It’s Only Temporary: The Good News and Bad News on Being Alive by Evan Handler

Note: Evan (Charlotte’s husband on Sex and the City) sent me the best PR email I have ever seen anyone send. Ever. He did exactly what you’re supposed to do – he researched and made a personal connection. Not that he needs my help, but he was cool about it so I had no problem reading it. The book is pretty good too. The middle essay “My Life” is a perfect illustration of why Tucker is doing his movie the way that he is. At the very least, I am buying his other book.

Raising Kayne: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar by Donda West (textbook on raising a narcissist. This book is awful.)

The Harder They Fall by Budd Schulberg

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert Putnam

Articles:

In the future, we’ll all be art students

Just-enough, a new trend in the works (or, why Paul Allen’s Octopus is really an Albatross)

Gin, Television, and Social Surplus

A few weeks ago I said something in a meeting and afterwards, I was talking about it with The Executive. He asked me “Did you have a reason for saying that other than proving you knew more than [name]?” The honest answer was that I didn’t. I’m normally pretty good with stuff like that. It wasn’t so much a strategic problem as much as it said something I didn’t like about me as a person.

You don’t want to be the person that has no control over how they act. You certainly don’t want to be the person that isn’t even aware of the fact that they’re not in control. Sitting in meetings in Hollywood, you can see that most people are horribly guilty of this. That’s why they name drop, make ridiculous predictions, and scream at their assistants. They just get away with it because they only deal with their own kind.

Hollywood’s biggest problem isn’t structural or economic, it’s cultural. People are sickeningly oblivious and insecure and just generally awful. The emails I’ve been cc’d on make me want apologize on other’s behalf. And it’s not that they’re evil or malicious, they’re just insulated. It was always a seller’s market. But it’s not anymore and the internet has permanently shifted that power. It’s over.

So more than anything, I’m trying to to figure out what my actions say about me as a person. They either match who I want to be or I shouldn’t be doing them. That involves asking a couple questions – always Why? What for? and What Happens if I Don’t?

It’s not just that it ineffective. There is a reason that things are getting worse daily. The final question is that if it were effective – if there monetary incentives for being an asshole and for being uninformed – would it be worth it?

I worked late last night at somebody’s mansion. A big, 20’s style house on a hill with 360 degree views of the city. And even though he’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the owner spent most of the night pacing frantically, trying to find the right words for exactly what he wanted to say.

“After a few months practice, David lamented to his teacher, “but I can hear the music so much better in my head than I can get out of my fingers.” To which the Master replied “What makes you think that will ever change?” – Art & Fear

I am starting to think that maybe greatness comes not from transcending that disparity but from embracing and accepting it. Running wasn’t any easier yesterday than last April. I was still way more excited about the ‘idea’ of it than actually going out and doing it. It took 4 discarded posts until I fell into this one. I’m not still quite there yet either.

He eventually got it, or at least close enough to be satisfied. Then we moved onto the next thing and started the process over again early this morning.

The difference between he and I, I think, is that he’s spent the last decade well aware of the fact that it’ll always look better in his head than when it comes out of the factory. But that hasn’t changed him at all. That doesn’t stop the factory. I’m sure it kills him when something doesn’t come out perfect or he just can’t get it right. If we want to talk about Turning Pro, maybe the real mark is someone who understands the odds and does it anyway.