Weekly Design Recap 24
I can’t get out and not wear at least a hoodie nowadays but right now I’m still digesting the shocking news from Mexico after another massive earthquake, to the point that I almost forgot all the things that I need to do before leaving for Barcelona. Need to figure out the logistics of blogging and such since I am definitely not bringing the laptop with me.
And yes, that’s my jalapeño pepper plant.
Things I’m working on
Radiographista, again; today marks the 600th, uninterrupted day of this simple, list-of-three design project microblog that has grown to a sizeable following on Tumblr and has already surpassed my Instagram follower account, which definitely does not makes me slightly jealous. I don’t think I have worked on a single project for this long but it shows how far holding on to a thing and making it a habit can take you.
I have a new Spanish student, literally half my age and I admire how willingly teenagers can be to learn a language, even if they try to play it cool all the while. Reminds me of when I was perfecting my English.[/text-with-icon][text-with-icon icon_type=”font_icon” icon=”icon-heart” color=”Accent-Color”]
Things I’ve enjoyed
Last weekend I watched 120 Beats Per Minute, French film winner of the Cannes’ Grand Prix and it’s a brutal, candid story inspired by the Paris chapter of Act Up, the AIDS activist group during the early 90s. It’s reminiscent of 2014’s Pride! but without pulling any punches or sweeping musical medleys. It’s dark and upsetting and a stark reminder that there are still people dying of this. This week it was chosen to represent France at the Oscars and I’m rooting hard for it.
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Things I’m struggling with
Mexico got hit by another albeit highly unusual earthquake on 19 September, which is eerily the same date of the catastrophic 1985 tremor that claimed tens of thousands of people. My generation had only begun to look back to images of crumbling structures as a thing of the past, only to experience it first hand two hours after going through the commemorative earthquake drill that is done all over the country every September.
Wikimedia Commons
The images are haunting. Chilangos took it in their hands to start rescuing people on the spot and only then government institutions joined. Rescue squads from Japan, Germany, Spain have arrived; the world famous Topos have been overwhelmed with donations and my Twitter & Facebook feeds wouldn’t talk about anything else, even if sometimes a user hungry for attention would try and propagate false news or photos. I was shaken to know that a former building I lived in has been compromised and it’s now unusable. It could have happened to my sister.
I fear that once the adrenaline fades away assistance will diminish but what’s encouraging is that against all odds the people have risen up to the challenge again, that they’re highly organised and the whole world is watching.[/text-with-icon][text-with-icon icon_type=”font_icon” icon=”icon-book” color=”Accent-Color”]
Things I’ve learnt
On a more superfluous note, I started a ketogenic diet and I’m incredibly cranky and the first day was hell; cutting on carbohydrates is harder than it sounds, but the science behind it is sound and it one —very extreme way— of improving my health and even longevity (?).
In a completely different matter, after data mining the Nintendo Switch some guy found an NES emulator with the original Golf game; what seemed curious is that the way to boot up the game is through a specific date (11 July) and movement input with the motion controllers: the day corresponds to the death anniversary of Satoru Iwata, the former company CEO and the input is his signature move from the video presentations he became known for. It hasn’t been officially confirmed but the whole thing seems to be an omamori; a digital Japanese amulet for the after-death, which has to be the most Nintendo thing ever done by Nintendo.
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Things I’m listening to
One of Radiotopia’s latest series is Showcase — Ways of Hearing, dedicated to ho we perceive sound and how it affects our lives. Notable among these seven episodes is the one related to love: since the way sound is compressed to be transmitted digitally we can distinguish the voices we’re familiar with but we have trouble pointing the finger to what’s off and how that in turn changes to the way we relate to said person. It’s a fascinating take on sound perception.[/text-with-icon][text-with-icon icon_type=”font_icon” icon=”icon-exclamation-sign” color=”Accent-Color”]