"Write now is good."

Friday needs a video

I heard "Ready to start" by Arcade Fire on the radio yesterday for the first time.

Enjoy!

"How to be alone" in a hyper-connected world

"How to be alone" by filmmaker Andrea Dorfman and poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis is beautiful and perceptive in word, image and tune.

After viewing the video many times, I realized that the benefits of being alone are visually implied in the film by Tanya's being in nature, outside or away from screens which constantly and digitally connect us to others.

One of my favorite lines is "Start simple: things you may have previously avoided based on your 'Avoid Being Alone Principles.'" What's yours?

Seen many places, like here, here and here.

Update, September 2, 2010: The Next Web's article "How Andrea Dorfman learned to be alone and earned herself a million views on YouTube" provides some interesting details about how the video came together and how social media contributed to its wide online viewing.

When mashing creates a new experience

Mashups are, according to a Wikipedia entry which needs some editing and discussion around its content, almost a decade old. (Music sampling has existed for decades.) The genre continues to evolve, with stand-outs going viral and their creators/DJs gaining worldwide recognition.

"Carpenter's Wonderwall" is one such example: a song/video blend created by DJ Mark Vidler of Go Home Productions. It starts with Oasis's "Wonderwall" and is joined by The Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun," bridging hits from different musical eras. It's brilliant on so many levels — enjoy.

Related posts:

° Crackles
° Mashups are, indeed, NOT a crime
° If my blog had a 45 record

Dance! It may improve your writing.

If you're reading this post, you spend some time online. And if you've spent any time online over the past week, you have probably seen the following massively played video.

While I've enjoyed Dancing Matt Harding's joyful, international dance-travel just because it's magical, I've discovered another compelling reason why he is a revolutionary of inspiration. One of today's posts on the Well blog from the New York Times mentions studies which tie dancing to increased brain functioning and healing. An excerpt:

...A telling 2003 New England Journal of Medicine report showed a lower risk for dementia among people over 75 who regularly danced during leisure time. But what was so surprising about the report is that other types of physical exercise didn’t affect dementia risk — dancing was the only physical activity that made a difference.

Other studies have shown music plays an important role in depression. Dance therapy has been used to relieve anxiety about taking tests, and researchers are studying the tango to help patients with Parkinson’s. Dance therapy has been shown to improve the quality of life for breast cancer patients as well...

I've joked in past posts that I use my writing music mixes for "my pre-writing dance session". Now I see a connection between these fun, solitary dance sessions giving my brain power a boost and, possibly, improving my writing.

So, in honor of inspiring dancer Matt and dancers/writers worldwide, stand up, clear yourself a private dance floor, and improve your writing skills — by dancing. Enjoy.

100 people, ages 1-100, playing a drum

This short video says so much in just over three minutes. Enjoy.

Found at Electrolicious

Writing music "wintry mix" is up

With my quarterly writing mixes (seen at right under the category cloud), I went from summer straight to winter—my fall has been busy beyond belief. That's a good thing!

I haven't featured a writing-mix music video in a long while, so this blog is due for one. The following is an excellent song, appropriate for any pre-writing dance sessions/rev up or for working on action scenes while writing. Plus, the video heavily features the band Bloc Party performing; I gravitate towards videos which actually feature the bands.

Enjoy.

My Summer 2007 Writing Mix is up. Make your own!

Fireflies in the thousands flicker at twilight. Daylight spreads far past 8PM. Every solution to the heat's physical discomfort results in two words: ice cream! (Or "air conditioning.") Summer surrounds us completely.

Behold "Writing Mix — Summer 2007," now available on my blog's right-hand side.

As I Twittered last night that I was working on my summer writing mix, paying close attention to 1980s classics, others answered back. General sentiment: songs from the 1980s are some of the most memorable and are still loved today; no following genre has completely outshone these tunes' quality or popularity. As I surfed YouTube, I noticed many comments from self-identified 18-year-olds in which they also professed their love for 80s music; though born in the late 1980s, a few admitted that they prefer (1980s) New Order and Depeche Mode to anything else out today.

Do I write to music? Sometimes. It depends on what I'm writing. What I more often use this mix for is the all-important pre-writing inspirational session. When I listen to these songs, I create energy and momentum which I then carry into my writing. If I need a quick break from writing, I'll listen to music to jump-start my brain. The more I write, create, read, think and learn, the more I'm convinced that music helps connect linear and non-linear thinking.

Music is an integral part of my writing/creating process. If you don't have you're own writing mix, I suggest you create one. Give it a try, and see how it works for you.

For you fellow 1980s-music fans, here's a little something to get you started:

Bonus link: Blogmusik is recommended as a good online place to start your own writing mix. Thanks, Chocolate Chipped and Telegraphik!

I want my PTV! (Poetry TV, that is.)

When MTV started in 1981, it revolutionized the way people heard music. For the first time, listeners saw the music along the lines of the musicians' artistic vision. (We rabid fans and true believers didn't realize until later that videos were often more the directors' or their agents' or the record company's p.r. and marketing department's creation.)

With this added visual dimension, we felt closer to the music and the musicians; if the video also featured the band in it, and the lead singer sang right into the camera, many impressionable teens could believe that the band played just for them. These virtual mini rock concerts cemented our love for our favorite songs and singers; even decades later, I can't hear many tunes without also recalling snippets from the accompanying video.

Billy Collins, former U.S. poet laureate, has a series of animations for his poems. They are poetry videos, and when we view them, we understand his poetry in a new way. We see Collins' and his animators' shared visions for his words. He calls his poetry videos "action poems."

Here is the video for his poem "Forgetfulness" animated by Julian Grey/Head Gear:

Which poems would you like to see videos for? Or do you prefer to keep your own images and interpretations of the poems your primary visuals?

Found at Bad Banana.

Books: not just for reading anymore

When I first saw this book sealed in a bag of water, I didn't like it because I thought the book would soon disintegrate. The song "Message in a Bottle" by the Police started playing in my head. Perhaps the book was "sending out an S.O.S." to be rescued? Or was this some 21st-century message in a bottle—a tome of desperation-filled emo poems sealed within a (leaking) plastic bag and tossed into the local reservoir? Both are cries for assistance.

I was relieved instead to find that this was:

...the fantastic new Italian limited commemorative edition of Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea designed by Paolo Orsacchini. It's printed on waterproof paper and enclosed in a clear pouch filled with real sea water. Collectors can either bust it out of its original packaging, dry it under the sun, and enjoy a classic read, or they can preserve this limited piece in all its designed glory.

This packaging creates its own experience beyond the amazing story sealed inside. It's now more art object than literary classic.

There's real sea water in there, and I want to know what sea this water is from. Is it polluted? Was it filtered before being sealed around this book? What will happen to the book over time? Even though the paper is waterproof, salt water is incredibly corrosive even to the iron hulls of ships.

If you owned this, would you contentedly leave it as is, or would you have to know what the book looked like inside?

FYI — I searched and searched the Web for a store selling this, and I couldn't find one. (It would probably help if I were fluent in Italian...)

And I still can't get that song out of my head...

Book/art object found at Core77.

"Green issue" on PSFK

I've got a post up at PSFK today about ELLE Magazine's second annual "Green issue." This is noteworthy because while the eco movement is currently in fashion, ELLE covers it completely and in a very multi-faceted way. I learned a lot of new information about environmental issues from its stories. Read more about the issue here.

In order for us to heal the planet's woes, reduce our carbon footprints, reduce global warming and stop an environmental catastrophe from destroying life as we know it, the eco movement has to get regular and serious coverage across all media.

To the hopeful benefit of us all, 2007 and beyond looks to be very "green."