Month: March 2016

Books, and Audio, and Video, Oh My! (Public Library)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Back when I was a just a wee one, we would spend a lot of time on Saturday afternoons and sometimes week nights, in a fairly small building, located near a mini-mall.

Over the years I watched that building swap out it’s wooden swinging doors for automatic ones, the introduction of scanners to prevent theft, switching from rolodexes, to Apple 2’s, then finally Dell computers. Even an eventual re-brand of bright colours everywhere and a functioning website that offered pickup became normal for this place.

I loved spending time there, and I think probably spent more time reading snippets of books, magazines, and movie summaries, then I did actually focusing on one topic.

Come to think of it, I’ve always had that “curiosity” attitude about books. I couldn’t just read any old book for 10’s of hours. I was very particular about what I committed to, but that was my personal journey through the experience of reading and eventual maturity of my adult tastes.

I may have mentioned this once or twice before, but my parents didn’t have a bunch of money laying around when we were growing up, so the library was an incredibly inexpensive way for me to be entertained and grow into knowledge.

But now that we have the internet, kids don’t have to use the library to pursue their interests do they?

Like everything in life, it depends.

Because of this fast development of digital communication, it seems to be quite common for social services like public libraries to face heavy scrutinization and threat of budget cuts in today’s world of lean politics and business. At least that’s the impression I often get from people whenever I bring it up. But as is often the case, public perception and personal assumption aren’t that close to reality.

It appears to be more realistic that the city is doing all sorts of things to keep it’s populous invested in learning and participating in self-improvement.

This is a very good thing, like this quote from blogger Kathy Dempsey states.

Libraries are portals to all of the world’s knowledge. And librarians make sure that knowledge continues to be recorded and saved for the future, even as information-storage devices and formats change.

– Kathy Dempsey, Libraries Are Essential

There was a time when larger retail services and public services could be very particular about what they participated in, but with this information shift, brick and mortar services need to be more diversified and inclusive than previously. That means more outreach programs AKA assistive services for those who don’t know where to start, are new to the community, are young or are elderly.

That also means providing online solutions too. In the case of the library, we can now temporarily download ebooks and audio books, and participate in seminars online. The website is online 24-7, so planning your next visit becomes even easier, you can place items on hold and then quickly drop-in to grab your books or whatever you want to borrow.

And because the library keeps archives of books, music, film, and other learning resources, the likelihood of them having something I want to see on my Watch List or Back Catalogue is quite high.

As I’ve mentioned previously in the current Wisdom Wednesday series on self-improvement – Attitude Is Everything. It is so important to participate in library culture, no matter where you are in life or what your personal goals are, the public library is an excellent way to entertain and engage your mind.

Even if you don’t like what you find your first time out, the brilliance of it all is that you haven’t spent money, and you have a wealth of titles available to look into as an alternative. And librarians are so knowledgeable of ways you can focus your efforts, they can look up material by subject, recommend authors, even tell you about local events the library is hosting which might benefit your journey.

I recently rewatched Night at the Museum, because it was in my list of blu-rays I had acquired but not opened, and there was this quote in it about the museum being a place “where history comes to life,” and while that is true the library is even greater, because it’s a place where ideas come to life. As cheesy as that sounds, dear readers.

And the theories are done for the week, my friends. Have a lovely weekend. Please comment! Please subscribe! Please contact me if you want to participate in the future!

Tim!

You’re Gonna Love DiSSS (The 4-Hour Chef)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Believe it or not, a large part of becoming a better artist is incorporating skills into other areas of your life, one that make those areas more efficient, allowing you to focus your creative energy on making work, and the marketing of said work.

That means that health matters! It is essential to build good habits to maintain your greatest resource, which is in fact you, dear readers! By honing your diet, getting your sleep, caring for your mental state, and also your spirits, you’re on the road to success.

Today’s wisdom comes from James J. Lachard (real name John James Brown), an English writer who served in the military, worked as an editor, and then at a greeting card company before joining World Vision in the 1960’s. He never published the short story titled, An Interview with God, which the excerpt below is from, because it was rejected by publishers at the time, but I think it’s quite relevant for us today and I’m glad it escaped onto the internet, and will serve as an anchor for the rest of this post.

What surprises you most about mankind?

Many things.
That they get bored of being children, are in a rush to grow up,
and then long to be children again.
That they lose their health to make money and then lose their
money to restore health.
That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, and
live neither for the present nor for the future.
That they live as if they will never die, and die as if they had never lived.

– James J. Lachard

Whether you’re a monotheist, polytheist, henotheist or atheist, we can all recognize the value of those words in the quote above, dear readers. It’s important to take care of your health so that you can do the things you’re passionate to do. Which leads to a question I’ve continuously asked and pursued for the better part of my late teens and throughout my life since I started down the road of adulthood and career.

How the hell do you put everything you’ve got into your career if you also need to manage your health, your finances, and your relationships too?

Well we are definitely going to explore that question today, and down the road too! In future Wisdom Wednesday posts, of course! But for now let’s focus on one specific area to highlight the incredible acrobatics at stake here.

Let’s consider your diet. Diet is incredibly important to maintaining your energy levels.

I’ve been saying this for years, but if I could figure out a way to avoid food preparation and meal planning, I would be so much more productive at my art. Especially considering how hard it is to motivate yourself to do anything after a long day of work at a day job.

Supposedly you have to choose. Eat well and pay the bills or eat poorly and make your art. The reality is that neither leads towards fulfillment.

But that’s why today’s book, The 4-Hour Chef, just might be genius. A friend of mine recently recommended it to me, because I was talking with him about the incredible burden associated with building multiple businesses, holding a day job, having a relationship/family/friends, and fitting in the basics of health.

Designed as both a “cookbook” for people who don’t cook and also manual for accelerated learning of any subject, Tim Ferris’ The 4-Hour Chef provides you with 14 key meals to serve as a foundation in your culinary tool belt and get you spending less time on thinking about what to eat and more time on other things.

Is it perfect? Well no, because it does seem to cater to a certain kind of diet, which might not work for those who are vegan or vegetarian, but the concept of teaching you how to navigate a kitchen is what’s crucial here. And it’s not entirely a cookbook, it also is about 20% self-improvement on the subject of learning (explained via his DiSSS and CaFe principles), but learning to love learning is another part of it.

Give it a try. I think you’ll like it. Otherwise, I’ll see you tomorrow for something timely dear readers! Please comment! Please subscribe!

Tim!

A Room With A View (Room review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Perspective is everything when it comes to communication. One person’s experience is unique compared to another, but factor in variables like age, gender, ethnicity, and education, and things become that much more nuanced.

Today’s film review features a story that addresses exactly that idea. Shall we?

 

 

 

Room (2015)

Cast: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Sean Bridgers, Joan Allen, Tom McCamus, William H. Macy
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
released on blu-ray March 1, 2016
********** 10/10

room_poster

IMDB: 8.3
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%, Audience Score 94%
The Guardian: *****/*****

Leonad “Lenny” Abrahamson is an Irish film and television director. He has 5 feature films under his belt and now one Academy Award nomination for Best Director. And I’ll be the first to admit I knew absolutely nothing about him before looking into this review of Room. Which I only decided to watch after sitting down for the 88th Annual Academy Awards.

But I’m sure glad I did, because this movie packs an incredible emotional punch and hits you right in the ethics too. But let’s take a quick peek at the plot (I’ll refrain from spoiling the end).

Taken from Wikipedia and edited,

 

In Akron, Ohio, 24-year-old Joy (Brie Larson) and her five-year-old son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) live in a shed they call Room. They share a bed, toilet, bathtub, television, and kitchen; the only window is a skylight. They are captives of Old Nick (Sean Bridgers), Jack’s biological father, who abducted Joy seven years prior, and routinely rapes her while Jack sleeps in the wardrobe. Joy deals with depression and malnutrition. She allows Jack to believe that only Room is “real,” that the world on television is dreams.

Old Nick tells Joy he’s lost his job and cannot  afford supplies. When Joy reacts badly, he cuts their heat and power. Joy tells Jack about the outside world; which he rejects initially. She has Jack fake a fever, hoping that Old Nick will take him to a hospital where he can escape, but Old Nick decides to return the next day with antibiotics.

Joy wraps Jack in the carpet and has him play dead so Old Nick will remove him from Room. Falling for the ruse, Old Nick places Jack in the back of his pickup and drives through the neighborhood. Awed at first, Jack then jumps from the truck and attracts the attention of a passer-by. Police arrive and rescue Jack. Based on his recollections of Room and what Joy told him, the police find Joy and rescue her. Old Nick is arrested, and Joy and Jack are taken to a hospital.

Reunited with family, Joy learns her parents (Joan Allen, William H. Macy) have divorced and her mother has a new partner, Leo (Tom McCamus). They stay at her childhood home where her mother and Leo reside. Her father cannot accept Jack and leaves. Jack struggles to adjust to life in the larger world, speaking only to his mother and expressing a desire to return to Room. Joy struggles with anger and depression, lashing out at her mother and ignoring doctor’s appointments. She agrees to a television interview, but becomes angry when the interviewer questions her decision to keep Jack with her in the room after his birth, rather than asking Old Nick to leave Jack some place that he could be found.

It is an intimate and emotional story that continues an incredible arc.

Pros: Though an incredibly dark topic, the narrative never feels without hope or promise. Brie Larson does a fantastic turn as the mother and breakout young actor Jacob Tremblay is amazing as well.

Cons: The second half is quite difficult to digest and as a result it feels like it could have been given more of same treatment, looking through Jack’s eyes as the first half.

Runtime: 118 minutes

Points of Interest: Brie Larson spent a month in isolation without phone or internet and maintained a strict diet to prepare for the role, it caused her to become depressed in the last week. Old Nick is another name for the Devil in Christianity.

This is an incredibly powerful film depicting a very intimate and traumatic mother-and-child story. It is handled in such a way that you get to experience it from two perspectives simultaneously, with many of the objects, people and events often being fun or scary for Jack whereas they are painful and torturous for Joy.

I highly recommend you go see this film, because whether you’ve read the book or not, the story is unique and the characters are well acted.

And that’s all I’ve got for today, dear readers! Come back tomorrow for some wisdom, and please leave some comments as well as subscribing to the blog if you want to see more!

Tim!

Soundtrack (The 1975, I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

It blows me away how easily sounds can pull us back into our memories. We don’t think about this a lot, but I bet if you turn on your favourite song, you’ll have very specific memories associated with it and you’ll be pulled back in time to when that song came out or to an event you didn’t know matter so much to you.

That’s what this week’s album review feels like, a familiar sound but a new experience.

 

 

 

The 1975 – I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It
released February 26, 2016
******** 10/10

The-1975-I-like-it-when-you-sleep

The 1975 are an English alternative band right out out of Manchester – A classic 4-piece group that have been playing together since 2002. Did you know that they released 4 EPs before they were comfortable enough with their sound to put out their self-titled debut in 2013? 2016’s I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It is their second outing, and frankly, a stronger sounding record because of this initial strategy, which is a good thing for all of us.

In case you were wondering about their genre, The 1975 take elements of pop (electropop, indie pop, pop rock) and rock (alternative, funk rock, indie rock) to form their unique sound. 

They remind me of a whole whack of different musical acts (Depeche Mode, Marianas Trench, Arkells, The Smiths, Joy Division, The Cure, Purity Ring, Savage Garden, and David Bowie, for starters), which is interesting because despite that, or if you’re a half glass full type, because of that – Their music is really quite fun to listen to.

And yes, we need to address what will be the obvious for those who have already listened to the record, and for those of you who will listen to in the near future. Yes, a lot of the songs on this album have a very 1980’s sound to them. But you know what, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Apparently the 80’s are in vogue these days, because I’ve heard my share of albums that pull from that era already this year.

Hell, Matthew Healy, the lead singer and rhythm guitarist, admits that his greatest influence is the filmmaker John Hughes.

My original plan was to break down the tracks and tell you why each one is good or bad, what they sound like, etc. You know, in typical review fashion, and what I’ve done in the past before? But that isn’t really beneficial for you OR I, dear readers.
I really like this album, and I think you should listen to it, because this is innovative music, straight up. It’s apparent from the outset that you are in for something different with a long-ass album title ILIWYS,FYASBYSUOT.
Yeah, I got tired of typing it out.
It’s interesting because I’ve heard some people are immediately drawn to it, and other take some time, while still others think this record is a bit of a slog. But I’m willing to bet that the delayed response is the most accurate, and counts for the outliers. This album takes a bit of time to warm up to, not because the songs are dry, but because there is a lot going on. After that though, it’s amazing to see how much range and experimentation is within the walls of the The 1975’s house.
Similar to how music from the 1980’s felt.
But I won’t leave you hanging dear readers, check out the music videos for Love Me, UGH! and The Sound. Also previews for She’s American, If I Believe You, Paris, and A Change of Heart.
I bet you won’t be disappointed, and much like the theme song behind the documentary about the search for John Hughes, I bet you won’t be forgetting about The 1975 any time soon. In fact, this might be one of your new favourites albums to emote to.

 

 

 

 

As much as I want to have a soundtrack to my life, I don’t think I’ll ever get there. I have too many interests and too broad of tastes at this point for my life to fit so easily into a specific sound or space. But dammit if I won’t try. But what if you didn’t have a choice, and you were confined for a time to one song, how would you cope?

Check back tomorrow for a film review that looks at those kinds of questions!

Tim!

School’s Out Forever (Paige Knickle Interview Preview)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Remember when you were a kid and minutes felt like hours? When you were falling asleep at school and waiting for the bell to ring so you could go home… Especially when you were waiting for something fun to happen? Like presents or a visit from a loved one.

tISsr-300x293

Well that’s how I feel today, I’m just counting down the minutes until I can press this next interview and share it with you dear readers.

You see, March madness has arrived and I’m in the process of putting the finishing touches on the final backlogged timotheories interview before we get into a regular routine.

But I made a mistake.

You see, I promised I would share a new interview with you this Sunday, and that’s not really the case. What I really want to do is to give you a teaser of things to come in this month’s entry before the real thing. This is because I’m test driving some new audio equipment and I want to get your feedback on the how things pan out sonically.

That’s why I am SO incredibly pumped to give you readers a sample Q&A from episode 7 of timotheories interviews!

“Coincidentally” of course, that relates to the theme of the month and the talent behind the topic.

This month’s featured artist is a multi-talented audio learner with a knack for improving her way out of the booth and onto the stage so-to-speak. I had the incredible fortune to sit down with her and discuss her passion for learning, how she manages to run a recording studio/ web design studio, perform operatic pop with her partner, get involved in local improv and pursue a second degree while in the midst of her twenties.

Below is a clip from our interview!

I’m ridiculously  excited to share this clip from the Paige Knickle interview and you will see the final result next week, but for now, enjoy our brief interlude and the rest of your Sunday. Why not spend it reading a good book or enjoying an activity that trains your brain, and learn from Paige’s mentor on how to stay active and happy? I know I’m going to do something fun tonight.

Probably read a graphic novel, to be honest.

I’m out of theories for now, dear readers! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and I’ll see you tomorrow for a great little album review featuring 1975.

Tim!