Salvador Dali calls his work “Magnificent and Monumental”
Some of Neal Gibralter’s work from a 1974 show in NYC.
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.
“
| — | Ira Glass (via nefffy) |
Big squash survey - add your opinion and questions
This Squash Survey now has over 18,000 opinions in response to over 150 questions - averaging over 120 responses per question.
It was launched on February 4, 2009.
Here are ten still photos selected from almost two thousand iphone photos and movies taken in 2011. It gets harder each year to choose ten to blogpost. I’m snapping more and more as the days go quicker and quicker. Nevertheless, these year end reviews help savor again the bittersweet tastes of times gone by.
Grandfather Jascha Giller gave a newspaper column with this poem, “Youth,” to Mom, Barbara Gibralter. She gave it to me. I gave it to our son, Aaron, and post it for handy reference.
It was written by Samuel Ullman, 1840-1924
Compared to what
Another night a night of love
A hangin’ only push an shove
Possession is the motivation
That is hangin’ up, the Goddamn nation
Looks like we always end up in a rut!
Everybody now, tryin’ to make it real compared to what!
C’mon baby!
Slaughter house is a-killin’ hogs
Twisted children are killin’ frogs
Poor dumb red-necks rollin’ logs
Tired old lady, kissin’ dogs
I hate the human love of that stinking mutt!
I can’t use it!
Tryin’ to make it real, compared to what!
Come on baby, now (WOW!)
The President, he’s got his war
Folks don’t know just what it’s for
Nobody gives us a rhyme or reason
Have one doubt, they call it treason
With chicken feathers all with out one nut
Goddamn it!
Tryin’ to make it real compared to what!
Sock it to me! (Woo)
Church on Sunday, sleep and nod
Tryin’ to duck, the wrath of God
Preacher’s fillin’ us with pride
They all tryin’ a-teach us
What they think is right
They really got to be some kind of nut!
I can’t use it!
Tryin’ to make it real compared to what!
Oh baby!
A-where’s that bee,
And-a where’s that a-honey?
A-where’s my God,
And a-where’s my money?
Unreal value is a crass distortion
Unwed mother’s need abortion
Kinda brings to mind old young King Tut!
He did it now!
Tryin’ to make it real compared to what!
Tryin’ to make it real compared to what!
New Urtak widget
Friends! We’re happy to announce the release of a new version of our embeddable application. You’ll notice some visual changes, but there are also some big adjustments on the back end to make our service more reliable and secure.
All existing Urtak widgets will keep their old design, but any Urtak embedded from now on will be this bright new shiny look.
Check it out in action right here!
A full interface for customization is next, as fast as we can build it.
