Ken's Blog

There is a Delmore Schwartz short story with the title “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities”. The story itself is deep and profound, and I encourage you to read it.

But I have always found the title alone to be deeply moving. As each of us begins to understand and develop our own unique power to contribute to the world, we have a responsibility to use that power well.

In a sense, we are each in a deal with God (or whatever you want to call it). We’ve been given a gift, we repay that gift by using it.

For some of us, this begins with a demo. We show the world that something is possible, and by doing so we are floating something new out into that world.

That act of creation is not free. It also creates an obligation on our part.

We also need to help usher that little idea out of the nest, until it can find its own wings and fly. In demos begin responsibilities.

I finally saw The Odyssey. It is indeed every bit as good as the hype.

I can understand why it is breaking box office records. It is extraordinary even by Christopher Nolan’s high standards.

This is one of those movies that people will still be watching many years from now.

I know a person who gives names to everything. So I started to wonder: Is there a name for the phenomenon of giving names to everything?

I asked the AI built into my web browser, but it had no clue. So even the AIs are stumped by this one.

I wonder if there is a name for that.

It turns out that taking one day off is not enough, after an event as crazy and exhausting as the SIGGRAPH conference.

So I am taking a second day off to fully recharge my batteries.

I tell myself this will make me incredibly productive in the days and weeks that follow.

This may just be just an illusion. But then again, isn’t all of computer graphics an illusion?

Sometimes taking a day to do absolutely nothing can be the most productive strategy.

I am having a very productive day today.

Many years ago I happened to be coming home from a long evening of computer graphics production work. I was crossing Park Ave near 34th St at around 3am when I saw, to my surprise, that people had picnic tables set up, as though they were waiting for a show to start.

So I stuck around to see what would happen. After about ten minutes there came a parade of elephants, slowly making their way across town.

I realized that the circus must be in town, and that the elephants, who had probably come off a boat at the East River, were heading to Madison Square Garden. That is not a sight you would ever see today.

They were traveling in size order, from largest to smallest, each elephant’s trunk holding onto the tail of the elephant in front of them. At the very end of the procession was the cutest little baby elephant.

After about ten minutes the entire herd had crossed Park Avenue, and the show was over. Everyone started to pack up and fold their picnic tables, and we all headed home.

The parade was now a memory.

I ran into a person I had been hoping for months to meet, but didn’t think I would be able to.

It was as though fate at decided to step in and say “Okay, he’s waited long enough, give him a break.”

I am not exactly sure how all of that works. But thanks fate! 🙂

Usually when I give a talk, something goes wrong. The nature of what goes wrong can very widely.

Sometimes I forget to include something. Other times I try to do live coding and I just screw it up.

Then there are the times when I realize, only after I am in front of a live audience, that there is something wrong in the content of my talk itself. Of course by then it is too late to do anything about it.

The good thing about something going wrong during a talk is that it gives me work to do. As soon as the talk ends, I realize that there is something I need to fix, and I get right down to work proceeding to fix it.

Today I gave a talk at the ACM/SIGGRAPH conference, and nothing went wrong. It all went just great, in every way, from start to finish.

So now I have no idea what I’m supposed to work on next.

I am about to watch the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater. It is something I only get to do once a year, and it is one of my favorite things.

You should always do things that make you happy. 🙂

Today’s first day of the SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference coincided with the World Cup final. I saw an attendee wearing a world cup shirt.

Trying to think of something relevant to day about the games, I said “No matter who wins today, the winner will be a Spanish speaking country.”

With a look of complete distain he replied “If it’s Argentina, then they will barely be speaking Spanish.” I realized in that moment which team he was rooting for.

Later in the day I saw the same man again. He looked very happy, and I and congratulated him. He said “I hope nobody minds that I missed a few sessions today.”

“I don’t think anyone will mind,” I said sympathetically. “After all, there are priorities.”