Can shapes reveal your personality?

I took the Pierley/Redford personality test a few weeks back. The test itself is an odd experience (see the excerpt from VSL below), but even creepier was my diagnosis. SPOT ON. I took a screen shot of it and saved it to my desktop. I still read it and kinda freak out at how honest the forced self-reflection is.

This test is an anomaly I have nowhere near the capability of explaining. Pulsating shapes are presented, and you’re asked to personify them and judge them simultaneously. Half the questions seem absurdly unrelated. How this translates into a personality profile of the test-taker seems random. Or pure genius.

from the Very Short List – April 4th, 2011:

At first glance, the Pierley/Redford personality test seems too vague to tell you anything accurate or interesting about your actual personality: “Which of these circles is angry?” it asks (and provides two abstract and gauzy illustrations). Or “Which position is diseased?”

But the pictures are pretty, and weirdly disturbing, and so you find yourself clicking through all 20 questions. When you’re done, you get a short, specific thumbnail sketch of your personality type. That’s where the real fun begins: What did those questions mean, and add up to? And how did they get so far under your skin? You can take the test multiple times, clicking quickly and intuitively, or slowing way down to puzzle out the “correct” answers. Either way, you’ll end up wondering: Is it a pretty parlor trick? Or a real window into your deeper, darker self?

Behind the Scenes and Geeking Out

*UPDATE* – Full audio of the show is now available for download. A section of the show will be posted here next week.

One of my favorite photographers, Chase Jarvis, captured 4 hours of my afternoon yesterday as he hosted the NYC band We Are Augustines on Chase Jarvis: LIVE.

Part 1 of the show consisted of conversation about creativity, art, and how the band writes music interspersed with in-studio performances of the band’s songs.

In Part 2, Chase allowed the internet to watch how he works. I was giddy with glee seeing his crew working in unison, getting a glimpse of the gear and setups, and listening as Chase explained his creative intentions and pre-planning process. It was such a treat to see how Chase interacted with the band as his subjects, how he conceptualized shooting them, and how he matched his art with film and digital technology.

For any photographer, the whole session was a tasty gem. I couldn’t get enough and stuck around to digest the complete session. Witnessing that magic moment where weeks of preparation and creative vision materialized inspired me to pick up my camera and just shoot.

Now only if I had a crack studio staff, a tethering system, and awesome group of musicians.

Check out the original blog post announcing the band’s stop at the Chase Jarvis Studio. I’m sure video of the interview and live concert with be at Chase’s website soon!

The Clubs Cover

• Went to a great show at the Masquerade last month.
• Took this video of the final song from the side of the stage.
• Totally forgot about it.
• Then found it.
• Decided to share it.

It’s Tokyo Police Club & Two Door Cinema Club performing a little bit of The Strokes.

Between dinner & dessert

8:00 AM. My phone alarm ignites. For reasons having to do with my random obsessiveness, the first thing I hear every day is the musical stylings of these guys. Whoo-hoo for custom ringtones.

I sit up on the edge of my bed. I ready myself to dash to the bathroom in order to brush my teeth, as per the usual routine. However, there’s a difference. Aches and pains shoot through every muscle in my body, including through the miraculous new muscles I never knew of before. On top of that, my sore throat can’t seem to contain the endless heaves and coughs that I heard only briefly the night before.

My head hits the pile of sad, limp pillows as my hand blindly searches for the snooze button. This two-step dance repeats every 30 minutes for the next three hours.

Honestly, I couldn’t find much within the depths of my soul to encourage any type of productivity. So along with sleeping off the impending flu most of the day, I found just enough energy to cut together some footage from my Thanksgiving holiday.

On my last pilgrimage home, I was fortunate enough to receive an early present – a new Nikon D7000. So between the main and final course of our Turkey Day dinner, I had decided to test out my new camera’s capabilities. Shot randomly and with not the steadiest of hands, I just caught a few moments in between. Those always tend to be the best.

So here’s what I have to show for my sick day. A rough cut on Thanksgiving at Casa de Makepeace.

Emote in 60 seconds.

Fourteen Actors Acting — The New York Times Magazine

While Franco easily makes the favorites shortlist, I gotta give props to Monsieur Cassel for his impressive Astaire moves.

Can you guess what classic film moment our modern stars are channeling? (Or at least what obvious angry obscenities Matt Damon is yelling?)

I want to ride my bicycle

Probably in a subconscious wave of homesickness, my mother sent me some interesting photos that perfectly capture a unique aspect of the Chinese culture.

French photographer Alain Delorme spent a couple of his residencies in Shanghai documenting the towers of goods couriered around the city by migrant pedal-pushers. The result is a series of images entitled ‘Totems.’

They’re bright and flat (obviously there was some post-processing done), almost graphic. Yet they remain wonderfully journalistic, a perfect observation on what often gets lost in a country with the highest population in the world. I’ve always admired these hardworking men (sometimes women) hauling heavy loads of the most random objects – my favorite being live chickens. Nothing is quite apropos of China today than piles of product being tugged around on simple tricycles.

All images © Alain Delorme

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Deep breath and…laugh

I’m back trying out the old blog.

Unplanned, I stayed up last night until an ungodly hour playing around with the design of this thing. Considering where my blogging has started – in Senegal where I would without hesitation trade my breakfast money for five-minutes of a dial-up internet connection – it’s nice to make the peacemaker attempted look pretty and clean.

It’s an ongoing process, so things may change in the next few weeks. However, I thought I should get my writing chops back in order and just throw up some posts here and there to get the ball rolling.

So here it is!

And what is it about? Why, comedy of course! And who better than Tina Fey getting The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize!

The whole event aired on PBS, which I have at the end of this post. The lineup is a who’s-who of SNL notables, including Steve Martin, Jon Hamm, Jimmy Fallon, Fred Armisen, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Betty White, and Lorne Michaels. Since that’s over an hour long, and you might want to economize your time in smarter ways, do check out this clip of her acceptance speech. It’s witty, brilliant, and gracious.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Here’s the link to the full show. Definitely worth watching if you have nothing better to do tonight.

Watch Tina Fey: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize on PBS.

Under (re)construction

Whew. It’s been almost two years.

This needs an update. And some serious thought as to its future direction.

Either way, changes are a-coming. Look out for some awesome very soon.

Will be back in four months – contact Sydney

I am spending spring ’09 in the land of Oz.

Check out my travel blog where I’ll be spending most of my time until the summer.

What?! No...I'm not stereotyping.

Slacker!

I know, I know. It’s been a while. But I’ve got some run-of-the-mill excuses as to why I haven’t updated the blog in a whiles:

1) I’ve been super busy – aka, packing for a four-month long USA-hiatus

2) Had some family problems – dad was in the hospital for a while. Thanks, by the way, to everyone who kept him and the whole heart attack situation in your prayers.

3) I was too excited about Christmas and the holidays, that I just needed some trial separation time with technology.

Dads and Makeup

Need a little “awwww” uplift moment?  Carlos Whittaker posted a little anecdote that should put any dad to shame – though I know that was probably nowhere close to his intention.

Check it out below. (And be sure to check his blog too. It’s pretty sweet, and I gotta push the props to him since I basically copied and pasted.)

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I Bled Eyeliner For Her

Posted on 10 December 2008

So I call Heather from the MARTA Dunwoody Station with the unfortunate news that I missed my bus by 2 minutes.
I can barely hear her because Sohaila is WHALING in the background.
Me – “What the crap? What’s her deal?”
H – “She fell and split her chin open”
Me – “Oh. Dang. Um. How long has she been screaming like that? Cause I can wait for the next bus in 40 minutes if that’s cool…”
H – “I’m on my way” … click

By the time they got to the MARTA station Sohaila was only sniffling.
She has this pretty gnarly cut but nothing too nasty.
As I was putting her to bed tonight she started crying.

Me – “What’s up baby? Why you cryin?”
So – “I’m scared of going to school tomorrow with my chin like this”
Me – “You know what daddy says right?”
So – “Yes daddy. All the other daddy’s are jealous of you because you have me and they don’t”
Me – “That’s right.”
So – “But daddy. What do I do if someone is mean and makes fun of me?”
Me – “You tell them that your daddy is gonna go down there and kick their daddy’s…”
Heather – “CCCCCAAAARRRLLOOSSSS!!!”
Me – “Actually baby, come here…”

So we walked to the makup drawer where all of Heathers MAC makeup is and I grabbed some $40 stick of eyeliner…
I marked my face with a simular looking battle scar.
Sohaila knew what was up.
Me – “I’ll wear my line all day tomorrow if you promise to be strong at school and be proud of your tough girl line. OK?”
So – “OK Daddy. But Daddy…What if someone makes fun of you at work tomorrow?”
Me – “Baby. They make fun of me at work everyday. And look at me. I turned out OK.”
So – “No you didn’t daddy. You are drawing on your face with mommy’s makeup.”

The New King of Beers

Thanksgiving. A day to spend time with the ones you love, eat heart-clogging amounts of food, pass out on the couch, and enjoy a cold one. Well, when my dad went to the fridge to retrieve a brew for my brother, something looked a little off.

It wasn’t a classic Budweiser, Miller, Corona, PBR, or even Red Stripe…

Nope, it was Holy Moses White Ale. Quality drink with supernatural credentials.

Before Palin, there was…

Just when I thought I knew EVERYTHING about this past presidential election, my friend was so kind as to email me this wonderful clip. (Shout out to my bff, Kathryn!)

Let’s just say way back when the election hadn’t overtaken our lives, and we had yet to be infatuated with John King’s magic wall – there was some initial rumors of who McCain was going to select as his VP.

It’s a shame it didn’t pan out.

<< (click!)

Smart Interior Design

So I went to the Miller Center (one of Wake Forest’s gym facilities) today to work out with my lovely personal trainer, Katy.

I was a bit early, so decided to hit up the bathroom before Katy kicked by butt with some cardio.

As I was drying my hands at the sink’s counter, I noticed something. See if you can spot it.

Look at yourself in the mirror while you get electrocuted!

Yup – built in nicely right over the sink….a outlet. What a wonderful placement choice. I was very impressed at how the nice sliver cover plate blended seamlessly with the mirror so that it was unnoticeable to the eye unless you suddenly heard a hissing noise while your hands are wet.

Anyway….just thought I would share and put out a fair warning to anyone (well, any female) that goes into the bathroom in the basement of the Miller Center.

How did you know?

So I pulled up my pastor’s blog – and his latest post was ON THE SPOT. Like he was reading my mind.

The past few days, I’ve been feeling totally alone and questioning my role with the people around me (good and not so good). I always stayed safe with friends. Probably why the few I do have are the only ones that I get angry with from time to time.

Yesterday, I was still at that point of blaming everyone else. I’m such an idiot.

Furtick’s ideas were an eye-opener. And I should have been smarter about this too since lately he’s been talking about “thinking in the box.” I can’t do anything about all the people around me out there – I only got the magical powers of control over myself.

Basically, he said the more discomfort, the better. “You can measure the value that you place on a relationship by the level of discomfort you are willing to engage to make that relationship the best it can possibly be.”

Check it – http://www.stevenfurtick.com/uncategorized/the-value-of-a-relationship/