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Why people are afraid to do what they actually want to

Disclaimer: I’m not talking about people who may be responsible for others, perhaps those who are married or have children. To sacrifice their dreams for the greater good of family is honorable and noble.

As I continue to purge my life, I am re-discovering conversations that happened year ago, but are so relevant today. It was a letter from my friend who was talking about how she was unhappy with her job. She wanted to travel and really move to a different industry, but she felt that her degree pigeon-holed her to a specific field. In the letter she writes to me about how she’s going to quit her job and make all these changes.This was four years ago. She is at the same job.Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being content with your life. Some people love what they are currently doing and completely satisfied and joyful of the life they are living. This is what we all pursue, and I commend that. That said (here comes the cynical rage), I have absolutely ZERO sympathy for people who desire change and different things, and do absolutely nothing about it.There is a scene in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back where Luke Skywalker attempts to get his X-Wing out of the swamp in the Dagobah system, using the force. He doubts his ability. Finally Master Yoda uses his powers to recover the X-Wing. Luke says, “I don’t believe it.” Yoda simply responds, “And that is why you fail.”

As I was walking Green Lake today I came to this conclusion: perhaps it’s not that people are afraid that they will fail, but are afraid of succeeding. Perhaps it is the fear that we are more powerful than we possibly imagine, and by being successful, we raise the bar each time. We expect more. We are able to do more, and it requires more work.It’s intimidating.I really believe that in a lot of cases people would rather not succeed to make an excuse to not do so and have something to talk about. When you go meet up with people and have conversations, observe and listen how much of the conversation is about what people want to do vs. actually doing it. Dreaming and having plans are better than having no plans, but a great concept has no value unless it lives in the physical state—execution.Yes, it’s possible that I am feeling a sort of high or a bit cynical since quitting my job to go freelance and travel. However, my argument is I’ve always had these feelings. Trust me, there is a lot I say I want to do that I have not done yet.It’s time to stop making excuses. Everything certainly has situational content, but look at things at the core again.

  • The economy is bad. There are obviously other people finding jobs, so what is it? People survived the depression. We too, can get over this.
  • I don’t have enough money. You know what I did when I ran out of Tiberium in Command and Conquer? I harvested more! Todd MacFarlene said it best when he simply described spending in this way: if you want more money, make more of it or spend less of it. Don’t say moving to New York would be too expensive because of the rent. The rent is high, so don’t bring a car and make payments on it and pay for the insurance and maintenance on the freaking thing.
  • I can’t meet guys/girls here. Maybe your type is not here or you haven’t made a strong enough effort to meet someone. Or maybe, to be brutal honest, you’re just not that desirable. Okay, if you’re not, how can you change that?
  • I don’t know what I want to do. Well dammit, you better figure it out then, huh?

Okay, so my list is not that simple. Or maybe it is. I say it is. People need to realize to really achieve what you want, it requires blood sweat and tears. Look at people who have families, how hard they have to work to keep the household running. It’s most certainly easier to not do anything and fail then work hard to potential achieve with a chance of failure. Here’s an example workflow of someone wanting a job:

If they want to succeed: Spend hours researching jobs, refreshing the resume, building a portfolio, applying, going to interviews (with a chance of failure), following up, applying to more jobs, learning skills they don’t have, etc.

If they want to fail: Not do anything but be able to talk about it constantly. My friend Angela shared this wonderful quote with me and I think there is a lot of value to reflect on this:”Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us…”So I ask you…are you afraid of failing and believing that you are incapable, or afraid of your potential and what you can achieve? As a fellow human being to another, I challenge you to at least contemplate this.I leave you with this Jordan commercial, one of my favorites. It’s time to stop making excuses and become Legendary.

Pride of the Yankees

The Yankees are World Series champions for the 27th time; the most in professional sports. This one, however, has a very special place in my heart.

As many of you may know, I lost my best friend Jake this July. He drowned in the Columbia River. I remember that day as if it were yesterday. My friend Megan called me and told me the news, ten minutes before I was going to an interview. I was devastated. Jake and I have been friends since we were eleven years old. I went home for a week or so to be with his family and friends; remembering the out-pour of love and support the Twitter community showed me.

He was a die-hard Yankees fan. I remember watching the four World Series in the late 90s with him, and also the ones they lost in the early 2000s. It’s so surreal to see Joe Girardi manage the Yankees now, as I remember him as a player…sharing time with a 25-year-old catcher named Jorge Posada. This was back in the day when Mariano Rivera had hair.

Jake used to throw his remote at the TV and swear up a storm when they lost a game. A single game! Of course, I felt obliged to do the same this year as the Yankees lost games. When Jake passed, the Yankees went on a six-game winning streak. This was sometime right after the all star break. I remember thinking how special it’d be if they made a run and won the world series, for him.

Jake’s mom gave me the book he was reading, “The Yankees Years.” Those who knew Jake also knew that he didn’t like to read, unless it was about sports. This will definitely be the next book I read; to learn what it means to be a Yankee, the tradition, but most importantly my best friend’s love and passion for the pinstripes.

Not a day passes that I don’t think about him; all the great memories we had. I will never have another best friend like him. I really believe with the Yankees winning, he is very much at peace. All of Jake’s friends were rooting yard for the Yankees. To see them win brings tears of joy to our eyes.

They won it…for him.

In addition, the Yankees winning is a very good sign; a special one in my heart that I hope comes true. Watching game six has been an emotional rollercoaster. In the end, I am very happy and am at peace.

Love them or hate them, this is the year of the Yankees.

#140tc

I got to go to the 140 Twitter Conference, sponsored by Seattle’s Parnassus Group this last September. I went to Los Angeles with my friend Adam and we spent two days at the conference. I know in my YouTube video it says I just got back; truth is I didn’t get around to putting the video together until about a month after the fact.

The conference offered some great panel discussions about Twitter and an opportunity to connect with people; from people you’ve never heard of and your Twitter friends whom you’ve never met. It was so nice to finally meet @MayhemStudios, @iJustine and @GuyKawasaki. I met a great new friend in @Orchid8, who actually interviewed me for Featured Users.

The next 140 Twitter Conference is supposed to be in Seattle, and I highly recommend it. Not only will you be in my city, but you’ll get an opportunity to connect with some great friends and learn valuable things at the conference. Hope to see you at the Seattle one.

Check out the Flickr photos. I didn’t upload them all, but will in the future:

Were you at the conference? What were your thoughts?

Using Walnut Ink

The question I get most from people is “what kind of medium do you use?” I’d love to say it’s some super-secret medium, but it’s walnut ink. Walnut ink is made from…wait for it…walnuts — mostly black walnuts.

Why walnut ink? I love using this medium because of how versatile it is. It has a longer workability time than traditional ink and is more transparent. However, if you want to work dark, you can sit it out and get some very vibrant darks. Sit it out in the sun for a day and you’ll get some ridiculously pretty dark colors.

You can make your own walnut ink, but I like to buy mine from Utrecht Art. If you want to learn to make walnut ink, here is a great article. This blog post will focus on different walnut ink techniques. All you need is walnut ink and a brush…if that.

Dry Brush

This is my favorite technique with walnut ink. Let the ink sit in a little dish. Once get starts drying, dip a dry brush and apply on your drawing. This technique will leave a lot of brush strokes — great for building up textures like hair and happy trees.

Washes

Watercolor artists should know this technique really well; building up transparent layers to get some great value. The majority of this mixture is water over ink. Keep in mind that walnut ink never really dries unless you fix the drawing. Give the ink some time to settle before you lay more washes. If you’re impatient like me…work under a strong light or use a blow dryer to speed up the process — now we’re just playing God!

Wet-on-Wet

If you’re going for a more refined look, the wet-on-wet technique is the way to go. Apply some ink around the area you want to blend. Add some water to the other area and blend them together with your brush.

Cross-Hatching

Traditional drawing technique to build up value — used with ink. Load your brush with walnut ink and begin applying straight lines one way, then go the other. You can also draw little x’s — I like to do that sometime. I use cross-hatching to build up structure…see the Alex’s nose below.

Spray and Pray

This is actually a term used in the military, where you shoot your weapon on full auto and hope you hit something. Clearly, this is a great technique for abstract artists! Mix walnut ink and water into a spray bottle and apply on your drawing. Consider using contact paper or a piece of cardboard to mask of certain areas. We don’t want unnecessary casualties now! If you work on large substrates, consider using a super soaker!

Drawing of my friend Alex (not done yet). Can you spot the techniques used?

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at david[at]davidhoang.com. Want to learn more? let’s Tweetup! Follow me on Twitter

San Francisco Exhibition – “Over and Out”

One of my drawings, “The Betrayal of Jack,” was selected at Elizabeth Laurence Contemporary Art Space in San Francisco, California. The show will be from February 1 – 14, 2009 with the opening reception on Saturday, February 7.

If you happen to be in San Francisco, please stop by and check it out. I plan on flying from Seattle to attend the opening and visit some friends and family in the Bay Area — would love to meet up with any of you.

Elizabeth Laurence Contemporary Art Space
1550 California Street Suite 7L
San Francisco, CA 94109
(510)325-9659
ElizabethLaurenceSpace@gmail.com

The ambition of Prometheus

Originally posted on Substack

Today is Christmas. Whether you celebrate it or not, the general masses often enjoy the festivities, especially watching classic holiday movies: Home Alone, A Christmas Story, Jingle All the Way, or Elf. There are plenty to choose from. There is always a person online who makes a case that Die Hard is a Christmas movie because it occurs on the day. Let’s go with that logic and add Batman Returns, and Rocky IV to the list of Christmas movies. Today I’m writing about the greatest Christmas movie—Prometheus. This film released Summer of 2012 marked the return of Ridley Scott to the Alien franchise he birthed nearly forty years prior. At the time, the film had a lot of anticipation and expectation with one of the best trailers ever. I was living in Brooklyn at the time and spent the rainy day seeing it at Nighthawk Cinema in Williamsburg.

The reactions for many people were mixed, or they hated it. To this day, Prometheus is one of the most polarizing films ever. Admitedly, upon first view, I had mixed feelings. However, after many years and re-watches, I’ve found great appreciation for the ambitious film. This isn’t a movie review or an attempt to convince you that Prometheus is a great movie (but it is), it’s a reflection on the lessons we can learn as creators and builders on the ambition of this film.

(Some spoilers if you haven’t seen Prometheus!)

Ambition is admirable

Dom Nero wrote in his Esquire article, It’s Time to Redeem Prometheus: “Like it or not, you’ve got to admire Scott’s audacity in giving us such an expansive new scope for the franchise.” Regardless if people liked the film or not, a common praise everyone gives it is the ambition of what they made. Many prequels deliver lackluster narratives—showing the events the lead up to the original film without expanding the world. A great prequel expands on the world while respecting what came before it, and Prometheus does this in a grand way. In fact, it’s one of the films which content connects Alien to Blade Runner implying they are in the same world.

Ambition is the strong desire to do or achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. Ambition is not hustle culture and working hundreds of hours a week, it’s going after a big vision. Ambition enables you to think big, and be confident, and is a shield against adversity you encounter. The two common people humanity roots for are the underdogs and people who chase their dreams, and boy, this Ridley Scott swung for the fences with this one. The baseball players who hit the most home runs are the ones who strike out, and Scott has no fear in striking out epically (have you ever seen The Counselor?). Having an ambitious mindset gives you the grit to keep iterating and confidently continue the great pursuit.

Aesthetics matter, but need to be grounded on more

The visual language of this film is absolutely stunning—something people critical of the film admit as well. Despite appreciation for the aesthetics, the plot holes and narrative challenges couldn’t save the film for people. Without solid grounding and foundations of elements that make an experience successful, visual aesthetics cannot save it.

Designing your worlds

I’m inspired by world-building as it pertains to software development and creativity. A practice often found in film and fiction writing, world-building in a nutshell is about the rules you create in the space of the experience you’re designing and building.

Big things certainly have small beginnings. In my research, which is basically reading articles and watching the commentaries again, I learned the small and big details the team put in the world-building. The original script writer Jon Spaihts talks a lot about the design decisions to hint at the world being built. Spaihts mentioned the design of the helmets the crew wears, which are completely transparent. It’s mentioned that in this world Gorilla Glass innovation would get to the point where it’s stronger than steel, making the design choice glass. The vehicles have a lot of copper, hinting the crew navigates the planet with battery-powered vehicles.

One of my favorite photos of Charlize Theron lounging on set. Notice the almost-transparent helmet.

In addition to the small details that hint at the world, Scott dramatically expanded the scope of what the world could be, always challenging us to think bigger. The aforementioned tiny details hint at a much bigger world. In its core essence, world-building is user experience and how someone interacts with what you build. The more we can have a 30,000 ft and 1px view of that, the more our end users gain.

Destruction is part of the creative process

There is a line in the film said by David, the Android on the ship played by the brilliant Michael Fassbender: “Sometimes to create, one must first destroy.” In issue 117 we talked about the importance of subversion. Destroying something in order to create something new is arguable the greatest act of subversion. I’m not telling you to go delete your codebase tomorrow and start anew, but think about what room needs to be made to create something new. However, there are times that call for the destruction of something in order to create a new foundation.

This is happening in the DC Universe with newly appointed co-CEO James Gunn. As sad as I am that Henry Cavill is no longer Superman, it appears that the former Marvel Studios director and architect for a lot of the cosmic stories are rebooting the world from scratch. You can’t keep a house that’s falling apart because it has one good guest bedroom. You must destroy and start anew. The last few weeks have been a lot about the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in software with the release of ChatGPT with OpenAI. The temptation for many might be figuring out how to quickly pivot or tack on a layer of AI to what they’re doing. However, a new innovation or invention like this might require exploring how things are built or created from the ground up.

Prometheus makes us focus on questions and discussion

Prometheus is the classic Five Ws for problem solving. Asking the right questions and having important discussions are key attributes of design and product development. If you spend as much time (or more) discussing the film than the length of the film, it’s notable. It’s here we have to acknowledge that the script rewrite was done by Damon Lindelof, who wrote the series Lost1. If you’ve seen either Prometheus or Lost, you’ll know things rarely get answered in a clear way. This may frustrate a lot of people, but I believe good Science Fiction prompts you to seek the answers yourself.

Recap

  • Be ambitious, deliver, and be fearless of failure
  • Aesthetics are important but alone is not enough
  • Obsess the details of world building
  • Creation requires destruction
  • Focus on the questions, speculate the answers
  • If a narrow space ship rollstowards you, veer to the side so it won’t crush you

Before Prometheus, the 2010s lacked Sci-Fi ambition: Tron: Legacy, Cowboys and Aliens, Battle Los Angeles, Battleship, and Men in Black 3. After Prometheus we saw incredible Sci-Fi titles released such as Gravity, Snowpiercer, Interstellar, Ex Machina, The Lobster, The Martian, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Annihilation, and many others. I like to think because of Scott’s ambitious attempt with Prometheus sparked other people to swing for the fences. It’s fitting that the film Prometheus is the Engineer in the opening scene that sacrifices itself to spark life.

If you’ve never seen Prometheus, give it a try. Perhaps you saw it in 2012 in theaters like me and haven’t seen it since—give it another watch. Hint: Prometheus is better if you watch it as a Blade Runner movie than an Alien movie.

Finally, I commend Ridley Scott’s ambition and output at his age. The man is definitely YOLO’ing it. At age 85 Scott has no signal of slowing down. For someone nearer to the end of his life and lost two brothers (including the tragic suicide of Tony Scott the same year Prometheus was released), what does he have to lose in being ambitious? Life is too short and not a promise, so you might as well swing for the fences. As I reflect on 2022 and find a guiding light for 2023, it’s simple: be ambitious and go for broke.