Sunday Links: North Korea, internet artefacts, and Grissini Orchestra
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Hi there!
Holidays are getting over in Russia, but as I get bored on the second day of not doing something, I never use them to the fullest. On the contrary, I prefer to focus and work on something deliberately.
First week of January is the best time of the year: no Zooms, no chats, no meetings or ASAP projects. Everything slows down. It’s calm and silent. Great time for writing, creating and thinking ideas over.
I hope you were able to turn the past week for the good, too!
The news of the world
Before I move on to the findings of the month, here’s some news:
1 — Donations from abroad. Now I have the opportunity to accept money from foreign subscribers. If you read me outside of Russia and would like to support me with a donation, you can do it via a special link.
When I go for a trip abroad, I'll buy myself a cup of coffee. Donate me →
2 — Back to Twitter. While everyone is leaving Twitter I’ve decided to give it another try. I’d like to use it for testing ideas and finding news audience. But who knows maybe all I find will be a pain in the ass. We’ll see about it.
If you’re on Twitter, hop on and subscribe. If you’re not, let’s stay in touch here.
What’s new about you? Projects, ideas, movies you watch and recommend? Tell me about your beginning of the year. I’d love to hear from you.
Just drop me a line at evgeny@lepekhin.me
Findings I’ve enjoyed this week
20 Things I Learned While I Was in North Korea. Old but gold by Tim Urban. His blog is an amazing example of simple but powerful visual storytelling and amusing writing. If you love to learn from the best, read his blog. It’s a treasury!
What strike me in this particular post is the video of the Mass Games. It’s quite something! Reminded me the opening of Olympics in Moscow in 1980, but with a much broader scale. Just remember while watching this video: the background of the scene is formed with a handwork of thousands people, each of them holding a palette in their hands and changing colors in a certain order.
As Tim Urban says, “Why the fuck not?”
Internet Artefacts. If you were born after 2000 this website is going to make you giggle at how boring internet was back then. And if you were born in the 90s like me or even earlier, you’ll have this feeling of nostalgia for an old internet without algorithms and TikTok pointless videos. Gosh, I miss those days.
It’s a pity to see the web going in the wrong direction and being used completely differently from what was originally intended.
Just look at this innocence and childishness of the web design! It feels like hell of a freedom in comparison what I see on designer’s portfolios and Behance pages.
Grissini Project. After watching “Attack on titans” (AOT) I was looking for the soundtrack and came across the Grissini Project. It turned out to be one of the best musical discoveries of the past year. Beside AOT’s soundtrack they have many other good anime covers.
If you don’t have time to listen to the whole concert, listen to this song called “Vogel Im Käfig”. It gives me goosebumps every single time I hear its second part. The lyrics are also piercing:
Mit Trauer und Entscheidung im Herzen
With sadness and decision in the heart
Zeigen wir den Willen weiterzugehen
We show the will to move on
Niemand darf eigensinnig seines Lebens beraubt werden
No one should be deprived of his life waywardly
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Take care!
Evgeny
Tyumen, 7 January 2024
P. S. Fuck, it’s already 2024. Man, time flies!
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