ideas and musings

"A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor..."

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:52:13 -0400

“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.”

- François-René de Chateaubriand (via christopher-kuehl)

Photo

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:14:31 -0500

nathanjohnson: Howdy folks! Just wanted to let you know about a...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:10:03 -0500

nathanjohnson:

Howdy folks! Just wanted to let you know about a new Faux Fix song that we’re inviting people to collaborate with us on. The tune is called Little Smokestacks and we’re working on it with everyone over at Hit Record! Check out the links below and come work with us!

fauxfix:

hitrecord:

ATTN: VISUAL ARTISTS & MUSICIANS: COME WORK W/ US ON A NEW SHORT FILM!

Nathan Johnson (who composed “Brick” & “Looper”) & Katie Chastain of FauxFix RECorded this beautiful song at Sundance entitled “Little Smokestacks” » LISTEN HERE!

==

Here’s how you can contribute to this collaboration:

ILLUSTRATORS: Draw visuals that go with the song - be as creative as you’d like!

ANIMATORS: Take visuals from hitRECord & put them into motion for this Short Film.

CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Grab your cameras & shoot some winter imagery.

VIDEO EDITORS: Cut together visuals from the site. Specifically, check out the “RE: Snow” collaboration for some wintery resources.

VOCALISTS: Sing some Harmonies or RECord “Ooh”s & “Ahh”s so they can be remixed together to simulate the sound of breath.

INSTRUMENTALISTS: It’d be great to have some Electronic Beats added, in addition to other Instruments & Sound Effects.

==

Contribute your records to the ‘LITTLE SMOKESTACKS Collaboration’ HERE!

Hey everyone, we’re working with Hit Record to further produce our new song, “Little Smokestacks” (written at Sundance 2013). In addition to more musical production, we’d love to see a short film or animation emerge based on the song :) If you aren’t familiar with Hit Record, please check out this fabulous hub of collaboration!

Reppin Faux Fix with some latte art on instagram

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:01:19 -0500

Reppin Faux Fix with some latte art on instagram

"You sell your expertise, you have a limited repertoire. You sell your ignorance, it’s an unlimited..."

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 10:54:46 -0500

““You sell your expertise, you have a limited repertoire. You sell your ignorance, it’s an unlimited repertoire. [Eames] was selling his ignorance and his desire to learn about a subject, and the journey of him not knowing to knowing was his work.””

- Richard Saul Wurman, discussing Charles Eames in Eames: The Architect and the Painter (via pieratt)

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Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:12:24 -0500

"I will forevermore, I expect, be trying to re-create the purity of that time. Having done nothing, I..."

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 10:14:28 -0500

“I will forevermore, I expect, be trying to re-create the purity of that time. Having done nothing, I had nothing to lose. Having made a happy life without having achieved anything at all artistically, I found that any artistic achievement was a bonus. Having finally conceded that I wasn’t a prodigy after all, I had the total artistic freedom that is afforded only to the beginner, the doofus, the aspirant.”

- George Saunders (via austinkleon)

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Sun, 23 Dec 2012 00:07:30 -0500

Three successive lattes of mine

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 18:44:53 -0500

Three successive lattes of mine

"So now I have Travis Tritt in my life and I’m happier for it. Probably the 17-year-old me would..."

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:20:29 -0500

“So now I have Travis Tritt in my life and I’m happier for it. Probably the 17-year-old me would recoil in shock and horror, but that guy was kind of a dick anyway. The thing about listening to new (to you) music, even to music you feel uncomfortable about, is that it’s a win-win. If you turn out not to like it, then good for you: you were right all along. If you end up thinking it’s pretty cool, then you’ve just pushed those walls of your taste out a little further, which means you’re a bigger person inside, you[‘re] more open-minded, your soul has in some way expanded, you are who you didn’t realize you are.”

- Will Sheff on music snobbery (via austinkleon)

gocommandomusic: Heard this on NPR today… Twelve Days of...

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 21:28:01 -0500

gocommandomusic:

Heard this on NPR today…

Twelve Days of Christmas - Canadian Brass style. MUSICOLOGY AT IT’S FINEST

So good!

zucherman: PEN AND INK 24” x 36” PRINTS AVAILABLE - $45. I...

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:44:55 -0500

zucherman:

PEN AND INK

24” x 36” PRINTS AVAILABLE - $45.

I moved to New York when I was 18 to successfully become a failed actor. After that I sort of moved around for a little while. These are some drawings I did during those years in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Denver, from around 2003 to maybe 2007.

You can purchase them here.

nathanjohnson: hitrecordjoe: themadeshop: zucherman: PRINTS...

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:03:13 -0500

nathanjohnson:

hitrecordjoe:

themadeshop:

zucherman:

PRINTS (FINALLY!) AVAILABLE - $58

I’ve finally gotten around to making 13 prints available from my ongoing series, Disappointed People Holding on to Guardrails. They are archival-quality matte finish prints, 24” x 36” (the same size as the original paintings), and will be hand-signed and titled by yours truly.

The perfect christmas gift for depressed people!

These are gorgeous.

Here’s more art by brilliant painter (and friend) Zach Johnson — he’s the guy responsible for the gorgeous animated LOOPER trailer!

Get your very own Zach prints here!

zucherman: This is an old painting I did, maybe four or five...

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:17:13 -0500

zucherman:

This is an old painting I did, maybe four or five winters ago, of a street on the morning after a snowstorm. There was snow everywhere that morning. I put on a jacket and went outside. I was so happy that I sang White Christmas to myself in my Bing Crosby voice, trudging along the snowbanks aimlessly. I didn’t remember the words too well. My version sort of went:

“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know. Where the sleigh-tops glisten, and children listen, and all the Christmasses in snowwww … (Ohhh) I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas card I write. May your days be merry and bright. And may all your Christmases tonight.”

nathanjohnson: Last week I got to talk about Looper on NPR’s...

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 14:34:33 -0400

nathanjohnson:

Last week I got to talk about Looper on NPR’s All Things Considered!

Click through for the full segment.

sethkent: nprmusic: For the acoustic guitar geeks, watch an...

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:38:00 -0400

sethkent:

nprmusic:

For the acoustic guitar geeks, watch an intimate 110-minute performance from American Primitive-style pioneer John Fahey in a film called The Guitar Artistry of John Fahey.

Here’s some of my latte art. Some of what I do at work....

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 22:02:00 -0400

Here’s some of my latte art. Some of what I do at work. The milk steaming and pouring part of it that is.

kingui: Altered books and favorite artists. (Taken with...

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 21:43:44 -0400

kingui:

Altered books and favorite artists. (Taken with Instagram)

ronen: Looper Mashup Trailer Back in 2009, Rian asked me to...

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 21:37:54 -0400

ronen:

Looper Mashup Trailer

Back in 2009, Rian asked me to help make a trailer for a script he’d just written.

Looper had not yet been shot; but in 3 years, it would have been.

So we made a mash-up trailer for a film that did not yet exist.

loopermovie:

This is a strange curiosity I thought might be interesting - just after I finished the script for Looper but before we began preproduction I asked Joe to record some voice-over, and with help from my friend Ronen Verbit constructed this “fake trailer” using clips from other movies. This is a fairly common thing to do when you’re trying to get a movie off the ground, but it was the first time I tried it. It was meant to show more some of the film’s tone, and to show how the odd concept could be presented in a clear and compelling way in the marketing. Zach Johnson did the sketches. Note that we hadn’t begun the casting process yet, and the clips were chosen just based on their visuals and not by who is in them.

‘Twas an honor to work on with him.

Extra credit if you can spot all the movies we used clips from

"One of the human brain’s many tricks is that it automatically finishes unfinished things. This is..."

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 21:35:38 -0400

“One of the human brain’s many tricks is that it automatically finishes unfinished things. This is remedial psychology — Sensation-Perception 101. If we see part of a circle, our mind closes it. If we see part of a word, our mind fills in the mssng lttrs. Something analogous happens, I think, with unfinished novels: we always end up finishing them with something. We fill in the blanks, unconsciously, with what is closest at hand: the gestalt, the legend, the vibe, the tone, the aesthetic of the author in question. This is, after all, part of what a great author does: he trains us not just to receive his vision but also to extend it — to read the world (its landscapes, people, events, texts) in the peculiar way that he would have read them.”

- Sam Anderson on David Foster Wallace (via austinkleon)