Dear Joel,

This isn’t just any old thing reconceived. This is You reconceived. Because you’re graduating.

It’s been a hot minute since we’ve touched this podcast. I hope it’s not costing you too much to host…I recorded this with my laptop microphone (yikes!) but I hope it gets the point across. Graduation may be exciting or terrifying, a big change or a small one, but it is a change, and I wanted to give one small piece of encouragement.

Best,

Ben

Ben and Joel finally return together to share what they have discovered about each of their subjects. Ben shares what has transformed in pottery and what has stood the test of time, while Joel explains how America was almost one of the firsts to adopt the Metric system.

Ben and Joel change things up a little this week. They’re talking about the stuff they’re going to be researching, but haven’t quite yet. Join us for the ride.

Joel takes Ben down a cinematic memory lane to discover why DreamWorks Trolls: World Tour may be the most influential movie from the past century.

Account of the 1948 case U.S. v. Paramount Pictures, et al.

The Wall Street Journal’s take on Trolls: World Tour’s impact

Ben and Joel talk about being late for work, a first amendment lawsuit, and municipal corruption, all in the pursuit of understanding traffic lights.

Links:

MIT Research

Mats Järlström, The Engineering Underdog

Yellow Light Corruption

Music by The Dominican Jazz Project

In this final episode of the Writing and Music series, Ben and Joel finally reunite to discuss what they have learned about their topics, about each other’s topics, and where writing and music come together to reveal greater truth.

Music

The Dominican Jazz Project

Guru Gruff

Hey Joel,

What makes a good ending? I’ve been bouncing ideas around in my head for a while now, and I think piano provides a good avenue for that sort of thing.

Sincerely,

Ben

P.S. Although I didn’t put it in the letter, Erik Satie wrote a piece making fun of overly dramatic endings to songs, which were common at the time. I think you’d enjoy it.

Well Ben, we’re almost to the end of our journey. Here’s what I’ve learned along the way as far as writing goes; I hope you got the same.

Sincerely,

Joel

Links

Music from https://filmmusic.io
By Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Hey Joel,

I stumbled across some ideas about what distinguishes poetry from other things like music and prose. I thought I’d share them with you.

Cheers,

Ben

Links:

Encyclopedia Britannica Article

The emotional power of poetry (study)

Hey Ben,

I have now officially hijacked your topic; I hope you don’t mind. So, here are my thoughts on something you, nor the piano itself, has addressed yet.

Sincerely,

Joel

Links

Adam Neely’s video on microtonal lofi hip-hop as well as his Christmas follow-up

Blues example (John Lee Hooker - Boom boom)

Greek Mode

African idiophones

Balinese Gamelan Music

Tradional Arabic Music (I forgot to specifically mention this one verbally, but I still put it in)

Meditación - Julián Carrillo

Droplet - Sevish