Do you want to write a sci-fi novel or the next great dystopian drama where the human race as we know it is being quickly eradicated for a sharper, sexier homo sapien?
Hot homo.
Bigger. Faster. Stronger.
Sure, me too. Here are some excellent research pieces for you.
This video is fascinating (that Ted Talk tag is no lie) and it’s apropos considering this recent StarTalk podcast about the ethics of genomic manipulation and study. What’s StarTalk? Only your most regular dose of Neil deGrasse Tyson and Eugene Mirman, NDT’s co-host of Bob’s Burgers fame who references Star Trek a lot and makes you feel not so stupid. Thanks, Gene(s)!
Some feel-good-flavored fuck yous.
So into this band right now. Perfect for gross gray days that should be ready made for play.
What a sound.
Taste all the Radkey sludge on Spotify.
And a swift kick in the ass.
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
A colleague let me borrow this book. Colleague is such a better word than co-worker. It implies office friendship, no? And one must have an office friendship to recognize the deep seated self-hatred in one another for not yet completing that one creative project you always dreamed of.
It’s all about how to defeat Resistance, which is that internal not-doing that evolves from so many places and defeats so many of our desires.
Employers sometimes use up their best creative people by giving them too much to do, counting on them for too many things, asking them to solve too many problems. That’s often the case, but it’s important to think about how we let ourselves get used up, too… how that contributes to our personal Resistance… and why we do it.
“I learned later how hard it can become to unsettle yourself, to trip yourself up, and I think that a good place to write from. It’s important to undermine yourself and create a level of difficulty so the work doesn’t come too easily. The more comfortable you get, the more money you earn, the more successful you are, the harder it is to create situations where you have to prove yourself and make yourself not just want it, but need it. The stakes should always feel high.”
Carrie Brownstein, “Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl”
You’re listening to the wrong country music.
Currently on the Roku: “American Masters: Loretta Lynn.” Watch it! Forever a bad bitch mountain girl. “Say what you will but she’s a feminist. She made it OK for other women to say, ‘Wait. Yeah!.’ And that’s how movements start.”
You remember the Duke case wrong.
The new “30 For 30” episode covering the Duke Lacrosse scandal from the 2000s has made me completely re-think (consider for the first time?) *my own* privilege. Not because I’m a woman, but because I’m middle class. I remember when this story happened and reading the news stories and looking at the photos and thinking these guys were definitely guilty. They were rich and jocks.
And rich people and jocks were entitled and mostly always sucked. Please check out the film. It’s a well-done look at how journalism and social righteousness can go terribly wrong, a stark reminder that innocent until proven guilty applies to all of us. (This story feels especially scary considering that our reactionary natures have only accelerated since this happened thanks to clickbait headlines.)
How are those resolutions holding up? Hopefully awesome. And awesome could mean that they’re failing brilliantly. Take, for example, John Oliver’s recent definition of what makes a goal, resolution, life change, et al, successful:
“Deep down we all know, the key to a successful resolution is not hard work and dedication,” Oliver said. “It’s managing disappointment and that’s it.”
Success is all about bouncing back. Because you’re going to fail. How reassuring! Really. Here are three podcasts I’ve been listening to lately that should be tagged in the non-annoying self-help category.
Take a listen and fail less! Or fail better. Either way, happy new year. <3
This dude’s a spiritual teacher with a Timothy Leary connection but fear not! He’s fun and interesting and the lectures feel very modern and relatable. “Here and Now” delves into topics such as parenting, self-awareness and romantic love, non-prophetically approaching each subject with an honest and loving lens. Life’s hard, man. But don’t make it harder than it has to be.
“The more we individually have our shit together, the less that we are groping in the dark with a partner and having gigantic expectations and wanting to change each other.”
Just don’t try to say this podcast’s name 10 times fast. Buh dum chi. The host, Mike Vardy, is a comedian (not nearly as cheesy as I) turned podcaster whose show looks into realistic ways to be more productive in your daily life.
This podcast is really approachable and not intimidating, which some of the podcasts about productivity can be (“WORKOUT AT 4 AM! DOWNLOAD THESE APPS! YOU COULD DO MORE! BUY THE FIVE NEW BOOKS I WROTE YESTERDAY!”). I mean, he has blog post topics such as “The Three Things Seinfeld Does That I’ve Built Into My Workflow.”
Life’s a real balancing act. HEY-O!
From The Productivityist’s interviews, I’ve picked up some really helpful strategies for managing everything from my email and time to my negative thoughts.
Look no further than Mike’s first episode of 2016, “Deep Work with Cal Newport.” This episode really made me think twice about the way I spend my time and how much of it is lost doing things like getting sucked into the black hole of Facebook. I love the tips on how to focus your time on one task, and I can definitely see the value and rarity — workplace or otherwise — of concentration. Sometimes you have to catch yourself slipping away and just do the work and keep doing the work. No, really, go do the work. This is how you get those dreams done, people!
The wonderful illustrator Andy J. Miller is the “person who does this podcast.” He doesn’t like the word host, which is indicative of how unpretentious this show is. Andy talks about how to make a living as an artist or tips on becoming unblocked — generally patting creative people on the tookus. These are fun to listen to as you’re doing chores while you put off the creative work because you’re scared! Meet your creative coach during self-imposed halftime.
I’m excited, actually, because I do not fare well when given ultimate freedom from routine. Consistency is key to me not sleeping literally all day or building a fort under my kitchen table and calling my cat First Lieutenant.
However, I do understand the desire to slowly turn up the heat when it comes to work. After all, those frogs jump out of the boiling water when thrown right into it, no?
Here’s something to look at as you dick around a little bit throughout your first day back at the office. This website is called Old Book Illustrations and it posts amazing and oddball artworks from books now within the public domain.
I got a nice little surprise this week from my badass friends behind the Columbus Alternative Fashion Week, an event in its inaugural year that celebrates and promotes independent fashion designers of Columbus. (The big finale runway showcase of those designers is this Friday. Get there.) The team designed this keychain with the words “Columbus For a Reason” inspired by a post I wrote that referenced why we live in Columbus and not a city like L.A. or New York. What an honor! You can get one for free at any fashion week event. My reasons for living in Columbus are many, but the fact that independent artists are valued here is tops.
1) New music. New to me at least. My rate of discovery for new music typically puts me about six to six and a half months behind schedule of the cool kids. I have had trouble lately finding music I like. It’s hard because I used to rely on music that released a lot of anger for me… but I’m not really angry anymore… or music that awesomely expressed lady sads… but I’m a more mature kind of lady sads now (best remedy for this so far has been Solange). And, at age 27, irony in music to me is when an emergency broadcast system alert interrupts my oldies station’s Led Zeppelin song. Here are two musicians I “discovered” (I love when average people say that) this week that I’ve been enjoying:
Laura Mvula. Songstress. Powerful. Sensual. Catchy.
2) Larry Smith’s TED talk about failure. I’m a TED talk junkie, if you couldn’t tell from my previous Wins of the Week entries. After I watch or read the depressing news each morning, I go to TED’s topics page and pick a talk I think will make me feel better about the state of humanity. It almost always works. This one left me particularly motivated and thoughtful. Smith, an economist, humorously outlines all the things we tell ourselves about our careers–cop outs, scape goats, excuses–that lead us down a road of work we are lukewarmly passionate about. I think I have made all of these mistakes but never thought about them as mistakes, such as not going after a job in order to be a better lover, friend, family member. Still wrapping my mind around this one…
3) A hilarious grammatical error. As a writer I am prone to grammar snobbiness; however, I try to keep it in check and not be a word-nerd-asshole when people make a mistake. This poster’s misuse of the word “bread,” though is too funny to pass up. Forget the water… there must be something in the bread! Also, people who usually say shit like this are the same type of people who argue that Mexicans should learn English or get out of ‘Merica. So, laugh on, readers. Laugh on.
