Archive for the ‘Encouragement’ Category
James Taylor and Carole King – Auckland 10/4/10
The phrase ‘music that is the soundtrack of our lives’ has acquired the quality of a cliché — but by golly, bathing in the glory of these two troubadours at their Auckland concert tonight, the phrase fits. I was so happy to hear them, to see them and enjoy their camaraderie and their art. They […]
Top 10 NZ property investment books – Auckland City Libraries
Auckland City Libraries Readers Services team picks: The top 10 titles on New Zealand Property Investment in 2009. I’m chuffed that four of the top ten are published by Empower Leaders Publishing. (Cool.) Congratulations to all the authors on the list…
Questions — which declare values
Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find what your feelings are. … and did you learn anything? Boy! Great mission. — Tiger Woods’ father Earl Woods’ voice features in this new Nike/Tiger Woods ad April 2010. Gutsy. Fantastic […]
Barricades Of Heaven – Jackson Browne
Bliss. I love his passion and his essence. “Pages turning, pages we were years from learning Straight into the night our hearts were flung Better bring your own redemption when you come To the barricades of Heaven where I’m from. All the world was shining from those hills The stars above and the lights below […]
The Marshmallow Theory — finding a soft centre
Remember we talked about how caving in to a bully just makes it more likely you’ll be bullied again? (That was one of the morals of the story of Poormastery’s parable.) I’ve been recently reminded of an influential cabinet minister from my time working at Parliament’s Press Gallery: Lawyer, later Finance Minister, David Caygill was […]
The ‘message’ of SHAME
I mentioned Steven Pressfield and his model of ‘Resistance’ — as a force/’personality’ and ever-changing foe to overcome in your own creative endeavour or ‘life-work’ — in a reply to Graeme yesterday. I highly recommend Pressfield’s book The War of Art for anyone seeking to move forward … in anything. He writes a ‘Writing Wednesdays’ […]
Elizabeth Gilbert: What’s not to love?
Elizabeth Gilbert writing in her new book Committed: I am sorry to confess that I possessed a scant amount of honour in my youth, if any, and behaving in a flighty and thoughtless manner was a bit of a speciality of mine. But being a person of character matters to me now, and matters only […]
Men talk shoulder to shoulder
Men don’t talk face to face. They talk shoulder to shoulder, while they’re working on something. I just heard this insight in a BBC World Service documentary on the Men’s Shed movement in Australia. So true. There are exceptions, but this is a good rule of thumb to bear in mind. (Cheers and kudos to […]
Branding writ large
This is the fifth-most-photographed building in New York, the 28th worldwide: the Apple Store 5th Avenue New York City. Well, it IS cool. Inside and out. On my first visit it was just starting to rain and Apple Store staff were fitting special rubber covers to the glass steps on the spiral staircase. The shopping […]
Eloquent beyond words
The image in that last post reminded me: I stood in front of this sculpture in NYC a few years ago on my way to see Leonard Cohen in concert at the Place des Arts in Montreal. (Not my first trip to New York.) Its power exceeds and surpasses logical argument … if you’re open […]
Farewell Charlie Gillett – Mr Eclectic
We’ve lost Charlie Gillett — longtime advocate-promoter-svengali of ‘world music’ … rock ‘n’ roll historian, and the supportive champion of so many different types of music. Not so much a gatekeeper as an enthusiastic enabler, Charlie helped so many careers and helped people get ‘heard’. I loved his BBC show. You never knew what you’d […]
Scoundrels
I’m reading a version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island to my young son. This neat interchange caught my eye: Soon the Captain waved his hand for silence and we all stopped talking, except for the good doctor, who went on speaking loud and clear. The Captain glared at him and commanded —”Silence below decks!” […]
Speak up (or shut up) to defend a friend?
I’ve had occasion to reflect on this, one of my habits/traits/addictions: Speaking up for my friends. And, having thought about it: Yup — I’d do it every time. It’s almost involuntary. (Asperger’s?) I’d hope (but not expect) my friends to do the same for me. There’s another aspect, too: A friend of mine was approached by […]
Intelligence finds a way to express itself
Shon Hopwood, Mediocre Criminal Turned Top Jailhouse Lawyer “A Mediocre Criminal, but an Unmatched Jailhouse Lawyer” Cool story from the NYTimes.com
