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Video Portrait

In my humble opinion, a real portrait goes beyond the medium and finds the nuance of the person. This video portrait installation is quite moving.

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The Little Guide to Inspiration

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”—Jack London “Too often we miss beautiful sources of inspiration, because we’re too busy thinking about other things.” We all have days when we’re just not very inspired, when we need passion and creativity breathed into us. I know I do. For anyone who needs a little shove, whose creativity has dried up, who needs to be moved… I humbly offer this simple guide. While I never claim to have all the answers, nor that my way is the only way, I share here some things I’ve learned about inspiration, some tricks I’ve learned that work for me. I’m often in need of inspiration, but in all cases I’ve found it. And it’s a wonderful thing.  Many people think of it as an elusive quality that can’t be forced, and yet it can be found if you look for it. Others think it’s a way to find ideas, but it’s more than ideas… it’s being moved to put those ideas into action. Inspiration is finding something else that is divinely inspired (people, nature, amazing ideas), having that inspiration breathed into you (“breath” is the root of “inspiration”), and then taking action on it. Creating, doing, inspiring others. HOW TO FIND INSPIRATION  Inspiration is just about everywhere you can look, if you’re looking for it. That’s the key: to keep your eyes open. Too often we miss beautiful sources of inspiration, because we’re too busy thinking about other things. Be observant. See everything around you as a possible source of inspiration. Some possible sources of inspiration: Blogs, books, magazines, films, people around you, nature, children, art, music, history, exercise, religion, great projects, dreams, social media, photographs, forums, google, success stories, life, everywhere… Just keep your eyes open, at all times, staying present whenever possible, and allow yourself to breathe in that inspiration. HOW TO STAY INSPIRED  Inspiration isn’t just a one-time thing. You’ll need it on a regular basis. When you practice the above method—keeping your eyes open, staying present, and breathing in inspiration—you get better at it. It becomes a skill you can use at any time, and you’ll use it often. Some tips for keeping the inspiration coming: Work with inspired people—one of the best ways to stay inspired is to work with creative, energetic, positive people. Read daily—varied things, from blogs to magazines to books of all kinds. Get outside—nature is one of the biggest inspirations, and you’ll miss it if you’re inside all day. Talk with new people—they’ll always expose you to new and interesting things, if you’re open to it. Break out of your routine—see things from a different perspective. Take a new route home. Go to a new restaurant. Visit someplace new in your area. Find time for silence—it’s more inspiring than you might think. Unfortunately, not enough of us do it. Exercise—or at least get moving. It helps the blood to circulate, and gets ideas moving around. My most inspired thoughts come during runs. NOW TAKE ACTION  Don’t just feel inspired. Take this inspiration and use it, be moved, and do something. Channel that inspiration into creating something amazing. Put that something out into the world, and in turn, you will inspire others. “For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”—Vincent van Gogh

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animated gifs of the illustrator Santtu Mustonen . 

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Nature v. Nurture

This is one of my pieces. I collect vintage medical books and produce image compilations from the artwork/illustrations. If you want to see more compilations, I've got a few up at ArtFlakes.com

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9 Reasons Why Failure Is Not Fatal

  Failure. Fear of it is universal, experiencing it is inevitable, and running from it is dependably routine. As a culture we can’t seem to shake the negativity of the term - even though most success stories have a shared foundation in some kind of accidental realization, wrong-footed first attempt, or outright error. Here, we pool our favorite videos and articles on the subject as a gentle reminder that our only real failure is to live life without it.

Read more... 

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Faculty Amnesia This video was shot by a friend when we were on an urban exploration project about a year ago. His edits and music bed is spot on.

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"Persecuted"

 Jill Greenberg is arguably my favorite fine art photographer. It's cool to find out she's on Tumblr.

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How The Happiest People In The World Spend Their Money

People can feel trapped by their careers--whether it's because they're earning too little, are waiting for a big payout, or have grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle. Laura Vanderkam's new book, All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know About Getting and Spending, offers a new approach to finances for a modern, more flexible reality.

Increasingly, the stories people tell me about their work and life choices break the conventional mold:

A twentysomething entrepreneur starts a business while holding down another job and living on friend’s couch.  He’s trading financial insecurity today for work he feels passionate about and a distant promise of a future payoff.

A fortysomething father of two with a stay-at-home wife walks away from a lucrative legal career without knowing what his next step will be because he can’t tolerate the stress and relentless hours any longer.

A single mother of three gets laid off and decides to start a not-for-profit instead of finding another job in advertising.

Their unique journeys not only challenge the traditional wisdom about the path we “should” follow with our work and careers, but they also challenge the standard rules about money. And yet, they raise plenty of practical concerns: How is the entrepreneur who spends his 20s scraping by supposed to buy a house and two cars in his 30s? How is the fortysomething father supposed to send all of his children to private, four-year colleges and fully retire at 60 years old? How is the single mother going to afford weddings for each of her three daughters?

Work, life, and money are intertwined intimately, and yet they’re rarely addressed together. As the traditional boundaries that used to define “work” and “life” disappear, the conventional beliefs related to money must also evolve.

This is the message of Laura Vanderkam’s new book, All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know About Getting and Spending (Portfolio, 2012). By taking on outdated money beliefs, Vanderkam offers a new approach to finances for a modern, more flexible reality. Some of the changes she advocates include:

Be more mindful about what your money could buy. Make purchases that improve your happiness.  For many, that means spending on experiences, not things.  Using the example of the money we have traditionally paid for expensive engagement rings and weddings, Vanderkam calculates how many trips, periodic bouquets of flowers, date nights, babysitters, and hours of housecleaning that money could buy over the years.  These are services and experiences that, in the long run, could bring more enjoyment to a couple than a big ring and wedding.

The single mother who started the not-for-profit may not be able to pay for a lavish wedding for her daughters, but they will see their mother doing work she loves. This will not only set an example of happiness that will hopefully inspire the professional choices of her daughters, but help them prioritize how they want to spend their money.

Challenge the big house, big yard, two car "American dream."  Vanderkam points out that these purchases often come with a longer commute by car, more responsibilities for lawn care, and housekeeping.  Studies show that none of these activities increase happiness.

Maybe the twentysomething entrepreneur won’t buy a sprawling house with a big yard and a three-car garage.  Instead he’ll choose to buy only one car because he bought a smaller house closer to public transportation.  But he’ll be free to invest in and grow his business while having money left over for activities and experiences that have greater meaning to him like travel or eating out with friends.

Don’t just scrimp and save. Find ways to increase your earnings.  Yes, the increased flexibility in work and careers can be scary and unsettling, but it also provides new, exciting opportunities to make more money.  Vanderkam calls it the “1099 mindset.”  Even if you have a more traditional job, think about work the way freelancers or contract workers--people who get 1099s--do. If you are a teacher, tutor. If you’re interested in a topic, start a blog that you monetize. Be creative.

The fortysomething father who walked away from his lucrative legal career was approached by his firm to consult on projects. He’s now thinking of other similar channels that will allow him to make money but give him the flexibility he wants to spend time with his children and enjoy the parts of his life he had no time for previously. Also, his formerly stay-at-home wife is exploring a number of different opportunities to bring in additional income.

Rethink retirement. In other words, don’t expect to ever retire.  Instead, embrace a second or “encore” career. This is what the single mother of three is doing with her not-for-profit. She sees herself leading this effort well past traditional retirement age.

Yes, work and life have transformed over the past two decades. With All the Money in the World, Laura Vanderkam is showing us that we have to update and evolve that way we think about money as well.  In addition to the book, you can connect with Vanderkam on her blog, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

What do you think?  How have you found yourself rethinking the way to approach and manage money as your work and career have become less traditional and more flexible? 

Cali Williams Yost is the CEO and Founder of the Flex+Strategy Group / Work+Life Fit, Inc., flexible work and life strategy advisors to clients including BDO, LLP, Pearson, Inc., EMC, the U.S. Navy, Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Novo Nordisk. Yost is the author of “Work+Life: Finding the Fit That’s Right for You” (Riverhead/Penguin Group, 2005). Connect with Cali at the award-winning Work+Life Fit blog and on Twitter @caliyost.

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I think I understand that part of getting older and better as a writer means putting away many of my more childish self-gratifying notions of Fun, etc. But Fun is still the whole point, somehow, no?

David Foster Wallace, Feb. 21, 1962 - Sept. 12, 2008

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To Do List An inspiring two+ minute video showing a to do list I would covet.

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Even if you haven't ever visited popular visual bookmarking site Pinterest, you might recognize its design elements -- which have been popping up everywhere since the startup burst onto the mainstream scene in 2011. The site doesn't use traditional web building blocks. "It's almost like a w...

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What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us.

Julia Cameron

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Scale of the Universe

Scale of the Universe by Cary Huang

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Type Snobs Unite

We have this ongoing joke at work about the suckiest typeface. It generally breaks down between Comic Sans vs Papyrus.

Used properly, computers are fantastic tools to foster creativity, especially in the design space; however, in her series ‘Confessions of a Designer’ artist Anneke Short comically sets the record straight about what it means to be a “real” designer.

Read more of "Blunt Designer Truths"...

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Robert Brandenburg's Changes Will Make You Giggle

ROBERT BRANDENBURG

In his artwork, Artist Robert Brandenburg edits classic paintings to add a little more hilarity and flavor to them. While the original artists may not necessarily agree with his edits, they probably did let out a chuckle.

read more...

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Part I of David [Foster] Wallace's speech given at the 2005 Kenyon College commencement ceremony.

Here's a link to Part II.