Hurry over to the National Post to see all the Muppets from Sesame Street.

Forty years worth of muppets all in one place. Rollover each one to (re) learn their name and the season the muppet was first introduced.

Did you know Bert had a twin brother named Bart? Honest! And he looks just like someone I used to date.

This lovely fellow agreed to be in my blog.  He’s from Neglia Design in Toronto and he made this T-Shirt at summer camp. Not recently, no. In the early 80s.

First impressions count, it’s as true for cities as it is for job interviews.

What do people think when they see your city? Hard perhaps for you to see because you’ve got old eyes. So instead, think of something in your city that’s a little bit new. A building, a bench, a sculpture. You’ve got new eyes for that. Then try to think of where you live with new eyes.

Ah, you respond. If I’ve got old eyes who cares if my downtown is a little bit ugly, my city is 23% asphalt, we’ve not painted in twenty years.

You should care because the future of your community may depend on how good you look today.

Charles Landry (creative cities thinker, author, speaker) says that the global workforce chooses jobs based on the cities where they’d live, not the job they’ll do. So what? So, a larger workforce, larger tax base, more to spend, better infrastructure and facilities, a better quality of life.

So how does a city make a good impression? Same way a person would, with one interesting twist. The street. Landry tells us that basic unit of a city is the street. And streets, back in the old days, weren’t for driving on. They were walking paths, people interacted with one another outside of steel cages. They swore at each other in person.

Streets need to come back into vogue. So does walking, public art, beauty guidelines for builders. Everything must be useful, yes, but beautiful, too.

As Charles Landry asks: what’s the cost of the city NOT making a good first impression.

How to change your life? Give up. Don’t give up trying to change your life. Change it by giving up.

The society I know values persistence. Right now the Winter Olympics are playing out on our TV screens with testimonials to the effort and diligence of the athletes. If persistence were a painting, it would be a noble and romantic one with subjects partially clothed, supple and strong.

Athletes on the international stage, Olympians or not, train endlessly with high frequency optimism and competitiveness.  They don’t stop trying.

Though if you want to change your life, I suggest you do the opposite. Give up.

Giving up is not letting go or quitting. Giving up is leaving a situation that is not worth changing. The hard part – the journey to change – is to admit that the situation is not worth changing.

There is a stigma of laziness, incompetence and flightiness associated with giving up. However, isn’t it a character strength to put your foot down and say: Fine, have it your way, I’m outta here?

In my post 18 months later I said that leaving the corporate world felt like winning Survivor. It was easy to leave. It was hard to decide to leave, though, because I thought, then, that giving up was a character flaw.

It was a February afternoon on Wellington Street, three years ago, when I had my ‘aha’ moment. I realized that I had a choice and I didn’t have to stay lost. I could give it up for something that would make me happier.

Persistence has never rewarded me as much as giving up has.

The Artist Project Toronto | March 4-7, 2010: this is my favourite Toronto art show.

People often ask me how they can find artists – affordable, unknown and GOOD. This is where.

If you cannot attend the show, spend some time on the Artist Directory web page: The Artist Project Toronto Artist Directory.

Here’s what the Project says about the Project. I’d add that it’s a good place to become more comfortable with art, finding out what you like. You don’t have to buy and you aren’t surrounded by salespeople.

The Artist Project is a meeting ground for artists, collectors and art enthusiasts.  View and purchase original art from over 175 carefully juried contemporary artists and enjoy an eclectic program of talks, special features and art installations.  Whether you are a first time buyer or seasoned collector, this four day art fair is a rare opportunity to meet and purchase directly from independent artists.

How do arts advocates get other people to see value in arts and culture? People do care, they do think art is important. Facts bear this out, see this blog post Art is Good For You.

What doesn’t happen often enough is what marketers call the ‘conversion’. We’ve got people nodding, yes, art is important, but have we got original art in homes? Have we got bums in seats at local theatre, orchestras and films?

Do we consume enough art so that people can make a living at it?

No. No. No.

Artists spend more of their time volunteering than any other sector. They also live below the poverty line and are among the best educated among us. (This is all documented in reports from Stats Can.)

So the problem is not as easy as grants or funding (the easy solution). The problem is so deep it’s hard to find a solution. Too big to fix.

Nonetheless, I’ll try. Here’s a vision statement to test out:

Create arts consumers by creating a society that values the acquisition of art and culture as highly as they do their cars, houses and the ubiquitous Coach handbag.

We’ve got the consumer part down pat, so why not get a painting instead of a second TV?

From Austin Kleon's Flickr Photostream

Information is beautiful. In my last posted I solved a pressing dilemma: could one be creative and analytical at the same time? Yes, resounding yes. A great example of this in the realm of information design. Brilliant people take information, make it easy to consume and bam! it’s useful.

I first learned about information design at a garage sale from a book called Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte. Inside was a spread of a Japanese railway timetable with all kinds of detail mapped on it. Sounds boring. It really wasn’t.

What also got me was the creativity and analysis inherent in the making of this map. Whoever drew it was visually astute, completely understood what they were drawing and presented it a clear, pleasing way.

It’s information, beautiful AND useful.

Read is the opposite of write, listen is the opposite of play and watch is the opposite of perform. Looking at it in black and white, though, none of these statements ring true to me. Absolutes never do. Yet the process of analysis needs to recognize absolutes – but even the result of a calculation is based on variable whose assumptions are open to questions.

Perhaps this is why analysis, while enjoyable, is never as satisfying as creating. Yet until I could recognize them, I couldn’t be at peace defining my skills for potential employers. So, I analyzed the problem and now I’m comfortable. They can co-exist and I needn’t chose.

It’s as simple as this. Creating is inventing a path from A to B whereas analysis is following a path from A to B. You can do both. You can enjoy both. You can apply both on the same problem. You can take one approach when the other isn’t working smoothly for you.

It’s a relief. Creating is not as scary as I once thought and analysis isn’t as full of bull, either.

Eighteen glorious months ago I left the corporate world to head for happier shores. Gone are the long holidays, the bonus, the big paychecks, the fancy title. Gone are the people who try to do your job, who are bullies, who swear at you, who take credit. Gone is my super-skinny self – the result of a particularly viscous time. Gone is the hardest and the most miserable time (and a few of the most miserable people) in my life.

And now I’m free. I write, design, edit, connect, communicate, consult, advise, volunteer, create, analyze, talk, listen, look, learn. My job is in academia with smart doctors and smart staff. I never need to explain myself twice because my colleagues listen. They are smart and respect the expertise of others.

My career journey through corporate was like the TV show Survivor. I won, though. I got off the island.

My Picasso-head post was popular so here’s another game.

There are three sculptors. Two have recent, local connections to Toronto. What are they?

http://www.artsology.com/sculpture_find.php