After visiting Japan for the first time in November 2025, I came to agree with that sentiment to a certain extent. Maybe it's because of my perspective as a westerner, unfamiliar with the aesthetics and culture of Japan, but there is certainly a charm to Japanese cities, villages, temples, parks, and all.

But does that guarantee great photos everywhere you point your camera?

Walking around Japan on my first night and the following day in there, I sometimes felt apprehensive that it seemed harder to find the right angles than what I was led to believe was possible. Things that seemed to work in my mind didn't look good on the camera back, and the inverse was not often true either. I wasn't really stressed about it, per se, but that thought kept nagging me after every photo I took.

However, I quickly took control of that feeling and reminded myself that I wasn't in Japan to take photos primarily, and that although I enjoy taking photos, I'm there to travel and have new experiences. And what happened on the following days was a complete inversion of that feeling.

I found that by focusing primarily on being where I am, invested emotionally and mentally in the moment, I was more readily able to identify nice photo opportunities. Armed with that new, clear mindset, I set out to be more spontaneous with my street photography. Experiment more, think less; then learn from my unexpected hits as well as my mistakes.

Oh and there were the birds, too.

I seriously considered not taking my telephoto lenses to Japan, but I knew I would regret that immensely as soon as I saw my first Japanese bird in the wild. And Japan did not disappoint; I spotted several birds, including the Common Kingfisher, which was a bird I had been wanting to photograph for literally years – they exist in BC with a different coloration, but they're not easy to spot in here either.

Bird photography is a genre I'm much more familiar with than street photography, and being able to switch between the two was a good reminder for me that all photography is about the skill and taste you build with time and experience, and that there was nothing wrong with me. I'm just not as good a street photographer, exactly because I've done less of it.

I then started to feel more in tune with the ambient around me. And that allowed me to explore my street photography senses better. Since I wasn't so concerned about getting the right angles, I was more responsive to serendipity.

I then left Tokyo for Osaka. I was excited to see Mount Fuji from the Shinkansen, and no amount of reading about it could have prepared me for that sight. Japan is covered in beautiful rolling hills and mountains, which have shapes similar to the ones in BC which I've become accustomed to, and so to see that perfect conical volcano in the distance, shrouded in puffy clouds, was breathtaking. It's no wonder that mountain has been revered by Japanese artists and culture for so long.

This was also an opportunity for some more technical learning about my kit: In post it became clear how much vignetting my Nikkor Z 24-70mm ƒ/4 lens produces wide-open. I had to spend a lot of time coming up with a good mask to correct for it, as the vignetting controls in Lightroom were insufficient to deal with it completely. I'm not convinced my corrections are perfect, and I admit that in some pictures it kind of works, but in the Mt Fuji ones it really detracted from the composition. I'm now aiming to not shoot that lens wide-open unless necessary.

Another technical point: The Shinkansen moves fast enough that the rolling-shutter effect – present when using the electronic shutter on my Z6III – was significant enough to distort subjects quite a distance away from the train. I was concerned that using the mechanical shutter would disturb other passengers on the quiet carriage, and so I switched to front-curtain electronic-shutter mode (which mixes both electronic and mechanical shutters, and is slightly quieter). However, that didn't completely avoid the rolling shutter effect, and so my photos still have a bit of a vertical skew.

However, in some cases, if things align just right, you can get nice compositions which really capture the mood of being inside a high-speed train:

While Tokyo is predominantly a big modern metropolis, Osaka was a nice mix of modern and historic architecture – Although it is important to know that some landmarks like Osaka Castle were destroyed in World War II and then reconstructed with modern materials. I enjoy trying to portray the overlap between old and new where it exists, and I think the Osaka Castle and its moat, surrounded by modern buildings, let me exercise that well.

Another genre I wanted to explore was the wide+tele sets of compositions, where a wide shot of a subject is presented next to close-ups of details of the subject, giving the viewer a more complete appreciation of the subject.

Osaka also has plenty of large-scale infrastructure that's fun to photograph, both from up close as well as on a wide shot.

Another fun subject to explore was the Umeda Sky Towers with their ocular Sky Walk terrace which spans the two towers at their top, forming a single structure that seems out of this world. As you walk the streets nearby, it's hard to miss this colossal building in the distance. It really made me want to capture the somewhat eerie feeling of observing such a large structure while surrounded by much smaller ones.

For almost the entire time I was in Japan, the weather was clear and sunny, and I got to witness some spectacular sunsets. Unfortunately, timing wasn't always great for me to get good city shots during golden hour in Tokyo. I had a bit better luck in Osaka, especially from my hotel. In these shots, I experimented with hyperfocal distance, and I'm very satisfied with the outcome.

I then departed for Kyoto. I had been told it is a charming city, but nothing could have prepared me for how charming it really is. Whereas Tokyo and Osaka feel like the large-scale metropolises that they are, Kyoto felt like a much more human-scaled place. Narrow and well-arborized streets, low buildings, plenty of parks, large and small. It almost felt like a carefully curated experience. I immediately fell in love with that place, and was so enamoured by its charm that I walked several streets without ever considering taking photos. So you will have to forgive me for not being able to demonstrate it as well as I wish I could. I'll make sure to do a better job when I next visit Kyoto.

At Kyoto Gyoen I was able to do a lot of studies in landscape photography, as its many trees dressed in autumn colours and wide pathways allowed for a lot of exploration and planning around the subjects. This was a good place to exercise the "small adjustments" muscle, where you study each photo you take for hints of what to tweak in your composition. The lighting was also often great, especially during golden hour.

Another magnificent place in Kyoto is Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple atop the hills east of Kyoto. The lush vegetation, dressed in beautiful autumn tones, not only contrasts but also complements the beautiful temple pagodas, Niomon, and other structures, all beautifully painted in bright reds and oranges.

I especially like that last photo on the right. The idea for that photo came spontaneously to me as I walked along the path down from the main shrine, but the pathway was crowded, and I had to wait a few minutes to get a good chance at it. However, while I waited, I took a few "draft" shots that had people walking through the frame just to see what came out, and noticing details in those photos helped me choose the right composition for that shot, even though those draft shots weren't any good. (In other words: you don't need a viewfinder to find a view.)

One other temple I visited was the Shimogamo Shrine. It's a small shrine nestled in a dense wooded area in the middle of Kyoto.

The last shot, of the taiko-bashi, was one where the best composition was very obvious to me as soon as I noticed it, but I still took the time to try other possibilities. Rather than a waste of time, these other shots revealed why this was indeed the ideal shot: any other angle I tried would fail to balance the elements, even if the taiko-bashi was conflicting with the sanmon in the background. Even a higher-up point of view (which I wasn't able to explore) wouldn't show the creek's reflections as neatly.

Next, I took the Thunderbird Limited Express train to Tsugura, and then the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Kanazawa. I only spent one evening and the following morning in Kanazawa, as my main reason to go there was so that I could fill in a night that I hadn't booked any hotels with the intent of booking the Sunrise Express, which I did not manage to do. However, this was also a great opportunity to take a train somewhere off the Hokkaido Shinkansen line, and I'm glad I did, because the entire trip, including the following day trip to Tokyo along the rest of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, was absolutely gorgeous.

The last four shots, taken from the Thunderbird Limited Express, necessitated some manual white-balance correction due to the tinted window of the train car. Although I didn't perceive it as very tinted while I was there, looking at the raw images afterward showed how off and green-tinted everything was, as so it was also an opportunity for me to balance these images in the way I perceived them while traveling through these landscapes, and not necessarily exactly as it was. It was a bright and sunny autumn day, and so I felt it was a good choice to make them slightly warmer, to really bring out the browns and yellows from the foliage.

Although I spent just about an hour taking photos in Kanazawa, I did take quite a few of them. However, very few produced results that I liked. I was rushing, after all, and I think this was a good way to benchmark my keep rate on a rushed photo walk. The lighting was perfect, the subjects were incredible, and yet very few photos worked. This was a lesson as good as any about how much intention and patience matter in photography.

I then boarded the Hokuriku to take the trip back to Tokyo. The weather was perfect, and the views were magnificent. Starting from the coastal sights in Kanazawa, around the high Kubiki Mountains, and through the Chikuma-gawa river valley, the sights just kept on coming, and I didn't find much downtime to eat or write down on my travelogue.

During this trip, which was my last Shinkansen trip of my visit, I switched between mechanical and electronic shutter modes depending on the result I wanted, and I believe I was able to get much better results than in my first trip, and I'm happy to see my intentions were achieved quite effectively. It is still quite a challenge to take photos from a fast-moving train, as you have to deal with glare, motion blur, sway, and the fact that a tunnel or barrier may block your view in the blink of an eye. This is definitely a case where you want to be a bit trigger-happier than you normally would.

I then spent a few more days in Tokyo. Although I felt more comfortable with the energy of this place, I was still mostly visiting places I hadn't been to yet, and so there was still a level of unfamiliarity I was playing with in my photography.

In retrospect, one compositional aspect of these Tokyo Tower photos I wish I had explored better was the people walking along the sidewalks. I think I could have worked with them better, since a constant presence of visitors is a big part of the story of this subject.

I really like these tight close-ups I got of the tower, however:

From the tower's observation decks, I was able to explore one of my favourite photography styles, which is urban landscape photography. I find that when I visit high viewpoints, there are often so many details I miss, which I only ever notice later in the photos I take. However, the feeling of being there tends to be well-captured in the photos as well. When I combine these two things, I feel this genre has a somewhat hyperrealistic aspect to it, and I love exploring that.

So, after all these photos, what did I learn? While I think it's hard to quantify my learnings during this trip objectively, there are a few take-away points that I think will certainly guide me in the future – and which have already helped me with the photography I've done since this trip:

• Understand your equipment to the best of your abilities. Knowing its strengths as well as its limitations will help you make better and quicker decisions about technique when you're out and about.
• Photography is about transporting the viewer not only to the places where photos were taken, but also to the mindset of the photographer who took them. And thus:
• Being present in the moment is more important than any technical achievement. If you're not connected to your surroundings it's likely your photos won't be, either.
• Patience is the most important skill in a photographer's kit.
• It's okay to try the same subject in different approaches, to take several shots with tiny adjustments in between them, and to go back to try something else at a later time.
• At the same time, being able to identify a spontaneous photo opportunity is important, and having the presence of mind to hit the shutter when "it" happens takes intent.
• Studying your work in retrospect and introspecting about how you could have done better are essential to becoming a better photographer.

But maybe the most important point is: there will always be more to learn, and you'll only learn by doing it. So keep releasing that shutter.

Prelude

I've had a personal webpage online in some form since 2009. Like many people around then, it started as a Wordpress page (under a subdomain at first, then to brunophilipe.com) which eventually evolved into a self-hosted installation (I think, memory is hazy). The first version archived by Archive.org dates to 2012. I have to say I still like that web design a lot (and it was clearly inspired at least in part by Windows Metro – wow remember that?) It also includes links to Google Plus (wow, remember that??) and to a Flight Simulator fansite I created back then, which was actually my very first website. I also built other fanpages in Wordpress, since they were free and easy to create (some are still up, but I won't link them here.) The Flight Simulator fansite didn't last long, but my homepage did. I've held to that domain ever since, but have since migrated to bruno.ph (which I gleefully called the greatest domain hack of my life when registered, back at the peak age of domain hacks).

Also like many people, I eventually got charmed by the idea of a simple static website, or at least something that doesn't require a backend like Wordpress. I started by building my own with a concoction of PHP scripts and json files, and that's what I used for many years. Again like many people, I eventually migrated to Jekyll.

The greatest difficulty for me when it comes to static websites is exactly what makes them so great: updating them can be non-trivial. You can run a local server to test and render your changes, then upload the results, but if you want to be able to update your website while on the go (for example using your phone or iPad), that becomes more difficult. You could also host a staging backend that you can use to test and render your changes, but I always dreaded having to do that. At some point, I go through 75% of a project to write my own implementation of Jekyll in Swift (an artifact of that can be found in the form of my LiquidKit library), but I never got through with that, as I dreaded the idea of having to keep up with changes to Jekyll when all I wanted was to maintain my own website.

So with Jekyll I stayed all these years. I learned some ruby and even wrote some custom plugins, but I never really got the hang of that programming language and all its backward statements, and so it remains a thing I dread maintaining.

PHP: The Return

PHP is the first programming language I ever learned – I did play with VB6 before that, but I didn't actually understand what I was doing at a very deep level. In the beginning I found its approachability similar to that of HTML, and since it lets you write as little code as you want in order to get started, that's what I did. I remember installing LAMP on my laptop and getting a website going in minutes. It felt mind-blowing to me that I was able to host a website (even if only locally) from my own computer. Suddenly, this technology which seemed mystical and out of reach – a portal I'd access – turned into a creative medium with endless possibilities that I could play with from my own laptop.

PHP is also the language that landed me my first full-time job, and I wrote it professionally for many years. And for all these reasons it's been my go-to language for anything web related. Even though it was a Jekyll website, my previous homepage still had many dynamic elements written in PHP.

That's why when I learned about Kirby, I was very intrigued. It mixes the best of both worlds: a static–ish website with a dynamic backend you can use to update it. It is "static-ish" because it uses PHP to render your content, but unlike Wordpress, it's not relying on a database service running in your server to render the pages – everything is stored in text files. This means it is very nimble and easy to deploy, while remaining very flexible and configurable.

In fact, that's the whole idea behind Kirby: you build your front end, and they provide the scaffolding and the backend. And so for someone who enjoys putting websites together (as in, the web-design side of things), I found this proposition irresistible, and for many months now I've been slowly putting this new website together, from scratch.

I enjoyed using Kirby very much so far. It's exactly the level of customization I want – but whereas on Jekyll customization led (me) to jank, on Kirby it's totally incorporated into the plugin/snippet system using the same language and APIs as the main CMS, making the website code a lot neater.

Kirby's flexibility made it very easy for me to code up new functionality on my website, such as the bookmarks page, which has a fully-loaded backend interface where I can create links and even create links that auto-redirect to the bookmark page, in effect creating my own link-shortener. I was also able to write my own control panel plugins that help me edit my content, including embedding content from my SmugMug photo gallery.

Kirby also has support for rendering draft content on the frontend, gated by access tokens, making it easy to try out things without worrying about how it will look, or risking making it public before it's ready by pushing to the wrong backend.

And last but not least, Kirby has a plain and honest payment model which lets you try the software and build your website for as long as you need, and only pay once you're ready to publish, which is excellent.

I'm still making changes to the website code and content, adjusting things here and there, but I'm very happy with what I have now and I'm excited to finally put it out there.

I was able to write routes to redirect all the previous URLs to new ones, and so none of the old website's URLs should become dead. This also includes the Atom (RSS) feed for the blog. I believe I got the new feed to match the previous feed's article IDs, so all previous articles should not appear as unread. That seems to have worked at least using NetNewsWire.

Conclusion

This is probably not the last time I make drastic changes to my website, but if the rate of reworking keeps its trend, it won't happen for another few (many) years. So I am very glad with what I've built! I think this will set me up for many more years, and look forward to writing new content for this homepage.

Thank you for reading, and long live the indie web!

I don't have a problem with these technological inventions in themselves, as even I have found amusement at throwing oddly specific prompts at them only to see what they do. My problem, and I'm sure it's one shared with many, is the employment of this technology with the express intent to deceive, mislead, substitute for the work of creative people, and flood the places creatives use to connect with slop.

I believe creativity and ingenuity are at the core of the human experience, and to resign such activity to the output of machines is an insult to everyone who enjoys using their brains.

However, instead of simply despairing at the state of the world, I wanted to come up with an action plan for ways I intend to resist this deluge; to put my energy into action.

These are things I intend to do myself, and have been doing, for some part. Hopefully you feel like joining me.

1. Explore new hobbies and crafts, or perhaps revisit old hobbies and crafts you've neglected.

It’s totally okay if you’re not good at it. That’s the first step at getting better at it.

In 2020 I was living in Berlin during the COVID lockdowns, and one day I found myself in a used camera store, where I acquired a pristine Nikon F-801. That first roll of film made me fall in love with photography. Then, over the following 4 years, it flourished into a big pastime for myself, and it is now my main hobby. It started as an excuse to go outside by myself (the restrictions in Berlin allowed for that), and now it is one of the main ways I express my creativity.

Perhaps photography could be the channel for you, but it doesn't have to be. If you're also a visual person like me, it could be sketching, painting, watercolour, or many other ways to represent the visual world.

If you’re more of a hands-on person, there’s woodworking, crafting, model building/painting, 3D printing, sewing, crocheting, fixing vintage electronics… fixing vintage cars! There’s even people who build their own RC planes/cars/boats. And these are only examples of some of the things I know to exist.

There’s music, of course, although that usually requires a significant initial investment. However, if you have any interest in it, you should give it a try. I know I’m never playing in a band, but that doesn’t prevent me from having fun playing the bass guitar at home.

There’s so much out there. Don't feel limited by just what I mentioned here. Even if none of these appeal very strongly to you, they could be a bridge that lead you onto something that does. But you have to explore them to find out.

2. Connect with others who share interest in your hobbies.

This could be through friends who partake in your hobbies, strangers on social media, or just YouTube, for example. YouTube is currently a good way to get started, because you don't need any commitment, and watching videos of people doing the thing you’re interested in will help you understand what's involved in the process ahead, and it might tell you if it is really something for you or not.

But also, if you are of a more social type, try looking for groups or clubs to join; or a local store that sells supplies. I've found that the folks who work in these places are often eager to help curious newcomers. They're getting harder to find, but another way is web forums (yes, they still exist), although they might disguise themselves a bit to avoid spam.

If you’re close to a library, go in and ask about introductory books regarding the skill you’re interested in. Not only will you be able to find better and more reliable information in there, but it’s also another opportunity, with any chance, to connect with other creative folks who might be able to direct you towards the hobby you're interested in.

That connection, even if momentary – for example, talking to other photographers for a moment during a photo walk – can open many windows into the hobby that you might seldom stumble upon.

However, don't feel constrained if these resources are not available to you: exploring a new hobby by yourself is just as valid.

3. Be curious about, and cherish original creative work made by the people around you.

I find that getting a single compliment on my photography from someone in person is worth many times more than all the likes on social media. It takes courage to show your work to someone in person, knowing you'll get their immediate reaction. It takes courage to give someone your honest criticism of their work. It takes courage to hear their feedback. Be courageous.

I clearly remember a very negative feedback I received on one of my photos once, and although harsh, it was true. That single piece of feedback made me more clearly understand my goals as a photographer, and I believe it has helped me improve my skills.

But remember that sometimes, there's no need for specific feedback. Just cherishing the creative work of your friends can make a huge difference on their motivation.

And if someone you know is creating stuff you like, share it forwards! Which leads to:

4. Credit the creators when you share their work, often and clearly, including yourself. Provide links.

This is especially important if it’s work by people you know personally. It creates a real-life connection that asserts not only authorship but also genuineness; one much stronger than any chain-of-trust technology which may attempt to do the same.

“I was there with them when they took this photo, and I love how they captured the mood of that moment" is some of the best feedback a photographer can ever get. You can be that validator for your creative friends, and they can be that for you as well.

I believe the greatest threat to creative work won’t come from AI-slop in itself, but from the accusations that genuine creative work is AI-slop. I already see it under basically every post on social media that looks anything out of the ordinary. It won’t take much longer for that accusation to be made against everything, even from well-intentioned people.

Your reputation as a creative is the only thing computers can't take away from you.

5. Share your creative work with others, often and loudly.

Will it be used as fodder for the fraud automaton? Yes, most likely. If not now, soon. I believe it’s too late to worry about that, though. I think it’s important to keep sharing regardless because it will inspire other creatives like you and me; and in sharing our collective creativity together, we can challenge each other to stay creative, and to keep exploring new ways to be creative.

However, and here we hit an important warning: you must detach yourself from the desire to create for the sake of impressing others, especially strangers on social media. I firmly believe that one's own creative endeavours must fulfil themselves before they can be fulfilling to others. Labour without fulfilment is called having a job, and having a job without pay is servitude.

It is a difficult line to walk, I admit. I often feel dispirited and fail to share my creative work because I don't feel it's "good enough." But then some time later I revisit photos I’ve taken only to find that they trigger all sorts of emotions in me: from happiness to sadness, nostalgia to discontentment. These emotions remind me of the power of creative work to move us, and remind me to keep sharing my work with others.

6. Enjoy and indulge yourself in the process.

I believe that's is the most important task in all of this. It most often isn’t going to be easy, it may often be frustrating. But at the end of it all, it has to be enjoyable.

For me that means understanding the intricacies of a process, the ways in which it can go wrong, learning from mistakes, making plans for future attempts, and then trying again; These are all deeply enjoyable activities for me, and what gives meaning to the result. The understanding of why it works, what could be done differently, and experimenting with those ideas.

AI-slop apologists will say that the process is irrelevant if the result is aesthetic. How very convenient to them! To me this belief stems from two bad premises: firstly, these people believe art is entirely defined by the aesthetics of the product (and thus “never understood modern art”.) And secondly, they've probably never toiled over anything meaningful. These people tend to be the ultimate min-maxers in life, so it’s no surprise they’re fine with a system that gives them results at no cost to themselves. So why listen to these people? Keep being a creative.

I'm not here to claim this set of tasks will foil AI models forever. That's not the point – the point is to remain focused on the fact I am a creative person, that I enjoy being a creative person, and that sharing my creative work inspires other creative folks.

While I was writing this post, I very fortuitously I came across a blog post by Joan Westenberg that has a similar energy. She calls it "rebel optimism." I'm very happy to know other people share this rebel drive to not simply capitulate to this new reality or let it extinguish our drive to be who we want to be.

And I'm also sure a lot of this advice will become harder to adopt as new versions of the torment nexus are released, but we can burn that bridge when we get to it.

But then I remembered that the Z6 III is capable of pixel-shift super-resolution. I hadn't considered that feature for this purpose until now, but it seems perfect for the job.

For context: pixel-shift super resolution is a feature in some recent cameras that makes use of the vibration reduction actuators on the sensor to take several photos with the sensor at slightly different positions, just enough to capture light for the exact same spot from different sensor pixels, especially sensors behind different Bayer color filters. The different images are then combined to producer a higher resolution picture.

One of the drawbacks of this tech is that if anything moves in between the different shots of the series — even something as minimal as leafs on a tree swaying in the breeze — that motion will cause artifacts in the final image which look like RGB stripes and other such artifacts.

However, for scanning film this shouldn't be an issue, since the subject is already a static picture. Given enough light from a light table or scanning rig, this should be golden.

The setup I used was:

• Film scanning rig with lens ring adapter and 5000K light panel;
• AF-S Nikkor 105mm ƒ2.8 VR;
• 1/125s ƒ8 ISO 100;
• White Balance fixed at 5000K;
• Pixel-Shift mode set to 32 shots;
• Images combined, then color-inverted and -corrected on Nikon NX Studio, with resolution-priority noise-reduction setting;
• Combined 96MP image exported to Affinity Photo, where I fixed dust spots with the clone tool, and further tweaked white balance and levels to taste, then downscaled to 24MP;
• 24MP image exported to Apple Photos so same color adjustments that I had used on the lab scan could be applied, then both exported to JPG, which are the images you see below.

The results:

Lab Scanner	Nikon Z6 III

I'd say it was a success! Although digital cameras are not putting dedicated high-resolution scanners out of business anytime soon — especially since it's laborious to take photos and process them one by one, where the dedicated scanners can go through a whole roll of film in literally seconds — it is nice to be able to get something at a similar or higher level of quality for those slides/frames that deserve it.

Subjective differences aside (yes, color balance is subjective; yes, even on film once scanned; yes, you lab operator color-corrects all your scans by eye), I think the important differences here are sharpness and noise. However, I can't say for sure that the lab scan is not post-processed. That noise looks smeared to me, and I'm guessing it involves some downscaling and JPEG-ing.

That's one benefit of scanning it myself: I can decide how much noise I tolerate. That being said, I was hoping for less digital noise from a super-resolution composite, but I'm still happy with the results. It definitely looks sharper.

I'll certainly be using this technique to scan film in the future, and if I refine it further, I'll report on my findings.

• Nikon reopens its museum in Tokyo

Nikon had closed its impressive museum in February 2024 while relocating their HQ to a new location. Now the museum is open to visitors again at the new location in Nishioi, Tokyo. With the ongoing tourism boom in Japan, I'm sure this will be a required visit to many photography nerds.

• Recently unearthed footage of the fall of the Berlin Wall

ITN is a British broadcaster, and in 1989 it sent one of its crews to Berlin to observe the East German crisis as it was unfolding. This video is composed of 58 minutes of raw footage with no audio commentary, interspaced with title cards giving context to the events. The commotion is palpable, and incredibly, this includes some raw footage from East Germany (as well as West Germany.) Well-worth the watch.

• Cats are (almost) liquid! Research of self-representation in Cats

TikTok science in action! You've probably seen clips of pet owners challenging their cats to go to decreasingly small openings, but now it's been done by a scientist. I'm still not sure this research wasn't done tongue-in-cheek-ly by its authors, but it's still interesting to observe how other creatures perceive their own body sizes and shapes, and to demonstrate they're able to reason about themselves in this regard, even though they have no concept of measurements. A fun read!

• Thoughts on Physical Media

Gavin's thoughts on physical media resonate with me. I currently have a ~200 CD collection, plus some DVDs, BluRays, Vinyl Records, MDs, and Audio Cassettes. Although a lot of the MDs and cassettes I've collected were mostly out of curiosity, I still value owning the media in them. I've had stuff I "added to my library" in Apple Music disappear, either due to moving countries or due to copyright disputes, and it's always sad when that happens. For me, not owning at least my favorite albums is unconscionable, but I don't think that's the case at all for most people my age and younger.

• RomanNumeralKit

This library is sadly a few thousand years too late, but I'm sure the telephonum mobilis developers of the late Roman Empire would have considered it invaluable.

• Squadron 42 Live Gameplay Launch

Although I'm a big fan of Star Citizen and what Cloud Imperium Games has been doing, I have to admit I was never a big fan of shooters in general. Either on foot or in vehicles. Either on earth or in space. However, watching this gameplay footage (and we know it's real because it crashed a couple of times on the original live stream lol) I have to say I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The level of storytelling is beyond anything I've seen in the past 10 years (which is coincidentally how long this game has been under development), and (dare I say) better then many Sci-Fi movies. If you're at all into Sci-Fi, I thoroughly recommend giving this a watch, even if you have zero intent of eventually buying the game.

Ps.: I've been sorta short of things to write about in this blog, but still felt like writing something, and I miss this format from Blogs of yore. Will this be a new theme in this Blog? Only time will tell…

I could babble a lot about this here, but the jist of it is that there is so much music out there that to try to create any list of best/great/important/influential music will always leave out deserving mentions. And if it’s intended to be a recurring thing, well, this just moves the question to "why weren’t any of these part of last year’s one?"

So instead of just moaning about it, I decided to create my very own list. One more! How much harm could that bring. However, instead of highlighting what I believe (and yes, these are always subjective) to be the greatest albums, I’ll instead highlight albums that should simply be more widely known. I don’t intend to be prescriptive or thorough here, and I’m assuredly missing many, many more, but I think these are a good list to start with. (Yes, I might make more!)

10. E=MC² (1979) by Giorgio Moroder

If Donna Summer is the Queen of Disco, Giorgio Moroder is the Prince Consort. Not only Moroder produced some of the most iconic Disco tracks, but he also made some music himself. This album is energetic from start to finish, as a good Disco album should be. It also features many innovations for the time, such as being recorded and mixed entirely in the digital realm using Soundstream PCM. One aspect I love about this album is that it feels very measured. As soon as a track starts feeling “done”, the next one begins. Except maybe for the opening track, but I think that’s what opening tracks are for. A track to pay special attention to is #5 (In My Wildest Dreams), which has many aspects that sound decades ahead of its time, and in fact, I feel is the track that inspired Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories (2012).

9. You And Me Both (1983) by Yazoo

Often considered the lesser of the two albums put out by Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke’s wonderful duo, said to be because they were about to breakup (while some critics also disliked the first album – Upstairs At Eric’s – for being too early in their partnership – mind you this all happened in the space of one year), I believe this album is just as great as the first one. Topping a successful debut album is not an easy feat, and I think Yazoo definitely did that with their second album. It is just as full of introspective as well as energetic tracks, with lots of synth bits to catch your ear. The opening track is the bomb, but it’s also the only single from it, so also pay attention to #10 (Anyone), which proves that the only reason we don’t have more soulful electronic music is because we don’t want to. (Also worth mentioning that the North American release – under the group name Yaz – replaces the track Happy People with State Farm, which is one hell of a bop.)

8. Aliens Ate My Buick (1988) by Thomas Dolby

While the lead single from the album (Airhead) gets dangerously close to being problematic 36 years later (although I do believe Dolby saves his skin at the last minute with that closing verse), this entire album is full of tasty bops, one after another. The album was a commercial flop, but I attribute this entirely to the fact that a large portion of his fanbase was probably just stuck with the brainworms of his earlier hits She Blinded Me With Science and Hyperactive. Those were fine tracks, but Dolby was clearly evolving as a musician, ready to experiment (I love the jackhammer break in the middle of Hot Sauce) and also to pull from other world music influences. One track to pay special attention to is #6 (The Ability to Swing) which, once again, proves that the only reason we don’t have more soulful electronic music is because we don’t want to.

7. Soft Ware (2018) by NEWMEN

If the music player in Brian Eno’s hospital room was playing just a tiny tad louder, perhaps this is what could have come out. All joking aside, NEWMEN is out there writing timeless music today, that you can go and listen to right now. What I love the most about this album (and also their more recent release Futur II to an extent) is that I feel it inhabits the realm of trance music without being strictly trace music. It’s the kind of music that invades every little bit of empty space in your mind and takes you along in the journey without you having to make any effort. It’s the perfect album to play in your headphones while lounging on a pool chaise. It’s hard to pick just one song from this album, so check out two of them: #4 (Physique Pictorial) and #5 (Pool Day).

6. 21 at 33 (1980) by Elton John

The tricky thing with being an artist as successful as Elton John is that even a list of Top 10 Elton John Albums will necessarily miss many gems. This is definitely one of them. If any other artist had put this album anytime in the 1980s, it would have likely been a massive hit. Decidedly placed in between the Disco and Pop eras, this album is a superb mix of both, with tasteful licks in every track. It also includes what is likely the most upbeat song about cocaine ever written. But I think my favorite track, and the one to pay special attention to, is the closer: #10 (Give Me The Love). The fact Elton John never played songs from this album in live concerts after touring for it is a crime.

5. 左うでの夢 (1981) by Ryuichi Sakamoto

Hidari Ude No Yume or “Left-Handed Dream”

Called a “world-pop classic” by the Financial Times (that oughta count for something, right??), this album, which didn’t see a wide western issue until November 2020, is an ambitious mix of introspective and energetic tracks, often seamlessly transitioning between the two. It features a mix of Yellow Magic Orchestra’s characteristic Japanese influences with more world-oriented beats.
A track to pay special attention to is #3 (かちゃくちゃねぇ “Kachakucha Nee”), which features a sweet low frequency bass line – something that wouldn’t become a trendy thing in pop for another decade. The album closes with what can only be described as a cacophony of found sound effects, bowling balls rolling down an alley, monkey calls, steps through a corridor, the list goes on. Maybe it’s meant to represent the potential chaos that can ensue when the listener rushes to lift the damn needle off the runout groove.

4. Acabou Chorare (1972) by Novos Baianos

As the military dictatorship in power since 1964 squeezed the freedom of expression tighter with every passing day, popular music at the time took a toll. Although Bossa Nova may sound upbeat, most of its lyrics are as melancholic as any Portuguese Fado. By 1972, progressive musicians loosely organized under the label of “Tropicália” decided to do the same thing Bossa Novans had done one decade before and mix North American rhythms with Brazilian styles, but this time they’d take Rock’n’Roll rather than Jazz. Novos Baianos also decided to make their motive clear: Acabou Chorare translates to “No More Crying”. The album may feel like it takes a while to get going, but I think that’s the intention. They were - per se - winding up a massive cultural power once again. And it shows. This album was extremely influential in everything that came out of Brazilian music since. And because of that is also a great introduction to Brazilian sounds – other than Bossa Nova. A track to pay special attention to is #9 (Um Bilhete Para Didi), which shows off one of Brazil’s most energetic styles that isn’t samba: Baião.

3. To Know Without Knowing (2020) by Mulatu Astatke & Black Jesus Experience

This album contains Jazz that not only matches the level of all the gods of bop from the past century, but also goes well beyond it. And it doesn’t end there. This is also an album decidedly set in and around Ethiopian music, with its beautiful vocals and intricate poly-rhythms. Spare me the 30bpm trumpet solos, I like Jazz that I can dance to, and this is decidedly that. I think for a lot of young people, me inlcuded, it can feel like Jazz is something that happened, once upon a time, when in fact it is still happening. Lots of it! This album is a great intro to some of that. Once again, it’s hard to pick a single track to focus in this album, so mainly for the beautiful vocals, check out track #2 (Ambassa Lemdi).

Note: Depending on the version you get, the track listing might be different.

2. The Rhythm of the Saints (1990) by Paul Simon

After his (at the time) controversial trip to South Africa in the middle of the cultural embargo to create his most successful album Graceland (1986), Paul Simon looked for more world music to draw inspiration from, and he found it in Olodum and other African-rooted styles of Brazilian music. It was highly praised by critics at the time, and received multiple grammy nominations, but for some reason received very little airplay and is, thus, likely Paul Simon’s littlest-known album today. I find that to be an utter shame, since it is (in my opinion) his best album. Period. Not only because of the Brazilian music, which I love, but also because it is full of beautiful lyrics, and a truly symbiotic relationship with the styles he takes inspiration from. I believe every track in this album is perfect, but I’ll pick track #6 (She Moves On) as the one to pay special attention to.

1. Flaunt the Imperfection (1985) by China Crisis

I can’t even count how many times I’ve caught myself humming, singing, recalling the lyrics, or just simply thinking about this album. There is a certain maturity in the music present here that is hard to come by, then and now. The songs talk about relationships, the feeling of belonging, human conflicts, and sharing the world we have. All that underlaid by extremely tasteful music, produced by none other than Walter Becker. I’d even go as far as to say that China Crisis is what you’d get if you took Steely Dan, subtracted the snark, added Clarice Lispector, and sprinkled in some well-measured synthesizers. A track to pay special attention to is #6 (Gift of Freedom), which sounds just as topical today as it was when it was composed. It also proves that even brassy synth sounds can sound delightful in the right hands.

add new material to or regularly update a blog: it's about a week since I last blogged.

Seems straightforward in theory, but as clearly demonstrated by the very specimen you are currently reading, it is far from it.

I've been pushing myself to read more blogs in the past months, and although I haven't yet formed any sort of routine around it, I have found the experience very enlightening in one surprising way: each person's blog is truly unique.

I have always had this impression I could never make a good blogger. As I stumble across different people's posts through aggregators and social media, they all seem so focused and, most importantly, prolific.

I could never write like that, I would often say to myself.

But then one thing happened:

Time.

And by this I don't intend to imply age automatically brings any wisdom or depth. As regularly exemplified by our favorite man-child zillionaire, far from it.

But you do get to notice a lot of stuff just by merely… being alive. And online. And reading.

What I realized reading more blog posts is that… I've been blogging this whole time, just not on my blog. Many people use their blogs to share links to things they found online, to share something that happened to them, a photo, etc.

And the realization – which came almost as an epiphany – was that I've been using social media for these things this whole time.

Now, experienced readers may be shaking their heads at this very moment and quietly murmuring under their breath…

it's called micro-blogging for a reason, you idiot

And you'd be right! It was there the whole time. But I think the core of this epiphany is the realization I had never given those tweets (then) and toots (now) any deep thought – err… except maybe on how memetic they'd be, fine, I grant you that.

And the inevitable conclusion from that epiphany was that I had this assumption that blog posts needed any deep thought to begin with. As if they're all essays waiting to be graded by the collective netizenry. (We all know this isn't that far from the truth though.)

Which is why the only blog post I ever wrote which survived all the iterations of this website is a (now outdated) tutorial.

But the fact is, none of it matters. None of the blogs really matter. Yes, not even Gruber's. That's not why they exist. They exist because humans are prolific blabbers, and because we can only babble to our peers for so long before they tell us to shut-up.

So babble away. In an age where the internet is already choking with AI-generated crap it's never mattered more (or less, depending on your leanings in life.)

And to finish this very babble, as @mia@front-end.social recently tooted:

You're allowed to post on your blog once every decade, and you don't even need to apologize for it. That's also part of having your own space.

Personal sites aren't a competition, and productivity doesn't have to be a metric.

This is my own space, and I'll babble blog to my liking.

Now does that mean I'll post here more often? We'll see. Check back in another 6 years.

– Bruno

First some details about my installation. I am currently running VestaCP version 0.9.8, release 19. It uses Apache for virtual domains and Nginx as reverse proxy (what actually serves each domain publicly), on a fresh install of CentOS 7.4.

Depending on your installation, this tutorial might not work, but it might at least point you towards the right direction.

Summary

In this tutorial I will explain:

1. How to find your public IPv6 address.
2. How to check if your DNS entries for IPv6 were setup correctly.
3. How to customize VestaCP configuration files without risk of overwrites or corruptions.
4. How to test the configuration files of Nginx and Apache for syntax errors without restarting their services.
5. How to test if IPv6 traffic routes to your server properly.

Setting up the DNS

Before we even start, we need to make sure the DNS records are set up correctly. VestaCP can’t see the IPv6 assigned to your machine, so you need to find this out yourself.

One way to do this is by running ip -6 addr on your shell. In my case this was the output:

$ ip -6 addr
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 state UNKNOWN qlen 1
    inet6 ::2/128 scope global 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 state UP qlen 1000
    inet6 2a03:b0c0:2:d0::625:d001/64 scope global 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::7c8b:b3ff:fe39:c2e2/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: eth1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 state UP qlen 1000
    inet6 fe80::c60:d5ff:fe07:db29/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

In my case I know my public interface is the one labeled eth0, but I can rule out the first one, since it is a LOOPBACK interface, and also the third one, because it starts with fe80, which means it is a local interface address. Therefore my public IPv6 is 2a03:b0c0:2:d0::625:d001.

With that in mind, all I had to do was setup two DNS AAAA entries in my host provider (one for the domain itself, and one for the www subdomain). A DNS AAAA entry behaves exactly like a A entry, except it indicates an IPv6 address instead of an IPv4. The way you setup these entries depends on your hosting provider, so reach out to them if you can’t figure out how to do it.

I can test my DNS entries work by running dig bruno.ph AAAA on a shell in any machine connected to the internet:

$ dig bruno.ph AAAA | grep bruno.ph
; <<>> DiG 9.9.4-RedHat-9.9.4-51.el7_4.2 <<>> bruno.ph AAAA;
bruno.ph.           IN  AAAA
bruno.ph.   1800    IN  AAAA    2a03:b0c0:2:d0::625:d001

Setting up Nginx

One important detail of running a control panel software like VestaCP is that most of the configuration files for the server software are automatically generated, and any changes you make to them will be overwritten when you make any changes from the control panel, or worse, will cause these files to be corrupted, causing your server software to fail launching. We want to avoid this possibility, and thankfully VestaCP is a very versatile software that provides methods of customizing the configuration files without risk.

In our case, the Nginx configuration files have hooks for extra configuration files that you can place in the same directory in order to customize them. If you read the contents of the configuration file for a certain domain, you will see near the end of the file that it includes any files with a certain prefix. For example, in the case of my domain bruno.ph, the configuration file ~/conf/web/bruno.ph.nginx.conf includes the following line:

include /home/<USERNAME>/conf/web/nginx.bruno.ph.conf*;

This means any file that matches that prefix will be included in the scope of that server configuration. So I created the file /home/<USERNAME>/conf/web/nginx.bruno.ph.conf.ipv6 with the following contents:

listen [2a03:b0c0:2:d0::625:d001]:80;

Next I repeated the process by looking for the include prefix in the SSL version of the configuration file, creating the file /home/<USERNAME>/conf/web/snginx.bruno.ph.conf.ipv6 (notice the s prefix in the filename) with the following contents:

listen [2a03:b0c0:2:d0::625:d001]:443;

Next, I tested the configuration files by running the Nginx tester tool nginx -t:

$ nginx -t
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

This is an important step, as a syntax error in these files will cause the nginx restart to fail, and your server to go down! Thus make sure to run this tool every time you make changes to config files.

As a sidenote, Apache also has a config tester tool. Just run apachectl configtest.

Knowing the config file is good, we simply need to run service nginx restart to restart the server with the new settings.

Testing IPv6 routing

If you are unsure whether your have IPv6 enabled in your own device, you can visit ip6.nl to find out. That page will show the IPv6 routing capabilities of your own connection. In my case, my ISP does not yet provide IPv6 connectivity at all, therefore I can’t test if IPv6 works myself. However that website also provides domain readiness tests, so all you have to do is fill your own domain the filed under the label "test the IPv6 readiness of an internet domain" and it will test the IPv6 capabilities of your server. In my case, everything works fine!

That concludes this tutorial. Hopefully this helps you setup your own VestaCP installation to accept IPv6 traffic!