Senses working overtime #251

1 Art spreads like a virus

A timely blog post from Austin Kleon on how the spread of art and art movements resembles a virus.

2 Font of all (knowledge)

How this one font took over the world!

3 Why I wake up at 3am most nights

Not me

Revealed!

4 Why it's pointless to start an argument on the internet

Revealed (I've stock piled some articles on Pocket obvs)

5 Overwhelmed is a choice - Seth Godin

The internet is infinite. For humans, anyway.

In the time you’ve been reading this, more than an hour of video has been uploaded to YouTube. You will never catch up.

The thing is, the world has always been infinite compared to human scale.

Living on a bucolic farm in the 14th century, there was no need to get bored. You could study earthworms, write a sonnet or have a conversation with your neighbor…

We widen or close our lens on the world in order to avoid becoming too bored or feeling too small.

When you first encounter a new web service, go on Slack or get back to your computer after a break, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed. Too much to sort. We want a foundation to stand on, but firm footing eludes us for a while.

And then we find it again. Because we intentionally make ourselves unaware of the rest of it.

Right now, orbiting a distant star, the folks on Planet 10 are having a conflict about something or other. But we have no idea. And right now, someone who works for you has a question, or the store you’re not in is having a problem, or a co-worker is doing something without your oversight–and it’s all proceeding without you, because total information awareness is a fiction.

Find your footing and do your work. It’s a choice.

Overtime: Poetry corner

Rough Plaster We spend our summers in a house once owned By a couple who never spoke a word To each other. And we have wondered if, Mixed in with the rough plaster on the walls, Some bitter trace still lingers. But in their day There was no window on to the southern hills, No singing from the music system, and no-one Calling from upstairs for a weather forecast That will tell us if it’s fine enough for the sea. Bernard O’Donoghue (2019)

Senses working overtime #250

1 Eye contact

Eye contact is an important part of our day to day interactions and it can sometimes lead to being married to someone for, of, so, 36 years or so (26th February 1983 is the first time I laid eyes on my wife). 

2 RIP Charles Portis

Portis is clearly an author I need to track down, thanks to this quasi obit in Austin Kleon's blog.

3 Seth Godin #1
Action figures

Those little plastic figurines don’t actually move. If we’re being honest, they’re not action figures, they’re remind-us-of-action figures.

Many of the totems in our lives don’t actually do anything all on their own. Books don’t read themselves, and flowers don’t love us.

But they can represent something. They can remind us of what’s possible. They can trigger us to be in the right state of mind.

Consider surrounding yourself with totems that invite generous action. They’re souvenirs of your best self.

4 Seth Godin #2

Just getting through the day

To what end?

Is tomorrow another day to get through?

After you get through all the days, then what happens?

What if we saw opportunities instead of tasks? Chances instead of risks?

5 Poetry corner
Love Poem to Myself

Your basic appetites and pale feet renew 
my faith in evolution; when you slide drunk 
into a bath all the palm trees in Miami burn; 
when I think about your nervous system, 
its black market of strands, tearing electrics, 
I feel outwardly stupid; I love you, I say, and
the room rings as if the air around my skin 
were the rind of something citrus. 

Jack Underwood

Overtime: Emma

Jacky and I saw Emma during the past week. It was a terrific movie - very strong performances from the cast and a great lightness of touch. Check it out!

Senses working overtime #249

1 Fake fake fake

Doctoring a photo and how to spot them!

2 Ashley Boone Jr. and Star Wars

A forgotten hero of the Star Wars origin story

3 And the Oscar goes to...

Excellent wrap up of the awards by Vox.

4 Reading 3 or 4 books at a time

Austin's pile

I'm beginning to embrace this concept but it's taken a long time! Up till now it's been like trying to listen to two records at a time - impossible. Austin Kleon may be on to something though.

5 Photographer Gjon Mili

Great post from Austin Kleon (yes - he put out a great newsletter this week!) about Picasso, Mili and the use of light.

Overtime: Speaking of photogrphs and the use of light -  some more of Jade and William's wedding photos have dropped. I'm partial to this one:

Senses working overtime #248

1 Artists at home with their vinyl

I love those generic shots (I collect them on my Pinterest Music page). For instance - here's Francois Hardy putting on some early Slayer. Kidding. Probably something cool and French.

2 Marcus! Love you!

That's Marcus Aurelius, not the character from About A Boy!

3 New respect

I have new respect for Mitt Romney. The only Republican Senator with the gumption and integrity to stay true to his convictions*. Shame on the rest of the Trump lapdogs.

*
“My promise before God to apply impartial justice required that I put my personal feelings and political biases aside,” he said. “Were I to ignore the evidence that has been presented and disregard what I believe my oath and the Constitution demands of me, for the sake of a partisan end, it would, I fear, expose my character to history’s rebuke.”

4 Superbowl Ads
I missed this year's game - was at school leading the troops, pity, but in the end the great state of Kansas City (according to Donald Trump -hahahahahahahahahahaha, what an idiot) won the game that played around the adverts. I would have wanted the 49ers to win but the Steelers are my team.

Anyway, I enjoyed Dan Rockwell's wrap up of the best Superbowl ads of all time.

5 Ram Dass

Austin Kleon's blog lead me to this interview with Ram Dass who I first met/heard at a seventies music festival in NZ - Nambassa. My memory of the meeting was of a few people (maybe a dozen or so) sitting around Ram Dass (a.k.a. Richard Alpert) in a circle as he spoke to us about eastern philosophies. It was quite a moment!

Overtime: Beyond true and false
An appropriate article on Buddhist philosophy given my mention of Ram Dass.