(Video link here.) Wingsuit pilot Alexander Polli saw a hole in a mountain’s rocky outcropping and just had to try flying through it. He practiced aiming and controlling his flight over and over until he just went ahead and…flew…right…..THROUGH… …at 155 miles per hour. Polli “hopes his success will inspire others not only to ‘climb…
Read More(Video link here.) Above, a trailer for Deceptive Practice, the new documentary about brilliant sleight-of-hand master Ricky Jay. For a totaly entertaining read, check out this 1993 New Yorker profile of Jay by Mark Singer. For those of us haunted by the instantaneous life changes that occurred to so many wounded in the Boston bombing, The Times’ heartening…
Read More(Video link here. We recommend watching with the sound off.) This 1924 Pathe video rolls a number of ‘the improvised life’s favorite themes into a compelling minute and a half. Tightroping over a city, she’s defying norms, practiced like crazy to master her form, conquered any fears she had and take’s huge risks to dance…
Read More(Video link here.) First we came across Spanish musician Xavi Lozano playing a street barricade like a flute: brilliant!. (He claims he can play just about anything like an instrument)…That led us to Spanish percussionist Jorge Pérez of patáx who uses four women’s thonged bottoms as percussion instruments. Why women’s bums, we wondered? Why
Read More(Video link here.) Professional skydiver Erik Roner asked himself a question he’d wondered for a long time: what would happen if he sky-dived with an umbrella? Then he tried it, just to see what would happen. A man after our own improvisational hearts. Question the “rule(s)”… …ask “What would happen if…? …and then TRY YOUR IDEA OUT!…
Read More(Video link here will take you to exactly the right point.) We love Fred Rogers’ —the famed Mister Rogers’ — perfect, illuminating acceptance speech for the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. Rogers presents a simple 10-second practice that will shift your view, and provide you with a tool you can carry around throughout…
Read More(Video link here.) In a recent post at the Houdini File, David Saltman rounded up a huge trove of formal public challenges to magician/escape artist extraordinaire Harry Houdini, inviting him to escape from all manner of restraints, one more complex and seemingly-impossible than the next. According to Saltman, Houdini accepted every single challenge issued: “every…
Read MoreWe are smitten with Lawrence E. Pierce‘s The Art of Fixing Things, principles of machines, and how to repair them: 150 tips and tricks to make things last longer, and save you money. The title and its very long blurb are not quite accurate however. The book is also a manual about MAKING things, tinkering, and…
Read MoreK “Rules are there to be broken” is one of our favorite operating principles. We’ve learned a HUGE amount from seeing what would happen if we “broke the rules” and did things differently from the norm. It’s a practice: questioning the rules with a big “WHY?” and then, when we have an idea, asking “Why…
Read More(Video link here.) A friend sent us this beautiful video of Ray Bethell, a multi sport-kite flyer from Canada of unknown age (we hear he’s in his 80’s): His skin is like leather as he normally flies with his shirt off. He is deaf, so when he flies people hold their hands up and wave them…
Read MoreIn response to our recent post mentioning the hilarious David Sedaris pickpocket story, ever-improvisational Susan Dworski sent us this email: I recently undertook a Sedaris readathon and plowed through all his books in one fell swoop. To avoid the usual, well-thumbed celebrity-smut at my manicure salon, I introduced the notion of reading several Sedaris stories aloud to…
Read MoreSpotted at the PegandAwl Etsy shop (above) and Martha Stewart Living (below) simultaneously: bath tub trays/desks made out of a wood (reclaimed or new) board. Beautiful (and a relief from those wire grid tray) but we worry about the board sliding off the edge of the tub. MSL advises screwing on wood struts below. We’ve got another…
Read MoreOmar Sosa and Ana Dominguez of Apartamento magazine, with photographer Nacho Alegre, created a series of still-lifes with balancing bread. They’re beautiful, though I’m a little doubtful they are just balanced breads, no pins or stuts anywhere. To my former food-stylist’s eye, they seem, well…. …possibly faked, though it would be fun to get a bunch of breads and try. Nevertheless,…
Read More(Video link here.) When Sue Austin got a power chair 16 years ago after an extended illness, she felt a tremendous sense of freedom — yet others looked at her as though she had lost something. ‘Limitation’, ‘fear’, ‘pity’, ‘restriction’ were the words people used when they tried to imagine using a power chair. I was…
Read MoreIn the the Bill Murray interview we excerpted recently we held back an essential chunk, perfect for right NOW: I realized the more fun I had, the more relaxed I was working, the better I worked. Q. That seems to be a philosophy you apply not only to your work but to your entire life. A.…
Read MoreThe other day we received this email from artist Siobhan Humston: On the theme of New Year & lists, I thought you may enjoy this list from a former school mate of mine, Mark Alessio. He was killed in Africa a few years ago and on the Facebook memorial page, a friend of his posted…
Read More(Video link here.) We find this video of guys throwing balls with their “other hand” is both hilarious and curiously illuminating. It’s really funny how cockeyed throwing with the other hand makes these guys, and how off their aim. But intentionally switching handedness — or any practice we do routinely — can be a kind…
Read MoreDavid Saltman alerted us to this video with the comment: “Wild shit I really gotta do some day.” It is crazy imaginative, daring and hilarious, so you should watch it before your go any farther.
Read MoreIn response to our Dangerous Paths post, graphic designer and illustrator Susan Dworski sent us wonderful email: Several years ago I illustrated an 18th century Japanese saying using watercolors and rubber stamps made from hand carved, Staedtler Mars Erasers. The message reverberates across time. The message not only reverberates BIG TIME, but so does the idea of carving…
Read MoreWe find this simple practice from Thich Nhat Hanh‘s great book Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life to be a tonic. You can do it anywhere — subway, shopping mall, supermarket…It changes everything. It’s on a par with Bill Murray’s “Grab this day by the neck and kiss it”. Related posts: ‘don’t give up what…
Read More