And which artist was normal? Recently I was told by two people that they were "normal" people and I was something other than normal - seemingly because I choose an artistic path from which to do business in life and they did not. I found the whole perspective odd. Do I think other people are abnormal because they are not like me? That's what I was being told. @ I read the characteristics of a person who is prone to emotional and physical abuse of others and realized I had been affected by two such people recently. It made me wonder what kind of signals I am giving off if people feel they can abuse me @ I was called a spoiled brat, a brilliant writer, a consummate professional, a visionary, a poor speller and a marketing has-been, all by different people and for different reasons. @ I am having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at 3am. @ Due to a leg injury I have been in my house most of the week, only going out briefly and painfully. It reminded me of the liner notes on a Brian Eno album where he composed ambient music because he was bedridden - the notes also had some instructions as to how to wire up a third speaker to a standard stereo that would give you a third, sort of bass channel in the room. I don't remember exactly. I also thought about Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" with Jimmy Stewart where he thinks he witnesses a murder in another apartment across the courtyard from his, when he is kept in with a broken leg. Count how many light switches Grace Kelley turns on each time she enters his apartment. There's a clue as to how Hitch built suspense in his films by setting up patterns and then altering them at key moments. @ This last week saw me write 700 words on a charity program in Vietnam, 500 more revised for a story on Internet privacy and then 3000 on Art Therapy. I knew least about Art Therapy and must have put more than 10 hours in it. @ Reminded this week that I have a complete stereo system and over 5000 CDs, LPs and tapes in a storage building in Seoul and need to sort out what to do with them. @ Someone from New York asked if I could meet them in Beirut to "do some damage" meaning have fun. Sadly I couldn't. @ An old business colleague writes: "Wow. Doing your own thing sounds wonderfully exhilarating and free. I'd love to try something like that. I haven't got the faintest idea how to start (or perhaps just not the balls)." He was on the board at a top ten agency and then President of another. @ So many people seem to envy my choices in life and as many more are mad at me or jealous of those choices in some way. I am not rich. I don't recall people saying much when I had a lot more money, so maybe I'm doing something right. @ I have no idea what is normal these days. That's the kind of week I'm having. @ Cooking class tomorrow. @ Johnny (Rotten) Lydon closes out the podcast today.Post Script: Having finished this post, I received this note from another old colleague and friend:
"I’ve been dipping in and out of your blog over the last few months and find nuggets with each venture. You really are out there and I like it. Brilliant. Would anybody who has ever known you expect anything else? I’ve been sharing it with some of the creatives here. I’m still a production guy but I’m always seeking out brain food to feed the creative animal in and around me. Hence, I think a few associates might have sought you out as a link—in case you’re wondering.
As our magazine business here creeps toward iPad and ePub and the like I find this new social media fascinating and mysterious. Even at this point in my career I find it necessary to develop the new tools and mindset for survival in this industry. Some of your blog feeds my education.
Thanks old pal."
