Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Czech born Tom Stoppard: The Greatest Definition of Love

Czech born Freud taught us that it wasn't God that imposed judgment on us and made us feel guilty when we stepped out of line. Instead, it was the superego - that idealized concept of what a good person is supposed to be and do - given to us by our parents, that condemned us for what had been hitherto regarded as ungodly behavior ...

"A man is judged by his enemies, this MEdiaDragon guys must be quite good men indeed."

Memory is a savage editor.  It cuts time’s throat.  It concertinas life’s slow unfolding into time-less event, sifting the significant from the insignificant in a heartless, hurried way.  It unlinks the chain.  But how did you know what counted unless you let time pass?

“Knowledge of each other, not of the flesh but through the flesh, knowledge of self, the real him, the real her, in extremis, the mask slipped from the face…”
Tom Stoppard: The Greatest Definition of Love

Nina Simone was fierce, apocalyptic, "the patron saint of rebellion." That tyrannical will helped forge her art but ruined her life...Rebellion 

Everyone loves a good story, but can a good story lead to love? Storytelling is a fundamental form of communication, and research has demonstrated the power of narratives to change minds and influence behavior.*Women fall in love more easily with men who are good storytellers

Why poets hate poetry. Actual poems never live up to our hopes for them. As a result, Ben Lerner writes, “poetry isn’t hard, it’s impossible"...  Books Rock ... Wkrs

Dave Hickey writes about art but issues no judgments. He's not trying to convince you of anything. He doesn't write criticism. He writes  Love  Songs  

"There's no such thing as courage... There's only fear. A fear of getting hurt and a fear of dying." 
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“Stoppard and other like minded Bohemians believe in something we call civic culture, because culture is not just something that can be bought,”It needs to be shared with everybody.”

…What we conceal
Is always more than what we dare confide….
From Unsaid, by Dana Gioia


*Horseback Hero: Eagle Point rancher lassos alleged bicycle thief Mail Tribune. Let’s give that local bohemian reporter some clicks!


I am in the business of creating compelling stories.  As a filmmaker, I need to understand how stories touch audiences—why one story is an instantly appealing box office success while another fails miserably to connect. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some of the world’s most talented storytellers—gifted directors, novelists, screenwriters, actors, and other producers—and from them I’ve gleaned insights into the alchemy of great stories. Make no mistake, a hit movie is still an elusive target, and I’ve had my share of flops. But experience has at least provided me with a clear sense of the essential elements of a story and how to tap into its power. The Four Truths of the Storyteller


“Bookbinders used to cut up and recycle handwritten books from the middle ages, which had become old-fashioned following the invention of printing. These fragments, described by Kwakkel as ‘stowaways from a distant past’, are within as many as one in five early modern age printed books.” The Guardian (UK) 


Perhaps we should read it, as some have read More’s Utopia, as a satire on current society

Stu Allen (Winstondad’s Blog) founded the Shadow Panel back in 2012, and I was a late addition to what turned out to be a seven-strong initial group.  Back then, of course, we were shadowing the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and big names that year included Haruki Murakami (1Q84) and Umberto Eco (The Prague Cemetery) – although the biggest book belonged to Péter Nádas, with Parallel Stories coming in at a shelf-breaking 1300+ pages…

For centuries, people, groups, and cultures have used stories for a variety of purposes, right? They used them to pass on their history. They used them as instructional tools. They used them to inspire belief.
As many of you know, it’s my view that organizations, rightly understood, are communities of humans *7 reasons leaders should be great storytellers

The Storytellers for Good program (S4G) Program

“The happiest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly remembered but 
a general effect of pleasing impression.”
Two debut poetry collections

Maybe it's unfair to expect that any athlete could ever assume Muhammad Ali's mantle.

Marketers are increasingly called on to think like engineers (“Math Men”) and less like artists (“Mad Men”). Data-driven marketers are taking control. They now have rich data sets, the tools to extract insights, and the platforms and channels to act on that information.This is about much more than insights from qualitative or quantitative research, it’s about a rigorous discipline around data science, performance marketing, and driving all of the marketing activities.
Former Director at Facebook Says Storytelling is the Best Marketing

I had given thought to acting, but I never really had a good enough opportunity or a character who made sense and paralleled my life a little bit. I feel like I'm one of the poster boys for a bad guy in a movie. I feel like I'm a good person to play a bad guy in a movie. I can say that.
~ Gucci Mane

We spent lazy days.  We’d get up fairly early.  In the morning, there was often mist – or rather a blue vapor that freed us from the law of gravity.  We were light, so light…  When we went down Charles Bridge, we hardly touched the sidewalk. Death By Water

  Helen Gurley Brown reviews a biography of Helen Gurley Brown: "My 90 years were just divine! And, oh, the sex! I averaged 10 lovers a year! How else do you learn?"... Bohemians 

Better a good venereal disease than a moribund peace and quiet.” Henry Miller would be 125 this year. His age is showing... Time inside Loneliness

NO THANKS. IN MY EXPERIENCE, THE PEOPLE ENTHUSED ABOUT PUBLIC NUDITY ARE NEVER PEOPLE I WANT TO SEE NAKED. Come Sail Away on This Naked Sex Cruise.

Why poets hate poetry. Actual poems never live up to our hopes for them. As a result, Ben Lerner writes, “poetry isn’t hard, it’s impossible"... Bohemians of Good Soldier Svejk Fame laugh at the Possible ... (Via Poetry in Nitra Army Barracks 1977-79)