Ben Nesvig's Blog, page 3
August 26, 2014
Found Quotes
“Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.”
- Bruce Lee
“Many an object is not seen, though it falls within the range of our visual ray, because it does not come within the range of our intellectual ray.”
- Henry David Thoreau
“Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.”
— Rosa Luxemburg
“If a man does only what is required of him, he is a slave. The moment he does more than is required, he becomes a free man. We all have work to do in this world;...
July 3, 2014
Fakebook
June 17, 2014
Ever Wonder Why?
Everyone who uses mouthwash does so because they want cleaner and whiter teeth. How many people, including myself until recently,consider how strange it is to attempt to whiten your teeth with a substance that is artificially dyed blue, green, or purple?
Why did I only recently learn that I had been peeling bananas wrong my entire life? (It’s far easier to peel a banana by hand if you start from the bottom)
Why do mosquitos buzz in my ear before lethargicallytrying to extract blood from my neck...
May 24, 2014
You Are Contagious
“What do you recommend?”
About 20% of the time I ask someone that question, I regret it. This was one of those times.
I was at the Grand Canyon. The Mrs. and I were driving from Scottsdale to the Grand Canyon to the Hoover Dam and finally on to Vegas, all in one day.
At the Grand Canyon is a tourist novelty called the Skywalk. It’s a large horse shoe platform that extends out from the edge of the canyon, allowing you to look down through the clear glass floorto what would be a horrific death.
I’m...
May 10, 2014
Netflix Recommendation – Short Term 12
Occasionally I come across the rare movie that cannot be improved upon. The script, the acting, the soundtrack, the directing–all of it aligns in the cinematic Rubik’s cube to make something great. Short Term 12 isa movie I had interest in seeing a while ago, but forgot about it until it showed up on Netflix recently. The trailer is below, but you’d be better off just watching the film since 99% of critics enjoyed it.
Another gem that’s easy to miss on Netflix:
April 8, 2014
Found Quotes: Storytelling, Art, and Time
“Pixar movies, on the other hand, would live forever. He believed, as I do, that because they dig for deeper truths, our movies will endure, and he found beauty in that idea. John talks about “the nobility of entertaining people.” Steve understood this mission to his core, particularly toward the end of his life, and—knowing that entertaining wasn’t his primary skill set—he felt lucky to have been involved in it.”
- How Steve Jobs’ Passion Shaped Pixar Into an Oscar-Winning Studio“I realized...
April 1, 2014
Why are you laughing? Decoding the mystery of humor
Why are you laughing? It’s a question I’ve asked myself and that’s what Peter McGraw and Joel Warner set out to answer in their book, The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny.
Over the last few years I’ve become increasingly interested in how humor works. After all, if I’m going to write humorous books I should have an understanding of how humor works beyond only being able to give an explanation that’s no better than saying it’s voodoo magic. The quest has led me through se...
March 29, 2014
Mini Documentaries To Watch This Weekend
Landfill Harmonic- The world sends us garbage… We send back music. from Landfill Harmonic on Vimeo.
There was nothing more I wished to be able to do as a kid than to dunk a basketball, which is why this documentary on a 5’8″ man with dunk aspirations appeals to me. In high school I was able to successfully dunk (though only when I lowered the hoop to 8 feet). Considering I’m about 5 inches taller than this guy, the documentary might fill me with unrealistic dreams about one day dunking.
March 21, 2014
Where Insights Come From
I’ve been reading the book Seeing What Others Don’t: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights. One of the 5 ways people gain insights that the book talks about is by making connections.
Yesterday I stumbled across a funny video that connects three different clips that add up to a very funny video.
March 5, 2014
Perfect
“Everybody has their one thing that they’re good at, and if you ever find it, you want to stick with it.”
—Rick Baird
It’s difficult to explain why I love this video so much. Maybe it has to do with taking something trivial very seriously, which would also explain why I love the humor of Wes Anderson movies.
Or maybe this is just a great story about the triumph of the human spirit and the extraordinary things ordinary people are capable of. Whatever it is, it’s worth watching the seven minute v...
