Kaskade is a world-famous DJ who has received multiple grammy awards, and this year he released a second album of Christmas electronica. I’ve written several times before about his approach: “The songs are electronic, they’re dance music, but they’re also solemn and precise and so unironic as to be... almost courteous?”
Thinking about how much I like this song got me thinking about a John Green video that my friend Alex sent me, titled COMMIT TO THE BIT. What does this mean? John gives several examples of what comes to mind when he thinks of stellar commitment to the bit. YouTuber Jonathan Mann releasing a Song A Day for more than 14 years. Marina Abramović and her partner meeting in the middle of the Great Wall of China, after each walking over 2000 km from opposite ends, and, he says:
I think of the Reddit user who in 2012 wrote, "Your momma so lazy" and then returned in 2021 to write, "She took 9 years to finish this joke".
My theory is that you can COMMIT TO THE BIT in one of two ways: do an eccentric thing with uncommon consistency, or do an unserious thing with unusual intensity. My mother exclusively wears purple, and is known around the neighbourhood as “purple Su”: uncommon consistency. Kaskade releases musically serious Christmas electronica: unusual intensity.
John Green, again: “I think you and I need to have a hard look in the mirror and ask ourselves: Are we doing everything we can to commit to existing bits, and to discover new bits which we might commit to?”
There are so many great bits out there to choose from! My friend Jonathan is currently experimenting with simply not doing daylight savings time, and living in his own personal timezone where the stores are open late and the sun sets at 6pm. I carry rocks around in my pocket and wallet because I still like collecting rocks just about as much as I did when I was ten. Maybe more? I love reading tales of people really leaning into their hyperfixations. I believe in committing to projects, even quite weird ones, but there is something especially good about the sort of bits that infuse the ordinary with the playful and the surreal.
What kind of bits might bring you joy?
- Tessa