Matthew
@mdthk.bsky.social
Strums Strings. Hong Kong, sometimes Japan and the USA.
Massive Tai Po Building fire...
November 26, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Massive Tai Po Building fire...
Glad for the rain, hopefully will help end the hill fire near Tsz Shan Monastery (took this morning of 4 Nov 2025).
November 4, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Glad for the rain, hopefully will help end the hill fire near Tsz Shan Monastery (took this morning of 4 Nov 2025).
Yes, we're happy to show you that faculty page, but it will cost you some cookies, some for essential uses, some for non-essential uses. You know, but for sure you're gonna love the page—and the 🍪
October 28, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Yes, we're happy to show you that faculty page, but it will cost you some cookies, some for essential uses, some for non-essential uses. You know, but for sure you're gonna love the page—and the 🍪
I expect to constantly need to login to @newyorker.com, but got seasick trying to read this (needed to export as PDF). Feels like a 1997 Geocities plugin is running the site...
October 28, 2025 at 3:41 AM
I expect to constantly need to login to @newyorker.com, but got seasick trying to read this (needed to export as PDF). Feels like a 1997 Geocities plugin is running the site...
Educators: The "craft" mindset vs. the tech mindset celebrating frictionless "slop". Your students feel this—it's great to have a reasoned take so you can discuss why slop bothers them a lot, in a deep way, in the face of trying to learn to do things.
Hi. I wrote an essay about AI slop: How it feels like an invasive species for the internet. How its boosters describe building a future that’s devoid of craft. How frictionlessness can be nihilistic & how this stuff seems to leach part of our shared humanity out of the world. I hope you'll read it.
AI’s Invasive Species
The slop is winning.
www.theatlantic.com
October 21, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Educators: The "craft" mindset vs. the tech mindset celebrating frictionless "slop". Your students feel this—it's great to have a reasoned take so you can discuss why slop bothers them a lot, in a deep way, in the face of trying to learn to do things.
Reposted by Matthew
Hi. I wrote an essay about AI slop: How it feels like an invasive species for the internet. How its boosters describe building a future that’s devoid of craft. How frictionlessness can be nihilistic & how this stuff seems to leach part of our shared humanity out of the world. I hope you'll read it.
AI’s Invasive Species
The slop is winning.
www.theatlantic.com
October 20, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Hi. I wrote an essay about AI slop: How it feels like an invasive species for the internet. How its boosters describe building a future that’s devoid of craft. How frictionlessness can be nihilistic & how this stuff seems to leach part of our shared humanity out of the world. I hope you'll read it.
Saw this button out in the world, wished Jonathan Sterne were still here so I could email it to him. Let there be music!
October 2, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Saw this button out in the world, wished Jonathan Sterne were still here so I could email it to him. Let there be music!
Seen in Hong Kong recently
September 24, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Seen in Hong Kong recently
Reposted by Matthew
i feel like the social sciences are the gen x of academia
August 25, 2025 at 4:19 AM
i feel like the social sciences are the gen x of academia
And away we go—I mean, here we cum.
August 20, 2025 at 7:21 AM
And away we go—I mean, here we cum.
Sad to hear of the passing of Gary Karr. I had the pleasure of playing for him at a masterclass at UGA back in the 1990s—a true virtuoso who was also kind and funny. Can't find his debut album, the closest I came is this recital. Listen to this Ravel! youtu.be/Y9wf5l1U5qY?...
Karr/Lewis perform Eccles, Gershwin, Ravel, Bottesini, Swan, Van Goens, Paganini and encores
YouTube video by Karr Tunes
www.youtube.com
August 2, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Sad to hear of the passing of Gary Karr. I had the pleasure of playing for him at a masterclass at UGA back in the 1990s—a true virtuoso who was also kind and funny. Can't find his debut album, the closest I came is this recital. Listen to this Ravel! youtu.be/Y9wf5l1U5qY?...
Reposted by Matthew
Hong Kong's version of Trump vs. Harvard... 👇
8 public universities in HK have signed a new accountability agreement requiring them to follow the "advice and guidance" of the central government and align with the remarks of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In full: buff.ly/P6eR2cL
HK universities sign new agreement requiring alignment with Xi’s remarks
8 public universities in HK have signed a new accountability agreement requiring them to follow the "advice and guidance" of the central government and align with the remarks of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
buff.ly
July 30, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Hong Kong's version of Trump vs. Harvard... 👇
Sterne is the scholar I recommend to those in music education interested in technology and media.
I wrote a tribute to Dr. Jonathan Sterne, who passed away this March way too young, in Sounding Out! — a venue he’d published in, and which felt right for it. I owe him a deep debt intellectually and personally, and he was frankly a great person.
soundstudiesblog.com/2025/07/14/i...
soundstudiesblog.com/2025/07/14/i...
“Keep it Weird”: Listening with Jonathan Sterne (1970-2025)
Dr. Jonathan Sterne passed away earlier this year. He was, in many ways, a model scholar and colleague. The intellectual ferment of the field now called “sound studies” is often traced to the sonic…
soundstudiesblog.com
July 14, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Sterne is the scholar I recommend to those in music education interested in technology and media.
Great post for those interested in AI in art or music education. Important to understand the weird constraints that are often ignored (see J. Sterne, who noted that early sound recordings were often of Bible verses or Shakespeare to help listeners "hear" them).
Has AI image generation fixed its “man bites dog” (or “horse rides astronaut”) problem, as Google claims?
@garymarcus.bsky.social doesn’t buy it, and argues it is still crazy after all these years:
open.substack.com/pub/garymarc...
@garymarcus.bsky.social doesn’t buy it, and argues it is still crazy after all these years:
open.substack.com/pub/garymarc...
June 27, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Great post for those interested in AI in art or music education. Important to understand the weird constraints that are often ignored (see J. Sterne, who noted that early sound recordings were often of Bible verses or Shakespeare to help listeners "hear" them).
I've had all sorts of nicknames, this was new... autocorrect or AI or maybe a deep insight into my personality (by a student I have not yet met)?
June 11, 2025 at 1:18 AM
I've had all sorts of nicknames, this was new... autocorrect or AI or maybe a deep insight into my personality (by a student I have not yet met)?
Anyone looking to escape the US chaos for Hong Kong... new posting: Assistant Professor of mus tech/engineering, industry, etc. in the context of humanities, musicianship, and music education. (very high salary + expectations for publication)
June 10, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Anyone looking to escape the US chaos for Hong Kong... new posting: Assistant Professor of mus tech/engineering, industry, etc. in the context of humanities, musicianship, and music education. (very high salary + expectations for publication)
Brilliant!
A Brief History of Movies Today Are Too Sexy
🧵
🧵
June 10, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Brilliant!
Yeah, my dad was one of those who got a lawsuit letter from Metallica over Napster. He lost the letter, now I wish I had it. (probably was an email?). He ignored it and nothing came of it.
Absolutely surreal to have lived through the Napster days and watched as the titans of industry moved hell and high water to lock down any possible chance that someone's song might get swapped online without giving the studios a cut and now those same people are just like "well we gotta steal music"
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
May 27, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Yeah, my dad was one of those who got a lawsuit letter from Metallica over Napster. He lost the letter, now I wish I had it. (probably was an email?). He ignored it and nothing came of it.
Reposted by Matthew
Absolutely surreal to have lived through the Napster days and watched as the titans of industry moved hell and high water to lock down any possible chance that someone's song might get swapped online without giving the studios a cut and now those same people are just like "well we gotta steal music"
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.
buff.ly
May 26, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Absolutely surreal to have lived through the Napster days and watched as the titans of industry moved hell and high water to lock down any possible chance that someone's song might get swapped online without giving the studios a cut and now those same people are just like "well we gotta steal music"
Reposted by Matthew
For the 3rd consecutive year, HK's Victoria Park - historically the site of annual Tiananmen crackdown candlelight vigils - will host a patriotic food carnival on June 4. In full: buff.ly/rV2s1nI
Patriotic carnival to return to Victoria Park on anniversary of Tiananmen crackdown
For the 3rd consecutive year, HK's Victoria Park - historically the site of annual Tiananmen crackdown candlelight vigils - will host a patriotic food carnival on June 4.
buff.ly
May 26, 2025 at 12:00 AM
For the 3rd consecutive year, HK's Victoria Park - historically the site of annual Tiananmen crackdown candlelight vigils - will host a patriotic food carnival on June 4. In full: buff.ly/rV2s1nI
Reposted by Matthew
Funding cuts at top US universities offers an “opportune moment” for HK's higher education institutions to attract talent, the head of HKU has said. In full: buff.ly/5IhcYcQ
US higher education cuts ‘opportune moment’ to attract talent: HKU head
Funding cuts at top US universities offers an “opportune moment” for HK's higher education institutions to attract talent, the head of HKU has said.
buff.ly
May 20, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Funding cuts at top US universities offers an “opportune moment” for HK's higher education institutions to attract talent, the head of HKU has said. In full: buff.ly/5IhcYcQ
EdUHK seeking new Dean of the Faculty of Humanities jobs.chronicle.com/job/37824587...
Dean of the Faculty of Humanities - Hong Kong (HK) job with The Education University of Hong Kong | 37824587
Founded in 1994 and awarded the University title in 2016, The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) is a publicly funded university, dedicated ...
jobs.chronicle.com
May 13, 2025 at 2:21 AM
EdUHK seeking new Dean of the Faculty of Humanities jobs.chronicle.com/job/37824587...
New EdUHK job posting: Assistant Professor in the areas of digital music practice, electroacoustic music, and multi-media composition. Please share in your professional circles and I'm happy to field questions.
www.eduhk.hk/cms/f/career...
www.eduhk.hk/cms/f/career...
www.eduhk.hk
April 11, 2025 at 6:35 AM
New EdUHK job posting: Assistant Professor in the areas of digital music practice, electroacoustic music, and multi-media composition. Please share in your professional circles and I'm happy to field questions.
www.eduhk.hk/cms/f/career...
www.eduhk.hk/cms/f/career...
Reposted by Matthew
Same old dodge.
HK's national security legislation does not affect artistic creation, the city's new police chief has said, after warning that some people still try to use the media, and arts and culture to "incite others." In full: buff.ly/VLuiWeB
HK security laws do not affect artistic creation: new police chief
HK's national security legislation does not affect artistic creation, the city's new police chief has said, after warning that some people still try to use the media, and arts and culture to "incite others."
buff.ly
April 8, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Same old dodge.