The Exact Day

Maybe it's because I was in a new town. It could have just been my idealised and over romanticised view of the place. But everyone was so young, so carefree. The sun was shining and the teenagers were all hanging out in their Ramones t-shirts, with their ice creams, and it hit me like a rock: I am not that young anymore.

I walked through the park, and these kids had stolen their friend's shoe. He refused to get off the slide until he got it back. They were laughing and playing and teasing, so carefree and alive. That used to be us!

You think you're youthful and you think you're still a kid but then one day you realize you're just a passer by, an adult, and you feel a jolt of jealousy as you see people living their younger days.

When was the day it ended? When did I get too old to hide my friends shoes? When did we stop hanging out in the park as the sun came down in our favourite band's t-shirts?

This is not a passing thought. I want to know the exact day. When did it end? When did we get older? When did we mature? And what were the benefits of doing so?

Occasionally you do something stupid or crazy, and your friends give you that look, they say "we're not kids anymore" and it wrecks you, because you feel stupid. You acted in a way that doesn't exist anymore. The day came when flicking a piece of screwed up paper at someone's head just became darn stupidity.

When you're young, you're IN IT! Remember the looks the girls gave you? Remember the things you set fire to and the speed at which you screamed down the road to safety?

It ended, and I want to know exactly when. Does anyone know?

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THE NEWSROOM - SEASON 1 - TRAILER - YES YES YES!

This is why I wake up in the morning! This is why I breath. YES!!! Aaron Sorkin is BACK! Greg Mottola is BACK! Here is the trailer to the eagerly anticipated show, THE NEWSROOM.

Just over a year ago I wrote this post, because I was just so ridiculously excited. And then I interviewed Greg Mottola, because there was just too much I needed to know about the new show.

The writer of THE WEST WING, THE SOCIAL NETWORK, STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP, A FEW GOOD MEN ------


Teaming up with:


The Director of ADVENTURELAND, SUPERBAD & PAUL.


Am I excited?


No not really.


Actually, YES. Of course I am! YES YES YES YES! SORKIN & MOTTOLA!


Say it with me...


SORKIN & MOTTOLA!
SORKIN & MOTTOLA!
SORKIN & MOTTOLA!


Here we go. Get ready. YES YES YES.





And just look at Jeff Daniels. WOW! He's waited a lifetime for this role! FANTASTIC! The cast are perfect. This is going to be something.

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Long Live the Video Store

I'm in Sevilla, Spain. I just came across this place. It's closed down now, of course, but I bet it was really cool.

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The Lump of Meat

The human brain is amazing.

Look at a picture of a young Charlie Chaplin, he really was that young once. That young boy grew up to invent 'The Tramp', create lasting comedic masterpieces, and change the history of cinema.

He was like the rest of us --- a body walking around with a lump of meat encased in his skull.

We romanticize greatness. Even that TED talk by Elizabeth Gilbert is enticing, where she talks about catching an idea from the ether as it passes you by. She thought the problem with creatives and depression/suicide is that they place too much emphasis on genius being personal.

I agree, partially. We all start out thinking we'll be exceptional and discovered immediately for our brilliance. It doesn't work like that and it takes years to understand it.

I'm happy to get rid of the concept of genius and also the idea of catching ideas from the ether -- at least in any spiritual sense.

The ideas ARE out there. When you meet new people and see new places, your brain fires up, you create new neural pathways. Creativity occurs in all humans but it happens differently in artists. Or at least, the end result is different.

The more you create, the better you get. Especially when you make mistakes. We only really learn when we humiliate ourselves by trying projects a little too complex for our current skills.

Those skills improve. You become hardwired for creativity and output. Every project you complete makes it more likely you'll complete the next one. We're habitual creatures.

But the fact remains: It's just a lump of meat in our heads. When we're dead, it does nothing, it's just like anything else. Can we be as great as Chaplin, or Lionel Messi, or Einstein? Probably not. But let's not think of them as geniuses. Let's think of them as talented people who concentrated on their work. Work they had an aptitude for.

There are so many variables to creativity. Most perplexing is the social aspect. Society asks not "were you creative?", but "did you make money?" -- that mindbender is enough to give most artists a breakdown every time a well meaning friend or family member asks "how is it going?"

To realize the brain is just a grey lump of flesh is freeing. It does what you instruct it to do. It does what you focus on. It creates based on what you're thinking and feeling and experiencing.

You want to do your best creative work? Then make sure you're creating with every chance you get, and tempering it with enough time for rest, socialising and being spontaneous.

You are as capable as anyone else. You're nothing special, just a lump of grey matter encased in a skull.

Actually, that IS pretty special-- you're a piece of meat in a skull and the neurons are firing, but a hundred years from now, they won't be. Let's get creative and leave our imprint while we can.

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Tea With Milk: The Difficulty of Being English and Abroad

In England you get tea with milk. In America you get tea but if you want the milk they look at you funny.

In Spain you get tea with a glass of milk. In Germany you get a pint of water with a tea bag on the side and they refuse to bring you milk. In Sweden you get tea with milk but nobody ever goes to Sweden.

In the Netherlands they give you tea but if you ask for milk they think you're high. In France they don't give you tea and they don't give you milk. In Ireland they give you tea with milk but only after a few pints of Guiness.

In Sicily you ask for tea with milk and they give you coffee. You explain the error and they give you tea, but still with no milk. You explain again and they give you milk, but take away the tea. You go to complain but see the mafia sitting outside and instantly buy everyone an espresso.

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