As a “snapshot” of what I’m currently listening to, this chart doesn’t show how much some of these songs have impacted me in past months and years. If there were a chart like this for songs I was listening to a year or two back, some of ones near the bottom of the chart shown here would be near or at the top that one. Tastes change over time, and what we compare our experiences to changes over time as well. But all of the songs here have at some point really brightened my days and often continue to do so.
Category: appreciation
Who Has Impacted Me In Recent Years, At a Glance
“…you gotta watch the ones who you let speak straight into your life…”—Tim McMorris.
Of course this says more about my personality and tastes as well as what I tend to encounter and look for, as opposed to commenting on how “important” or “valuable” the works of these amazing people are. Although it is perhaps concerning that the chart is rather male heavy…
Ride Studio: Coffee and Bicycle Bliss
I love this bike shop cafe. Great pour over coffee and delightful atmosphere.
Open Notebook: quotes from the TED Radio Hour
Follow your curiosity. Because passion is sort of a tower of flame that is not always accessible, and curiosity is something that anybody can access any day. Your curiosity may lead you to your passion or it may not—it may have been “for nothing” in which case all you’ve done your entire life is spend your existence in pursuit of the things that made you feel curious and inspired, and that should be good enough. Like if you get to do that, that’s a wonderful way to have spent your time here.—Elizabeth Gilbert
TED talks are always a great source of new and insightful perspectives, and I love how NPR’s TED Radio Hour takes us deeper into
“… if you live with your head in the clouds every now and then, it helps you keep your feet on the ground.”—Gavin Pretor-Pinney
“When you say `creative people,’ that’s redundant. We are creativity.”—Elizabeth Gilbert
“…forget about having an identity crisis and get some identity capital. By `get identity capital,’ I mean do something that adds value to who you are. Do something that’s an investment in who you might want to be next… Identity capital begets identity capital.”—Meg Jay
That’s from her talk “Why 30 is not the new 20”, but check out Meg Jay’s Q&A on NPR.org.
“Science is curiosity acted upon.”—James Cameron
Before There Was MacBook…
…there was PowerBook.
These are the earliest Apple laptops I used; though I did try them out briefly as a youngster hanging out in computer stores playing Spectre, I never owned any of the trackball versions of the PowerBook. I was also an iBook and PowerBook G4 12-inch user.
So why are these still in my closet? They became obsolete before the days of Gazelle and responsible e-waste disposal. They’ve also racked up sentimental value.
Open Notebook: The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing
Here are some perspectives David Morley shares in his fantastic book The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing.
Writing proceeds forwards slowly, like a sand dune moving through night and day, simultaneously accreting and eroding. Much is lost or invisible, millions of grains of sand, millions of grains of language
You have now begun to walk in the open space of the page. The journey becomes an elaborate series of gambles, and there is no sense of forward progression as such; there is shaping and reconfiguring, stepping back, inking in and beginning over.
A notebook is a movable workplace… A notebook will make the difference between a book being born and one that never achieves conception.
…we have to use the right words and the right words in the best order.
Most writers agree that the best way to write well creatively is to write for yourself.
It follows that the best way to read as a writer is to read for yourself.
Do these bronze gloves…
…remind you of something?
.
.
. Continue reading
Intricate Landscapes and More: Hokusai at the MFA
The Hokusai exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts is stunning in scope, both in terms of the sheer number of works on display and the evident artistry that went into each one. Some of the scenes rendered in the woodcut prints are like microcosms you easily get drawn right into. Also impressive is the variety of media Hokusai worked in and the diversity of subject matters his pieces focus on.
This is a fabulously immersive and engrossing tribute to a remarkable, seminal master.
in the first few rooms…
…you’ve just barely scratched the surface; prolific only begins to describe the breadth of work here.
Amazing how much detail is in each of these prints.
Just Read: Aquarium
Rendered with a tenderness I didn’t know written language could have, this has got to be the most poetic novel I’ve ever read.
I feel like there’s a particular quietness that imbues the narration, even when it gets very intense, even frantic. That tone really pulled me into the protagonist’s world and mind.
It also makes transformation each of the main characters undergoes particularly striking.
No Artificial Coloring: turkey meatballs with red cabbage at Mission: Heirloom
This is by far the purplest meal I’ve ever eaten, and it was delicious, like all of the grain-free meals I’ve had at the Mission: Heirloom cafe have been.
Here’s a look at their shepherd’s pie; there’s a lot of ground lamb beneath the surface with some broccoli.
A Contemplative Compilation 