King James

A fake podcast about my latest chapter 🙌🎙️

I’m about 80 pages into writing my book, although most of it is classified except for the first couple chapters.

But as noted before, it can be fun to see how AI interprets my writing.

Having just finished chapter 6 of my book, I decided to use Speechfy’s “podcast” feature to generate a late-night show about the chapter.

I find the results amusing. What do you think?

Speechify-genetrated podcast
Music

Thunder Road – accidental Elvis take 🎤

After playing around with some funky music tools, I’ve come back to the singing, which is my ultimate goal with Thunder Road. And going with the Show Your Work philosophy, here’s an early and very imperfect take of me figuring out how to sing this song.

I only sing up to “You ain’t a beauty, but hey, you’re alright,” which is such a funny line. The rest is just guitar.

I ended up kind of channeling Elvis here, which was wholly unexpected and fun. I gave Elvis a little nod to a few weeks ago as well, if you look closely.

Maybe I’ll sound like this one day.

Songs

Thunder Road – shoegaze with Springsteen 🎸

As previously posted, I’ve been having a heck of a tricky time nailing down my Thunder Road cover.

The song is long and fast and has lots of words. It does not follow anything close to a standard rock song format. The chords are complex and unpredictable.

Being a total amateur, I specialize in covers of basic three-chord songs, so this craziness is hard for me.

But I like the challenge.

To a point.

Always an AI skeptic – but seeing glimmers of fun and utility – AI seems to have come to the rescue again. I don’t want AI to create music for me, but rather to help me create music.

it started when this music app called Moises recently won an Apple Design Award as iPad app of the year, so I decided to give it a try.

👉Btw I’m not trying to sell anyone’s apps here – this isn’t advertising. I don’t make a cent off of this blog. I just think it’s cool, so keep reading…

With Moises + GarageBand on my iPad, I was able to:

  1. Separate out Bruce’s vocals from the instruments in the original Thunder Road track
  2. Slow the song down from 141 bpm (wtf?) to a slightly more reasonable 134.
  3. Transpose the song down one key from F to E (because apparently I sing lower than Bruce??)
  4. Get the chords simplified and displayed for in real-time me as the song plays, set at a capo on the second fret (because I just like that sound). So I could just basically play along and record that.
  5. Finally keep my guitar recording (a very dirty shoegaze sound) and mute Bruce and the E Street Band.

So I ended up up with my very rough guitar and kept Bruce’s vocals – all in one take (which is why it’s so rough). It’s just a proof of concept, but here it is: me playing grungy guitar while Bruce sings. Crazy!

Pardon it’s so messy. Sure, the sound is meant to be messy, but also this is the very first take and only a proof of concept.

My next step will be to sing the song myself, remove Bruce’s vocals, add my own drums and bass and maybe keys. And that will be my cover.

Stay tuned.

Quotes

“Right at the center of contradiction is the place to be.”

U2, which has been a post-punk band, an artsy ambient band, a hit American artsy roots band (even though they’re not American), a hit 90’s eurotrash band, and a back to a local Dublin band of sorts, is fronted by a guy who understands contradictions and tension.

His band has a long and mighty legacy, and he asks: are we really that good?

You don’t have to solve every contradiction. In fact, right at the center of contradiction is the place to be.- Bono in A Sort of Homecoming

I think he’s onto something. I love a good contradiction. It tells you: maybe I’m actually onto something.

I’m personally full of contradictions. I’m a straight, middle-aged man who’s into gardening and Lana del Rey. Is that a contradiction? Only if you think it is, my friend. And that’s the place to be.

See also: Think Again: Your brain is hardwired to resist change. Here’s how to retrain it.

creativity · King James

The good, the bad, and the AI

A couple of years ago, I decided to play with ChatGPT and have it write a blog post for me. The results, I wrote, were believable but super generic and cliched. They reminded me of like a blowhard who is good at showing off but not actually very smart.

Now we know that, despite all the computing power required, AI really isn’t that smart; this is why it requires way more training than a person does.

Although it can be a useful aid.

In that frame, it made me reflect in ways that AI has actually become useful while writing a novel.

And no, it’s not actually writing any of the book for me. I tried that today as a fun experiment, and it was still just… amusing. Here’s a sample, but it’s basically all like this.

Lena was gone. And with her, the version of James that believed love could be mapped, managed, or mutually agreed upon.

And so began that particular summer, where the tequila was cheap, the dreams were rented, and every good story started with a woman who left before the music stopped

Has AI gotten worse? 😆

Also note that ChatGPT somehow (by coincidence?) used the same protagonist name that I’m using in my book, although I did not give that name in the prompt. Interesting… 😤

Still, AI is actually amazing at a couple of things.

AI can read my book aloud back to me

After writing a chapter of the book, I can feed the text into Speechify and instantly turn it into a really good audiobook. This is not just a basic Siri-style reading but a realistic voice with feeling. You can pick from a bunch of voices voice, including a few celebrities, although the founder “Cliff” is my favorite. It’s fun to listen to, and hearing your story interpreted in someone else’s voice is both instructive and fascinating.

AI can interpret my book for me

I also like to use the summarize tool. Even the much maligned Apple Intelligence is helpful for simply summarizing a few paragraphs I just wrote. It’s a useful check to tell me if I’m getting the intended idea across, like, “Yeah, that’s what I meant,” or “Ohh, this needs work.” Like Speechify, it’s also just kind of fun to see what “someone” else thinks of your story.

Songs

“I’m On Fire” – Casey clean remaster 🔉

My sound engineer buddy Casey heard my original cover of I’m On Fire and offered to “get this song sounding real good.” So I handed him my original stems and waited to hear what he could do.

My song did need a remaster from a pro. I had been focused mostly on performing the song and just wanted to get it out the door, so I kind of rushed the final master.

While I was happy to have sang my first song and enjoyed the result, I had made a few beginner’s mistakes in the recording and the final mix.

  • I had wanted a Johnny Cash “live at Folsom” type of sound, but ended up with an exaggerated echo.
  • I had recorded the vocals with a cheap guitar adapter and ended up with a lot of noise and low volume.
  • I had mixed everything with headphones and forgot to check the final mix on speakers, where most people would be listing to it most of the time.

Casey was looking for a challenge and jumped on it. He cleaned everything up, especially the vocals, which he somehow salvaged. He insisted that I sound just like Johnny Cash. I’m not so sure, but I’ll take the compliment.

He let the instruments breath more and gave the drums some nice crunch.

So here’s the Casey remaster. You can also find it on SoundCloud and Spotify.

And my original “echo deluxe” master.

What do you think?

Casey is happy to cleanup any audio, including music or podcasts, so feel free to reach out to him. I believe he’ll even do the first job for a tip.

creativity · Me · Music

“I’m Writing a Novel” 🎵

As previously noted, I’m writing a novel. 🧔🏻

Not only did Casanova find the idea amusing, but apparently so does Father John Misty. I guess it’s not such a “novel” idea after all.

And I’m writing a novel because it’s never been done before.

Hey, you guys may laugh, but my book is going to be good! Okay, maybe not as good as Father John Misty’s song, but still good.

Progress update

I’ve narrowed my 70 planned chapters down to 48. And on my third draft of the first 16 pages.

Less is more, baby.

creativity · Quotes

“I am writing My Life to laugh at myself, and I am succeeding.”

Lately, I’ve been shifting my writing time and energy to a novel. It’s fictional but based on some real experiences.

I have four chapters drafted, and, let’s see… about 64 chapters to go. 😆

Accordingly, I have note had as much time to put into this blog.

But I’ll do my best to keep writing here from time to time.

In the mean time, this quote from Casanova (yes, the actual Casanova) is a good reminder to keep it light.

I am writing My Life to laugh at myself, and I am succeeding. – Giacomo Casanova

This dude was quite the adventurer and had a lot of interesting things to say.

I need out check out his story about his life, although that may require a time investment beyond my reach any time soon. He seemed to have a lot to say: three volumes, about 40 hours each, if you’re doing audiobooks.

He sounds like kind of a gabber. I hope he’s not an Uncle Colm.

Casanova: proof that a pasty dude with a hair bow can get lot of chicks. 😉
(via Wikipedia)

Austin

Austin museum cheat sheet 🖼️

Austin has a variety of great museums of all shapes and sizes. And they all seem to have their own oddball hours. 🤷🏻‍♂️

It can be hard to plan a museum trip with so many irregular hours floating around, so I’m compiling a quick cheat sheet of some of Austin’s top museums and their hours, with links of course.

👉 I’ll expand and update this over time, but this is a start, focusing on art museums.

MuseumHoursNotes
The Blanton Museum of ArtMon: Closed
Tues-Fri & Sun: 10am-5pm
Sat: 10am-8pm
On the UT campus. Home to Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin.
The Contemporary Austin: Jones Center on Congress
Wed, 12—9P
Thurs – Sat, 12—6P
Advanced tickets encouraged.
Downtown, Congress & 7th. Walking distance to lots of stuff. Free admission all day on Thursdays!
The Contemporary Austin: Laguna GloriaWed, 9A—3P
Thurs, 9A—9P
Fri – Sun, 9A—3P
Beautiful campus in West Austin. Free admission all day on Thursdays!
Harry Ransom CenterClosed Monday.
Tues – Fri: 10am–5pm
Sat – Sun: 12pm–5pm
On the UT campus near the drag. Check out the The Gutenberg Bible or the earliest surviving photograph.
Elisabet Ney MuseumWednesday – Sunday
12pm – 5pm
Closed: Monday and Tuesday
Hyde Park. Free. Home of the namesake German sculptor.
Mexic-Arte MuseumMon – Thurs 10 AM – 6 PM
Fri – Sat 10 AM – 5 PM
Sun: noon – 5 PM
Downtown, Congress & 5th. walking distance to lots of stuff.
Quotes

“Let life surprise you a little.” 🪄

As people are graduating all around the land right now – most notably for me, my daughter – they’re looking for their next steps. Maybe they’ve picked a college. Maybe they’re trying to earn some money and support themselves. Maybe they’re doing both and more.

Sure, it’s good to plan things out, but it’s also wise to leave some room for the unknown. I like how author Julia Alvarez put it.

Don’t plan it all. Let life surprise you a little.

Often, what you actually find is more important than what you’re looking for.

All the best to the classes of 2024. 🎓🙌

entertainment · Quotes

“Doubt can only be removed by action.”

One thing I love about Ted Lasso, especially on rewatching, is how it often brings some old wisdom to life within the story.

Yep, Ted Lasso can make even an old German guy from the 1800’s sound interesting and relevant in the right context, as in this brilliant quote from Goethe in S3E1.

Doubt can only be removed by action.

Now this quote may not sound like much on it’s own, but it really hits in the show.

It reminds me of the many conversations I’ve been stuck in where people are going back and forth debating the theoretical merits of idea. Goethe reminds up that the only real judge that matters is action and its consequence. 🙌

This is a nice counterpart to Epicteus, who was also into actions over ideas.

Still, while the old German guy and the old Greek guy are great and smart and all that, wouldn’t you rather get your philosophy from this crew?

Quotes

“Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.”

I love this quote, which I came across in a list of ancient stoic quotes (with some pretty good visuals).

Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.

Epicteus

This quote reminds me of a series on Confucius, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad.

This series noted the one thing these leaders had in common: sure, they all had interesting ideas, but more importantly, they lived by their ideas. If they had just talked a lot, they would not have had the real-world impact that they had. Their actions were inspiring.

So if you want to be a pretty cool and impactful person, in whatever form that takes, then figure out what you stand for and live it.

I know, I know… that’s easier said than done.

But what else are you going to do that could be any better?

Besides, it’s fun to do stuff, and talking gets old.

Songs

And finally, SoundCloud ☁️

A few months ago, I knocked off a bucket list item by recording a song with a friend who can sing.

The actual bucket list item was “Make a song that I can play in my car using Siri that I actually enjoy.” 😉 So I made sure to get it out on all the streaming sites.

I followed this up by taking a shot at singing and got that out to there too.

But the one streaming service I missed, and probably the most helpful as a musician, was SoundCloud. This site is a little more artist-oriented. You can upload songs instantly, give and get feedback, and basically do whatever you want without going through a distributor.

So here’s my new SoundCloud account.

I have a couple new songs in the works, but none good enough yet to post here even by show-your-work standards. When I do post something, it’ll go SoundCloud first.

Software Dev

At a glance: stack views

Next up in iOS at a glance series, where I give you a quick visual about an iOS development concept, we’ll jump into stack views.

Sticking with old-school UIKit concepts a little conger, stack views give us a simple way (pre-SwiftUI) to lay out a screen without a bunch of constraints, which can quickly become ungainly.

Stack views just organize subviews in a row, either vertically or horizontally. Stack views can be combined with each other as well to create complex layouts, such as below.

Stack views are typically invisible and only used to contain other views, so what we actuality see is this.

So there it is: stack views boiled down to a quick visual. Of course, the topic goes much deeper, including options for distribution, alignment, and spacing.

entertainment · Quotes

“I wasn’t making any waves, so l made a decision.”

I always love a good story of transformation.

The documentary STEVE (martin) tells the story of a really awkward, out-of-place aspiring comedian who wants to do something genuinely new but was initially failing badly.

It is cringe-worthy at times. What is this guy doing?

But Steve keeps relentlessly trying things, observing, and changing. It goes something like this (so far)…


Is there a future for me as a magician?

-> No, that looks like a dead end. Let’s try comedy.

Should I follow the classic comedy conventions like using “indicators” to signal when the punch line happened?

-> Nope. Let the awkward tensions build naturally and see what happens.

Should I open for other acts and perform for 1000 people who are there to see someone else?

-> Nope. This is getting me nowhere. I’d rather headline for 50 people who actually want to see me.


And finally, this long-haired comedian who looked he was “trying to be the Eagles” decided to change his whole look and attitude. I just like the clarity he finds.

I wasn’t making any waves, so l made a decision.

Instead of being at the tail end of an old movement, I’ll be at the front end of a new one.

And he follows it up with action.

And so l decided, “Okay, I’m putting on a suit, I’m putting on a tie and I’m cutting my hair.”

Instead of looking like a hippie from the ’60s, I’ll look like somebody new from the ’70s.

And of course kind of a punch line.

Or like someone from the future.

Someone from the future indeed. He was about to become the biggest comedian in the world.

STEVE (martin)
STEVE (martin)
Photos · Quotes

Invincible summer (pic) 🌱

A while back, I blogged one of my favorite quotes.

In the depths of Winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.

Albert Camus

Today I found myself looking right at this phenomenon in my little garden.

You see, this winter’s cold snap savagely killed almost all the plants . As a memorial, I left a sad, dead, spiky blackberry stalk sticking high out of the ground.

Now that dead stalk is getting overrun by new green growth. Blackberry sprouts are shooting up in other parts of the garden as well. The plant is even flowering, meaning fresh blackberries are on the way.

Life is resilient. 💪

Just don’t touch that dead stalk. That thing is not kidding around – ouch!

My blackberry vine coming back to life.
Software Dev

Autoresizing at a glance ⍈

Kicking off the iOS development “at a glance” series, we’ll start pretty basic: autoresizing.

Autoresizing was Apple’s first shot in the days of yore (iOS 2, circa 2011) at letting early iPhone views rearrange themselves (this is the “auto” part) in response to screen rotations. It was limited and clumsy, as was pretty much all of iOS at the time. Mail, contacts, calendars, and the App Store were new features on the iPhone.

So autoresizing makes for a fitting intro to this series.

Autoresizing allows the developer to specify how one view relates to its super-view as far as its size and margins, and which parts are are flexible vs. fixed.

In the days since autoresizing was introduced, more capable layout tools like Auto Layout with constraints and now SwiftUI have been introduced.

But you’ll still see the autoresizing “mask” (an old-school programming term) hiding out in the Size Inspector in Xcode under the View section. If you wondered what that was, now you know.

You

Be a (good) shark 🦈

This Medium post lists some great ways to make your life easier: Focus on next steps. Be present. Say no a lot. Focus on one thing.

One really surprised me, though: speed up.

I was going to add a point about slowing down but then decided to mix things up a bit and go the other way.

Alex Mathers

I second that idea. 👍

“Speeding up” is what I like to think of as relaxed focus. Just keep moving forward; the motion keeps your momentum up and keeps your thoughts and actions fresh and relevant. No more paralysis of analysis.

Get moving. Prioritise a kind of fluid, calm urgency in your life.

Now, Ted Lasso said “Be a goldfish“, but I’m going to say “Be a shark.”

A quick drawing of a shark moving quickly.

Okay, a shark is a deadly predator. Don’t do that; set that aside for a minute.

The best quality about sharks is that they understand relaxed focus. A shark is always moving purposefully, but it’s never in a hurry.  A shark don’t stop or wallow or get bored or frustrated.  A shark is always going somewhere and always has a plan. A shark’s movement seems to feed its energy rather than expend it.

So in life, be a shark. Keep moving purposefully and own your little neck of the ocean.

See also

“Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.”

“How can a guy think and hit at the same time?”

General

Hey, this blog has a new name

In case you noticed this blog has a new name and logo, and you thought “this blog got hacked,” fret not. The new name, Mental Break Town, is on purpose.

“But that’s exactly what a hacker would say!” you protest.

Okay, okay, in that case, if I start trying to sell you fake Rolexes, phish you, or spread hate speech, then you’ll know I got hacked. 😉

But why the name change?

Well, patmcg.com was basically just my name, and the blog needed a new name that isn’t about me. It’s about stuff I’m interested in, and hopefully stuff you’re interested in.

Also, this a just a blog and not a company, so I dropped the .com in favor of .blog.

So, I thought of a new name, and luckily the domain name was available. Done. ✔️

Quotes

“Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.”

I like this quote from a Mr. Miyamoto Musashi, “a 17th-century Japanese samurai, artist, and writer known for his undefeated fighting record and philosophical work.” Wow, talk about #goals. 🤯

Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.

Miyamoto Musashi

He must have been onto something. Yes, the world matters; everything matters. But don’t weigh yourself down personally with it. You are definitely not going to win a lot of sword fights if you do.

This description goes on to say that “After retiring from dueling, the swordsman turned to his community, mentoring students and sharing wisdom through his writing.”

Okay, I have a new hero ✔️ and a new retirement plan ✔️.

Miyamoto Musashi via Wikipedia
Songs

Introducing The Coastal Service

Now that I finished up my first solo cover song, I wanted to get it out in the world. As Steve Jobs said, “Real artists ship.” I’ve been working on that mindset for a while now and trying to show my work along the way.

To get my song out there where it can be streamed anywhere – via Siri, on the HomePod, in the car – I needed to pick an “artist” name to use on all the streaming services. It’s always fun to pick a band name, but I had set a rule for myself from experience messing around fruitlessly with friends in the past: first the music, then the name. You have to earn the name.

So I decided to go with The Coastal Service. 🙌 It’s sort of a play on The Postal Service, an amazing band with one of my favorite albums ever. I am not a Postal Service tribute band; their name just inspired an idea.

“The Coastal Service” is meant to invoke a sense of mystery and fog and awe and danger. It’s about meeting the ocean: like life, it’s big and dangerous and beautiful and meant to be explored.

I also like the idea that this fictional “coastal service” is there to serve humanity and is broader and more secretive and than, say, the US Coast Guard. It’s somewhat inspired by a Wes Anderson vibe, especially Moonrise Kingdom.

I also played around with some sketches on the iPad just for fun.

So there you go: The Coastal Service is born.

I still don’t know if I’m a real artist, but I did ship. 🚢

Songs

“I’m On Fire” – final cut! 🎸

After vacillating a bit on the final arrangement for my I’m On Fire cover, I finally headed some advice from Teddy Roosevelt and picked a direction. 

While I liked the extra guitar part on the previous take, I also felt like it was a bit too much. It sort of changed the song from a “singing” song into a “guitar” song.

After a fresh listen, my buddy Joel had a helpful suggestion.

I’m wondering if you could use the clean version but bring in the guitar at some point under the whistling to add a little depth there.

I tried it out and… bingo. 🎯 This was the best of both worlds. The guitar comes in at the bridge and mixes things up at just the right time. Thanks, Joel.

My kids say the vocals are pretty “echoey”, but I’m hoping that adds to some mysterious ambience. Believe me, you are not ready to hear me singing raw just yet. 😉

Coming soon to a streaming service near you. 😎

Final GarageBand tracks
You

Imperfect is perfect 🙌 (visual)

I like the saying, “Imperfect is perfect”. Sometimes I switch it up to, “Perfect is boring.”

Music that is super-slick and produced starts to sound kind of the same.

As a person’s appearance approaches “perfect” (often with plastic surgery), they start to look the like everyone else who had that surgery.

That’s why I love this visual from Harsh Darji on Medium. All the circles are perfect but the same. The odd one on the end stands out. You could even say it’s outstanding. 👌

Via Harsh Darji

👉 See also: Sometimes it’s their looks, but it’s never just that