I just started reading a new book to help with my presentation skills. I’m not a horrible presenter but trying to become a great one so I picked up this book from Amazon for about $20. I haven’t even finished it yet but I’m already loving it. It’s written by an account guy, which I was very skeptical about at first, but it has some great insights and Steel makes some great points about presenting, client management, and keeping the ideas simple and impactful.
He also pulls examples from his experience …

This past year I have been experimenting with sports to break some blocked creative walls. This was somewhat challenging because I grew up in artistic environment and the most athletic thing was drawing a hopscotch board with sidewalk chalk for the JV hopscotch team. I never really thought of creative people to be athletic — ever. And in most art institutions there are no sports. Maybe interpretive dance — and let’s be honest, that doesn’t count. Unless you count the scissor-kicks in leotards.
I recently discovered the one thing that fills …

Typically I write these posts at night. Up until recently I wrote them while clutching a beer and watching football. But last night I fell victim to a blitzkrieg of lethargy from an impromptu feast, so I’m writing this in the early morning. The act of doing so reminded me of a New Year’s resolution I have yet to implement in 2010.
The goal is small, wake up and immediately write three pages of whatever comes to mind. It’s a technique from a book called “The Artist’s Way”. Some of the …

I think one thing that’s missing in many people’s psyches, and perhaps the cause of so much strife in the world, is the ability to really get inside another person’s mind, to feel existence in their shoes. Today is MLK day, and it’s a good time to think about how my life could have been so much different. Any one of us could have ended up with different colored skin, born in a different country, different sex, etc. It’s just through God (if you believe in that construct), or nature, …

If I had endless amounts of free time I would probably drink more and take multiple bathes everyday… but, I like imagining that I would use that time to learn a second language and to find the perfect xmas gifts for all of my friends and family. But I can just never get my shit together. Im always the idiot at the mall on christmas eve – freaking out and wrapping the shittiest gifts ever. But, last week I stumbled upon my very own christmas miracle. It doesn’t get any …

Spotting a befuddled creative type with a tattered novel in the side pocket of their blazer while meandering through Manhattan’s subway platforms is a common sight.  I’m usually one of those guys stepping off the N train still engrossed in my book of the week only to get squashed between the closing doors and lambasted by the disgruntled MTA attendant. On the Brooklyn bound trains you’ll spot your share of hipsters with Vonnegut or Kafka, , if nothing else to keep up appearance. Meanwhile pulling into Grand Central are swarms …

With one of the most visceral trailers ever compiled, the expectations for “Where the Wild Things Are” were miles high. At least, I was expecting to be swept back to childhood, have a life-altering epiphany, and walk out with this deep revelation of who I was. The deep revelation part aside, this movie stabs every emotion with a dagger. The “emo” movement is alive and well in Spike Jonze’s, dare I say, aesthetic masterpiece.
I’m so relieved this movie didn’t fall into the hands of Pixar, Disney, or probably Hollywood’s first …

Rest assured to know that if you have little kiddies they will be reading a lovely book about a nice couple of gay penguins called ” And Tango Makes Three”. No for real. It’s part of the  curriculum in California public schools to get kids to be more  “accepting” of one another. I question why there is not a book for over weight kids, acne covered kids, or kids of different nationalities/ race. Why just about the penguins? And is this a good thing for kids? Isn’t life confusing enough? …