Friday Inspiration 442
upcycling thrift store paintings, Mississippi River meander maps, walking across Switzerland
I just want to say that Keanu Reeves continues to seem like a really nice guy (video)
As a person who has read a lot of adventure writing over the years, and has come up with a handful of ideas for adventure stories, I have to say, this one, in which Ben Buckland attempts to walk across Switzerland relying on maps he had strangers hand-draw for him, is genius. (thanks, Felix) (gift link)
I have only been following Dave Pollot for a few weeks, but I love his whole upcycling-of-thrift-store-paintings-into-remixed-works portfolio—I have a story about buying an upcycled piece of art that I’ve been trying to get out of my head for a couple years now, and this hits that same part of my feelings.
This is a wonderful quick illustrated essay about being seen reading a book, and why we might or might not want that to happen: A Man Powerwashing vs. A Woman Reading
I don’t really need to re-write the only paragraph that goes with these mind-blowing (and beautiful) meander maps of the Mississippi River: “In 1941, Harold Fisk was hired by the Mississippi River Commission to embark on a years-long study of the river’s movements, a project which would entail the procurement of over sixteen thousand sediment core samples to reveal the presence of soil deposits over time. The map was published in 1944 as a series of fifteen panels, each showing a time-lapse history of the river’s undulations in recent centuries. Seen together, the panels capture a restless body whose breadth may surprise those who only ever see it fixed in one place, wherever that is.”
I have not seen this book in its final form yet, but as I understand it, it’s a Dirtbag Diaries anthology in book form, with photos, and I am excited to get my hands on it: States of Adventure: 30 Outdoor Adventure Stories About Finding Yourself by Getting Lost (I am a little biased, as I do have a story in there, Go West, from back in 2010.)
For no reason other than I have become addicted to watching this lately, here’s the riveting first 9 minutes and 14 seconds of Drive, a movie I am astonished to learn is now 13 years old. (Bonus: if you are looking for a song to put on repeat to help you focus on writing/drawing/whatever, here’s a link to the background song, “Tick of the Clock” by Chromatics)
And finally, I made this series of slides for Instagram, compiling some of the things people have said about Ultra-Something so far (if you haven’t picked up a copy, here’s where you can do that):
Buy the book through these retailers or at your local bookstore:
Bookshop | Amazon (paperback) | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | DFTBA (signed copies) | Gumroad (ebook) | Fact and Fiction (Missoula, MT) | Elliott Bay Book Company (Seattle) | Tattered Cover (Denver) | Boulder Bookstore | Powell’s