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Intentionally Lost in the Darkness
Moleskine is the iconic brand of notebook used by legendary artists, thinkers and literary avant gardes around the world for the past two centuries. In the past few decades, the brand has become synonymous with culture, travel and imagination, encompassing a family of nomadic objects like notebooks, diaries, journals, bags, writing instruments and reading accessories. I recently stumbled into one of their newly opened retail stores and found a…
Moments of Conception 005 — The Xerox Scene from The Pirates of Silicon Valley
All creativity begins with the moment of conception. That little piece of kindling that gets the fire going. That initial source of inspiration that takes on a life of its own. That single note from which the entire symphony grows. That single spark of life that signals an idea’s movement value, almost screaming to us, something wants to be built here. And so, in this new blog series, I’m going…
Be There Before The Light Arrives
Andrew Bird is an innovative musician, songwriter, multi instrumentalist, and quite possibly the most talented whistler in the history of folk music. He’s also a regular columnist for The New York Times, contributing occasional articles on how to write a song and other mysteries, pulling back the curtain on his creative process and the pleasures and pains of being a musician. In one particular article, he recalls the childhood…
Moments of Conception 004 — The Sweaty Toothed Madman Scene from Dead Poets Society
All creativity begins with the moment of conception. That little piece of kindling that gets the fire going. That initial source of inspiration that takes on a life of its own. That single note from which the entire symphony grows. That single spark of life that signals an idea’s movement value, almost screaming to us, something wants to be built here. Edward DeBono, the godfather of creativity, has published a…
Many Roads Lead to the Unconscious Mind
All artists create actively from the unconscious. But there are just as many tools for doing so as there are artists to use them. When I graduated from college and started my publishing company, I took an interest in meditation. I began practicing a number of techniques including deep breathing, hypnosis, guided imagery and progressive muscle relaxation. What’s interesting is, my motivation wasn’t necessarily to increase creativity, but to decrease…
Moments of Conception 003 — The Manifesto Scene from Jerry Maguire
All creativity begins with the moment of conception. That little piece of kindling that gets the fire going. That initial source of inspiration that takes on a life of its own. That single note from which the entire symphony grows. That single spark of life that signals an idea’s movement value, almost screaming to us, something wants to be built here. Last Words is the story of the man behind…
Your First Project Doesn’t Have to be Good, Just Done
Prolificacy hinges on the power of one. History is rife with examples of famous creators and artists whose first projects, imperfect as they may have been, still got their careers on the runway: The movie From Dusk Till Dawn wasn’t huge at the box office, but it launched George Clooney’s career as a movie star. Since then, he’s received over one hundred nominations and won more than fifty awards…
Moments of Conception 002 — The Status Scene from The Social Network
All creativity begins with the moment of conception. That little piece of kindling that gets the fire going. That initial source of inspiration that takes on a life of its own. That single note from which the entire symphony grows. That single spark of life that signals an idea’s movement value, almost screaming to us, something wants to be built here. There’s a fascinating book called The Demon and the…
The World Will Not Devote Itself To Making Us Happy
Gallup has been conducting public opinion polls for the past eighty years. Founded by one of the great market researchers of the last century, their name has become synonymous with relevant, timely, and accurate research on what people around the world think and feel. In their annualhappiness and well being index, their survey questions ask people to think about yesterday, from the morning until the end of the day,…
Moments of Conception 001: The Rooftop Scene from Coyote Ugly
All creativity begins with the moment of conception. That little piece of kindling that gets the fire going. That initial source of inspiration that takes on a life of its own. That single note from which the entire symphony grows. That single spark of life that signals an idea’s movement value, almost screaming to us, something wants to be built here. I’m reminded of an interesting interview with Rob…