Hybrids are a good solution in the meantime but they are quite a bit more expensive than a traditional car (the electric cars of the nineties were about the same as an average car). I really want to buy an electric car and it’s a travesty that I just don’t have the option. My hope for the world is that some smart car company will start to make them again. And our government needs to wake up and give some tax encentives, as well as pass laws requiring car companies to make no-emission cars.

The fact that in New York yesterday in the middle of January it was 70 degrees hopefully will be a wake-up call to alot of people that we need to reduce our emissions, and do it now. Below, an image of the GM EV1, one of the electric cars that were available in the nineties and are now extinct.

Well I love personality tests, so when I went on Authentic Happiness, Dr. Seligman’s site, I was excited to see a whole bunch of tests I could take.

So I took the Signature Strengths questionnaire. Most of these I think are very spot-on. I’m a little confused about the gratitude one though, although it is something I’ve been striving lately to enhance in my life. But I’m not sure really how I can use that one in a career.

Here are your scores on the VIA Signature Strengths Survey. For how to interpret and use your scores, see the book Authentic Happiness. The ranking of the strengths reflects your overall ratings of yourself on the 24 strengths in the survey, how much of each strength you possess. Your top five, especially those marked as Signature Strengths, are the ones to pay attention to and find ways to use more often.

Your Top Strength

Capacity to love and be loved
You value close relations with others, in particular those in which sharing and caring are reciprocated. The people to whom you feel most close are the same people who feel most close to you.
Your Second Strength

Creativity, ingenuity, and originality
Thinking of new ways to do things is a crucial part of who you are. You are never content with doing something the conventional way if a better way is possible.
Your Third Strength

Love of learning
You love learning new things, whether in a class or on your own. You have always loved school, reading, and museums-anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to learn.
Your Fourth Strength

Appreciation of beauty and excellence
You notice and appreciate beauty, excellence, and/or skilled performance in all domains of life, from nature to art to mathematics to science to everyday experience.
Your Fifth Strength

Gratitude
You are aware of the good things that happen to you, and you never take them for granted. Your friends and family members know that you are a grateful person because you always take the time to express your thanks.

Last night my friend Neil played the Blip festival, where artists use low-bit videogame consoles and home computers to make visuals and music. Melodic and dark at times, Neil’s music was completely danceable and fun. Even more amazing is the fact that he wrote all his songs in only one week. I really respect people who can write music because it’s the one form of creativity I just could never in a million years attempt. I really don’t understand how one would begin to even start to write a song. Also, this guy is a completely brilliant web designer and flash programmer and he created some of the on-screen visuals for this event as well. Talk about multi-talented!

It’s very inspiring to me because I love working in all kinds of different mediums. Earlier yesterday my friend Phaedra and went to see the Picasso influence on American art exhibit at the Whitney and I was so struck by how many different mediums Picasso worked in during his career. He tried everything and he was a genius at it all. I’ve always felt a little annoyed at myself that I couldn’t stick to one thing, but now I kind of feel like I need to embrace that experimental side of myself.

Check out the great music from the Blip event here.

Also check out more flickr photos from Blip fest including me bopping in the crowd (in pink) next to DJ Vikki Slicks (with dark glasses and white hoodie).

Went to the Dumbo festival a few weeks ago and got to see some exciting diorama work. It was a fun day walking around with my friend Q, drinking beers and eating hot dogs, and checking out a lot of great art (and some ok art, and some blah art too). The only thing I wish the Dumbo festival would provide is a brochure or a website with little thumbnails of the art so you can decide what you want to see in advance.

More on diorama art

Joan Jett really knows how to work a crowd, and she did just that last night at Irving Plaza with her band the Blackhearts. Singing a bunch of songs from her latest album Sinner, as well as her hits, she really got everyone dancing and singing along, as well as clapping and raising their hands to the music. The great thing about a Joan Jett song is if you don’t know it, by the second verse you can totally sing along. They are deceptively simple but she says a lot in between the lines. Her classics such as “I love Rock and Roll”, “Crimson and Clover” and “Bad Reputation” were a joy to witness. She just puts out such a positive vibe and is in such great shape and looks gorgeous. Women in the crowd were yelling, “I love you!” and “I want to marry you!” And of course Joan and her band bring a lot of rock n’ roll swagger and posturing along with jumping 3 feet above the stage.

After the show, thanks very much to Q’s dad Bas, we got backstage passes. I was completely awestruck, but strangely not nervous at all meeting her. I told her that she has such a great energy and spirit and that really came through tonight. She was very humble and said it was easy with a great crowd like us.

Joan Jett is just amazing. The fact that she struggled so hard in the beginning to get signed, finally starting her own Blackheart Records label, is just a testament to her commitment to expressing herself creatively. It really gives me hope for my own creative endeavors. I feel a renewed sense of optimism and inspiration from meeting such a passionate woman who has always lived her life with total authenticity.

Then this article in the Times about a fantasy writer whose book was picked up for a movie really gave me a lot of hope. So I really need to get cracking with this, and while it is going to be a real challenge, I feel like if worst comes to worse I can publish it online. I’m really excited. I wish that nanowrimo let you participate if you want to continue writing a novel but the rules say you have to start a new one, so I guess I’ll have to find some other way of motivating myself to finish this thing.

A lot of folks are more familiar with their later work, Absolutely Fabulous, which I also adore. They still put on French & Saunders Christmas specials, which we can’t really get in the states, but youtube has a lot of their work and you can also order it on netflix. I highly recommend checking their stuff out.

Just got back from Ireland and one of the highlights of the trip was when we travelled to Glencolumbkille, the town in the west coastland of Ireland where my grandmother was from. Rugged and remote, with only one road leading into it, Glencolumbkille is truly a breathtaking experience.

And it turns out that Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick were just two towns away, in Kilcar, on the day we visited! They own a cottage there.

In Glencolumbkille there’s a beautiful beach enclave surrounded by rocky cliffs that is just amazing. And a little Irish folk village full of cottages…each cottage houses period rooms from different eras in Irish history. Let me tell you, the one from the 1700s was pretty destitute, with ten people sharing one room.

I know my grandmother called Ireland “The Veil of Tears” so life was pretty harsh when she lived here. It feels very healing just to go back and enjoy it’s rough beauty.

Article in the British Independent newspaper about Donegal

And by the way, I had no idea the art in six feet under was all done by actual artists that were commissioned to do the works — how cool is that?

http://www.mattburlingame.com/index.html