Fiction and Non Fiction

Have you noticed that people recommend non-fiction books more readily than they do Fiction? Maybe its just the circles in which I run. But I think there is more.

Fiction is hard to do well. Good fiction is even harder. So I may have, without knowing, shut myself off from people who recommend fiction after having a string of bad recommendations.

I don't think non-fiction is that much easier. But fiction has to bear the burden of painting an emotional picture that nonfiction does not.

So I have been reading a lot of nonfiction. And it is great. I feel like my brain is getting a workout. I just finished Upheaval by Jared Diamond yesterday. I finished the email book the weekend after it came out. Thats two books just this month. I'm reading a book on economics right now that was written in 1970. Its hard, but I love putting in the work.

The rigor of reading a good nonfiction book is like doing a hard workout. Takes a lot of energy. A lot of muscle work. A lot of concentration.

But after every workout must come proper nutrition. Just energy drinks and gym time won't work for too long. The body starves.

The mind is similar. It needs food. Not just some meal-prepped protein cooked in a big pot 5 days ago. Delicious hot food. Food made with care. Food you will remember next year even though you won't remember the workout of that day.

Fiction reading is like that food for me. It is the al pastor tacos after the gym. Homemade chicken curry with fresh rice and a bit of cilantro on top. A squeeze of lime.

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I took a hard look at my wish list on bookshop.org -- all nonfiction: Fulfillment by Alec MacGillis, Life in Thought by Zena Hitz, Ultralearning by Scott Young, A bunch by Vaclav Smil…

I had to tip the scales -- to much gym, too few nourishing homemade meals…

To my cart I added several books by Ian McEwan. His writing is so precise! No waste. And he paints such a vivid picture with so few words.

I added Aimee Bender's The Color Master. I remember the Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake -- I had listened to the 9-odd hour audio book on my solo drive from Central Florida to the Smoky Mountains and it kept me wide awake!

I ordered a couple of Ursula Leguins. One day I will have read all her books and that will be a sad and happy day. Sad because she is gone and there is nothing new coming. But happy because I can start the journey through all her worlds all over again.

I am reading Richard Russo in the evenings while I plough through the tough Economics book from 1970 in the mornings. Russo's characters hopelessly stuck in a dead-end monopoly of Empire Falls adds color and emotion to the otherwise dry forces of market and government that Albert Hirschman describes in his economics book.

Somehow they compliment each other.

Like a good meal compliments working out at the gym.

Van Neistat

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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.

From Inertia to Momentum

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I can be very hard on myself.

I started podcasting last year when the pandemic had started. I posted a few episodes and then ran out of gas!

This is not new. I have started many hobbies in the past that ran out of gas. I would start a hobby and get super into it, and even create meaningful work. Then the gas runs out. Time passes. And then the inertia of not doing becomes too hard to overcome.

Here are some hobbies I have picked up and abandoned:

  • woodworking
  • youtubing
  • making short films
  • bicycle advocacy and urban planning
  • percussion drumming
  • digital photography
  • médium format film photography
  • blogging daily, even

The list goes on. I had good reasons to pause and, I'm sure even better reasons to stay paused. But none of them should matter. I know I feel guilty of abandoning the hobbies and I am sure some of that guilt holds me back from re-starting it. Like I said, I am hard on myself.

I can also get addicted to TV and Youtube. I'm always fighting it. I've never been better at fighting it as I am today. I quit social media years ago and I can fight the entertainment media also.

But enough with the excuses.

I'm going to give podcasting another shot. My goal this year is to post 6 episodes. I know that is a low bar but I want to produce fantastic quality work. I want to think deeply about the topics, and even read some books to prepare for it. This is not analysis-paralysis. I won't let perfection keep me from delivering.

I recognize it takes a lot of effort to overcome inertia of not doing. Not doing is so easy. Doing is hard. I've been slowing training myself to do more. I now get Casey Neistat's tattoo "Do More". I'd add, "Do more and do it well".

I also know what happens when one does overcome inertia and start moving. Extending this metaphor from Applied Physics, once you get moving, momentum takes over and it gets easier to move the next bit, then momentun gets higher and it gets easier. You get the idea. This works for creative work, at least, it works for me.

The first episode of the podcast this year will take some effort to produce and post.

The second will get easier.

Resurfacing

I did some heavy lifting at work in the the past two weeks. Busy work weeks leave little energy to pursue writing or photography. I managed to photograph two models in that time but I neglected writing completely and rarely edited photos.

With these two weeks safely behind me I am starting to reflect on how my photography has changed since I bought the medium format camera.

  1. I focus mostly on photographing people, models in particular. Landscapes don't catch my eye.
  2. I struggle holding the TLR camera level in my hand. So I shoot exclusively with a tripod, a first in my photography career.
  3. I rely heavily on editing with Photoshop. The Wacom pen-tablet is working out well. My post-processing has slowed down but I think I am doing better work.
  4. Even after a difficult day I find it enjoyable to edit one photo really well on photoshop
  5. I am getting more picky with the models I want to work with. I am desprarate to get some variety of age and ethnicity in my portfolio. I want to get a variety of genders too but no luck with non-female models so far.
  6. More models are willing to travel to Lakeland to work with me; even from an hour away. My work now must be improving from my previous portraits.

One more thing: I don't struggle to find things to write about. I do struggle to find the time and mindset to write. I am chalking it up to busy work days. It is important that I learn to appreciate the ebb-and-flow of my creativity.