Friday, April 13, 2012
an old Late Night w David Letterman - John Cleese
David Letterman talks to John Cleese about Independence Day, the English, fish, British holidays, cricket and his new film "A Fish Called Wanda". And they make toast!!!
John Cleese on creativity
Cleese describes some observations he’s made about creativity from his experiences working in comedy. These were some of the key ideas:
Plan to throw one away?
Cleese describes a situation where he wrote a script for Fawlty Towers and then lost it. He decided to rewrite it from memory and after he’d done that he found the original.
He was surprised to see that the rewritten version was actually an improvement over the original even though he’d written it much more quickly the second time and concludes that his unconscious mind must have still been working on the script even after he’d stopped writing it.
This seems to be similar to the ground that Fred Brooks was covering when he suggested that we should plan to throw one away because we will anyway.
It would be really interesting to see how much more quickly we’d be able to write a software system assuming all other things stay the same and we’re able to build on the mistakes and things we learnt from the first attempt.
Sleeping on a problem
While discussing sketch writing Cleese points out that when he got stuck while writing at night and couldn’t think what to write next he would just go to bed.
He found that when he woke up the next day and went back to the problem the solution was immediately obvious and he couldn’t remember why he’d got stuck in the first place.
This is something that Andy Hunt talks about in Pragmatic Thinking and Learning as a useful technique for ensuring that we get our right brain involved in the problem solving process and I’ve written previously about the advantages of stepping away from a problem when we get stuck.
Creating a tortoise enclosure
Cleese suggests that we need to restrict both time and space in order to be creative.
We need to ensure that we set a restricted period of time during which we won’t be disrupted and use that time to think.
The closest thing I can think of in the agile world is the idea of not context switching but it seems to go beyond that.
I like the underlying idea that we need to create some constraints in order for creativity to happen. It often seems like really good ideas come from someone being put in a situation where they can’t do what they’d normally do and therefore need to innovate in order to ‘survive’
John Cleese on how to be creative
John Cleese's 35-minute lecture on creativity is warm and funny and humane. I find myself disagreeing rather strongly with his central premise, though: Cleese advises giving yourself 30 minutes to sit quietly before being creative, letting all the nagging voices in your head quieten before you try to be creative. I've really found that by having good priority management -- the kinds of to-do lists recommended in Getting Things Done -- means that when distractions arise, I can put them into a queue for later treatment and clear my mind to work. That said, the advice on being unserious, on working together without shooting down each others' ideas, and so on, is fabulous.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Feeling Good - Nina Simone
Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Reeds driftin' on by you know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me, woo...
And I'm feeling good
Fish in the sea you know how I feel
River running free you know how I feel
Blossom in the tree you know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
And I'm feeling good
Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know
Butterflies all havin' fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done that's what I mean
And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me~
Stars when you shine you know how I feel
Scent of the pine you know how I feel
Oh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
And I'm feeling good
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Jason Mraz - I Won't Give Up (Lyric Video)
[Jason Mraz]
When I look into your eyes
It's like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
Well there's so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you've come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?
I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up
And when you're needing your space
To do some navigating
I'll be here patiently waiting
To see what you find
'Cause even the stars they burn
Some even fall to the earth
We've got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
No, I won't give up
I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily
I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make
Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use the tools and gifts
We got yeah we got a lot at stake
And in the end,
You're still my friend at least we didn't tend
For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn
We had to learn, how to bend without the world caving in
I had to learn what I got, and what I'm not
And who I am
I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up
I'm still looking up
I won't give up on us
God knows I'm tough, he knows
We got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up...
Saturday, April 07, 2012
Friday, April 06, 2012
A Documentary project in New York, NY by Loren Feldman
Synopsis:
The year is 2038. "SoMe" is the story of Social Media as told through the experiences of Loren Feldman. It will feature interviews with luminaries, and stories about both Loren and the many people he has met over the course of his career on the web. It will tell the story of the people and culture that drives the Internet and social media. The good, the bad, the ugly. The underlying narrative to all of it is how these "new technologies" are affecting us. Who we are, how we relate to other people, and who people really are offline as opposed to online. Identity, transparency, persona, these are just a few of the concepts that will be explored.
Thursday, April 05, 2012
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Jason Marz-I Won't Give Up
When I look into your eyes
It's like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
Theres so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you've come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?
I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up
And when you're needing your space
To do some navigating
I'll be here patiently waiting
To see what you find
Cause even the stars they burn
Some even fall to the earth
We got a lot to learn
God knows we're worthy
No I won't give up
I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily
I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make
Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use
The tools, the skills we've got yeah we got a lot at stake
And in the end, you're still my friend at least we didn't tend
For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn
We had to learn how to bend without the world caving in
I had to learn what I got, and what I'm not
And who I am
I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up
So easy is our life
What's mine is yours and yours mine
Hardly do we ever find
We'd rather be kind
I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get dark
I'm healing this broken heart
And I know I'm worthy
I won't give up on us
God knows I'm tough, I am love
We got a lot to learn
God knows we're worthy
No I won't give up on us
God knows I've had enough
We got a lot to learn
And we're, and we're worthy
No I won't give up
No I won't give up
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