Powers of Ten + Chicane…
…equals AWESOME. (Unbiased opinion from me, even though I made this.)
This is the core of the short film Powers of Ten (1977) by Charles and Ray Eames. I cut the opening titles and end credits in order to have a nicely-framed union with the music (i.e., neither extend beyond the other’s boundaries except to the closing title card). Other than trimming it and a slight fade-in at the beginning, no other edits were performed; no change to the tempo/frame rate, etc. (Despite appearances, I manipulated the music, not the other way around). The original audio of the film was removed which consisted of narration and some rather dated music. Please see the original film (copies are available elsewhere on YouTube) as it describes much of what you are seeing and (at the extremes in particular) probably not taking in unless you are well-versed in multiple science disciplines.
The music is a somewhat expanded mix of Empires by electronic artist Chicane (aka Nick Bracegirdle). I extended the track in several spots to get it to fall on the visual cues (e.g., it goes down-tempo as the pull-back winds down, etc.). I’m new at this so there are a few noticeable splices in the mix where I built bridges out of scraps sampled from elsewhere in the original track, but there are a couple spots where I hear splices in the original recording, and these are in areas that I didn’t even touch, so good luck guessing which are mine if you’ve never heard this piece before.
Dieting
A few years back I found myself piling on the weight. I was up perhaps as much as 40lbs over where I am at the moment. I couldn’t tell you where I topped out because, like a lot of people who end up out of control, I never wanted to weigh myself during that time.
I took it off, obviously, but I never had a diet plan exactly. Instead, I fundamentally changed what I bought, what I ate, and how I lived my life.
If you are in a position where you need to trim down, hopefully some of these can help you as well:
Never eat French fries. They’re the devil. I’m serious. I flat-out stopped getting the combo meal after I read this: http://gladwell.com/2001/2001_03_05_a_fries.htm
There’s such a thing as leftovers. Odds are, you’re eating to finish the plate. What’s on your plate is more salient to most folks than what your stomach is telling you. Get a “to go” box instead of forcing it. It’ll keep. Really.
Eat everything in the house. Okay, this sounds counter-intuitive, but here’s the plan: Don’t buy any more food until you’ve eaten all of what you’ve bought over the years. You know how you buy things thinking you’ll get around to making them, but you never do? I refer to those lapses as investing in frozen assets. It’s a waste of money, and clearing out the back of the freezer and pantry will mean you’re eating things that you probably aren’t going to gorge yourself on… else you would have eaten them already.
Don’t eat until you’re hungry. This ought to be common sense, but some senses are less subtle than others. A lot of the time you find yourself eating because you’re bored or a snack is something that represents a break in your schedule. Instead, stop and listen to your body. Before you get up to grab a bite, ask your stomach if it wantssomething to eat or if it needs something to eat.
Stop eating your favorite food. It’s that simple, and it’s the single most effective strategy. Whatever that happens to be, it’s probably the worst thing for you and you eat more of it than anything else. For me, it was Skittles and chocolate chip cookies. I simply decided that was the end of them. I stopped buying them, and I stopped gaining weight… and then lost most of it.
