paperclip

[Joan Marie]

Some of you may have noticed that at the bottom of the message every day for "Today's card" there is an emoji.

I don't remember how or why I started doing that, but I do try to use one that has something to do with the message for the day.

That connection isn't always really clear, but it always makes sense to me. BTW- I always choose the emoji last. It always comes as a surprise to me.

The one I used today, I would like to explain because it was especially perfectly matched to the message.

here is the message:

Look beyond the obvious.

An object or tool presents itself simply for the simple.

Find another way to use it, another way to see it.
See the possibilities in it that others don't.

And the emoji I used was this:

Let me explain.
I had a friend who took a test to join a craftsman's guild of set designers for the film industry.
One of the things on the test was,

Make a list of all the things you could do with a paperclip.

I love this question. My friend was obsessed by it and was constantly thinking of new things a paperclip could be used for.

What made me think of this whole thing today is that there is a website people are getting obsessed with that generates digital art based on a keyword you enter. There are a lot of opinions about it. I have several myself. But today it occured to me that everyone I've seen use it so far is just accepting the AI's art as the finished piece. But consider just taking that as a starting point and then making something with it, using the AI generated art as a starting point for an original piece.

here is the website if you haven't seen it:
https://app.wombo.art/

[Ciderwell]

here is the website if you haven't seen it:
https://app.wombo.art/

On a related subject, recently I used the random arpeggiator tool in FL Studio to generate some inspiration. After some trimming and deleting and tidying up the excess notes I was left with a, potentially not too bad, tune. (..the arpeggio being the top two tracks that look like a star pattern.)

I've been working on this piece of music for a couple of weeks now and it's usually around this time that the composition starts to collapse in on itself, like a failed soufflé. I've been using FL Studio music production software for more years than I care to mention, as I've still yet to complete a musical piece.

Anyway, I'll use the wombo art to see if it will help get me to the end of the song. The prompt was Arpeggio, and for the time being I've named the song, Transmission.
Interesting that the generated picture looks like a battleship ... with a Tower

[Pen]

Being a curious soul, I googled Crom!? without success, so decided to see if wombo had any insights. I used the dark fantasy filter because it seemed like the name of some strange entity. This is what appeared...

[Joan Marie]

I put in Frank Sinatra and got these:

Somehow they work as a series.

[Ciderwell]

I used the dark fantasy filter because it seemed like the name of some strange entity.

That's actually quite close, of sorts. Crom is the Cimmerian God of steel,
in Robert E. Howard's Conan stories.

It's also a half-baked anagram of Omicron, the new Covid variant!

[Pen]

Wombo's Crom does seem to have a sword, and some of the shapes in the background and around him look crystalline.

Frank Sinatra reminds me of paintings by Francis Bacon. I went to the Tate Gallery with the school when I was about 12 and wandered off alone into a room containing a gigantic screaming monstrosity. I wondered then about the future of art.

Frank Sinatra's wombo is clearly based on programming - I think it's likely that the literary Crom is also in their algorithm/database or wherever information is held.



Does physically created art have a future ? Perhaps we should ask the tarot...

[Thelder]

But consider just taking that as a starting point and then making something with it, using the AI generated art as a starting point for an original piece.

This is an excellent idea. Some of the images that it generated would have been the starting point for some really cool looking tarot cards.

I've been having trouble deciding on an image to use as an Avatar, so I might type my forum name in under some of the different categories to see if anything interesting gets generated.

Just out of curiosity, I typed in the term for "Artificial Intelligence" to see what the program's concept of self might be, and it produced the following image, which I think is quite beautiful:

[Charlie Brown]

FL_Transmission.jpg

Well, since the topic has shifted into digital audio production, I'll mention that I just released some Christmas music on bandcamp. Real chill and moody kind of stuff.

https://alantormey.bandcamp.com/album/c ... -the-bells

[Thelder]

I had an additional thought about this AI program:

I wonder if a program like this could be adapted for use in paranormal investigations. I recall seeing investigators use a program that forms what look like stick figures with dots when in the presence of certain phenomena.

It would be interesting to feed data from devices that measure things like variations in temperature and electromagnetic fields into such an AI program to see what type of images it might extrapolate from that data. I would imagine that an AI program like this could render far more detail from a cold spot than just the traditional patch of blue on a thermal camera.

It has been quite some time since I have watched a paranormal investigation program, so for all I know, they may already be using AI programs like this. It would be interesting to hear from someone who has experience in the field of paranormal research.

[Pen]

Thelder wrote:

It would be interesting to feed data from devices that measure things like variations in temperature and electromagnetic fields into such an AI program to see what type of images it might extrapolate from that data

It would be like a sort of AI synaesthesia - turning one sort of sensory input into a different output.

Wombo could be also be used as an oracle or tarot by typing in a short question and reading the image that appears.

I might try this later...

[Ciderwell]

FL_Transmission.jpg

https://alantormey.bandcamp.com/album/carol-of-the-bell

Those are really good songs you've made CB. And so well produced - much better than I could manage.
I tried not to listen until I'd arranged more than 2 minutes of the song I'm currently working on. But then I've had to put on hold for a day or two as my guitar (Kay ET-100) broke down and needs repairing. Which is also a good window of opportunity to upgrade to an ET-200 (two pickups).

Anyway I listened and enjoyed.

Woke up in the middle of the night from an odd dream with the FL_Transmission playing inside my head. Then it suddenly changed, just like shifting gear, and I heard how I can break the 2 minute loop I'm currently stuck in. Terrific!!!

Thanks