Posted on

Ear Candy 2024.02 – The Zeigarnik Effect

Helene Beland

First, the music! This month’s playlist opens with some strong bass and closes with one of my favourite drum-driven songs (and no, the title has nothing to do with the conspiracy theory which shares its name). I was reminded of it while swimming down in Coogee one evening as planes flew overhead – a very dark song about the beauty which can come from otherwise horrid things.

Light Rails, Spare Me the Decision, Football and Takeaguess are other standouts. That 1999 WTF album is chaotic in its style and I think I like it. I’ll need another listen.

It’s a new year and thoughts of time and change are on the mind. People make resolutions hoping that an arbitrary date in a calendar can deliver results which couldn’t be achieved by the days and months which preceded.

According to When by Daniel Pink, it turns out that a date in a calendar does have the power to make change – but it’s not arbitrary, and nor is 1 January the only date where this can be achieved. Christmas, birthdays, a new month, engagement parties, public holidays, and time away from work are some of the other occasions which can serve as effective motivators for change. And the last two months have featured all of the above.

Pink explores the power of timing and how we can use it to our advantage – arguing that typically we are more concerned with the “what” and “how” of decision-making, and the “when” is often an afterthought. Neglecting this can have a dramatic difference on outcomes and overall life satisfaction.

He explores the field of chronobiology – the idea that our cognitive abilities and decision-making skills fluctuate throughout the day, and vary from person to person.

For example, whether you are a morning person (a “lark”, like me) or an evening person (an “owl”), should guide when you schedule tasks that suit your best performance. Got a big decision and think you should sleep on it to tackle it first thing in the morning? Well, this only works for larks. Owls should make big decisions after lunch. For creative and abstract thought, these times are reversed. Each will function better at those tasks when they are less sharp.

The book cites data showing how big an impact this can have on experience. He shows how results from high school examinations correlate to the time of day the tests were conducted; how job interviews are typically more successful when held in the morning or after lunch; and how prison sentences followed a similar pattern, where guilty verdicts strongly occur more frequently at the end of the day.

I thoroughly loved When. It made for a fascinating and easy read, hitting several of my usual interests – most notably psychology and popular science. It also expanded my thoughts on leadership, business and productivity – all of which have been front of mind at work lately.

One standout aspect is Pink’s exploration of the peak-end rule, a psychological phenomenon that influences how we perceive and remember experiences. Through compelling examples, such as medical procedures and vacations, Pink illustrates how the endings of events disproportionately impact our overall feelings about them.

The peak for this tree was towering over a nest of presents. Its end is decomposing on a nature strip.
Chop it up and use the green bin ya lazy bums (you can see another three houses up!)

Thinking back to old jobs and places I’ve called home, this rule rings true for me. My memories of four months living in Melbourne and three in Wellington are consumed by being overworked and my desire to get out of there as soon as I could. When I think of my experience in Canada, the first two things which come to mind are the incredible travel experiences on the road, and the immense stress and desperation to leave mid-pandemic. My first job in visual effects is remembered as my first opportunity to lead working on Prometheus, and the closure of the company a year later. Meanwhile, memories from the jobs which found softer endings feel more fully formed.

But back to resolutions…

I didn’t make any “resolutions” as such this year. But I do have a list of goals and hopes for the year. One (run club) is off to a roaring start. I also tried pilates. I’ll try again once I’ve recovered from the physical and emotional pain of writhing awkwardly in a room full of incredibly fit eastern suburbs women first thing in the morning, like a flailing giraffe in a field of gazelles.

Travel plans are looking unlikely to be a big feature this year – a focus on a new work opportunity will fill that void – but perhaps the accumulated leave and additional savings can ensure an even longer two- or three-month travel break in 2025. This year’s focus and hard work will be next year’s bliss.

It’s all about getting the timing right.

Posted on

2023

I’ve neglected this blog for good reason lately – I’ve been busy, and life has been good. I’m not much in the mood for navel-gazing but put simply, 2023 was the best year I’ve had in some time. Obviously it easily beat the pandemic years, but it also surpassed many before it. Life gained a little sparkle and shine.

Here’s my annual playlist. The top two most played are at the start, and also seem to best encapsulate the year.

Posted on

Ear Candy 2023.04 – Vampyrrhic Victory

I found myself down a rabbit hole this week reading about The Year Without a Summer. In April 1815, the volcanic Mount Tambora in Indonesia experienced the most explosive eruption in recorded history. It ejected so much sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere that a persistent fog reddened and dimmed the sun well into the Spring and Summer of the following year, and as far away as the United States and Europe. It was a fog that was unaffected by wind or rain. Global temperatures dropped, crops were heavily impacted, and mass famine claimed the lives of up to 100,000 people.

It also forced Mary Shelley, Lord Byron and John William Polidori to stay indoors for much of their summer holiday in Switzerland, away from the incessant rain and red skies. There, they took a bunch of laudanum and Byron challenged the group to see who could come up with the scariest story. Shelley created Frankenstein, and between them Byron and Polidori conceived the modern concept of a Vampire. Two of literature’s most enduring creations were invented at the same time in an opium-fuelled lockdown. Wild.

My Metropolis x Bela Lugosi, from back in the day when I was printing my own t-shirts

Now we’re far from that, but it still felt pertinent to read this as the days have grown shorter, the air cooler, and the skies darker. The mornings especially have been dark. I don’t consider myself a “morning person” nor an “evening person”, but I do know that I’m not great at sleeping in. My body clock has its own plans and more often than not wakes me around 5:30 almost every day regardless of when I go to bed – and I’m not usually one to fight it. Last year at Splendour in the Grass, I spent two to three hours each morning killing time as I waited for the rest of the house to greet the day. But mornings are superior for many things – workouts, sunrise runs, long breakfasts, reading, thinking, sex. An early start can leave a day feeling fulfilled before work even begins.

But evenings have also been a lot busier of late, and as the end of daylight saving turns that 5:30 start into 4:30, it makes the next few weeks a challenge until my internal timekeeper adjusts my body clock. Jetlag rarely takes me, but winding back that clock one hour is like fangs in my neck.

I wouldn’t last too long as a vampire. The moment the sun came out I’d race out and explode like Mount Tambora.

Here’s what’s been in my ears this month. I’ve had that Spaceport song on loop.

Posted on

Streams 2023 Jan Feb Mar – Oscar Season

Well, it’s been a minute since I’ve done one of these – but as with every year I have endeavoured to watch all of the Academy Awards Best Picture nominees. I managed to get through six and a half out of ten of them. I’ll get around to Avatar eventually (seriously, over three hours is just self-indulgent and there is no way I’m doing that in a theatre), and Women Talking is next on my list. But chances I’ll see All Quiet on the Western Front are slim to none, because as we all know, war movies = colossal bore. Here’s the rest, followed by a handful of others I caught recently which didn’t get a nomination.

Movies (Best Piccy Noms)

Triangle of Sadness. The three bosses of each act.
  • Tár
    This was all about Blanchett – fantastic as always. And the rest of the cast lifted her presence on screen even further – with the bounce of a nervous knee or the compulsive click of a pen keeping a sense of icy fear in the air around her. The environment too keeps tension in the air – the cold concrete of her home, the metronome ticking like a clock counting down to her fate. The themes were timely – whether one can, or should, separate the art from the artist.
    That explosive climax on stage was terrific – although the epilogue felt a little more comedic and against the grain of the tone already set by the rest of the film.
  • The Banshees of Inisherin
    Tell ya what, I love an Irish accent, and this has plenty of them. Farrell and Gleeson may be the best cast pairing in this whole list – both characters feel very real. A melancholy dark comedy about friendship and loneliness. Everyone in this film is lonely – the only difference is how it is dealt with. I really enjoyed this.
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once
    Easily the most inventive and creative movie on this list, and I expected nothing less of Daniels. I wasn’t crazy about the narrative, but the style and cast more than made up for it. Get ready for this to be copied a billion times until it’s no longer fresh. This one will probably win, and as good as some of the others here were – I think this is the most well deserved. It’s current, it’s unique, it’ll be studied for years to come. Daniels have come a long way, and it’s terrific they’ve been able to make a film as wild as their music videos, which has found both financial and critical returns – all without dumbing it down.
  • Triangle of Sadness
    Each act of Triangle plays out like a miniature film of its own. The first was excruciating. One thing I can not stand watching on screen is couples fighting. The subject of the fight doesn’t even matter, it’s more painful than a horror movie to me. But I got through it. The second act is where things get wild and hilarious, and it’s best to just lose yourself in the moment (although it’s not for those with a weak stomach). The sight of a squeegee on the window mid-storm said it all for me. The “Lord of the Flies” third act flips things on their head, but much like flipping an hourglass, we find things to be familiar again soon enough.
    The themes of class and gender roles were not subtle at all, and the whole thing is really disjointed and doesn’t really flow together – but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
  • Top Gun Maverick
    It does what it says on the tin, and to be honest, this is how I like my popcorn movies these days – beautifully shot action, simple stakes, low investment story, and zero to mild character development. It’s cheesy as hell, but that suits the tone.
    One thing though, this is not worthy of a best picture nomination – I get that the Academy is trying to appear “relevant” by adding movies like this and Avatar in the mix, but it misses the point. Those movies win at the box office – and that’s fine. But they are different beasts. Popular does not always equate to best. Some movies can do both, but this ain’t one.
  • The Fabelmans
    Christ, the first hour of this was a chore. I’ve long thought I could have happily grown up in the 1960s, with my adolescence in the 1970s. Many of the things I love are from this era. But holy hell, if I found myself in the saccharine 1950s world painted by the first hour of this movie, I would probably lose my damn mind before Kennedy even got into the White House.
    But I persisted and watched through to the end. It was fine, but there is truly no reason this story needed to be told. I gained nothing from it. It was Spielberg making a pointless movie loosely about himself, like an Ouroboros eating its own tail, simply because he could.
  • Elvis
    This is the “half” a movie I referred to above, as I wasn’t able to get to the end. Frankly, it’s a miracle I gave it a shot to begin with given my distaste for Luhrmann’s tired style. Austin Butler’s performance was easily the best aspect of this. Hanks was plain awful and cartoonish. And it failed at the one thing required of any good musical bio-pic – the music. The musical treatments were horrible. Luhrmann persists with mash-ups like it’s still 2006, and his compulsion to mix in modern beats with the old tunes results in the opposite effect to which I presume he was striving to achieve. It makes it look dated – some real “how do you do, fellow kids?” energy from Baz here.

Movies (Non Noms)

Infinity Pool. Even the title has layers of meaning.
  • The Menu
    I loved this. Ralph Fiennes is incredible, Anya Taylor-Joy is captivating, and Nicholas Hoult hilarious. I knew nothing about it going in and was all the better off for it. It builds and unravels at a steady pace, with the temperature turned up with each loud clap of Fiennes’ chef. It plays out with similar class-based themes to Triangle (above) and Infinity Pool (below) – and given the state of the world, I suspect this to be a continuing thematic trend for years to come.
  • Infinity Pool
    Trippy as hell, this is definitely not for everyone – you’ll likely either love it or hate it. I fell into the former category and embraced its insanity. Brandon Cronenberg’s direction is terrific – be it the off-putting slow rolls of the camera at the start, or the creepy use of light later in the film. Skarsgard gives one of his better performances, and Mia Goth keeps carving out that “terrifyingly alluring” lane for herself in Hollywood. The plot too was right up my alley, but the less said there the better.
  • Decision to Leave
    A Korean romantic mystery, where the mystery is a little obvious from a mile off, but the chemistry between the leads really leaps off the screen as they fall into the perils of romantic blindness. It runs a little long but it’s well worth a look if you’re into that kind of thing.
  • The Whale
    I’m not crying, you’re crying. This is all about Brendan Fraser and Sadie Sink. Both are terrific and bounce right off each other. There’s little meat on the bones of the story, and some of the overt emphasis on food felt unnecessary, but the emotional weight is where this movie shines. The 4:3 aspect ratio was a clever choice to keep the audience tightly enclosed in that apartment too.
    Also, the work done on Fraser is incredible. It deserves to win for best makeup and hairstyling.
Posted on

Ear Candy 2023.03 – Dog Days

You make me paranoid
But I love being thought about
You made the sun go down
But I sparkle in the night
You should run with me
Cause running makes everything alright

I took this on what was easily one of the top three days of the summer. I could groundhog day a day like that.

The dog days of summer – a phrase which, for me, conjures images of a dog lazing in the shade, its tongue wagging, exhausted from the heat and doing nothing but exist purely in the moment. It lays there, staring into space, no concerns because it hasn’t the energy for them.

Of course, the term has nothing to do with canines, but I’m not letting that stop my imagination.

We’re at the sultry tail end of the season now when the evenings are almost as warm as the days, and every hot day is seized upon as though it is the last. The end of daylight-saving approaches like Langoliers on the horizon coming to eat up your time in the sun – snorkeling, swimming, surfing, drinking on rooftops, or just lazing around reading. I’ve been doing all of the above.

I read two books recently – Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman and The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef. They made a curious pairing, both dealing with the battle between the emotional and logical sides of the mind.

Goleman’s book explains how emotional intelligence can create a harmonious relationship between the rational and the emotional sides of the brain – how to use emotion rather than suppress it, and strategies for recognising and processing emotions when they distort judgment and disrupt logical thinking, often causing us to act or think irrationally.

In The Scout Mindset, Galef explores the mind using the analogy of two roles on a battlefield – a Soldier, and a Scout. The solider treats their thoughts and beliefs as objects to be defended whether or not they are correct – which naturally can lead to poor decisions. A scout on the other hand is able to see things clearly by regularly testing their own assumptions – they see things as they are rather than how they may wish them to be. One of the main ways a soldier mindset takes hold is when thoughts and beliefs are tied to personality. This can be used for personal gain – for instance, someone who sees running as part of who they are (“I’m a runner”) will be more likely to continue to run than someone who has a more general goal of trying to be more active. But it can often be destructive – for example, someone who sees a religion or political party as part of their identity is more likely to defend it beyond what is just, reasonable or right.

I found both books fascinating. The former was very eye-opening and personally challenging, while the latter brought validation to many of the ways I think already.

Around ten years ago I discovered and became fascinated with the Myers-Briggs personality test. For the uninitiated, it’s like astrology for the psychology crowd, and it reduces everyone into sixteen main personality types based off where they sit on the scale of four qualities. How much value can be placed on it is dubious, and it can’t be used as a predictor as some do, but I do find it interesting as a way of getting to know oneself, or those around them – and while it’s very misunderstood and gets misused, and overused, I think it’s deserving of at least a little more weight than a star chart.

According to these tests I’m an “ENTJ”, or “Extraverted Intuitive Thinking Judgement” (the opposite qualities being introverted, observant, feeling and prospecting). The strengths and weaknesses read to me like a football card profile – all true to varying degrees, some more apparent than others (most of them have softened a lot with age and conscious effort). Some of them even read as opposite sides of the same coin – I would argue that stubbornness is simply a negative spin on “strong-willed” – essentially the same quality, but one furthers personal achievement and the other presents a roadblock for others.

Discovering this back in the day was a revelation which helped me understand why my mind worked the way it did – able to see things so clearly and rationally, but only up until the point that emotion was involved, when my brain resembled a computer being thrown into the ocean. All of the personal strengths are washed away. In the past I have sometimes dealt with this by trying to suppress or ignore it in myself, and avoiding others entirely if there’s any fear of causing upset in them. Not that those situations have arisen all that often – I have a clear understanding of what I like and what I don’t, I usually figure people out pretty quickly and say what I think – why waste my or anyone else’s time? That would be inefficient, after all.

Happy place

But some things are out of your control, such as the immense stress of trying to get home in the midst of a pandemic, or the numbness of almost losing a family member in a car crash. Trying to find control only leads to the impression you’ve failed when you’re unable to affect change.

It’s absolutely easier on the mind to avoid these things entirely, but it’s an emptier and less colourful approach to life. Lessons can be learnt. Both of these books brought insightful perspectives on personal relationships. They also furthered a better understanding of others, and the broader world in general – including acceptance that some people and organisations are just bad and that not every action needs or has an explanation.

But you know, sometimes I’d just rather be that dog in the shade on a hot day, staring into the distance. That’s where the Chinese zodiac places me.

Here’s my monthly dozen…

Posted on

Ear Candy 2023.02 – Borrowing Genes

I hear the sound of a gentle word

Well, summer arrived and hasn’t the weather been kind? The first decent summer since I returned to Sydney has meant swims before work, swims at lunch, and swims after work, underneath big open skies. The meteorological lifting of clouds has been matched with a metaphorical one as work wrapped and I’m now a good way through four weeks off.

Given it’s a birthday month, I’ve thrown my favourite song of all time, Good Vibrations, into this month’s playlist – using the more dramatic Royal Philharmonic orchestral arrangement which adds a little foreplay to the opening, heavenly “I”, without detracting from the all-important harmonies, nor the groundbreaking use of the theremin.

I’ve also thrown in a fresh and clean pump-up song from my uni days which I’ve been hitting again this month, along with the usual mix of new and new-ish stuff. That Warbaby song is channeling the same surf-rock psych stuff that Khruangbin have been doing so well. Really great to just zone out to.

I’ve been zoning out on the open roads of Tasmania during my break. A cracked windscreen gifted to me by a passing truckie grows by millimetres each day – acting like an albatross around my neck. This part of the country is incredibly beautiful, but their roads are terrible. And it’s been good to get away but I’m very eager to get home now, see friends and get life moving again.

You either sink or swim or do nothing

Posted on

2022: Light and Dark, at Once

To die for your country does not win a war
To kill for your country is what wins a war

Brooke DiDonato (aka, me on the beach after the work Christmas party)

In my final week of work for the year I was working at home as per usual, when all of a sudden my vision became blurry. It was as though I had accidentally caught a glimpse of the sun, and for a moment had a blind spot – although I hadn’t been outside in hours. I sat down for a moment and closed my eyes, waiting for it to pass. The light was still bright with my eyelids clenched. A kaleidoscope of bright geometric rainbow colours filled my vision. Within a few minutes I could no longer see my monitor. I lay down in the dark for twenty minutes – nothing changed. It took two hours for my vision to return.

I later discovered that this is known as a “migraine aura” – something I had never heard of before. A migraine aura has nothing to do with the eyes, only the brain. Essentially the brain shuts down. It was a little confronting, but in a roundabout way ultimately incredibly relieving. My mind looked after itself.

It was also very emblematic of the year – Light and dark, at once.

There were a lot of ups and downs this year – successes which came with a catch, disappointments which came with a silver lining. I worked way too much this year. I received a promotion which re-energised my enthusiasm for work, but then got caught doing a lot of overtime. Following two years of being locked up inside from a pandemic, to then spend a third locked inside working was especially painful.

But all that work also meant a lot of overtime pay – most of which I have thrown on the mortgage to put me in striking distance of clearing the thing in the next couple years.

The return to office life has come as a great relief for my sanity. I gained a lot of new friends – and some of them have quickly grown to be some of my closest mates.

I managed to find a couple of pockets of good weather within months of La Nina downpours and explored Lord Howe Island and South East Queensland – both of which were incredible.

Definitely returning to Lord Howe Island again some time

The typical refrain seems to that the 2020’s have gotten worse with each year that passes. I’m inclined to disagree. This year was undoubtedly an improvement. The power dynamic between generations has finally shifted from the over-60s to the under-40s and I can’t see that being anything but good for society as that shift becomes even more pronounced in the years to come.

Music

I wanna be the shoelace that you tie

There are no surprises in the yearly playlist if you’ve been following the monthly ones. Jockstrap and Big Thief‘s new releases were my most played albums. And that Black Midi one satisfied my appetite for a bit of crunch.

I did the sloppy Splendour in the Grass, and the drizzly Harvest Rock. Khruangbin easily proved to be the best gig of the year between the two festivals, which came as a huge surprise. I’ve not seen a gig like that in a long time – an hour-long jam session where their own tracks were bridged together with classic guitar riffs like Wicked Game and Spandau Ballet’s True. I’m keen for even more live music in the new year, but I think I’m festival’d out for the time being.

Agnes Obel was the overall top gig. Absolutely incredible to witness live.

Khruangbin

Streams

My regular movie and series reviews on this old thing were another casualty of having more of a life this year (along with more work). My abundance of screen time at work also reduced my desire for spending too much of my free time doing the same thing. I can’t say I really have any “top movies” since I saw so few and even fewer stuck with me. But the world of long form series continues to be where quality lies.

Severance was the most inventive and visually unique series I’ve seen in a while. In many ways it reminded me of the best elements of Lost (mysteries aplenty).

The final season of Better Call Saul hit the mark and then some. Easily the best written show of the past decade in my eyes, it may very well exceed its predecessor Breaking Bad as the better show.

And second season of The White Lotus was some good fun, albeit not as fresh as the first time around.

That’s it for the year. Back at the end of January.

Posted on

Ear Candy 2022.11 – Incomplt

Charles Young

Tears of pleasure, tears of pain
They trickle down your face the same

Well, the year is essentially done. Silly season will be in full swing soon. Work will wrap, parties will be had, skin will brown, and life will be good. Getting through the next six weeks will be a real challenge but the prospect of five weeks off during summer is getting me through. I need to be in the ocean, not rendering ocean.

So here’s twelve punchy songs to end the year, ending with this year’s Christmas tune courtesy of Khruangbin (who I’ll be seeing next week). I’ll have my 2022 playlist up at the end of the year, but the monthly music will be back in February after an incredible, no Niña, no flood, no fire summer.

One more thing – enjoy your nightmares after watching this… Disturbingly amazing.

Posted on

Ear Candy 2022.10 – Do Not Reply

Grief is just love with nowhere to go

We’re on the downward slide now for 2022, with a BANGIN’ month of tunes, and winter (all too) slowly coming to an end. First off, that Jockstrap album is absolutely incredible, and may be my favourite of the year when everything is said and done (with Big Thief a close second). It just takes left turns all over the place but all gels together. Whether it be the Fiery Furnaces-esque Angst, the chaotic Concrete Over Water, the middle-eastern flavoured Debra, the haunting Lancaster Court, or the depth of Glasgow and What’s It All About.

And the video below for ME vs ME is fantastic (AI artwork by Sefa Kocakalay). It’s hard to find many music videos anymore which grab my attention. In the age of streaming it’s become a bit of a lost artform, so it’s always a delight when one shows up. Almost makes me want to make one of my own, but alas, I spend too much time on a computer as it is and I’d rather be outside.

This is just fantastic
Posted on

Ear Candy 2022.09 – Strategic Ambiguity

Ain’t no change in the weather
Ain’t no change in me

Two years ago today I arrived back in Australia. In the dark of night, tired and relieved like never before I touched down in Perth on a plane with only 18 other passengers. I’m still supremely grateful to be back. The months which immediately preceded it were immensely stressful, and the months before that were incredibly bleak. Isolation in a hotel room for two weeks came as such a relief. And the weeks which followed, out on the open roads of Western Australia were so good it felt like a dream.

If this were a CG render someone would request that the highlight on the water be removed.

Spring has sprung, but Sydney is still too goddamn cold. I’m well and truly over it. Bring on the oven roasting temperatures so I can leap out of bed full of beans. I want to (metaphorically) leave the isolation hotel room again. Summer days aren’t just longer because of the Earth’s tilt. They’re longer cause you don’t spend four times as long doing everything. Shorts, shirt, thongs – BAM! You’re good to roll.

But while I wait, I’ll get sunshine in my ears with these tunes.