Olivia
Online
Icewaterinmyveins
@archjoelong
and oh yeah,I do architecture as well.
Cebu, Philippines
Joined September 2011
460 Following
229 Followers
3.3K Posts
TWO WORDS:
LIVE INTENSELY.
READ THE INTENSITY MANIFESTO NOW.
People are known to have their best ideas and insights while doing mundane tasks like knitting, digging, or cleaning. These tasks occupy the body so that the subconscious mind is actually free to operate. The physical demand soothes the neuroticism that our consciousness imposes upon us when unoccupied. The advent of technology has no doubt helped mankind in many material ways, but it has also taken something away from us that we, now in our privileged positions, ought to reclaim however we can. So whenever you can, do things the long way. It may help you in ways you had never anticipated.
How does C. S. Lewis do that, every paragraph is a book
Students at NYU asked the creators of South Park the million-dollar question:
“What makes a good story?”
They gave one of the best explanations of story I’ve heard:
“If we can take the beats of your outline, and the words ‘and then’ belong between those beats… you got something pretty boring.
What should happen between every beat you’ve written down is the words ‘therefore’ or ‘but.’”
They go on to say, “That gives you the causation between each beat, and that makes a story.”
Point 1:
There’s an idea in storytelling called ‘Promise, Progress, Payoff.’
Essentially, a story is a never ending cycle of promises that are paid off over the span of the story.
It’s a cycle of expectation and resolution. Cause and effect. Conflict and progress.
Point 2:
A story isn’t a bunch of random events thrown together.
A story is a series of but / because / therefore moments.
A famous example:
• Harry discovers he's a wizard. Because of this, he goes to learn magic at Hogwarts.
• But then he learns Voldemort wants to kill him and rule the world.
• Therefore, he must find a way to defeat him.
Point 3:
The ‘But / Therefore’ concept works in layers.
You can apply it at the line level, paragraph level, or whatever your largest unit of story is – be it chapter, Act, or whatever.
I’m reminded of a Hemingway quote:
“Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.”
Great writing is intentional. It doesn’t wander. It builds upon itself.
This framework of looking at money is very valuable
At a show on his Solo Tour, John Mayer confessed:
“I wait for most things to be over. I wait for this to be over to do the next thing and the next thing and the next thing and the next thing...”
To counter this tendency, he implemented a rule.
“Because I’ve realized, he said,
“Everything you love and hate leaves at the same speed: Done. Done. Done. The thing you hate that you have to do tomorrow will be over before you know it, and the thing you're looking forward to tomorrow will be over before you know it.”
“So I have a new rule in my life,” Mayer said, “and the rule is:
Never wish for less time.
Waiting for things to be over is just wishing for less time. Waiting for this to be over to get to the next thing—that's just wishing for less time.”
“So wherever you go, just make a home right there and do that thing…Wherever you are, go, 'this is where it's all at right now.'
I’ve been having the time of my life because I figured that out…”
Takeaway 1:
John's realization—that “everything you love and hate leaves at the same speed”—made me think of something that Dr. Anna Lembke writes about in her book Dopamine Nation:
“One of the most remarkable neuroscientific findings in the past century is that the brain processes pleasure and pain in the same place. Further, pleasure and pain work like opposite sides of a balance.”
“And one of the overriding rules governing this balance,” she said, “is that it wants to stay level…With any deviation from neutrality, the brain will work very hard to restore a level balance—what scientists call ‘homeostasis.’ … With any stimulus to one side, there will be a tip of an equal and opposite amount to the other side.”
Pain and pleasure, good days and bad days, the things you're dreading and the things you're looking forward to—everything leaves at the same speed.
Takeaway 2:
The brain’s tendency to think about the next thing is called “prospection.”
“Our brains were made for nexting,” the psychologist Daniel Gilbert writes in a chapter titled “Prospection” in his book Stumbling On Happiness.
“When researchers count the items that float along in the average person’s stream of consciousness, they find that about 12 percent of our daily thoughts are about the future.”
In other words, the average person spends 1 out of every 8 hours thinking about the next thing, “which is to say…each of us is a part-time resident of tomorrow.”
We are constantly nexting, Gilbert explains, because of “the illusion of foresight”—the illusion that “prospection can provide pleasure and prevent pain.”
The reality is that “the future is fundamentally different than it appears through the prospectiscope.”
The reality is that (whether through the prospectiscope or in the present) everything—pain and pleasure, the things you're dreading and the things you're looking forward to—leaves at the same speed.
- - -
“So wherever you go, just make a home right there and do that thing…Wherever you are, go, 'this is where it's all at right now.' ... I’ve been having the time of my life because I figured that out...” — John Mayer
Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!
The photographer and filmmaker Arno Rafael Minkkinen has a theory of creative originality:
The Helsinki Bus Station Theory.
If you want to do unique and meaningful work, if you want to find your unique creative voice or style—Minkkinen explains, here’s what you must understand
In the heart of the city of Helsinki, there is a bus station.
Before they branch off into different directions, every bus makes the same first few stops on the way out of the city.
Like these buses—an artist, early on, can't avoid taking a similar route as the artists who came before.
"Let's say...metaphorically speaking," Minkkinen says, "you have been working for three years making platinum studies of nudes."
"You take those three years of work on the nude to [a gallery], and the curator asks if you are familiar with the nudes of Irving Penn...[or] Bill Brandt."
Realizing that your style is derivative, Minkkinen says, “You hop off the bus, grab a cab, and head straight back to the bus station looking for another platform.”
Back at the station—metaphorically speaking—you set out again to develop a new style.
Then three years later, again, you take your work to an art gallery. Again, the curator says your work looks very similar to a more famous artist. So again, you decide to get off the bus, but this time, Minkkinen himself stops you and gives you some advice:
“Stay on the bus. Stay on the f*cking bus."
If you stay on the bus...
"Soon your differences will begin to appear with clarity and intelligence. Your originality will become visible. And even the works from those very first years of trepidation when everything you did seemed to have been done before [will] all have the stamp of your unique vision.
Why? Because you stayed on the bus.”
Takeaway 1:
The visual artist Wendy MacNaughton is often asked by artists who are just starting out, "How do I develop a unique style?"
She says,
"I always ask them, 'How did you develop your handwriting?' By writing. You just kept writing and writing and writing and writing, and eventually, you created a handwriting that nobody else's handwriting looks like."
Takeaway 2:
Every artist is the sum of their influences.
John Mayer, for instance, says he often tries to imitate the late Grateful Dead legendary lead guitarist Jerry Garcia.
When somebody once said they loved the unique way in which Mayer played one of his guitar solos, Mayer said:
“That’s just me trying [to play like Jerry] and not doing it well enough…which is a wonderful technique for being yourself.
Failing to sound exactly like the person you want to sound like is a wonderful way to sound like yourself.”
- - -
I once asked Ryan Holiday about how he developed his unique writing style. He credited his influences:
“The key is that no one has the same combination of influences. It feels like me because I’m the only person to combine my interests in my way.”
Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!
![bpoppenheimer's tweet photo. The photographer and filmmaker Arno Rafael Minkkinen has a theory of creative originality:
The Helsinki Bus Station Theory.
If you want to do unique and meaningful work, if you want to find your unique creative voice or style—Minkkinen explains, here’s what you must understand
In the heart of the city of Helsinki, there is a bus station.
Before they branch off into different directions, every bus makes the same first few stops on the way out of the city.
Like these buses—an artist, early on, can't avoid taking a similar route as the artists who came before.
"Let's say...metaphorically speaking," Minkkinen says, "you have been working for three years making platinum studies of nudes."
"You take those three years of work on the nude to [a gallery], and the curator asks if you are familiar with the nudes of Irving Penn...[or] Bill Brandt."
Realizing that your style is derivative, Minkkinen says, “You hop off the bus, grab a cab, and head straight back to the bus station looking for another platform.”
Back at the station—metaphorically speaking—you set out again to develop a new style.
Then three years later, again, you take your work to an art gallery. Again, the curator says your work looks very similar to a more famous artist. So again, you decide to get off the bus, but this time, Minkkinen himself stops you and gives you some advice:
“Stay on the bus. Stay on the f*cking bus."
If you stay on the bus...
"Soon your differences will begin to appear with clarity and intelligence. Your originality will become visible. And even the works from those very first years of trepidation when everything you did seemed to have been done before [will] all have the stamp of your unique vision.
Why? Because you stayed on the bus.”
Takeaway 1:
The visual artist Wendy MacNaughton is often asked by artists who are just starting out, "How do I develop a unique style?"
She says,
"I always ask them, 'How did you develop your handwriting?' By writing. You just kept writing and writing and writing and writing, and eventually, you created a handwriting that nobody else's handwriting looks like."
Takeaway 2:
Every artist is the sum of their influences.
John Mayer, for instance, says he often tries to imitate the late Grateful Dead legendary lead guitarist Jerry Garcia.
When somebody once said they loved the unique way in which Mayer played one of his guitar solos, Mayer said:
“That’s just me trying [to play like Jerry] and not doing it well enough…which is a wonderful technique for being yourself.
Failing to sound exactly like the person you want to sound like is a wonderful way to sound like yourself.”
- - -
I once asked Ryan Holiday about how he developed his unique writing style. He credited his influences:
“The key is that no one has the same combination of influences. It feels like me because I’m the only person to combine my interests in my way.”
Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxFUlUKX0AAvvv7.jpg)
“Architecture by Balenciaga”
It was only a matter of time before someone did this, but it’s great
By Mat Burbano https://t.co/f4zFyjvUw8
Jim Carrey with an absolute mic-drop:
"So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality."
The truth is, the "safe" path isn't as safe as you might think. It only feels secure because it seems like everyone else is doing it too. In reality, you could get fired tomorrow and have nothing to fall back on.
Considering both the conservative and the exciting paths are both risky, which one would you rather choose?
"You can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love."
Jeepneys can be modernized while maintaining its traditional and historical look. This photo shows an ACTUAL modernized jeepney.
It’s made by a LOCAL manufacturer and costs only P1.3 million compared to the minivan proposed by the govt at P2.6 million!
#NoToJeepneyPhaseOut
The modern, industrial whimsy of Le Corbusier
@PLDTEnterprise @PLDTEnt_Cares have been trying to apply for a business line for the past month online. No one is getting back to me
This commercial has an M. Night Shyamalan level twist https://t.co/JXVI4L7oqs
One trick I learned from Tokyo that helps for understanding any city: when you come across a charming small biz in a sea of generic chains, ask them about their relationship with their landlord. For example, this is the fantastic Alabaster Bookshop, near Union Square in NYC...
@flyPAL Replied as well
@flyPAL your phone app has bugs, i booked a flight for May 20-22 but the date shown after is May 19-21. It was until I got the flight confirmation when I noticed the bug. Tried it again and always the same happening. How do we go about this? Screenshots for reference
Naanad na siguro tag mediocre leaders, the bar should have been raised a long time ago 🔥
Karmina Constantino is really good at putting men in their places.
@greensparklepaz Kaayo. We need more people like her!
🔥 reposting for future reference
Immortalizing this Karmina clip 🔥
Most Popular Users
Elon Musk 
@elonmusk
241.8M followers
Barack Obama
@barackobama
119M followers
Cristiano Ronaldo
@cristiano
114.6M followers
Donald J. Trump
@realdonaldtrump
111.9M followers
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
107.2M followers
Rihanna
@rihanna
98.7M followers
NASA
@nasa
92.4M followers
Justin Bieber
@justinbieber
91.8M followers
KATY PERRY
@katyperry
90.1M followers
Taylor Swift
@taylorswift13
84M followers
Lady Gaga
@ladygaga
75.5M followers
Virat Kohli
@imvkohli
73.5M followers
Kim Kardashian
@kimkardashian
70.9M followers
YouTube
@youtube
68.8M followers
Neymar Jr
@neymarjr
66.5M followers
Bill Gates
@billgates
65.3M followers
Selena Gomez
@selenagomez
63.1M followers
The Ellen Show
@theellenshow
62.3M followers
CNN
@cnn
61.8M followers
X
@x
60.7M followers
✨
⭐
💫