video game sky thinking
Pretty sure I saw Hank the pelican (and a couple buddies) on a recent morning run around Lake Merritt.
It took me a few neighborhood walks but I finally made it through the recent Fresh Air interview with Jon M. Chu, director of Crazy Rich Asians, In The Heights, and the upcoming Wicked. He talks about “the hard work of creativity” at the very end of the conversation: “It’s about doing the work, and it’s hard…it’s a routine. The secret is: it’s not magic; it’s work.”
The 11yo and I checked out Cut Paste Create: The Art of Collage at the Bedford Gallery. Thought this piece and related project founded by artist Leslie Lee was pretty interesting as far as social practice and of course very sobering as far as subject matter.
I don’t pay much attention to the fashion & beauty industries (except when there’s good news like this), but saw this Amanda Mull quote from a recent podcast ep with The New Garde and could not agree more. It’s really at the heart of what I wrote here about my day job side project.
Speaking of day jobs (part 1), I enjoyed this Tumblr of video game skies via
’s newsletter last Friday.Speaking of day jobs (part 2), Neal recently shared with me this POV on day jobs from screenwriter/director, John August. “In finding a day job, ask yourself what other people always say you’re good at.” I love this bit but, and I think this is partly what I’m getting at in my latest blog post (waiting for folks to notice me and give me opportunities or, if nothing else, tell me what I’m good at/what I should do), I’ve never been super satisfied with the answers I’ve received (in other words, maybe I’m not so good at what I want to do and no longer particularly want to do the kinds of things I’m good at). This is geared toward aspiring screenwriters, so it’s a bit different than being a visual artist, but also an interesting, if at times nihilistic, exercise to try to define what your “real career” goals are. I want to spend more time being an artist, but what exactly does that mean?
Or maybe my “real career” is opening a cafe/gallery/reading room, as I’ve mentioned before. Maybe I can open a mobile cafe/gallery/reading room like this orange juice cart in Portugal. I’d call it something like Tumbleweed Gallery except that’s already taken a few times over (this is, literally, a tumbleweed gallery…I think?).
I’ve written before about the idea of “the gap” courtesy of Ira Glass (scroll down to number 9). He’s included in a new documentary about failure called Flipside by Chris Wilcha. Wilcha describes “feelings of this midlife assessment where maybe everything didn’t go precisely as your 25-year-old self may have imagined.” It shouldn’t come as a surprise (just wrote about this sort of thing in my last newsletter update) that this really resonates with me.
“I was trying to ask bigger questions about how to have a creative life—and how to do creative work that feels meaningful—but also how to make a living.”
Wilcha goes on to acknowledge that “it’s getting harder and harder to balance those two things.” I find it interesting, however, that the “fixation on not selling out” is considered a Gen X thing. The interviewer says, “But that was a different time in which there was an economy that made such a purist mindset possible.” Was it, though? They also talk about the tense juggle between pursuing your art and having a family.
“The whole endeavor is tinged with sadness, but part of adulthood is holding these contradictory things in balance—that you can live your life, but you can also have some heartbreak simultaneously. It’s all blended together.”
This is exactly what I’d hoped to explore in season 2 of my podcast, but, 5 years later now, therein lies the irony of a working parent artist trying to find the time to interview other working parent artists. Anyway, you can watch the Flipside trailer here.
Finally for this week, I love this TikTok about pigeons. Artist Lee Putnam documents his watercolor process while he educates you about the subject. Are pigeons my new favorite animal? Perhaps (second to cats, of course).
