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Shaona Sen | MYND BLOC "Building Blocks for Creative Minds" | A digital zine of findings and musings (The other one: withshaona.tumblr.com)
“Always trust your dreams. They’ve chosen you, as much as you’ve chosen them.”
Tallyho, The Universe
(via Katie Choquette)
I recently came across the site, Old Schooled, whose mission is to share words of wisdoms left by elderly figures in our lives.
Old Schooled’s tag line: “Donate Their Words of Wisdom”
Purpose: “Donate the wisdom of your grandparents to youth in need of life guidance. For every upload we’ll give $1SGD to a home for abused and neglected children in Singapore.”
Above is my amaaazing Grandma, Era Ghosh, my only grandparent I’ve been so blessed to grow up with. She often reminds my siblings and I, “Remember, your parents are your living Gods”.
They truly are, as well as my Grandma. My Grandma played a huge role in my brother and I’s life from our infancy til now. She’s back to the Motherland as of recently but her spirit is very much near, and dear. Guaranteed her autobiography or biography, if one were to exist, would make your favorite bestsellers list.
More on where the idea came from and how the donation is being used: goo.gl/19RMn
(oldschooled.org link via Rey Robles)
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
The all-knowing Doctor, Mr. Seuss.
The melancholy and love in friends’ and media’s reactions makes this all the more influential and real. We see Steve Jobs’ presence even in this sharing of reactions and memories. His impact on the communication between people and technology’s role in doing so. Let’s be grateful for how many visionaries Steve Jobs, the visionary himself, gave birth to from simply sharing passion and knowledge. Reflecting on all the Steve Jobs’ in my life. All the passionate, creative and forward thinking go-getters I’m blessed to be around. This energy is so contagious. We never know who we are an inspiration to, or even why, when or how sometimes.
Above is the first Think Different commercial “Here’s to the Crazy Ones” that never aired, narrated by Steve Jobs (1997).
(Logo spin by 19 year old Jonathan Mak Long from Hong Kong)
Some memorable quotes:
“It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.”
(1982, quoted in Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple, 1987)
“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. … STAY HUNGRY. STAY FOOLISH”
Stanford University commencement address, June 2005.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
Stanford commencement speech, June 2005
“My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: Great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.”
Interview with 60 Minutes, 2003
“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.”
“Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.” Wired, February 1996
Shortly after getting the news I thought 4S = For Steve? I’d like to believe…
Rest in Peace Steve Jobs.
For the striving creatives
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.
But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story.
It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
(via nprfreshair.tumblr.com + Kristy Tillman)
On Oct. 21st, 2010, I had the wonderful opportunity of attending the Moon Ball event hosted by Shift Boston at Cyclorama (The venue was spot on for this event).
Shift Boston is an organization whose mission is “to promote the future of the urban environment”. Three verbs used to describe themselves: GATHER. INSPIRE. IMPLEMENT.
“We are here to catalyze change.”
The Moon Ball event was in celebration of the Moon Capital International Competition in which these questions were posed: “What if we were to occupy the moon by 2069? Might the Moon become an independent, self-sustaining and sovereign state?” . Participants were asked to develop lunar concepts on Moon habitat spaces.
A series of speakers shared ideas, theories and experiences about space architecture/travel before the winner of the Moon competition was announced. Two speakers who distinctly stood out to me were Constance Adams and Jeff Hoffman.
Constance Adams, who was a member of the design competition jury and whose roots stem in architecture, shared her personal insight on the presence of earth within space. And how we, as humans, are part of the earth. We are the moving, mobile earth. If we touch down on another planet, we are Earth.
Named as “Emerging Explorer” by Nat Geo, Adams also shared the fact that humans are the only animals that use physical tools and how this has led to our advancement.
Tool (as defined by dictionary.com): Anything used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose.
The creating then innovating of physical tools for efficiency, well being and entertainment has brought us to the current state of being on Earth.
Hearing Jeff Hoffman (IMG above) of NASA speak live was mind blowing. Firstly, Hoffman has been to space 5 times!!! His last being in 1996. Amazing. Secondly, he has floated in space, outside of the shuttle, as he stated, “600 miles from Earth, in between the Earth and Heaven”… Wow… Hoffman first began with how spiritually touching his trips have been. The adrenaline rush of transitioning in gravity. The discipline and curiousity necessary to be in touch with an unexplored environment.
By far the most interesting point addressed that whole evening was by Jeff Hoffman. Hoffman brought up the point of what if the handicapped and elderly being the first to inhabit the Moon. The thought of disabled people not having to worry as much about their conditions put a smile on my face. Hoffman mentioned how once occupying Las Vegas, Nevada was out of the question because of climatic changes. And now look at the area? He said if citizens’ pension plans instead financially contributed to Moon living, in its research or living stages, how big of a step that could possibly be.
Some random facts Hoffman mentioned:
- It takes approximately 8.5 minutes to reach space when launching from the States. (Imagine looking down and seeing Africa in a matter of minutes.)
- A space suit weighs about 300 pounds. (Gravity less space in itself could sustainably change inhabitants.)
- Weight transition when returning to Earth is toughest. (The feeling of weight returning very heavily.)
Other points mentioned by guest speakers:
- The thought of ‘space’ within space. How would architectural thinking have to adapt to a zero gravity environment? A new world of product design and construction.
- Will we soon be testing the capability of morphing human DNA to better suit a Moon environment?
When having the pleasure of speaking to Jeff Hoffman after presentations, discussion came up on the functionality of bio suits and next steps for innovation. Being a designer that currently works in the sport industry and often times taking into consideration the functional aspect of fashion, many points brought up in a circle of us were stimulating.
Check out the finalists here:
www.shiftboston.blogspot.com
And more information on upcoming Shift Boston events:
www.shiftboston.org
Phenomenal. Stimulating. Creative. Touching. Conceptual. Emotive. Colorful. Enticing. Luring. Exotic. Beautiful. Surreal. Groundbreaking. Mysterious. Futuristic. Innovative.
Thought provoking. Powerful storytelling. I’m toasting with you, Kanye.
Some dialogue:
Phoenix: “Can I ask you a question?’
Ye: “Of course babe”
Phoenix: “All of the statues that we see, where do you think they came from?”
Ye: “I think that artists carved them… years and years ago”
Phoenix: “No, they are Phoenix turned to stone”
Ye: Laughing. “Baby… They”
Phoenix: “They are Phoenix turned to stone. Do you know what I hate most about your world? Anything that is different you try to change. You try to tear it down. You rip the wings off the Phoenix and they turn to stone. And if I don’t burn, I will turn to stone.”
Ye: “What do you mean burn?”
Phoenix: “If I don’t burn, I can’t go back to my world.”
Me thinking out loud:
- How many times before did the Phoenix reincarnate before meeting Kanye? How/Where was she before meeting Ye?
- The news channel interpreting the Phoenix as a comet is perfect representation of a media brand giving false information to the public because they want to be the first to announce the ‘news’.
- Is Kanye running away or to the Phoenix in the last scene?
- How beautiful is the Phoenix? Selita Ebanks.
- I thought the typeface Kanye used on the G.O.O.D. Fridays tracks page would have been used for at least the headers in the end credits. Instead, all Helvetica. Mr. branding man, wah gwan?
- The MJ tribute scene is epic. Even the Phoenix species knew about Michael Jackson. And KKK caps have been redefined. The video’s reappropriation of them in red and associated with MJ will for surely be positively, subliminally influential.
- Power of the pause. Silence used so effectively.
- I wonder if Ye’s pants ripped at all, in both the opening and closing scenes? His skinnies were pretty tight.
(A friend’s words: With proper tailoring, Kanye could run the NYC marathon in those pants. I wouldn’t want to be caught in a life threatening situation wearing anything else.” Classic.)
- As I revisit scenes, I see more and more. The attention to detail is much respected. I’m sure plenty more thoughts will come to mind as I play, rewind, fast forward and repeat. I’m still digesting the depth and creativity.
- And ‘Who will survive in America?’
RUNAWAY Directed by: Kanye West, Written by: Hype Williams, Art directed by: Vanessa Beecroft, Costume design by: Phillip Lim & martin Izquierdo, Choreography: Yemi Akinyemi and please check out all other shoutouts at the end of the video. Much respect to the team who worked on this. Stunned.
Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World→
Happy Friday!
Here are the key points Gandhi elaborates on in the article (link above):
1. Change yourself
2. You are in control
3. Forgive and let it go
4. Without action you aren’t going anywhere
5. Take care of this moment
6. Everyone is human
7. Persist
8. See the good in people and help them
9. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self
10. Continue to grow and evolve
A few quote highlights:
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.”
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
(via Plus Aziz)
“Belief is Contagious”
Had the wonderful opportunity of hearing Common (Mr. Lonnie Lynn) speak at Bryant yesterday evening. His storytelling was powerful, yet still casual.
“Greatness is within all of us”
“Opportunities multiply as they are seized. -Sun Tzu”
Typography on Newbury 8.14.2010 weekend
“Everybody’s work is equally important”
“Chilling with my Gnomies”
“Live. Laugh. Love”
“Concrete Jungle Pop-Up Shop”
(Quick chalk work for Matt. O and the CJB movement)
“Be Stupid”
(Diesel’s subtle take)
"We Are What We Choose"→
Princeton News: 2010 Baccalaureate remarks
“What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices. Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy — they’re given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you’re not careful, and if you do, it’ll probably be to the detriment of your choices.
This is a group with many gifts. I’m sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain. I’m confident that’s the case because admission is competitive and if there weren’t some signs that you’re clever, the dean of admission wouldn’t have let you in.
Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels. We humans — plodding as we are — will astonish ourselves. We’ll invent ways to generate clean energy and a lot of it. Atom by atom, we’ll assemble tiny machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs. This month comes the extraordinary but also inevitable news that we’ve synthesized life. In the coming years, we’ll not only synthesize it, but we’ll engineer it to specifications. I believe you’ll even see us understand the human brain. Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton — all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now. As a civilization, we will have so many gifts, just as you as individuals have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.
How will you use these gifts? And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices?”
“How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?
Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?
Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?
Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?
Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?
Will you bluff it out when you’re wrong, or will you apologize?
Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?
Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?
When it’s tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?
Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?
Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?”
(via Ray Boyd/princeton.edu)
The Geek Atlas: 128 Places Where Science and Technology Come alive→
written by John Graham-Cumming
This book consumed most of my time while in Barnes & Noble this past Saturday.
One of the highlights: Atomium of Brussels
(www.atomium.be/#/Photos.aspx)
On the Atomium structure: “First and foremost, it’s a totally crazy, fantastical, almost sci-fi building, which defies the imagination and lets your emotions run wild. Nine spheres, 5 of which you can go into and twenty tubes to wander through until you lose all your bearings, until you arrive at the unique panoramic view of the whole of the city of Brussels.”
History: “The Atomium was not intended to survive beyond the 1958 World Fair but its popularity and success soon made it a key landmark, first of Brussels then internationally.”
(photo via library.thinkquest.com)
(via geekatlas.com/atomium.be)
