Van Neistat

Working To Code is the movie series designed for employees of the Tom Sachs studio referred to henceforth as the studio

This is how 10 Bullets, one of my favorite videos on Youtube begins.

"Working to Code" is a movie series designed for members of the Tom Sachs studio team. Required viewing for all employees and studio visitors. ALWAYS BE KNOL...

If you haven’t seen this film yet, you will find some familiarity with Casey Neistat’s older videos. Casey is Van’s younger brother and Van helped produce 10 Bullets.

I particularly like Casey’s older videos that carried this low-tech aesthetic — videos before his daily vlog days. Here is an example of Casey making a Custom Pennyboard Suitcase.

Casey eventually developed his own style that is great for youtube. I think Casey understands attention in the Youtube world better than most people do. But this post is not about Casey, it is about Van.

I think the low-tech production of 10 Bullets is timeless in the way they do special effects. They are not trying to show off their special effects budget or Final Cut skills. They talk about an idea and show it in a plain and natural way. My brain is making a weird connection here as I write — I am thinking of how Scott Carrier writes. Plain but clear, with impact. Lasting.

Another good video from the time of 10 Bullets is the Nautical Challenge on Tom Sachs’ youtube channel. It shows all three people — Tom, Van and Casey. Think about this video foretelling a trajectory of where Casey and Van have ended up.

The trajectory I want to highlight here is Van Neistat’s new channel — The Spirited Man.

It has the timeless style of low-tech production from the 10 Bullets videos. And there is something refreshing about that.

Glimpse into a spirited man's self-reliant analog world. Meet a spirited woman, too.For an in-depth explanation of this channel: https://www.kickstarter.c...

I went to school for engineering, and engineers like me will recognize the principles of 5S in the way Tom Sachs’ studio is set up in 10 Bullets, and also in the way Casey and Van’s studios are set up. A place for every thing, labels everywhere, shadow boards… etc. Engineers are all too familiar with this way of organizing. The difference I notice here is the strong will of an Artist coming through in the organization of the workplace. I think Steve Jobs called it the intersection of liberal arts and technology. In all the places where I set up 5S ended up with neat lines on the floor and printed labels. Instead, Van’s and Casey’s workshops have hand drawn lines and hand written labels which add life to an otherwise dull process of organizing things.

I think this artist-in-action is rare to find in our ever saturated world of DIY’ers and makers.

Something honest comes through in The Spirited Man.

Showing, not telling

Friday, noon. Four of us were on our way to lunch. Someone asked me if I liked the book he had recommended. Friday lunch is to decompress and we are normally frank with each other. I said, “It wasn’t written well”.

I am no judge of English literature. But it was Friday lunch and I was asked for a judgement. There it was.

A good novelist once invited me to find awareness of the difference between showing and telling. I am a slow reader; my mind frequently wanders around the prose while I gaze between the folds of the pages. Years passed since that invitation and years of reading while aimlessly wandering seems to have helped me spot novels that show versus those that tell.

Below are the beginning lines from two novels. See if you can tell.

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2

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The first excerpt paints a beautiful picture that slowly comes into focus. I can’t wait to read further. The second sort of spoils the ending. This chapter continues telling what’s going on with Nicholas’ life. I didn’t read past the first chapter so I don’t know if this was really a spoiler but I don’t feel like finding out.

The first is like sipping a beautiful wine. The second is like chugging lager.

It is not only a matter of taste; it is a question of appetite.

Why Static Quality?

When I start to feel restless and needing a new hobby or inspiration, what is happening is that static quality is becoming the dominant quality.

Some of us are succeptible to this feeling more often than other are. I think it is to do with the sub-conscious desire to find a balance of dynamic and static quality that is innate to our personality somehow. I would like to find out someday why this is the case.

Some people from an early age know the static quality they want to pursue.
Single family home.
Two car garage.
2.3 kids.
Golden retriever.
Beach vacation...

You get the picture.

Then mid-life crisis hits almost like clockwork and a shiny new sports car arrives. On second thougths mid-life crisis has hardly any dynamic quality given the punctuality of it. Mid-life crisis only has the ilusion of dynamic quality but it is actually static quality in disguise.

Why are some people more succeptible to cementing static quality in their lives while others repel it?

What about all those people in the middle spectrum of it?

Too many questions.

The X-Effect

I want to talk about cementing the wave of dynamic quality into a static quality that can stick.

A while ago I started a morning routine that has worked out well so far. It started with wanting some steady order and purpose in my first waking hours of the day. This desire to improve was the dynamic quality. I made it stick so far by focusing only on going about the routine.

The morning routine is sticking but I want to make it stick a little better. I tend to be lazy about walking Olive and scooping the cat litter on some weekdays and most weekends. I find myself making excuses. I need these habits to stick better.

Enter X-Effect.

I discovered this by accident while browsing reddit casually. This is based on the idea that willpower can be exercized like a muscle can. See this Google Talk by Kelly McGoniagal.

The X-effect is designed to increase our willpower in learning a new habit that we could be struggling with. In other words, it promises to transform dynamic quality into a static quality that sticks.

I started my cards today.

Wish me luck!

Dynamic v/s Static Quality

Woodworking like any trade or hobby has quality. It has a different quality to you and me.

When I first started woodworking it was difficult, frustrating, enjoyable and fun. That was dynamic quality at play. Waves of inspiration are the razor edge of the blade of dynamic quality. The blade cuts after the wave hits you. This is the first experience of quality.

When this quality sticks, it becomes less frustrating, difficult, enjoyable and fun... well I still enjoy woodworking and I think it is fun but not in the estatic way woodworking made me feel when I started. This is woodworking transferring from being dynamic quality to a static quality.

Remember when you learned to drive. You probably went through this same thing. Driving was frightening, frustrating and fun. Now it is mundane since you have been doing it for years and years.

A life in a perpetual state of dynamic quality is chaotic. Imagine a full-time globe trotter with no fixed address. I am sure it is fun for a while but I doubt anyone wants globe-trotting for ever.

A life in a perpetual state of static quality is mundane. Imagine living in a cookie cutter subdivision working at the same job and doing the same tasks only to come home to watch the same TV show, eat the same dinner and go to bed.

I think the pursuit of happiness is in finding the balance of dynamic quality events amidst a life of static quality.

This is why waves of inspiration, those cutting edges of the blade of dynamic quality are so important to me.

But equally important is the static quality left behind by the wave.

Look for the Flashlight

The most commonly employed way to build quality is the find its pieces.
Build precision.
Build accurately.
Build it with features.
Build it fast.
Build it cheap.
Build it beautiful.
Assemble it all together and you get a good quality product. This approach disects quality into its known pieces only to put it back together later. Resurrecting pieces into a complete idea rarely works in a quality idea. It results in a salad of an idea.

The pursuit of quality is lost as soon as the scapel makes its first cut. The process of disecting kills quality. Yet, we are trained to look for quality by looking for its parts.

We look at specs of a computer before buying it, not at how it improves your life. Specs have some impact on the working, but not all the impact. There is an overall peace and comfort a computer can give you independent of its specs. Hence the popularity of Macs over PC.

We look at the technology of the sole and the weight of the leather and the stitching and the style when buying a pair of shoes. But they rarely tell us if they are comfortable, or if they age gracefully while staying comfortable.

It is easy to find a flash light by looking at what the beam is shining on. Don't look for the flash light by looking for the batteries, bulb, lens, switch and body. Look for what it illuminates.

To find quality, look for what quality does to you, not its pieces.

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Some of my friends will know that I will eventually default to talking about quality. Not only does quality intrigue and inspire me in its philosophical form, but that talking about quality is all we can do to find it.