Book Review: The Good Creative

"Be bold and brave with your art. Venture courageously with it into the unknown." - Paul Jarvis

I discovered this book through a promotional effort by the author, Paul Jarvis, for his recently launched podcast, Invisible Office Hours that he does with fellow cool person Jason SurfrApp (AKA Jason Sadler). He was giving away digital copies of The Good Creative for those that listened to the podcast and gave honest reviews, good or bad. I was intrigued by the podcast through recommendations of some awesome folks on Twitter so I listened, left my (positive) review, and got the book to check out. I got to it after I finished some other reading projects, and I blew through it in a day. I say that as a good thing.

The book, which reads more like a collection of blog posts than a dense tome, is a straightforward, concise collection of 18 tips from Jarvis about how to find personal satisfaction with the content you create. Your definition of success and whatever you make is up to you. He just helps you get there.

The book came out recently in April, and one in a series of other books by Jarvis about working freelance and creating a life as a "good creative". I found this one to be very applicable to my work running this blog (and where I hope it will eventually go). The writing is authentic, light, engaging, and actionable. Some of my favorite tips were about not feeling like you're "selling out" if you get sponsors or get paid to do your work as well as his advice about being authentic and telling your story. Something cool and unique about the book too, there are some really neat illustrations in the book to go along with all the tips.

I highly recommend this book! You can get it as a digital copy, a physical book, or an audiobook all on Paul's website.

If you read it, let me know what you think!

Thanks for stopping by!

Movie Review Monday: Donnie Darko

Welcome to another edition of Movie Review Monday!

This week's movie is 2001's Donnie Darko, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, and Drew Barrymore among others.

I've heard about this movie since high school, so I saw it available on Netflix to stream and figured I'd finally give it a try. I never really knew what it was about or what to expect.

The movie's basic premise is that Donnie Darko (Gyllenhaal) is a troubled high school student who is quirky and misunderstood by his family. He sleepwalks, and also begins to have prophetic visions of a man in a bunny costume that predicts "the end of the world". Donnie tries to find answers on his own and explores everything from time travel, God, and fate.

The movie is well paced, well acted, and engaging, but the premise is very confusing once you're done watching. I had to immediately scour the Internet for answers of what it all meant (SPOILER ALERT: I found this which explains it all well enough). While the whole journey is a little disorienting in the end, its in a way that intrigues you and makes you want to explore for answers rather than leaves you frustrated. At least it did for me. I can get why it may have been talked about a lot back in the day, since it is something you want to process after you finish.

I don't want to spoil anything or give too much away so I'll just say that I think this is a solid light sci-fi film with good acting, and an engaging storyline.

Check out Donnie Darko streaming right now on Netflix!

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 10/10/14

Welcome to my weekly geeklies!

(^ Shout to Alice from Twitter for the inspiration for this one! ^)

TV is on my brain a lot lately and I just wanted to get some long form thoughts out about some shows that are coming back now and will be back soon! What're you watching?

• Arrow, Season 3

This connects with the next item on the list (which just adds to each ones awesomeness). The new season of Arrow premiered this past week and continued the steady positive streak for the show. Coming off a great second season, the third season premiere promises another engaging season, with the inclusion of Ra's al Ghul as the big bad. Looking forward to what's in store!

• The Flash Series Premiere

I've been looking forward to this show since Barry Allen showed on up on Arrow last season and the series was originally teased. The premiere met my high expectations and realized all my anticipation. Grant Gustin does well as The Flash and the show is unique enough while also being familiar within the DC TV universe with its sibling show, Arrow. I look forward to all the crossovers and the new stuff coming from this show. The premiere definitely did not disappoint! Check it out!

• Parks & Recreation

I was talking about this show at lunch the other day and reminiscing about how great it is. All the great side characters, the classic gags, and quotable moments. The show has been very consistently enjoyable over its six seasons, and I'm almost glad it is ending this next season (which premieres in the spring). Its inspiration or spiritual predecessor, The Office, went on for far too long and had skippable seasons, which is a tough thing to admit about one of my favorite sitcoms of all time. Parks & Recreation is looking like it is going out on top and I'm eagerly awaiting its return!

 Thanks for stopping by!

Movie Review Monthly: September 2014

Welcome to the monthly wrap-up of my movie reviews for September!

Another month has come and gone. September had a wide diversity of fine films featured on Netflix to stream instantly, so definitely check them all out!

• Star Trek - The Motion Picture
• Heathers
• Trainspotting
• Reign Over Me

Hope you enjoy some or all of these movies!

Thanks for stopping by!

Book Review: The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth

"...the things that make kids bullied, ridiculed, and ostracized in high school are the same things that others will value in them after high school and will even make them valuable, productive, and simply good people."

I recently finished this amazing book. It is another in the series of geek/nerd related literature I've been digging into, like Nerds, American Nerd, & Geek Wisdom. Definitely check out my reviews for all of them too if you're interested.

This book has a unique hook that I really enjoyed. The author, Alexandra Robbins, coins the idea of "quirk theory" which defines as essentially being that the things that make kids bullied, ridiculed, and ostracized in high school are the same things that others will value in them after high school and will even make them valuable, productive, and simply good people. These would be having unique interests, being creative, and having their own beliefs that resist the influence of popular conformity. Robbins has a great quote from an article written by Walter Isaacson for Wired magazine that really sends this idea home:

'What made Einstein special was his impertinence, his nonconformity, and his distaste for dogma. Einstein's genius reminds us that society's competitive advantage comes not from teaching the multiplication or periodic tables but from nurturing rebels. Grinds have their place, but unruly geeks change the world.'

I love this sentiment. I felt the pressure to be "normal" in high school and realized that I was a nerd and that was a bad thing to the cool kids in high school. I was fine with myself before that but the cruel realities of those four years made me feel less than. Robbins goes into a lot of the reasons why high school is such a gauntlet of trials for so many students. She also tells the stories of several students from different backgrounds from all across the country over the course of a school year to showcase examples of what she is talking about throughout the book. Such topics include identity, conformity, why popular people are mean, and if being popular even makes you truly happy. The arcs that all the characters in the book go through are engaging and riveting. You go through ups and downs with all of them and their lives feel real and authentic. You get their responses to everything that happens to them and I felt compelled to keep reading to see what happened next.

Robbins goes into other surrounding topics to the subject matter of high school struggles like teachers, administrators, and parents. She gives 31 awesome actionable tips at the end for folks to takeaway, which I always appreciate. It's a light read as well, and never feels long-winded.

Much like Nerds, this book is a great overview of why anti-nerd bias exists, what perpetuates it, what it does to us, and what to do about it. I really enjoyed it, and maybe some of that comes from it resonating with me so much personally but I feel like everyone has felt a little out of place at some in their life, whether that was in high school, college, work, or even within their own family. There are valuable parcels of wisdom for any and all here.

Check out The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth, and I urge you to share it with any educators, parents, or anyone who struggled with their identity in high school. I know they'll get something from it.

Thanks for stopping by!

What I Was Geeking Out About: September 2014

Welcome to this monthly wrap up of my weekly geek outs!

September is in the books so that means it is time to curate my weekly highlights of my geek outs. There a wide array of things going on in my life this past month so I appreciate you engaging with all that I had the pleasure of involving myself with.

• Week of 09/05/14
• Week of 09/12/14
• Week of 09/19/14
• Week of 09/26/14

Thanks for stopping by!

Movie Review Monday: Silver Linings Playbook

Welcome to another edition of Movie Review Monday!

This week's movie is the 2012 hit, Silver Linings Playbook, starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro.

I hadn't heard much about this movie before it came out but good word of mouth after its release got me in the theater to watch it, and I am a big fan of this movie. All the actors are great in it and it has a nice takeaway at the end; everyone is a little bit crazy.

Cooper stars as Pat, a former teacher who gets released from a mental hospital in the wake of his wife's adultery, which highlighted his bipolar disorder when Pat beat the man his wife, Nikki, was cheating on him with. Pat is nevertheless determined to win his wife back by bettering himself and proving he can be a better husband, ignoring the fact she wants nothing to do with him. Pat eventually meets Tiffany, played by Lawrence. She is a recent widow and dealing with the aftermath through a sex addiction.

Pay and Tiffany are able to connect through their shared grief and ability to help each other with their own personal goals; Pat hopes to communicate with his ex-wife through Tiffany and Tiffany needs a dance partner for an upcoming competition. They make a deal and end up spending time together rehearsing their routine, bickering throughout. The movie is funny in an odd, sort of dark way. Pat can be terribly obtuse at times but his aloofness can be humorous. Pat's parents, played by De Niro and Jackie Weaver, are eccentric in their own right, along with supporting character Danny, played by Chris Tucker. All the supporting characters help lighten the mood most of the time but there is also some dramatic moments as Pat works to get better through therapy and stumbles from time to time throughout the film.

Much like my previous review of Reign Over Me, this movie provides an interesting, engaging, and entertaining look into mental health, how we deal with it, and how we work to overcome our issues. As I mentioned before, my big takeaway from this movie is that everyone is a little bit crazy, and that's alright. It normalizes our quirks, and encourages us to allow ourselves to accept each other and love one another unconditionally.

I highly recommend this movie. It is well done, well acted, and has a great story.

You can stream it right now on Netflix!

Let me know what you think of this movie and if you have any recommendations for what I should watch next.

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 10/03/14

Welcome to another edition of my week in geek!

Hey everybody, here is what is going on in my world lately!

• The Color Run

My partner Jenn and I completed The Color Run here in Bangor, ME this past weekend, and it was a blast! The run is 5K that has a great energy and a overarching theme of positivity. There is color galore, awesome jams, and great people all around. I'm not a runner by any stretch of the imagination and the run has a great vibe that is about the fun of the event and not about the competition. There are no winners and you can run or walk. They do events all over the country and even are going international. I highly recommend checking it out and you can see a few pictures of the event on my Instagram!

• Drunk History

I was perusing Hulu the other day and stumbled upon Comedy Central's Drunk History, one of its many solid new programs like Broad City, @midnight, & Nathan for You. This show has a simple premise, they get a friend drunk and they make them describe a historical event, to obviously humorous results. The catch is that the drunken stories are reenacted exactly as they are told by famous actors. You have to see it to truly appreciate it but there is a solid slate of episodes available from the show's two seasons (it is also coming back for a third season next year). The show was also originally on Funny or Die, so there is a whole other swath of episodes posted there to check out. As a history major and one who appreciates absurd comedy, this show is perfect.

• Cards Against Humanity

I've been playing this game with friends for a while now, and it is always a fun, fresh, and crazy time. I just got the fourth expansion and look forward to getting the recently released fifth expansion as well as a '90s theme pack that I had no idea existed (check the site for details on all the expansion packs). It's a simple card game like Apples to Apples where one player puts down a prompt and everyone else puts down their best answers but with a little more absurdity and crassness than it's more family oriented counterpart. It's a great way to get friends laughing together when you have a large group and I look forward to getting some more board games to share as great party activities.

Thanks for stopping by!

3 Ways to Learn From Geek Culture to Build Campus Community

With New York Comic Con drawing near and several other local conventions happening all the time across the country, it got me thinking about how there is such a vibrant community of geeks/nerds out there that come together wherever they are to celebrate what they love, whether that's anime, video games, comic books, television, or movies. Any organization or institution would love to see such a passionate and engaged audience come out for their efforts or programs. An audience that buzzes about things coming up, is willing to wait in line, and has no problem paying for content that is valuable to them.

Transitioning the best of the geek realm to the worlds of higher education & student affairs may be a jump and easier said than done, but I think there are some valuable takeaways to be considered about how to get a community excited and engaged.

Traditions

All good geeks & nerds know the foundational times of their favorite cons and in an age of instant streaming on demand, still make an appointment of viewing their favorite shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead or make sure to go to midnight releases of the stuff they can't wait for. Making annual traditions on your campus allow for students and the community to have something to look forward to each year. A yearly week long series of events or an annual concert allows for people to know generally when something is coming and they can build buzz for the thing they're anticipating. There is also power in sharing in an experience like Comic Con. People can share the past years they went and what was special about it for them and there is a connection if you've ever been to San Diego Comic Con, it doesn't matter which year. A common example of this on college campuses is homecoming weekends, where current and former students always have it to look forward to and there is a connection to the tradition itself and what it symbolizes. Everyone there has a bond to the campus and feels like they're coming home. Striving for more events like this for students and our communities allows for a common identity and an engaged audience for our efforts.

Symbols

Shared symbols are another important way to get a community together. Be it the Green Lantern symbol, the Starfleet insignia, Spider-Man's emblem, or the mushroom from Super Mario, all good geeks and nerds know these symbols or any others as a sort of badge of honor and instant geeky credentials. Colleges benefit from this as well but shouldn't rest on their laurels. Maximize these symbols with traditions to connect students and the community with the institution so people will display the school's logo proudly. I've seen a lot of schools go all in on this to build pride in their students and an instant identity in their communities. Just think about the Nittany Lion from Penn State, the block R from Rutgers, or the other simple, commonly known emblems from the big state schools across the country. All they need is their symbol for instant recognition. No words needed.

Connections

Of course, all of this means nothing if you don't get people connected to each other. People are excited to talk about what they're passionate about, so if you provide and venue and context to do this, connections will ensue. I love to talk about geeky stuff I'm into with friends and I love finding new people to geek out with. Something similar to this in the college sphere is alumni of an institution finding each miles away from their collegiate home. They can reminisce about their time on campus and make a bond from their shared experience. Many institutions do this of course but it can be taking this a step further to actively make introductions, provide more contextual opportunities for alumni to connect with each other and alumni to connect with current students like workshops on particular topics or networking events centered on a certain major or affinity. There are numerous opportunities to capitalize on the passion folks associated with your institution have and all of us in student affairs can be the conduit or provide the conduits for this energy to be maximized.

Working through these simple avenues will help create a passionate community surrounding your institution. Your students will have an identity, school pride, and be excited to be on campus. Hopefully these simple concepts are helpful to folks, and that they at least start the gears turning of how to get your students to geek out with you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Movie Review Monday: Reign Over Me

Welcome to another edition of Movie Review Monday!

This week's movie is 2007's Reign Over Me, starring Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler.

A rare dramatic performance from Sandler, this movie follows Cheadle's character, Alan Johnson, as he seeks to pull Sandler's character, Charlie Fineman, from a deep depression following the loss of Charlie's wife and kids in the September 11 attacks on New York City. Alan and Charlie used to be college roommates and Alan recognizes a disheveled Charlie one day and that is where the story starts. Charlie has retreated into a immature bubble where he refuses to even acknowledge his loss, cutting himself out from the rest of the world.

The main story is supported by Liv Tyler as a counselor who works to help Charlie, and Alan's wife who is played by Jada Pinkett Smith. The story is hard to watch at times, in a sort of neutral way. Charlie is quickly prone to anger when people try to get him to open up and Alan keeps trying to help him, but to no avail. You feel Charlie's emotions strongly but you also feel the frustration of Alan and those around him who are all trying to help Charlie. It gets hard to watch when Charlie is throwing his tantrums right when you think he's getting somewhere, and you just want there to be a happy ending, but there isn't. The movie is raw and real and it makes it a tough watch if you're not looking for something gut-wrenching and emotional.

This movie explores dark nuances of loss and depression that I don't feel like I've seen in a lot of other films. It deals with the compulsion some people have to fix things, and how we can't force any one, even those we care about, to do anything they aren't ready for.

I'd recommend this movie, especially as the national conversation around mental health is ongoing. It was a movie ahead of its time, I feel, and is definitely worth a viewing now.

You can stream Reign Over Me right now on Netflix.

Remember to take care of yourself, and as always, thanks for stopping by.