September 2 2023

Patina and Intimacy

“Each one of us has, somewhere in his heart, the dream to make a living world, a universe.” —Christopher Alexander One must encourage some level of enchantment to invite the supernatural. When nymphs dance, we picture them in idyllic settings, like forests and groves, or carousing in an orchard just…

The Map is Mostly WaterSimon Sarris

I watch these videos, read essays like "Patina and Intimacy," and feel this curious churn inside. Somewhere in the blurry boundaries of envy, thrill, and longing. I'm envious because a lot of pictures and items in these videos and essays look bewitching, mainly because they carry the weight of time — they're worn and loved for years. Software, though, it doesn't echo the same sentiment. It gobbles up the old as it races forward, much like trap music swallowed the raw edge of old school hip hop.

Working for beauty in software is what gets me up in the morning, but I confess, my CSS skills are a bit tragic. Likewise, tools like Unity, they're not my cup of tea. So, in my own way, I am, trying to carve beauty in code, to weave unique patterns in programming, to make something beautiful out of 0 and 1.