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 Guy Moorhouse
convergenewsletter.com |
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| Hey, how's you? Hope life's good!
This issue is arriving late and is also going to be a bit thinner than usual. Mainly because I've recently had a couple of bouts of illness (nothing serious) and on a more positive note, have also had a nice bit of time off with family. So one way or another, newsletter time has been in pretty short supply.
Anyway... with my excuses out of the way, I thought I'd share a couple of interesting little reads before getting into it in this issue:
The age of average
A great piece from Alex Murrell on the homogeneity of everything.
Grid World
An homage to the Cartesian grid by software developer and artist, Alexander Miller.
Right, let's get on to the rest of it. Hopefully you'll find some good stuff to get your teeth into in here. And all being well, regular programming will resume next month. |
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Remarkable |
Space Elevator Interactive learning Space Elevator is a fun and exciting side project from Neal Agarwal, offering an engaging way to learn about altitude.
Scroll a long web page to learn about the altitudinal limits of animals, spacecraft, planes and more, picking up lots of fascinating facts along the way.
A perfect one for adults and kids alike. 🔗 neal.fun | |
Oimo Interactive Experiments This is a collection of interactive experiments by Japanese game developer and computer scientist, saharan.
It's a fun little cluster of things to get lost in. The Clock and Life Universe are my favourites. Oh and the recursive portfolio. Probably best viewed on a desktop computer btw. 🔗 oimo.io | |
Lego Builder's Journey Game Lego Builder's Journey is a beautifully crafted and imaginative little game full of great little puzzles.
I got it on the Switch a while ago but it's available on loads of platforms now and I was recently reminded of it and started playing again.
I love the atmospheric visuals and sound design. It feels distinctly Lego in a really good way. 🔗 lego.com | |
Highrises Architecture Highrises is a really nicely put together project showcasing the skyscrapers and tall buildings of early 20th century America.
It features beautiful drone photography stitched together to create graphic, detailed artwork of the buildings and gives you the ability to filter by city, year and architectural style. Lovely. 🔗 highrises.hythacg.com | |
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Useful |
Balance MacOS time tracking app Apps that offer time tracking and reminders to stop working are nothing new. But where others have failed for me, I've found Balance has really stuck.
Described by creator Alexander Sandberg as "a time tracking app with focus on work-life balance", this app does just enough to keep me focused on work while giving me that all important nudge to step away from the computer every now again. 🔗 apps.apple.com | |
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Creative Spotlight |
Frederique Matti Artist Frederique Matti is an independent Dutch artist based in Amsterdam. I can't get enough of her bold, colourful paintings and illustrations. They are just so striking and beautifully composed.
I've followed her updates on Insta and Mastodon for a while now and I think it might be time to start saving my pennies to get some of her wonderful art on my walls. 🔗 frederiquematti.com | |
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Watch |
The Gold TV Series The Gold is a gripping BBC dramatisation of London's 1983 Brink's-Mat gold robbery.
I particularly enjoyed Jack Lowden's performance as Kenneth Noye. We watched as a family on BBC iPlayer, but this series will doubtless be on (or coming to) other streaming platforms too. 🔗 bbc.co.uk | |
Return to Seoul Film This is the story of 25 year old Freddie, who, on a whim, visits her birthplace of South Korea for the first time after being adopted and raised in France.
She seeks out her biological parents in a country she knows next to nothing about and takes herself on a difficult journey of self-discovery. It's a great, character-driven film about identity and belonging.
(Fun fact. My son and I first watched this French-Korean film on a recent trip to Spain at a tiny cinema with only a Spanish audio track. It was a challenge but our Duolingo Spanish turned out to be surprisingly effective! I've since rewatched it in English.) 🔗 letterboxd.com | |
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Listen |
Late Reflections Album by Grandbrothers Recorded in Cologne cathedral, this latest release from Erol Sarp and Lukas Vogel AKA Grandbrothers is a beauty.
I can't get enough of their signature style of atmospheric, minimal, piano-led instrumentals. Late Reflections is as rich and layered as I'd expected and hoped it would be. 🔗 songwhip.com | |
Fred Again — Tiny Desk Concert Live performance I never cease to be impressed by Fred Again... hence this being his second appearance in successive issues.
Not only can the guy knock out an absolute banger of a DJ set, but he also has the sensitivity and nuance to deliver a performance as intimate and personal as this. Staggering.
This as much of a watch as it is a listen. 🔗 npr.org | |
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Work & Projects |
Hacker News Bot Mastodon Bot This is a Mastodon bot I created recently to share the top five Hacker News stories every two hours.
I made it because I miss Rik Lomas' Twitter bot of the same name. While I appreciate Mastodon is still pretty niche, I thought I'd share anyway in case anyone finds it useful. 🔗 social.futurefabric.co | |
Explore Converge directory This is a directory of every single thing from all published issues of Converge (barring my personal projects) that you can explore at the link below or from the footer of the Converge site.
It's very much a first version and is pretty rudimentary right now both in it's layout and in the fact that you can't filter or sort anything, but I thought it worth sharing nonetheless.
I'm pleased to have made this no matter how rough at this stage. Part of moving this newsletter to be entirely self-hosted was to give me scope to develop it how I see fit, and this a good example of that. 🔗 convergenewsletter.com | |
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| Alright, I'll leave you now, but thanks for reading. See you on the next one and feel free to drop me a line in the meantime. (•◡•) / |
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