Ze Frank kept me up late last night
It’s not what you think. I didn’t actually hang out with Ze Frank. I just discovered an interview he did for Lynda.com. [Lynda is the place I go to learn to do obscure things like Apple Logic Pro and explore search-engine optimization (SEO) techniques and other useful geek stuff.] I wasn’t expecting to find Ze Frank there, but something told me to check out his hour long interview and put off Logic Pro training for another day.
During the interview, I visited his site – ZeFrank.com – and experimented with some of the toys he’s created. Scribbler is a lot of fun and I came up with a few neat outcomes by changing the colors and altering the pixel size of the scribbling “pen” while it turned my input into a hyperactive scribble (with meaning, of course). Here’s one example:
And then there was A Childhood Walk. I typed in my childhood address in Baltimore and was shocked to see how small and sad my old house looks now. It seemed much bigger and nicer back then. In the 1970′s. I used Google Maps street view to do a virtual glide down the once familiar streets surrounding my house, past my best friend Tommy’s house and over the railroad bridge. I had a stirring of ideas and feelings, but then was taken on another diversion.
Pain Pack is beautiful and weird. I fell in love with the idea while horizontally scrolling across the page to reveal the whole story. A call for people in emotional pain to telephone and leave a message evolved into a library of disjointed altered beats, blips, effects and loops that were posted for download. Anyone can grab ‘em and mash ‘em together. And although I’m not a DJ, I do have some neat hardware (toys) to mix and match sound files. I saw the list of samples and I looked over at my disconnected MASCHINE controller that I used to crave, but lately have left alone for no good reason.
After installing the software updates for the MASCHINE and downloading the Pain Pack Samples, I found myself making the decision to stay up late and play with these sounds instead of sleeping. I felt a wave of creativity. I was in the flow for about 90 minutes. And then my ears started to bleed — figuratively. Aurally fatigued, I decided to sleep at 2:30 AM. And I work. But I managed. Here’s the mix I came up with. Kinda creepy. But that’s the point:
I emailed Ze a link to my creation and thanked him for his talks on TED.com and Lynda.com. He’s a really smart, warm, and funny guy. He inspires me. And I’m glad I took a little detour to see things a little differently and engage in strange new multimedia adventures.
