How To Be A NonComformist as of 1968

Um, yeah, I read this. From 1968.  My grandparents had this book.

Basically, the advice in the book is the following (with neat cartoons):

"Boys wear long hair, girls don't.
Don't wear socks.
Complain about a lack of funds.
Cynical, questioning and consistently negative.
Don't fit into society.
Sing somber songs that nobody gets.
Protest everything.  Except Warhol art.
Throw paint on stuff, call it abstract art.  No one understands and nobody will buy."

(The source/rules were originally stolen/appropriated from this link)

So basically, I feel that it is totally relevant to today's world if we take it as a starting point.  Because, it has sort of floated up to the business world.  And when they co-opt things, they are no longer cool.

My interpretation: Hair trends change.  Sock trends change.  It's declasse to talk about how rich you are.  Don't sound optimistic.  "Society" is stupid (stop trying to fit in, make your own rules, blah blah blah) Folk music is always out of style.  The stupider the art, the more expensive & prestigious.

So, if businesses like to think they are ALL start ups, and nobody wants to be a "conformist", then the Arts have won (See "H2$")!

The real issue in today's world is that all businesses are run by conformists, but they see how the Non-Cons are being profitable.  (The internet stuff gives them the SHITS!)  They want "creativity", but will ONLY hire based on "Corporate Experience".

8 Screenwriting and Life Tips

When a girl is in need, Screenwriting Tips will do FINE for inspiration.

1. Change perspective, literally.

In film, it's about switching camera angle and shit.  Here, it means, shut up, get out of your own head and think about what other people are thinking about.  Exercise your empathy muscles.  (But if you are one of those weak girls who spend ALL of your time doing that anyway, then STOP.  It's okay for a few minutes a day.  DON'T let other people run your life.  Or what you think of them.  Or what you think they are thinking about you.  Going back to the exercise, you'll pretty soon figure out that they are thinking about themselves.  And maybe freaking out about what they think that YOU are thinking about them.

Got it?

2. Don't wait for perfection.

Something about deal with the take you've got.  

Make this your mantra: "Perfection is the enemy of Good" (originally that was "The Great is the enemy of the Good", or something) So just realize that getting through life is good enough.  There is no such thing as perfection.  Plus, pic your fucking battles.  Drive so you don't get into accidents.  Eat so you don't die of a heart attack.  Work so you don't get fired.  And don't worry about it.

3. Just do it, even if you doubt that you can.

Just do it. And SHUT UP!  Boys don't go through the whole insecurity thing.  Don't punish yourself!

4. Listen to your characters.

Okay, this one could be about the characters in your head, right?  Not like "weird voices" characters.  But like the best versions of yourself.  Like the "Strong Sexy Ex-Girlfriend" for when you bump into your ex-boyfriend.  Or "SuperBusinessWoman" for that job interview.  Listen to what those characters would say, let them take over sometimes.  It's not like you are Sybil or anything.

5. Stop making excuses.

See #3.  Shut up.  (Okay wait.  Maybe take a look at what your excuses are and see if any are legit.  Fix what you can.  Then shut up and do it anyway. This might contradict any advice about following your gut, which we here believe in no matter what.  Except for that time we fell HARD for that married guy and had an instinct that we were together in a past life.  That was bullshit.  But if you have an excuse like, "Oh, I'm too tired today" or "I don't have the right shoes" then stop whining.)

6. Don't care what others think.

Back to #1.  Empathy, but not too much. Like when people start getting all judgey on you, then you can ignore them.  (Unless they are giving you really good advice and you are just being contradictory.  Like when you were 8 and your parents were trying to get you to go to Hebrew school).

7. Start out with powerful images.

Every time you go to a new venue where you can meet new people make sure you are wearing something FABULOUS.  Like the stuff your gay boys tell you that you should always wear.  I know that it's hard to dress up EVERYTIME you leave the apartment, and if you could at least change from your jammies to one nice, simple street dress and maybe earrings, you'd be fine.  But for EVENTS, go whole hog!

8. Keep it simple.

Simple.  Right.  Simple is easier for everything.  Outfits (simple outfits make it easier to make sure you have everything when you leave the guy's house), lies (always do simple embroidery on the truth, makes it easier to remember!) And if you find yourself dating someone who's too complicated . . . like when they won't let you call them at home, or they have an email "situation" and they tell you they don't have a cell phone.  

From http://www.indiewire.com/article/8-writing-tips-from-screenwriting-masters

Rules: How to Keep Babies Alive on the LES circa 1900

Here are the Rules, according to S. Josephine Baker.

"Don’t give the baby herring"; "Don’t give the baby beer to drink"; "Don’t leave the baby run in the mud-gutter"; "Don’t let the baby eat dirty things from the floor that she threw down at first; also pickle"; "Don’t scream on the baby"; "Don’t try to awaken its intelligence and make it laugh"; "Don’t leave the baby alone in the carriage and play with your friends"; "Don’t give the baby sour cucumbers"; and, as a lurid touch which probably recalls some harrowing experience of the family next door: "Don’t leave the baby sit on the stove."

The above is completely stolen from the below.

http://nyrbclassics.tumblr.com/post/62741563679/dont-leave-the-baby-sit-on-the-stove

Everyone has a better way to do things.  Keep pickle, laughter and stoves away from babies.

Thrift Is Your Friend!!

The whole point of advertising is to make people unhappy with what they have.

Give it up entirely. Throw out your tv, turn the radio station to NPR when they play commercials. Turn a blind eye to ads on the street. Acquire banner blindness while surfing the net.

Fashion to the properly initiated is NOT what's in, it's what looks good on you!
(Muffin tops look terrible on everyone!)

If you have an hourglass figure, think 1950's A line classics or Sophia Loren knockoffs from the 1960's.

There are plenty of rich suckers who are more than happy to pass along their "latest" investments from last years look.

Better to spend $20 and have some left over for shoes & jewelry, then to spend $500 for something you'll never wear again. Especially because it's too expensive to take out of the closet!

View of Hotel, Rt 128/95

More Roof Shots, Old Homestead, Marivista

Backyard, Old Homestead, Trees' Eye View

Lyman Estate, Waltham

Little Orange Lighthouse

Rising over "Tuck it away" Storage, near Yankee Stadium is this little gem. Possibly a poor relation of the Little Red one. No storybook. No glory.

Advertising.

But still, better than the scrap heap. Or being locked in storage INSIDE the building!!

Single window fire-escape

Amsterdam & 141st.

I wonder if it meets fire code? And if so, why there aren't more?

Or must the fire escape provide access to 2 different windows, or 2 different rooms?

And why don't they make fire escapes more useful, and provide a larger balcony area (like in theaters, just make sure to keep the aisle clear)

What are the rules/ laws?

Something about prewar buildings, 6 stories in height or shorter.

And for tall buildings, just more stairways??

(This was seen on a Go Bus to Boston, leaving from 31st & 8th, headed up 9th then Amsterdam, until heading east at 155th)

Waldorf Astoria

Clearwater Folk Fest

Me and a friend and a singer in the water

Black Audrey Hepburn

Lovely woman on subway. I am ashamed of capturing her beauty on the sly, but can't stop looking.

Visiting Little Red Light House