Greatness in writing

John Updike. (March 18, 1932–January 27, 2009) wasn’t merely the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes and a National Humanities medal, among a wealth of other awards. He had a mind that could ponder the origin of the universe, a heart that could eulogize a dog with such beautiful bitter-sweetness, and a spirit that could look on death without fear.

Describing his subject as "the American small town, Protestant middle class," Updike was well recognized for his careful craftsmanship and his unique prose style.

He is also credited with making suburban sex sexy, which landed him on the cover of Time magazine after "Couples" in 1968 in under the headline “The Adulterous Society” — something Adam Begley explores in the long-awaited new biography Updike.

This book chronicles Updike’s escapades in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in the early 1960s, just as he was breaking through with The New Yorker — the bastion of high culture to which he had dreamed of contributing since the age of twelve.

His literary career began to gain momentum with the publication of Rabbit, Run in 1960 — the fictional story of a twenty-something suburban writer who, drowning in responsibilities to his young family, finds love outside of marriage. That fantasy would soon become a reality for the 28-year-old Updike himself, a country boy who had gotten through Harvard by playing the class clown dressed in his ill-fitted tweed jackets and unfashionably wide ties.

I love all Updike's work, -his novels, short stories and book reviews. The Rabbit novels especially, which are a unique social chronicle of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, a wonderful mix of the poetic, coarse, witty, and lyrical.

Greatness

             -Wendy MacNaughton

Behind every great person there is someone who enabled his or her ascension. These friends, relatives, partners, muses, colleagues, coaches, assistants, lovers, teachers, and caretakers deserve some of the credit. When you consider your own life, there are dozens of people who have guided you along your path — whether a teacher from fourth form who finally got you to raise your hand in class, a family friend who gave you your first camera, or that whiskey-sipping uncle who’d tell you stories. These relationships shape our lives, some lightly and others with more impact.

Quite often we don't realise that the loving and staunch support of other people is one of the greatest privileges. And for many people we’ve come to celebrate as geniuses, such human support was precisely what made their achievements possible.

Keep on running..

Das Ackerloch in Unterkirnach ist einen Laufstrecke in Schwarzwald die über hügeliges Wiesengelände führt. Als besondere Herausforderung erweist sich immer wieder der Zielhang ... Auch die Rentner waren unter den Leichtathleten unterwegs. Crosslauf 7,6 Km.

  

Done already, bereits vorhanden ..

What stops you trying out something new ?

Perhaps the fear that you're doing something that's already been done before, that everything that you think of doing has been done.

Just about every successful initiative and project starts from a place of replication. The chances of being fundamentally out of the box over the top original are close to zero.

A better question to ask yourself is, "have I ever done this before?" Or perhaps, "are the people I am trying to serve going to be bored by this?"

Originality is local. The internet destroys, at some level, the idea of local, so if we google long enough we'll find that turn of a phrase or that unique concept or that clever app, somewhere else.

But no one is asking you to be original. We're asking you to be generous and brave and to matter. We're asking you to step up and take responsibility for the work you do, and to add more value than just "cut and paste". To do it anyway.

Sure, it's been done before. But not by you. And not for us.

Netflix kommt!

.. bestimmt Programmierer vom Beruf!

Spiel mir

Sonntagnachmittag, 16:10, es regnet.






The music of Ennio Morricone, the voice of Ms. Edda Dell 'Orso  and the Film of Sergio Leone combined.  Made this in my humble opinion the greatest western ever made.


Morricone's score for Once Upon a Time in the West is one of the best-selling original instrumental scores in the world today, with up to 10 million copies sold

"Unübertroffen", as we say in Germany.

Handshakes and Contracts, the future and the past

If you rent a car, borrow money for school or engage in some other complex transaction, there's a contract to sign. It's filled with rules and obligations, and the profit-maximizing finance organization does everything it can to do as little as it can and make you responsible for as much as it can. This sort of contract has evolved into a battle, an effort to get something now and deliver as little as possible later. Loopholes and fine print are there for a reason, and it's not to make you happy. Contracts like this are about the past. "We agreed on this, you signed it, go read your copy, we don't care so much that you're annoyed, goodbye."

A handshake deal, on the other hand, is about the future. Either side can claim loopholes or wriggle out of a commitment, but the consequence is clear—if you disappoint us, we won't be back for more. The participant in a handshake deal is investing in the future, doing more now in exchange for the benefits that trust and delight and consistency bring going forward.

It might be sensible to write your handshake deal down, to memorise the key promises in an email. If your goal is to delight and to exceed expectations, the more clear you are about the expectations, the more likely it is you'll exceed them.

But it also pays to hesitate when you (or your advisors) start pushing to transform the handshake about the future into a contract about the past.

"I'm hoping to do this again with you," evokes a very different reaction than, -  but you said..."

-Seth Godin.