... it became Colin's first montage project in Film and Video Production 11: Linear Editing. Also, it became an excuse to get a Vimeo account. I've always wanted to dick around with Sans Soleil's footage in some capacity, and I've come to think of old Chris and Tim as somehow parallel creators of sharply different nationalities, generations and media.
Last week, I appeared on an episode of Ben Casnocha's interview series, Think Different TV.
It was a real good time; as an interviewer, I heartily endorse Ben's
interviewing skills. Here's the video, conveniently embedded for yr
pleasure:
For the type-As in the audience, here's Ben's breakdown:
How do you become a good writer? Should imitate the greats? How does a unique voice emerge?
Embracing suckage.
Your first draft will always suck. We need a museum of first drafts.
Show me Shakespeare's first draft! Show me David Foster Wallace's first
draft! Show me Steve Jobs' first business plan! [MP3 clip of just this part.]
Philosophies of self-improvement: is Merlin Mann right that we need fewer cheesy tips?
Bits vs. books: Would you rather go a week without blogs or a week without books? [MP3 clip of just this part.]
What is your eternal bio? What parts of identity are permanent? Do political beliefs tell you anything important? [MP3 clip of just this part.]
Friendships and the internet: how do online friends compare to "real life" ones? [MP3 clip of just this part.]
Long/short (bullish/bearish): formal schooling, Netflix, the state of California, democracy in China, the print book, libertarianism, Twitter. [MP3 clip of just this part.]
I
actually clarified some of my own thoughts on a few subjects during the
course of the conversation. Foremost is that short-form media are our
best filters for long-form media. Ben brought up a notion to the effect
that the much larger amount of time we spend consuming short-form media
— blogs, Twitter, other net stuff — speaks louder than any lip service
we pay to the value of longer books, films and the like. I responded
that the time imbalance makes sense even for those of us who do
prefer long-form media, since it's the short-form stuff that points us
to the most interesting long-form stuff. To get the best long-form, we
need to put in the hours finding out what it is in the short. (Maybe.
I'm still working this out.)
The second — and this is one to
which I hadn't given much direct thought before — has to do with
"real-life" friends versus "internet" friends, or what may be better
termed "geographically proximate" friends versus "intellectually
proximate" friends. I contend that they're equally necessary, for
different reasons: while we can (and should) select friends over the
net who share our rarest intellectual qualities — they're pretty damn
scarce in any other setting — we underestimate those who are nearby in
location but perhaps farther away in mind at our peril. With their
friendship comes vital randomness; they introduce us to
culture, pursuits and ideas that we might otherwise echo-chamber out.
Life offers us few richer joys than sharing our favorite books, albums
and films with geographically proximate pals in exchange for exposure
to theirs; if we don't take it seriously, it's our loss.
