Month: November 2020

Architecture Monday

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Culture house, community locus, and an example of lovely design, this new library in Tingbjerg alights amidst a garden city that was once a model city but has fallen into one of grave challenges.

It’s hard to choose what’s more striking at first glance… the large glazed façade that acts like a beacon, showcasing the activities within, or the bold wedge shape that, from certain angles, makes the whole thing read like a giant picture frame.  And that shape is not just some fancy thing chosen for frivolity.  Instead it was crafted quite deliberately as a way of bridging the scale from the existing school it connects with while also crating entry courts to both itself and the school.  In addition, the exterior cladding (which is mirrored within), with its strong vertical banding, is a nod in colour and in texture to the surrounding buildings.

The intricacies continue inside, with multiple rooms and levels all tetrising together to serve the building’s many functions, be it library, learning, performances, resource center, community room, and beyond.  The multi-levels follow the shape of the wedge through a big atrium, peeling back like a mountainous town and allowing views and interactions while also providing a sweet spatial experience for the many different uses.

This is cool.  Architecture can be a great force multiplier, which is to say that through design and the creation of great space it can boost the effects of action and bolster the community.  Provided, of course, that such action and community is being supported in the first place (otherwise it can also be a multiplier, but in the negative direction).  I hope that proves to be the case here.

The Tingbjerg Library by Cobe

Gaming Friday

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There’s this refrain I’ve seen pop up a few times over the past few weeks that, while the first time seemed amusing, by the third there was clearly some gross misunderstanding going on at best or, at the other end of the spectrum, some downright purposeful falsehood being peddled to promote hostility and prejudice.

So here’s the thing:

NO, D&D did not remove all distinction between ‘races’ in the game.

NO, all ‘races’ are not now the same.

NO, the publisher was not forced/pressured/browbeat into doing this by some sort of morality warrior mob.

NO, the game hasn’t been ruined.

What has occurred is that the recent sourcebook (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything) notes that the standard attribute score bonuses of the various races (species) speak to archetypes and gives the option for you to switch them around on your character, if you choose.  Also, you can swap out languages and proficiencies for another.

That’s it.

Now, I’ve made the argument before that attribute bonuses are the most boring way to differentiate between different species, while also being sorely restricting to RP and flavour.  So I’m quite happy that this change has been made, opening things up.

But for those who are making the argument that without these attribute bonuses all races within the game are now the same, what they’re saying is that for them, a +2 to Dex is a greater differentiator than being resistant to poison.  Or being a construct that doesn’t breathe or sleep.  Or innate magic.  Or, you know, breathing fire.

Which, to editorialize for a moment, I find absolutely and hilariously ridiculous.

Besides providing a more prominent distinction between the different heritages, these kind of abilities are also far more exciting and meaningful in their use and how they shape the feel of the character’s lineage.  Best of all, in sidelining attribute bonuses it also sidelines the potential for them to invoke or reinforce limiting and/or negative stereotypes, connotations, and contexts that can bleed beyond the game.

So I would invite those who are worried to set that aside and see that far from being a diminishment this is a flourishment instead.

And to those who say the game itself is under attack by a bunch of hysterical agitators, I would like to say that we all can see that it is, in actuality, you who has got your knickers all up in a twist.

Wonder Wednesday

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I love the movie Ratatouille.  It’s delicious (pun intended) on so many levels… lovely animation, great and quiet storytelling, risk-taking, it’s all about Paris and food and wine, and it has some wonderfully powerful philosophical moments.

So it was with delight I heard a story on NPR this past weekend that one of the hot things on TikTok of late is a bunch of fans coming forth to craft a Ratatouille musical.  (Or Rattatouisical, if you prefer!)  One even went so far as to create a fake Playbill for the thing, complete with a brilliant illustration of the signature dish on a fork, subtly shaped to look like Remy!

Very fun to muse over and great to see so much excitement and creativity.  Check out the NPR story, and a quick ‘net search will find you all the various TikTok submissions as well.

La fête va enfin commencer
Sortez les bouteilles; finis les ennuis
Je dresse la table, de ma nouvell(e) vie
Je suis heureux à l’idée de ce nouveau destin
Une vie à me cacher et puis libre enfin
Le festin est sur mon chemin

Une vie à me cacher et puis libre enfin
Le festin est sur mon chemin

Philosophy Tuesday

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In conversation with a friend recently, I said, out of the blue, “Identity sure is one hell of a drug.”  It was meant as a throwaway line and as a bit of a joke… but as I thought more about it, it’s not really a bad model to use.  Identity isn’t exactly like a drug, but in many ways we are indeed kinda addicted to it.  We believe it to be us, we want it to be us, and we do all we can to keep on it and to keep feeling that identity high.  When we’re deep in it, there’s a certainty there. (Strangely, that’s true even when it’s unproductive!).  When it’s threatened to be taken away, we fight back hard.  (Indeed, as noted before, our brains can’t tell the difference between a threat against the body and a threat against the identity – defend with equal vigour.)  We organize our lives to reinforce that identity so we get more of it, and we avoid things that would cut us off from it.  And in that way, much like an addiction, it leads us around by the nose while distorting our views and stifling our freedom.

So, yeah… in a lot of ways, as an analogy, it works.  And often looking at something through a different lens can give us new insights on it and, even better, give us new access to gaining agency over it.  And when the analogy starts to break down, not a problem, we can set it aside and carry our newfound freedom and peace of mind forward into the next stage of self-cultivation.

Architecture Monday

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I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I find castles fascinating and evocative.  So this little gem of a keep restoration in Spain is right up my alley, not only for the castle aspect (and sitting opposite an old church) but also the way the new and old combine to (re)create something beautiful.

The main noticeable bit on the outside is the new stair, which replaces the back wall of the keep that had long fallen down or been dismantled.  Forming not only a stabilizing wall, it follows historical investigations and likely replaces the original stair that would have been encased within the walls.  I really like how the rough board-formed concrete pairs with the stonework striations of the original, and the rounded corner is also a nice touch to mirror the old walls.

What was once an interior second floor is also restored, now forming an exterior patio from which springs various lookout platforms so survey the surrounding countryside.  This also allows the inside to be rebuilt to house a small exhibit space and museum.

Very cool.  A lot of care and love put into this to make something that not only preserves but enhances the old ruin.

La Tossa de Montbui by Meritxell Inaraja

Wonder Saturday

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I have almost no regrets in life.

One regret I do have though is that I once, through a friend who had an astronaut friend going up in the shuttle, had an opportunity to go and watch that shuttle launch, from NASA grounds, in front of that iconic countdown clock.  Yet for a series of reasons I did not do the work to make it all work out so that I could go.  I missed the launch.

That was an err.

This morning, however, I did at least partially rectify that:

Yes!  I headed down to Vandenberg to watch SpaceX launch a Falcon 9… and then bring that first stage right back for a landing a mere couple of hundred feet from where it started.

And it. Was. GLORIOUS.  The skies were (as you can see) almost perfectly clear, and were treated to a grand view of the takeoff (once it cleared the hills the pad sits behind), the ascent, the beautiful fan tail as it hit altitude, the stage separation, the boostback burn, the entry burn, and then the giddiness-inducing landing burn all the way back behind that hill.  Followed a moment later by one heck of a grand sonic boom.  We all were cheering like crazy.

Hours later I’m still all fired up (pun intended).  That flame is bright in a way that no camera can do justice to.  It just sears into you (in a good way).  And those 9 Merlin engines make an absolutely delicious growl — deep thrumming, with a slight crackle, oh it’s divine.  The whole ascent also feels so much quicker than it does watching the webcast; the two minutes until first stage sep goes by so fast.  And coming back, wow, right from the entry burn that booster grew in size in the binocular’s field of view at an amazing rate.  That thing comes back hard and fast and it really gives a sense of what that landing burn is accomplishing to set down so gently onto the pad.

With the pièce de résistence being the sonic krackthoom that rolls across the landscape.

Want to hear it?  Well feast your ears on this audio capture of the whole event! (Quick content note: there is some very excited swearing throughout, because, well, excitement!)

Great day.  Totally loved it.  I’m 100% convinced I need to go watch another launch.  With the reduced cadence at Vandenberg (especially now that polar launches are a thing from Cape Canaveral) I don’t know when that might be, but I will make it out again.

photo above taken by Calvin, who was standing beside me as we marveled in awe at the flight

 

Philosophy Tuesday

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One of the things that we learn* in our kung fu training is this:

Not everything that feels powerful actually is.

Just because we put in a lot of effort, or engage a lot of tension, or become super fierce, or stoke the fires in our belly…  and just because it feels so much like we should be able to resist a mountain and even be able to split it in two… despite all that… when actually test the move we collapse like a house of cards, with nary an ounce of power there.

And then we get angry!  And we double down on it!  AAAAARRRRGH!  Which only ever serves to make it even worse. **

Fortunately, we also (eventually) learn to not force the point*** and to let it go, delve deeper, and adjust our form such that, remarkably and suddenly, it not only works but it works without almost any effort at all.

Like so many things in kung fu, so too does this apply with our ways of being and in the way we live our lives:

Not every emotion or attitude that, again, feels strong is actually strong.

As we interact with the many areas of our lives, we have so many ingrained and automatic responses and views and ways of being, and we often go forth thinking that they are strong, that they are necessary, that this is the way, and that anger and harshness and hostility and posturing and fierceness and downright hostility to the world and everything around it is the way to make our way and, more importantly, to get what we want.  We think they make us strong.  And wow does it ever feel strong!  And right!

And yet, it isn’t.  And we aren’t.  All that acerbic-ness ends up being unproductive.  We expend a lot of effort, and we may move the ball a smidge, but it takes a supreme toll on ourselves and others, and the results rarely stick.

Like with kung fu, we can let it be for a moment,**** set it aside, and bring to it a new level of mindfulness.  Within that clearing we can adjust and create a new context, choosing other ways of being that will bring forth what we want with velocity and without effort.

And that there is true power.

 

* And re-learn and re-discover over and over and over and over again…

** Which, like the above, we do it again and again even though we know it never works…

*** Also fortunately we learn to laugh at our stubborn silliness….

**** And laugh!

***** One corollary to all this is that when we see someone who is all fire and aggression and sees the world through metaphors of attack and destruction and always seems upset by everything, it’s the same thing:  It is not strength, they are not powerful people, and they are not paragons to laud.  They are all bluster and performance, with little to show for it, no peace of mind, and continually having a lousy experience of life to boot.