Taken in the summer of 2011 in Hungary.
There are two ways to survive a harsh winter: you can squirrel away your pile of acorns or you can bear it by just not needing much.
TODAY’S RANDOM THOUGHT: Bear or Squirrel?
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Tag Archives: ideas
TODAY’S RANDOM THOUGHT: Warrior
Statue of Kusunoki Masashige, famous Royalist supporter, taken outside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in 2008.
The defining characteristic of a warrior isn’t the ability to fight. Thugs and mercenaries fight. It’s subordinating one’s most base instinct to survive to virtuous behavior. It’s not being ruled by fear, anger, or pride, but consciously opting to do the right thing.
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TODAY’S RANDOM THOUGHT: Hitler’s Final Victory
Source: German Federal Archives
Hitler killed the short-stache (a.k.a. the “toothbrush mustache.”) Imagine that, almost 70 years after his death, he still holds power over people’s decisions about facial hair.
This is a misplaced take-away lesson. It’s the unbridled narcissism, the icy hatred, and the irrational exuberance in the power of evil of Hitler that should be abandoned (yet, somehow, those intangibles still quietly exist.) It’s not the superficial aspects of Hitler that should be shunned, but the ones at the bastard’s core.
I’m not saying the toothbrush-stache was a good look. On the contrary–as one who has had a mustache his entire adult life and has worn a beard now for several years–I’m a little offended by the lack of commitment to one’s choice of facial hair that the toothbrush-stache represents. (Incidentally, I feel the same about the sole patch and mutton chops.) In my mind, one should go full-stache or go home to shave.
Still, there being no accounting for taste, I think those individuals who would otherwise find the short-stache appealing (i.e. you know, indecisive types who wear culottes and eat with sporks) should revive the toothbrush mustache as a big fuck-you to Hitler–don’t let tyrants boss you around from the grave.
Toothbrush mustache admirers of world, unite! (No, I won’t be joining you.)
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TODAY’S RANDOM THOUGHT: Death as the Good Drunk
I don’t think Death should be depicted as a cowled, faceless Grim Reaper.
Instead, I think Death should be the wise drinking buddy who can hold his liquor. Not the one who acts like an idiot an encourages friends to do the same. Rather, the one who spurs you to ask out a girl who’s way out of your league, and keeps you classy if (when) she declines.
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BOOK REVIEW: Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Kleon’s work began as a series of index cards and expanded into a short book. As the subtitle implies, the book is built around ten pieces of advice on creativity, each of which has short sub-chapters.
The ten chapters / advice offerings are:
-Steal like an artist.
-Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started.
-Write the book you want to read.
-Use your hands.
-Side projects and hobbies are important.
-The secret: do good work and share it with people.
-Geography is no longer our master.
-Be nice.
-Be boring.
-Creativity is subtraction.
Much of the advice offered in this book is common wisdom. This is exemplified by the title chapter, “Steal like an artist.” That chapter suggests that one must learn to borrow from past artists in a way that creates an end product uniquely one’s own. It’s good advice. Frequently, artists become paralyzed by a desire to create a work that is unlike any in the annals of humanity. At some level of granularity, this is an impossibility, and each artist has to come to grips with that. I once read a book entitled Write Like the Masters which offered this exact same advice in a less pithy form but which elaborated more on how to go about this process.
It’s possible to drill down much deeper into on the subject. Some art is much more thievable than others. I once wrote a short story set in a dystopian far future in which animals of several species had evolved intelligence and other adaptations and were challenging humanity. This was panned by a few on a critique group on the grounds that it was too much like Planet of the Apes. In truth, it did have some things in common with that story (though also much that was quite different.) However, I realized that where there is only one iconic storyline that’s similar, it’s much harder to avoid being compared than when there is a wide body of work. (As opposed to say the billions of vampire stories constantly coming out that usually escape comparison to Bram Stoker’s.)
However, Kleon’s book does offer some advice that isn’t as often addressed in creativity self-help guides. For example, the advice “Marry well” that forms a sub-chapter is critically important but is usually outside the scope of this type of book (and forms its own self-help genre.)This is certainly a good piece of advice not just for life, but specifically for creativity or other personal development. A bad relationship can kill personal growth faster than almost anything else, and a good relationship certainly facilitates one becoming a better person.
Besides being concise, where the book excels is putting advice on creativity in a modern context. This is most prominent in the chapter about the changing role of geography, but it’s also seen in discussions of how to share one’s work in the world of social media and blogging. There’s a lot of advice out there about how to deal with social media. Some will tell you to avoid it like the plague because it cripples productivity. Others will say that you can’t get far in this world without having mastered social media. This book addresses the balance, which is to say being able to use social media to one’s benefit while not letting it consume one’s time and energy.
Some of the advice conflicts, such as “validation is for parking” and “keep a praise file.”
One of the most interesting parts of the book is an appendix that consists of many index card notations–a number of which are clever and thought-provoking. These include one that says merely “quilting vs. weaving” and another that has a drawing of a pitcher and one of a skeleton that says “containers vs. skeletons.”
This book is highly readable, brief, and offers cleverness sprinkled throughout. It’s worth a read if you are interested in how to spur creativity. Don’t expect revelations, but rather inspiration.
For more on creativity, I highly recommend the following talk by Monty Python alum John Cleese:
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Happy 237th, America
America is the product of a set of exceptional human beings. Some may wish to humanize the founding fathers and to deflate the mythology that has grown up around them, but deflate the myth and one still has impressive facts. Who turns down a salary for the most sleepless and thankless job in the universe? George Washington, that’s who. Who writes a political document so artfully that its turns of phrase still chime poetically in the ear 237 years after the fact? Thomas Jefferson, that’s who? Who can invent the lightening rod and bifocals, convince the French to move toward the sound of the guns (just kidding, France), and get the chicks despite the most hideous comb-over ever? Benjamin Franklin, that’s who.
Now this may be Golden Age fallacy talking, but today’s ruling elite seem a bit… well let’s just say “pathetic” by comparison. Sure modern-day rulers still have charisma out the wazoo, but Franklin had charisma plus a world-class intellect. Jefferson had charisma, and he didn’t need a speech-writing team and focus groups to craft his words for him. Washington had charisma, and–quite frankly–he could scare the shit out of a grizzly bear. It’s the rare modern-day leader who is qualified for any alternative career besides ambulance chasing.
Still, I will remain optimistic about the fate of the nation as long as great ideas prevail. Checks and balances is a great idea. The compromise to appease both populous and small states is a great idea. The Bill of Rights is a set of great ideas. I’m a little amused whenever I hear people say that America needs to revise its Constitution if it wants to keep up in the modern world. I heard this most recently from a scholar who said that because it was relatively difficult to make laws and spend money, America was going to fall ever behind the likes of Scandinavian countries? What? Really? Seriously?
Tiger Riding for Beginners 