"Don't be afraid to talk to your art"

I was watching a TED talk today by Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote "Eat, Pray, Love" in which she talks about the nature of genius. She talks about how the ancient Greeks and Romans didn't say that someone WAS a genius, rather that they HAD a genius. You know how sometimes an idea just pops into your head and you have no idea were it came from? That, they would say, came from a genius, some sort of strange, fairy like creature that would hang around writer and whisper some hint of an idea for the author to work with. Then she mentioned someone who I would call the most creative person of our time. Someone whose music can creep me out and relax me at the same time:

Tom Waits. She mentions that she interviewed Tom once and he talked about the moment music changed for him. He was driving in LA one day when a part of a song popped into his head. He was getting frustrated that he couldn't work on it at that moment and was worried that he'd forget it, at that moment he looked up at the sky and said, "Excuse me, but can't you see I'm driving? Does it look like I can write down a song right now? If you really want to exist, come back at a more opportune moment or go bother someone else, like Leonard Cohen." From that point on he realised it's ok to talk to your work. He has been known to walk up and down in the studio when a song just wont come saying things like "Look, all the rest of the kids are packed and in the car ready for vacation, if you're not ready to go in 10 minutes then we'll leave without you." The strangest thing about this whole talking to your songs thing is that it actually works. Elizabeth talks, in an interview I heard on the radio, about how she had to sweet-talk the name "Eat, Pray, Love" out of her book. She sent an email to her friends asking them for ideas for the name of her book saying, "My book wont tell me it's name so I'm asking you for suggestions". One of her friends replied "Well, I wouldn't tell you my name if you were talking to me like that". That night she talked to her book all sweet-and-tender-like and the next morning she woke up with the title in her head.

The best thing about this idea of having a genius rather than being one is, she says, that it leaves you always feeling somewhere in the middle. If you write a best selling book, you don't have a huge ego because you don't feel like you can take full credit for it, but also, if it fails, then you don't take all the blame.

Here is the whole Ted Talk:

Coming soon...

This is more of an advert for (what I hope to be) next week's blog which will take the form of a vlog! If it isn't next week it'll be the week after. Look forward to it! It's a presentation that I am doing for college that I'm going to record and it'll be interesting and stuff...

The darkness once again sweeps over the land

A couple of days ago, I was delighted to hear about the reunion of The Darkness, a band I never cared much for while they were together but in recent months I have come to appreciate.

Fact: The decline in sales of tight-fitting clothes after The Darkness split up was a direct cause of the Recession.

The Darkness, I have come to realise, were essentially a sleeper cell. In essence, they are a glam rock, almost borderline power metal band only with less dragons and voices that were pitched higher than those guys on the Pakistani Cricket team who were paid to pitch the ball too high.

And better facial hair

They managed to make this kind of music yet still exist in a mainly popular light. In fact, I think you'd be had pressed (whatever that means) to find anyone who couldn't finish the sentence "I believe in a thing called _____".

This is all that's really been on my mind recently. Yup, that's how exciting my life has been. That, and the fact I  want to be a radio producer in a land that has no good radio stations. It would seem I either have to start my own radio station/podcast or move to London. Either way, I don't mind.

Also, be careful on Saturday, it's apparently the end of the world, something about the moon being close to earth.

P.S. I started a sound cloud account yesterday and I be's starting to make music. It's not great but here's a wee preview for y'all.



Stuff and things by Crimsai

Microblog #2! Things and other stuff

I cannot guarantee the length or quality of this post because I am watching Mike Tyson racing pigeons.

Speaking of racing pigeons, I want to start a messenger pigeon service, if anyone would be interested in helping out, let me know.

And now onto the main event!

I just decided this is going to be a Microblog since I can't think about what to write but I don't want to not write anything this week.

Lately, I've been working on a trailer for my games design assignment and it's really confirmed for me that I prefer working with audio than video.

That is all.

P.S. I'll upload the final trailer for my game.

*Insert blog title here*

Today's blog is a three-parter!

First, I was just listening to the radio and someone was talking about going on a cruise or going on holiday and reading books. I have to say, and feel free to quote me on this, "Don't go on holiday to read books, read books to go on holiday!" It really works, too. If it doesn't, you're doing it wrong.

Second, a friend of mine is doing a fund-raiser to raise money for cancer research. They are doing a sponsored "give up facebook for 40 days and 40 nights", something I'm sure most people would find hard to do. If you feel like sponsoring but are thinking "But I don't know her, how can I give her all my monies?" Well, look no further! THIS website allows you to donate your money! Give generously, the internets are watching you...

And finally, the main attraction!

I've been thinking recently about conversations and I thought, with the help of four people I know, that I would describe my findings on "ways to be really bad at communication and how to improve". Also, by writing this stuff, I am in no way saying (or typing) that I am a great communicator, all I am saying is this is stuff I've realised I've been doing or other people around me have been doing.

My first case study:

This first person, I wont name names but I'm sure you all know someone like this. It is the person who always needs to say something but never says anything anybody needs to hear (and not in a good way). The problem with this is, however, that if you ever do have something useful to say, it will just be mixed in with all the rubbish and nobody will hear it. In the words of Thumper from Bambi, "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all." If more people did this, we'd all have far better conversations.

The second person I have noticed, and the person I was at one point, is the person who doesn't talk and doesn't listen to the conversation. You can't sit there wondering "Why don't people talk to me? And why am I not involved in conversations?" if you don't make the effort to listen to what people are saying? Just listen! It's not that hard.

The third person is a lot like the first one. This is the person who thinks they are hilarious but, no matter how many people tell them not to, they keep trying. This problem is far too widespread amongst our communities. If thinking you were funnier than you are was a symptom of swine flu, we wouldn't have to worry about water shortages.

The last person is possibly the most annoying of them all, and it's the person who is afraid of silence. I recently had a situation where I was around a person for a whole bunch more hours than I normally would be. This led to me having this issue. I'm sure there are people out there who, like me, require a bit of silence every now and then in which they can process their thoughts and chill out. People like this person don't seem to realise that conversation, like the tide, comes in flows. Sometimes conversation flows and people can talk freely and, at other times, there's just a bunch of dead starfish and jellyfish lying on the sand. Wait, what? I meant sometimes there is a lull in conversation. If people don't respect the lulls, conversation doesn't flow properly.

So, in conclusion, I was never very good at conversations. I'm pretty sure I have been every person mentioned above at one point, except the last one. And I'm still horrible at one on one conversations, by the way, However, in group conversations, what I did was to listen. Observe the conversation, see what makes the conversation continue, see how other people keep conversations interesting then, after a while, start adding in the odd comment, but only when it's something that needs said. Another useful tip is to remember who you're talking to, and remember that self-censorship is a good thing. If you're talking to Gordon Brown, he may not appreciate your "Your Momma" jokes. I think a lot of people think self-censorship is the same as being fake, something you should avoid at all costs, but it really isn't. It's one of the most important things to remember in a conversations.

So, what do you think? Do you think I'm accurate? Do you think I've missed something out or got something completely wrong? Lemme know!