#granted the first 2 i didnt like. and i often see a lot of professional designers testing out like dozens of different palettes

[oh-gh0st]

DAMN im really trying out 5 palettes for this oc

[nobody-knose--archive]

i’ve been aching to commentate spirit phone’s commentary for ages. glad i finally got around to it, this was an ejoyable experience. liveblog below the cut

-i'm like half certain i've heard this commentary before. maybe not the whole way through & it was probably actual years ago

-nice hearing stuff like this. in-depth personal view of the album-making process. makes it seem like more of a real thing i could do myself someday

-neil cicierega real person momence

-i could probably go real in depth about neil cicierega/tally hall parallels specifically concerning like. the arc of their musical careers. but i won't, here

-wild how i legitimately don't care much about micheal jackson

-didnt we get a bunch of spirit phone stems from the needlejuice release/his patreon? we could probably hear the funny track he speaks of here in that

-i love hearing musical artists, especially neil cicierega, talking about the meanings of their songs. like, not only has this song been claimed to hell & back by the tumblr gays, but with later ones i just can't see where he gets these ideas from. also, claiming there's any one meaning or plot to a song just seems silly to me

-shoutout to neil reusing a midi from like, 1998, that he made at 12 years old, whose entire melody was reused for the main verses of everybody loves raymond. loved finding that out on my own 2 years ago. now it's common trivia in this fandom. not bad times

-it'd be neat if neil did individual trans tracks here like he did with view monstel, those things are half of why i consider it my favorite album

-it's a lot easier to ignore the creator's intended meaning behind a song when he can't even remember it. thanks neil

-seesaw effect

-and there's my joke all but 1 of my followers wont get. moving on

-what kinds of movie theater lobbies has neil been to where there are arcade machines. i mean im not one to talk but that does sound rather strange

-why do songs' titles even need to be taken from the lyrics. ive never seen that as any sort of requisite. it's like titling any form of prose you can just give it whatever name ya like

-"this part sounds pretty cool right"

-is neil's vocal range only mildly better than mine? with training i could change that

-oh i haven't processed any of the last 25 seconds hold on

-god. a shit ton of vocal modification in this song. it's like neil returned to his roots but with quality this time

-i, as an ace/aro, have never related more to an allohet guy in my life. what is the point of eyes!

-professional humming/whistling takes skill. it's different from the recreational or casual stuff. i'd know

-there's a name for the way sound (especially music) gets distorted when moving past you and i can't remember it but it's probably what neil's referring to here in the way he recorded the intro

(- update: it's the doppler effect no need to tell me cas already did)

-as someone who hasnt seen the rugrats or take me there by blackstreet i'll just say it sounded like a bouncy music box melody. nice to hear a song that messes with the typical scales though. lydian & diatonic.

-that's a rather specific thing to be glad about, but given what he talked about in his last full audio commentary about the jew harp i suppose i'm not surprised

-i know that tmbg song now. listened to it & saw the music video too. yep they're different alright

-where the hell does neil get all these instrumence from anyway

-huh. hadnt heard this part of the commentary before making my oc concerning this song but i like to hear neil's approval concerning part of my interpretation

-i love how ive heard a billion different tellings of this mellified man story from lem dem fans talking about this song and neil's is by far the wildest

-good god that does only make it worse neil

-i love making liveblogs of lemon demon albums. with the fullerenes or tally hall i cant name a specific dude to take out my woes on generally but with lemon demon i can just say neil all the time. i like being on a casual first name basis with this dude ive never interacted with once ever

-is sweet bod the one other than cabinet man with a demo in the bonus tracks? i forget

-holy shit the boston molasses disaster someone call up soapy if it doesnt already know, it'd love this

-two thousand nine. god i miss the fiddle solo. the ver with it is truly the best one

-he pronounces it jeff? i've always read it as gef with a hard g. that's what i get for knowing words that are never spoken aloud

-that's a fun meta interpretation of this ghost story that's over a century old. i like that

-i've noticed neil generally does the same synths across a whole album. it's especially more clear in the earlier ones, and does mean i occasionally mix up songs between clown circus & live from the haunted candle shop

-ah! ancient aliens! my least favorite track on this album. i cant even claim to have the least interest in a popular one i've just generally not liked this one much from the beginning. so im curious to see what neil's got to say, i think ive been in ~new commentary zone for a while now

-anyway. newest update on the loolin not realizing a song's funky time signature front: i think this one's in 6/4. or at least switches a lot between time signatures. granted i dont listen to it very often for the reasons stated above

-see the way neil describes it. eldritch horror upon being visited by the unknown at a time when humanity'd hadn't even yet had a chance to imagine such a thing occurring. should be right up my alley. but the sound itself & many of the lyrics simply turn me away.

-must i specify i don't dislike it? spirit phone is neil's best album it not being my favorite doesn't mean i think it's bad yadda yadda nobody should be surprised by this it's not like anyone in these fandoms reads my liveblogs <3

-granted i think this is. the first bit of spirit phone content i've made on my blog ever. so who knows things can change <3

-the transitions in spirit phone are much less view-monster transition tracks & more extended outros. view-monster's were a bit more intro than outro sure but they also seemed directed upon making a 2-way rather than 1-way bridge between tracks. or something like that

-.............soft fuzzy man is an incredible nickname for a cat. i'd steal that if i werent afraid of introducing my relatives to lemon demon

-jirls

-an underlying metaphor is good enough. the literal side of the lyrics are fun. nothing but agreement here neil my good man

-the transition into as your father i expressly forbid it from soft fuzzy man is the best one in this album

-buddy you ask if a musical idea has been used before odds are the answer is yes in this day & age the question is has it been used in the way you're using it. like sure this soul jazz record from the 60s that was sold out in kansas stores for a week used this bassline that youve found yourself copying. but seeing as youre using it in some angsty garage rock ballad type tune does anybody actually care

-doesn't everybody like to say things in an unhinged manner from time to time

-imagine having a guitar dad, i say, with my dad being a folk accordion/fiddle dad, which is infinitely worse in every way

-i think he was in an actual folk band at some point. idk the 90s were weird

-iron my life?

-m-more intimate? there are a lot of ways i'd describe this song but intimate isn't one of them. granted as your father is negatively intimate so from there i guess you've got nowhere to go but up

-...still glad to see his interpretation kinda supports my oc at least

-the way he says characters in songs shouldn't worry about death really strongly makes me think this is some sort of. thematic continuation of stuck from dinosaurchestra, even if there's no real death in there. interesting. would also mean that the dad from these past 2 songs is named carlos betty (no last name)

-i literally never assumed this was a flute solo. piccolo at best. it's pretty clearly a recorder

-my mom plays the recorder. i wonder if she can play recorder better than neil cicierega

-we can throw a party in honor of the crushing weight of responsibility! i simply won't be the one throwing it because i have enough on my plate already <3

-what the hell does "a sense of intent" mean

-i've never heard rush before however i disagree with neil's understanding of 6/4. 6/4 is meant to have emphasis (onbeat or another term i can't remember) on the 1st & 4th beat of every measure, which is greatly different from a measure of 4/4 then a measure of 2/4. it's why his 5/4 always sounds weird, because while it's recognizable in sequences of 10/4, it's more 2 measures of 4/4 with one of 2/4 tacked on the end. that's also how it's different from 3/4. i don't know much music theory but what i do understand i will fight to the death about

-"canonized" that's. a very interesting term to use when referring to a former president

-from now on i will interpret every love song directed at some unseen "you" to be inviting me to marry them for tax purposes. thanks neil for being an aromantic icon

-ah hell yes hell yes man-made object is my favorite goddam song on this album

-short & sweet & good damn vibes. neil's thoughts on it all are only making it better

-wild how he uses very few vocal effects for a song that he clearly is straining his vocal range for. go off neil

-the qualifier of man-made is a wonderful thing. oldest or biggest thing? oldest or biggest man-made thing? what a incredibly important specification. a world of possibilities lie between the two. oh i love it

-just gets me thinking yknow! what we consider weird/impressive in another species, in our own species- what kind of equivalent to that would there be from an outsider looking in? are there alien versions of the significances we place upon things, that we could never imagine? the limits of the human imagination mean we could never conceive of something else in the world that isn't, in some way great or small, just like us- and are we wrong for thinking that? such a juicy topic i wish there were a name for it because it's kinda hard to explain concisely

-spiral of ants. my second favorite song from this album, in fact. a good one to experience

-the vocals are just another instrument. they really truly are. i wasn't going into this commentary expecting to feel solidarity for neil cicierega in this chili's tonight on more than one occasion but here i am.

-like, his whole stance on interpreting songs is something i agree with almost entirely. you can take it at face value, you can dig to their very depths, you can listen to songs without caring what the lyrics mean whatsoever, and those are all fun. & yeah while any of these people can be annoying as one of the types who enjoys gliding on the surface more than anything i find those who dedicate themselves to figuring out the whole meaning of a song over anything else to be both slightly scary & slightly annoying <3 keep up the good work

-i want to make songs for my siblings the way neil makes songs for his sibling(s)

-spinch

-neil really shouldn't be allowed to be this funny like this whole album youre thinking golly! he's just a normal man this neil cicierega! and then he starts listing the cat hacks jokes & you remember he's had ridiculously consistent viral success with all his humorous endeavors and holy shit it's neil cicierega in action talking about his music. god bless you neil

-you're welcome, no problem, my pleasure. good eveternoon, radio audience!

[antidotetriptych-blog]

Group evaluation

Group Evaluation Process

Business Model Canvas

Positives

+ The teamwork was good in the BMC; we came up with ideas for the BMC together.

+ members (Tobias) solved mistakes that had been overlooked.

Negatives

-  Other group members underestimated the work involved in the BMC and finance.

- Communication throughout the whole group should have been better. Elements within the BMC were different to those in the brandbook.

- There should have been more teamwork when creating the financial parts. This resulted in mistakes that had been overlooked

Future forward:

- Next time there needs to be better communication throughout the whole group, as to avoid big differences in information within the products.

Design

Positives:

+ Everybody was really focused on sustainability

+ People from other departments joined in when a lot of designers were sick

+ Had a lot of good and different ideas

Negatives

- Unequal workload

- Too many people, without a clue about how design works

- Different ideas about how much time and energy you are willing to put down in the project

- Proactivity level came in waves.

- Communication issue during the whole weeks, a lot of messages got lost in cyberspace

Future forward:

- Next time we should make tryouts with the materials and constructions and have a better plan for how to create the garments with the waxed fabrics

- Have a stricter time plan and make sure to deliver on the deadlines

Brand Book and Scenario

Positives:

+ Communication in the group of brand book was good. Everybody knew what to do and when to deliver, always on time. We made easy decision with each other about pictures and layout etc.

+ We all had a clear vision on how we wanted to translate the concept in the brand book.

+ We delivered the brand book in a professional neat way and arranged a sponsor for it.

Negatives:

- We didn’t show the brand book that often to others, they trusted us but it’s better to keep communicated with them.

- Making a realistic deadline to print the brand book, cause we didn’t make our deadline.

- Not losing the focus of brandbook and help others with their subject.

Future forward:

The communication to the design team was really hard because they took the visuals for the concept too literally while we meant with it was the mood.  

-  communication with the design team has to be clear at the beginning. So that they understand our way of the concept and keep communicate with them all the way.

The group for brand book at the start was too big, so the beginning was a little bit chaotic. Cause we had also managers and we had to explain what brand book included.

* Next time make a clear plan for the brand book and write all the steps down so managers can see how it works. And divide the subjects so the group gets smaller and have a clear view.

Installation

Positives:

+ Experimented well, went through 3 semi-worked out installation options.

+ Problem solving attitude - although there was some miscommunication regarding the key-aspects of the design of the installation, we together found a way in which we could fix the problems that arose.

+ After the feedback session on the box installation, we developed an idea of making a sustainable installation by using less and pre-used materials.

Negatives:

- The installation was an underrated aspect in our group which resulted in a couple of ideas which did not leave the idea stage for quite some time, which then resulted last minute construction of the final installation

- Due to the above mentioned, there were significantly less people dedicated to the installation compared to all the other jobs

- Although we started with the intention to deliver something with a lot of interaction, we have failed to deliver an interactive installation.

Future forward:

Make a building plan, detachment plan and know what tool is needed for it.

Photoshoot & Fashion film

Positives:

+ Preparations for the shooting as well as for the video was taking seriously and was managed well

+ Organisation was well managed as well as everything worked out in the way we planned it

+ Collaboration our group was excited about these 2 visual outcomes so we separated the work that was needed in prosperous way and it worked out well

+ Team spirit was there during the whole process keeping us excited for the final product

+ Responsibility, every task was managed accordingly with high standard level

+ Communication was clear and fast

+ We were all very happy about the result and the final product

Negatives:

- The designs had to be retouched a lot of times during the shooting since they were not ready yet

- The male model cancelled one day before; but we managed to organise a new one

Future forward:

- plan it better in order to work faster

- communicate more with the other departments so they know what is going on.

Sustainability

Positives:

On the collection the puzzle piece seams worked, all the fabrics were waste fabrics from tommy and CK and left overs in amfi. the stand: the frames are donated to a second hand story Kringloop. The wood was donated to a company. The images were kept by the group. Other materials were to taken Stijns dads art and crafts class. Carpet taken back by the one who donated it.

Negatives:

The outfits cannot be washed, and the wax is stuck to the fabrics so it is hard to recycle. clearer planning with the post-show-life needs to be explored. On the day on deconstructing the stand, some individuals without thinking broke the stand and placed it in the trash. The rest were quick to take it out of the trash and take each nail out, and donate the wood to Standbouw.

Show

Positives:

+ All there on time.

+ In stillation up and ready, pitch went well. the make-up and hair was very very nice and pulled all the outfits together.

+ The models were enthusiastic and worked well. Smooth show overall

Negatives:

- Could plan the day before hand rather than all talking on the day.

- Last minute adjustments on both the stand and outfits could have been avoided. more pro-activity

General group process

From group members:

“In my eyes, the group was very diverse. People had different levels of motivation but we managet well overall. It turned out okay but I think it could be better if we had made clear rules and tasks.”

“This project was in parts a bit frustrating for me, because I got the flue and couldn’t give 100%. It was nice to experience how all the departments worked together. I think it went well for the amount of time we had.”

“As a group, I think we can say that we are proud of what we have achieved within a short period of time. There were quite a few bumps along the way, yet that is expected when working in a group of 25 people. For next time, however, communication should be better. I noticed during the show that information in products (such as BMC and brandbook) were completely different. We were lucky that this was not noticed by the assessors, however it was something that should have been avoided.”

“We could have had a more organized start of the project if we dived tasks on the first day so everybody knew what they needed to do for the whole project”

“Clearer division about what peoples tasks would be. “

“+ in the end every product was inline with each other

- People who didnt come, lack of communication”

Group evaluation

To manage a group of 24 people under stress is not an easy task. Especially when you take into account that almost none of us knew each other from before Triptych The fact that everyone has different ways of working and solving tasks makes it even more complicated. During the first day of Triptych, made the agreement that the manager for the upcoming weeks was going to be the brander Stijn Oom.

We started off the second day of the project fairly easy, with individual research of our icons and brainstorming of ideas for the concept. From the start, it became important to make decisions altogether, like a democracy. Looking back at the process, this was not the best thing to do, it was very time-consuming and it’s impossible for everyone to agree on something, but we wanted our brand to be as coherent as possible, making sure that everyone understood the concept.

We divided the whole group into smaller groups on day 3, but it was hard for a lot of people to start working on the seperate tasks since the concept was not completely set. People left early without giving any notice, which left other people who were still working annoyed. It got pretty clear that there were different levels of ambition within the group. This resulted in an unequal workload, because at the end things had to be finished.  Although the first week was not very stressful and it felt like we were on the right track to create something very cool.

During the second week, we struggled a lot. Based on the feedback we got in the presentation we had to change some things within the concept and therefore had to adjust things in every department. A lot of people got the flu and had to stay home and that, in combination with the fact that the show was coming closer and closer, resulted in a lot of stress for the manager as well as the group members. Design was the department that struggled the most, mainly because the outcome of our materials didn’t turn our as expected and during the last two days before the shooting we had to redo the showstopper completely. Despite sickness and exhaust, we kept up the positive energy and managed to finish it in time.

The biggest struggles for us this project have been sickness, inefficient group members and lack of respect for the project and the manager. It felt like a lot of the group members took the tasks for granted and kind of thought they were solving themselves. It is hard to not have the time to get lost in the process and finding new ways.

BUT, even if we experienced some struggles on the way, it is an experience to work this intense with a big group. We all have learned something from these two weeks and it is very interesting to see how the different departments work together and to see how people are solving tasks they have never done before.  We have spent a lot of hours together and got to know each other quite well by now. Even though there have been conflicts and irritations along the way, we have mostly been honest towards each other and we have been laughing a lot.

Finally, it's also great to see how much you can create in such a short time!