Argus Manual

A full day's work on the Argus Manual, which is now at 10,517 words, though I'm getting exasperated at the slowness of the process, and at new-found bugs in the real-time placement of objects.

One of the key ideas in Argus was real-time recording of the movements and positions of 3D objects, but this far too complicated and exacting. I need to reprogram and fix things tomorrow.

I could call the manual finished. For a free, massively specialist, and (I fear!) destined to be unpopular, tool it doesn't have to be the world's best manual... but I find cutting corners so very difficult. I'll try to move to finish it.

Tuesdays On Wednesday, Bull Dream, Argus Manual

A lovely night all round yesterday. Everyone performed well and the atmosphere in the room was full of warmth and pleasure. There were plenty of performances with gusto, and several which were touching. As soon as June Holland sings though, she does somehow blast the rest of the line-up out of the metaphorical water. Quite stunning. I wish Andy Stubbs could be there. Deb performed Clown Face and Dead Hand brilliantly and I was happy with my performances too, a step better than before.

It was a late night and I woke later after a disturbed night of sweats and a nightmare about a loose bull in a street. I was in some sort of library, in a futuristic town of cobbled streets. The new building had a leaky roof, and was empty, I was somehow early, before it became busy. I can't recall seeing other people I knew in the dream.

I launched a new Flatspace IIk Music Bundle today, and spent most of the afternoon and evening working on the Argus Manual. I have plans but feel uncertain and a little directionless... perhaps too many options.

I'm a little unsure of The Mark Sheeky Show, as an idea of surrealistic arty shorts. Should I call it something else? Once I use my name I can't rebrand later. I had a second idea of an indie music showcase instead, like a micro version of The Tube. Or should that be 'as well', instead of 'instead'. Options options!

I wrote 4000 to 6000 words on the manual. It's a lot harder work than expected, perhaps I should set a time budget, as do not expect success from it, based on recent software forays. I'm charging at many things, not to swim ahead but to avoid drowning.

More Argus tomorrow. I must move onwards quickly and efficiently.

Steps, AI Music

Every achievement is a step to be crushed while moving on to a better one.

Slow going today. Sent out a few emails about 'Cat Covid!', and read about the rise of AI music which will probably swamp all non-AI music within a decade; a huge transformation. This affects all arts, and all creativity, almost everything I do. What is the answer? Running to smaller and smaller areas where AI cannot penetrate. AI may oil paint one day, although this is one of the most complex of skills, oil is so very delicate and sensitive. AI can't interact with real people in daily situations - but then nor can I.

The effects on music will be considerable, and have dampened my optimism for music promotion today, but made me rethink about art for the better. Art must be, at all times, human.

Argus Graphics, 5 Year Ramble

The day has flown. I've worked for a few hours on draft graphics for the Argus release. With everything I feel I'm rushed to an uncomfortable limit, perhaps this is normal now.

I need a manual for it, and a basic video trailer. Given the recent Steam releases, I'm pessimistic about it as a commercial product, but I still find it amazingly useful, and perhaps others will too. Of course, I find SFXEngine invaluable too.

The prime minister today warns us of great and threatening changes over the next 5 years (despite, incidentally, his party's calamitous mismanagement of the past 5 years, not least an economy contracted by 15% due to an uncontrolled and foolish Brexit; which, also incidentally, the equally bad Labour Party is happy to never mention, presumably due to the shame of being complicit). The world certainly feels like it's in a state of great change; due to the rise of AI, the rise of 'far-right' (individualistic vs. social forces) due to uncontrolled immigration and the lack of media controls for internet media (learning no lessons from the same lack of controls over the news media 100 years ago), and climate change.

Of course, life will go on after those 5 years. I remain constantly anxious about the future, though also excited and optimistic for unknown reasons. Perhaps I've become naturally optimistic after a life of pessimism. Perhaps it's a case of nothing left to lose, a triumph of stoicism, the end of a satisfying decade or two lived to the best of my ability. But I have so much I want to do, so much I can do for the world. Oh for a few more resources! A morsal of stability would transform me. This year, the next 5 years, will be a great struggle. It will not stop me working on art every day, creating every wonder I can to the best of my ability. The spectre of death is, as ever, my motivation.

This week, more work on the 'Cat Covid!' release. This morning I created a Flatspace edit of the song.

Onwards we charge.

Rehearsals

Slower day. I completed the preparations for the sheet music release, and assembled the Spotify Canvases. I dislike Spotify. They don't pay artists enough, seeing them as a free source of money rather than partners; an understandable view given the quantity of artists, but I can't see myself always listing must there. The same goes for my distributor Distrokid, who has close ties with Spotify. When I listed music with Emubands, my royalties were considerably higher, with considerably fewer plays. I have over 30 published albums, so any decision here will be important and strategic, something for the long term.

Much of today was spent rehearsing for the 'Tuesdays on Wednesday' performance this Wednesday. I had thought ab out performing a somewhat off-piste version of Incomplete Version, but I'll perform 'Cat Parasites' instead, plus 'Excessive Consumption Has Laxative effects'.

Slower the day may have been but I've still worked for all of it.

More Music Admin, Chaplin, Hopes and Beams

More time consuming album admin today. Scheduled the album for release, registered the technical music details for the album and single with the 4 major authorities, uploaded and queued the 13 lyric-reading videos, and prepared the Bandcamp release. I still have edits and tracks to create for the Flatspace pack, assemble the Spotify Canvases, and create any music videos. It can feel like a never-ending task but I've done this all day every day for a mere two weeks, which is the complete maximum I could manage.

I briefly watched a Rick Beato video about how he makes his YouTube programmes. He has a substantial team, from help with camera operation, to sound clips, to editing, to branding and stills graphics, and more. It's amazing that I do almost the same amount of work alone - apart from, that is, running a regular television programme! Is it valid to call a YouTube video a television programme? I think so.

I watched a bit of Charlie Chaplin's The Circus. I've never seen a Chaplin film before (well, apart from the occasional short). It made me think that silent films were a huge, global cultural phenomenon, unique in style, that vanished as quickly as it appeared. I wonder if TikTok videos and Memes are similar, and that they will be as ignored by archivists as most of those, now lost, silent films.

Deb and I had a lovely night at a new Open Mic event last night at the wonderful Hopes & Beams centre in Crewe. This one was focused on spoken word rather than music, of poetry and short stories, and two extracts from plays were performed too. These are every month. If we attended there, and the two-weekly events in Nantwich, those social occasions may negate the need for The Mark Sheeky Show... but of course all have slightly different circles. I must be careful not to overstretch myself.

Two performances are coming; a paid version of 'Tuesdays' next Wednesday, for which I must rehearse well, and the Bob Dylan themed night the following Wednesday, which needs new material. I've completed much of the work on this album now, so can give some time to those.

A Drive Through Lyric Reading Subtitles

Another full day of work on the A Drive Through The Town media.

Today, I subtitled and edited the lyric reading videos. This involved cropping the recordings, then watching and noting the frame numbers of each spoken line. Then creating images (and mask images, the subtitles have alpha-outlines) for each lyric line, then saving those out. There are 8 to 20 of subtitle images per video. After that, I use an AviSynth script to overlay the subtitles onto the video and voila.

The results this time are my best to date, in video quality, audio quality, and performance. I wonder at times if this is worth it, this unusual medium, but the work isn't huge, and doing anything nobody else does has great value. This is a good philosophy for art.

I've nearly completed all of the same work as I did on We Robot (though for that, I also spent a week making full-screen animated videos for every track). The music for We Robot was completed on 19th July 2023, with mastering complete on 5th August for a release of 27th October. Almost all of August and much of September was spent creating these materials, including a video for the 'AI And Celebrity' single.

If I were a famous pop/rock star, of around now or of the past 20 years, I'd write (or not write, merely perform) 10 to 15 songs and spend a year performing them all over the place, and then probably spend the next 20 years performing them too, and consider all of that a just and satisfying life. I'm already bored with these songs, brilliant though I think they are, I know I can do better. As an artist, I need to make more, do more. I have much more potential to fill, and time is short.

Onwards.

The DNA Of Food

We eat plants and animals.

I postulate the strange idea that the DNA of the food we eat is, to some extent, incorporated into our own DNA. If we eat carrots, we transform a little bit into a carrot. If we eat beef, we transform, a little bit, into a cow.

If so, we can quantify how processed food is by the freshness of the DNA of the plants and animals within it. Food without DNA (synthetic sugars, artificial colours etc.) can be seen as 100% processed, with food being fresher and more healthy the more complete and undamaged its DNA; the DNA of the source organism.

If true, then the healthiest food option, and the healthiest way to prepare food, is based on that which damages its DNA least.