, like nothing fully clicks. It's like I can't find something that's more guaranteed to pay well and where I also feel "this is where I want to be."
I'm also constantly worried about "what if I choose wrong" and wondering if I won't be good enough or stand out and just set myself up for another bad career. The choice paralysis is very real. And reading testimonials online, no matter for what field, just makes things feel more bleak (I should probably stop that), though there is occasionally some positivity.
The way I describe my mental state right now is "I want a job that will let me not have to worry about surviving 24/7, but I don't know what that might look like." It could be working at McDonald's or some menial office job and then doing translation on the side (AKA the only "calling" I've ever fully clicked with), it could be becoming an engineer, or maybe it's something else entirely I haven't found yet. I don't know.
I also know that sometimes all it takes is to try something out to see if you like it, so I'm not ruling the possibility that maybe I'll just click with a degree after I get into it, but until I have that opportunity I'd like ask fellow Tildeans: how would you go about finding a new calling in life in a situation like this?
I know there's no silver bullet answer and that nobody can decide my life for me, but I feel as though I'm missing the tools to make that decision for myself.
I’ve come to associate Love Dark with Tildes because I like it so much. I don’t use any other theme here. I think it works well with the excellent layout of the site UI elements, giving the blend between them a particular smoothness.
How about you?
I've enjoyed reading the What game are you terrible at? topic, and it gave me the idea of making the question a bit more general.
Not "what are you bad at?" but what is something that's more difficult for you specifically. Like, I'm bad at a ton of different things, but that's because I don't put effort into them or never learned them or whatnot.
But there are certain things that I do that I find I have to put a lot more effort into to even be passable, while for other people it comes easy. That's the sort of thing I'm interested in hearing about.
Life is especially stressful lately, and with that my usual sleep struggles are just getting worse. When I was younger, I struggled to fall asleep - and at times, I still do - and I was able to develop some strategies that helped me soothe my overactive mind (ADHD brain goes brrrrr). As I'm getting older, I'm having a different problem come up though.
Now the trouble isn't so much getting to sleep as it is staying asleep long enough to get the rest I need, or at least want. For example, this past week has been the first week of school for me as a teacher. It is absolutely exhausting. I crash out between 8/9pm every night. Then I find myself awake at 2/3am without fail and just toss and turn until either I eke out a half hour of sleep before my alarm at 5am or just give up and get up.
Of course those hours I spend lying awake in bed are the perfect time for my mind to turn to dark and terrible thoughts as well. The small hours of the morning are apparently perfect for this. That's a whole other thing I'm working on dealing with.
I know this isn't a unique problem, I know that there isn't a catch all solution, I'd just love to hear some different ideas on what to do about it.
Hello my fellow tildestians (tilderinos?) - I'm looking to upgrade a very old home router (a hand-me-down linksys of some variety). I game quite a lot (my computer is connected via ethernet to the current router) (often while others folks are streaming shows elsewhere in the house) so preferably something that is able to handle that? Maybe something that would allow a later upgrade with mesh? I don't know what a mesh is but I see them recommended in a lot of these "best router of 2026" lists so maybe that's something I need to look into.
I've seen a lot of recommendations for asus and tp-link and ubiquiti? I am not super technically inclined so ease of set up is a nice bonus but I'm willing to put in the effort if needed >_< Budget is around ~300 usd. Blessings be if you have the time and knowledge to spare for me :) thank you!
(also, if this is in the wrong topic please relocate me with my sincerest apologies)
TLDR; I made an electroacoustic album based on artwork, poetry, and soundscapes in Portland, OR, USA. Inspired by ambient electronica and impressionist piano, CYLCE is a dark journey through nature and urban environments.
Bandcamp Link: https://nickalus.bandcamp.com/album/cycle
CYCLE is a project of mine that had an unusual life span (at least for myself). Originally, CYCLE was a sound installment commissioned for a gallery hosted by Open Haus in Portland, OR in collaboration with visual artist Jon Hwong and poet TKTK in a very strange turn of events. Over the past two years it has morphed into an audiovisual experience (I guess that would be the word for it???) using motivic development, creative coding (NO AI WHATSOEVER), and digital degradation.
In celebration of the physical release (and my first physical release as an artist), I plan to spend the next couple of weeks (as long as the mods are okay with these posts) discussing different aspects of the project in hopes of starting a conversation about other musicians’ practices, thoughts, or critiques. I have included a list of topics I plan on covering in future posts at the bottom of this one.
Context
The project started in 2024 (feels like yesterday) while working on my own gallery DEAD WORLD THEORY. A few months out from the premiere, I was introduced to Keith, a local poet, through my co-producer Jon. The three of us talked about their upcoming gallery hosted in the neighborhood. Jon was creating a collection of artwork exploring natural form within technology and Keith was premiering a new chapbook and giving a reading of selected works.
This was a collision of multiple niche interests of mine. Technology and nature have always been something of interest in my work since joining an electroacoustic ensemble during college. And before then, I was writing weird concert music that was interested in the idea of non-musical sounds (think: hypnotist/New York school of contemporary music), and specifically setting poetry and common speech to music (similar to work such as Jóhann Jóhannsson’s “IBM 1401 - A User's Manual”).
As you can see, the synchronicity of this project was insane. I needed to be in it.
I immediately pitched the idea to the other artists: I’ll make a soundtrack for the gallery that combines nature and technology, and the poet and I could perform an impromptu lieder of his work. Both artists loved the idea and took it to the producer of the event. With a little negotiation, it was decided. I was on the bill and even invited to speak on a panel discussion they were holding that evening to discuss my own upcoming project.
The event was a great success. We had a nice turnout and I had a chance to talk with some phenomenal artists that attended the event.
Inspiration
As mentioned above, this project was a perfect storm of my influences and niche interests. I’ll break the project into two parts. Sorry you can't hear the last part (should’ve been there).
Nature and Technology: The Soundtrack
I have always been the person to challenge a rule, not because I want to break it, but because I want to understand it. Naturally, as a pianist studying composition and performance with a wicked resistance to authority, I became interested in the avant-garde of music. This new fascination started with the usual suspects: Ives, Cage, Monk, and Schoenberg. But it quickly led to the modern approach of this idea such as noise, harsh ambient, industrial, etc.
This turn of events led to joining an electroacoustic ensemble where we utilized traditional instruments with technology to create shows, galleries, and sound installations. I immediately felt the shift in my peers:
Was I a pianist or was I a DJ? Was I a composer or a producer? Was this music or was this art (or neither)?
I began to obsess over this question. Where is this line between electronic and acoustic? Where is the end of nature and the start of technology? What is the line between music and art? If you are familiar with music history I am sure you know this is a pointless question that has been argued for centuries in either direction under the conversation of programmatic and absolute music. CYCLE is a culmination of my interested in ecoacoustics, technology, urban development, rural preservation, and the psychoacoustic effects of noise.
The Impromptu Lieder
The second half of the performance was an impromptu lied with Keith’s poetry set as the libretto. This was my second cycle of lieder as a composer. The first being a song cycle for Piano and Mezzo Soprano which used T. S. Eliot's “Cycle of Preludes” as the libretto. The preludes were traditionally set using Western notation and assigning pitches to the libretto. I wanted to do something different for this one.
In my journey of the opium dens of contemporary music and the avant-garde (circa 2018), I had discovered the Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. The piece was titled IBM 1401 - A User’s Manual, an opera that used a printer’s user manual as the libretto. Jóhannsson correlated the user’s manual with childhood memories of his father who was a salesman for IBM. I would not consider myself a printer enthusiast, but this work was striking. This took the programmatic style of impressionist lieder but worked from something that would be considered wholly technical and categorically “Not Art”. But, now the silly manual printed on cheap paper n’est pas une pipe.
I wanted to emulate the “Treachery of Image” in a sonic medium. However, the poetry I was working with is ART. So, rather than subverting the source material I decided to subvert the performance aspect. Rather than prescribing singing to the text, it would use common speech. I worked with Keith to transcribe the natural rhythm of his collection of poems. This allowed the rhythm of the poetry to be the pulse of the music.
Doubling down on programmatic vs absolute, I worked closely with Keith to understand the meaning of his work. I kept seeing the recurrence of phases (or cycles) of life, nature, grief, love, and healing. The work had hope, but hope that was sustained through a hostile world, fighting against the downward pull of pessimism. I also asked my poor poet to destroy their own work by telling me one word. This singular word would become the “narrative motif” of each piece.
I decided to work with impressionist aesthetics for two reasons: extended harmony and programmatic composition. Firstly, the growing class of piano-composers during this era such as Rachmaninoff and Debussy were a huge influence on me as a Pianist. Secondly, the “narrative motif” from Keith would be used to decide the sonic motifs. One specific example of this is using planing fourths upward rather than using a Picardy third for moments that reflect sadness changing to happiness.
Below is a list of the topics I plan on covering in the next couple of weeks:
Location specific
Portland: Selected Soundscapes
Associated Memories: Places and the Past
Song Cycle
Modulation without Keys
Timbral Motifs
Song Cycle/Story Structure
Ecoacoustics
Nature/Transition/Urban
Audio to Video
Audio to Video: Motifs
If there is something you are particularly interested in or something you don’t see on the list please leave a comment and I’ll add it in! Additionally, this entire post is meant to be a discussion for musicians and fans of music to talk, so, please leave your thoughts below for myself or other people to jump in.
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