video
Sep. 21, 2010
Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from
“Chance favors the connected mind.”
Tags: Steven Johnson · TED talks · video
Sep. 11, 2010
Oliver Sacks on Mythmaking
Is the human instinct to tell stories — and it does seem to be instinctive since it crosses all boundaries of time and place — a way we explain the world to ourselves? I would say that the human brain or the human mind is disposed to create stories or narratives. Children love stories, make [...]
Tags: myths · Oliver Sacks · storytelling · video
Aug. 10, 2010
Vita Brevis, Ars Brevior
A good but not great movie from 1965 is a reminder how short-lived most art is.
Tags: featured posts · John le Carre · video · writing life
Jul. 19, 2010
Stephen Fry: What I Wish I Knew at 18
This video runs about 32 minutes, so save it for when you have a moment. A half hour with one of the world’s great talkers. (Copped from Frank Chimero.)
Tags: Stephen Fry · video
Jul. 13, 2010
How James Bond Got His Name
Ian Fleming explains.
Tags: Ian Fleming · James Bond · video
Jan. 28, 2010
The Importance of Shipping
Seth Godin advises: What you do for a living is ship
Tags: Defending Jacob · Seth Godin · video · writing life · writing tips
Dec. 17, 2009
“Your Whole Reading Life, Always With You”
Michael Tamblyn’s presentation at the O’Reilly TOC conference in Frankfurt, October 13, 2009. (Actually this is Tamblyn’s recreation of the talk, which was apparently not recorded.) Tamblyn, of Softcovers, discusses what is missing from the current ebook experience.
Tags: ebooks · Michael Tamblyn · video
Dec. 16, 2009
John Irving: “A need to be alone”
“I recognized at a pretty early age — certainly I was pre-teens — I noticed that the school day was enough of the day to spend with my friends. I seemed to have a need to … be alone.” I am sure this is a common characteristic of writers, even gregarious ones. Certainly I needed to [...]
Tags: creativity · interviews · John Irving · video
Dec. 9, 2009
Maugham: “great suspicion of posterity”
“I have great suspicion of posterity. I’m quite prepared to be entirely forgotten five years after my death.” Somerset Maugham in a 1958 interview with the CBC. (via) More about Maugham here.
Tags: interviews · Somerset Maugham · video
Nov. 3, 2009
Walt Whitman for Levi’s
A cool ad for Levi’s jeans features a Walt Whitman poem, Pioneers! O Pioneers! (video)
Tags: advertising · video · Walt Whitman
