February 21, 2012 Leave a Comment
A great share from NPR in honor of David Foster Wallace’s 50th birthday anniversary. The music video for The Decembrists ‘Calamity Song’ was created as an homage to his novel Infinite Jest, specifically through the re-creation of the Enfield Tennis Academy’s round of Eschaton, a game that simulates global crisis. The video was directed by Michael Schur, co-creator of Parks and Recreation and huge DFW fan.
February 14, 2012 Leave a Comment
[Full disclaimer: I wrote this post over a year ago on another blog, and just had to re-post. It's still fresh, timely, and of the utmost importance for individuals and brands to fully realize. Enjoy and comment if you feel so inclined.]
I recently had the pleasure of reading Seth Godin’s newest book, Linchpin and I must say, it was a worthwhile read. The premise of the book is that our economy is changing to reflect a marketplace in which goods can no longer be made smaller, cheaper and more efficiently (we’ve maxed this out). Rather, what today’s consumer is more interested in is products, services and brands that are extraordinarily unique, and help them to portray the complex story of their lives as they ideally see it playing out. As a result, Seth argues that those workers (in any industry) who are capable of producing new ideas and ways of doing things are the individuals who are most likely to become ‘linchpins’ or indispensable employees in their own company.
The book then goes on to explain how a linchpin must think and act in her given field, as well as the obstacles that she can expect to encounter. Overall, Godin’s Linchpin can best be described as motivating, remind us all that we have a responsibility to go into our jobs ready to produce new ideas, services and ways of getting things done, all things that Seth describes as ‘art’.
This brings me to the topic of this post. The most inspiring and beneficial chapter of the book is rather inaptly called, “Is it Possible to do Hard Work in a Cubicle?”. The chapter successfully urges us to consider that, as Roy Simmons put it, “most artists can’t draw”. More specifically creating great art isn’t really about drawing, painting or sculpting. It’s about paving new ground, by doing, thinking or producing something “that resonates with the viewer, not just the creator”. Being an artist is about developing insight and being brave enough to communicate it to the world, without concern over how it will be received.
When we start to open up these terms, we naturally begin to feel a sense of responsibility to produce art, regardless of our specialty. However, doing so requires us to overcome what Seth and others before him deem to be ‘the resistance’, otherwise known as fear – fear of being rejected, fired, laughed at or otherwise failing at life.
If fear can be overcome then we become free to produce beautiful art, that extends beyond the visual, taking on the power to change it’s recipient for the better. Many of you may be thinking that there isn’t room for this in your job, and I would argue against that. Being an artist can be as simple as being the catalyst in a successful brainstorm session or finding a more efficient system for completing expense reports on time or mentoring a new employee as they learn the ropes at a new company – all actions that have the capacity to change an individual or organization for the better (the true essence of artwork).
Seth carefully goes on to point out that there is no map or set of directions for becoming an artist. Some are born with the creative fire inside themselves, others must learn to cultivate it. But, as our increasingly divergent culture continues to infiltrate every aspect of commerce, those individuals who produce art in their own right, will be the most highly valued, the most likely to succeed and (in my opinion) the most fulfilled.
[Photo by: Christophe Kiciak]
February 4, 2012 Leave a Comment
Just discovered these guys. “Swampy dirty South rock, blues, and soul delivered with punk rock fervor,” says the band. Couldn’t put it better myself. Check out a few tracks from their upcoming album, Boys & Girls.
January 25, 2012 1 Comment
During a discussion about the evolution of music last week a buddy recommended that I watch a TED talk given by David Byrne in 2010 entitled, How Architecture Helped Music Evolve, a subject Byrne is clearly very interested in if you recall his Playing The Building Project. I watched it and you should too, but simply put, Byrne is talking about how the environmental conditions effect or determine the qualities of the product. Sounds a lot like how nature works. In this case, how the venue (concert hall, arena, bar) determined the musical styles that were produced there. It’s about context.
Byrne sort of concludes by asking whether, creative expression is influenced more by context than what traditional romantics might believe. I love this because I think the same is true with technology. For example, the electric guitar was invented to allow musicians to be heard in front of larger crowds, not for guys like Jimi Hendrix who eventually came along and did unthinkable things with it. So, in a way it seems like creative expression is sort of contained.
This, then got me thinking about how it feels like the live music experience, which I personally feel like is undergoing a sort of resurgence, hasn’t benefited from a re-imagined or updated architecture. Even new venues (one was recently built near my house that will host all sorts of amazing bands this year) haven’t been modernized in any way. The design and layout are the same and more focus goes into the placement of concessions than crafting a space that allows for emotional connection and sensory immersion. So, I’m now wondering what the concert venue or, more appropriately, concert experience of tomorrow might look like.
Any ideas?
January 22, 2012 Leave a Comment
Bryan Curtis wrote a great article for the New York Magazine about George Lucas and his new film Red Tails, which premiered in most theaters this weekend. However, the part that really got me was the analysis of the relationship between Lucas and the hardcore Star Wars fans:
What the blistering fan reaction illustrates is one downside of Lucas’s naïve style. By persuading us to drop our snarky defenses and embrace his fables, Lucas had forged a bond with fanboys like no filmmaker, outside of Spielberg, before or since. (Adjusted for inflation, the three original “Star Wars” movies and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” still rank among the top 20 highest-grossing movies of all time.) But naïveté is a fragile emotion. When Lucas goes back and futzes with his mythology — has Greedo shoot first or creates a goofball like Jar Jar Binks or makes Indy uncool by sticking him in a refrigerator — he isn’t just messing with beloved movies. He’s telling fanboys the naïve belief they gave to him was misplaced.
“What more could one ask for than to have one’s youth back again?” Lucas once asked his biographer, Dale Pollock. Now imagine it being yanked away. If the fanboys had become like the studio to Lucas, then Lucas, to the fanboys, had become the man who breaks the bad news about adulthood. He’d become their dad.
I’ve always been conflicted about the the anger that fanboys have towards Lucas since he began tinkering with the films. Their his movies. Go make your own masterpiece. But, as a lifelong fan of this saga, every edit and change he makes, is like a small wound to that inner child I work so hard to keep alive and Curtis nailed it.
[Image via NY Mag Slideshow, "George Lucas, Hitman"]
January 19, 2012 1 Comment
Last night I watched, PressPausePlay, a documentary that addresses how technology is impacting our culture and it’s art forms. The film primarily focuses on music, arguing that greater access to better technology is making it easy for anyone to create art. But, at what cost?
They interview a variety of thought-leaders and artists, including Seth Godin, Andrew Keen, Moby, Bill Drummond and a bunch more.
I have to say, author, Andrew Keen, as always, makes some startling but compelling points about the cultural dark age he believes we’re heading towards. Keen postulates that technology and social media are leading everyone to believe that they’re an artist of some sort. The result is a sea of mediocrity that obscures the ability of the limited number of truly talented individuals in this world to shine through, ultimately destroying our beloved art forms when the world eventually becomes accustomed to sub-part art. Pretty ominous stuff.
However, I don’t agree with this. My first thought is, how can more people creating, building and making things possibly have a negative outcome on our society? Art, when practiced diligently, can lead to self-actualization, a greater appreciation of life and an overall sense of purpose.
Furthermore, and perhaps more compelling, is that the democratization of art and culture should be more effective at bringing the high quality work to the surface, not less, as Keen argues in the film. Allow me to explain. No more than 15 years ago, record studios and the radio stations determined what music you got to hear. If you had adequate buying power, you could drop 15 bucks on a band’s CD. Now with sites like iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and countless others, you can listen to tons of music for free without having to make a financial commitment of any kind.
January 3, 2012 Leave a Comment
Over the holiday, a buddy turned me on to Josh Keyes. He’s a Portland-based artist schooled at Yale and the Univ. of Chicago. In his words, his art: “is a hybrid of eco-surrealism and dystopian folktales that express a concern for our time and the Earth’s future.” Indeed.
My buddy showed me a print of his “Stampede” painting, which measures 22″ x 48″ and the level of realistic detail that he applies towards the figures in his drawings is staggering. Unfortunately, the photos I have here do little to demonstrate it, but there’s a great element of literal detail reminiscent of classic anatomical art in his work that gives it great balance and believability.
Anyway, love the work. Head on over to his site to check it out. Thanks Kyle.
November 2, 2011 Leave a Comment
Google’s Think Quarterly is an amazing publication for anyone working in the knowledge economy, particularly creatives and innovators. Covering a wide range of topics, like culture, technology, business, economics and more, this edition revolved around “People.” Aside from reading it, you should check out the collaboration among 14 UK-based illustrators as well as creative shop, The Church of London, to create a massive mural that would then become the individual covers for hard copy editions sent to key partners.
Love the notion of a giant canvas that everyone collectively works off of. No rules. Reminds me of something you’d see in a kindergarten class. But, admittedly, I’m also really drawn to the simple, whimsical style that each artist brought to the project.
Kudos to everyone involved: Yasmeen Ismail, Paul Layzell, Matthew Hams, Chetan, Hattie Stewart, Dominic Owen, Jasper Dunk, Jean Jullien, Toby Triumph, Ryan Chapman, Maggie Li, Dale Murray, Robbie Brown Shoes, Daniel Frost and The Church of London.
Check out Yasmeen’s site for a nice photo set.
September 20, 2011 Leave a Comment
Compiled by Science educator James Drake using footage collected by the International Space Station. Thanks Dad! You know me well.
[via MSNBC Photoblog]
September 16, 2011 1 Comment
This week I had the opportunity to see Senna, the ESPN Films documentary about the life of Ayrton Senna, the infamous Brazilian Formula 1 driver of the 80′s and 90′s. I must say, I’m not one of those crazed racing/car guys, like one of the people I saw the film with, but that didn’t seem to matter. The documentary which was compiled of incredibly rich, grainy footage from throughout Senna’s career, gave me a new perspective on what it meant to race a V10, 1,000 horsepower car, lacking everything from ABS to traction control. The men that raced these cars day in and day out were heroes, and Senna, for a ten year span, was the best of them.
More importantly, the film made me realize that gone are the days when athletes so clearly embody the archetypal hero from our proverbial past, at times egoless in their seemingly maniacal quest into the unknown. So wrapped up in his purpose in life, viewers realize that for a rare number of individuals the self and the quest are one in the same. Inseparable.
According to Senna’s sister, the night before his final race at San Marino in 1994, he asked God for a gift. God responded that he would give Ayrton the greatest gift of all, himself. The next day he lost his life in a somewhat mysterious crash, becoming, to this day, the last individual to die at the wheel of a Formula 1 car.
This film will leave you speechless and broken, but reconnected with the once pure spirit of competition and greatness. Sports fans, historians, and anyone captivated by those who live passionately will find the story of Ayrton Senna to be unlike any they’ve ever been told.
