Dear Roy,

Currently reading Da V. & the 40 A in between bouts of work.

I just passed the section on Lenny, Walt etc., and the following phrase jumped out at me:

Disney looked at the connectedness of things, and was able to create new combinations using existing elements.

Why? Because I have just done the second voiceover for an iPhone app called Doodle God. It’s made here in St P, RU, and last time I checked, was at number 2 in the world listing for downloaded game apps. Though I’ve never played it myself (have no iPhone, among other technophobic excuses), I understand that the concept is this: there are the four basic elements, designated by an icon. You combine one with another, and sometimes you get a result – a third element. Sometimes it’s predictable, sometimes wholly unpredictable, often funny. Dima, the chap who does the music and arranges the voiceovers, told me that the developers had been taken totally by surprise by the success of the app, and couldn’t fathom it, but were glad for it, naturally.

Well, combining the above phrase about Disney, and what you taught us on third gravitating bodies, plus that little bit about surprise creating delight, I think I understand why their app has been so successful.

The fact that two elements create a third is the very principle you were talking about. The fact that you as the player choose to combine them, and therefore are in a way “creating” is obviously engaging. But the surprise generated by the creation of an unpredictable third element – which doesn’t look like it’ll fit, but ultimately does, is exactly what you were teaching us about third gravitating bodies.

Now I wonder if I can explain that to them?

William Hackett-Jones,
Managing Director,
Eclectic Translations,
Kanal Griboedova 26,
St Petersburg,
Russia

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