Robots in the Garden. Worse than Rabbits.

When you get an idea, just go with it, even if it's in the middle of the night. It may not come out perfect, but it just needs time to grow. It's a seedling that your robots need to tend to, and maybe your robots don't help it to grow into a mighty oak, but that one idea will lead to others. You'll have all these ideas, some great, some not so much, but they'll be there, ready for you take them and shape them into something grand. So get out of bed and create. You can sleep in tomorrow.

In a New Way Day 29

You should know by now, because I know you've been following my blog since the beginning, that is no limiter on my imagination, and quite honestly, there shouldn't be on on yours either. Warp Factor Seven!

For the Love of Amy Pond

Yesterday was my third time in Twist & Shout this week. Third. Time. Certainly I make it a point to stop in every time I head over to the Denver Film Center Colfax, and yeah, I'm there at least twice a week, but yesterday was specifically to find Amy Pond. Officially, I am a new Whovian, but I'm not completely clueless, growing up I knew the name as well as the Laural and Hardy baseball routine and was fascinated by the "bigger on the inside" TARDIS, but it wasn't until recently that it really captured my imagination. The entire concept about the show harkens back to what always confused me about the old Star Trek growing up (a planet full of cowboys?): imagination and possibility. Seems to fit right in with what I shoot, so now we know how it all fits together. Anyway, not only did I finally get Amy Pond (they are blind box packaged), I got to enjoy a sweet free concert by Vetiver and the Fruit Bats.

So seriously, think about stopping in the next time you head over to catch a film. The entire Lowenstein complex is awesome by the way, grab some music at Twist, a book at Tattered Cover (I hope I don't offend, but the LoDo location is still my favorite) and grab drinks and a show at the Denver Film Center Colfax.

I'll be headed there shortly for the The Watching Hour presents an Evening with Heather Langenkamp. It's gonna be fun and I expect to see you there.

And as a side note, how can you not love Amy pond (portrayed by the wonderful and beautiful Karen Gillan)? Just sayin.

"T" is for Thaddeus

Meet Goo T. Aeris von Canada. Dashing, isn't he? Still, not as dashing as the other monster dolls made by the kids in the art camp I've been helping with this week, but Goo still manages. But the real question is what have you created today? Stretch your mind, get those neurons firing and make something. Inspiration comes in all forms and from all places, so get out there and make something. I'm partial to cake, just don't over-do the fondant.

The World Ends With You1

That is only sort of a lie. True, the world has finite shape and dimension, but that's just the physicality of it. That's where it comes to you. The world we worry about, the one we care about, well that actually begins with you, not ends. In short, the world is what you make of it, like you've been handed a ball of clay and asked to make something out of it. And it's never permanent, it's constantly in flux, changing as you change, as you learn, as you grow. That's a lot of what this past revolution has reminded me. It's like what Captain Hammer² said, "Home is where the heart is, so your real home's in your chest."

So go, live, create, play, share, care. Make your world. You can start with these if you like.

_{1-Never actually got to play this, but it certainly looked intriguing.
2-You know, Dr. Horrible's arch enemy, his hair blowing in the breeze, the day needs his saving expertise. He has a Ham-jet. You know the Captain I'm talking about.}

Interlude: Growing Up and "I Can't"

Is growing up a good thing?

What happened when you grew up? When did you realize that you said “I can’t” more than you said “I’ll try?” I remember being a kid and diving into things like drawing, coloring, sculpting, building, pretty much anything that made a mess or promised a 50/50 chance of losing an arm, I did it without hesitation. And if my dinosaur looked less like a triceratops and more like a Rorschach test, it didn’t matter. It was all kinds of awesome and I was damn proud of it.

As I got older, as I learned more, as others showed me what they could do; that’s when it happened. That’s when “I can’t” entered my vocabulary. That’s when I objectively looked at things that were far beyond my skill level, and realized that “I’m not good at it.” It’s a shame that it happened, because it undoubtedly led to the discarding of the many things made me smile as a kid and it certainly took away a great amount of pride and that feeling of accomplishment.

So, here we are today. There is a plethora of things that I don’t do well. Yes, it’s because I haven’t practiced it, haven’t been trained in it, haven’t truly made a passionate effort to do it. I can’t draw. I can’t paint. I can’t dance. I can’t ride my bike with no handlebars¹.

And the only difference between now and then, is that then, it didn’t matter that I couldn’t do it well, I just did it. Now I have to think about it, weigh the embarrassment that may come with my lack of “skillz.” I don’t think about how much I might enjoy whatever it may be, and there’s the greatest tragedy. How many times have you not done something for those very reasons, because you’re afraid that you aren’t good enough? And the simplest thing is, that you’re never good at new things because they're new, they're unfamiliar. So instead ask yourself, “what can this teach me?”

So with that in mind, I did this the other day:



And as unprofessional, as unrefined as they are, I am damn proud of them. And best of all, I enjoyed making them. I enjoyed making the mess, I enjoyed seeing everything come together for the final product. And I enjoyed teaching myself something new, so that I can become better at in the future. And as an added bonus, I did not lose an arm in the process.

So I will draw, I will sculpt, I will color, I will paint and I will encourage you to try something new (or old), and enjoy yourself. You’ll undoubtedly surprise yourself. And as a side note, it still may take some convincing to get me to dance, but in the end, I will do it. And it will be all kinds of epic.

PS: The same goes for change. It happens, it's never going to stop happening. Get over it. Next time you see a major overhaul to your addicted social media site, quit making claims that you hate it, that you'll delete your account if they don't change it back. We all know you wont. You'll grudgingly use it until it gets changed again, at which point you'll tell everyone you hate it and that you'll quit if they don't change it back. There, now that I'm done with that soapbox, I'm going to fill it with clay, and paint, and maybe a crowbar. And most definitely a toy or two.