Entry 11/29/20
Project versus Project
project, noun - an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim.
project, verb - extend outward beyond something else; protrude.
When you work on a project, you are projecting yourself onto the world. Ironic?
Grante’s World
I’ve begun filming a YouTube series with the name Grante’s World. I bring on guests and interview them with interesting questions.
Production value is still pretty low, but I’ve conquered the hardest part which is getting people eager to come on the show; there’s plenty of desire for that. The task now shifts to building a team of people to help produce if this is going to grow.
Books
The nonfic Engines of Creation by Drexler continues to astound. Clearly written ahead of its time, the principles and thought processes which are explained throughout inspire incredible visions of the future. Chapter 2 was discussed in Principles of Change and I expect to write about at least one more chapter before finishing the book.
A re-read of Captivology by Parr was decided to be wise considering the pivot into working in media. Though the principles have been underlying my work through the past 18~ months, studying certain chapters again has proven quite handy in preparing the mind for creative direction.
300 Arguments by Manguso has provided wisdom and helped provide direction. The back cover reads “think of this as a short book composed entirely of what I hoped would be a long book’s quotable passages.” I try to read no more twenty passages at a time and I shall list a couple of the most recently impactful here.
I write in defense of the beliefs I fear are least defensible. Everything else feels like homework.
Faced with a camera lens, hideously overwitnessed, I immediately started trying to impersonate myself.
At faculty meetings I sat next to people whose books had sold two million copies. Success seemed so close, just within reach. On subway benches I sat next to people who were gangrenous, dying, but I never thought I’d catch what they had.
You might as well start by confessing your greatest shame. Anything else would just be an exposition.
