In 2010 las ik Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger. Ik schreef deze woorden op:
tangerine
rancor
avidly
ablation
non-sequitur
dour
stolid
aloofy
oar
to muss up
poignant
schnorrer
hold forth
expound
conceit
sinewy
Ik vond een krabbel in een van mijn notitieboekjes van 2019:
De problemen van fotografie:
Wat vind ik een goede foto:
Een stilstaand moment, uit zijn verband gehaald. Goede foto’s laten veel ruimte voor interpretatie. Daarom denk ik dat het niet nodig is om datum en locatie toe te voegen aan een foto. Ik hou van afbeeldingen voor het beeld, niet voor documentatie.
Instagram laat geen tijd over voor interpretatie. Volgende foto …
How interesting and urgent doing the dishes becomes when you are about to start a creative activity. My mind is highly creative in inventing urgent things before difficult things.
I guess it’s that thing called Resistance.
How often can you hesitate posting something? One other such thing. Good enough is good enough. And here it is.
David Lynch hosts a great channel on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/c/DAVIDLYNCHTHEATER
He makes a wooden iPhone stand. Closes with the remark that you can buy such a thing online as well. And that it is even better. But it is so much fun to make.
The Checking Stick is also wonderful.
We are tempted to only read new books. Books on the NY Times best seller list, if you are American.
But consider reading old books. Books that have been around for some time. That have proven their value and are still being recommended.
Not necessarily Greek Philosophers, but also books like Moby Dick (from 1851), One Hundred years of Solitude (1967), Catcher in the Rye (1945), Catch-22 (1961), Alice in Wonderland (1862), The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968), Meditations (ok that’s old – 170-180 AD), Gödel, Escher, Bach (1979), On Writing (2000), Maus (written 1980-1991), Antifragile (2012).
On Antifragile, the approach to read old books probably much aligns with Nassim Taleb’s conviction to prefer grandmother’s wisdom over the opinions of self-appointed intelligentia. And also take the Lindy effect into account, and you are ensured you can enjoy the read much longer.
… genius isn’t the result of the great men that Carlyle proposed. Instead, the genius stands atop the shoulders of those that came before, whose small incremental advances led to the genius’ breakthrough.
…
It’s not brilliance, it’s simply progress “obtained naturally and cumulatively as a consequence of hard work, directed by intuition, literature, and a bit of luck.”
… genius isn’t the result of the great men that Carlyle proposed. Instead, the genius stands atop the shoulders of those that came before, whose small incremental advances led to the genius’ breakthrough.
…
It’s not brilliance, it’s simply progress “obtained naturally and cumulatively as a consequence of hard work, directed by intuition, literature, and a bit of luck.”
Taylor Pearson wrote a great article on the limits and dangers of rationalizing complex phenomena, and the opportunities of illegible ‘fat tail’ margins.
Some other gold nuggets in the article:
Reminder to self. Push this one thing, every day. At least once every day. Do this year after year. Long form, short form, that does not matter. It is the consistency that builds the thing.
