What I Read This Week Archive

What I Read This Week: July 5, 2013

What I read This Week Long Banner

Despite the short week, I packed quite a bit of reading into this seven day span. Some gems in here, absolutely. I must say—I’ve really enjoyed doing this. I wonder how I might continue to refine it, but for now listing books and creating the list is really satisfying. I push to get books done before the end of the week. Blissful motivation!

Real, Actual Books

On the Internet

What I Read This Week: June 28, 2013

What I read This Week Long Banner

Real, Actual Books

On the Internet

What I Read This Week: June 21, 2013

What I read This Week Long Banner

As yesterday’s inspiration’s inspiration post might indicate, Amy Sedaris reading dominated the week. But there’s lots of other gems in here, like the Patton Oswalt essay, the Stefan Sagmeister Time off Ted talks, and some of those ole books.

Real, Actual Books

On the Internet

What I Read This Week: June 15, 2013

What I read This Week Long Banner

You might notice that this week’s reading is a bit skewed. You say obsessive, but I call that research. Come, walk into this labyrinth of April’s very specific interests. It’s not a weird place AT ALL if you accept that there are things you won’t understand.

Real, Actual Books

On the Web

What I Read This Week: June 10, 2013

What I read This Week Long Banner

Real, Actual Books

On the Internets

  • Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations, “The primary lesson from this experience was that “you can’t wait around for someone else to act. I had been looking for leaders, but I realised that leadership is about being the first to act.”
  • Path of a Doer PDF – Use it to inspire you go and do your thing. “Understand there will be hurdles, barriers. Accept them. But defeat them.”
  • Jim Norton: I’m “Disgusted” by Suggestions on XoJane.com
  • You’re not needy. You’re starving. by Rachel W. Cole, “No sweetheart, you aren’t needy at all, you’re very hungry. You haven’t gotten what you need. Now let’s get you something delicious to eat.”
  • Journos of Color tumblr post, “If you’re wondering why it’s hard to find people from low-income backgrounds in elite journalism—which, disproportionately, means people of color—look no further than this. The only people who can afford to work full-time for free come from wealth, and generally, if you’re wealthy in America, you’re white.”
  • The Dinner I’m About To Make: Cavatappi with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Cannellini Beans by Amateur Gourmet
  • The Stories We Share by Kate Kiefer Lee, “Her storytelling, which seemed at the time like repetitive and erratic behavior, was really a beautiful human instinct: My grandmother was discovering what it means to be here.”
  • More Than Just a Social Butterfly on NYTimes.com – a profile on Rachel Skylar
  • “One year ago, we found out that we were all getting fired.” by Ann Friedman
  • Lonely at the Top: Being a Lady Boss Without Mentors by Ann Friedman, “While I’ve learned many important lessons from male bosses I’ve had, it’s no secret that powerful women face some particularly thorny issues as they try to be effective leaders. Be nice but not too nice. Firm but not too firm. Personal but not too personal.”
  • What I’ve Learned so Far by Inward Facing Girl, “If you’re waiting until you work out every single detail of your creative business before you start it, you’re wasting your time. It’s easy to say what you’ll do when you haven’t done it yet. Once you’re actually doing the work, there’s a good chance you’re going to want to make some changes. … Don’t be afraid to try new things or get rid of the ones that aren’t working.”
  • The Prodigal with 128,000 Twitter Followers (A Christian site profiles a guy who basically steals jokes. Wee!)
  • New Government Documents Show the Sean Parker Wedding Is the Perfect Parable for Silicon Valley Excess
  • The Pace of Productivity and How to Master Your Creative Routine by Maria Popova, “Though I prefer to paraphrase Edison to “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent aspiration” — since true aspiration produces effort that feels gratifying rather than merely grueling, enhancing the grit of perspiration with the gift of gratification.”
  • There’s Bigfoot in Them Woods by Jake Johnson, “I’ve poignantly learned this as a father: I can either foster creativity and wonder in my children, “Those woods aren’t big enough,” or I can stamp it down, “Big Foot doesn’t exist.” One beckons them to grow-up—the other to think bigger.”
  • Marcus London Ain’t Someone U Fuck With by Leigh Cowart, NSFWCORP’s sex and science editor, spent five days living with porn star Marcus London and his entourage before writing this remarkable profile, which first appeared in Issue Three of NSFWCORP’s print edition. (They shared the story, he started threatening the writer/staff, so they are making the article available to all!)
  • If Game Of Thrones took place entirely on Facebook: Season 3, Episode 9.
  • Was Game of Thrones’ Crazy, Bloody Showdown … Underwhelming?
  • King of My Castle? Yeah, Right, “I’ve recently joined the ranks of San Francisco landlords who have decided that it’s better to keep an apartment empty than to lease it to tenants. Together, we have left vacant about 10,600 rental units. That’s about five percent of the city’s total — or enough space to house up to 30,000 people in a city that barely tops 800,000.”
  • NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program
  • 38 Anthropologie Hacks on Buzzfeed.com
  • Listened: Under Pressure (A-Capella) – Only Vocals with David Bowie and Queen
  • The Best Marketer in Silicon Valley Is Doing Everything You’re Not Supposed to Do by Dan Lyons, “I would argue that right now Musk is the best marketer in Silicon Valley. I’d even argue that Tesla’s $12 billion market value (up from $3 billion a year ago) owes as much to Musk’s marketing skills as to anything related to revenues, earnings, or any other financial fundamentals.”
  • Sean Parker buys a slide from Coastal Commission
  • How to Stop Procrastinating by Using The “2-Minute Rule”, “Part 1 — If it takes less than two minutes, then do it now. Part 2 — When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.”
  • Your Brain Is Broken by Susannah Breslin on Medium
  • In the Make – studio visits with West Coast artists: Wendy MacNaughton, “I think illustration is at an interesting place right now, especially in the context of the Internet— storytelling with words and pictures; being independent from others’ text, illustrating the world instead of others’ work.”
  • In the Make – studio visits with West Coast artists: Hughen / Starkweather -Watched: Eddie Martinez Whistles While He Works | “New York Close Up” | Art21
  • In the Make – studio visits with West Coast artists: Zio Ziegler, “It often takes me a while to understand why I’ve painted what I painted. I believe that the subject matter of the paintings is somewhat allegorical, and partially subconscious. I tend to work with the same motifs time and time again, and as they change context, scale and prominence- their meaning differs. I’ve always been a fan of symbolism throughout visual history and the weight it carries, everything from Egyptian art to Dada- and how the same icons can be present in myriad periods but carry different interpretations based on their settings. For me it’s the same thing, the personal context is ephemeral, the symbols are my attempt to convey an idea but my use of them consistently precedes my understanding. To understand their meaning I have to understand the context in which they were created, which often proves hard because it means understanding myself.”
  • San Francisco Muralist Jet Martinez Interview Part I and Interview Part II, “On the surface, I am painting pretty little natural scenes. Underneath all that, I am revolting against all the angst I feel and see my friends and family feeling. I want to be a part of the reasons why it is good to be alive. Creating beauty is a revolutionary act that can defeat all the things that seem to hold us down.”
  • The art of the interview: Asking the hard questions about asking the hard questions By Ann Friedman, “Know your subject…. Write questions ahead of time, but prioritize conversation. … The hardest questions to ask are often the best. … Embrace the silences.”
  • Yoko Ono at 80: ‘I feel that I am starting a new life, a second life’ by Sean O’Hagan, “If you have too many quotes from other people in your head, you can’t create. You have to keep your head empty. That’s why I am constantly enjoying the sky, the park, the walk. Anything in life is beautiful.”
  • Shine Theory: Why Powerful Women Make the Greatest Friends by Ann Friedman, “I don’t shine if you don’t shine” is a lesson I learned from my best friend Amina, who is effortlessly stylish (she’s been mixing prints since 2007 — get in line, Jenna Lyons), frighteningly intelligent (she speaks a handful of languages and is adept at cracking wise in all of them), and beautiful, too.” “I want the strongest, happiest, smartest women in my corner, pushing me to negotiate for more money, telling me to drop men who make me feel bad about myself, and responding to my outfit selfies from a place of love and stylishness, not competition and body-snarking.”
  • Ask Polly: Jesus, My Struggling Writer Friends Never Shut Up! on The Awl, “If you’re in this questioning, needy state—”Is this a good idea? What do you think? Can you help me? Do you want to publish this? What would you change?”—you’re throwing the doors wide open and inviting every friend or editor or agent or publisher into your overheated kitchen, and you’re asking them to stick their grubby, shit-stained fingers into your half-finished, tasteless pie. …How many people do you know who have better ideas—much, much better ideas—than you do? How many people are smart enough to take what you’ve written, and mold it into something that’s a little more interesting and vivid and cooler than what you had before?” “And sometimes, in order to take total, true creative responsibility, you have to shut people out for a while. You have to stop walking around like a giant fucking question mark. You have to stop looking for reassurance from half-interested friends, and you have to stop asking other people to help you shape your work from start to finish. Calm the fuck down and get back to work.”
  • A backstage tour of my business: how it works, who does what + where the money flows. by Alexandra Franzen, “When I write for you, you walk away with clear + powerful words. Words that can propel your work forward — for a while. But when I teach you how to write for yourself, you build the capacity to craft clear + powerful words — on your own.” “On the surface, Write Yourself Into Motion is about copywriting + business strategy. But really? It’s about using the written word to remember who you are, reveal who you’re becoming, and set the next evolution of your life + career into motion.” “Is it scary? Always. I literally pray, every day, that whatever I write + put out into the world will be useful, helpful, inspiring, just … y’know, good.”
  • Austin Kleon on 10 Things Every Creator Should Remember But We Often Forget by Maria Popova
  • Biz Ladies Profile: Keeping Your Cool as a Small Business Owner, “A newly minted business can bring unforeseen challenges, but creating consistent workflow will establish a rhythm to your days. Rhythm brings stability. As a visual learner, I drew up a simple flowchart that I’ve posted in front of my desk to keep me on task. Once I started doing this, I found ways to amend my daily rituals to become more effective. I figured out that starting the mornings on the right foot set the tone for the entire day. Taking the time to clean and get arduous tasks completed the night before helped me to remove resistance and ease into a good flow. Record your progress so you can create more streamlined habits that work for you.” .. “On some level, everyone who goes after her dreams is engaging in glory-seeking, and when validation in all its forms — press or sales — does not come, the whole thing seems hardly worth the effort. But it is! The reason I got that early traction was because I loved the process of creation.” “Don’t sit on things. Deploy, deploy, deploy.”
  • Biz Ladies Profile: Lucy Feagins of The Design Files, “It’s far more important to ‘Lean in to it’ – i.e. get started, lean in the direction you want to go… don’t worry too much about the bigger picture. It will all unfold once you get started and the momentum builds. Momentum is an amazing thing – that’s why getting started is so much harder than changing course slightly once you’re well on your way. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Lean, lean, lean!”
  • Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning: In 10 percent of drownings, adults are nearby but have no idea the victim is dying. Here’s what to look for. on Slate.com, “Ask them, “Are you all right?” If they can answer at all—they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them.”
  • Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup by Alex Payne, “There is nothing inherently disruptive about a venture-backed startup. The startup system is just another system; an alternative to the corporate ladder with just as many rungs to climb.”
  • I’m Out of the Office. No, Really. I Am. by Melissa Korn, “Get over yourself. Leslie Perlow…, says time off (and tuning out) can be an exercise in humility, as employees learn that “the world functions just fine when I’m out.” By delegating responsibility before departing, workers can see that their companies don’t collapse with their absence, and may be more inclined to take real vacations going forward.”
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Page 3 of 5