I have lately been enjoying listening to No Safety, a tribute album to one of my favourite bands, the Mountain Goats.
The full story is available within a thread on the Mountain Goats' website, most of the tracks are on a single file for download, although there were a couple that missed the compilation that are appended to postings, and are well worth seeking out.
Someone started off the forum thread with a suggestion that people each contribute their own cover of the track Going to Georgia for a tribute album. Going to Georgia is one of the most popular tracks by the Mountain Goats, though I must confess to not being terribly vexed about it as a track.
Now the idea seems a bit borderline sensible, borderline bonkers. However it actually works very well. The different versions are all sufficiently differentiated to be worth listening too, and because it is the same song, they actually hang together pretty well. It makes for a good background album, you maybe don't need to think about it too much, but it will occassionally grab your interest with something totally arresting or surprising.
I do hope that I am not damning with faint praise, it is a really enjoyable listen, every track is different and of a professional standard, while having a real indie creative vibe to it. There is nothing workmanlike to any of the tracks. The tracks that have most caught me so far have been one by Joe Harbison, which is instantly compelling and electronic, and a bonkers version sung in Norwegian, but there is not a dud version amongst them. Clearly these are some very talented and creative people.
It used to be that what we saw, read, listened to, were all mediated through the process of being published. So quality was consistent, maybe not high, but certainly consistent. The Bloomsbury Set, Algonquin Round Table, or a myriad of other groups demonstrated how narrow and non-inclusive this process was.
However now there need be no mediation through the process of being published. Self publication used to be the vanity press, and accordingly distained. Now numerous people have demonstrated the ability to move from self-publication on the web to creating a perfectly valid career of their own. I have probably touched on this already, so I won't stress over listing folk like Merlin Mann, Scott Sigler, and Jonathan Coulton.
Equally valid there are plenty of people who create material of interest and genuine worth that finds its own small audience. In the past this might have involved bands doing weddings and random gigs at pubs, either performing generic material that people liked, or less generic material that most people did not like, even if a few did.
But now it is straightforward to create material, straightforward to make it available more widely, straightforward to find very niche product. Talent is required rather than just technique or contacts.
Accordingly I can now listen to an album of different versions of the same song, by a band that most people have never even heard of. All the songs are produced with professionalism, passion and real flair.
The world is changing, and sometimes it changes for the better.
Sunday 22 February 2009
reality has once again reasserted itself
I have been relatively remiss with blogging recently.
After making vast in-roads into my plans to blitz the world of arts and ideas, with gazillions of pitches of every subject under the sun, things have rather slowed down to a more ponderous rate after the initial frenzy. That is not to say that there was anything wrong with my original thinking. However for the first couple of weeks, I was relatively quiet at work, had an extra day off each week, and was not doing much at the weekend. Accordingly it was relatively easy to find the time to do all this pitching and working up of creative ideas.
Reality has once again reasserted itself, in the various dimensions that it is prone to.
1 Work
2 Creativity
3 Blogging and web-siting
At work, things seem to have moved up to a rather hectic pace, so hectic that it all rather zen, just figure out what I need to do, then do it. Scant time to think, plan, wonder or worry. Hopefully things will slip down a notch or two, but things might conspire against this. I have taken on an entire other job, in addition to the admittedly light duties that I already had. I have been volunteered to do some work for senior management, which rather means that I have to do a good job of it, and I don't want to be making excuses about not getting stuff done. I don't mind, it is a chance to do some interesting stuff, and potentially get noticed. Though frankly I am a bit long in the tooth, for harbouring any great ambitions. Also I continue to come up with ideas to stretch myself, the idea that I pitched in a recent blog, for a staff seminar, will be taking place in April! and I have volunteered to take nightclasses in paralegal studies.
As ever, opportunity never comes in any planned manner, it just all arrives at once, when you are not expecting it. But with this sort of work, sometimes it it just the ability to seem calm and in control that counts, rather than actually doing anything terribly specific. I have been mindful of not working excessive hours, because at the moment I need to be productive, rather than just sitting there doing a lot. So the productive side of my brain gets burnt out after a while. Time to head home.
2 Creativity
as above, after an initial flurry, I have slowed down on the pitching like a maniac, and trying to drive up traffic to my website. Potentially you could easily spend over a day a week on those, and there just has not been the time lately. However I do think that the underlying principles of pitching broadly and keeping track of what happens are sound enough.
Of the initial pitches, the most productive to date seems to be the seminar idea, which has been accepted, and will be taking place. I do feel that my jokes are decent enough, but I've really not found an outlet that might take them yet. I might take a day off at the end of the week to catch up some of this creative stuff.
3 Blogging and web-siting
I suppose it would be easy enough to justify any amount of unproductive trawling around the web as being either research, or making comments in the hope of driving up traffic to your own website.
Accordingly the lack of huge amounts of time ambling the information superhighway probably won't set back civilisation unduly.
I have recognised that it is useful to have permanent links to my individual blogs, just in case I, or anyone else wants to put a link to them somewhere. I have accordingly been doing some of that boring behind the scenes stuff to set up permalinks on my blog. Nothing terribly noticeable, but useful to have.
I have also been a little remiss in blogging, but I do find it a useful way to straighten out my thoughts, and just keep in the habit of writing, so I'm doing a few blog entries this weekend, when there are bound to be other more productive things that I could be doing instead.
In conclusion, that is about that for the moment. I suppose getting somewhere is really about tempering what you want with what you are managing to do, and coming up with a decent compromise somewhere in between.
After making vast in-roads into my plans to blitz the world of arts and ideas, with gazillions of pitches of every subject under the sun, things have rather slowed down to a more ponderous rate after the initial frenzy. That is not to say that there was anything wrong with my original thinking. However for the first couple of weeks, I was relatively quiet at work, had an extra day off each week, and was not doing much at the weekend. Accordingly it was relatively easy to find the time to do all this pitching and working up of creative ideas.
Reality has once again reasserted itself, in the various dimensions that it is prone to.
1 Work
2 Creativity
3 Blogging and web-siting
At work, things seem to have moved up to a rather hectic pace, so hectic that it all rather zen, just figure out what I need to do, then do it. Scant time to think, plan, wonder or worry. Hopefully things will slip down a notch or two, but things might conspire against this. I have taken on an entire other job, in addition to the admittedly light duties that I already had. I have been volunteered to do some work for senior management, which rather means that I have to do a good job of it, and I don't want to be making excuses about not getting stuff done. I don't mind, it is a chance to do some interesting stuff, and potentially get noticed. Though frankly I am a bit long in the tooth, for harbouring any great ambitions. Also I continue to come up with ideas to stretch myself, the idea that I pitched in a recent blog, for a staff seminar, will be taking place in April! and I have volunteered to take nightclasses in paralegal studies.
As ever, opportunity never comes in any planned manner, it just all arrives at once, when you are not expecting it. But with this sort of work, sometimes it it just the ability to seem calm and in control that counts, rather than actually doing anything terribly specific. I have been mindful of not working excessive hours, because at the moment I need to be productive, rather than just sitting there doing a lot. So the productive side of my brain gets burnt out after a while. Time to head home.
2 Creativity
as above, after an initial flurry, I have slowed down on the pitching like a maniac, and trying to drive up traffic to my website. Potentially you could easily spend over a day a week on those, and there just has not been the time lately. However I do think that the underlying principles of pitching broadly and keeping track of what happens are sound enough.
Of the initial pitches, the most productive to date seems to be the seminar idea, which has been accepted, and will be taking place. I do feel that my jokes are decent enough, but I've really not found an outlet that might take them yet. I might take a day off at the end of the week to catch up some of this creative stuff.
3 Blogging and web-siting
I suppose it would be easy enough to justify any amount of unproductive trawling around the web as being either research, or making comments in the hope of driving up traffic to your own website.
Accordingly the lack of huge amounts of time ambling the information superhighway probably won't set back civilisation unduly.
I have recognised that it is useful to have permanent links to my individual blogs, just in case I, or anyone else wants to put a link to them somewhere. I have accordingly been doing some of that boring behind the scenes stuff to set up permalinks on my blog. Nothing terribly noticeable, but useful to have.
I have also been a little remiss in blogging, but I do find it a useful way to straighten out my thoughts, and just keep in the habit of writing, so I'm doing a few blog entries this weekend, when there are bound to be other more productive things that I could be doing instead.
In conclusion, that is about that for the moment. I suppose getting somewhere is really about tempering what you want with what you are managing to do, and coming up with a decent compromise somewhere in between.
In praise of pottering
Pottering is a greatly undervalued activity.
I suppose that the common expectation is that all life is about bashing out widgets, a task requiring neither imagination nor creativity, and so we do no need to potter, or to reflect, we merely get on with bashing out more widgets. We might periodically take time to sharpen our widget bashing tools, or plan our critical path for most effective bashing of widgets.
But we certainly do not have any time for pottering. Pottering is anathema. Pottering is the lazy inefficient waste of time, falling away from our puritan protestant work ethic, our idle hands lead us into the devil's work.
But is this really true. I suppose if you paid someone to work for you, you want to see them bashing out those little widgets as fast as they can. But reducing everything to bashing out widgets presumes that there is no quality dimension, it is purely a case of quantity. The more widgets the better.
But for many things there is not an infinite demand for our widgets. How many emails a day does our boss really want us to send him. Or the quality dimension is paramount. Is more blogging really better blogging.
Which all, in, a round about, way, leads me back to pottering. Because pottering is the antithesis to quantity. Pottering is the complete absence of quantity. In fact pottering can regularly deliver no perceptible outputs what so ever.
So why is pottering any good?
Because if you are ever to be truly great at anything you will probably need to spend a great deal of time pottering. It is the pottering time that differentiates the tradesman from the craftsman, the labourer from the artist. It is that ability to just step back, allow yourself to take a line for a walk, or let the line take you for a walk. To put words after each other just to see if they take you anywhere interesting. Fiddle about with something, take it apart, put it back together again, see if you can make it work a little better.
Just imagine the craftsman pottering away in his workshop, putting together a few off cuts to make a children's toy, sharpening much loved tools, browsing a catalogue, or sketching out impractical ideas.
Just imagine the gardener weeding slowly while just wondering how to arrange some new plants, or rearranging pots while she thinks about colour schemes.
Just imagine the endless hours tinkering with websites, or browsing for ideas for your blog.
I suppose the point is that pottering is defensible, we all need time to potter a bit, particularly around the things we love doing. The real art is in extracting the odd nugget from the pottering, making good use of the nuggets.
Perhaps what we need is a better methodology for productive pottering. Perhaps what we need is a better articulation of the relationship between pottering and bashing out widgets. Ideally they are in harmony, two sides of the same coin. We should not feel guilty that we are not always in the same mode. It is part of our strength.
I suppose that the common expectation is that all life is about bashing out widgets, a task requiring neither imagination nor creativity, and so we do no need to potter, or to reflect, we merely get on with bashing out more widgets. We might periodically take time to sharpen our widget bashing tools, or plan our critical path for most effective bashing of widgets.
But we certainly do not have any time for pottering. Pottering is anathema. Pottering is the lazy inefficient waste of time, falling away from our puritan protestant work ethic, our idle hands lead us into the devil's work.
But is this really true. I suppose if you paid someone to work for you, you want to see them bashing out those little widgets as fast as they can. But reducing everything to bashing out widgets presumes that there is no quality dimension, it is purely a case of quantity. The more widgets the better.
But for many things there is not an infinite demand for our widgets. How many emails a day does our boss really want us to send him. Or the quality dimension is paramount. Is more blogging really better blogging.
Which all, in, a round about, way, leads me back to pottering. Because pottering is the antithesis to quantity. Pottering is the complete absence of quantity. In fact pottering can regularly deliver no perceptible outputs what so ever.
So why is pottering any good?
Because if you are ever to be truly great at anything you will probably need to spend a great deal of time pottering. It is the pottering time that differentiates the tradesman from the craftsman, the labourer from the artist. It is that ability to just step back, allow yourself to take a line for a walk, or let the line take you for a walk. To put words after each other just to see if they take you anywhere interesting. Fiddle about with something, take it apart, put it back together again, see if you can make it work a little better.
Just imagine the craftsman pottering away in his workshop, putting together a few off cuts to make a children's toy, sharpening much loved tools, browsing a catalogue, or sketching out impractical ideas.
Just imagine the gardener weeding slowly while just wondering how to arrange some new plants, or rearranging pots while she thinks about colour schemes.
Just imagine the endless hours tinkering with websites, or browsing for ideas for your blog.
I suppose the point is that pottering is defensible, we all need time to potter a bit, particularly around the things we love doing. The real art is in extracting the odd nugget from the pottering, making good use of the nuggets.
Perhaps what we need is a better methodology for productive pottering. Perhaps what we need is a better articulation of the relationship between pottering and bashing out widgets. Ideally they are in harmony, two sides of the same coin. We should not feel guilty that we are not always in the same mode. It is part of our strength.
Sunday 8 February 2009
Saturday 7 February 2009
planning for creativity
The toughest things to plan for the ones that you really don't have much control over, especially when they are difficult.
For instance how could you plan to win a million on the lottery?
I have decided to get a bit more serious about blogging, and freelance writing, and coming up with ideas, and jokes, and whatever other vaguely creative or useful things I write about. But how on earth can I plan the unplannable?
Basically I seem to be tackling this in stages.
1 For the past year or two I have been keeping this blog, and from time to time following up on ideas that I have had, but without much dedication. I now have a fairly substantial blog of writing. I also keep a notebook of creative ideas, with various degrees of dedication, and then transfer the stuff from there onto Voodoopad, which is so loose and freeform, that it suits creative thinking. On the other hand Devonthink is a bit more business-like, and suits stuff that requires a little more discipline. Though truth be told, I use both of them in pretty much the same way.
2 I have now recognised that there are two activities in creativity. There is the creative one, of coming up with genius ideas and typing them out. Then there is the drudgery one, of trying to get someone to publish them, customising them for publications that might have an interest, trawling for likely periodicals, sending stuff off for consideration. They fit together like ying and yang, when I'm inspired, write something, when I'm not, attend to the drudgery. So far there seems to be more drudgery to do, than inspiration required, which suits fine, as I don't feel very inspired most of the time.
3 In particular I am now keeping a log of material submitted, but I am working on the principle that the likelihood of anything getting published is pretty low. So I just constantly brainstorm ideas, possible outlets, pitching anything I think might be of interest. As long as the idea is worked up to a reasonable standard, I just pitch and forget. I don't imagine anything will come of the vast bulk, but over time, some are bound to get published, and I can always use that to inform where it is most productive to put my efforts.
I will probably carry on with this exploratory approach for a while, and if I start getting paid for freelancing, I can always start to specialise a bit more.
I really have no idea what will come of any of this, probably nothing of any note, but I like to write, and I like to bat around ideas, so if some of it manages to find itself in front of a larger audience then I have succeeded in a modest way.
For instance how could you plan to win a million on the lottery?
I have decided to get a bit more serious about blogging, and freelance writing, and coming up with ideas, and jokes, and whatever other vaguely creative or useful things I write about. But how on earth can I plan the unplannable?
Basically I seem to be tackling this in stages.
1 For the past year or two I have been keeping this blog, and from time to time following up on ideas that I have had, but without much dedication. I now have a fairly substantial blog of writing. I also keep a notebook of creative ideas, with various degrees of dedication, and then transfer the stuff from there onto Voodoopad, which is so loose and freeform, that it suits creative thinking. On the other hand Devonthink is a bit more business-like, and suits stuff that requires a little more discipline. Though truth be told, I use both of them in pretty much the same way.
2 I have now recognised that there are two activities in creativity. There is the creative one, of coming up with genius ideas and typing them out. Then there is the drudgery one, of trying to get someone to publish them, customising them for publications that might have an interest, trawling for likely periodicals, sending stuff off for consideration. They fit together like ying and yang, when I'm inspired, write something, when I'm not, attend to the drudgery. So far there seems to be more drudgery to do, than inspiration required, which suits fine, as I don't feel very inspired most of the time.
3 In particular I am now keeping a log of material submitted, but I am working on the principle that the likelihood of anything getting published is pretty low. So I just constantly brainstorm ideas, possible outlets, pitching anything I think might be of interest. As long as the idea is worked up to a reasonable standard, I just pitch and forget. I don't imagine anything will come of the vast bulk, but over time, some are bound to get published, and I can always use that to inform where it is most productive to put my efforts.
I will probably carry on with this exploratory approach for a while, and if I start getting paid for freelancing, I can always start to specialise a bit more.
I really have no idea what will come of any of this, probably nothing of any note, but I like to write, and I like to bat around ideas, so if some of it manages to find itself in front of a larger audience then I have succeeded in a modest way.
Friday 6 February 2009
lunch-time seminar
A while back, I posted a blog entry about why work should be more fun, but did not actually say anything terribly useful about how to make work more fun. I have been doing a little work on an idea for a short lunchtime seminar/ workshop that lets staff practice the essential skills for meetings, in a light and entertaining way. If possible, I’ll try running it at my workplace, and see how it goes. Details below, you might need to customise to suit your workplace but the basic idea should work.
advert
this event will appeal to anyone who is not a Government Cabinet Minister, or who is fed up with just taking the minutes at meetings. Participants will take the part of a Cabinet Minister, for a mock Cabinet Meeting. The event is intended to be entertaining while offering practice in the interpersonal skills required to work effectively in meetings. New staff are particularly encouraged to attend. The event will take about two hours.
Set up
small number of participants - 6-8
arrive in room, and sit round the table, there is a name card at each seat, detailing which Minister is sitting there.
The facilitator introduces themself
people are to take the part of the Minister their name card indicates, including the First Minister who will chair the meeting
if the First Minister is really uncomfortable agree to change, but otherwise just proceed
explain that often what we do would be really fun if it were not for worrying about the consequences, this session aims to be fun, and the only consequences are that you might learn something.
facilitator flags up that it is important to recognise the difference between how meetings operate, and what they discuss
The facilitator outlines the principles for the day, which are on a flip chart
how meetings work best;
the participants are presented with an agenda (what), the agenda is long and dull,
the chair starts the agenda with welcome and introductions
after a short spell the facilitator interrupts, and explains that he is a government policy advisor and he has just heard an unconfirmed report from the manager at Edinburgh Castle that an alien spaceship has just landed there. Although unconfirmed, we believe the report to be true and the Cabinet has until the end of the meeting to decide the Scottish Government response, as it is believed that Scotland will be the focus of international media interest within the hour.
Allow the FM to continue to chair,
no additional facts are added, but if the conversation starts to flag, then the facilitator can introduce himself as a senior policy adviser with question prompts such as
The facilitator closes the meeting fifteen minutes before the end of the session, and allows people to get out of character, by asking them how it all went, encouraging them to start thinking about the how, rather than the what
then refer participants back to the principles for good meetings outlined at the start, ask the group to reflect, both personally and as a group
feedback sheet handed out for completion before people leave
thank people for attending, and close
if reconvened, then some members are dropped out and some new are added, this model of temporary membership is retained if the meetings continue as a series.
Update - this seminar has now run, and an update is provided here!
advert
this event will appeal to anyone who is not a Government Cabinet Minister, or who is fed up with just taking the minutes at meetings. Participants will take the part of a Cabinet Minister, for a mock Cabinet Meeting. The event is intended to be entertaining while offering practice in the interpersonal skills required to work effectively in meetings. New staff are particularly encouraged to attend. The event will take about two hours.
Set up
small number of participants - 6-8
arrive in room, and sit round the table, there is a name card at each seat, detailing which Minister is sitting there.
The facilitator introduces themself
people are to take the part of the Minister their name card indicates, including the First Minister who will chair the meeting
if the First Minister is really uncomfortable agree to change, but otherwise just proceed
explain that often what we do would be really fun if it were not for worrying about the consequences, this session aims to be fun, and the only consequences are that you might learn something.
facilitator flags up that it is important to recognise the difference between how meetings operate, and what they discuss
The facilitator outlines the principles for the day, which are on a flip chart
how meetings work best;
- chatham house rules
- people really listen
- everyone gets a chance to speak
- people get their points across clearly and succinctly
- everyone feels comfortable (fun?)
- ideas are drawn together effectively
- clear actions are agreed
- the meeting keeps to time
the participants are presented with an agenda (what), the agenda is long and dull,
the chair starts the agenda with welcome and introductions
after a short spell the facilitator interrupts, and explains that he is a government policy advisor and he has just heard an unconfirmed report from the manager at Edinburgh Castle that an alien spaceship has just landed there. Although unconfirmed, we believe the report to be true and the Cabinet has until the end of the meeting to decide the Scottish Government response, as it is believed that Scotland will be the focus of international media interest within the hour.
Allow the FM to continue to chair,
no additional facts are added, but if the conversation starts to flag, then the facilitator can introduce himself as a senior policy adviser with question prompts such as
- what about the health implication
- what about the constitutional implications
- do we assume that they are friendly
- etc
The facilitator closes the meeting fifteen minutes before the end of the session, and allows people to get out of character, by asking them how it all went, encouraging them to start thinking about the how, rather than the what
then refer participants back to the principles for good meetings outlined at the start, ask the group to reflect, both personally and as a group
- what went well
- what went badly
- what to do differently next time
feedback sheet handed out for completion before people leave
- tick box - would I do this again
- tick box - would I recommend it to someone else
- will you personally do anything differently in future - actions?
- any comments
thank people for attending, and close
if reconvened, then some members are dropped out and some new are added, this model of temporary membership is retained if the meetings continue as a series.
Update - this seminar has now run, and an update is provided here!
Sunday 1 February 2009
The Reapers by John Connolly
This is just a very good thriller. It is well written, thoughtful, well paced and has a wealth of interesting characters. Throughout it maintains your interest and although you want to know what happens, you are more than content to wait and see how things unfold. I am sure that the author might be capable of writing dull or uninteresting text, but he does not do it in this book.
One slight caveat, by the end of the book, the pace picks up considerably and new characters are sketched in cartoon tones, only to be dispatched a few pages later. The book slips into the style of Carl Hiassen, whereas previously it was more measured.
Quite simply, one of the best thrillers I have read, and possibly one of the best writers in the field today.
Random Quote - "One of those old railroads, now abandonned, curved through a forest of hemlock, maple, birch, and small beech before emerging into a patch of clear ground, a relic of the Big Blowdown of 1950 that had never been repaired."
One slight caveat, by the end of the book, the pace picks up considerably and new characters are sketched in cartoon tones, only to be dispatched a few pages later. The book slips into the style of Carl Hiassen, whereas previously it was more measured.
Quite simply, one of the best thrillers I have read, and possibly one of the best writers in the field today.
Random Quote - "One of those old railroads, now abandonned, curved through a forest of hemlock, maple, birch, and small beech before emerging into a patch of clear ground, a relic of the Big Blowdown of 1950 that had never been repaired."
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