Forgery League Tumblr

Mikka practicing for Hallowe’en.

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 21:20:24 -0400

Mikka practicing for Hallowe’en.

"[T]hat quest for the authentic, is the very thing that causes the world to seem so unreal and..."

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 07:41:10 -0400

“

[T]hat quest for the authentic, is the very thing that causes the world to seem so unreal and staged.

People can’t stop themselves from competing for status. It is branded into the side of the brain before you are born. As a primate, status hierarchies are a part of life, and when you remove yourself from the competition in the mainstream you just join the competition in the counterculture. As long as there are clusters of people bent on avoiding what is most popular, within those clusters people will compete for status through conspicuous consumption of art and fashion, music and movies, furniture and gadgets, signaling to insiders the quality of their taste or the ingenuity of their search for the authentic, and signaling to the outsiders that they are not one of them.

”

- David McRaney of You Are Not So Smart fame interviews Andrew Potter, author of The Authenticity Hoax.

(As James Thurber famously put it, “Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?”)

An oldie from 2005 — a bit like Ryuichi Sakamoto and Mouse on...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 16:29:00 -0400

An oldie from 2005 — a bit like Ryuichi Sakamoto and Mouse on Mars jamming on a half-remembered Fela track.

scottlava: “Have you ever wondered why, why the crime rate in...

Fri, 25 May 2012 20:03:16 -0400

scottlava:

“Have you ever wondered why, why the crime rate in Sandford is so low, yet the accident rate is so high? ”

explore-blog: NASA visualization contrasts all of Earth’s water...

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:30:44 -0400

explore-blog:

NASA visualization contrasts all of Earth’s water with water on Jupiter’s moon Europa – by comparison, our planet is practically a desert.

(ᔥ Carl Zimmer)

explore-blog: City maps, deconstructed and rearranged by block...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:31:25 -0400

explore-blog:

City maps, deconstructed and rearranged by block size, reminiscent of Ursus Wehrli’s deconstructed famous art and a fine complement to The Map as Art.

The Most Passionate site has launched at last, with the first in...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:15:47 -0400

The Most Passionate site has launched at last, with the first in a series of mini-docs on crazy, driven, and creative people.

mostpassionate:

My 4 minute passion doc on the owner of the Patrician grill in Toronto

Morning on Mars

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:38:00 -0400

expositionfairy:

6 Martian sunrises, as seen by the HiRISE orbiter. Once again, not artist’s renditions.

"What would a jar of pasta sauce look like if it were entirely original? Would you trust it enough to..."

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:49:21 -0400

“What would a jar of pasta sauce look like if it were entirely original? Would you trust it enough to put its contents on your spaghetti? Is that level of originality even possible? …Although we hunger for authenticity, it’s a hard thing to invent overnight.”

- Michael Bierut in “Authenticity: A User’s Guide,” from Seventy-nine short essays on design, corroborating the idea that all creation builds on what came before, everything is a remix, and creativity is combinatorial.

(ᔥ Austin Kleon)

mostpassionate: Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, 2012

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:01:46 -0500

mostpassionate:

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, 2012

The word “tear-assing” was meant for Mikka. Here...

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:32:00 -0500

The word “tear-assing” was meant for Mikka. Here he’s moving too fast for the rolling shutter on my creaky old iPhone.

This is a few minutes into our three-hour epic journey, before we got completely lost in the Don Valley. Dog and human are now home and dry and recuperating nicely.

Another great guest – it’s been a couple weeks since we...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:41:33 -0500

Another great guest – it’s been a couple weeks since we recorded, and we’re all still talking about the insights from Mike’s episode.

attentionsurpluspodcast:

This week, White Rabbit Group CEO Mike Wagner joins us for a mind-expanding discussion of creativity, leadership, clarity, community, and his career path from pastor (“starting churches for people who hate church”) to brand consultant to professional speaker.

We mention:

Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School

Secret School of Business

Clay Shirky

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

Download MP3 | Subscribe on iTunes

UNG UNG UNG mostpassionate: go ahead and take it.

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:43:55 -0500

UNG UNG UNG

mostpassionate:

go ahead and take it.

I need to write a sci-fi novel so this can be the...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:17:21 -0500

I need to write a sci-fi novel so this can be the cover.

mostpassionate:

Lake Ontario. Long exposure. Tommy Thompson Park.

hello i notice you have pie

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:34:00 -0500

hello i notice you have pie

One of our best yet. Most illuminating question for me: what...

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:06:16 -0500

One of our best yet. Most illuminating question for me: what games, and what roles within those games, did you enjoy best as a kid? (Some of mine: building worlds in Lego, mucking about with tape recorders, and publishing books, comics and magazines. Hmm…)

attentionsurpluspodcast:

“What do I want to be when I grow up?” That’s the question on the cover of the little book that first drew our attention to this week’s guest. Pat Thompson is a leadership consultant, Metcalf Foundation Innovation Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Massey College.

She visited our living room studio to talk about vocation and good work, the value of being stuck, and the vital importance of reflection and good conversation.

The notebook, available at Dark Horse Espresso in Toronto, contains other deep questions and thought-provoking quotes — and, of course, plenty of space to reflect.

Links for this episode:

Pat’s website One Alpha Avenue

Frederick Buechner, writer and theologian

Wendell Berry’s essay “Conservation is Good Work” (PDF)

Parker Palmer, author and activist

“Is Your Job Your Calling” (Fast Company)

“The Way It Is” by William Stafford (“There’s a thread you follow”)

Download MP3 | Subscribe on iTunes

A great show to round out the...

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:41:52 -0500

A great show to round out the year.

attentionsurpluspodcast:

The new year is almost upon us, and we felt it was time to look back at what we’ve learned over the past twelve months. Strategist Jon Crowley joins us for a discussion inspired by his thought-provoking insights from 2011 on balance, flow, leadership, discipline, and doing what you love.

Follow Jon’s Tumblr feed, or find him on Twitter at @joncrowley.

We mention:

Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (see also his 2008 TED Talk on flow)

The mental models of Charlie Munger

And to all our listeners, we wish you a purposeful, passionate, action-packed 2012.

Download MP3 | Subscribe on iTunes

Great episode on one of my favourite topics. And How Buildings...

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:20:39 -0500

Great episode on one of my favourite topics. And How Buildings Learn is one of my favourite books ever. (Now I really have to take this to heart and clean the damn studio.)

attentionsurpluspodcast:

Is your office a pristine work of art? Can you open your window? Paint or nail things to the walls? Can your environment make you more creative, innovative or happy?

Sean finally admits that our surroundings matter, and he and Eric talk about adaptable buildings, bachelor pads and poo mountains.

We mention:

How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand (the BBC TV series is also available online)

MIT’s Building 20 (not 10, as we said in the episode), a “temporary” building that became a legendary incubator for researchers

Bill Buxton, Principal Researcher at Microsoft

Stanford d.school

Download MP3 | Subscribe on iTunes

mostpassionate: From my shoot today with author, filmmaker,...

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:03:18 -0500

mostpassionate:

From my shoot today with author, filmmaker, actor, Director and friend, Mr. Nicholas DeKruyff and his dog Lucy.

Mikka at Woodbine Beach 1 on Flickr.Mikka’s first visit to...

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:15:45 -0400

Mikka at Woodbine Beach 1 on Flickr.

Mikka’s first visit to the beach (with us, at least).