“If” by Rudyard Kipling with a video by Spy Films

The poem beautifully describes life’s ups and downs and the importance of knowing how to embrace them both. It celebrates the acceptance and abandonment of what you’d love to have or would hate to lose, and, in either case, having the capacity to move forward – without losing yourself.

It’s about putting yourself out there and playing out the entire story. It may be through a startup, a job, a piece of art or a night out with friends. To follow a dream, or to pursue a want, but not to become bound to any one mantra while doing so.

I’ve always had a soft spot for that type of duality-talk. I too believe life provides a bounty of gifts for those that dance the line.

That’s my take anyway, but the only true way to describe how it makes me feel is to be inside my head when I read it. Thus is the beauty of art and poetry: personal interpretation.

Want to take a crack at expressing your take?

Enjoy the black and white video and reading by Dennis Hopper in the video below created by Nikki Ormerod and Spy Films and let us know your take of this classic piece.

from Graham Chisholm on Vimeo.

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
    And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
    And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
    To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
    If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Source: A Choice of Kipling’s Verse (1943)

In Pamplona The Sun Also Rises

My self-improvement/educational books began getting dry and it was time to learn more indirectly by ingesting some classic novels again. It may seem pretty naive of me looking back, but when I picked up a copy of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises I had no idea how relevant it would be to our trip. I’ve read a couple of Hemingway’s books before and loved their balance between simplicity and great emotional depth.

As many of you seem to already know, the majority of the Sun Also Rises is based out of Pamplona, Spain. There, Hemingway’s characters find themselves in a bizarre love (or loveless) story entangled within its now famous annual fiesta of San Fermin and the Running of the Bulls. As it turns out, Hemingway’s story is exactly what gave the Running of the Bulls international popularity. Today San Fermin is now the largest festival in the entire world which he himself attended nine times in his life.

As Jake (the main character in the book) drew closer to his visit to Pamplona, I in turn drew closer to mine. I arrived with about twenty more pages to go and find it fitting to finish the book while I’m here.

It is amazing to walk the very same streets that he made famous in the novel. In some ways I feel like I’ve been here before – seventy years or so ago. Before we began doing research online for our standard “things to do” list, I surprisingly already knew when the rockets would go off, where the bulls would run and a general idea of what to expect in the chaos. I would never have thought a novel would make such a great travel guide! It is such an unforgettable feeling to experience a town in two ways such as this and I am excited to enjoy the festival only 24 hours away!

Off to finish the book and start my very own version of the experience. (I’ll add notes about the book in a later update.)

 

Driving Through Italy: Know the etiquette and rules while avoiding fines

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Italy is known for its Lamborghinis and Ferraris, and although we didn’t see any it seemed like everyone thought they were driving one.

Speeding

Funny thing about italy. It is the exact opposite of Australia’s driving culture. Everyone and their grandmother is going 30Km/h or more over the speed limit.  We saw few police on the highway but many radar cameras and signs. Based on our experiences in NZ and AU we did our best to stay below the posted speed limit even though no one else seemed to.

A huge credit to Italian drivers: they always pulled to the right when they weren’t passing. (Something I really wish more Americans did.) We noticed  a sort of dance that exists in the way cars passed one another. On the highway you could  often see one car speeding past you and then immediately pull in to the right lane. Just as another car passed them and went directly into the right lane too. Then another car would pass and do the same, and then another. It was a sort of jump-frog of cars passing by and pulling over to the slower lane to let the person behind them go by. It was quite impressive actually.

You would also often see what I call a “slow-lane tap-in” during the “passing dance”. After a car would speed past us they would tap half of their car into the right lane for a few moments before speeding off again.

Driving through towns

You cannot drive within the city walls of any of the small historic cities like Siena, Pisa, Cortona etc. If you do, not only will you get lost or have a hell of a time turning around but you’ll get fined $100 or more for doing so. Yes, there will be cars driving into and around the city making it seem like it is a-okay, but YOU are not allowed to follow suit. A “my mistake” will get you nowhere with an officer. Finally, after 5 days, if you don’t pay up your fine could double. I really wish our rental car company would have clued us in.

A good rule of thumbs is: If you are about to drive through an archway of a huge wall, turn around.

IDP Required

Italy is one of the few countries that *require* an IDP (International drivers permit.) Not having one will cost you a $300 fine on top of whatever else you get stopped for.

ztlBeware of Traffic Zones

Watch out for ZTLs (zona a traffico limitato – reduced traffic zone.) There are cameras everywhere and you may not even get a notice of your fine for up to a year.

Parking

Make sure you bring change with you. Many parking stations don’t take credit cards or cash. Also, be sure to check online for parking info for the town you plan to visit. For example, there is parking for residents only in certain areas of town and there may not be a sign specifying it as such. Check other car’s dashboard nearby. If there are papers on the dash with the word “resident” on it, it probably isn’t a public lot. Most likely you will need to park and walk or grab a bus to the town. Also, different color spaces have different implied costs. For example, white spaces can mean free, while blue can mean you have to pay, and they may be situated right next to one another. In some cases yellow will denote its for resident, but bear in mind that not all resident spaces are yellow.

In the new world of automated, camera based, ticketing systems the days of “I didn’t know” are all but a memory. You must be far more researched that you had to be in the past to go on a driving adventure abroad. Hopefully these tips help 🙂

 

 

Improving my Ilustrator Skills

Since authoring Erec Makes a Fire I’ve become quite familiar with Illustrator. Though Lain took care of drawing all the characters and objects I spent months of man hours reworking the layout, extending the scenery and modifying his artwork based on reader feedback to keep up with each iteration of the story. That being said, creating an illustration from scratch is VERY different than editing one already made.

Motivated by new concepts I’m working on (such as books, apps, and websites), I wanted to bridge the gap between my offline art skills with that of my digital to be more self-reliant when original artwork is needed. I wanted to take the more directed “deliberate practice” approach to learning this new skill and decided to post what I am creating for critique.

I really like the flat UI look, so my goal is to get to a point where I can replicate that look and feel – at least to some reasonable degree.

I needed a horse for an intro scene I was putting together for an app I was building, so I figured it was a good time to crack open Illustrator and give it a shot. Here is the first version. Sadly, this took me many hours to create. Much of the time was learning how to manipulate the tools, but even more came from the constant iterating (or resolving in art speak) to something I can be happy with.

horse-flat-vector-blink

I thought the tail was too boring, but I also didn’t want to over complicate the simplistic nature of the illustration. After another few hours of trial and error I came up with the final horse below. I  got a bit carried away in the fun and ended up creating a sprite that walks a bit, then turns to look at the viewer and blink.

horse-flat-vector-sprite-small

 

If you have any useful tips, or feedback to improve the horse, please let me know.

I really enjoyed working in this medium and look forward to continuing to lear more about it.

Expo Milan (World’s Fair) 2015

Expectations Vs. Results

We were pretty excited to get a chance to see our first ever World’s Fair while in Milan. Expo Milan 2015, as this World’s Fair is called, is held under the theme Feeding the planet, energy for life.

So what was I expecting that got me so excited? I was looking forward to seeing the latest in innovations that help “feed the planet” or provide “energy for life”, basically I wanted to see how the future will improve things. I was hoping we’d get the added bonus of trying unique foods and watching cultural open-air events.

For €69/person, and a jacked up metro ride price, we got to enter a very expensive international food court. For €20/person you *may* get a chance to try a plate of a nation’s traditional food. If you stood in line for over an hour or so you *may* get to walk through an exhibit featuring videos (not real people) of what foods the country *currently* produces. Not only could most of the world not afford to enter the Expo, but a majority wouldn’t be able to afford to eat there.

I didn’t see a single advancement in how any country is doing things when it comes to “feeding the planet” or “providing energy for life”. How can you feed the planet when you can’t even easily feed a private exhibition with pricey entrance fees?! Sadly, McDonalds was the only place that offered an advanced ordering system (that was kind of neat) and reasonable prices.

Some Highlights

The US had a nice technology that allowed you to turn on/of the electrically tinted windows. However, it was tucked away in the back of the pavilion and not getting any use (except from me).

The only thing being handed out were Strawberries from the kind hearted people of Poland. And if you waited for a show you *may* get to a sample of chocolates or gelato.

Venezuela had a neay hologram video display, but it closed right after we got there.

For the most part, the exhibits were filled with table settings, native crops, and video screens.

Architecture

By far, the most interesting part of the expo was the Architecture. The buildings were all unique and beautiful. It was definitely the highlight of our walk through the event.

The Tree of Life

The “Tree of Life” (one of the things we were looking towards seeing) was a sad display of smoke and water technics (with a slowly filled air balloon – see video) that lasted about 2 minutes.

Of course, we made the best of it and pushed ourselves to not judge too early. After the 3rd hour though, we agreed we had to come to terms with the fact that the Expo was a severe disappointment. Watch us turn the frown upside down in the video below.

Videos of Budapest: Walking tour of the Pest Side

Pest Day 1

I don’t know if this is common knowledge in the states but I didn’t know that Budapest was actually a combination of two towns split by the Danube. Pest is the newer town filled with some amazing architecture, parks, malls, shopping and sites including the Parliament and Hero Square. The Buda side is the more historic side of Budapest and contains sites like the Buda Castle and Fisherman’s Bastille.

As a whole Budapest is pretty incredible. We continued to be surprised as to just how big the town is. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, there is another part of town rich with even more monuments and building. Then, once you think you have the hang of the city you realize that at night there is an entirely new dimension to it all that deserve another lap.

You can watch our timelapse tour of Pest in the videos below.

Pest Day 2

Beerfest at Buda Castle in Budapest Hungary

One thing we have learned from traveling is how much different a city can feel when you are able to hang with the locals. If not for Soma and Peter, two friends we happen to meet in San Francisco a few months earlier, we would never have known about this awesome beerfest event in the Buda Castle. We tasted great new beers (like Jackie’s now favorite Red Delirium) and listened to throw back music. What an awesome night!

Our video walking tours of Vienna: Buildings, Palaces, Sites and Food.

Vienna was a beautiful city. Clean, rich with history, and both trendy while still retaining its classic history. We were lucky enough to grab an AirBnB with Thomas whom showed us around the city and introduced us to some great restaurants, bars and wines. Time and time again we are shown just how much the people you meet in a city will impact your stay there.

We tried foods, desserts and visited some of the many museums this town has to offer in the videos below. Enjoy!

More pics @ https://goo.gl/photos/KWzBzSEBzvvvDzTt7

District One

Palaces

Amusement Park

Food

Avoiding Fines While Driving Through New Zealand and Australia

Speeding

When we drove through NZ and AU we found it incredibly odd how slow people were driving. I’ve never been on a highway where almost everyone is driving UNDER the speed limit by 10K/hour on wide open roads. Where we’re from, the speed limit is realistically +/- 5Mph the posted number.

There is A TON of space between each city in NZ and AU and to make good time we made a habit of passing the unusual number of “slow pokes.”

About a month or so later I get a ~$30 charge from each car rental company. A week after that a letter from AUS highway patrol sent tickets to my parents house. Each ticket was between $100 and $200. I did some research on tickets in those countries and supposedly there is a huge crackdown on speeding; some roads monitored by drones.

No wonder everyone was overly cautious with their speed. You never know who is watching and when a simple pass of another car could cost you $100 bucks a month later. I’m not hating on them, we were going fast. We paid the ticket. Our bad.

For everyone else out there, fair warning: obey the posted speed limits in Australia and New Zealand to a T!