Another Political Interlude

Even the most stalwart have to take a break from bartending and cocktail experiments and pop our heads up into the real world now and then. Depending on your political orientation, your socio-economic situation, and your general level of human empathy, sticking your head out of the foxhole can cause all kinds of reactions. My general level of anxiety since inauguration day has increased and each week seems to bring a new revelation which ratchets up the level of unease.

Since many friends are in the same boat, I have shared one of my coping strategies with a few of them. I offer it up generally in case you're having those 3:30AM internal wake-up calls that end in listening to those voices inside your head asking, "What's Bannon going to pull next?" If you're tempted to look at Twitter at that point, your night is basically over. So, my solution has been this:

Keep a journal.

Yeah, I know. It's a writer telling people to write. But the simple fact is, getting it out of your head and onto paper can help. Like flushing the toilet, it puts the shit where it belongs. I've got a lovely goat-skin hand-bound volume that was gifted to me that now sports a title page I emblazoned "The Trump Dump." I record the daily idiocies, and potential supposed treasons that are clustering my mind to the point of calamity. I can sleep at night. Some nights. Journaling may not work for everyone, and honestly, I have no intention of ever going back and reading through it, but it might help.

The other thing I've started doing is reading some history. I'm searching for a larger context in which to place this moment in time, as a check and balance for the constantly churning news cycles in which we are immersed. It's both calming and humbling to read the writings of people grappling with the sweep of events and trying to shape a better world. I came across this quote from Thomas Jefferson about President Washington:

For his was the singular destiny and merit, of leading the armies of his country successfully through an arduous war, for the establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils through the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into a quiet and orderly train; and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the whole of his career, civil and military, of which the history of the world furnishes no other example.

Jefferson was, of course, writing with some years of hindsight, but I honestly cannot imagine anyone, much less a fellow former President, writing something even passingly similar about Donald Trump.

Way Off In The Weeds

To end the week of smoking - and what a way to bring in the New Year! - I went a tad more complicated in hopes of a subtler smoke flavor. Basically, I took the leftover citrus peel from the previous experiment and used it to make:

Smoked-Citrus Simple Syrup
Cherry-Smoked Blood Orange and Lemon Peels
1 C Water
1 C Caster Sugar

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a small sauce pan, stirring constantly to dissolve sugar. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.

After cooling, I used the simple syrup in a bourbon old fashioned.

2 oz Maker's 46 Bourbon
2 t Smoked-citrus Simple Syrup
2 dashes Number 11 Holiday Bitters
Blood Orange Slice
Splash Seltzer

In a lowball glass over a single large ice cube, add the bitters, the simple syrup, the seltzer, then the bourbon, pouring each gently over the ice. Jam the orange down the side of the glass, then stir it all gently.

This drink turned out to be one of my favorites. It had a pine-cone smell, along with the citrus, and a delicate woody finish.

In the end, I arrived back where I started, at the Old Fashioned, but with a better variation where the smoke actually figures in, but doesn't over-power the drink. All in all, a great week for science!

Many thanks to my friend Chris Brook for the loan of the smoker. I paid the debt with a flask of smoked white vermouth and a bottle of Number 11 Holiday Bitters, so he can replicate some of these recipes with the proper ingredients.

If you try any of these at home, let me know how yours turn out. Or, better yet, let's get together and share the experiment.

Piece by Piece

So, after the red vermouth tragedy, I thought I'd deflect my exploratory smoking away from one of the main components, so as not to ruin another batch of anything. Although this doesn't qualify as "molecular" exploration, even in the culinary world, I shifted my focus onto the garnish end of things. Think "component" rather than "molecule", and you'll see where I'm headed.

I cherry-wood smoked a small batch of citrus peel. Hoping to avoid the over-smoking of the red vermouth, I just did a single burn, filling the measuring cup, then sealing it with plastic wrap and allowing the smoke to settle/dissipate/whatever naturally over the course of a few hours. By the time 5:00 rolled around, I was ready for the taste test.

Keeping my variables constant, I mixed my two base drinks -- a dry Martini and a Manhattan, ingredients as follows:

Martini:
2 parts Aviation Gin
1 part Martini Extra-Dry Vermouth
Cherry-Smoked lemon peel

Manhattan:
2 parts Dickel Rye
1 part Carpano Vermouth
Cherry-Smoked Blood Orange Peel

The effect of the smoked citrus was subtle and delightful in the drinks. It added a bit of dark-scented heft to the Martini, just a tad more body than an ultra-dry drink. A perfect addition to the winter months. In the Manhattan, it enhanced the spiciness of the orange peel, giving another dimension to my go to drink.

Next: even further off the smoked path.

One Step Forward...

After yesterday's success with the bianco vermouth, I assumed red vermouth would be a no-brainer. And yet... it didn't work that way. I put 3 oz. Punt e Mes red vermouth into a quart jar and hickory-smoked it two times, as with the white vermouth.

The result was very fragrant of woodsmoke, so my hopes were high. Tasting the vermouth on its own, it had a raw stale smoke finish to it. Thinking perhaps it would mellow when combined in a drink, I mixed a standard Manhattan.

2 parts Dad's Hat Rye (Vermouth-Barrel Finish)
1 part hickory-smoked vermouth
Dash Number 11 Cherry Bitters

While the smell of hickory was pleasant, the finish on the drink was somewhere between expressed coffee grounds and dirty ashtray. I mean, I finished the drink, but I won't make another one. Perhaps the vermouth was over-smoked, perhaps the hickory was just too much, perhaps a different red vermouth base? Lots of variables to mess around with, all for science.

Tomorrow, going off-script.

Eureka!

No, this has nothing to do with Archimedes. On only the second smoking experiment, I got a successful cocktail.

Chris Brook, the chemist who loaned me the smoker, suggested smoking some vermouth by placing it in a sealed bottle filled with smoke and shaking until the smoke had disappeared. Following his advice, I put 3oz of Martini Bianco Vermouth in a 500ml flask, filled it with applewood smoke, sealed it and shook it until the smoke had disappeared.

For good measure, I repeated the process. It took a little longer for the smoke to be absorbed the second time.







The resulting vermouth took on a faint cloudy aspect, but the color was unchanged. It smelled redolently like the remains of a campfire the morning after.  The taste was spicy, woody, and suggestive of salt, with a smoky finish. As the Martini is sweeter to begin with, the smoking actually balanced well.

I used the vermouth in a cocktail combination that I'm partial to:

2 parts Jameson Irish Whiskey
1 part applewood-smoked white Vermouth
Lemon peel

Stir the liquids over ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, twist the peel to release the oils and drop it into the glass. The result is a lemony, earthy aroma, a crisp taste, and a smoky finish. A great drink.

Next up: smoked red vermouth.

Smoking Habit

A misleading title perhaps, because "habit" is a strong word and it's provided without context. Although I like the occasional cigar, I'm not talking about tobacco, I'm talking about woodsmoke used the flavor things. For this particular week, before I've got to grind back at work, I'm experimenting with a portable smoker provided by my good friend, Chris Brook, to see if I can make any cocktail magic.

Yesterday's attempt was to mesquite smoke the glass the drink was made in:

Then, I built a blood-orange old fashioned using Makers 46, Sugar cubes, my own Number 11 Holiday Bitters, and orange peel.

The result was only a slight hint of smokiness in the drink. It might be necessary to smoke the glass multiple times, or let the smoke rest in the glass for a longer duration in order to impart more flavor.

And a note to all my regular cocktail readers: yes, I know I can probably research these techniques on the internet, but seriously, it's a lot more fun to experiment with this stuff than to just have everything answered for you.

Tomorrow: smoked vermouth.

Time Travel Journalism

I'm burying the lead with that title, because this is actually about the experience of re-watching All The President's Men last week with the perspective of being on the far side of the millennium. If you haven't seen (or seen in a while) the film, it's streaming right now on Amazon Prime and you should check it out.

Most people agree the 70s were a pretty fertile time for American films and I'd make a case that All The President's Men marks a turning point in pop culture, politics, pop journalism, and film. Released in 1976, after Jaws planted the flag on the beachhead of summer blockbuster paradigms in 1975, but before Star Wars swung the entire industry to that model a year later. ATPM grossed $70m and won four Academy Awards, including ones for Best Supporting Actor and Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay.

The 70s, although separated from us temporally by a good four decades, were not as far off as we may like to think. Economic problems, although of a different nature, were common. Inflation, income disparity, an oil crisis. Unrest in the Middle East, as well as tensions with the Soviet Bloc. Racial strife. And, oh my, distrust in the political system, largely cause by the Watergate cover-up, ending with the resignation of a sitting President.

Despite this past year's accolades for Spotlight, it's worth remembering that ATPM was one of the first modern journalist-as-hero movies to grab the popular spotlight. The cover-up motifs that run through each work are highlighted by the unthinkable reality that the perpetrators of the cover-ups were people abusing sacred trusts. As print journalism continues its long painful death spiral, there is something refreshingly innocent about characters righteously pursuing the truth and publishing it. Not some crazy little blog (kinda like this one), but in a national daily, read by millions.

ATPM has a certain tightness of story that you don't see in films currently, which are all bloated beyond repair in service to some vague notion of branding. Goldman's script, based on the book by Woodward and Bernstein - focuses on "the story" as character. The cover-up is a character the reporters are searching to uncover, to really get to know. That is the story of the film and it stays relentlessly focused on that topic.

There is no flab on the film's structure - when the story is done, they're out - credits roll. It's almost shockingly fresh. They get to the point, tell the story cleanly, keep focus, and don't let anything drag. The amount of tension that's built without any real physical confrontation is remarkable. It's old-school, straight-up filmmaking, and well worth a fresh look, even if it's just to secretly giggle when you realize all the reporters' diligent research now can be handled with google and a cell phone.

Political Interlude Nobody's Going to Read

As we all patiently wait for the arrival of Spring on our calendars, I'm going to dip my toe into the political maelstrom for one brief point about Narrative; please note I'm using that word in the grand sense. Much of our lives is spent constructing narratives that explain our everyday existence, a story framework that gives meaning where there may, in fact, be none. We all imagine ourselves as the central hero of a grand narrative of our lives. It's comforting, right?

Writers spend their lives grappling with issues of storytelling and the meaning of narratives and one thing most of us understand is that at the root of all drama is conflict. Without conflict, little to no drama. The type of conflict is in many ways irrelevant. Its existence, and the attendant drama, hold an audience's attention. The conflict, for an adept writer, can be created out of whole cloth, but as long as an audience wants to believe it, an audience will watch it.

In the entertainment world, where keeping audience attention is critical, the truth of an actual conflict is secondary to keeping the audience in their seats.

In the political world, I think manufactured conflict is a bit more problematic. At this point in time, I can't shake the feeling that the media is manufacturing conflict - and thus narrative - where none actually exists and I can see only two possible motives, one self-serving, one that could be considered journalistic over-reach.

I'm primarily (pun intended) focused on the democratic party right now. I'm a lifelong democrat, so they occupy most of my focus, both positive and negative. If you look at today's primary standings, Clinton has 1231 delegates and Sanders has 576. Since we liberals are the ones to tout our belief in science and math, can we focus for a second on the fact that this numerical disparity would be considered a commanding lead in any other race? It is nearly a statistical impossibility that Sanders can win the nomination yet the media still portrays this as a neck and neck race. Why?

Conflict. 

By manufacturing a conflict, the media has the narrative that is Clinton v. Sanders. That narrative is what keeps people tuning in. If the democratic story is over until the general campaign begins, all those democrats may turn their channels from the news outlets until that point in time. Those revenue dollars then go somewhere other than the news channels. So, that's the self-serving motive that I pointed out. The news media needs to generate viewers and one way to do it is report things in such a way to keep their narrative running.

You may shrug this off and say, "hey, it's the media. This is what they do." Yes and no. News outlets are supposed to report on events with editorial balance, but you may have noticed that over the last few years, traditional news has slipped into the "infotainment" category, where we rely ever-increasingly on the news channels' interpretations of the events, rather than any kind of objective reporting. When much of the public relies more heavily on TV Comedians for their news sources than actual news-reporting agencies, there's a problem.

To recap, Clinton has a nearly unbeatable lead and all reality-based statistics point to the conclusion that she will be the Democratic nominee for president. Everyone can understand the need for ratings and the self-serving motives of TV Networks in prolonging a story. But the troubling undercurrent here is that you could argue that the news outlets are actually trying to influence the elections. Does the constant narrative of an underdog win by Sanders somehow destabilize the elections themselves? Is he the one being propped up by the media, rather than the popularly-touted claim that Clinton is always getting the benefit of the doubt?

I make no judgment about the candidates themselves, but I do encourage you to question your news sources and the media. Their agenda may not always be the same as yours.

Apologies for the dip into politics. Martini Mondays will return in the spring!

Martini Mondays - Interlude

Hey, it's a holiday, so drink whatever you like.

I'm using this off-week to talk a brief second about glassware. Some folks get really tweaked about glasses in general. I'm a little more "come as you are" on the glassware front. Whatever gets it into my mouth does the job. But within that parameter, there are endless variations.

You find coupes, cocktail glasses, giant birdbaths and everything in between. My two thoughts on glasses for your martini:

First, giant oversized glasses may look like a circus trick and allow you to pour in an eight-ounce martini, but they tend to be unstable and drinks that large go tepid before you usually drink them. I prefer my martinis, no matter the recipe, to be well- chilled.

Second, pack your glass with ice ahead of time. That way, the chill on your drink lasts longer.

Like wine glasses, cocktail glasses are stemmed so that you don't have to hold the vessel itself, thus using your own body heat to warm a drink that usually isn't served with ice.

Simple, right?

#martinimondays

Martini Mondays #4 - Choice of Poison

I have a martini and I feel, once more, real.
  --Anne Sexton

As with the proverbial manners that maketh the man and accessories that crown the outfit, so too with ingredients sealing the deal in cocktails. Lord knows a lot of other deals have been sealed based on a well-made cocktail. Using high quality, specially chosen ingredients is the hallmark of gastronomical success and selections from behind the bar are no different. While perhaps this column should have been the first in the series, I held off for two reasons.

First, without some basic knowledge and drink recipes under your belt, you may be hesitant to embark into a world of complete nuance and personal taste, which leads to--

Second, I don't want to give the impression that I'm a snob about this stuff, as if there's only one way to drink and it's based on some arcane knowledge only the privileged few possess.  I have my opinions about things, but they are the opinions based on my own palate and preferences.

My preferences are informed ones.

The picture to the left is from a recent gin tasting I had the good fortune to attend. You can see ten different bottles of gin (and seven kinds of bitters) sitting on this counter, and that wasn't all the gin we had in the house. This line-up was inspired by vacation finds - from somewhere other than our neighborhood liquor stores - that a few of us brought together for an evening of tasting and mixology.

Quite simply, the more you taste and try, the more you're able to narrow down your own opinions and preferences. There are no wrong answers when someone asks, "what do you like to drink?" Drinking is an inherently pleasurable act and if there's no pleasure involved for you, you're doing it wrong. That isn't to say your taste can't change over time as you, yourself, change. In my youth, Beefeater on the rocks was my choice at the bar. With more experience and interests, I tasted everything I could get my hands on. For now, my favorite martini variation, with specific and somewhat challenging ingredients to source, is as follows--

My Favorite Martini (...today 10/5/15)

2 oz. Bluecoat Barrel Aged American Gin
1 oz. Carpano Bianco Vermouth
2 dashes The Bitter Truth Orange Bitters
Lemon Twist

Gently stir all liquid ingredients in a beaker over large ice cubes. Strain into a chilled coupe and twist in the lemon peel.

The Taste

In the glass, the barrel aged gin gives a lustrous golden color to the drink. It's redolent of honey, oak, wildflowers and juniper. The aging lends the gin more heft and roundness in the mouth than standard bottlings and this feels like a more substantial drink than the classic martini, with the oak and juniper pairing nicely to the dried-fruit notes of the vermouth. For me, this is an easy-drinker and it offers an over-abundance of simple pleasures. Especially after two of them.

The main trick with ingredients, of course, is discovering what you like, and in what combinations you like it. The martini is endlessly flexible in this regard, and endlessly forgiving.

So, be bold. Taste everything. Experiment. Most of all, have fun.

Next Week - On Being a Pro

#martinimondays

Martini Mondays #3 - The Vesper Seduction

Only lust and gluttony are worth a darn.
  --John Steinbeck

Since Daniel Craig took on the mantle of James Bond, the most famous cinematic spy of all time, the Vesper martini has been one of the most prevalent variants in pop culture. Going retro and reaching back to the first Bond novel, screenwriters Purvis, Wade and Haggis give Craig everything he needs to one-up his predecessors, at least as far as drink ordering is concerned.

In the original Casino Royale novel, Bond specifies--

"Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?" Bond eventually christens the drink, the Vesper, after the beautiful woman he falls in love with. Like its namesake, the drink is beautiful, seductive, and more than a little dangerous.

A particular alchemy comes into play with the Vesper. The mixed cocktail far exceeds the sum of its individual parts. Remember last week's vodka discussion? The "one part" vodka ups the strength of the drink without skewing the flavor profile. The substitution of Lillet for traditional vermouth swings things in a fruit direction, rather than a botanical one. If you mix to Bond's recipe, it's also quite a large drink.

I've tinkered with the concoction over the years and tried recipes from other places, but still adhere to the gin/vodka/Lillet core. One addition I took from the White Dog Cafe in Philadelphia is the idea of an absinthe rinse in the glass, which adds a cold, bracing tang.

Vesper #11

1 oz. Green Hat Gin
1 oz. Dogfish Head Jin
1 oz. Absolut Vodka
1 oz. Lillet Blanc
Dash Scrappy's Lime Bitters
1 t. Absinthe
Lemon Peel for garnish

Fill your cocktail glass with crushed ice and pour the absinthe over; swirl it in the glass to give the inside a coating rinse. In a shaker with ice, combine the rest of the ingredients, and shake furiously until the shaker itself is frosty. Dump the absinthe and ice from the well-chilled glass and strain the cocktail directly into it, garnishing with a twist of lemon.

The Taste

When crafted well, this drink tastes like chilled air, liquid oxygen, and it's so bracing when it goes down, you just want to quaff more. All the components seem to blend into a sinuous coolness that defies description. It smells a little like tart citrus with a whiff of anise from the rinse, but the flowery Green Hat and the Vanilla-tinged Dogfish Head merge with the Lillet to deliver something you have no right to expect.

The danger with this drink, of course, is that it's quite large by cocktail standards (and you'll notice I eliminate 1 full part of gin) and you can just keep drinking them. Like Vesper herself, you can get yourself into deep trouble very quickly. She'll double-cross you with a wicked hangover. After an evening of drinking these on my spacious porch, one iron-livered friend of mine put it the next morning, "I now understand what the phrase 'reeks of gin' means."

Next week - Ingredients Matter

#martinimondays

Martini Mondays #2 - The Vodka Question

One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough.
    --James Thurber

Once you establish the classic, as we did last week, the door opens to endless variations of ingredients. Dozens of gins are available everywhere these days, and each brings something to the table when talking about martinis. More or less flavor overall. More or less body. More or less botanical profile. And that's just talking about gin, without considering the vermouth or garnish. Then come the variations in base spirit. While James Bond films have popularized the vodka martini, vodka presents an interesting question.

Let's establish a couple of ground rules for the weeks to come. (1) Every twee drink name that ends in "tini" should not be confused with an actual martini. So, Chocotinis and Appletinis are not what we're discussing. They're a marketing gimmick where sweet drinks are dumped into cocktail glasses to ride a true martini's coattails.  These drinks are made for people who want to get their drink on, but don't actually like the taste of spirits. (2) I'm a minimalist when it comes to garnishes. I don't want a meal in my glass. I want a good, old-fashioned, ice-cold cocktail.

Vodka is designed to be essentially flavorless, making it the ideal mixer if you want to add punch to non-alcoholic beverages, but on its own is not particularly interesting. Using it in a martini, vodka yields the stage to the vermouth and the garnish. If you use last week's classic recipe substituting vodka for gin, you end up with a slightly vapid, flowery, citrus-forward dink. How to improve on the base vodka martini? This brings us to garnishes.

The eternal argument of lemon twist vs. olive as garnish in a martini reaches extreme proportions in the "dirty" martini, which includes various amounts of olive brine in the mix. Any olive will add a salty, vegetal spin to the drink, no matter the base liquor. I happen to think it ruins a gin martini. However, vodka is a different matter.

The Dirty Vodka Martini

2 oz Kettle One Vodka
1 oz Martini Extra Dry Vermouth
1 dash Olive Brine
1 dash Angostura Bitters
Garnish with olives to your personal taste

Where this martini is concerned, I agree with Bond. Shaking is the way to go. It should be brutally cold when served.

The Taste

As long a you don't overdo it on the olive juice, you won't be overwhelmed by salt. In my version, the color actually comes from the Angostura and the bitters adds a sharp edge to balance with the viscous mouthfeel of the olives. This version is milder and softer than you might imagine.

A note on the olives: really, whatever you like is what you should go with. I avoid ones that are stuffed with anything, because then that tends to dominate the flavor. For me, smaller olives are better because the large ones tend to feel rubbery and meaty if they sit in the drink too long.

While the dirty vodka martini will never be at the top of my goto list of drinks, its popularity and appeal are undeniable. In case you were wondering, I would never dirty-up a gin drink. I'm not insane.

Next week: James Bond's OTHER big contribution to martini lore.

#martinimondays

Martini Mondays - Welcome!

Civilization begins with distillation.
    -William Faulkner

Welcome to a few weeks of ad hoc discussions about perhaps the most famous drink of all time. Be forewarned: this will not be exhaustive in any way, just enough information imparted to justify some solid thinking and drinking. With a subject as wide and deep as this one, how to kick it off?  Best to start at the very beginning, with the classic Martini Cocktail.

As you'll find with most drinking lore, dates and origin stories vary widely, but the general outline goes something like this: distilled liquors have been around for a long time, but in the mid-late 1800s vermouth comes on the scene and then some genius thinks to combine them. The result is the classic duo of bartending, The Manhattan and The Martini. Between 1880 and 1915, experimenting goes on everywhere, and many of the recipes still exist today. Any bartending book will feature multiple combinations generally lumped under the Martini moniker.

As a baseline for the weeks to come, I'm drinking today the generally accepted classic Martini. I've mixed this one with readily-available ingredients that you can find in most liquor and grocery stores. To mix any proper drink, you need plenty of ice. Pre-chill your glass, so you can maintain the temperature of the drink, then mix your drink by stirring in a separate vessel over ice.

The Classic Martini

The Classic Martini

2 oz. Aviation Gin
1 oz. Martini Extra Dry Vermouth
2 Dashes Angostura Orange Bitters
Lemon twist

Stir liquid ingredients over large ice cubes until well-chilled. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist the lemon over the glass to release essential oils and garnish.

The Taste

The drink should above all be cool, steely, and bracing in the mouth. The Aviation gin is clean and neutral, with notes of juniper, rosemary, and citrus. The flavor of the cocktail takes round botanical notes from the vermouth, and the bright twist of lemon. This drink is always a fitting end to a Monday workday.

Welcome to #martinimondays.

Next Week: The Vodka Question

Drinks are Coming

A unifying theme in my life seems to be booze, so I'm going to stick with my strengths. Over the next few weeks, I'm planning a series on cocktails, specifically the Martini. I'm going to explore a few of my favorite variations, share the recipes, tasting notes, and a little bit of the history - and legend - of the iconic cocktail. Join me and drink along on Martini Mondays.

#martinimondays

Crazy Time

It's been a bit of a crazy year, in good and unexpected ways. The unfortunate downside is that my online maintenance has fallen by the wayside and this blog had virtually disappeared from my to-do list.  Time for a well-deserved update.  But after eight months or so, how do you climb back on the horse in a sensible way?  Does it even matter, in our attention-fractured society, if there's any continuity? Best to just plunge back into the bloggy waters...

I've found a weird thing happening over the past few months -- work breeds work.

The more projects you have going, the more people you come in contact with, the more opportunities you are presented with. I've been unexpectedly busy the last six months, partially because of this kind of chain of events.  Also, the importance of networking and network maintenance, as in my earlier postings, comes into play. One of the projects currently the most active is one with a friend from film school.  It's been a long time since those days, but because this guy's part of my network, when a project in my wheelhouse came up, I was on his go-to list. Now we're on the brink of shooting a TV Pilot.  More on that later as it develops.

Ride the wave.  When the crazy time strikes, be happy you've got too much work.

The Human Network

Occasionally I'm asked to speak on writing or entertainment industry issues and during the course of those events, especially with young writers, I get asked certain questions with some regularity.  This past week, the question was, "how do you develop your network?"  The answer to that question has many components, too many to cover in a brief blog post, but subsequent events in the week highlighted one particular thing not to do when developing or maintaining your human network.

Don't waste people's time.

When you ask a fellow writer to read your material, you're asking for a commitment of their time, their experience, and their critical acumen.  You're also asking them to devote their own limited creative energies on your behalf.  Before you decide to call in that favor, ask yourself: why do I want this person's opinion?  If you're looking for a rubber-stamp, "hey, this is wonderful," send the work to your mom.  I assume if you send it to me, you want an actual, critical evaluation and that you're somehow looking to improve your work.  I treat those requests with a professional's eye and try to be as honest as I can.  That type of professional evaluation bundles together my decades of experience, my attention to detail, and a significant amount of mental effort.  If, when you make the request, you have absolutely no intention of listening to anyone's opinion other than your own, then you have wasted my time.

In that case, you have self-selected yourself out of my network.  You will not be on my go-to e-mail list for job opportunities or future connections.  Your name will not come up in cocktail chit-chat as "someone worth knowing".  Your e-mails will no longer be acknowledged.

Networks are fragile.  Respect the value of a professional's time.

The Bi-polar Nature of Writing

Apologies to the mental health community for co-opting the term for a clearly-defined condition in service to a loose analogy; no harm or slight intended and in no way am I trying to minimize what people with bi-polar disorder suffer.  It's just the way my own brain is working this morning and certainly I'm not original in pointing out the similarities between the impulse to write and mental disorders in general.  But I got to thinking...

Writing requires two particular and somewhat conflicting abilities.

First, the need to submerge yourself in the waves of culture and humanity -- not just the books, magazines, comics, films, tv, and music that media presents, but general contact with other humans sharing communal experiences.  Time with friends, family, colleagues.  Eating, drinking, discussing.  Sharing opinions and thoughts, hopes and desires, annoyances and pet peeves.  For any writer, living a life fully and richly provides the context for your work.  It's research, in a way.  You absorb experiences you can then use and modify to tell the stories that mean the most to you.

But, and let's face it, there's always a "but."

Writing also requires the ability to totally disengage from those necessary and valid connections to actually, well, do the writing.  When you're actually at the keyboard, you need to be able to focus on that project, immerse yourself in that world, and not be pulled aside by the scrolling of the twitter feed or the pings of Facebook updates.  It requires a force of will not to constantly worry about "maintaining your brand" on social networks and actually generate content.  It's difficult in our world of constant connectivity to focus on one thing at a time and that's one reason why writer's retreats are popular destinations.

It requires the ability to turn down invitations from friends, to eschew the very things you love, like reading and watching tv, in order to create something.  The creative impulse isn't an easy one to obey and you should never underestimate the toll it demands.  However, producing something brings other rewards, sometimes monetary, sometimes simple satisfaction, so you have to find the balance.

It's a constant tightrope walk between artistic engagement and having a fulfilling life.  It's possible to navigate, with constant work and maintenance, but don't minimize -- or allow others to dismiss -- the effort required.

Dream Big

I think a fundamental part of the human condition is to dream and strive for things that are just beyond the grasp of our abilities.  While ambition can have a negative context, like resulting in near-economic collapse caused by a few ambitious wankers -- or maybe they were just greedy, not ambitious -- positive striving is what drives innovation and furthers the human cause.  Creative ambition can be a balm to the soul, lifting us out of our daily hamster wheel and giving us a rejuvenating sense of accomplishment.

Like my little football-sized dog who regularly tries to take on German Shepherds, I believe we are genetically predisposed to ignore the size of challenges confronting us, and continue forward in spite of the often overwhelming nature of those challenges. If we didn't ever reach beyond our grasp, how would we know the length of our arms?

I'm regularly surrounded by filmmakers, writers, artists, and musicians, whose intellectual and creative expression pushes the boundaries of form and context.  They are always exploring the new, the diverse, the unique.  I'm fortunate that I get to witness their process, their struggle with the unknown, and it comforts me in my own quest.

It's not possible to succeed all the time, but the things worth achieving are usually those which stretch our abilities and demand our best efforts.  The fact that people regularly engage in these pursuits not only supports my ideas, it has another unintended creation.

It inspires hope.

Like It Or Lump It

Hell hath no fury like a fanboy out of lockstep.

Generally, you have to be afraid to stick your opinion out anywhere on the internet, unless you want to get into a smackdown of a particularly petty persuasion.  Post a thought, anyone who disagrees comes screaming out of the woodwork to spam all over the place about what an idiot you are, simply because they disagree.  A weird electronic shouting match ensues; in cyberspace, can anyone really hear you scream?

Fair warning, unwary reader: This post includes a movie review of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  It contains my opinion of the film, with a bit of critical acumen backing it up.  But if you don't want to risk my opinion being at odds with your own, then don't read it.  Also, my critique of the film should in no way inhibit or enhance your enjoyment of the film or prohibit you from going to see it as many times as you want or that your pocket change allows.  Your opinion may differ from mine.  It's okay, that's what makes the world go around.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Marvel Studios' latest entry (After Iron Man 3, and Thor: The Dark World) in its Avengers marketing maintenance plan, finds the titular hero pensively trying to fit into modern society and carve out a place for old-fashioned morality in the grey ethical landscape of modern intelligence services.  Despite being on ice for 60 years or so, Cap never has to worry much about the present, because his past seems to dog him at every instant, from the heartbreaking scene confronting the love of his life (who would have to be in her mid-90s), to the epic battle with former childhood chum and later best friend, Bucky Barnes.  Along the way, he's aided by The Black Widow, The Falcon, and occasionally Nick Fury.  Although there's a plot about Hydra taking over SHIELD and some shadow intelligence service stuff and a master plan to kill a whole bunch of people, most of it is non-sensical, expositional blather that serves only to set in motion a daisy-chain of ridiculous explosions and bone-breaking hand-to-hand combat.

Just to underscore the weighty subject matter -- your civil liberties are at stake, Americans! -- the very color has been leeched from the film, leaving a grey, ambiguous wash of digitally-enhanced malaise.  As if that's not depressing enough, any possible fun or attempt at humor in the script is tamped down with unmodulated performances and poor direction.  Chris Evans' Cap is so stoically serious that he ends up ceding the film to the more dynamic supporting heroes around him.  The Black Widow and The Falcon seem to occasionally be in a totally different film.  Even The Winter Soldier, with his dour glare and cyber-arm, seems to be having more fun than Cap.  At what point did super-hero movies take on the pretentious weight of religion?

While the explosion factor is high enough to satisfy even the most demanding video-game addicts, best to not probe into the whys or wherefores too carefully.  Early on, the movie is bogged down by a car chase in which Nick Fury is trapped, shot, and nearly crushed, but still manages to drive away with an assist from his very smart car, only to be met by The Winter Soldier at the precise location no one could have possibly known was on his escape route.  It goes on like that for another two hours or so.

Now, this is all an accurate analysis of the film and the story.  HOWEVER, if you like it, you like it.  Plenty of people did like it, based on the box office stats.  That's totally cool, because you're allowed to like whatever you want, regardless of abstract notions of quality.  Think of it this way: plenty of folks like eating and drinking things that are not only unhealthy, but by most objective standards, aren't "good" food.  Does that change anyone's mind?  Not usually.  So, you can cue up at the McDonald's drive-thru all you want, but don't argue that because you do, McDonald's makes good food.  In films, music, art, all the same notions apply: you can like whatever you want, but don't assume your enjoyment carries any kind of long-term critical weight.  If you don't believe that, go back and look at the top 40 billboard hits of 25-years ago and tell me how many of them you have actually ever heard.

That's a long way to go to get to the point, but fanboys, lighten up.  Just because I don't like something, doesn't mean it's a personal attack on you or the things you like.  I'm probably a bigger fan of Captain America in the comics than anyone; he was always one of my favorite Marvel heroes.  That doesn't mean I have to say I think The Winter Soldier is good, or even enjoyable, when I thought otherwise.  The louder and harder you try to shout me (or anyone else) down online doesn't make me change my opinion on the film, it just makes me change my opinion of you.

Of course, the rules of civil discourse demand I treat your opinions cordially and with respect, whether I agree with them or not. Feel free to argue with me; I couldn't stop you if I wanted to.

Coffee and Karma

If you were to speak of me with any of my old friends, you probably wouldn't be too far into the conversation before the word "cynical" was put into play.  While I like to think of it as a realist approach to life, many misinterpret me to have an overly-jaundiced view of the world.  It's not a glass half empty/full question, it's more that I'm focused on where the next drink is coming from.

You'd think that any realist approach would negate a relationship with religions, superstitions, ideas of karmic balance, etc.  That's not quite the case because I, like all people, have a spiritual side to me and I spend a lot of internal time considering big existential questions. My realist side prohibits me considering karma as some kind of cosmic ledger sheet with transactions that are totaled at the end of the day.  I think good and kind things are the way to live your life, regardless of payback.

Sometimes, though, you are confronted with evidence that's a little hard to ignore.

This morning, in a rare twist, my commute got me to my office well in advance of my first meeting of the day.  Rather than settle for office-brewed coffee, which is perfectly fine but never spectacular, I realized I had time for a trip to Joe Coffee to score a latte and pastry before chaining myself to my desk.  Walking past one of the little-used entrances to my building, I saw the homeless guy who sometimes camps there out of the wind.  He looked even more disheveled than usual and was fidgeting and picking something off his clothes.  Realizing I was going to buy a 4$ coffee of all things and this guy hadn't probably had anything to eat today, I reached in my pocket and gave him the wad of one dollar bills I was carrying, figuring I could always use my debit card for the coffee.  The guy looked up and nodded when I handed him the cash, then retreated into his own internal world.

I continued on to the coffee shop and, frankly, I was wondering how the homeless guy had made it through this particularly brutal winter.  I wasn't paying attention when I got in line and ordered my coffee and pastry, so I didn't see the handwritten sign explaining their internet was down and it was cash only to pay for items.  It's always embarrassing to be caught out without a way to pay for something and I quickly asked the barista to cancel my order.  Before she could do so however, the woman in line ahead of me stepped in, saying, "I'd be happy to buy that for you.  I know how that feels."  I thanked her profusely and she replied, "Just pay it forward."

"You're not going to believe this..." and I told her about my morning.

On the way back to my office, the homeless guy had already left, hopefully to use my money to buy himself something to eat.

The incident didn't make me less of a realist and I still don't think karma is a cosmic vending machine, but it's nice to know that the world can be a better place if we're all a little kinder to each other.