Patterns Are Not A Buzzword

buzz·word

1. A word or phrase connected with a specialized field or group that usually sounds important or technical and is used primarily to impress laypersons: “‘Sensitivity’ is the buzzword in the beauty industry this fall” (ADWEEK).
2. A stylish or trendy word or phrase.
3. a word or phrase that is frequently used because of its importance or popularity especially among a certain age-group or profession

   Example: `Recycling’ is the new buzzword.

I’m kinda poking fun at a coworker here with this.  He didn’t specifically say that “Strategy”, “State”, “Supervising Controller” or anything like that was a buzzword, but I recall he did say “Open-Closed Principle” (which is, of course, a principle of OO, not a design pattern) is a buzzword, or something like that.

Patterns are not buzzwords.  At least not in the way that I think of what a buzzword is.  I did find a source that defines buzzword as “a word or phrase, often sounding authoritative or technical, that is a vogue term in a particular profession, field of study, popular culture, etc.”  But what it neglates to elaborate on is the fact that buzzwords have a lifespan.  They are short-lived in their meanings, usually no longer than a few years.  Software design patterns do not fit that category.  They are long lasting, have concrete definitions and stand as a solid form of communication in the industry.

I’ve heard on occasion people call patterns, practices or principles buzzwords.  In fact, they are not.  They are a form of communication amongst a group of people, in this case, developers and even managers, to simplify and create more effective communication.  A common and efficient language is critical to a properly built and well oil development machine.

Its so much easier to say “I’m going to decorate this class.” than it is to say “I’m going to add some sort of dynamic functionality to this class.”  Ok, not too bad.  But now, how about take something common like a factory pattern.  Yeah, NOW how much easier is it to say that you’re going to implement a factory pattern, rather than go all out and talk about how you’re going to be designing an interface for creating objects, but your implementation is going to be allowing subclasses to make the decisions on which actual instances of classes they want to create.  If someone tells me template, I know what they are talking about without further explanation.

Its important to know and understand design patterns, otherwise when someone else tells you they are going to implement a strategy and get rid of the switch statements, you might be uneasy about what it about to happen if you don’t understand what they are talking about.  The best way to learn them is to write code.

Yao: Plaintain

With an eclectic, densely-layered soundscape featuring everything from re-mixed 70s-era funk guitar over 90s beats to ominous and weird Kool Keith-style sounds, Oakland-based DJ Yao is very much a product of his generation—in the very best of ways. His recently-released debut album, Plaintain is Public, is a seamless trip through different moods and genres, “each track a vignette or short story,” according to the press release.

But those looking for mellow background noise won’t find it on Plaintain; even traditional Latin music gets reworked and chopped under Yao’s hand and he splices in dialogue sampled from films and found sounds, just to name a few of his techniques. The frenetic stops and starts as well as the fluency of his widely diverse references are more hints at the young producer’s age, which is to say that Yao’s album feels fresh and intelligent, the result of a broad range of influences skillfully mixed into a cohesive and energetic whole. Pick it up from Solos, the SF-based label Yao helps run.

McRussian Happy Meal

LibraryThing’s UnSuggester

LibraryThing has a feature called UnSuggester…just put in a book you dislike and it’ll return suggestions of stuff you might be interested in instead. Here’s what to read if you’re not a fan of Atlas Shrugged…#3 on the list is Advanced Perl Programming.

Anti-Drug Puppet Show Remixed Into Stoner Video

This is an old Anti-Drug PSA from TVOntario, it somehow found its way to a Boston public library, where a couple of amateur film makers remixed and recut it into the most surreal thing I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if it’s quite so satisfying to someone who didn’t grow up with TVOntario’s shows. This runs a little long — as does most surrealism — but it has moments of pure stoner brilliance.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Slayer Fans Rock The House (Of Representatives)

Here’s an actual screenshot from The New York Times website tonight. A divided congress? More like a SLAYER congress. 

Ah, but if Congress only had *half* as much of a pulse as this photo suggests. The Times has corrected the mixup, and in this photo’s place, you’ll now see a shot of Speaker Nancy Pelosi waving what might just be the corna handsign at fellow heshers.

Inspired Hip-Hop Album Covers

It doesn’t matter how many Casio beats Southern hip-hop throws at us, rap music is, and will always be about sampling. And since sampling is the rap way-of-life, it’s only natural to extend it from another artist’s album to another artist’s album art. Some designers sample album art from the same pool of musicians that producers sample from; others even pay cover-art homage to other rappers. Consider it the album-art version of Premo scratching someone else’s lyrics for a Gangstarr chorus.

Inspired album covers are often more interesting than the typical artist/posse/expensive car photo – mainly because the artist’s choice of inspiration says more about them than any ice-grill full of fronts ever could. Sure, the Beatnuts sample Blue Note records – but from their album covers, you get the sense they wish they could’ve made Blue Note Records, as well. Others choose giants of black music to emulate, thereby linking themselves to a lineage of black artistic genius. Whether the artists doing the emulating are geniuses themselves isn’t for us to say. More interesting still are the bevy of covers inspired by ‘60s-era classic rock – a genre you think would be the polar opposite of rap music.

Sure, inspired covers aren’t original – but are one million and one hard-posing “gangstas” any more creative? Given the choice between the two, I’d prefer some insight into an artist’s musical mind and taste-leanings everyday.

Interestingly enough, while inspired rap album covers are common, there aren’t very many you’d classify as “parody”. Perhaps because parody is humour – and as we know in hip hop, ain’t a damn thing funny!

Blue Note Records

Rappers often make bad choices, but sampling Blue Note–their records and their sleeves– ain’t one of ‘em. Blue Note sleeves are legendary for their simplicity and cool-ass design aesthetic, and it’s only natural that Blue Note-sampling artists wanted to borrow that vibe. Most are paying homage (J-Live, Guru), while others are a little more meticulous in their outright jacking (Beatnuts, Atmosphere). Either way, at least you’re jacking something with style and class. And if you recognized the inspiration behind these covers, consider that a savvy/coolness point.

JazzyRockinFunkadelicSoulMusic

Often rappers align themselves to the great tradition of black popular music that preceded them. And in many cases, the artist inspiring the cover also provided the rapper’s samples. Redman, and producer Erick Sermon, have made a living off of P-Funk samples, so extending the privilege to album art isn’t a stretch. Bootcamp’s Tek & Steele weren’t content just sampling Roy Ayers’ music, another of rap’s most sampled, they thought his cover concept was dope enough to restage. Camp Lo jacked Marvin for his album cover and also their fashion steez – right from the jam going on in the sleeve. Above all, though, these artists are giving credit where it is due – even if today’s audience doesn’t see the connection.

Rappers

This segment is a little harder to understand. In much the same manner that rappers pay respect to the artists they sample, perhaps this is a way of honoring their rap influences and peers. Or, they didn’t have any ideas. In Consequence’s case, he jacks one of rap’s most famous and recognizable covers – of an album he appeared on, no less! I guess he thought Tribe just had it goin’ on. The X-Ecutioners are acknowledging one of the most important rap groups of all time, if not one of the world’s best album covers. In the RZA/Fingaz case, the original inspiration actually lies in the sleeve of the Cotton Comes to Harlem soundtrack, by Galt MacDermot. The RZA obviously liked the concept so much he commissioned comics god Bill Sienkiewicz, who also did EPMD’s Business as Usual, to emulate it. DJ Fingaz decides to split the difference, using elements of both to acknowledge one of rap’s sources and one of its pioneers.

The Lions

Without a commercial recording or even a live gig—at last count their newest song on Myspace has only logged seven plays, at least three of which I can personally take responsibility for—The Lions are newly signed to Ubiquity Records, have an album scheduled for release this year, and are packing Afro-Caribbean soul heat. The Lions is the latest project of Los Angeles-based trumpeter/arranger Todd Simon, who has had a hand (and a horn) in a lot of funky places, from Brooklyn’s Antibalas (whose record release party The Lions are debuting at) to LA’s Breakestra, Madlib, Quantic Soul Orchestra, and more. A melting pot of players from the cross-pollenated underbelly of Hollywood soul, the ensemble effort borrows piecemeal from the Rebirth, Plant Life, and even the not-so-underbellyish Macy Gray.

The production style stays faithful to the heyday of Studio and Channel One, but the songs are hybrids of reggae and its precursor, rock-steady, with Ethiopian jazz and funk as well. A version of Lyn Collins’ feminist-funk classic, “Think,” is a poignant tribute to the late James Brown, who, strangely enough, wrote the tune.

Drug Marketing As Art

New York artist Justine Cooper’s latest project is a brilliant faux marketing campaign for an imaginary drug called HAVIDOL (avafynetyme HCl). The magic blue pill treats Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder. It’s available in 20mg tablets and suppositories. The “HAVIDOL: When More Is Not Enough” comprehensive marketing campaign exists as a Web site and gallery installation at the Daneyal Mahmood Gallery in NY.

“Everyone should be able to live life to its fullest. I used to believe I did. I felt confident in myself, and my relationships. I exercised regularly. I slept quietly through every night, and awoke each morning feeling refreshed and ready to start a new day. I now know I had a treatable disorder…”

From the artist’s statement:

“HAVIDOL taps into our collective desire and expectation that there is always room for improvement, while walking the line between poking fun at ourselves and wondering how to obtain a prescription. The marketing message leaves us with the sense that we are never good enough, nor have enough. Are we a society of hypochondriacs, or are we biologically built and genetically urged to out-compete our peers and former selves? Cooper’s works on exhibition comment on our temperamental relationship to western medicine, built upon the idea of a malfunctioning body or mind, and the yearning to believe everyday life can be remedied.”