General

Sometimes I don't feel like creating. But I force myself to get on with it, and by the time I've got my hands dirty, I feel inspired. It seems like such a paradox because the inspiration didn't seem to be there to begin with, but once you've got the proverbial rocket off the ground, it's attained escape velocity and is now soaring smoothly through your imaginative space.

I've heard the same advice applied to writing, music, and other arts: the only way is through, so take that road and keep driving. Sooner than you realize it, your once-blank slate is a thriving ecosystem. Arguably, in times like this, creating crap is far better than creating nothing at all — just be sure to sort it out before sharing with the world. (There's something to be said for non-judgmental exploration, not just brainstorming but quickly executing those wild ideas, in all of that.)

Ever had the same experience?

{ 1 comment }

I've been watching a lot of NCIS lately. I was initially hooked by comparisons to Abby and have found myself in the midst of a lot more to like. The sharp character writing appeals to me, in particular how each member of the team has a family-like role. I started with Season 7, then watched all of Season 6, now am starting from the beginning with Season 1.

Photo by me and the sysop

I've observed that relative to later episodes, Gibbs talks a lot more in the debut ep, "Yankee White", and he gets terribly giddy over movies like Air Force One — a trait which would be later transferred onto Tony. For the developed bulk of his character, here's what I've noticed about talking — or not talking — like the enigmatic Leroy Jethro Gibbs:

1. Speak in short sentences, get to the point

Need information? Ask for it. Other person rambling? Tell them to (1) summarize and (2) why it matters. Then act.

2. When you're asked a question, ask one back in return

For instance, someone asks you: "Is there a problem?"

Reply with: "Should there be?"

3. Or… when you're asked a question, respond with silence and a tilted stare

Make sure to cock your head at a slight angle and raise one side of your mouth, almost like you're smiling, but not quite. This has the disorienting effect of prodding the other person to keep talking. The way most people are conditioned, we try to avoid uncomfortable silences. Gibbs uses pauses to maximum effect. Including to avoid answering questions about his past.

4. Get really mad when you're being lied to

Gibbs usually appears cool with a Fonz-like grace (without the accent). But he'll explode if he knows he's being lied to at the right time, like in the interrogation room. The goal isn't to behave like an impetuous brat, but to gauge the reactions of the other party, including emotions that are very hard to fake with a revelation like "your husband is dead" or "I drank your beer".

Also appropriate if your time is being wasted.

That being… said…

I believe Gibbs doesn't use email not because he's a luddite, but because the body language he so effectively uses can't be transmitted in text alone — this would cause most careless readers with a Craigslist-like command of language to misinterpret him as rude, rather than assertive.

While it's easy to devolve into self-parody whenever memorable traits are present (which I know about firsthand), Mark Harmon portrays his character with such a wonderful precision, as do most of the cast. Having Asperger Syndrome means I'm not predisposed to read body language fluently, so it's useful + fun to watch characters like Gibbs do it.

Also, I recommend a great page called "Scene: but not heard" with text transcriptions of many "wordless quotes" from NCIS. They're hard to appreciate out-of-context but if you watched the eps they're in, you'll find yourself recalling and smiling.

{ 0 comments }

Acquired We Feel Fine: An Almanac of Human Emotion in the mail. If there was ever an apt, earnest, yet explanatory title for a book — this is it. The brainchild of Sep Kamvar and Jonathan Harris (who found a pretty awesome project to spend their lives on), it's a gorgeous tome, saturated in human faces, beautiful infographics, and overall excellent design. Both useful and fun, all things I can stand for.

Some months ago, a nice lady named Hannah contacted me for consent to use this photo:

I had been a fan of the website — its fusion at the crossroads of data and expression deeply drew me in, in my ongoing quest to understand humanity — and now my face is on page 101.

Hannah asked for a story, so I explained briefly. The caption reads:

After struggling with Aspergers and Depression in his real life Torley found true happiness in his Second Life. He even found love.

We Feel Fine is incredibly rich and I've only pored through the first few pages. It's overwhelming in the best of ways to see such a mix of resolve, vulnerability, confusion, elation, the sexy – really, everything humans are capable of emoting – and I'm delighted to be a lil' part of it. You can get it at Amazon or other reputable booksellers, and it's not too late for holiday shopping yet. Including for your fave aliens who need a guide to understanding humans better.

{ 3 comments }

Fringe is filming in Vancouver and scenes in the recent ep "Snakehead" felt too familiar. Turns out a portion of the Chinatown scenes were shot on Keller St., where my bro and I spent much time. Including being cooped up in the car and sleeping as our parents shopped for mushrooms and other weird stuff. Indeed, the show dealt with an unusual medical treatment from large worm-things – I'm just glad in the show's fictional reality, it didn't turn out to be some aphrodisiac quackery.

Around the 35-min. mark and elsewhere, there's good shots of Gain Wah restaurant, where I had pig's feet many years ago. I can almost smell the place just looking at the pics, altho you can see the real thing is much more lit than camera tint and post-processing make it out to be. Thanks to d∂wn for the sign closeup, and here's another good shot.

The icon that actually caught my attention first was the tricolor Lottery Ticket Centre sign with its unique font (the curved E's look like Euro symbols). I've shown a larger one, not from the same place, as comparison. I couldn't find larger street pics of the Pioneer Book Store but yes, it's a real place that they didn't rename/redress for the show. A geographical oddity, of course, is that since Boston, where Fringe mostly takes place, is on the east coast, it might've made more sense that the worms were flown in instead of shipped via boat.

It's worth noting despite the Cantonese spoken in this and the real Chinatown, Mandarin is displacing it. I've read of things like a Cantonese and Mandarin speaker having to resort to spoken English to communicate if their writing's shabby.

{ 4 comments }

Years ago, as I awoke from slumber, I imagined myself on the lower decks of an enormous spaceship. Nowadays, it's post-apocalyptic scenarios, where I'm alone again, but on earth rather than space. It helps that I've watched movies capitalizing on such isolation themes like the recent Moon (not to be confused with the Twilight flick), and older classics like Quiet Earth (I liked the opening atmosphere but skipped through most of the rest).

Moon was incredibly beautiful and demands your attention because the special effects are beautiful but the movie is really about one guy, Sam, and his robot, Gerty. Other aspects of Moon mesh together so cohesively, from Clint Mansell's piano theme, to the overall set design, which as many have observed, pays tribute to classic 70s sci-fi. Moon could be a stage play but it's so intense and loaded with atmosphere. Not quite like this…

It is following that sleep-awake interface (like water-air) that I find myself compelled to act on life's dreams. That so much of what we see around us are illusions, or at best, transient. And since in many cases we can't count on permanence, we must keep adapting.

(Inner dialogue: I almost felt like speaking the above as a video but my fingers got to the keyboard first. I'm feeling increasingly vivid about the expressional power of hearing my voice and seeing my facial expressions – can't wait until speech-to-text transcription is perfected!)

{ 0 comments }

It was the opening of my email experiences. Qualcomm Eudora was over a decade from being discontinued, and amidst writing up lab notes and crunch-sleeping from 2-6 AM, I felt inclined to write to a man who'd have advice. This man was Steve Jobs, some years before he returned to Apple.

I had to ask Mr. Jobs what he'd recommend to eat as the first meal to start your day with. As my wife says, gotta have fuel to get you going. Steve efficiently replied:

I never eat breakfast.

Best, Steve

{ 2 comments }

I enjoy using Tumblr to clip thoughts throughout my day, but it's repeatedly struck me as odd that my Tumblog feels… well, so separate from this main blog. I searched up and down for ways to better consolidate them, and the best I've come up with so far is the FeedWordPress plugin to syndicate stuff. As the last couple of posts indicate as an experiment, it works OK, but doesn't copy over clickthrough-able images and videos (since Tumblr's RSS feeds don't include those). Correction: as shown here, it appears a video got copied over! I'm surprised.

I also tried WordPress' own Press This to see if I could simply use WP self-sufficiently, but it has a much more awkward and multi-step feel than Tumblr, and doesn't auto-detect the medium on specialized sites — for instance, it gets YouTube but not Vimeo, whereas Tumblr knows both.

QuickPost looked inspiring but isn't in active development.

Any ideas?

{ 2 comments }