Welcome to the Sunday Edition where I share interesting articles and links alongside what I’ve been up to!
Ambition as Self-Sabotage
I enjoyed this reminder from Maalvika. Many creators don’t start because there’s a gap between judgement and skill.
This is what leads most of us to stop drawing. Not because we lack talent, but because we've developed the ability to judge before we've developed the ability to execute. We become connoisseurs of our own inadequacy.
You have to suck.
The quantity group learned something that cannot be taught: that excellence emerges from intimacy with imperfection, that mastery is built through befriending failure, that the path to creating one perfect thing runs directly through creating many imperfect things.
…and also:
Too much ambition disrupts this natural ecology; it demands that every attempt be significant, every effort be worthy of the ultimate vision. But the ecology of mastery requires something our culture has systematically devalued: the privilege of being a beginner.
One way I’ve found this process to be easier is to take on more than one creative practice. There’s less of attachment to an outcome when your entire life isn’t consumed by the nature of the work and industry around a particular creative domain. It makes the joy of being a beginner, simpler. It makes it feel more like play again.
Post-Legible Internet
I enjoyed Rina Nicolae’s take on what a certain corner of the Internet has become. She describes it as a “post-legible internet”.
But because content on the internet has gotten so absurd that it’s transcended the layer of reality where irony and sincerity mean anything at all.
It’s not just brainrot gen AI but media that’s purposefully just about its vibes.
We can call this the post-legible: a condition in which content no longer transmits meaning—such as through narrative, logic, or shared signs—but instead transmits affect as its primary mode of communication. It doesn’t tell you anything, but it does something to you.
Very reminiscent of what I called “tone media”. As I describe:
It comes from how modern music has moved to emphasised tone over melody as the primary hook. These kinds of vibes media encapsulates a feeling. In trad, longer-form media you might feel this tone/vibe in small doses throughout it. Instead of media that focuses on elements like plot, arcs, and themes, it elevates tone/vibes as the primary form factor.
It’s aesthetics as pure medium. It’s purely about media that’s just supposed to make you feel something.
ArtBlocks x OpenSea Dynamic NFT Collaboration
While NFTs aren't as popular as it used to be, I'm still enjoying finding interesting art that plays with the underlying provenance and dynamism of the underlying programmable ledger.
ArtBlocks recently launched a new collection with S. Ryan O’Connor debuting PostParams, a new framework focused on surfacing this underlying data.
For example, in O’Connor’s work, DDUST, the artworks experience occasional ‘dust storms’ that's determined by the Ethereum block height.
Conceptually, however, this ideas of using dynamic onchain state to change the artwork isn't new. Takens Theorem has a great list of projects (including replies from folks) of onchain art.
Notably, most of these projects go for a more native approach, eschewing the usage of p5.js and instead drawing the artwork as SVG in Solidity itself. It thus makes it easier to draw on contract state, generally.
What I’ve Been Up To
This week I’ve spent most of it on roadtrip through California with good friends. San Diego, Joshua Tree, and LA. Next week, more of it! Been deeply enjoying being back here. California reminds me so much of home in Cape Town. Have also just been spending most of my time offline doing sightseeing and it’s been lovely. I unfortunately did also go watch the Dodgers play on the 4th of July and see them lose 18 - 1. 😅
+1 on California dropping CEQA requirements for infill housing! 🥳
In San Diego (La Jolla) for the 1st time. Thanks Flo for the photo.
🕹️ Gaming - Civ 7
On the flight over to California, I finally played Civ 7 on the Switch 2. First Civ game I’ve played since 3! Although I somehow managed to keep making enemies, it’s off to a great start. Looking forward to playing more of it when I have the time.
🎶 Listening - Phantom Planet - California
If you’re in California and a millennial, there’s only one song that’s been on repeat! Always a huge jam.
That’s it for this week friends. As always, hope you get to see a good sunset. Privileged to see some stellar ones on the west coast of the USA.
Simon
<3