Back to blogging and Benedict Cumberbatch

After my brief hiatus of writing and producing a show, I'm back, pencil sharpened, and bright eyed.

Like when you buy new jeans but don't know what to wear them with, I've got this fresh start on my blog but am a little unsure what to write about.

In my time 'away', I completed the first 2 seasons of the new series "Sherlock" with Benedict Cumberbatch as the title role. It's not the first time that I have been sucked into liking an actor because of being immersed in the TV series but this is a full obsession.

And due to the fact the Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (gee his parents win at names!) is extremely talented and genuinely a nice guy (who photobombs on the red carpet and struggles to say "penguin"), I'm ok about it. I know this because I have pretty much seen all his interviews, behind the scenes and some audition/rehearsal videos and we're more or less mates. 

This is the world we live in. I feel connected to someone I have only seen on screen and social media and never met. The dopamine release I got when watching those thrilling episodes back to back whilst sewing costumes and eating dark chocolate I have now managed to string out with an afternoon of serious YouTube stalking and occasional updates from twitter and instagram. It's strange isn't it? 

Celebrity culture, once restricted to royalty and biblical/mythical figures, has pervaded many sectors of society including business, publishing, and even academia (thescilebrities). Mass media has increased the exposure and power of celebrity, and increased our desire to know them. A trend has developed that celebrity carries with it increasingly more social capital than in earlier times. These people living the 'desired life' with their jet-setting lifestyle, epic creative projects and appearances on cool late night shows make us feel things; jealous, inspired, happy, angry (I'm looking at you, Kimye.)

But back to blogging.
It's one of those things that, like everything on the internet, some people make an overnight success at, going viral and getting sponsorships and endorsements. It's also one of those things that, like everything in life, it can take a lot of hard work, persistence and creative balls till people start noticing.

So, until next week...

Jj

Use your Brain.

The other night, I was reading Broadsheet magazine and also sifting on my smart phone when my housemate came home. She showed me this book about the Chinese New Year and what my year had in store for me, so, interested,  I flipped it open and started having a read. Between each sentence about my future prosperity, health and romance, my eyes kept darting back to my phone, pressing refresh, looking back at Broadsheet and back to the book again. I couldn't stay focused on more than one paragraph of what was in front of me......

Sound familiar?

I'm not the first one to point out that more and more research and evidence has been found to illustrate that our generation's brains are changing thanks to the way technology is so snugly nestled in our lives. From 2001-2011, our attention spans dropped from 12 seconds to 5 seconds.

The Daily Mail reported the average person switches between devices as many as 21 times an hour. Advertising researchers tracked the online behaviour of 200 British people to discover how much time they spent on one device before picking up another and found our attention span is smaller than ever thanks to the growing presence of these multiple devices.

Have you done anything else since the start of this post?

I could go on and on with facts and figures, but I'm going to talk about a feeling.
Fear.

I'm afraid at how quickly we forget things.
I've been invited to several birthday dinners this weekend, but even though I've accepted the invitation, I can't tell you the name of the place we are going to. I know it's a new place in the city, but that's it.

Simple things like directions, phone numbers, place names and dates, we don't even have to try to remember anymore as we know we can find it in a few taps of our fingers.

How many times have you been out to dinner with friends and heard something like this-
"I watched this really good movie the other night"
"Oh yeah, who was in it?"
"Ahhh it was that guy from, you know, that musical movie with Anne Hathaway"
"Hugh Jackman"
"Na, not him, ahh that other one...(quickly does google search) ah yeah, Eddie Redmayne"
"Oh yeah, what was that movie called again"
"(looks at phone again, has also checked Facebook whilst still looking up Eddie Redmayne) The Theory of Everything"
"Oh yeah"

I'm afraid of how we don't try to figure things out, afraid of how we don't worry about actually knowing how to spell words correctly, or even remember simple pages to look up.
Even when I tell people about this blog, I post it on their wall rather than ask them to remember "thejoanasimmo.blogspot.com.au" 

Yes, I'm probably making generalisations based on myself and my peers, and maybe you have the attention span of a sparrow (which is long) 

The thing that sparked me to write about this, was not only the short length of my attention span the other day, but the questions some of my students (aged 10-20) have been asking me lately.
"Joana, my shoes are slipping- what do I do?"
"Take them off."

Google is the bomb. I use it for lots of stuff and I'm sure you are pretty aquatinted with it too. Google is smarter than me.
But that doesn't mean I have to just accept that I'm meant to be dumb and use the internet as a spoon to feed me things I can't be bothered spooning up or thinking up myself.

When I see someone get out their phone when they have forgotten the name of something, I push it out of their hands and ask them to use their brains. I used to write everything down so I didn't have to remember it, now I prefer to train my memory, thanks to the Mega Memory tapes my mother made me listen to in the 90s.

We know exercising our bodies keeps us healthy. We need to exercise out brains and our focus, as just as your biceps deteriorate with age if you don't flex 'em, so will your brain. Your hair will be grey, but your memories will hopefully be bright in decades to come!

Jj 

a blog 'bout a book

It can bring you hours of entertainment, can be taken anywhere, doesn’t need charging and usually costs $20 or less.

Reading is one of those things that I love but don’t always allocate time for. It’s one of those econo activities where even just two minutes spent doing it makes me happy. (other econo activities are doing burpees, practicing the piano or meditating)

Sometimes I can’t finish books, others I can’t put down; unless I fall asleep reading them and they hit me on that sensitive point on the bridge of my nose.

The books I read get tea spilt on them, crumpled in my bag, and lost under the bed. I love to lend them or steal them from my friends and I’m sad when they end.

I just finished reading YES PLEASE, an autobiography and life guide by Amy Poehler, who you may have seen on Saturday Night Live, Parks and Recreation,  hosting the Golden Globes or as the mum on Mean Girls. Look her up, or even better, check out the book.

*****Disclaimer : below is a direct exert from the book and not mine but Amy Poehler’s and she rules. This is pretty rad advice from someone who has aced their career but started from the bottom and worked damn hard.

“ Treat your career like a bad boyfriend…Your career won’t take care of you, it won’t call you back or introduce it to its parents. Your career will openly flirt with other people when you are around. It will forget your birthday and wreck your car. Your career will blow you off if you call it too much….your career is f**king other people and everyone knows but you. Your career will never marry you.

Now, before I extend this metaphor, let me make a distinction between career and creativity. Creativity is connected to your passion, that light that drives you. That joy that comes when you do something you love. That small voice that tells you, “I like this...You are good at it. Keep going” That is the juicy stuff that lubricates our lives and helps us feel less alone in the world. Your creativity is not a bad boyfriend. It is a really warm older Hispanic lady who has a beautiful laugh and loves to hug. If you are even a little bit nice to her she will make you feel great and maybe cook you delicious food.

Career is different. Career is the stringing together of opportunities and jobs. Mix in public opinion and past regrets. Add a dash of future panic and a whole lot of financial insecurity. Career is something that fools you into thinking you are in control and then takes pleasure in reminding you that you aren’t. Career is that thing that will not fill you up and never make you truly whole. Depending on your career is like eating cake for breakfast and wondering why you start crying an hour later.”

Hell yeah.

******Second disclaimer: This is also another bit from the book and sorry it’s making the blog really long and kind of a cop out by me for not really writing but this bit totes rulz.

“Let me take a minute to say that I love a bossy woman. Some people hate the word, and I understand how ‘bossy’ can seem like a shitty way to describe a woman with a determined point of view, but for me, a bossy woman is someone to search out and celebrate. A bossy woman is someone who cares and commits and is a natural leader. Also, even though I’m bossy, I like being told what to do by people who are smarter and more interesting than me.”

I concur that HELL YEAH rhymes with POEHLER for a reason.

Alas, I now have book withdrawl and will have to go back to reading the cereal box until I have a new paper pal to capture my mind.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, even more if you can lend the book to me. I would lend you “Yes Please “ but it’s not mine.

Jj