Procrastination

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From The School of Life: procrastination, it isn't really to do with laziness. It's to do with fear.

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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.

A New Theory of Distraction

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Joshua Rothman  ponders distraction in The New Yorker: 

The way we talk about distraction has always been a little self-serving—we say, in the passive voice, that we’re “distracted by” the Internet or our cats, and this makes us seem like the victims of our own decisions. But [German sociologist Georg] Crawford shows that this way of talking mischaracterizes the whole phenomenon. It’s not just that we choose our own distractions; it’s that the pleasure we get from being distracted is the pleasure of taking action and being free. There’s a glee that comes from making choices, a contentment that settles after we’ve asserted our autonomy. When you write an essay in Microsoft Word while watching, in another window, an episode of “American Ninja Warrior”—trust me, you can do this—you’re declaring your independence from the drudgery of work. When you’re waiting to cross the street and reach to check your e-mail, you’re pushing back against the indignity of being made to wait. Distraction is appealing precisely because it’s active and rebellious.
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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.

Can Reading Make You Happier?

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Ceridwen Dovey, The New Yorker: 

For all avid readers who have been self-medicating with great books their entire lives, it comes as no surprise that reading books can be good for your mental health and your relationships with others, but exactly why and how is now becoming clearer, thanks to new research on reading’s effects on the brain. Since the discovery, in the mid-nineties, of “mirror neurons”—neurons that fire in our brains both when we perform an action ourselves and when we see an action performed by someone else—the neuroscience of empathy has become clearer. A 2011 study published in the Annual Review of Psychology, based on analysis of fMRI brain scans of participants, showed that, when people read about an experience, they display stimulation within the same neurological regions as when they go through that experience themselves. We draw on the same brain networks when we’re reading stories and when we’re trying to guess at another person’s feelings.
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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.

Subway Platform Pas De Deux

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A beautiful dance on a subway platform. 

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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.

The Week's Links: June 19, 2015

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ALL THE LINKS POSTED ON SOCIAL NETWORKS THIS WEEK:

  • ‘Endless Gravity’, A Short Film Comprised of Beautiful 14-bit RAW Video of Underwater Life owl.li/OrRE9
  • Photos: In Havana, beauty and decay coexist owl.li/OrRfj
  • ◉ How Headlines Change The Way We Think owl.li/Olz64
  • Writers’ Photos of Where They Get Inspired owl.li/OpV4f
  • Reporting from Cuba, a place frozen in time yet full of potential owl.li/OrRd6
  • Late last month, Wyatt Mitchell left The New Yorker for Apple. The question is, why? owl.li/OpUCA
  • James Joyce Reads From Ulysses and Finnegans Wake In His Only Two Recordings (1924/1929) owl.li/OrR54
  • Here Are the 12 Best Facebook Marketing Campaigns From the Past Year owl.li/OpUmF
  • Why humans run the world owl.li/OrCuu
  • How Your Brain Understands Visual Language owl.li/OpV55
  • Blade Runner Recut with the Sci-Fi Masterpiece's Unused Original Footage owl.li/OpUkW
  • The Power of the Long Walk owl.li/OlTxe
  • ◉ Alain de Botton "The News: A User's Manual" owl.li/OlyVu
  • A Philosopher Takes On Marketing: 4 Lessons For Brands From Alain De Botton owl.li/OlkAh
  • "Code Like a Girl" follows young women in tech at WWDC 2015 owl.li/OlwXj
  • MoMA Acquires the Rainbow Flag owl.li/Osn6Q
  • Different Personalities Experience Time Differently owl.li/Olkjm
  • How Email Became The Most Reviled Communication Experience Ever owl.li/OlsFF
  • How did air travel go from extravagant to abominable? owl.li/OiJsp
  • The Instagram of News Is Here, And It's Way Smarter Than You Think owl.li/OlrOx
  • How Email Became The Most Reviled Communication Experience Ever owl.li/Olpwa
  • Blue Computer Light Alone May Not Be Messing With Your Sleep owl.li/OiafZ
  • Richard Weller: Could the sun be good for your heart? owl.li/Oiac1
  • ◉ The Meaning of "Culture" owl.li/OlyO7
  • Meet the Little Geniuses of a Giant Science Fair owl.li/OfsZh
  • A Window into New Physics owl.li/Oia6V
  • Double tornadoes, double rainbows, double hailstones owl.li/Ofsef
  • We’re one step closer to finding new Earth-like planets owl.li/Oia0w
  • When to Quit a Project (or Career) owl.li/OfrjJ
  • Henry Lin: What we can learn from galaxies far, far away owl.li/Oi9Ku
  • ‘Willy Wonka,’ ‘Battlefield Earth’ and the secret history of movie funding owl.li/OiJoj
  • 6 things you need to know about virtual reality (from the guy who’s doing it right) owl.li/OhsrN
  • An Inside Look at Facebook’s Approach to Automation and Human Work owl.li/OeNbL
  • This Robot Can 3-D Print A Steel Bridge In Mid-Air owl.li/OeMZD
  • ◉ Sesame Street: What is Dance? owl.li/OlyGY
  • Everything you need to know about energy,... owl.li/Oc91C
  • How Pyrex Transformed The Way We Cook owl.li/OeMSq
  • Document Deep Dive: What Does the Magna Carta Really Say? owl.li/OlZum
  • ◉ Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks - smartercreativity.com/recommendation…
  • If Technology is Changing How We Communicate, What Does That Mean for Communication Design? owl.li/Oc8Nm
  • An Exclusive Offer You Can't Refuse: Hilarious Spam Emails, Illustrated owl.li/OeMJy
  • The Problem With The Color Blue owl.li/ObKNv
  • Apple's Support of Ad Blocking May Upend How the Web Works owl.li/OeiRI
  • The Iconic Covers of Paul Bacon owl.li/OeNlj
  • How Science Changed Sleep Forever owl.li/Oc9lF
  • The strange questions New York Public Library librarians received before the internet owl.li/ObwJq
  • Oliver Sacks on What Happened to Spalding Gray owl.li/ObvZW
  • The Creativity Top 5: The Best Brand Ideas of the Week owl.li/Oj63g
  • Marginalia, the Anti-Library, and Other Ways to Master the Lost Art of Reading owl.li/O93gX
  • Object of Intrigue: The Most Beautiful Banknote in U.S. History owl.li/Obvkp
  • Tell Me Who You Spend Time With, And I Will Tell You Who You Are owl.li/O8GlM
  • When Things Get Tough, It’s the Realists Who Survive owl.li/ObtMm
  • The Art and Business of Book Covers owl.li/O8FlM
  • SpaceX founder files with government to provide Internet service from space owl.li/ObBwC
  • Great podcast: Viva La Arquitectura! owl.li/O9F0i
  • Create Things No One Else Will Ever See owl.li/O99nr
  • Rare footage surfaces of Amelia Earhart shortly before she vanished owl.li/O8A0H
  • The cause of hangovers isn't what you think—and other insights from a new group that researches a very old problem. owl.li/O8zXv
  • Paul Bacon (1923-2015), master of the “Big Book Look” in cover design, died on Monday at 94 of a heart attack. owl.li/O89cK
  • Son of migrants, Juan Felipe Herrera to become first Latino U.S. Poet Laureate owl.li/O8wyK
  • Is Translation an Art or a Math Problem? owl.li/O5Rwo
  • Amazing Time-Lapse Drone Footage of the Newly Completed Crossrail Tunnels Across Greater London owl.li/O8oTH
  • The Tree of Languages Illustrated in a Big, Beautiful Infographic owl.li/O5RjY
  • The Evidence Points to a Better Way to Fight Insomnia owl.li/O8ovh
  • The obscure legal system that lets corporations sue countries owl.li/O8CDr
  • Study: Kids can learn as much from ‘Sesame Street’ as from preschool owl.li/O8lhx
  • Original Star Wars Script Found, Solves Long-Running Mystery owl.li/O5PX0
  • 13 Little-Known Punctuation Marks We Should Be Using owl.li/O5ORZ
  • ◉ If You Want to Meet That Deadline, Play a Trick on Your Mind owl.li/O1ZFE
  • The 50 Most-Read McSweeney’s Internet Tendency Articles of All-Time. owl.li/O5eRK
  • The American West, 150 Years Ago owl.li/O5OEa
  • The Middle of Things: Advice for Young Writers owl.li/O59QQ
  • Helsinki’s free, city-wide Wi-Fi network is faster than your home internet owl.li/O5I9J
  • Beautiful Time-Lapse Drone Footage of Fog Gently Rolling Over Twin Peaks and Sutro Tower in San Francisco owl.li/O59yj
  • Regular readers sleep better, have lower stress levels, higher self-esteem, and lower rates of depression than non-readers....
  • Don't You Just Love Oral Histories Of Movies? owl.li/O5f26
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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.