Shorts
The company MODARTT develops virtual musical instruments, but not by sampling, they simulate the physics of pianos and organs by modeling how the air (or string for pianos) and the rest of the instrument resonates and transmits the sounds.
They wrote a very interesting article called Organ Physical Modeling where they explain in details how the pressure waves oscillate inside the air pipes; this is focused on pipe organs, but the physics also apply to woodwind instruments with a fipple, like recorders, irish whistles and flutes.
I specially loved this take: ”Organ pipes are DC/AC converters!”.
The Kaiju Preservation Society, from John Scalzi. This is a fun novel that re-interprets the “giant monster” lore. Action and comedy are on point, and although it is not futuristic, it is very much a sci-fi story, and a good one!
After the uncertainty from the Twitter’s nosedive, I decided to revive my blog following the POSSE philosophy (publish own site, syndicate everywhere). I’m not going to delete my social accounts, but now I’ll always write here first.
Sherlock & Co: a modern take of Sherlock Holmes adventures, with Dr. Watson being the host of a true-crime podcast (very meta!). The first episode is just an introduction, and the episodes 2 to 4 are a 3-parter case!
Paquito D'Riveria - Mozart's Adagio: a very “jazzy” interpretation of Mozart.
Festival Interceltique de Lorient 2023 (in France), with folk bands from all celtic spectrum: from the the classical irish/english ones, to the cultural mixes from Galicia and Asturias! :warning: Warning: contains bagpipes! lots of them!
Gran Turismo: the first 10 minutes may give the impression that it would be a 2h game advertisement., but after the initial exposition it becomes a legit high-production sports movie, based on a real story of a gamer that became a real racing driver.
Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine: about the development of the James Webb Space Telescope, on Netflix.
Nuvole Bianche (while clouds) from Ludovico Einaudi: a rare mix of melancholy and positive contemplation!
Unravelling the Magic behind Polyrhythms: a very interesting coding video.
Delta-V Series, from Daniel Suarez, with 2 books:
- Delta-V (2019)
- Critical Mass (2023)
This is a work of fiction, but very scientifically accurate and plausible for today’s or near-future’s technology.
The first book is all about asteroid mining, and the second one is basically a blueprint for a “space economy”.
Termination Shock, from Neal Stephenson. This is a technically a sci-fi book, but very near-future! It happens in a world were climate crisis got out of hand, with droughts and floods everywhere, and an attempt to geo-engineer a solution for that, including all the political repercussions.
This book is recent (from 2021), full of references of current global events, read it before it gets too dated!!
Children of Time Series from Adrian Tchaikovsky: it is kinda of a “first-contact” scenario, but with a twist! ...very entertaining!
- Children of Time (2015)
- Children of Memory (2019)
- Children of Ruin (2022)
The episode Lula’s “zero deforestation” plan for the Amazon, from More or Less: a Podcast about statistics hosted by the BBC. That explains why the recent brasilian elections could have a huge impact on the environment in the near future.
Chea de Vida from Guadi Galego: this is an unexpected mix of upbeat and melancholy, sang in the galician language.
Bee and PuppyCat: this is a cute animation that started as a Kickstarter project from an animator that worked on Adventure Time, and now got a fancy remake on Netflix.
Lost Terminal. This is a Sci-Fi story of an AI in orbit trying to figure out what happened to the world below. This feels more like a well-produced audiobook, but in the format of weekly episodes or ~15 minutes.
Lady Astronaut Series: it starts as alternate history and becones sci-fi: a meteor falls on earch in the 50s, starting a mass-extinction event process, that forces the countries to colaborate and bootstrap the space-age earlier.
- The Calculating Stars (2018)
- The Fated Sky (2018)
- The Relentless Moon (2020)
The Ministry for the Future, from “Kim Stanley Robinson”: it is technically Sci-Fi, but depicts a present to near future with natural and humanitarian disasters triggered by climate change.
Project Hail Mary from Andy Weir: t has the same problem-solving vibe from The Martian, but written in a different, non-linear way!