Professional and creative resources
http://www.fpomagazine.com/resources/ FPO's resource list has it all, with
links to best-of sites for designers; writers and editors; software tips; and fun and inspiration. WRITING Ragan.com's Writing and Editing page Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Annie Dillard DESIGN SWEET PAUL digital magazine Though I'm not a foodie, the design aplomb and photography (supported by HP's platform MagCloud) in this publication make me drool with their gorgeousness: http://www.sweetpaulmag-digital.com/sweetpaulmag/holiday2010#pg1 PHOTOGRAPHY http://lonelyplanetimages.wordpress.com/ http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/ jib jab (gotta love the silliness) CAREERS Po Bronson's backstory was as fascinating as any of his subject's: What Should I Do with My Life? by Po Bronson A recent article for the geographically flexible: http://www.forbes.com/2011/01/06/best-and-worst-places-for-jobs-business-beltway_slide.html?partner=yahoo A job finder for those of us way past entry level: https://marketing.theladders.com/career-advice If you work in communications or the media, I highly recommend building your own portfolio website at Weebly
Books
Before I was a writer or editor, I was a reader. There's no measuring how this habit has shaped my profes-sional skills, but my love affair with books and lan- guage continues to inform my career and character.
NONFICTION Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell The Survivor's Club: The Secrets and Science That Could Save Your Life by Ben Sherwood MEMOIRS In view of my habit of having a stack of at least 5 books on my bedside table at all times, I was predictably stumped when asked recently to name my favorite book. My stammered response in the face of such an staggering catalog of possible responses was to cite a genre rather than a single book. On reflection, this answer (memoir writing, fictionalized or not) still seems most apt. Cane River by Lalita Tademy A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb Bald in the Land of Big Hair by Joni Rodgers Lights, cameras, actionOne advantage to a California childhood in the caveman era called the 1970s -- before VCRs and DVDs and cable TV, just for starters -- was my access to vintage movie theatres a stone's throw from the original Hollywood sound stages. So my first viewing of Singing in the Rain was in a packed theatre where I could barely hear the onscreen repartee over the din of shoulder-to-shoulder movie devotees parroting the dialogue and singing out loud with Gene and Debbie and Donald.
Bliss. I had found my people. Good Bye, Lenin! This film is a great example of why Netflix trampled Blockbuster, Hollywood Video and other brick-and-mortar DVD rental outlets. By tracking my movie preferences, Netflix's relentless site-search mechanisms led me down a mostly delightful rabbit hole of indie European movies that would never have made it onto my local Blockbuster's shelves. This retro coming-of-age flick in particular is never mean-spirited as it humanizes and skewers socialism in East Germany (keep an eye out for the fashion changes) before and after the Berlin Wall fell. In fact, this acerbic underbelly keeps the potentially saccharine from overtaking the storyline about an off-kilter and increasingly complicated chain of events created by a stalwart Jimmy Stewart-esque character who loves his mom and has nothing but the best of intentions. 10 Items or Less Despite -- or in fact, because of an industrial backdrop and beat-up locales off the 405 south of LA -- it's all the sweeter to watch how our two anti-heroes are changed by their unlikely friendship in the course of a single day. Morgan Freeman has never been more relaxed or winning; watch for the Target and car wash scenes. Quiet humor and respect for human dignity in the midst of indignity suffuses the script and cinematography. American Splendor A highly original, fascinating juxtaposition of actors and real-life characters that manages to make its oddball dare-I-say unsavory leads (google 'cantankerous' and you should see Harvey Pekar's picture) winsome and lovable after all. Kolya I bought this Czechoslovakian movie for its plot -- a happy bachelor of a certain age is surprised by instant fatherhood -- but along the way I also got a travel fix and was startled by some carryover insights into my Bohemian heritage. If you're encouraged by old-dogs-learn-new-tricks stories like The Accidental Tourist and Something's Gotta Give, this packs that same satisfying punch. Snow Cake This movie unobtrusively makes the case for why we need indie films. You've never seen Sigourney Weaver like this before. Who knew? And Alan Rickman gives the film backbone with another bravura Everyman performance in this indie film about redemption. Some Like It Hot No one does madcap quite like Jack Lemmon in drag. ("I'm a girl. I'm a girl.") Other must-see vintage films in which everything comes together just-so are North by Northwest, To Kill a Mockingbird, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Thin Man, To Sir With Love and (natch) Singing in the Rain. Travel
For me, travel is like going to Disneyland. My proof
that this is more than mere lip service is the 7 years I worked in the airline industry precisely for the travel benefits. Sunset Magazine In addition to location-driven vignettes (The West at Its Best, Editor's Picks) and sweeping feature articles about best-of in-love-with-nature vacation destinations, I'm invariably tearing out Sunset's Day Trip and Weekend Escape itineraries for my travel files because I trust the brand that much. The magazine deserves another high-five for lacing the Letters to the Editor pages with posts from its Facebook fans. Well played, Sunset! http://tourvideos.com/ This clunky template-y site won't be winning any website design awards, but it has video shorts by Dennis Callan that literally take me back to locales I loved like Interlaken and the Cotswolds. In case you missed them, I've posted some of my own travel photos on my Design & Photography page. |
More music
When results of a study released in 2010 proclaimed music is as effective as massage for relaxing, I was happy to see science catch up with what art already knew about taming the savage beast within.
Tell You Something by Alicia Keys
Wish I by Jem
Just Breathe by Pearl Jam (Eddie Vedder)
Tips for building your own music library Being an inveterate giver of mixtapes, I'm often asked (in a good way, I promise), "Where do you find these songs?" Here're some of my tricks. The soundtrack of your life For me, building a custom music library in the era of iPod, iTunes and instant gratification was jump-started by Shonda Rhime's music choices for Grey's Anatomy. My resultant off-the-mainstream-airwaves habit continues to be fed by my penchant for off-the-radar movies. A + B = C It makes perfect sense. (A) Ever since flapper-era organists heaved away for live audiences during silent movies, film makers have used music to both bond audiences to story and characters and to influence the audience experience. (B) I tend to favor plot- lines with spunky-yet-flawed characters who struggle but ultimately prevail, and those characters need soundtracks to support the process of struggle, growth and triumph that (C) I invariably end up liking. Shop til you be-bop Speaking of favorite pastimes, shopping can also be a shortcut to new music. I realized this in an inverse way shortly after sharing my first iPod mix, when l heard 5 of my songs playing over Ikea's sound system. Like movie makers, retailers are tapping into music's ability to move us and use it to create a mood for customers, so tune in next time you're in Anthropologie or Banana Republic. If you like a brand, chances are its secret sauce is seeping into your every experience with it. Google My last new-media trick to make you a Sherlock of music: With as few as three sequential words from a song's lyrics -- like "little lion man" -- google these (in quotes) with the word lyrics and you can find an artist and song title. The usual suspects You may have noticed that my first go-to's aren't Pandora, iTunes (even though I'm a fan of its site-search tracking and recommendation functional-ities) or MySpace. That's because I have to agree with 8tracks.com that in some in- explicable way, the filter of humanity beats the search-bots and algorithms at Pandora. (I know! I'm usually a big fan of science, measurables and next-generation fused- media innovations.) ON THAT NOTE ... It wasn't until writing this that I began seeing branding's sticky finger prints even here. Although when you stop to think about it . . . a truly definitive look-and- feel should be conducive to all sorts of overlapping commonalities and essences. Indie films tend to feature indie music I like. The design blog I find fetching often plays music I find fetching. My favorite fashion and furniture retailers serve up my favorite tunes. Why am I surprised? World music downloads for free
In July 2010, BBC Radio (BBC3) joined Free Music Archive in providing free downloads from its world music vaults. Here are those links:
http://freemusicarchive.org/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/# |
YouTube
As dated as some of these may feel by now, IMHO (in my humble opinion) these inventive-at-the-time videos are among the best to spring forth from this democratic new media. I'm especially captivated by clips that creatively meld formerly unconnected elements in fresh and surprising ways. So I'm delighted to watch a riff on how a modern Joseph and Mary would cope with a fast-forwarded birth experience; I can laugh at travelers' bewilderment hearing Julie Andrews belt out a Sound of Music standard while dozens dance in a Belgian railway station (my introduction to flash mobs); after years of sitting through my nieces' Irish dancing performances, I'm enchanted watching Irish dancing done with hands. And before there was Susan Boyle, there was Paul Potts.