KingAnt.netpersonal website of Mark DolinerSkip to content← Older postsAssorted music suggestionsPosted on 2019-07-17 by Mark DolinerNPR hosts things called “Tiny Desk concerts” about twice a week. A band or musician plays a short set of 3 or 4 songs in the NPR office and they post it on YouTube. The quality is high and I’ve found it to be a great way to learn about new music. Some examples:GoGo Penguin has a fantastic sound and is amazing to watch. It’s great background music for programming.I’ve known about Tegan and Sara for a while but hadn’t spent much time listening to them. Their Tiny Desk concert is great. I very much prefer their stripped down performances to the versions on their albums. “Living Room” live on KEXP in 2012 is also great.Sylvan EssoNow, NowAlt-J has been on Tiny Desk twice, first in 2012 then again in 2017. I’d heard of them before, but I wasn’t a fan until I listened to them on Tiny Desk.Khruangbin has a wicked groove.Camp Cope. I love their sound, though I see how it might not be for everyone.From the NPR Music YouTube channel but not Tiny Desk, I love Lake Street Dive playing “Baby Don’t Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts”Unrelated to Tiny Desk I recently stumbled upon the early Cranberries song “Íosa” and I love it. Also this early Cranberries performance is mesmerizing. If you’re not sure whether you want to watch the whole thing then I recommend skipping to 3:38 because the second song is more lively. It’s crazy how young Dolores O’Riordan looks.Three other amazing non-Tiny Desk performances:Imogen Heap performing “Just for Now” in 2006 a cappella with looping.Yasmin Williams playing “GuitKa”.Yasmin Williams playing “Restless Heart”.Posted in All|Leave a commentLaptop shoppingPosted on 2019-07-05 by Mark DolinerI bought a laptop four months ago. A 13″ MacBook Air with Retina display, 16 GB memory and 256 GB SSD.I was laptopless after leaving Honor. I have a great desktop but I knew a laptop would be useful during our move from California to North Carolina. I’m a thorough shopper. I investigate every option and circle in until I find the best choice. I wanted to record my notes for my own sake, but also I thought it could potentially be useful to someone else.Screen sizeThis was a big factor. Smaller is nice because it’s light and portable. Bigger is nice if you use the laptop a lot or it’s important to have multiple windows open side by side. I’d been using a laptop with a 15.4″ screen and it was fine. I knew I didn’t want anything much bigger than that. I didn’t intend to use the laptop for programming full time, so a smaller screen would be fine. But how small? I visited a local Best Buy to see a bunch of screen sizes in person. 13.3″ felt a little small. 14″ was good, though still on the small size. My sweet sp