Neil Gaiman gave the commencement address this year at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts.
Source: gointothestory.blcklst.com
Orson Welles on Work-Life Balance and the Gift of Ignorance (1960)
I didn’t know what you couldn’t do. I didn’t deliberately set out to invent anything. It just seemed to me, ‘Why not?’ There is a great gift that ignorance has to bring to anything, you know. That was the gift I brought to [Citizen] Kane… ignorance.
Orson Welles on Work-Life Balance and the Gift of Ignorance (1960)
Letter from Hemingway to Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald asked Ernest Hemingway to read his newest novel at the time. This letter is Hemingway’s critique.
For Christ sake write and don’t worry about what the boys will say nor whether it will be a masterpiece nor what. I write one page of masterpiece to ninety one pages of shit. I try to put the shit in the wastebasket.
Is everyone entitled to their opinion?
If we’re going to do great work, it means that some people aren’t going to like it. And if the people who don’t like it don’t have an impact on what happens to the work after it’s complete, the only recourse of someone doing great work is to ignore their opinion.
David Fincher and his designers discuss the Dragon Tattoo titles and design
It’s got to move the heart, or the mind, or the groin. It’s got to engage you on some other part of your being than just your eyes.
— David Fincher
There were other things that were tangential and totally foreign to the final, but you’ve got to hit all of those dead ends in order to find something different. You’ve got to go down that road and fail – a lot.
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I generate a lot of failures, but there’s usually a grain of something interesting when you take a chance, and after a while, all those parts and pieces can add up to something interesting.
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I mean, it’s not that difficult to make a pretty picture. It’s much more difficult to do something that’s a little different while remaining perfectly appropriate and authentic, and that’s what we were after.
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The closer you can get to something that’s authentic and appropriate – if you have good reasons for your decisions and can speak about your ideas as solutions – the easier it may be for someone to accept something they’ve never seen before.
— Neil Kellerhouse
The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.
— Linus Pauling, an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator. He was one of the most influential chemists in history and ranks among the most important scientists of the 20th century. Pauling was among the first scientists to work in the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology.
Source: visualphotos.com
Make Your Thing: 12 Point Program for Absolutely, Positively 1000% No-Fail Guaranteed Success
Essential for anyone who makes things.
via @austinkleon
Source: twitter.com
Everything is a Remix Part 4. This great video series by Kirby Ferguson looks at how creativity works. Part 4 dives into copyright and patent law and the effect that has on progress.
Be sure the check out Parts 1-3 if you haven’t already: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
