58 posts tagged with inspiration. (View popular tags)
Displaying 1 through 50 of 58. Subscribe:

Related tags:
+ (10)
+ (8)
+ (7)
+ (6)
+ (5)
+ (4)


Users that often use this tag:
zarq (4)
netbros (3)
filthy light thief (2)
Bora Horza Gobuchul (2)
divabat (2)
WCityMike (2)
growabrain (2)
madamjujujive (2)
nickyskye (2)

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."

My Psychic Garburator by Margaret Atwood [The New York Review of Books]
"Most dreams of writers aren’t about dead people or writing, and—like everyone else’s dreams—they aren’t very memorable. They just seem to be the products of a psychic garburator chewing through the potato peels and coffee grounds of the day and burping them up to you as mush."
[more inside]
posted by Fizz on May 8, 2013 - 17 comments

 

BLACK: My journey to yo-yo mastery.

Delightfully funny, self-honest, interesting and wise. More about personal evolution really than the yo-yo. Some intelligent laughs and inspiration here. It's a TED talk: BLACK: My journey to yo-yo mastery. Actual use of yo-yo begins at 4:00.
posted by nickyskye on Apr 23, 2013 - 8 comments

THE BOSOM BUDDIES OF WASTE

“During the 1920s, the British firm Parker-Holladay created a fictional character named Bill Jones. Mr. Jones’ dispensed his friendly advice to British clerical workers through colorful lithographic posters emblazoned with his get-right-to-the-point maxims." Why not enjoy this collection of can-do, yes-sir business motivational posters before you head back to work?
posted by The Whelk on Jan 1, 2013 - 40 comments

We all have excuses. However, some people find a way to ignore them

Gimp Monkeys: 'We are climbers first, disabled second. If you're a climber, you want to climb El Capitan.' (SLV)
posted by growabrain on Oct 30, 2012 - 8 comments

But as I stand here... I remain a child.

When I Grow Up (SLYT)
posted by zarq on Aug 3, 2012 - 29 comments

"Take risks, dare to fail, remember the first person through the wall always gets hurt."

"Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day. Civility, respect, kindness, character. You're too good for schadenfreude, you're too good for gossip and snark, you're too good for intolerance—and since you're walking into the middle of a presidential election, it's worth mentioning that you're too good to think people who disagree with you are your enemy.... Don't ever forget that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world. It's the only thing that ever has."
On May 13th, Aaron Sorkin gave the commencement address to the graduating class at Syracuse University, a speech that has been mildly criticized for recycling some lines from his shows West Wing and Sports Night. Video. (Via.)
posted by zarq on May 19, 2012 - 50 comments

Zen Pencils

Zen Pencils is a blog with a pretty simple premise: take inspirational quotes and set them to comics. It's only a few months old but there are already a bunch of greats within: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Carl Sagan, Albert Einstein, and more in the archives.
posted by mathowie on May 2, 2012 - 33 comments

"their purposes are entirely opaque to me, as are the purposes of so many others"

"their purposes are entirely opaque to me, as are the purposes of so many others" was the first (eerily self-descriptive) 'card' I got in Strategies, a bot in the tradition of Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies but with most content fed from horse_ebooks. Although, I think that is a quote from a terrifying Cronenberg student film, Crimes of the Future. The 'purpose' of this bot, according to the description is "for use when you're lacking inspiration, or make your own game of it."
posted by aretesophist on Apr 4, 2012 - 25 comments

Yes, but do they have a secret plan to fight inflation?

"It’s been nearly 6 years since the series finale of The West Wing, and more than 12 since the one-hour drama, which [Aaron] Sorkin created and largely wrote, first walked and talked its way through NBC’s Wednesday-night lineup; and yet you might think the series never ended, given the currency it still seems to enjoy in Washington, the frequency with which it comes up in D.C. conversations and is quoted or referenced on political blogs. In part this is because the smart, nerdy—they might prefer “precocious”—kids who grew up in the early part of the last decade worshipping the cool, technocratic charm of Sorkin’s characters have today matured into the young policy prodigies and press operatives who advise, brief, and excuse the behavior of the most powerful people in the country."
posted by zarq on Mar 11, 2012 - 134 comments

Masturbate frequently

Top artists reveal how to find creative inspiration
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Jan 2, 2012 - 65 comments

2061

On November 22, 2011, TEDxBrussels held an all day event whose theme was: "A Day in the Deep Future." Speakers were asked to try and contemplate what life will be like for mankind in 50 years. Overview. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Dec 28, 2011 - 29 comments

Typographic Inspiration

Beautiful Type is a patchwork of photos and illustrations having a relationship with typography. AisleOne is focused on graphic design, typography, grid systems, minimalism and modernism. iABC is a collection of beautiful letters. Inspiration Bit has a nice archive of articles about web typography. Nicetype is about fonts, logos, posters and software. Twenty-Six Types celebrates the beautiful letters. Typenuts is type-themed iPhone and desktop wallpapers. Typoretum is about typography, letterpress and printing history. Enjoy.
posted by netbros on Nov 6, 2011 - 5 comments

Colour Your World

Plenty of Colour is a site devoted to colour inspiration: not only from shades (black, red, pink, and purple to start), but also colourful places and spaces and objects of desire. There's also ColourLovers, (mentioned many times previously on the blue), with the The Colors of Good vs. Evil.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul on Sep 25, 2011 - 8 comments

Mike Rowe Remembers Fred King

Mike Rowe remembers his high school music teacher, Fred King. [more inside]
posted by Balonious Assault on Sep 8, 2011 - 12 comments

asavage on inspiration

A video was posted of Adam Savage's talk on inspiration at the May 2011 San Francisco Bay Area Maker Faire featuring readings from Emerson, Pirsig, and Chandler. [more inside]
posted by morganw on Aug 30, 2011 - 24 comments

Woman achieves Judo 10th degree black belt - at 98

98 year old woman just got her 10th level black belt in Judo. Only three people in the world, all men living in Japan, have ever reached that mark. The martial arts promotion by USA Judo brought 98-year-old Fukuda to tears at the women's dojo where she still teaches in Noe Valley. Last week, Sensei Keiko Fukuda of San Francisco became the first woman to be promoted to judo's highest level: 10th degree black belt. Video about Fukuda Keiko. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Aug 9, 2011 - 102 comments

Ideas + Energy = Change

DO Lectures: a smaller, gentler TED, with annual conferences in Wales and the US. Every twenty-minute conference presentation is available as free online video. A sampling: Tim Berners-Lee on how the web just happened. Peter Segger on soil. David Allen on optimizing your brain.  A complete list of presenters. The Do Village blog.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul on Jul 20, 2011 - 11 comments

When they sit next to you, they see possibility.

Anatomy of a Writer. "Like the protagonist of 1984, who risked his life to purchase a notebook and signed it away by filling it with words, writers sometimes find themselves huddled in a corner, crouching onto their guilty pleasure protectively, hoping that their spouse, or friends won’t catch them at it."
posted by Phire on Jun 26, 2011 - 13 comments

The little team full of heart

L'equip petit - "... if one day I score, I'll be so happy that I'll fly."
posted by madamjujujive on Jun 23, 2011 - 12 comments

I am a 91-year-old bodybuilder

I am a 91-year-old bodybuilder (SLgrauniad)
posted by Tom-B on Apr 29, 2011 - 43 comments

Genius is being used a little loosely here

How Genius Works. The Atlantic asks artists like T.C. Boyle, Tim Burton, Paul Simon, and Frank Gehry (and others who aren't so well-known) to describe their creative process.
posted by helloknitty on Apr 22, 2011 - 68 comments

Web Design Tutorials and Inspiration

Web Design Ledger is a publication written by web designers for web designers. The primary purpose of the site is to act as a platform for sharing web design related knowledge and resources. Topics range from design inspiration to tips and tutorials and everything in between. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Oct 11, 2010 - 15 comments

These Wheels are Made for Walkin'

Towering over New Hampshire at a height of 6,288 feet, Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States. It has been ascended by countless hikers from all walks of life, including (for the first time ever) a paralyzed dog. [more inside]
posted by dhammond on Sep 22, 2010 - 41 comments

And all of a sudden, you find yourself a hundred years old

Dr Richard Bing has been around for awhile. Dr Richard Bing celebrated his 100th birthday October 2009. [more inside]
posted by Megami on Sep 16, 2010 - 7 comments

real estate mogul has full on double rainbow reading twilight

Real-Estate Tycoon Deconstructs 'Twilight' "Barrack describes a lonely evening on a yacht in Turkey after a cancelled business meeting. In the yacht, Mr. Barrack writes, he came upon a book on which 'were written the words that strike terror in the hearts of every macho, red-blooded male... TWILIGHT'. He goes on..."
posted by kliuless on Jul 10, 2010 - 35 comments

Leave them laughing

Carla's final video blog from heaven - shown publicly for the first time at Carla Zilbersmith's funeral after her death from ALS. [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive on Jun 14, 2010 - 25 comments

Send Me (X) and I'll Make You (Y)

User-submitted inspiration for comics and art: Poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines (prev), and more refined comics from "normal" text spam text. Cartoons drawn from titles sent to one Sam Brown (pseudonym of Adam Culbert). Artists send artwork, someone else adds the text. Submit a video game title and description and get the box art made for you, courtesy of MeFi's own cheap paper [via mefi projects].
posted by filthy light thief on May 26, 2010 - 21 comments

Portrait of the young writer as a literary sponge

The 10 Most Harmful Novels for Aspiring Writers
posted by Artw on May 15, 2010 - 144 comments

Pipes and Cogs. And lots of heart.

Bulgaria is not what you'd call a wealthy country. It has a smaller population than New York City. But Bulgaria utterly dominates the sport of Olympic Weightlifting. A full explanation of this prowess is beyond the scope of a simple blog post, but I will share with you this six-minute video about a man who built a nationally-ranked team training his athletes with barbells made of pipes and cogs and assorted industrial junk. I hope this goes at least a little way towards explaining their remarkable accomplishments.
posted by jason's_planet on May 5, 2010 - 17 comments

aka 3 pages

750words.com is a simple, free site which challenges you to write 750 words (~3 pages) every day and tracks your results. The notes from happy patrons are inspiring. [more inside]
posted by ejoey on Mar 15, 2010 - 42 comments

GivesMeHope: For Those "Exhausted by the Negativity of the Mainstream Media"

GivesMeHope (RSS), a site for those "completely exhausted by the negativity of the mainstream media." Modeled after their polar opposite, Fuck My Life, the site serves as a source for sometimes glurgy, but much more often touching, 350-character stories that can serve to remind that "the world is a fine place and worth fighting for." The Top 10, as voted by readers, are enough to melt hearts of stone. Oh, and The Office's Dwight thinks it's "awesome". [more inside]
posted by WCityMike on Sep 19, 2009 - 64 comments

Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass...

Tracy Kidder’s new book 'Strength in What Remains' receives rave reviews from Ron Suskind at the NYT Sunday Book Review. An Excerpt from Chapter 1. The website of Deogratias' Village Health Works. A short blog post about Deo's younger brother, Asvelt, which also includes a video of wonderful Burundian drumming
posted by growabrain on Aug 29, 2009 - 6 comments

Penny Arcade: "Automata" inspired works

The guys at Penny Arcade often refer to their sequential comics as "dreaded continuity," but some of their storylines have created their own microcosms apart from the usual commentary on things in the broad world video games. Prime examples of these storylines include Cardboard Tube Samurai and Song of the Sorcelator, the latter has spun into a world made by its fans. The newest sequential work started from one of three short "treatments," set in a nineteen-twenties crime fiction which unfolds in a time where "machine intellect" has been outlawed. The first page of Automata was set to music that was composed and performed by Christoph Hermiteer. The second fan creation is a short radio program, based on a script written by the Penny Arcade folks.
posted by filthy light thief on Aug 5, 2009 - 73 comments

The Human Marvels: Presenting Peculiar People

J. Tithonus Pednaud herein presents for your edification and enlightenment a curious collection of human marvels. You may call them oddities, freaks or monstrosities—whatever you will—but I call them incredible, persevering, resourceful and marvelous human beings. I chronicle their inspirational stories of triumph over nature, fate and the judgment of man. [Previously seen here. See also.]
posted by parudox on Jan 3, 2009 - 9 comments

A Museum of Living History

The Academy of Achievement brings students face-to-face with the extraordinary leaders, thinkers and pioneers who have shaped our world. Through profiles, biographies, and interviews Achievers in The Arts, Business, Public Service, Science, and Sports teach us how the Academy's core values of passion, vision, preparation, courage, perseverance, and integrity can, and will, lead to success. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Jan 1, 2009 - 6 comments

Songs and their muses

Guardian Journalist Dave Simpson went in search of people who inspired famous pop songs. We have, for example, Holly Woodlawn ('Walk on the Wild Side'), Dave Balfe ('Country House'), Melanie Coe ('She's Leaving Home'), Pattie Boyd ('Something', 'Layla' AND 'Wonderful Tonight') and Suzanne Verdal ('Suzanne' - previously)
posted by rongorongo on Dec 14, 2008 - 39 comments

The Isle of the Dead

The picture of a boat approaching a wooded island held a strange sway over the early twentieth century imagination. Strindberg closes The Ghost Sonata with the image; Rachmaninoff brought forth a symphonic poem from it; Freud, Lenin, and Clemenceau all owned prints, while Hitler hung one of the original five paintings on his wall. The work's creator, a Swiss Symbolist painter named Arnold Böcklin, never cared to give it a name. It was an art dealer who first called it Die Toteninsel"The Isle of the Dead."
posted by Iridic on Oct 31, 2008 - 27 comments

My advice to the graduates: Plastics.

Randy Pausch, Barbara Kingsolver, Barack Obama, and J.K. Rowling inspired the hell out of Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Wesleyan, and Harvard graduates this year. If you're a big fan of pomp and circumstance, you'll also want to check out these: Chuck Norris at Liberty University, Samantha Power at Pitzer College, and Michelle Nijhuis at Reed College. [more inside]
posted by anotherpanacea on Jun 8, 2008 - 36 comments

Oxford Muse

Oxford Muse - "a foundation to stimulate courage and invention in personal, professional and cultural life". Browse the self-potraits (autobiographies), participate in projects, go universal, or just learn what the Muse is.
posted by divabat on May 6, 2008 - 5 comments

Advice To Sink In Slowly

Use your library. Make more GIF files. Trust the process. Make art - it's good for your heart. from advice to sink in slowly.
posted by divabat on Jan 24, 2008 - 8 comments

Good Night, Sweet Icarus

R.I.P Paul B. MacCready Paul MacCready, inventor of the Gossamer Condor, the first human powered heavier-than-air aircraft, and the Gossamer Albatross, the first human powered aircraft to cross the English Channel, has died, according to AeroVironment, the company he founded.
"You can do all kinds of things if you just plunge ahead," he said in an interview with Science in 1986. "It doesn't mean you're any good at them, but you can be good enough."

posted by paulsc on Sep 1, 2007 - 13 comments

"I fight for laughter to start."

It's perhaps in the nature of humanity — or at the very least, modern-day culture — to marvel at, and share news about, our more hateful aspects. It's nice to know that there are moments out there that you can accidentally stumble across that prove to you that mankind has perhaps some innate goodness in it, as well. (Sorry for the unicorn fluffiness; we now return you to your regularly scheduled Metafilter programming, already in progress.)
posted by WCityMike on Apr 13, 2007 - 4 comments

Team Hoyt - It's Only A Mountain

Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they’re not in a marathon they are in a triathlon — that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

It’s a remarkable record of exertion — all the more so when you consider that Rick can't walk or talk.
Quite possibly one of the most inspirational stories that I've ever encountered -- Team Hoyt.
posted by purephase on Oct 19, 2006 - 20 comments

A Real Robinson Crusoe

Alexander Selkirk, born in 1676 in Lower Largo, Fife, Scotland, was the unruly seventh son of a cobbler. In 1703, having grown tired of life in his village, he was able to convince successful buccaneer William Dampier that he was the man to navigate Dampier’s next privateering expedition to South America. After a dispute with the young captain of the ship on which he served as sailing master, Selkirk was left behind on a small island 418 miles west of Valparaiso, Chile. Rescued four years later, he was the subject of several contemporary accounts of his ordeal, and likely served as one of Daniel Defoe's primary inspirations for Robinson Crusoe.
posted by killdevil on Apr 25, 2006 - 10 comments

Be Mice Elf Again.

Sly Stone--not dead, might perform again. [from WaPo] A great musician and a complicated life.
posted by bardic on Jan 27, 2006 - 37 comments

Italo Calvino sparks obsessions

Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities is so called because it asserts that what makes up a city is not so much its physical structure but the impression it imparts upon its visitors, the way its inhabitants move within, something unseen that hums between the cracks. This, however, has in no way dissuaded people from attempting to give form to his works. One such example is the Hotel Tressants, a building in Menorca, Spain containing 8 rooms named after and inspired by various cities from the novel. Meanwhile, artists offer illustrations1,2,3, installations 1,2,3,4,5, music1,2,3,4,5,6 and dance, hypertexts1,2, computer programs and animations, even View-Master slides, while intellectuals offer readings and commentary1,2, lectures1,2, and critical texts1,2,3 sparked by the man and his writings. It has been dubbed "The Calvino Effect". Do you know of any more?
posted by Lush on May 20, 2005 - 37 comments

Literature

The narrative strategies of Genesis, according to EL Doctorow.
posted by semmi on Mar 28, 2005 - 8 comments

M M M My Sharona... M M M My real estate agent?

M M M My Sharona... M M M My real estate agent? Sharona Alperin was only 17 when she inspired the Knack's 1979 hit single "My Sharona." Now she sells real estate in Los Angeles...On the flip side of lyrical fame, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer inspired another set of lyrics in 1979 -- the Boomtown Rats' haunting song "I Don't Like Mondays" -- which chronicled Spencer's slaying of eight school children and a principal at an elementary school near her San Diego, CA-area home. It's not an urban legend: Spencer told a reporter who called her during the 6 1/2 -hour siege that she opened fire because, "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." Spencer reminds us today that schoolyard shootings are not a new phenomenon. Now 42, Brenda is serving a 25-year sentence and is up for parole soon...
posted by Mr Pointy on Mar 22, 2005 - 48 comments

You Are/I Am

You are beautiful. is a project that reminds me of this. (previously discussed here.) Be sure to check out the postcards and books. I've signed up to participate.
posted by modernsquid on Dec 14, 2004 - 21 comments

Word It

Word It is your opportunity to express in as many words, and as many other graphic elements as you need, what best describes each monthly topic. Each month we will choose a specific topic, idea or theme. For example: the first theme was “inspiration.” So you would go home, or do it at work, and find words, images, artwork, whatever that best describes what inspiration means to you. It could be anything: music, cats, chocolate, museum, love, laundry. Anything that reflects what inspiration is to you. You can do whatever you want to it: vectorize it, photoshop it, scan it or build it and then send it to us.
posted by ColdChef on Aug 11, 2004 - 4 comments

Page: 1 2