I had friends who invested a lot of time and effort into Zines. Sadly, I’ve lost touch with all of them. I do wonder what happened to them. It was all part of my life in downtown Seattle in the 90s. An amazing time, culturally. It was challenging in a good many ways, too. That Seattle is pretty much gone, though. Pretty much all the grittier apartments, for instance, are now condos occupied by wealthy tech workers. It’s a fascinating exploration of the City’s evolution.
I have plenty of moments when I don’t trust my gut. When my heart screams out, but I don’t believe that it can be right. I’m working on that, though.
I deeply value the arts, and have encouraged many to pursue that path. Even when it’s likely they’ll not attain wealth and privilege. So, this post sings to me.
I’ve been following Debbie Millman’s “Design Matters” for years (I’ve written about previous episodes before). She’s a brilliant interviewer with a great gift for finding interesting guests. With a focus on creatives and the life of being a creative, I find her guests to be inspiring and fascinating. I love seeing a new podcast in my feed.
I must confess my ignorance of Dr. Singer, Ms. Waters, and Chez Panisse before today. Even though I have an affinity for Berkeley that started in the mid-80s when I was a music student. One year we went to the West Coast Jazz Festival, hosted by Berkeley. I loved the campus and the city and seriously wanted to head there. But, well, life happened. With all that, I’m disappointed in myself for this ignorance.
I highly recommend taking the time to listen to the podcast. For some reason, the podcast is only showing up on the Design Matters Soundcloud feed. Maybe it just takes some more time to ripple out to iTunes, Google’s Podcasts, etc. But, hey, Soundcloud is awesome!
The episode references a few things that I thought I’d add links (for your convenience).
Alice’s Egg Spoon: A classic tool that, well, looks like fun to use. Not cheap, but I’m sure hard-core foodies will find it indispensable.
Debbie and Alice discuss the fun cooking videos make together during the pandemic. You can see them on their IGTV channels on Instagram (here are their direct links for your convenience: Fanny & Alice). Also, they put together a few YouTube videos through Knopf’s YouTube Channel. Here are the videos (finding them is a bit of a pain):
Colophon: Dr. Singer’s dissertation focused on the British Pop artist Richard Hamilton, who I hadn’t heard of before this podcast (I learned a lot this one). Their description of him makes me extremely intrigued so I intend to research him further. In particular, his cutting edge computer-generated art seems very intriguing.
Here’s a comic from The Nib that gave me pause. What are the bounds of free speech? A what point does “centrism” enable the destructive forces of hate?
Comics provide a unique voice in the modern political climate that I value. This particular series was created by Kasia Babis. The link will take you to a large list of their work. You really should check them out.
Several years ago Google’s Creative Lab came up with this video to showcase Google. So often I see people get caught up in the technological minutia of video production (or any other creative initiative), of any aspect of storytelling. Insecurity about their camera, their editing software, lighting…on and on. And here’s a video, needing none of this, just a bunch of text typed into a browser, and a few other shots of Google pages. I’m pretty sure all that was needed was a browser, OBS, and an editor (iMovie might’ve been powerful enough to create it).
The tools don’t matter. Only the story has value. You can tell a story with the most minimal gear. And, to be blunt, if you can tell a compelling story with the most basic tools, you’ll be more likely to be entrusted with bigger and better tools.
So, go, create! Tell your story with whatever you have. Your audience, your tribe awaits.
I discovered Mr. Aung Than this week and already posted one of his comics earlier. However, I wanted to post one more. As someone who struggles with my identity as an artist, who fights frustration and feelings of futility, and the demon of perfectionism, this one spoke quite loudly to me. And knowing so many who walk/walked the same path, I felt deep value in sharing this one. Keep to the path, face down that ugly voice within, fight, and keep creating. The world needs more beauty.
Frank Herbert’s “Dune” holds a key spot in my soul. The “Litany Against Fear” that Herbert created spoke power to my soul back as a teen, carrying forth to this day. Gavin Aung Than’s art inspired by the litany holds power, too, speaking to today.
A friend of mine shared this video with me today. Just. Wow! First the artistry of the film shines brilliantly. The story, though, carries it to great heights.
So, clearly, I recommend it. Check it out, then let me know what you think. I hope you love it as much as I.
A friend of mine shared this video with me today. Just. Wow! First the artistry of the film shines brilliantly. The story, though, carries it to great heights.
So, clearly, I recommend it. Check it out, then let me know what you think. I hope you love it as much as I.
