If things have seemed quiet around metacool, that's because they have been quiet around metacool.

I was out on a vacation for the past couple of weeks, and took a fast from everything web-related (except for Twitter, which doesn't feel the same to me), including email and blogging and everything else I do via Firefox.  I highly recommend it.  I should have plenty of stuff coming out over the next few weeks.

Anyhow, the fast is now broken.  The photo above was taken at Dirty Al's, home of some of the best fried shrimp I've ever had in my life.  I highly recommend those, too.

On a friend's suggestion, I just watched the DVD of the film Once.  I really liked it.

It's a musical.  A musical!  But not in a South Pacific kind of way, with big production values and mountains of dollars behind each scene.  Rather, the music is just there, and it is written and performed by the actors.  I found the result incredibly moving and poignant, and meaningful in a way that a slick, over-thought production could never be.  There's such value to be had in taking talented people and letting them do their thing, and taking what they do on the spot and accepting it for what it is.  Not perfect.  Not probably as good as it could have been on paper, but unique and meaningful in a way that would be impossible to replicate any other way.

Artful.  Authentic.  Inspiring.

For me this is important because I'm increasingly wary of the over-intellectualizing of things and processes where talent should in fact reign supreme.  If the results are good, why try and distill out an algorithm?  Heuristics rule, man. 

You know, at the end of the day, most good stuff happens because someone good and talented sat down and worked really hard and kept on trying even as things kept breaking.  Brilliant marketing schemes are the result of hard work.  Innovative business models just happen… by being in beta over and over and pounding away.  Heuristics rule.  And sometimes you just get lucky. 

I'll bet on luck and talent any day.

I've started using Twitter again.  I first began using it about two years ago, but did not manage to make a habit of it.  But now I'm back on, and I'm really on.

I'm hoping that my Twitter stream acts as an extension of what already goes on here when things are running right at the metacool blog.  I promise I won't use it to update you on the type of breakfast my dog just ate (I don't have a dog).  I guarantee you I will focus on the art and science of bringing cool stuff to life, because at the end of the day all of this material has to come from somewhere, and I only have one brain to offer up (on a good day).  Compared to this blog, my Twitter stream will be more concise, more cryptic, less considered, and will arrive on a more frequent basis.  It will also be made up of a lot more questions than answers as I poke around for insights in an extroverted kind of way.

I hope you can come along.  On the right side of this screen you'll find a new readout of my Twitter activity. 

On Twitter you can find me under the name… metacool.

You heard it here first: I've fallen in to a classic creative trap called "how can I ever be as good as [insert existing thing here]?

A few weeks ago I ripped off a quick post about Travis Pastrana and the future of the world economy.  It took me 15 minutes, I'm not sure where it came from, and it was easy, easy, easy to write.  Largely because I wasn't worried about who would read it, words just poured out of my fingers.  I just wanted to catch the thought and get it down on paper.  The thing is, people liked it.  People really liked it, and since then I've been spending a lot of time — too much time — thinking about what I could write that would be as good as that one, and in the process of doing so I've stopped writing.

What a mistake.  I've fallen in to a classic creativity trap.  And I should know better.

The reality about bringing cool stuff to life is that you actually have to bring a lot of crappy stuff to life along the way, and sometimes good stuff happens.  And sometimes great stuff happens.  But spending your time doing nothing in the name of perfection is a sure recipe for failure.  In other words, for something great to happen, things first need to happen.  If anything, 2009 is a year for all of us to laugh in the face of perfection and embrace sins of commission.  The good stuff will come.

It's hard, though.  Be strong.

One of my resolutions for 2009 is to do more original thinking (via my writing here) and less pointing to other stuff.  2008 was a very busy year for me on many levels, which led to less writing and more pointing.  And to be honest I lost some interest in this blog in favor of thinking about gnarlyness on one of my other blogs, but after some reflection over the past couple of weeks — as well as the inspiration of meeting (!) some life heroes and observing how they've found ways to live their lives to the fullest (hint: cancel your cable TV subscription, fly to England when you want to, don't be afraid to let it all hang out, communicate with integrity and passion), I now have a crisper point of view about where to go with things here, and I hope you'll like it.  I hope most of it means back to the future.  Without promising too much, hopefully the quality and frequency will both go up.  As a wise man once said, do both! 

So, less pointing, more thinking.

Of course, since I'm an imperfect man living an imperfect life as best I can, allow me the liberty of pointing to something right now:  Walking Eagles

Let's hope 2008 was the year where walking eagles did their stuff, and that in 2009 we can all soar.