hannahble:

Here we have a young David Attenborough
You’re welcome

:)

Gwan home.

(Source: invinzzzable)

Word to the wise.

actegratuit:

portraits with profiles,

Eiko Ojala

Some special something.

Willam Belli, internet ref.

Resolution

I’ve been recognizing that, where resolutions are concerned, I like instant gratification. “Eat more vegetables” or “do more yoga” works better for me than “get in shape”, because I notice when one thing is happening and I’m left to guess in regards to the other.

This year, I’ve taken on umbrella resolutions. They are:

A. Heidi G. Halvorson, Ph.D, explains that most people overestimate what can be accomplished in bigger portions of time (1 year, 5 years) while underestimating what they can get done in smaller portions (15-20 minutes), and I decided to test this out. I’ve found that making use of small pockets of time (ie. waiting for the computer to boot up, waiting for water to boil, washing dishes) to get other things done (make a to-do list, make coffee, stretch/walk in place or do little leg-lifts) has already had some definite and immediate benefits. Above all else, it has decreased the amount of unnecessary frustration I experience; my laptop is a 2006 Toshiba, once booted it works like a dream, but the warm-up period is long enough to allow me to make coffee, knowing this I no longer sit at the desk grumbling at nothing that can respond to me. So, that’s nice, anyway.

B. At some point, once a day, make a list of five things that I am grateful for or happy about. Hokey? Sure. Effective? Yes. I’d heard about this practice from a number of sources, it’s very “go team/bright&cheery,” but, it’s difficult to counteract negative thought patterns with, you know, “stop it” and nothing else. This is even a weird one to admit a need for, but I needed it. The momentum of the college experience served as a distraction from my lack of a sense of destination, and the scholastic inertia of the past few years, coupled with the Exodus of the majority of my social circle has given me more opportunities to feel cloudy-headed more often than I’ve experienced since middle school. When I speak of list-making, I’m not talking about “cheerfulness”, I’m talking about joy and thanks. Not all of life is, or should be, some rollicking party with nary a moment for doubt and tears - but neither of those emotional states are particularly productive. There is a big difference between being realistic and being negative, and if you feel stagnant long enough, it can be hard to tell the difference. Negativity has a unique ability to shut down any/all movement and ability to focus, and what has been beautiful about this resolution is that it allows me to do TWO things at once. I am finally keeping a journal (it’s a journal I like looking through, full of gems that I want to remember). Actually, THREE things if you consider that it allows me to be more effective by clearing out those meditations on that which I can’t change - and FOUR if you’re counting resolution A, and I certainly am. What’s best about this? I have a hard time narrowing it down to five things per day. It’s remarkable, that one fact starts to stick out more than anything else. I recommend this one for everyone, regardless of anything else you’re doing.

That’s what I’ve been up to.

deltakream:

California

SteeeZAR, we have to hang out soon, pally.

If, like me, you have ever felt a bit bamboozled by either Modern or Contemporary art, allow me to recommend Will Gompertz’ response to these three questions:

1. What is Modern Art?
2. Why do we either love it or loathe it?
3. And why is it worth so much money?

In just 18 pages I’ve learned that my feelings of helplessness and confusion when faced with a smudgy canvas are not misplaced, they stem from a lack of context. Art references the world, all art does, but often it references its own culture and if you’ve spent no (in my case, little) time learning about that culture, its products will naturally seem bewildering. Films, books, music, while not entirely self-explanatory, go further to make themselves understood to the passive participant. Art requires active investment on the part of the viewer, which is always a valuable exercise to engage in while appreciating ANYTHING. This is a really unpretentious, educational, and inspiring book. As a result of what I’ve learned so far, I would now like a print of Duchamp’s “Fountain”.

"Well-run libraries are filled with people because what a good library offers cannot be easily found elsewhere: an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy anything in order to stay. In the modern state there are very few sites where this is possible. The only others that come readily to my mind require belief in an omnipotent creator as a condition for membership. It would seem the most obvious thing in the world to say that the reason why the market is not an efficient solution to libraries is because the market has no use for a library. But it seems we need, right now, to keep re-stating the obvious. There aren’t many institutions left that fit so precisely Keynes’ definition of things that no one else but the state is willing to take on. Nor can the experience of library life be recreated online. It’s not just a matter of free books. A library is a different kind of social reality (of the three dimensional kind), which by its very existence teaches a system of values beyond the fiscal."

Zadie Smith, in the New York Review of Books. (via thebronzemedal)

I think I need to read some Zadie Smith, anyone else?