Sunday, November 30, 2008

Divine Inspiration

Not surprisingly, I am procrastinating. It's hard to get work done because the only thing that can really force me to be productive is when a paper is due the next day, reinforced by the growing urge to fall asleep. As neither of these conditions is present at the moment, I'm trying to do everything other than work.

In that spirit, I'm wondering what motivates people to do things. I mean I only "work" when I have to. But I also only do things I enjoy when I have too. In my insufferable creative writing class, all of the students walk around with their notebooks, jotting things down, writing awful poems (that they think are brilliant), documenting their thoughts. I've never thought or felt anything that pressing that I was compelled to document it (either in writing, in a song,  in a piece of art, etc.) Which is why I have tons of blank Moleskine notebooks. I feel like one of the few people that can read something, or look at a piece of art and literally not think a thing. My mind will be a complete blank. Often in those situations there is someone near by who needs feedback, so I have to jump start my brain and I'll tell myself "Quick, start thinking something!!" Does this happen to you? 

This dilemma has been put into sharp focus because 1) I have a final portfolio for Creative Writing due on thursday, and have yet to execute a poem I'm even slightly pleased with; and 2) my roommate's band is rehearsing in the living room, and I see all of their notes and lyrics and I wonder where they come from. I'm starting to worry that I simply lack the imagination to create something from scratch. 

I frequently think about some of my heroes (Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant) and how they are able to develop so much about a character and communicate so much to the audience with a simple gesture. How do they do it? How does someone create The Office? It is mind-blowing. Just the simple act of Brent straightening his tie, or his smile/grimace--there is so much nuance and genius in it...It boggles the mind. I'm not even aiming that high really. I'm not expecting to make something like the office, or write a song like "Poses"--I just don't want to be a complete hack. Thoughts?

Monday, November 24, 2008

The Coiffeur Strikes Again!

I was on the bus this morning, making my usual commute downtown and we were stopped at a light by the Capitol. This is without doubt one of my favorite parts of my commute, as there is nothing I love more than staring at the confused State Workers in their floral skirts, opaque tights, white socks and white walking shoes. But today, on this dreary, gray, November morning, their was a ray of sunlight. A man in his mid-thirties had a run-of-the-mill bad haircut. However (and I cannot emphasize this enough) instead of having the usual rat tail, coming from the back and bottom of ones head, this gentleman and his visionary coiffeur inverted the traditional rat tail and decided that having the "rat tail" coming out of the right side of his head would be a fantastic idea. It should go without saying that I agree completely. It takes the white trash factor of a rat tail, and combines it with the practicality of the hair wraps you got in middle school (where they wrap thread and beads around a chunk of hair). It created an unstoppable force (much like Sasha Fierce). Oh friend, the beauty...I pray it will never fade from my memory.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Cat Calls and Novelty Cups

If they had an award for “most irritating pop song of the early 90s that it also the catchiest,” it would most likely go to “Tom’s Diner.” That might be why all of my coworkers yell at me when I start whistling it at work. I can’t help it, it’s just what naturally comes out when I start to whistle! Regardless, it might be worth my time to try and retrain myself. And so, as I was leaving work the other night, I changed my tune. After getting two notes out I realized that what I was whistling sounded nothing like what I was trying to whistle, and so I gave up. However, what I was whistling did sound alarmingly like a cat call, and I unfortunately made eye contact with a gaggle of freshman who were standing at the top of the stairs. Sorry, ladies, for the unwanted (and inadvertent) sexual attention.

In other news, my landlords brought over a bunch of cups that they were going to throw out, which can only mean one thing. That’s right; I’m drinking my gin and tonic out of a comically large pink, plastic martini glass, though “glass“ might not be the right word here…

Friday, November 21, 2008

Second Post: Not As Much Pressure

Hey Buddy. Knowing me as long as you have (since high school) you know that I am many things. First and foremost however, I am lazy. In true celebration of my laziness, my first attempt at an unbelievably difficult task will be to make a shadow puppet show for a presentation in one of my English classes. Can you think of a better way to fill 5-7 minutes of the class's time? I can't. As usual, I am trying to compensate for a complete lack of substance with the little bit of charm I can muster. At this point, I'm torn between cutting out doll like shapes and gluing Popsicle sticks to the bottom, or drawing a frame by frame progression of my tale on overhead projector sheets. I'm leaning towards drawing on overhead projector sheets because it will be a brilliant showcase for my outstanding stick-figure drawing talent. And where better to display said talent than in an upper level English class?

I will keep you up-to-date with my progress. We will know if I have succeeded on the day of the presentation--December 2nd. Hopefully I'll have some mock ups to show you while you're in town for Thanksgiving. I have a really good feeling about this.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

First Post, SO Much Pressure!

Well, hello, and welcome to our blog. The general idea of "If They Can Do It So Can We" is to allow the whole world to be exposed to the potential hilarity of a conversation between my fellow blogger and I. However, due to the fact that we, more often than not, go on and on about boring an unimpressive things, "If They Can Do It..." will also have monthly (or weekly, depending on how ambitious we are feeling) installments of Eileen and I attempting to complete a ridiculously difficult task. We will most likely fail miserably, and you will have the pleasure of reading about it. I am maintaining that my ridiculously difficult task for the month is starting a blog. Your turn, Eileen.