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My wife claims that I am oblivious to "what needs to be done" in order to have people over to the house.

In the house I grew up in, people coming over is not an Event for which one needs a checklist. People came over, almost every day. Often, entirely unannounced. Sometimes all at once. Pull up another couple chairs, I'll start another pot of coffee.

So my mental model of having people over is quite a bit more... informal than hers is. I'm certainly not oblivious to what my wife thinks needs to be done, do I see the toys on the floor? Yes. Do I think that it matters? Not as much as she does.

Even so, I enthusiastically welcome the checklist. Getting the checklist out where I can see it is much better than having the checklist only exist in her head.

Further reading:
Why Scruffy Hospitality Creates Space for Friendship
How to Host a Crappy Dinner (And See Your Friends More Often)

I was listening to an interview with Louis CK earlier in the week. The interview itself is fairly mediocre, but there was a question and answer session at the end that was very good. The Q&A session is nearly half of the whole video linked below, and I highly recommend it.

I've been thinking about one thing he said in the Q&A session. First, a little background.

Louis CK has a television show on FX called Louie [wiki] [imdb] [official site]. It's a dark comedy, hard to describe, and there is nothing else like it on television. In part, this is because Louis CK is the writer, director, main actor, and editor (!) of the entire series. As such, he has incredible creative control over the whole series (he points out that FX has, legally, the ability to do anything they want to with the series, but he has a verbal agreement that they won't interfere with how the series is made.

In one of the questions, he described his writing process. One of the problems with the modern TV show, is that it is overwritten, for the most part. There is a rough draft, it gets sent over to a team of writers, and perfected, and perfected, and perfected. The issue with that, is that everything is perfected in the same direction. And it lends a sameness to all of the shows on TV these days.

So what he does is write everything, get it out in a rough draft format, and just leave it. He does very little re-writing or script revisions. (One of the things this helps with is keeping that initial spark of an idea intact.)

Then later, during the directing, he is very meticulous about how he deconstructs the script and splits it up into scenes, not just in terms of blocking out the scenes, but also working with the cinematographer to get exactly the right lens for the scene to get the optical effect he wants that scene to have.

It's almost as if the re-write is taking place during the production, but in a more principled, disciplined fashion, because he was the original writer! He's not just going in and rewriting (have you ever rewritten someone else's work? It's hard!), he's working with the script and bringing it to life.

And of course, he does the editing, which is absolutely critical. Editing is what gives a film a fine grained sense of emotional tone. Holding a cut a frame or two too long, or cutting something up a frame or two too short, can just destroy the emotional connection the viewer has with the movie.

Here's a great example of what I mean (although it focuses on physical comedy, which is only one small aspect of what I am talking about.)

To maintain that emotional connection with the viewer, it really is all about every single little detail. Everything matters, even the things you had no idea could possibly matter.

I came across this article by Tommy Chong, on how he got started in the entertainment business.

When we were introduced to the club manager, he said “Boys, there are two rules here: you eat in the kitchen, and you don’t mess with the waitresses.” I got the clear idea we weren’t to have sex with the attractive women! As you may gather from his opening warning, we looked like a fearsome punk blues band – and did indeed live the rock-n-roll lifestyle, we five rough Canadian brawlers. “So, where are the waitresses?” popped out of my mouth.

But we were really not right for this club. [...] That gig lasted one night before we were fired, but two of the waitresses, Joanne and Marlene, left with us. The next night, five gangsters came to see us at a Chinese restaurant while our drummer and manager Sonny was out looking for a new gig. Each of these enforcers had a baseball bat in hand and they took positions behind each of us. “We want the girls back.” It was a very tense moment, and clearly a consequence of our flouting the instructions to not mess with the waitresses. They took the two women away in their car, and we breathed a sigh of relief. Moments later, the girls ran back into the restaurant, announced they had hopped out the bruisers’ taxicabs at a stoplight, and had returned to stay with us.

That’s when we decided to get the hell out of there! We left the restaurant and piled everything from the Astoria into our bruised and battered Buick. All of our equipment and six people were stuffed in this sorry excuse for a vehicle, and as we pulled up to a red light, we thought we saw the gangsters inside a cab next to us! ...

Look at all of those things he tried, and did, and failed at, and made happen! It seems the zeitgeist of the present day is you have one big idea, one app, one major, one business model, relentless focus, one career, one specialty. And, I mean, there are people who are the best in the world at what they do, or at least right up there. And focus is important. But there is a time for focus, and a time for action. In the zeitgeist that often gets lost, I feel like there can be too much emphasis on singular focus and not enough emphasis on action.

Another way of putting it. What are you focusing against? Not what are you focusing on, I am not asking that. A lens is a thing in the middle between two other things. The thing that you are focusing on, and the film or digital sensor that is receiving the image. I posit that if the thing you are focusing against is your mind, and not your actions, you can burn a hole in it, metaphorically speaking.

Always keep shipping.

[Related Seth Godin post]

I greatly enjoyed this interview with Jackie Chan.

"I cannot think of anyone else who has risked his or her life as much as you have, making films..."
"I don't want to. I have no choice!"
"Was there any one point when you thought that, I might have gone too far?"
"Uh... many, many times."

Don't miss his extended description of how he prepared for and how he felt during his famous helicopter jump stunt:

As we finished, a young waitress began clearing our table. She stopped to listen to the conversation, and finally sat down, abandoning her work. After a while, when there was a pause, she spoke to the Dalai Lama. "Can I, um, ask a question?" She spoke with complete seriousness. "What is the meaning of life?"

In my entire week with the Dalai Lama, every conceivable question had been asked—except this one. There was a stunned silence at the table.

The Dalai Lama answered. "The meaning of life is happiness." He raised his finger, leaning forward, focusing on her. "Hard question is not 'What is meaning of life?' That is easy question to answer! No, hard question is what make happiness. Money? Big house? Accomplishment? Friends? Or..." He paused. "Compassion and good heart? This is question all human beings must try to answer: What make true happiness?" He gave this last question a peculiar emphasis and then fell silent, gazing at her with a warm smile.

Originally from The Dalai Lama's Ski Trip; this condensed version is courtesy of my November 2014 copy of Readers Digest.

Blue Barn, Corn Fritters: Some reviewers found these to be too blue cheesy, but today I found them to be tasteless! Good sauce though, which is nice because that's the only thing with flavor. If they come back next year, I will give them one more chance, in the hopes of getting to that blue cheese heaven.

San Felipe, Fish Tacos: Been getting these for a few years now, and I have to say, each year they get more disappointing. I won't be getting them again next year.

Some random pizza place in the food building, cheese pizza: Of all the things to eat at the State Fair, my kids wanted a slice of cheese pizza. Three kids, at four dollars a slice. Ugh. Completely forgettable, the kind of pizza you know is going to be mediocre the moment you see it. The kids loved it though.

O'Garas, Pretzel Battered Cheese Curds: Everyone who has reviewed these has said they are really good. I will never know this year because the lines to buy them were impossibly, impossibly long.

Spring Grove Soda Pop: Got the Black Cherry for the first time. It's not too bad but I was expecting something a little less sweet maybe? Next time I will stick with the Lemon Sour, which is, of course, top notch.

Juanita's Fajitas, Steak Fajita: I get these every year. Only down side: messy.

Holy Land, Mediterranean Lemonade: Absolutely amazing. Expensive at four bucks, but totally worth it. Mint + lemonade with just the right amount of slushy ice mixed in, it's heavenly. I'm kind of seriously considering going back tomorrow just to get another one of these. Be warned, it is not a small amount of mint, and it's real mint, not mint flavoring. One of my children found it off putting. The other three could not get enough of it.

Holy Land, Gyro: Horrible, horrible, horrible. Not only was it the worst gyro I have ever had, but it is right up there for the worst food I have ever eaten, period. The lettuce looked like it was yesterday's lettuce, limp, and nearly every piece of it was starting to brown. The sauce was bland, there was no bite or tanginess. On the other hand, at least the sauce wasn't as bland as the meat. I do not know how it is possible to mess up gyro meat. This meat had nearly no flavor, and yet it managed to be unpleasantly salty. Perhaps the pita was okay, but I'll never know, because I ate this gyro with a fork, and I gave up eating before I found the pita.

On the plus side, they advertise their gyro as the biggest one at the State Fair, a fact which I do not doubt. If what you are after is sheer cubic inches rather than taste, perhaps this is the meal for you.

Famous Dave's, Korean BBQ Collar: This was good. Excellent meat. I do not know if this tastes how Korean BBQ is "supposed" to taste, but it's very, very good. The "kimchi" pickles taste nothing like kimchi but are also good in their own right. And quite spicy! The pickles look disappointing; I saw them and thought "dill.... and hot sauce flakes?" But believe me, these pickles are something else entirely. Only caveat: for 7 bucks, not a lot of food. Get an appetizer.

Blue Moon Diner, Sweet Corn Ice Cream: I got this last year and loved it, and then a friend of mine who was with us at the fair threw out my ice cream before I was done with it, because he thought I was finished. Been looking forward to it all year. It lives up to my own mental hype. They put some sweet, crunchy chex/corn garnish on the top which complements the ice cream perfectly. The only down note is that by the very end of the bowl, the saltiness becomes apparent.

Blue Moon Diner, Sno Ribbons: These are new this year, and have been hyped up quite a bit by the various online reviews. Something to keep in mind, they have different flavors every day, each flavor comes with its own garnishes and sauces and fiddly bits they stick on top. Today's flavors were the Arnold Palmer (Meyer Lemon Sno Ribbons with Iced Tea sauce) and some other thing which I have forgotten. That one sounded pretty good but it had rum bananas in it, and since I was sharing it with my kids, I didn't want to take any chances. You know, sometimes when a dessert has rum, it has a little bit of rum, and sometimes it has hic HI HOW ARE YOU amounts of rum in it.

How did they taste? I have no idea. I got the Arnold Palmer snow ribbons, set them down in front of my kids, went back to get the sweet corn ice cream, and by the time I got back, the ribbons were GONE.

In a previous post about learning how to play the bass, I alluded to a fundamental problem that I was having. Even more fundamental than not knowing the notes...

I was having a hard time keeping time.

I have gotten better since then. It's still a weak point, but I'm much better than I was.

Back when I played guitar, it wasn't so bad. When I felt myself going off beat, I'd just sync myself up with the drummer and/or the bass player, and then I would go on my merry way. Since I played rhythm, all I had to do was get the strumming hand to go up and down and up and down at approximately the right speed and with the occasional nudge from fellow bandmates, I could stay on beat without too many problems.

But the bass! Just a note. I'm just playing a note, with no strumming hand to keep my time for me. And when I think back a year ago, oh, it was bad, it was so bad I didn't even know how I could possibly start fixing it.

So I am going to share with you a few exercises that I developed that were born out of my frustration at having so many problems with staying on the beat.

Here's the first insight. When playing the bass, you have to get the count in your head. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. Etc. I always thought it was kind of a musical cliche, almost a literary trope. As if people say "one, two, three, four" before a song because it was just tradition! I didn't know there was a utility or meaning to it.

Well there is. As a bass player, it's very important. The things you do on the ONE are different than the kinds of things you do on the FOUR. Knowing where you are in the count is very important to establishing a groove that connects with people on a fundamental level.

So here is the first exercise I came up with. Listening to music, and counting it off in my head. Any music, as long as it is in 4/4 time. I would put the iPod on shuffle and count my way through the playlist.

The idea here is to pay attention to the count, and how it affects the song I am listening to. Get that 1, 2, 3, 4 in my head. At first I had to literally count, as time went on I could do it silently in my head, and now it's starting to be more of a feeling than a literal count (although I still count from time to time when I need to or when I am learning a new song.)

That's the first exercise. Now, I'm going to tell you about The One.

No, not that One! I mean the One in the One, Two, Three, Four. When you are playing the bass on a funk song, you got to come in hard on the one. You got to hit that fundamental note. The note you hit is the root note of the chord that the band is playing.

Here, watch this short video to see what I'm talking about:

ONE, two, three, four, ONE, two, three, four. That ONE is the anchor of the whole song. (This is funk, of course, other styles of music may have different anchors.)

So now we come to exercise number two. I found a backing track on Youtube. Here's a good one:

This backing track is in D. The whole thing is in D. So I found a D on the fretboard. Second string, fifth fret. I started up the backing track, and I played a D on the ONE.

That's it, that's the whole thing. One song, one note, on the one. The whole point is to slow down and hit that string EXACTLY on the ONE. No other notes. Just count through the song, ONE, two, three, four, and hit that one note on the ONE. I tried to put all of my energy into the timing.

Now, why this? I'll tell you why: it beats the hell out of playing with a metronome. Metronome is just clicks. I can't relate to a metronome. But drums! Drums I can connect with.

Even so, I have to admit, only playing one note on the ONE gets a little boring after about a minute. And by the time the backing track was done, it was kind of a relief.

Then, I played it again. And again. And again. When I thought I couldn't possibly stand it one more time, I played it one more time after that. I used that frustrated bored energy and I focused it on what I was doing: getting that note exactly right.

After a few times through I got a little better. And then a little better. And so on.

Now, I explicitly forbade myself from playing any other notes. At all. Even though I had all kinds of cool notes going through my head, I had no idea how to play them. So I stuck with just one note. The whole point of this exercise anyway is the timing, the sticking to the ONE.

If you try this exercise I would love to hear how it went for you.

When you have reached the point where you want to play other notes, look up the pentatonic minor blues scale. Play any of those notes between the ONE. If you get bored with those notes, try others. There's a whole mess of notes on the fretboard. Try things out and see what sounds good. Try other backing tracks too. Just make sure you get back to the ONE.

BONUS: check out this Bootsy Collins video where he tells the story of James Brown showing him about the importance of the ONE:

On the way home, I stopped at a stoplight. I felt someone watching me, so I turned, and an enormous dog, with big, deep brown eyes was hanging halfway out the window, staring at me. Startled, I stared back. He was so happy, and I wanted to talk to him and be happy with him. I didn't talk to him, but I did stop and stare, glancing at the light every few seconds to see if it turned green.

He stared at me, happy. I stared at him, soaking it in. This went on for a good thirty seconds, and when I say good, it was good, you know what I mean?

The light turned green, I pulled ahead; through the rear view mirror I saw the people in the front seats. The driver was a hip looking guy in his early thirties, wearing glasses and no shirt. He was screaming at the woman in the passenger seat. Yelling, gesturing, upset and angry. The woman stared off into space; distant, wearing a tired, emotionless mask and clearly, emphatically, not listening. The happiest dog in the world was enjoying the breeze—leaning forward as far as he could without falling.

I turned at the next light, and the car drove on: yelling, gesturing, and angry; distant, tired, and emotionless; jowls, tongue, and spit flapping in the wind.

I read this Dan Gillmor article recently about the old blogosphere and it resonated with me.

Before I start sounding like a World War II veteran who has had a few too many, the other thing that I liked about the blogosphere was just how personal it was. Yes, that often meant someone was up in arms or foaming at the mouth about something — often topics that perhaps didn’t justify the level of outrage being displayed (yes, I’m looking at you, Mike) — but there was still that quintessential element of blogging as defined by Winer: namely, the unedited voice of a person, for better or worse.

I keep coming back to that and thinking about it. Unedited.

I think what Dan meant by "unedited" is literally, the lack of an editor. But I have to confess over the past several years I have been editing my own voice. Severely, to the point where the voice is not just edited, it is entirely silent.

I did this for a number of reasons. For one, when I rebooted the weblog a few years ago I decided to make it more technically focused. I intended to split off the "personal" side of the weblog to somewhere else entirely. That never happened. And I think I finally came to the conclusion that it's a dumb idea: I do not want Yet Another Blogging Engine To Upgrade, and furthermore I do not want Yet Another Account On Yet Another Damn Service That Is Selling Me And My Metadata To Advertisers.

The problem with keeping the new weblog technically oriented (or trying to, at any rate) is that sometimes I don't work on technical, makery, interesting things. And then I get out of the habit of writing, so when I do start working on interesting things again, I have a hard time writing about them. I think I'd rather keep up the writing muscle and abandon the tech purity, the ideal that my life is just one awesome maker project after another. It's not. Sometimes all four of my kids get sick at once and I have to spend a week taking care of them.

Second. I have some fairly nuanced views. I do not follow a party line or ideological school of thought. Nearly everything is very much a case-by-case thing. And I do change my mind, so please note that if you are reading this from the future I may feel differently. But the problem with not fitting perfectly into an ideological slot is that I feel like I am always censoring myself. I have good friends on both sides of many ideological issues and I don't want to offend or ruffle any feathers. I'm afraid of being misinterpreted or stereotyped, by both sides. And so I find myself agreeing with my liberal friends where it is safe to do so, and agreeing with my conservative friends when it is safe to do so, like a modern day political Zelig.

Third, I was always afraid of what my employer at the time would think about some of the stuff I was working on. In retrospect, I don't even know why I worried about that.

I'm going to start writing more around here, about things that I am thinking about. There will be a wider range of topics. I may talk about politics, or even (gasp) religion. Just remember that I love all of you, my readers, and I respect you and think you are awesome. May you all live long and happy lives. If we disagree on anything, let us do so in good faith.