Hello friends!
In the last letter we talked about Kurt's advice about making your soul grow through any art, good, bad, it doesn't matter.
Kurt talks about art, but I think that word can put some people off. It has a bit of a stigma: there are people who think that art is reserved for those born with talent, which is a completely absurd idea but unfortunately very common. I'm not a big fan of the words talent or gift. It seems like something magical that only happens to some special people. Of course there are geniuses and virtuosos but that doesn't mean that the average person can't be excellent. Or she could be terrible too and everything is great. I love “bad” art. Going back to this gift thing, there's this book (which I'll admit I haven't read yet) by Angela Duckworth (I met her on the stupid questions podcast - so I kind of know her and can recommend the book without having read it yet, hehe) in which She basically says that it is more important for a person to be excited about something than to be talented. This idea makes so much sense to me. I love talking to people who are excited about a subject, much more fun than some virtuoso.
But going back to the question from the beginning, instead of art, I'm going to use another word here: hobby
You place an object there, pay a coin and the robot curator will tell you if it is art or not. Sorry I'm digressing a bit, this isn't even the discussion I wanted to start with: I don't think that a hobby is art, that wasn't the point, focus, Samanta.
We have a word that is not often used for hobbies: pastime. But I prefer hobbies, because hobbies seem like something you do just to kill time, which isn't true.
Wikipedia defines it like this
A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time.
Doing something seemingly without any use, just for curiosity and excitement (yes, I love that word). In my family we are all addicted to hobbies, especially my father, who ended up passing on to my brothers and me the excitement of doing useless but fun things. Then today I was reading the fun is why in it, he calls hobby a quest quest, and I loved that idea. You are on a quest guided by curiosity and desire to do something, with no end goal, or if you prefer: with the aim of having fun. Much better than just passing time.
Things don't always have to be useful. Anyone who is a freelancer like me probably has difficulty with this idea, I certainly do. Every new thing I want to do or learn, the first thought that comes to my mind is: will I be able to sell this?? Seriously, it sucks. Perhaps one of the worst things about being your own boss (ok, financial instability and anxiety are a little worse) after all, we are always running after work and it is very difficult to turn off that switch. But it's important to try to switch off, fellow freelancer, trust me! Go and learn pottery just to play with clay and make something with your hands and without thinking about selling mugs at the next fair. Make something useless out of clay!
My first ceramic “sculpture”* was this SpongeBob outfit for my sponge. Very useful:
I wonder if the robot would think this is art?
Still with this idea of being excited in life: I remembered a commercial from the 90s and basically it was like this: a father and son with binoculars and camouflage clothing, in the middle of the woods. Then the father says: LOOK SON, IT’S A RAT! and he gets really excited about the rat, he starts jumping and shouting RATÃO! RAT! very facetious. It was an advertisement for cable tv and the slogan was something like “they don’t have cable at home”. Nowadays I'm much more like the dad excited about the big rat. Is this what aging is like: Becoming a person who gets emotional at the sight of a rat?? In fact, have you ever seen one? It's very cute, it looks like a capybara with a tail.
Coffee break
I know what you really want to know in this newsletter: how is João's house??
If you've just arrived here: my parents are moving, the new apartment is almost ready and right in front of their news window there is this post and on it there is another couple building their house:
looks like a portal
Today I learned that João is also called rufous hornero and is the symbol bird of Argentina, "Ave de la Patria".
I prefer João.
We are making a bet in my family: who moves first: my parents or João and his family?
Some links:
This brilliant 2007 animation based on Kafka's short story “A Rural Doctor” appeared on Twitter.
It's quite... Intense. And unfortunately the ending is missing. But it's a masterpiece of animation, it's worth a look.
Crazy animal lady recommends: cute aggression
Do you like games? My little brother finally made a Patreon to share the process of creating his games. I'm a big fan of the apple game! I know I'm biased when I say this, but Diego is the most intelligent and brilliant person I know. He's excited about physics and games and can combine some heady concepts into fun games that even a person like me can understand!
The apple game has a butt portal, what's not to love??
This month I made a different tattoo: last year Rafael asked me to illustrate his book: “Having a brother is really cool”, which is about his boys: Pedro and João. João is autistic, but that doesn't matter, they are best friends:
Bekobooks:
the old man and his notebooks
List of hobbies that me, my father and my brothers have or have had:
photography and film, video editing, miniature painting, making notebooks, gardening, cooking (if you follow me on social media you've probably seen a video of my father cooking), making games, create websites: the old man has had this portal about buggies for about 20 years!
To the next!
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