Thank you

If you’re reading this, thank you. Thank you for still being here after this unexplained lull of the past several months. I’d like to finally explain what I’ve been doing and the state of Think or Smile.

I started blogging as a way to process and share all the things I enjoy. It’s helped me grow tremendously and understand why I loved them in the first place. It’s opened doorways and seeded friendships that I hadn’t foreseen as even possible when this began over 2 years ago.

With growth comes change, you’ve no doubt noticed the slow down in activity. It’s not due to lack of interest but more so a period of hibernation as I refocused and rethought where I fit in the broader art/music/internet community. This began as a collection, I simply curated a space I liked being in. When that wasn’t quite enough I tried my hand at creating for it. That felt right. Not long after, I started collaborating with others, which made even more sense to me.

Through this I met Dave Sutton, who is behind the blog Stadiums & Shrines. We must have crossed paths in a past life. I have no other way of explaining how quickly our friendship developed. We realized early on we shared a vision within the arts and have since been collaborating in various ways behind the scenes, with the eventual goal of working together.

That time has finally come, as we are officially joining together under the S&S banner.

Many months have been spent re-envisioning S&S, visually and conceptually. It builds on the foundation of music set by Dave and puts more of an emphasis on the arts as a whole, exploring the spaces of overlap. Spaces built of collaboration.

One such place is Dreams, a new ongoing feature that brings together image, sound and word. For over a year now, I’ve been working on a series of place specific, black and white collages. We’ll be releasing them one by one as they are scored by artists. Each collage will also be written for as Dave takes them deeper with short prose. I’ll elaborate more on these in the future.

While these collages are static images I couldn’t help but bring them to life as part of their introduction:

Headphones, fullscreen, HD recommended. Sound design: M.Sage

As for the future of Think or Smile, it will certainly continue on but with a new focus. It will no longer be a general arts blog. I feel the time has come for me to focus on creating my own art rather than blogging. That said, I do plan to start sharing more of my work—process, collabs, thought, finished pieces—the stuff I’ve kept relatively private thus far. I plan to make it more personal and less heavy handed.

Some of the features that I’ve started here will find new homes. Musical Eyes will take on a new life as part of the new S&S. The Free Music Collection will find a new home as well, it will be in good hands.

I couldn’t be more excited about the road ahead. I hope you’ll join Dave, Vic and I on our journey as S&S. As well as continue to explore with me here.

Much love,
Nathaniel

A Conversation with Ray Bradbury

Words to absorb.

Mr. Bradbury, I hope you enjoy the next journey as much as this one.

Love.

BECAUSE my hands hear the flowers thinking

I scooped up the moon’s footprints but
The ground climbed past with a sky
And a dove and a bent vapor.
The other half of cling together wove by
In the breath of the willows; fall in
Sang eagle ox ferret and emerald arch.
O we, too, must learn to live here;
To use what we are. O fall in now!
For only love is community! Of various likenesses, none
Unless one love! In the lionleaf, the sonshade
Spreading over a father’s road! When we love,
God thinks in us. And in that home-going time,
We see with the eyes of grass; and in the trees
Hear our own voices speak! So gently, gently, I say
That sleep is the secret-releasing key to this world.
Our lives are watching us—but not from earth.

- Kenneth Patchen

From We Meet.

Archifon: Interactive virtual musical instrument

Chapel architecture. Lasers. Ones and zeros, and human interactivity. Are these makings of live music performance of the future? Quite possibly, yes.

And if Tomaš Dvořák (Floex) and Dan Gregor (Initi) have any say, the future is here.

Light

Nature is capable of more than we apprehend. We take for granted many things because they have originated outside of our understanding—they simply have always been. What if they began to take on new forms, sought new molds to fill? Would we take action or watch what we know evanesce?