We begin life, as children, being open to the ideas of others because we need to be open to learn. Most of what children encounter, after all, are things they’ve never seen before. The child has no choice but to embrace the new. If this openness is so wonderful, however, why do we lose it as we grow up? Where, along the way, do we turn from the wild-eyed child into the adult who fears surprises and has all the answers and seeks to control all outcomes? — Ed Catmull, President of Pixar & Disney Animation, in his book Creativity, Inc.
When to Doubt a Scientific Consensus | The Stream
(via Reason and Emotion - YouTube)
Andy Greenwald interviews Pete Docter, Director of Pixar’s new movie, Inside Out.Aside from adding to my already keen interest to see this movie, this interview was great to hear craftsman and critic really tease apart the story telling and creative process.Among the tidbits shared:–Three years into the five year writing process, Pete made a massive change to the script, substituting different main characters. The willingness to pivot, the openness to follow where the creative process goes, the giving something enough space to breathe out what’s inside, these all seem core.–The editing process is critical too. Eight scripts and screenings trying to get the story right. Multiple feedbacks collected, thousands of little decisions, tradeoffs, etc. Nothing falls from the sky fully formed.–There is no formula to the creative process.–How the audio is recorded first, then the animators look to bring to life the soul of the voice actor. (Although they didn’t mention it here, I imagine they both audio and video record the voice actors, for visual inspiration too.)–’The story is discovered, not made.’(via austinkleon; related article)
by yours truly; quote from book entitled Boys to Men
He says we should stop talking about ‘addiction’ altogether, and instead call it 'bonding.’ A heroin addict has bonded with heroin because she couldn’t bond as fully with anything else.
So the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is human connection.
— The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think | Johann HariSo here you are. Standing at a place that is ‘Not Amazing’ and you’re trying to get over there to 'Amazing’. There is no shortcut except to go through the mud of 'Not Yet Amazing.’
I want to have more bad ideas, more terrible first drafts, more embarrassing design mock ups, more failures, and more awkward moments.
While that may sound like the worst Christmas List ever, what it actually means is that I want to try harder and have less fear of failure. More bad ideas, more terrible first drafts, and more failed attempts, means more work created.
— Shawn Blanc, in his latest e-mail “You Have Ideas”Too much attention on the big, long-term goals and we despise the little daily steps needed to make progress. But too much focus on the granular, and it can be easy to feel like the ‘urgent’ things are most important. — Shawn Blanc, in his latest e-mail: Living Without Regret in the Age of Distraction
This video has been out for a bit, but wanted to post here: Brene Brown, qualitative researcher, on the importance of vulnerability. So, so critical.If you’re interested in more, I’ve also heard good things about her book, Daring Greatly.
austinkleon:
How to graciously say no to anyone“There is no money in answering letters.” —Groucho MarxA couple of years ago, I was getting sent this article, “Creative People Say No,” at least twice a day. The idea was that creative geniuses say “no” to a lot of requests (like, a psychology professor researching processes of creative genius) in order to get their work done, so if you want to be a creative genius, you have to say no a lot so you can get your work done.A bunch of people asked me what I thought about it, and I said, “It’s good advice for the rich and famous. Creative people say yes until they have enough work that they can say no.”Ian Bogost explains it nicely, here:[Y]ou have to say ‘yes’ for a long while before you can earn the right to say ‘no.’ Even then, you usually can’t say ‘no’ at whim. By the time you can say ‘no’ indiscriminately, then you’re already so super-privileged that being able to say ‘no’ is not a prerequisite of success, but a result of it.There was a little index card in the back of Steal Like An Artist that didn’t make it into the book that sums up my own point of view: “Be as generous as you can, but selfish enough to get your work done.”Of course, sometimes you just have to say no for whatever reason. For that, Alexandra Franzen suggests this format in her piece, “How To Graciously Say No To Anyone”:Hey [name],Thanks for your note. I’m so proud of you for ___—and I’m flattered that you’d like to bring my brain into the mix.I need to say “no,” because ___.But I would love to support you in a different way. [Offer an alternative form of support here]Thank you for being such a wonderful ___. I am honored to be part of your world.[A few closing words of encouragement, if you’d like][Your name here]
Images above from The Ransom Center, Tim Ferriss, @maudnewton, and my letters archive.
I’m not fully able to articulate why, but this space is really appealing. Maybe it’s the mixture and good balance of basic materials. There’s both a warmth, but a simplicity. It’s tidy, but there’s also a natural lived-in-ness to it. And there’s some surprise, creativity, and unrevealed-ness to it. Okay, enough made up words. Here it is. :)nonconcept:
archatlas:Loft 9b Dimitar Karanikolo“After several years living and working in London architect Dimitar Karanikolov and interior designer Veneta Nikolova moved back to Sofia, where they found a small but interesting attic apartment in a newly built development.They spent the next two years reconstructing the place, designing furniture and experimenting with details, and finishes.”
Pretty much amazing.
Grant Thompson - “The King of Random”
I’ve been told that this is a pretty accurate depiction of what ordering coffee in San Francisco is like – not for the uninitiated.(Video by the awesome makers of life coaching, Everything But the News)
The AeroPress – allegedly the bees-knees when it comes to coffee presses, and carrying only a $30 price tag.From the maker of the Superdisc, you know it’s gotta be good. :)Might have to give this a try!(Bonus: Instructions and brewing tips.)
Scapple, “an easy-to-use tool for getting ideas down as quickly as possible and making connections between them.”Although I haven’t used it as much lately, I’m a big fan of Scrivener, “a powerful content-generation tool for writers that allows you to concentrate on composing and structuring long and difficult documents.” From the same makers, comes Scapple, which looks like a great digital whiteboarding tool, with an endless canvas, ability to embed images, export to PDF/image, and shortcuts for formatting/zooming/etc. Check out this video for a 7-minute overview.Visual brainstorming is such a powerful tool, and I’d been looking for something with this feature set without much luck. Happen to run back across the folks at Literature & Latte, and shazaam – they had thought of it. (no big surprise there I guess) :)Thanks developers, and if you have a use for either of these, I highly recommend you check it out!(Bonus: If you’re looking for iOS integration, aside from a DropBox sync, Scrivener also has a sync to Index Cards app. Their blog also suggests an iOS version of Scrivener may be coming later this year – sweet!)
How To Set SMARTER Goals
Paper, by the folks over at FiftyThree, was a step forward in blending digital and analog worlds.Looks like they’ve taken another step forward with their new Think tools, which makes ideation visuals easy to work with. (See video above.)They’ve even put together a Think toolkit to help users get familiar with how. Neat.
What3Words.This is a fascinating idea that solves a global problem and has lots of hidden applications. Creative, simple, and practical. Three words can describe any location on the planet.I’ve downloaded the phone app.(via C)
How is technology habituating our moral horizons? Is it helping or hurting the formation of character?
I’m not a technophobe. I think it helps augments our friendships and keep in touch with people. I don’t think there’s evidence that Facebook makes us lonely. If you have friends, you use Facebook to build friendships. If you’re lonely, you use Facebook to mask friendship. It’s not the technology, it’s the self. There are two ways social media challenges us. The first is, the idea of broadcasting yourself all the time where we create an avatar of ourselves that is the fake person of ourselves. It’s the highlight reel we put on Instagram. That’s an act of propaganda. The fatal line of propaganda is, the only person it persuades is the author of propaganda. As we put fake images on Facebook and Instagram, we come to believe that’s who we are. The second is the distraction factor. I find it very hard to sit down and read books and read important things because I waste so much time answering e-mail and on Twitter. It’s like candy that’s always there, mental candy, and makes you shallower because you don’t carve out the time to read something that would make you spiritually enriched.
— David Brooks, in an interesting interview about his book, The Road to Characterby Octavio Alburto, taken in Mexico’s Cabo Pulmo.For a great video on how Cabo Pulmo has become the most successful marine reservation in the world, check out this BBC story. It’s beauuutiful. To visit there one day …(via C)
