Senses working overtime #297

 1 Peanut Butter

I'd be hard pressed to live without it - it has always be that way. Here's the history of peanut butter.

2 Reading

Another thing I can't imagine being without! I have evolved and now read multiple books at once.

This is a fascinating article on the process.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

3 Ed Catmull, cofounder of Pixar, on how they make great movies:

"Initially, the films we put together, they're a mess. It's like everything else in life—the first time you do it, it's a mess. Sometimes it's labeled ... "a failure" ... but that's not even the right word to use. It's just like, you get the first one out, you learn from it, and the only failure is if you don't learn from it, if you don't progress."

4 Writing from Seth Godin: 

It doesn’t have to be perfect, it can simply be the next thing you do.

5 George Lucas A Life

The more I read about him, the more I like him!

Overtime: American Graffiti

After reading the chapter on how it was made, I rewatched this during the week. It's a great film!

Senses working overtime #296

1 World of Wearable Arts at Wellington's Te Papa

During the week Jacky and I travelled down to Wellington to see the WOW exhibition at NZ's national museum, a.k.a. Te Papa. Certainly a visual feast!

2 Christopher Milne

C.R. Milne with Pooh

I'm currently reading his first autobiography -  The Enchanted Places. As A.A. Milne's only son, Christopher Robin Milne has quite a story to tell. He tells it in a pretty oblique fashion which actually adds to its appeal in a curious way. 

3 Burton Cummings

Of course, while in Wellington I also visited Slow Boat Records and Rough Peel Music. It's a rule. 

At RPM I managed to find some bargains - among them two of Burton Cummings' solo records (I'm a big fan of The Guess Who) - a replacement copy of Dreams Of A Child (my old copy was past its use by date) and My Own Way To Rock. $3 each, both in mint condition! Score

Try Break It To Them Gently why doncha.

4 Arty Bee's Books and Unity Books

are also must visit places for me when going to Wellington. I scored four more Anne Tyler novels in the process including Redhead By The Side Of The Road - her latest - first published in 2020. 

5 Pandoro Panetteria

Taste - we love Wellington's version of Pandoro Panetteria for breakfast or lunch.

Overtime: A bit more from the WOW Arts from #1 with the delightful Mrs Purdy in her element.

Senses working overtime #295

1 2021

For those of you keeping track, 2021 is the product of the prime numbers 43 and 47. If you were looking for a reason to be optimistic, that’s as good as any - Seth Godin.

2 I'm an early riser

Turns out - that's a good thing. I'm not sure why they used an image showing 8am though. Week days I rise at 4.30 and holidays it's around 6.30 usually.

3 SoCal hot spot

Our eldest daughter lives and works in Los Angeles - the U.S. hot spot for the Covid-19. It's a worry.

 
4 Important life lessons from 2020

Photo by Tsunami Green on Unsplash

5 The year in things

Starting with toilet paper!

This is great from Vox!

Overtime: Sign off from Seth

Even if no one but you reads it. The blog you write each day is the blog you need the most. It’s a compass and a mirror, a chance to put a stake in the ground and refine your thoughts.

And the most important post? The one you’ll write tomorrow.

Senses working overtime #294

 1 Boxing day

Is when this edition came out. What is boxing day all about?

2 Boxing day also signifies that Christmas is over for another year

The giving of presents, the eating of food you wouldn't normally eat, the family connections, the decorations, the Christmas movies, the twinkling light displays, and the opportunity for some selfish time...all gone.

3 The Beatles' Get Back movie

Here's a sneak peek from Peter Jackson. It. Is. Awesome.

4 Austin Kleon's blog comment on the sneak peak

Watching this 5-minute cut of never-before-seen footage from Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back, I thought of the beginning of Kurt Vonnegut’s Timequake:

I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, “The Beatles did.”

5 Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, on the value of time

“You can do so much in ten minutes’ time. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good. Divide your life into 10-minute units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity."

Overtime: Seth Godin on the year that was 2020

The seeds we plant

2020 was a terrible year for too many people. So much trauma, dislocation and illness. Everyone has their own stories, and everyone suffered (unevenly and unfairly) from the extraordinary shifts in our lives.

And yet, seeds were planted. Five or ten or twenty years from now, people will remember projects that were started, connections that were established, realizations that occurred. Doors were opened, babies were born and changes were made.

Few people celebrate forest fires, but we’re all eager to walk through the sylvan glades that follow.

If you were kept from planting all the seeds you hoped to in 2020, that’s okay. Because the best time to plant more seeds is always right now. Or perhaps tomorrow. 

Senses working overtime #293

 1 Beautiful photos of the Tube.

I love the London Underground and I especially love photos of it.

2 The uselessness of judging yourself 

I'm enjoying James Clear's work. This one hit home!

3 Why some people are always running late

I may have linked to this article before and mentioned that my wife should read it. May have.

4 Fascinating man who first discovered something strange in Loch Ness

5 Nine cancels in 2020 

J K Rowling - one of nine

Wish we could do #10 and cancel 2020 but it happened folks!

Overtime: MNAC (Monday Night Album Club)

Here's our 2020 selection a.k.a. MNAC IV 

Senses working overtime #292

  1 Morning rituals

Photo by Ekaterina Kasimova on Unsplash

The summer holidays mean a change to my morning rituals - I'm going to experiment with some of these over the coming weeks. Good for my senses.

2 Morning haze

This mind and body playlist  (suggested in that list from number 1 above) is very soothing. There are thousands of these on Spotify but this one stands out for me.

3 Mozart for morning meditation

This is one of my favourite CDs at home. Number 2 above just reminded me.

4 Poem Beginning With a Retweet 

If you drive past horses and don't say horses
you're a psychopath. If you see an airplane
but don't point it out. A rainbow,
a cardinal, a butterfly. If you don't
whisper-shout albino squirrel! Deer!
Red fox! If you hear a woodpecker
and don't shush everyone around you
into silence. If you find an unbroken
sand dollar in a tide pool. If you see
a dorsal fin breaking the water.
If you see the moon and don't say
oh my god look at the moon. If you smell
smoke and don't search for fire.
If you feel yourself receding, receding, 
and don't tell anyone until you're gone. 

Maggie Smith

5 Christmas Vacation

Like millions of others, I'll be watching my DVD of this movie again in the lead up to Christmas, as the out-laws arrive.

Overtime: The morning routine (revisited with Thomas Oppong)

Senses working overtime #291

 1 Neil Armstrong's famous lines from the moon

2 The brain's most important job

Your brain’s most important job isn’t thinking; it’s running the systems of your body to keep you alive and well. According to recent findings in neuroscience, even when your brain does produce conscious thoughts and feelings, they are more in service to the needs of managing your body than you realize.

3 A sound so loud it was heard in over 50 countries

What we’re talking about here is like being in Boston and clearly hearing a noise coming from Dublin, Ireland. Travelling at the speed of sound (766 miles or 1,233 kilometers per hour), it takes a noise about 4 hours to cover that distance. This is the most distant sound that has ever been heard in recorded history.

4 Author Ann Hastings on the availability of satisfaction:

“Satisfaction is always available. It is just not always looked for. If, when you enter any experience, you enter with curiosity, respect and interest you will emerge enriched and with awareness you have been enriched. Awareness of enrichment is what satisfaction is.”

5 Declining Freemason numbers

Overtime: Paul McCartney III is about to come out so here's a press interview to whet the appetite (hopefully it's like his first solo album rather than McCartney II)

"I think it’s a fact of life that personalities don’t change much. Throughout your life, there you are."