The Petri Project

A living lab report from 43 Things.

Working Vacation June 29, 2007

Filed under: Wanderlust, Work & Career — brangien @ 2:51pm

new officeSay you’re working as a banker but you’ve always dreamed of owning a bed & breakfast. Maybe you’re a florist whose greatest wish is to become a stand-up comedian. Or maybe you’re a high-powered lawyer who secretly yearns to make cheese. But you aren’t quite ready to quit your current gig because a.) radical changes are scary, b.) you don’t really know what’s involved in the day-to-day of your dream career, and c.) truth be told, you might hate it.

That’s where Vocation Vacations comes in. Apparently featured on NBC’s Today show this morning (thanks, Mom, for the hot tip), it’s a service that helps you test the waters of a new career… before drowning in one. You can pick from an impressively long list of “dream jobs,” and purchase a one-on-one mentorship (usually ranging from one day to a week; for between $300 to $2000). You pay for your own transportation and housing, and the mentor provides you with an intensive, full-immersion experience in the job you think you want.

Spend three days in Montana, learning to be an auctioneer ($799), or a full day in Florida, building empathy as an animal therapist ($349). You can also give a Vocation Vacation as a gift—just in case you know a veterinarian who needs a gentle push toward her true calling as a radio personality.

Is this a cool idea or what? Finally, the chance to see if I have what it takes to be a pro wrestling color commentator! Well, maybe not. But test driving “chocolatier” doesn’t sound too shabby…

Photo credit: shinnygogo on Flickr.

 

What I’ll Do This Summer June 28, 2007

Filed under: Lab Report — brangien @ 4:52pm

beach ballThis week at 43 Things we issued ourselves a challenge: Determine one thing I could do this summer that would seriously change my life, and complete it before Labor Day (September 3rd!). Coming up with the “one thing” was harder than we thought. First we came up with a lot of relatively easy stuff (largely appliance related). Then we came up with a lot of stuff we’d rather give ourselves much longer to figure out (maybe forever). I think most of us landed somewhere in the middle. So now we pose the challenge to you. We’ll check back in at the end of the summer to see how we’ve all progressed toward our goals. And in the fall, we’ll all have excellent fodder for our “What I did last summer” reports.

Photo credit: sisterdimension on Flickr.

 

Love Shaq June 28, 2007

Filed under: Health & Fitness, In the News — brangien @ 12:49am

shaqshaqshaqI can’t quite believe this, but I’m going to write a post about Shaq. That’s right, Shaquille O’Neal. I’m not a sports fan by any stretch—I don’t even know what team Shaq is on—but what I do know is that he’s a basketball giant (literally and figuratively), and he’s the star of my new favorite reality show.

Called Shaq’s Big Challenge (Tuesday nights at 9/8c, on ABC), the basic premise is fairly typical reality show fare: regular people trying to lose a lot of weight in a short period of time. But what’s atypical is that the contestents are morbidly obese children, and their only hope is Shaq.

I stumbled upon the first episode entirely accidentally and was instantly hooked. Shaq speaks in a soft monotone and says things like, “I’m a ninja,” and “I’m a superstar.” He makes dumb jokes, a favorite of which is pretending to hit his head on doorways. He talks about the junk food he loves but isn’t allowed to eat. He’s basically a big kid among a bunch of big kids.

But his goofiness is precisely what makes him appealing—much more so than the cliched, coiffed and sinewy trainers that populate other weight loss shows. A father of six himself, Shaq sincerely cares about these kids (as the review in Sports Illustrated points out, he’s by no means an actor, so we know his reactions are genuine). His team spirit is infectious. The kids are both heartbreaking and inspiring. This, in combination with the much-repeated statistic that for the first time in 100 years, children have a shorter life expectancy than their parents, makes you really, really want them to succeed.

You can stream full episodes (after they air) at ABC.com. Meanwhile, I’ll be adjusting to my new status as a Shaq fan.

Photo credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage.com

 

So You Think You Can Dance June 27, 2007

Filed under: Creative Pursuits, Health & Fitness, Lab Report — brangien @ 11:07pm

two turntablesYesterday, in the name of mixing up my exercise routine and trying something new, I decided to take a hip-hop dance class. It seemed like a great idea because it was different but not too terrifyingly out-there, especially since I already considered myself a pretty good dancer. I have had success with ballet and salsa dancing, and enjoy cutting a rug at dance parties and weddings. (Plus, I took so many aerobics classes between 1986 and 2000 that if you lined up all the “grapevines” I’ve done they’d surely stretch around the world.) So I just didn’t expect a hip-hop dance class to be that hard. (In Greek myth, this is what they call hubris.)

Pretty much everything after the warm-up was a bust. If you’ve ever watched dance tryouts on tv or in the movies, you’re familiar with the part where the whole group of hopefuls does the routine (five, six, seven, eight!), and there’s one person in the back who is just *not* getting it. He or she sticks out like a walrus in a pack of gazelles, maybe hitting one or two of the bigger marks, but missing all the details. It’s the dance equivalent to trying to fake your way through a song whose lyrics you don’t know.

In short: I was the walrus. (Goo goo goo joob.)

I certainly looked funky! But not in the way the teacher intended. Actually, I’m not sure how I looked, since I didn’t dare glance at myself in the room-spanning mirror. But I felt clumsy and lost. Mostly I couldn’t keep track of all the eight-counts we were learning in quick succession. Just when I felt like I almost had the gist of one, we were already moving on to the next. By the end, when we were supposed to string all the counts together into an MTV-worthy routine, my mind was completely blank. Except for this thought: What would Malcolm Gladwell think?

Yes, in the middle of hip-hop class, limbs flailing, I was thinking about an article Gladwell (of Tipping Point fame) had written several years ago in the New Yorker. (I’m sure this wasn’t helping my moves, but honestly, it probably wasn’t hurting them either.) The article was called The Art of Failure, and in it Gladwell discusses the psychological differences between panicking and choking (choking in the blowing-the-championship sense, not physically choking).

People tend to use panicking and choking somewhat interchangeably, but it turns out that mentally there’s something very different happening in each case. According to Gladwell, panicking is a sort of reversion to the lizard brain, during which you forget everything you’ve learned about a given skill, relying solely on survival instincts. Choking, on the other hand, is what happens when you stop using unconscious, natural aptitudes and go back to acting in the slow, mechanical way you do when you first learn a skill. From the article:

Panic, in this sense, is the opposite of choking. Choking is about thinking too much. Panic is about thinking too little. Choking is about loss of instinct. Panic is reversion to instinct. They may look the same, but they are worlds apart.

It’s a pretty fascinating difference, especially in light of Gladwell’s examples, which include a high profile tennis match, a scuba diving accident, and John F. Kennedy Jr.’s final, fatal flight. In my case, I was panicking. (I couldn’t remember anything I’d learned.) And while my personal example was less dramatic than those outlined by Gladwell, it was still a mighty stressful. Which is why I’m going back to hip-hop class next week. I figure if I learn more I’ll be less likely to panic. I just hope I don’t choke.

Photo credit: gwen on Flickr.

 

Pigeon Hole June 27, 2007

Filed under: Nest, Work & Career — brangien @ 12:54pm

the caveAs a furniture design student, Sakura Adachi wanted to create a piece that bridged the gap between public and private—a space that created a sense of seclusion while still offering visibility. (Kind of the idea behind a blog, come to think of it.)

“I saw how people create their own space in cafes and trains, how they sit on the front edge of their seat or put their things on an empty chair,” Adachi says in the New York Times. Once she had the basic concept, she looked to the skies for inspiration. From the article:

The multitude of pigeons in London quickly became her muses. Ms. Adachi said she was struck by how the birds roosted in the alcoves of older buildings, just beneath the eaves of roofs. The pigeons went about their business in these nooks, seemingly oblivious to the pedestrians below, she observed.

Her goal was to make a piece of furniture that replicated the experience of dining al fresco on a busy sidewalk—a pastime, Ms. Adachi said, that makes someone feel simultaneously sheltered and engaged.

Called the “Cave,” the bookshelf-with-a-built-in-reading-nook that was once Adachi’s thesis project is now available to consumers.

There is something undeniably appealing about creating a private space in a public sphere (think treehouses, backyard camping, or building a fort in the living room). Many of us, however, aren’t quite ready to spend $7000 on a reading nook (and can’t squeeze into the child-sized version, which is still over $4000). But as Adachi points out, there are plenty of ways we humans create our own public/private roosts. As I write this, for example, I notice I’ve created my own little nest, bordered by my laptop, my bag, and my jacket, right in the middle of a bustling coffee shop.

Do you have pigeon-like tendencies of your own? Are you more productive when you’re “simultaneously sheltered and engaged”? Or more bird-brained?

Photo credit: Sakura Adachi

 

Learning to Love You More June 26, 2007

Filed under: Creative Pursuits — brangien @ 12:30pm

miranda july at modern timesMany of you may already be familiar with Miranda July, the weirdly wonderful author, performance artist, and filmmaker. Many of you may have already purchased her smart, funny short story collection No One Belongs Here More Than You, and/or seen her lovely and strange film You and Me and Everyone We Know. But! Have you visited her website, Learning to Love You More? It’s a sort of web experiment… a web invitational, if you will… one that asks the general public to take on assignments and then post responses (or, “reports”) to the site.

The project started in 2002, and while the assignments have slowed down (stalled at #63), the reports keep coming. This is perhaps due to the fact that the assignments—which range from “Create an encouraging banner,” to “Reread your favorite book from fifth grade,” to “Photograph a significant outfit”— are compelling in both their simplicity and the unabashed human-ness they celebrate.

Take a look. (And if you’re interested, track the progress of the Olivers, a Seattle family striving to complete all 63 assignments by Labor Day weekend.) Are any of the assignments something you’d be willing to try? Which ones spark your interest most? (And what does that tell you about yourself?) Even if you don’t complete a report, thinking creatively about something you never before considered is always an entry point for learning something new about yourself.

Photo credit: Steve Rhodes on Flickr.

 

Great, Now Worry Is Cause for Worry June 26, 2007

Filed under: Health & Fitness, Science — brangien @ 11:16am

international orange facialWhen Bobby McFerrin sang “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” he may have been sharing sound medical advice. A report released in the June 12 issue of Neurology reveals that people who tend to worry or get stressed out have a greater likelihood of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is recognized as an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease. (Apparently 50% of MCI sufferers do not go on to develop dementia, however, raising the question: Do you feel lucky?).

The study, which evaluated 1256 participants over the course of 12 years, found that “those who most often experienced negative emotions were more than 40 percent more likely to develop MCI than those who were least prone to these emotions.”

On a not terribly helpful note, experts say “stressed people shouldn’t get more stressed by the research.”

We tend to give “worrying less” and “reducing stress” a lot of lip service, but what about putting your money where your mouth is? Is there something you’d be willing to stop worrying about *today*? Or something you could do *this week* that would help reduce your own anxiety? As for me, I took my first yoga class yesterday and found it remarkably calming (as soon as I stopped worrying about whether I was doing it correctly).

Photo credit: misterbisson on Flickr.

 

Junkytown June 25, 2007

Filed under: Personal Quests — brangien @ 5:27pm

two-week (junk) mailHere’s something I waste way too much time doing: intricately tearing up unsolicited credit card offers I receive in the mail. Have you seen the harrowing local news reports? The investigative reporter digs somebody’s rumpled and ripped up card offer out of a dumpster, tapes it together haphazardly, fills it out with a crayon, rubs dirt on it, and is promptly sent a brand new card with a nice fat line of credit–on some unsuspecting citizen’s dime. This is what I’m trying to avoid. But lacking a shredder (and not wanting to buy another appliance), I am forced to do my own hand-shredding, which is quite time consuming, as is making sure the hand-shredded bits are deposited in separate trash cans (in hopes of at least slowing down the imagined thieves roaming by neighborhood). It’s completely ridiculous.

In addition to bringing unwanted clutter into our lives, junk mail isn’t so hot for our increasingly warm environment. All that paper has to come from somewhere–guess where? And much of it ends up going straight into the landfills. (You can read more about the evils of junk mail at the Native Forest Network.)

So this morning I decided it was time for a better plan–a plan that gets to the root of the problem. I logged on to a couple sites that supposedly help reduce junk mail, including those incessant credit card offers. First I registered on the National Do Not Mail List via DirectMail.com. Then I “opted out” of getting prescreened credit card offers at this website. It took about five minutes and was free. Hooray! Whether there’s actually a noticeable difference remains to be seen. But for people who want to stop getting junk mail, reduce clutter, or have less paper in your life, it seems like it’s certainly worth a try.

Photo credit: ~C4Chaos on Flickr.

 

The Latest in PenPals June 22, 2007

Filed under: Creative Pursuits, Love & Relationships — brangien @ 5:26pm

a year of mornings

Here’s another inspiring idea along the lines of Martha Rich’s painting-a-day experiment. 3191 is a joint photography project undertaken by two friends who live 3191 miles apart (one in Portland, OR and one Portland, ME). One day in January 2007, they both happened to share a photo of their morning with each other. Inspired by this coincidence, they decided to continue sharing one photo a day for a whole year. The two don’t discuss the photos before they take them–they just post them next to each other to see what sort of frisson occurs naturally. So, in addition to providing their friendship with a daily, full-color touchstone, they are also creating a lovely calendar of their mutual year, spent together, in opposite Portlands.

Cool, huh? So many of us want to keep in touch with old friends… this seems like quick, creative way to stay connected (even if your photos aren’t quite as gorgeous as those on 3191).

Photo credit: 3191

 

Healing Your Inner Primate June 22, 2007

Filed under: Health & Fitness, Love & Relationships, Work & Career — brangien @ 12:22pm

prospect park baboonOne of my favorite Sunday afternoon activities is plowing through the shelves at used bookstores in search of antique health and advice books. (Yes, it’s a crazy rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle I lead.) I just can’t seem to get enough of the sage wisdom of yore. Sometimes it’s pure quackery, which is fun in and of itself, but other times I’m astonished by the timeless quality of the advice.

My most recent find is a thick green book called The Art of Selfishness, by David Seabury (who apparently also wrote How to Worry Successfully, another tome I’d love to get my hands on). First published in 1937 and reprinted in 1948 (Halcyon House), the book’s central premise, or “Basic Law of Being,” is NEVER COMPROMISE YOURSELF. (Mr. Seabury is not afraid of caps.)

In the chapter titled “Easier Ways of Living,” he writes:

Haziness, headiness, and hooey make half of humanity’s headaches. Theory and “throbbing” without any tangible basis in reality lets millions become tangled up.

Stop every so often to realize where you are going, what you are doing, and who is getting you to act like a sick baboon. The simple act of taking stock is a rare act indeed, but one that is essential to intelligent living.

Let’s pause here a moment to take stock. Is someone or something making you act like a sick baboon? (And what exactly does that look like… or do we want to know?) If so, Mr. Seabury has some thoughts:

Maybe you are a genius, in which case this suggestion is unnecessary. But if you aren’t one of the great minds of the century, it is better not to try to think your problems out in your head, and especially never to think about any problem after ten p.m.

Write down all the facts you know in a rough-and-tumble manner. Just scratch them down. Then put them in some sort of order, the unimportant facts on one side, for example, the significant ones on the other. Having done this, restate your trouble as you imagine five widely different people would describe it, and let your selection include someone you don’t like, or who doesn’t approve of you. Then figure on your problem with all these new attitudes in mind and the facts in black and white.

What do you think of this strategy? I like the way he’s encouraging us to get outside ourselves and consider other views. And I’ve certainly found writing quandaries down helps to get a handle on them. So is anyone willing to experiment with Mr. Seabury’s suggestion? If so, who are the “five widely different people” you’d invite to describe your trouble? Perhaps a few people who’ve had some high-profile troubles of their own? Martha Stewart? Lindsay Lohan? Alec Baldwin? Those monkeys have surely taken a few sick days.

Photo credit: wallyg on Flickr.

 

Summer of Plugs June 21, 2007

Filed under: Wanderlust, Work & Career — brangien @ 11:40pm

office laptop beachIt’s the first day of summer (at least in this neck of the hemisphere), a time when thoughts turn toward beachy getaways, camping adventures, and free-wheelin’ road trips. According to the Associated Press, however, a fifth of vacationers usually “did some work… checked office messages or called in to see how things were going.” (Thanks, technology!)

So if your plan is simply to relax and enjoy the summer, does that mean with or without your multitudinous communication devices?

Photo credit: Scott Ableman on Flickr.

 

Dear Me June 21, 2007

Filed under: Lab Report — brangien @ 10:43pm

letterwriting“What do you want to do with your life?” It’s the overarching question posed by 43 Things, and it’s one we don’t hear too often after a certain age. As a consequence, we tend to pay little attention to how our answers might have shifted and developed over the years.

But in an effort to put ourselves into the petri dish, a few of us at 43 Things decided to look back at our former selves, pick one of those selves (frozen at a certain point in time), and offer him/her a little advice based on where we are now. What started out as a lighthearted exercise turned out, for many of us, to be pretty revelatory. Take a look, and consider writing a letter to one of your own former selves.

Also of note: A funny example of this sort of epistolary exercise can be found here (courtesy of McSweeney’s).

Photo credit: LarimdaME on Flickr.

 

Cheer Up, Sleepy Genes June 20, 2007

Filed under: Health & Fitness — brangien @ 5:15pm

unmade white linenThanks to a string of recent social events, I’ve been getting significantly less than eight hours of shut-eye. And I’ve been surprised to find that I can still function pretty well—at least, better than expected. Which of course leads me to wonder what “extras” I might accomplish if I gave up a few hours of sleep on a regular basis. It’s a bad idea, I think, certainly over a longer period of time, but recent research hints that quality of sleep may have little to do with quantity of sleep.

New evidence published in the Journal of Sleep Research reveals that sleep patterns are likely biologically determined.  The news is being considered, um, a wake up call among sleep experts, since “variability in sleep patterns has long been attributed to differences in circumstances, habits, and other non-biological factors.”

Researchers at Washington State University subjected study participants to alternating periods of uninterrupted sleep and sleep deprivation to learn how different people slumber under the same conditions. Comparing such factors as the time it takes to fall asleep, sleep duration, and the time spent in each sleep stage (including REM), they found that individuals repeated their own sleep patterns, regardless of whether they had a good night’s sleep or had pulled an all-nighter.

So while lots of people think they should be getting more sleep, the truth is altering your sleep patterns may be just a dream. If further research proves that genetics determine the number and quality of Zs we’re getting, scientists hope to have a clearer grasp on the functional link between sleep and overall health.

Photo credit: cactusinthesea on Flickr.

 

Go Ahead, Make Me Angry June 19, 2007

Filed under: Love & Relationships, Science — brangien @ 5:22pm

Have you ever been in the middle of a heated argument and experienced a sense of complete clarity? A feeling like you incredible hulk are suddenly capable of razor-sharp insight and absolute logic? Turns out it’s not just your imagination. A recent study reported in Live Science magazine contends that Anger Fuels Better Decisions. From the article:

Despite its reputation as an impetus to rash behavior, anger actually seems to help people make better choices—even aiding those who are usually very poor at thinking rationally. This could be because angry people base their decisions on the cues that “really matter” rather than things that can be called irrelevant or a distraction.

The study involved “inducing anger” in groups of college students (no word on whether gamma radiation was involved), and then testing their decision-making and analytical skills. The angry students proved to be better at discriminating between strong and weak arguments. Being angry even helped improve the logic of those students labeled “non-analytical” thinkers. Why? The researchers posit that since from an evolutionary standpoint anger exists to motivate action, it actually works to helps people take the *right* action.

So if you find yourself struggling with a tough decision about work, relationships, or life goals, ask someone to make you angry first, then take another stab (at the decision, not the anger-inducer).

Photo Credit: Hulkwoman on Flickr.

 

Can You Hear Me Now? June 19, 2007

Filed under: Creative Pursuits, In the News, Personal Quests — brangien @ 9:33am

In case you haven’t yet seen it, here’s the endearing clip of the Welsh mobile phone salesman who recently won the reality show, Britain’s Got Talent. It’s a nutshell version of the great American dream (in this case, with a British accent). Note: if this doesn’t make you even the slightest bit joyous you might want to check for a pulse.

 

Life In the Dish: An Interview with Martha Rich June 18, 2007

Filed under: Creative Pursuits, Personal Quests — brangien @ 9:05pm

martha painting 1 Martha Rich is an amazingly talented artist who started painting as a way to cope with her divorce and the consequent unraveling of her suburban American dream. Since quitting her human resources job, moving to Los Angeles, and focusing seriously on painting, her work has been featured in several galleries, as well as the McSweeney’s book, Dear New Girl, Or Whatever Your Name Is and my literary magazine, Swivel.

At a holiday party we both attended last November, Martha revealed her intentions of doing a small painting every day and posting each on a website called Freedom Wig (she loves painting wigs and girdles and lobsters). Remarkably, she’s kept up with her daily mandate, and she’s produced some truly lovely (and very funny) work in the process. I asked Martha to talk about the inspiration for this creative exercise and the results of her self-devised experiment.

Petri Project: What prompted you to do one painting a day? Had you heard about someone else doing similar projects, or did it come to you out of thin air?

Martha Rich: It just popped into my head one day when I was trying to think of new stuff to do. Then I Googled “one a day” paintings and saw that there were a bunch of people doing it, but it seemed like they were all doing oil paintings of apples and stuff. I don’t think there’s anyone doing what I do.

Petri: Why did you decide to post each painting online? Does it make you feel like there’s an expectant audience out there, waiting for the next painting?martha painting 2

Rich: I need accountability. I am innately lazy so I have to find ways to force myself to do stuff. I do it with exercise too. I have to have some reason to get things done. I do feel the “audience” but no one has emailed me about missing a day. I have a little clause on my opening page saying there may be times when I can’t post because of travel or lack of access to a scanner.

Petri: What did you think you’d get out of the experience? And has that proved true?

Rich: I thought it would help me grow as an artist. (Eww, I hate the way that sounds, so arteesty, but it is true.) Another characteristic I have is people-pleasing. This is bad thing creatively. Doing a painting every day makes it impossible to try and please the world. That is too exhausting. So I just try and please myself and hope people dig it. If a painting sucks one day it just doesn’t matter, I just do another the next day. I think I am happy with about 20% of the artwork. Artists tend to think they have to do a “masterpiece” every time. I say you have to do a bunch of crummy art to get one good piece of art.

Petri: What have you learned that you might never have realized without doing this project?

Rich: You never know what people will respond to. So don’t sweat it.

Petri: What is the hardest part about doing a painting a day?

martha painting 3Rich: Trying not to repeat myself.

Petri: Do you ever wish you hadn’t made the commitment to do this?

Rich: I actually don’t regret it at all. It’s fun and has made me a better artist, I think.

Petri: Back when you first announced your intentions to our group of friends, I remember everybody was instantly trying to figure out ways you could cheat to make it easier. So have you cheated?

Rich: Last month I got pretty burnt on it and I have cheated a couple of times when I had crazy deadlines for jobs but pretty much I’ve kept it going. Cheating only hurts myself—defeats the purpose.

Petri: Has doing this daily creative exercise made you feel more creative in your other work? Or do you feel creatively drained by “having” to do something every day?

Rich: No, I feel energized most days and it has made me do better art. It is amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it. I am shocked that I am doing this. I really am a lazy ass.

Petri: You started this project in November 2006. Are you going to continue on beyond November 2007?

Rich: I might keep going or I might switch to one a week and then do more detailed, bigger stuff. I am going to do something, though.

Petri: Is there a certain sort of person that you think would most benefit from a painting-a-day (or a photo-a-day or paragraph-a-day) strategy?

Rich: People who are lazy and need a kick in the ass.

Visit Freedom Wig to keep track of Martha’s progress (and buy her art!). And for anyone needing a creative kick, why start a daily project of your own?

All images copyright 2007 Martha Rich.

 

Sheep in Wolves’ Clothing June 18, 2007

Filed under: In the News — brangien @ 9:04pm

The New York Times Magazine featured a fascinating collection of photographs this past weekend called “Double Agents.” Described as “Players of interactive online games and the avatars, gear, spells, skills and identities they forge to represent themselves,” the paired pictures were culled from the book, Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators, to be published in the U.K. this month. (See an excerpt slideshow on the NYT Magazine site.) I can’t stop looking at them! I’ve never been involved with interactive online games so I’ll admit I have only the vaguest of notions about what avatars are for, but the photos are mesmerizing. Seeing all these people next to their idealized (I’m assuming avatars are idealized) versions of themselves—wow! Some look pretty much the same, with slightly accentuated features (notably, abs); others couldn’t look more different. And the number of hours they spend “in” the game says so much. It’s heartbreaking and surprising and funny… and it makes total sense too. It’s that utterly human thing of always wanting to be *other.* We just can’t help it.

 

Cake Helps June 18, 2007

Filed under: Personal Quests — brangien @ 8:26pm

birthday cake 001Like New Year’s Eve, birthdays tend to prompt thoughts of the “Whole New Life” variety. It’s my birthday today (yay!), and accordingly, I find myself bubbling with glorious hopes and pronouncements about how I’m going to improve myself (write more, exercise regularly, eat more locally grown fresh foods, keep my house tidy, make better decisions, be different, genius, bionic, etc.).

I guess it’s sorta cute, in an indomitable-human-spirit kind of way, that a mere one-year age difference can inspire such optimistic thinking. But all too often, at least in my case, these commitments fade as quickly as the last bite of cake. (The personal blog I started on my last birthday, for example, has sat postless for a full year. I keep it on life-support in the hope that some day the shame of its empty existence will guilt me into posting. We’ll see.)

So how to retain the verve for personal improvement after the candles have been blown out? Part of the answer may lie in actively, verbally acknowledging the “obstructions” you’re working within or against. Another trick might be making the commitment in a public way. Hmm… if only there were a website or something where I could list my intentions and be held “accountable” by an invisible yet mighty audience…

Photo credit: washed up on Flickr.

 

Obstruction Junction June 14, 2007

Filed under: Creative Pursuits — brangien @ 12:32am

five obstructions coverIf you haven’t yet seen it, or even if you have, I encourage you to rent the documentary, The Five Obstructions pronto. I’ve seen it a half-dozen times now, and I’m always astonished by how much I learn on each viewing. The basic premise of the movie is this: filmmaker Lars Von Trier (Dancer in the Dark; Breaking the Waves) challenges his Danish filmmaking idol, Jorgen Leth, to repeatedly remake what Von Trier considers Leth’s flawless short film, The Perfect Human (1967). The catch is that Leth’s revisions must proceed according to the specifications (or “obstructions”) Von Trier devises, which range from technically whimsical (no shot can last longer than 12 frames) to morally challenging (stage the lavish dinner scene in a poverty-stricken village in India). Each time, no matter how absurd the obstruction (it must be shot in Cuba; it must be a cartoon), Leth rises to the occasion of his constraints, producing a film that both hearkens back to and catapults beyond the original movie.

The lesson here is about constraints, and how oftentimes a set of strict parameters is exactly what is needed to motivate great work. This is perhaps especially true in the case of artists. As Leth notes in the film, the most harrowing obstruction of all is to be issued no obstructions. The blank page is a terrifying thing to face. It’s when creativity has to fight against a mandate from on high that the friction necessary for inspired thinking occurs.

It’s the same thinking that lies behind writing prompts (as in, Today you must write a story that features an antelope, a magic marker, and jealousy). Your first instinct might be to say, “I don’t have any personal attachment to antelopes or magic markers, and I’m not a jealous person.” But once you push past that knee-jerk resistance, you find yourself writing the most glorious story about envious ungulates ever told.

And aren’t lists just another form of helpful obstruction? Because in making a list (and in the case of 43 Things, posting said list for all to see), you are giving yourself parameters–a set of boxes to check off. Which instantly makes goals seem more achievable–doesn’t it? Rather than having everything floating around all amorphous and willy nilly in your head?

In summary: embrace your obstructions! And rent the movie. It’s so good.

 

Paris is Turning June 14, 2007

Filed under: In the News — brangien @ 12:31am

jail bars boiseWhaddya know! Sounds like her brief jail stay has prompted Paris Hilton to turn her life around. (Or at least soak up some publicity for talking about turning her life around.) Only time will tell whether the heiress actually puts her millions where her mouth is. But she’s not alone in her desire to be a better person. Perhaps she could get started by creating a list on 43 Things? Let’s see… become a philanthropist, save the environment, achieve world peace… yeah, that’s hot.

Photo credit: dalipsit on Flickr.