Category: writing

art, story, writing

The monsters are coming! The monsters are coming!

Christa Avampato

There are a myriad of things we can point to in the marketplace to illustrate the trend of fascination with fantasy, magic, and fairy tales. One of my favorite examples are the Ugly Dolls and the little monsters that seems to be popping everywhere from coin purses to water bottles to stationery. A face only a mother could love has become a face that everyone loves because of its sense of whimsy and approachability.

Today I read a blog post at http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/next/ about a whole new monster phenomenon. Stefan Bucher an LA designer created a blog with no motivation beyond plopping a small amount of ink onto a piece of paper every day and filming how he made that plop of ink into a monster. He then posted the videos to the blog. Then someone left a comment on the blog with the first of what would be many elaborate stories about the monsters.

Story creators from Marines to kindergartners took pen to paper and in the process of creating their own unique stories about the monsters became very attached to them. Bucher’s characters generated so much chatter, that companies like Starbucks and Target, brought him to have imagination sessions. Creativity spawning more creativity – what could be better?!

To see Bucher’s blog, visit http://344design.typepad.com/

film, Golden Globes, technology, television, wirters strike, writing

The Writers’s Strike Latest Victim: the Golden Globes

Christa Avampato

I had planned to spend today shopping for some delicious morsels and cocktail ingredients to host a Golden Globes party. I sent an email around to a few people several weeks ago and my friend Dan replied “I’d love to watch the awards at your place, if they air them.” I have been watching the writers’ strike with intensity, mostly because there isn’t much else to watch these days. I may actually accomplish my goal of learning more about classic films because I will soon be forced to subscribe to Netflix.

And despite the threats of picketing the Golden Globes and actors refusing to cross the line, I thought they’d make an exception. I thought that some things would be kept sacred and writers and producers would call a truce just for a night to pay tribute to the incredible work that has been done in film this year. In an effort of full disclosure, I agree with the writers. If producers are making money off their work, regardless of medium, they should get a cut. Anything short of that, in my opinion, is stealing. And it’s just plain mean.

In spite of my political views on the strike, the ones I feel most for are the nominees this season. To make it in your career to a point that your entire industry recognizes your contribution is cause for extreme celebration. And instead of having their moment, they’ll get a press conference with their names read in a no-doubt glum tone of voice.

I think it’s time for a boxing match. Get those that represent the writers and those that represent the producers, lock them in a room, give them food, water, and regular bathroom breaks, and don’t let them out until there’s a green light to restore episodes of Brothers and Sisters, along with all of the other shows I have been missing these past few months.

I know negotiations are difficult; I know both sides are so sick of one another that the idea of being in a room with one another is enough to make them all sick to their stomachs. I don’t care – walking away from conversations just because they’re hard is immature and irresponsible. A lot of people are being hurt in this process and I am a firm believer that if it is within something’s power to mitigate the pain they are causing others, then the only reasonable and kind thing to do is relieve that suffering.

I am getting off my soapbox now and will be found watching movies like Casablanca and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner until the picket signs come down.

The photo above can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/us/16writers.html.

creativity, story, TED, women, writing

A Woman of Her Words

Christa Avampato

“What is truer than truth? The story.” ~ Jewish Proverb

TED recently posted Isabel Allende’s talk on passion. In a room full of scientists, technologists, and innovators, Allende talked about story telling, about women, and about the importance of having a warrior heart. She speaks bravely with humor, honesty, and grace about the state of women in the world, and the picture is bleak, though hopeful.

When the news reports talk about war casualties, 80% of the people they are talking about are women. The women of war have suffered unbelievable cruelty and horror. They have endured gruesomeness beyond measure, in the lands formerly their homes and in refugee camps. Once they are displaced by war they have hardly anywhere to go and hardly anything to take with them: women own 1% of the world’s assets though do 2/3 of the labor.

In the world of philanthropy to help the needy, again women lose. Even though they comprise 51% of humankind, women’s programs receive only $1 for every $20 that is donated to men’s programs.

After all of this sad news, you may wonder where in the world is that hope I mentioned in the opening paragraph. And here it is: the stories of women are haunting them so much that they cannot help but write them down. We are becoming an entire generation of story tellers. 35% of on-line teenage girls have created a blog, in contrast to only 20% of on-line boys who have done so. 57% of people in the news industry are women.

The trend of Tech Fatales is emerging: Women are more likely to use mobile phones, digital cameras, satellite radios, and DVD recorders. Why? Because to listen and tell stories, we must connect. We don’t just want to contribute and make this world better. We are striving to make it good.

Allende talks about a woman whom she met in a refuge camp named Rose Mopendo. After tragedy upon tragedy, Rose and her 9 children finally made it to the U.S. In Swahili, “Mopendo” means “great love”. And what we love most is the truth, and so we must love and propagate our stories.

So it is no wonder that we are writing history in our own hand. Allende goes on to say that “heart drives us and determines our fate. It matters more than training, more than luck. The world needs dissidents, mavericks, rebels, and outsiders.” If this world is to be a better place, it needs us to rise up, to question everything, to put ourselves out there as risk takers and rule benders. And then, please, write it all down. We can’t afford to have anyone forget the lives we have lived.

To see a podcast of Allenede’s talk, click this link: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/204
The picture above can be found at http://www.artinthepicture.com/artists/Georgia_Okeeffe/red_canna.jpeg

blog, blogging, writing

The Power of Blogging

Christa Avampato

I believe that writers in the blogosphere can change the world by changing the way that people see their own environments. Until very recently, some members of the general public saw blogs as a fad. Though I love blogging, I have to admit that I’ve had my doubts about their effectiveness. My doubt has been compounded by looking at statistic of how many new blogs and blog posts are created every day. The blogosphere has some population growth issues, and I am playing my part in that growth.

Today I read an article about the Saudi blogger who was recently arrested for writings on his blog. He has been held since December 10th because of political candidates he supports through his blog. His political views are not what interest me. What I find fascinating is that musings and opinions on a blog warranted the Saudi police to intervene.

Bloggers around the world should be rejoicing. If there was any fear that blogs were the red-headed stepchild of the writing world, that fear has been squashed. You can be sure that if you create it and update it regularly with passionate writing, they will read.

For the up-to-date news on the Saudi blogger and his impending release, please visit http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/01/02/saudi.blogger.jailed/.

experience, proust, questionnaire, writing

If I were Proust

Christa Avampato

I am a devote Vanity Fair reader. My favorite feature in the magazine is the Proust Questionnaire put to a variety of celebrities. http://pagesperso-orange.fr/chabrieres/proustquestionnaire.html is a link to an on-line version. Give it a go! Below are my answers:

Your most marked characteristic?
The fact that I am so tiny in stature and yet so large in personality

The quality you most like in a man?
Courage, the ability to laugh at himself, intelligence, and concern for others – people and animals

The quality you most like in a woman?
The ability to carve her own path and not allow others to put her into a box she does not want to be in

What do you most value in your friends?
honesty, loyalty, and humor

What is your principle defect?
I am incapable of hiding my feelings regardless of situation

What is your favorite occupation?
Writing

What is your dream of happiness?
Life-long love

What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes?
To die with the music still in you

What would you like to be?
A world adventurer

In what country would you like to live?
Any one with a government that has respect for life as its guiding principle

What is your favorite color?
Green

What is your favorite flower?
Lillies, sunflowers, and lilacs

What is your favorite bird?
Hummingbird

Who are your favorite prose writers?
Those brave enough to tell their stories with honesty and grace, without ego or self-pity

Who are your favorite poets?
Frost, Emily Dickinson, Maya Angelou

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Harry Potter

Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
Alice from Alice in Wonderland and through the Looking Glass

Who are your favorite composers?
Nino Rota and Vivaldi

Who are your favorite painters?
The French Impressionists, Brian Andreas, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Johannes Vermeer, Alexander Calder, Joan Miró, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Picasso

Who are your heroes in real life?
Those who meet life with an exuberance that benefits humanity

What is it you most dislike?
dishonesty, irresponsibility, laziness, and those who take advantage of the kindness of others

What natural gift would you most like to possess?
To freeze time so I can enjoy happy moments for just a bit longer

How would you like to die?
Happy

What is your present state of mind?
Forward-looking

To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
inability to resist chocolate-covered donuts

What is your motto?
There is no time like the present

The picture above can be found at http://www.mercantilelibrary.org/groups/images/Marcel-Proust-1.jpg

business, career, creativity, entertainment, happiness, innovation, money, New York, society, technology, trend, writing

No one needs to pay you

Christa Avampato

From my earliest memories about what profession I’d like to have, I wanted to write. And the troublesome thing to me was always that I may never get anyone to pay me for doing what I love. I’m 31 so when I was growing up, blogs and the like didn’t exist. We were still living in the days of big blue chip companies dominating the globe. “New media” as it’s known today was just a dream inside the imaginations of a handful of people.

Today, I can confidently say that I am a writer. I don’t have a magazine gig. I don’t write for television of film. You can’t see my work in a theatre. I never signed a contract and I don’t have an agent. No one gives me assignments. And it’s no longer just tucked away in some old journal that even I’ll never go back and review, much less have anyone else read. It’s out in the world, in this wonderful thing called the blogosphere and I write whatever I’d like to write about. I do what I want, when I want, which is really the only way I am capable of living my life. I have a disdain for authority or anything that hampers personal freedom and creativity and I am largely a contrarian at the mere mention of phrases like “well, you HAVE to do it this way.” I actually don’t HAVE to do anything, and I won’t.

I used to be weird for feeling this way. Now, it’s become the way of the world. With user-generated content growing by leaps and bounds by the minute, the limits that have been placed on our lives are being ripped down in the blink of an eye. Agents, creative unions, casting directors, TV networks, producers, and film studios used to rule the roost. And while they still wield some power, it is largely dwindling to a modicum of what it used to be. We are very quickly becoming the “take charge of our lives” generation. Contrarians rejoice, we have worked our own way out of the job of being contrarians. (And not a moment too soon. Being a contrarian is exhausting work and I have other things I’d like to be doing!)

Last night I attended the Mustaches for Kids event at the Montauck Club in Park Slope. A hilarious and worthwhile event. The only nosh available was pickles by Bob from McClure’s pickles. (http://www.mcclurespickles.com/) When not in the kitchen whipping up his grandmother’s recipes, he’s acting and writing. He was telling my friend, Monika, and I about a new webtv show he’s on – http://www.theburg.tv/. It’s entirely created by his friends from college who live in Williamsburg. They didn’t create it to make money, they did it for the love of creating. And here’s the good news: they have 4 million people who have watched the show on-line, the audience is global, SAG is contacting, and Michael Eisner’s company is interested in investing in the project. The paradigm of entertainment is being torn down and built up by the talent rather than being dictated to them.

These kinds of success stories by the underdog brighten my day. It is indeed a brand new world. Focus on being great and creating your life, and the money will follow.

happiness, writing

On Happiness: I’m thankful in writing

Christa Avampato

I spend some time every day being thankful. Truly. I commute to and from New Jersey and despite the fact that I love NPR, there are times when the reception goes out or I am looking to just spend some time with myself. Because of our extremely warm autumn, there are still colorful leaves on the trees – the first time I can ever remember this being the case. The yellows and oranges and red give such a warm glow to my commute. Once I turn off the highway and onto the country roads that take me to my office, I shut off the radio and just look at the trees. It’s the best part of my morning.

I am grateful and thankful today for my family and friends, for my job, for my ability to write, and for people who are actually interested in reading my writing from time to time. I am thankful for living in NYC, for my apartment, and my neighborhood. I am thankful for my education, for my curiosity, for my ability to imagine and create. I am thankful for my health and my yoga practice, and the personal freedom I have to truly control my own destiny. I am most thankful for my ability to generate and sustain happiness, to smile even when there may not be much to smile about.

The writing down of blessings helps us to be thankful, the same way writing down frustrations and disappointments helps us to bear them. The record keeping boosts our memory, helps us reflect, and yes, helps us to give thanks, loudly and often.