June 2012
21 posts
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You’ve got to be able to take a chance to die. And you have to die lots....
– Bill Murray on improv (or any other creative endeavor, for that matter) from this recent interview in Esquire.
May 2012
25 posts
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Ian Coyle on inspiration and open source →
Ian Coyle is doing some of my favorite things on the web. 1 I feel like he’s pushing it in a direction where we are finally using the strengths of the interaction design to promote solid editorial content instead of trying to replicate printed content online. He recently wrote that from now on, he will be doing all his personal projects open source, putting all the code in Github for others...
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I have a way of filming things and staging them and designing sets. There were...
– Wes Anderson, from this interview on NPR.
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But how to establish the exact moment in which a story begins? Everything has...
– Italo Calvino, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler
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Summer Mix: To Get Away on a Summer's Day
The schizophrenic Spring weather has finally settled into a consistent mid-seventies, making way for summer here in New York. I made a little mix to help usher in the new season. It’s called To Get Away on a Summer’s Day and it’s for my friends who graduated college this year; it’s for road trips and driving with the windows down; it’s for falling in love; for...
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Maybe he’ll influence a lot of kids to not come out of the same hole...
– Steven Spielberg on Stanley Kubrick, from this interview in the bonus features of Eyes Wide Shut
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The Eternal Thread
“The Universe is made of stories, not of atoms.” —Muriel Rukeyser
The oldest recorded constellations are from old Babylonian astronomy, beginning in the Middle Bronze Age, somewhere around 6th century BC. Constellations consists of the grouping of starts, their proximity to one another, and the patterns they form. These patterns have created Leo the Lion, Taurus the Bull, Orion, and...
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Don’t ask for critique if you only want validation. If you want a hug, just ask.
– How to gain valuable criticism on your design
Related: my thoughts on portfolio reviews.
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The teacher’s job, really, is to fascinate the student. Fascination is the key...
– What I’ve Learned About Learning by Leo Babauta
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When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first...
– Ernest Hemingway
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You cannot understand good design if you do not understand people; design is...
– Dieter Rams, from this 1976 speech
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Research tells us that one of the most important causal factors associated with...
– From 10 Things Your Commencement Speaker Won’t Tell You
The people I met in college are the best people I met in my life and some of my closest and dearest friends. And maybe my only regret is that I didn’t realize it at the time.
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Peter Vidani on the evolution of Tumblr's... →
Tumblr has launched a new feature on their site called Storyboard, a special section where they can highlight and feature great curators and content from the community. One of the first features is a great interview with their lead designer, Peter Vidani, on the evolution of Tumblr’s dashboard. I loved this bit on training their users to use the site the way they want:
Onboarding is...
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When I write, I write because a thing has to be done. I don’t think a writer...
– Jorge Luis Borges, in his 1966 Paris Review interview
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On Letting Go →
I loved this piece from ChangeOrder on collecting, books, physical media, and ownership:
It wasn’t always this way. Through most of high school and college, I was able to get by just with the library. When I was in graduate school, however, I would acquire and read 3 to 4 books a week—for work, for pleasure, for class, for my full-time job as an editor. In the mail, I would receive...
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Bertrand Russell's 10 Commandments of Teaching →
From an article he wrote for The New York Times in 1951:
Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by...
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Artists have a vested interest in our believing in the flash of revelation, the...
– Nietzsche (via explore-blog)