details that make the difference -

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the right print and placement:

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the right heel detail :

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the right stuff inside :

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the right sense of whimsy :

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it all adds up.

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check your surroundings,

and make sure the details are making a difference.

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INCEPTION : THE MAP

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christopher nolan used this to keep track of his own movie.

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divine.

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In the thirties and forties, Hollywood referred to actors as “rug actors” (the ones who could do love scenes)” or “dust actors” (the ones who could shoot and fight). Don’t we all want a rug and dust man?

when looking for a partner in life,

i recommend the following traits, because in some ways, they are all that matter, they are all that really last :

1) someone more patient than you are, but mainly about the things that drive YOU crazy.

2) someone who makes you laugh.  but mainly at YOURSELF.

3) someone who can make you feel safe.  even from across the room.  or around the world.

4) someone who can hold you down when you struggle, and push you forward when you resist.

5) someone who says the things you can’t.

6) someone you can still surprise. just by being yourself.

7) someone who can’t count the years, because they seem to dissolve.

8) someone named timothy.

rug + dust, all the way.

my first guiding rule on having a creative life : define yourself in one phrase

“I WOULD RATHER BE THE EXCEPTION THAN THE RULE.”

my other mantra.  has kept me sane in many situations where conforming would have been easier than simply being

THE POWER OF DENIAL : why it is essential to a creative life …

(you have to believe that things will happen.  even when it seems impossible that they might.)

it is the human condition to believe that we are going to not just survive, but triumph.  It is a small form of denial.  It requires that you overlook the obvious, that you push past the facts, that you ignore the reasons why NOT.  We call it hope.  It is more nebulous than faith, and harder to sustain than any other emotion.  But it is the power that creates possibility, the window through which we see our better life.

creatives, learn from history : write the story yourself.

(this is a picture of david gandy in the shower.  it has absolutely nothing to do with the post, but it got you to look.)
(which is part of the lesson, too.)

“history is written by the victors”.  i remember reading this in high school in the middle of a class about meta-fiction, and before diving into john gardner’s GRENDEL.  for those of you who haven’t had the fun of reading it, the book takes the beowulf legend and turns it on it’s head by taking the monster’s point of view, and forcing you to rethink from then on what the REAL truth behind any story is … to at times even question your own motives in telling a tale.

as part of a creative life, you are constantly struggling with this exact issue.  ”who am I” is less critical to the tale at times than “what do i do”.  even in that definition you run into the danger of allowing the story to define you, and thereby your happiness.  words have power, and as we know, they can either elevate or wound.  so the words that you use about yourself are at times the most important, and the most difficult.

when fashioning a personal history, you have to accept certain facts about life in the creative sphere:

1) EVERYONE DOES NOT LIKE YOU.  in fact, there are a suprising number of people out there who will openly despise you … at times when you have never even met them.  as a creative, you have to get used to this.  you have to put it away.  in order to really succeed at whatever you are trying to do, you have to learn the delicate art of listening to the critiques (remember the lessons from grendel, you might BE the monster, not the hero in any given situation), and then decide how to incorporate the incident into your personal story.  negative press, as we see time and again, can actually grow your story larger than you can on your own, and you don’t have to seek it.  if you do well, if you put yourself out there, you will get it.  remember, that it IS balanced by those who will see and respect you.  but they won’t tell you.  cruel fact. 

2) YOU HAVE TO TELL THE STORY FIRST.  i started blogging years ago.  i did it before i even got to a high profile part of my career because i realized that when you “google” someone, there’s a lot of content you can’t control out there.  content that is good.  content that is bad.  so you have to contribute to the dialog.  blogging was the first way i found to enter the discussion about “landis”.  it was simply about the dogs, about tim, about our life.  it was a public diary, but i thought no more information than i would include in any email to our friends and family every few weeks.

i discovered, however, that it was far far more than that.  for years after, every job interview i went on, every new client i met with, every person in a bar i ran into … they either knew me, or found out about me with far greater intimacy than they ever had in the past.  and it was positive.  it was “oh, i LOVE your dogs”.  or “i’m going to hong kong soon, where would you recommend i stay?”.  connections from a personal story before we even knew each other.  because i told my story, publicly, first.

3) BE PROUD.  BE MODEST.  when telling the story in today’s culture there is far far too much self-congratulations going on.  believe me, i am a big believer in having a strong ego.  i am not a shy flower.  i like attention and the leo in me seeks it.  and i’m good with that.  but the cancerian in me would also like to buffer that with a healthy dose of thanks for the things i have been allowed to do, the people who have helped get me to where i am, the importance of home and the simple things like my husband and my pets and good food and family.  balance is what makes a story relatable, but it also keeps YOU grounded in the reality vs. the myth of what you are putting out there.

4) PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW THAT YOUR STORY IS JUST THAT.  A STORY.  i am continuously amazed that people who know me very very well think that my life IS my blog.  or my facebook page.  or even that my website is the way all my work experiences turn out. when i write it like this, of course, it seems ridiculous. we all have our sadness, our heartbreak, our wretched days when nothing in our closet matches and we feel fat.  but keep in mind that what you craft of your story is more than just a story to most people.  it is a glimpse into your life, inside your mind.  it is permission.  to be a friend.  to be a compatriot.  to hope for something they might want to pursue or experience.  and that is both a responsibility on some levels, and a power.  if you want to sleep at night, make sure you keep the rest of your life as transparent as your myth.  that you connect with your true friends and family on all levels, good AND awful.  and that occasionally, you let the story tell the real story as well, so others can know a fuller, more real you.

5) ACCEPT “THE NEW PRIVACY”.  there are generations younger than me who get this.  there are generations older than me who deny this.  and there is my generation, somewhere between the internet and “snail mail”, between faxes and cell phones, between television and “content”, who is just grappling with it.  it comes down to this.  if you put yourself out there, you immediately are a public figure.  THIS IS A GOOD THING. yes, you may have people knowing things about you, or finding things you don’t want found out.  but that simply is the new order.  a sex tape makes a mogul these days.  not that you need that to succeed, but a keen understanding of the fact that there is a new code of conduct when it comes to privacy (nudity is second nature, personal relationships are openly discussed in gory detail, opinions are a free floating as they should be … only more powerful.   and louder.) entering the arena is the basic currency of having a creatively connected life.  just prepare for the give and take that it requires.

and finally, try to live without fear.  history in the end is something that we will not live in.  it is a tale that is told to people who are studying us, not living alongside us.  and in the end, the discussion is richer for your participation in your own story.

besos, 

landis

(see?  you made it all the way through.  good faithful readers.)

“action is the antidote to despair.”

- joyce carol oates, on 9/12, in a moment of lucidity that has saved me, again and again.

as a creative, you find yourself, time and again, facing what can only be described as despair.  because something you have created is systematically destroyed in front of you (most often by people with neither the taste nor the skills to create the work themselves), because you lose your job for reasons beyond your control or for which you have no recourse, because of doubt (the eternal ghost that shadows each of us) … because of the often recurring sense that you are not where you are supposed to be, doing what you love.

after 9/11, joyce carol oates, a national treasure, came out and made a speech about what it was like on the previous day for her.  she spoke in such powerful, concise ways about a tragic moment, about the feeling that it was like “watching the moon fall from the sky” … and she finished with the above, simple, beautiful statement.

i share this with you today, because it is the ONLY answer to despair i have ever found worthy of a true creative life.  the ONLY answer that can affect change.  

it is truly one of the few things in my life that is an answer.

from that morning, i took her advice.  and here is what i can share with you.

the simple act of DOING something moves us forward.  it has, time and again, lifted me past whatever i am struggling with, pushed me through a fear, or out of a moment of panic, and created a new reality.

in recent years, it has involved picking up a camera, calling on friends, and shooting film.  for no client, for no reason, simply to DO.  to CREATE.  to feed the part of myself that needs those things to be happy … but more importantly to simply breathe without the tightness in my chest that comes with fear.  a creative’s greatest enemy.

and as anyone who has practised this simple concept can affirm, action creates a new reality.  and therefore opens space beyond things like fear and despair, and places you firmly in a future that you had not anticipated.

and that YOU created.

and perhaps this is the greatest part of her simple advice.  because YOU are the instigator of the change, the outcome is far more likely to lead you to places where you are beyond the reach of despair.

ADVICE - detritus from the interwebs, and things your mother didn't teach you, but probably should have . . .

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the internet is full these days of sites ripe with visual offerings.

designers sharing their wares.

bloggers offering opinions.

teens sharing their shopping finds, their nudity, their thoughts.

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at times, it's too random.

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at times, the random offers up some really choice gems.

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if i've learned anything, it's that one of my biggest strengths lies in editing.

sorting through all the options,

and distilling a p.o.v.

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love it or hate it,

it's a skill.

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here are some recent posters and postings

that made me smile:

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there are several people i wanted to mail this to.

only no one reads their mail anymore.

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which is why i have always pretended to be

the version of me

i wanted.

it works.

try it.

now.

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this one you have to stick to a bit.

but it pans out in the end rather well.

self worth = commercial worth

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fabulous takeoff of the "keep calm and carry on" poster.

and i love the cary grant cool.

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um.

i have a list of people this should be sent to.

instead,

i will post it here.

moving on . . .

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amen.

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and then,

my favorite.

this goes out to my mother and sister,

both of whom could have invented this phrase.

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ADVICE - or why i am so bad at, but so learning about, patience.

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things are starting to turn here.

i am beginning to see signs that this new career will take off,

and it's exciting and promising.

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but i had to learn,

that i had to learn.

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that picking up the camera,

was not as powerful as finding the crew,

and learning from them.

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after all,

with any re-invention,

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my portfolio of print

is pretty stellar at this point,

and my resources are bar none,

top of the tier.

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plus, i not only love it,

i rock it.

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and my new reel

(in a few weeks i'll unleash it)

is a whole new world.

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but i had to be ready

to say to the world,

i don't just WANT to do this,

i've put in my time,

i've honed my craft,

i've humbled myself,

and i know my shit.

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patience has always been my bugaboo.

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but tim is better by far at it than i,

and we learned this year together,

we pushed hard,

and he helped me grow.

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a bad, but nonetheless relevant,

story illustrating this.

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i saw these shoes eight months ago online,

as part of a limited blah blah blah collaboration.

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gray ballistic nylon?

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quiver.

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one month ago,

we walked through opening ceremony,

and tim walked up to me holding them,

and said

"these look like you".

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i'm not sure if it was just him knowing me TOO well,

or a very materialistic universe

pushing my "see, you have to WAIT for the good stuff, and it WILL come to YOU."

button.

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and recently, working with bradley garlock,

and insanely talented art director and set designer,

i passed along this picture as flower reference:

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bradley,

god bless him,

locked onto the white poppy.

obsessed about the white poppy,

discovered that they are killer rare and were out of season.

and said,

"fine,

we just have to find a job to work on

that's when they're IN season.

we HAVE to use them somewhere."

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i took that as a good career sign.

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the ladybug effect -

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for years, we have been haunted,

or perhaps pre-saged,

by ladybugs.

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they are for us harbingers of change,

of shifts about to come,

warnings in bright red and tiny legs,

that we must brace for the wave, that we are considered by the universe to be prepared,

that we are in flux,

and about to be moved forward.

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it is always forward.

-

it has been awhile since we have gotten a sign.

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so, closing the door last week to the balcony,

i looked down,

and saw change struggling to right itself,

legs up, flailing.

-

 -
so i set her right,
and i set her free.
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can't wait to find out what she came calling about . . .
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today, mars leaves retrograde, and ross bleckner comes home . . .

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which apparently,

in the words of ophelia chong,

means "no more paddling upstream".

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it's been from

December 20th, 2009 to March 10th, 2010

a relatively short time,

but one i think we've ALL felt strongly.

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not sure why, but this news reminded me of the work of ross bleckner.

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tim and i love his oils,

the sense of light and movement,

the elegaic stillness even in the rush of bird-wings and chandeliers.

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his hypnotic canvases pull from aids memorials, high school trophies, cell reproduction,

love, loss, and longing,

the three universal "L's"

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i am ready for things to start happening with more united effort.

i am ready for frustrations to be let go, and to move ahead more agressively.

i want loved ones who are estranged to untangle and return.

i want friends who are lost to remember the map back.

i want to be reminded of the positive, and be given help in sharing it.

i want us all to remember this, from ross :

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pretty things worth posting (early march edition with some stuff thrown in from february and january because it took me this long to get back up to speed so sue me.) -

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during new york fashion week,

some guy stripped and did an erotic dance for a cigarette at an after party.

i need to go to more after parties.

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any boy who has STRENGTH and COURAGE,

only, you know, in latin,

tatted on his thighs,

and has a blog as good as this:

katelovesme.net 

is someone i can endorse.

keep it up pretty prince pelayo.

i'm watching.

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the JULIUS runway show,

which reminded me that THIS 

CAN

be my office attire

when the directing and photography really take off.

(note i said WHEN.  the bounce is happening.)

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as if you had any doubt.

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things that make me happy when i'm blue -

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my gifted friend ophelia's office/design studio.  pretty work spaces make me happy.

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tatyana's "honking" (i believe my mother would call it) engagement ring.  

large diamonds make me happy.  

diamonds the size of a person's head . . . inordinately so.

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annie nichols latest facebook profile picture.

that's LOVE, people.

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a late night picture txt from tim,

in nyc,

missing me.

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remember when everyone was changing their facebook pictures to the celebrity everyone told them they looked like, and i said i looked like no one?

a friend sent me this picture and said i always reminded her of cate.

I'LL TAKE IT.

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and yes, i get it.

i'll be back to my bitch-making self by monday.

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