Author: knari

Love Thy User

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As an IT professional with more than 30 years of experience, I constantly use a huge number of different products and services—both at work and in everyday life. In recent years we can hardly imagine our lives without all these services.

Yet in the chase for optimization and other chimeras, many have begun to forget that a product is made first and foremost for its users. And the biggest mistakes lately, in my view, are atrocious user support—often hiding behind a façade of supposedly excellent customer care.

Everyone is trying to cut costs, and so they either replace help with AI bots or hand support over to cheap, incompetent specialists. In the worst case they remove any support at all (or hide it so well you’ll spend a couple of hours just trying to find it).

What’s the result? The product itself may be wonderful. But as soon as a loyal user runs into a problem, they look for help. They’re not interested in tons of articles on the subject; they want their specific problem solved. Preferably here and now.

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Book: Jonas Jonasson “The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared”

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Swedish writers have been pleasantly surprising me lately. Not that I’ve read a lot of them, but first Fredrik Backman became an insanely “tasty” discovery for me a few years ago, and now Jonas Jonasson. There’s something about these Swedes. They seem to write about life, yet they do it lightly, beautifully, and with touches of humor.

For many years Jonas Jonasson worked as a journalist and television producer (just like my wife), and then suddenly decided to drastically change his life and write a book. And that book sold like crazy—first in Sweden, and then around the world.

The book titled The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared really does begin with the main character, the old man Allan—whose 100th birthday is literally minutes away from being celebrated at the retirement home—deciding to escape through the window. And to get far away before anyone notices he’s gone. What follows is a chain of unforeseen events, in which the old man almost immediately finds himself in possession of a suitcase with a million, a whole group of companions, and a small trail of bodies behind him.

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Book: Leonid Rabichev “War Excuses Everything”

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I was born in the USSR, where the Great Patriotic War was part of the country’s terrifying history. But I don’t recall anyone back then trying to glorify it and shouting “We can do it again.” They did heroize it—yes—and films often added notes of humor, without which, perhaps, war is impossible to endure. Yet they didn’t bombard us with rah-rah patriotism. Apparently because in every family the memory of those times was still fresh. Parents or grandparents remembered that war; many families had lost loved ones.

Then it was also shown from very frightening angles, like the documentary Triumph Over Violence or Elem Klimov’s acclaimed and very heavy Come and See.

Only they didn’t bring to the fore the flip side of any war—that in war there are no absolutely good and absolutely bad. War is blood, brutality, and sheer meanness on both sides; only the degree varies. Yes, many knew about “trophies” taken out from occupied territories, but that wasn’t considered looting, and they certainly didn’t make films about it. In one way or another, war also harmed the civilian population—and by no means only the enemy’s; it’s enough to read the recollections of the partisan movement in Belarus (a few years ago, incidentally, eyewitnesses were still alive).

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Song: Nogu Svelo! “Ukraine. A Year of War”

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This time I won’t write anything of my own. I’ll just quote the text for this video from Nogu Svelo! themselves:

Today is a terrible date for each of us—the anniversary of the start of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. It is still hard to believe; it is very hard to accept. We see daily reports of new destruction and new victims. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed or wounded; millions have lost their homes and were forced to leave their native country without knowing when they will be able to return. It is a grief that cannot be measured in numbers. On this day we want to say: “We stand with you—in spirit and in deed.” We have already held more than one charity concert, supporting and helping to raise funds for Ukrainian hospitals and refugees. And we will continue to help for as long as it takes. Until the missiles stop flying, until people return to their homes, until peace comes.

Our new release is dedicated not only to every Ukrainian, but to everyone who stands against the darkness closing in around us. Maksim doesn’t speak Ukrainian, but he specifically learned and performed a few lines at the end. You’ve already heard this song—it’s “Ukraine.” But on this day we perform it in a new way—in a church, with an organ. Many thanks to director Alexey Musin, who filmed the original music video and has now taken on this new work. Thanks to the whole team. Thank you for your support and sincerity.

Vse bude Ukraina! (Ukraine will prevail!)

Ногу Свело! — Украина. Год войны

Song: Geoff Castelucci “Sixteen Tons”

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Last time, when I showed a couple of unusual covers, one of them was an a cappella version by the group VoicePlay. This group is worthy of attention in its own right, because they release genuinely interesting takes on well-known hits. Still, what captivated me most in that cover was the performer with the astonishing bass—Geoff Castelucci. He’s not just one of the members of VoicePlay; he also selects and arranges songs for the team.

Besides that, Geoff has his own channel where he gives lessons on singing in a low register (while noting that the lessons can help anyone, you’ll only be able to sing low if you naturally have the right kind of voice). As I said, his voice simply mesmerizes me. It gives me goosebumps. And he also puts together excellent staging for his performances.

Today I want to show one of the very best, in my opinion—his four-part rendition of the famous “Sixteen Tons”:

SIXSTEEN TONS | Low Bass Singer Cover

Book: Oksana Korzun “How to Move to Another Country and Not Die of Homesickness”

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I can’t really call myself a person with vast experience in moving. Relocating from one apartment to another within the same city is an interesting experience, but it’s hardly something global. However, dropping everything and moving to another country — that I’ve done only once. And even then, my move was relatively easy, since I wasn’t moving into the unknown, but simply transferring to another office of my company. And the company — huge thanks to them — helped so much that I barely had to think about the process at all. Still, in 2014 my wife and I, along with our three children, moved to an entirely different country, and I learned a few things about what such a transition means.

On top of that, because of my job I’ve always communicated a lot with foreigners, and after 2010 that kind of interaction only grew — including business trips. That’s when I began to notice the cultural differences more clearly and look for ways to bridge them.

Unfortunately, after 2020, many of my fellow citizens were forced to leave their homeland. And in 2022, the brutal war with Ukraine made many people flee anywhere they could, sometimes leaving part of their families behind. Questions about moving — how to do it properly, what to expect — began to come up more and more often. I started keeping a separate document about the specifics of moving to Cyprus (in Russian) and tried to advise people who had already relocated or were just planning to.

And in those conversations, many recurring themes came up — some of which left me at a loss, because I simply didn’t expect to hear them from people planning to move abroad. Probably because I’ve always taken every matter too seriously, never making decisions without preparing thoroughly and learning everything I could. But not everyone is as crazy as I am.

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Song: Unusual Covers of “Nothing Else Matters”

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I think when talking about the song “Nothing Else Matters,” you don’t even need to name the performer. It’s hard to imagine anyone not knowing this — one of Metallica’s most famous and awesome songs. So this time I’m not even going to put a link to it here.

However! While roaming the internet, I came across two very interesting covers that differ strikingly from the original. And I found them so unusual that I decided to share them with you.

The first is a multi-voice performance by the Polish women’s group Tulia. It is both unmistakably Nothing Else Matters and at the same time has clear notes of Polish folk. I’m not sure I’d want to listen to this version every day, but the first time it definitely grabs your attention:

Tulia – Nothing Else Matters

And the second cover is a fully a cappella version by VoicePlay. I’ve always loved a cappella renditions of any songs. But this one is done really well. The guys have gone far from the original, yet they’ve managed to preserve all of its beauty. And oh, what the bass does here! Be sure to listen until the moment he comes in (around 2:30). I literally got goosebumps. I don’t know how women react to men like this, but for a voice like that I’d give a lot!

Nothing Else Matters – Metallica (acapella) VoicePlay Ft J.NONE

Book: Mark Manson “Models: Attract Women Through Honesty”

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Eight years ago, blogger Mark Manson explained to the whole world that living with a sense of not giving a damn is actually the best option — even an art. No need to stress about things. Later, he developed this idea further, clarifying that if you’re still stressing, then it’s absolutely pointless, because really “Everything Is F*cked.”

However, he began his writing career with completely different topics: he explained to men how to properly land a woman. What for many years has been called pickup in the pickup artist community, though in his advice he went much further. Later he slightly reworked this book.

Since I liked his writing style in the first two books, I decided to read this one as well — though to be honest, the subject doesn’t concern me much these days, when I have a wife and five children. But it turned out that the book is not at all what you would expect from its title and annotation.

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Book: Arkady & Boris Strugatsky “Monday Starts on Saturday”

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Ah, it’s hard to write about such a classic, one that has been known to everyone for many decades. But I still decided to give it a try.

The thing is, Monday Starts on Saturday was the very first book by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky that I ever read. And that was back in my distant childhood. I remember laughing out loud at some episodes, trying hard not to show it, since I had to read some of them in a clinic while waiting my turn for physiotherapy.

Since then, the book has retained a sense of eternal joy and a smile for me, and that is why in my adult years I was very afraid to reread the story: what if I perceived it completely differently, and those childhood impressions faded? Nevertheless, the second time I also enjoyed it, and now I have read it for the third time. But this time I had a specific goal — to think about what had changed in my feelings and perception of the story compared to childhood, and also after so many years separating the everyday life of the book’s characters from today’s realities.

The book tells about the work of a programmer in an institute of sorcery and magic. Nothing less. Complete with all the trappings of Soviet research institutes of the 1960s–70s.

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Book: Ilya Varlamov “Travel Notes”

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Ilya Varlamov is a remarkable blogger (and now also a vlogger). For many years I enjoyed reading his journal — his notes about many countries were quite informative and always accompanied by wonderful photographs. More recently, I’ve also found him likable as a person because of his civic stance.

In 2014, the publishing house “MIF” decided to release his travel notes as a separate book. This edition caught my eye, and I decided to read in one place everything I had previously skimmed through in his journal.

However, the book turned out to be a huge disappointment. I don’t know who initiated the “paper” version, but it was done in a completely senseless way and with no clear idea of who it was for.

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