Did Dua Lipa ACTUALLY Plagiarize Levitating?
I’m sure you’ve heard Dua Lipa’s song, “Levitating.” It’s super catchy and set some Billboard records. You may have heard a band called Artikal Sound System saying that “Levitating” was ripped off from their song “Live Your Life.” They absolutely sound the same with practically the same chords and definitely the same melody.
Adam Neely explains in this video that there are certainly some mitigating factors on this whole plagiarism lawsuit.
I’m pretty convinced what happened was not plagiarism, but someone independently coming up with a strikingly similar chord progression and melody. What clinched it for me was the Song Exploder podcast breakdown of the creation of Lipa’s song.
I expect Artikal Sound System will lose its lawsuit. However, I think Outkast’s “Rosa Parks” influence in this song merits a songwriting credit and royalties. Not because it’s plagiarized, but because of the similar melody/structure.
Marketing Designer for Publishing
This is a really interesting and useful article: the job of a marketing designer at a book publishing house. It is not book cover design. It is all the promotional and branding work that wraps around that cover and that book.
Death Don’t Wait
Chris Farren has put together a (mostly) instrumental soundtrack for a Bond-esque spy movie that exists entirely in his head. I love everything about this project.
Peter Helman, writing on Stereogum, has the story.
“I thought about what every action movie has,” Farren says. “There’s usually at least two car chases, maybe a boat chase, hand-to-hand combat, a heist scene. So I just chose 15 different types of scenes, and I’d watch those types of scenes in different movies. I watched a lot of bank heist scenes and scenes of people diffusing bombs, and tried to pay attention to what the music was doing, and thought about how I could do that in my own way.”
While 11 of the 12 tracks on the album are instrumental, Death Don’t Wait (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) does have its very own Bond theme ballad: “Death Don’t Wait (Main Title),” sung by the inimitable Laura Stevenson. “I didn’t want to sing on it,” Farren says. “I thought it would take away from the concept of the record if I sang on it. And the nature of the song, it wasn’t meant for my voice. It’s meant for more of a classic voice, and Laura has one of the great voices of our time, I say.”
Ted Chiang
Last year during the pandemic, I read the two collections by Ted Chiang, Stories of Your Life and Others and Exhalation: Stories. He’s easily one of the best authors in contemporary science fiction. What’s surprising is Chiang has published only eighteen short stories in the last thirty years, one and a half dozen masterpieces of the genre whose insightful, precise, often poetic language confronts fundamental ideas — intelligence, consciousness, the nature of God — and thrusts them into a new light.
Here are my favorites (found via web.archive.org):
“Tower of Babylon” — A Bronze Age laborer joins the construction of an impossibly high structure on a mission to breach the vaults of Heaven. It won the Nebula Award for Best Novelette.
“Story of Your Life” — A talented linguist reflects on the life of her daughter as she struggles to grasp the meaning of an alien language. It won the Nebula Award for Best Novella and was adapted into the film
“The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” — An ancient alchemist introduces a traveling merchant to a mysterious time-traveling gateway. It won the Hugo and Nebula Award for Best Novelette.
“Exhalation”— A non-human scholar relates the dissection of his own brain and the implications his discoveries hold for his curious clockwork universe. It won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
“The Lifecycle of Software Objects” — The relationship between people and their creations are explored in the near-future world of sentient AI. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novella.
“Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom” [scroll down]- A new technology that lets people see and communicate with alternate timelines throws society into an existential crisis.
Falling Asleep to Fake Baseball
It looks like there isn’t going to be any Major League Baseball in the foreseeable future, but if you are old enough to remember staying up late with a radio tuned to a baseball game and gently falling asleep to the dulcet tones of Jack Buck, Vin Scully, or Curt Gowdy, a Chicago-based media producer who goes by Mr. King has you covered.
The Northwoods Baseball Radio Network is on the air with no yelling and commercials at the same audio level. Mr. King has created a fictional baseball game for those needing something other than white noise to fall asleep.
Kevin Goldstein, writing for Fangraphs, has the story.
The game itself is an unremarkable one, but that’s part of the design for content meant to help you fall asleep. Calling the game on WSLP Radio from Foghorn Field is the fictional Wally McCarthy, voiced by Mr. King, whose energy level, on a scale from one to 10, never exceeds a two. Cadillac scores one in the first, three in the second and two in the third, and coasts to a 6–4 victory over Big Rapids. It features 11 walks and 10 pop-outs. There is never a reason for McCarthy to get excited. There are no errors. The one stolen base attempt ends in a caught stealing. Even the home runs are described by McCarthy as “long and lazy.” Meanwhile, behind his calm-as-can-be delivery is the crowd noise, which is frequently the star of the show thanks to long pauses.
It’s really quite fun and nostalgic.
Why Russia Invaded Ukraine
RealLifeLore and Open Culture have made a tremendous video explaining everything leading up to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Why did Russia launch an unprovoked war in Ukraine and risk creating a wider global conflict? If you haven’t closely tracked the ambitions of Vladimir Putin, this primer offers some helpful context.
In progress before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and completed as Russian troops began their advance into the country, this 30-minute video covers the geopolitical, economic and environmental backstory. Take some time to watch.
Musical Jenga
Musical jenga is when strangers on the Internet take turns adding another level of music to each other’s creations.
Sometimes they sing about muffins or procrastination.
Sometimes they duet with frogs or dryers.
Sometimes the original participants know they’re leaving space for a duet partner to join in… and sometimes they don’t.
Sometimes they’re short and sweet.
Often, they’re original, but occasionally they cover John Williams or Nirvana.
If you aren’t on TikTok, where many of these originate, Mimo on Youtube sometimes edits together the best TikTok jengas.
(H/T yankeefog)
Zero to Possible
Nicholas Bate gifts us all with a new list:
Zero soda; maximum water.
Zero in-box; maximum filed to category and action list.
Zero lifts/escalator; maximum stairs.
Zero processed food; maximum fresh, local and cooked by self.
Zero blackberry-at-table; maximum great uninterrupted conversation.
Zero mall; maximum small, local & inspiring shop-keepers.
Zero can’t; maximum all things are possible.
He might need to update that Blackberry reference.
The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser
To be crystal clear, I would never pay $6,000 to pretend to be an inhabitant of the Star Wars universe for two days. Maybe in 1978, but not in 2022. If you love LARPing, more power to you. It is not my thing.
Joel Cunningham, writing for Gizmodo/io9, outlines what you get for that crazy sum. Disney is expensive across the board, but this seems outrageous. Still, you get what you pay for according to Cunningham.
I wonder how long they can maintain that price?
Pressure
I don’t know about you, but I have a general feeling of helplessness right now, and I don’t like it. I imagine we are all experiencing that same depression and inability to fix [waves hands around randomly] everything. The pressure keeps building.
Flashpoints are happening in a dozen different places, and I feel apprehensive. I know part of me wants to return to some sense of normalcy, and another part knows that’s never happening. My world of pre-March 2020 is never coming back. I want what’s been taken away from me, and it feels, lately, that it’s just out of reach. Probably permanently.
Additionally, I’ve been working on my mental health. The pandemic was not a horrific turn of events in my world like it was for so many others. I was lucky. Still, it took its toll on me. My communication was poor. I was having trouble just talking with my wife. We are still working on it.
Now, as we navigate the post-pandemic world, the feeling of pressure keeps building.
How will you handle it? How will I handle it?
I don’t know.
Hard Truths
Casey Newton wrote a lengthy piece about Donald Trump’s new social media app, Truth Social. It’s really good.
What else is there to say about Truth Social? It’s based on technology from Mastodon, the open-source social network. Its parent company, Trump Technology & Media Group, hopes to go public this year through a lucrative SPAC. Its terms of service document, like its user interface, appear to be largely copied and pasted from elsewhere. It prohibits “false, inaccurate, or misleading content,” a policy whose successful enforcement would represent a first in the history of the internet.
I’m sure the spin is they are a network for everyone, but no one believes this nonsense. It’s a social network made by Trump people for Trump people. Guess what? That is not a lot of people. Also, no liberal would ever sign up for Truth Social (even if they could, but they can’t right now because the app sucks). It is a waste of their time. Just like the other “conservative” social media apps.
That leads to these apps’ second problem: their market is smaller than they think it is. To hear Farmer and Miller tell it, the world is desperate for a less restrictive approach to content moderation. But TikTok, the most popular social network around, is also arguably the most restrictive — certainly in terms of which posts are allowed to go viral. The world is voting with its eyeballs, and the majority of people clearly prefer apps with robust moderation.
The free market wants moderation because most people don’t want to have to deal with the trash. That’s why people get banned and de-platformed and the like. I’m not a fan of engagement with Trump people. I don’t find it fun, amusing, or entertaining. I find it sad. I would jump on a social media site filled with smart, intelligent, progressive liberals. Of course, that would fail just as quickly as one designed for Trumpists.
Just like Truth Social.
Sally Kellerman Dies at 84
Sally Kellerman, best known for her role as Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in M.A.S.H. and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner in the Star Trek episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” has died at the age of 84.
She was obviously great in M.A.S.H and Star Trek, but I think I liked her performance in Back to School best.
Russia Begins Large-scale Invasion of Ukraine
Russia has invaded Ukraine. So far, this has been a conventional war with shelling and missile strikes.
I think this is the first major European war in which one country has invaded another with the intent of permanently taking its territory since World War II. Chilling stuff.
The New York Times has a continually updated breakdown of what’s happening.
Also, don’t forget Ukraine was at the center of the second impeachment of Donald Trump, which he only survived because Republicans could not be seen voting against the sitting President and also the reason Paul Manafort went to jail. Of course, Trump praised Putin’s “savvy” invasion. What a sniveling lapdog.
Probably the best reason Ukraine was invaded was to try and stop the country from joining NATO . As you might already know, dear reader, when one NATO country is attacked, ALL NATO countries are attacked, and we’d be knee-deep in World War III.
It still might come to that.
Hanlon’s Razor
From Patrick Rhone:
These days, Hanlon’s razor is about the only way I can make sense of the world.
Unfortunately, I share this sentiment.
The Anti-Trilogy
Star Wars YouTube scholar So Uncivilized dives into the sins of the sequel series from The Force Awakens devolving Han Solo into an anti-hero, The Last Jedi subverting itself, and The Rise of Skywalker existing, and in doing so, creates an anti-trilogy intrinsically tied to the past while opposed to it.
His insight is spot on.
My hope is Dave Filoni can “fix” it all.
TWOsday
It’s TWOsday!
Today (February 22, 2022) is both a palindrome and an ambigram in some formats, which is cool.
I’m also afraid, 2/22/22 will be remembered as the start of a massive European land war.
Or maybe just as code for urgently needing a public restroom.
The Madison Punchslap
Chris Branch, writing The Athletic Pulse newsletter, outlines the mess at the end of the Wisconsin versus Michigan basketball game.
In the final minute of Wisconsin’s 77-63 win over Michigan on Sunday, Badgers coach Greg Gard called two timeouts with less than a minute to go, the last one coming with 15 seconds left. They were functionally unnecessary, though Gard said he wanted to give players more time to advance the ball against Michigan’s press defense.
The timeouts triggered a fracas that could change the makeup of the Michigan coaching staff. A full Pulse breakdown:
First, watch the video. You’ll notice the handshake line is proceeding as usual, until Michigan coach Juwan Howard tries to walk past Gard without shaking hands but tells Gard “I’ll remember this.” Gard becomes angry at this, physically stepping in front of Howard to discuss their issues.
Howard was mad. He puts a finger in Gard’s face, yelling — ostensibly about that unnecessary timeout. A near-melee ensues, including Howard throwing a sort of open-hand punch/slap at Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft. Players got involved and a couple of real punches were thrown. No one was injured, but it was an ugly scene.
Michigan and the Big Ten condemned the altercation. Suspensions are possible. Don’t be surprised if Howard faces a lengthy suspension or even termination. That feels harsh, but things aren’t great at Michigan right now. It might be a final-straw situation.
The even-keeled takeaway: Two things can be true here. Gard probably shouldn’t have called that timeout. Take your win, head to the locker room and celebrate properly. No need to filibuster in front of your opponent after you’ve won handily.
Howard probably should’ve given a begrudging handshake and gone home, stewing on the loss in the safe confines of his own locker room with no national TV cameras in sight.
First, he should be fired. If you or I did something similar, we’d be fired immediately.
Second, I would bet the farm he won’t be fired.
Third, my gut says Howard is suspended for the rest of the season and the players are suspended for at least one game.
UPDATE: Exactly what I thought
Nightbirde has Passed
Nightbirde, who went viral after her performance on America’s Got Talent has died after a cancer battle.
Her story and performance of her original song are amazing.
Her line, “You can’t wait until your life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy” was inspirational.
She was brave and positive.
She was just 31.