Tag: annihilation (page 1 of 1)

Something to Remember


“They say that happiness cannot be measured.”— Dynasty
Meditation: Find Beauty Everywhere, three minutes
My style of leadership and communication is heavily rooted in steadfastness and compliance. I rarely seek to accomplish things by focusing on influence or dominance. At least this is what a leadership training session centered around the DISC personality test told me. You can take a free version of the test here. Once the traits were explained to me in detail, I found them accurate.
I was in a group of over 40 people, most of whom I did not know or didn’t know very well—though I was there because that will change soon—and we had broken into clusters based on our primary trait. One of the Ds (Dominance) asked: “How can I get you [the Ss (Steadfast)] to give feedback?”

What an interesting question.

I took time to ponder it—as my style is want to do—and realized that this is true. I am not prone to give feedback when asked both personally and professionally. At least not immediately. I like being asked about my day or my weekend or how I’m doing, but I’m not likely to say much beyond surface thoughts. At work, I’ll give feedback in a structured situation—I love formal goal setting and reviews—but otherwise, I tend to be more circumspect.

I know feedback has consequence. I like to know why I’m being asked something and how you’re going to use the information I give you. I want to be confident my thoughts will be clear and received as intended. I don’t like to burden others with whatever I’m feeling at the moment.

I hadn’t considered this about myself before. I imagine that awareness will be useful to me going forward. I’ll be more likely to ask some why questions and for additional time rather than be non-communicative or feel pressured to respond immediately.

40-something and I’m still learning about me. Who’d a thunk?

——
If you’re in NYC over the next two weeks, you should head uptown and see Detained. It’s timely and compelling and well done.

This is coming out late tonight because I was distracted by Beyoncé’s Coachella performance this morning. It was on a whole other level. Please to send me your best explainers and deep dives into all the elements that went into making that magic happen. You can keep your think pieces though.

Right before I sat down to write this, Cardi B was performing on the ‘Chella livestream. Who is more delightful in pop culture right now?

On the plane ride to NYC, I read Annihilation and listened to the soundtracks for the movie adaptation as well as Westworld, The Cloverfield Paradox, and Arrival. They all go well together. The book is good but the film—which I saw first—did a better job of screwing with my head.

On the return flight, I watched The Shape of Water and the first Kingsman movie. I expected to like The Shape of Water and did. It’s impeccable film-making though I think Get Out will be the 2017 release that most people will still talk about years from now. Kingsman was a surprise. Outside of an off-putting turn towards the end that was out of left field and felt incongruous with the rest of the flick, it was quite fun for that kind of hyper-violent comic book adaptation.

Shana’s dictionary.

California is the future.

Dapper Dan is still the man.

And these are the things for which I’m grateful.

That includes you.

Yes, you.

Blow Your Mind (Mwah)

You can’t tame me.

— Dua Lipa

Like Arrival before it, Annihilation is creeping into my thoughts frequently. There’s some kind of through line between the serious science fiction of these two films and the humor and catharsis of watching Hidden Figures, a story about real people doing real science. I’m not sure what it is, exactly, but they are all connected in my head, lifting each other up.

I’ve been thinking about how radical it is that we have major mainstream pop culture that doesn’t center the male gaze. That maybe doesn’t even consider it. I haven’t seen Wrinkle in Time yet, but I have noticed that women have seemed to enjoy the flick far more than male critics. When something isn’t made for you, perhaps explicitly ignores you, after everything before it was made for you, is your adverse reaction visceral even if you don’t recognize that is the root?

I haven’t seen it yet, but I wonder.

I finished reading The Tipping Point. It only took me nearly twenty years to get to it. We talk about virality so much these days, and in our digital culture, it is easy to identify the salespeople, and with a little more thought, we could tell who the connectors are (we’ve got the data), but who are the mavens? Have we given that role up to services that aggregate everyone’s thoughts? Is that better than trusting an individual who we know has done the proper legwork, whose opinion we respect, who delights in the knowing?

I wonder.

LA Public Library rules for new releases is that you’ve got seven days to read it, no renewals. I’ve taken the bait on a Walter Mosley novel that I didn’t even know was out. Can I win the battle with my devices and idle TV time to focus and finish a book in a week? Challenge accepted.

Maybe I’ll use it as an excuse to implement candle hour, act like a futurist, slow jam the news, or even break up with my phone.

Doubtful, but I wonder.

Deep in Mudd


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Meditation: Untangle Negative Thoughts, 15 minutes

I’ve been in a bad mood all week. Wallowing doesn’t come naturally to me. I’m uncomfortable in the muck. These past seven days, though, conspired against me. My birthday didn’t feel as I desired or needed. We got real live rain for days. The sun hid from us most of the week. I was unexpectedly burnt out from the pace of the first three months of the year. There was random unwanted work drama. My routine was slightly askew.

So I stewed in the swamp of dark vibes. It’s starting to break, though.

Wednesday night, I cooked new things. Meatballs and beet salad inspired by Persian New Year and the New York Times. Thursday night, I hung with colleagues as we celebrated YouTube milestones and the end of awards season. Friday, I took a personal day and caught up with kick-ass ladies in Jessica Jones and Annihilation and the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Yesterday, my haircut session was therapy. My Name is Myiesha was entertaining and thought-provoking.

And then dinner with my mom, my wife, and an old family friend was medicine. Hungry Crowd was a surprising little spot in Toluca Lake with Korean fusion dishes that were better than expected and a conversation that soothed whatever was ailing me.

We laughed throughout, to the point that diners at the table next to us leaned over and joked that we must be having a terrible time. We laughed even louder and engaged for a few minutes, learning they were from London, happened upon the place after being told of a 45-minute wait across the street. She was an actor I recognized. He was a member of BAFTA. They have cats and love LA. They aren’t citizens but found time to March For Our Lives. We apologized for our current President. They countered with a firm belief that he’d be done soon.

This week I’m grateful for this prescription to ending a bad mood:

  • Do new things
  • Seek unusual knowledge
  • Talk to strangers
  • Celebrate the little things and the big
  • Take a break
  • Laugh
  • And Laugh
  • And Laugh
  • And Laugh

Now you’re not stuck in the mud; you’re dancing on it.