Are you ready to Swashbuckle?

One question I get asked almost more than any other, is what heck is a ‘Swashbuckler’? Well, the traditional definition says it’s “a swaggering swordsman, solider, or adventurer; daredevil.” As you can imagine, we’re less about swords, and more about adventure here. So let’s go with that. And we’re not just talking about the go climb a mountain, jump out of plane kind of adventure either. You can be daring and brave and adventurous in all sorts of ways. We have our own ‘The Relentless Pursuit of Wow’ ethos here, and that’s really what we’re about. So if there’s something that stirs your soul, or makes you go “Wow!”, that’s what we wish more of for you in the year ahead.

Maybe it’s to read more, dream more, do more, travel more, love more, or just be more of who you really are. Whatever makes you happy. šŸ™‚

And as I’ve said before, it’s not awesome people who somehow have the monopoly on doing awesome things, it’s doing awesome things that make you one of those awesome people. Many of us, myself very much included, often suffer from ‘Imposter Syndrome’ thinking we have to be something more than we already are to do what we really want. Well, fuck that.

Let’s make 2017 the year of doing what we’re most passionate about, regardless of whether or not we’re actually ‘ready’. Let’s be honest here, you could spend your life trying to get ready, and never get anything done. So how about we just start and work it out as we go along?

Please know, if the thing you’re most passionate about is doing open heart surgery on someone, you’re probably not included in that particular strategy. Best you practice a bit first. For the rest of us, who just want to try new things, write, paint, draw, sing, dance, travel, take photos… whatever it is, let’s go with the strategy that I was given when first started writing many moons ago: “pursuit of the craft”. Learning by doing.

Because I don’t know about you guys, but these years don’t seem to be going by any slower. For me personally, when I think about how fast this last one went by, and then I think of that amount of time multiplied by about 20, it suddenly doesn’t seem like all that much time left. For example, if I keep on my current trajectory of productivity, I’m unlikely to write more than about 4 or 5 more books, and I have plans for many more than that. A lot more. So something better give. Either I’d better hope I get more than 20 more good years, or I find a way to get more done in those years. Pulling my finger out and making shit happen probably isn’t a bad place to start.

You can, of course, set goals and intent on any day of the year, but we all know doing it at the start of a calendar year makes things neat and tidy, (if that sort of thing is important to you.) Whenever you do it, whether it’s today, tomorrow, or you’ve already done it, here’s to some serious Swashbuckling in the days, weeks, months and years ahead.

Sputnik.

Chief Swashbuckler.

PS Here’s a picture of my first book, signed by George Betsis, the person who originally inspired the whole idea of The Swashbucklers Club way back in the mid 1990s! But that’s a story for another day.

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My first book, signed by George Betsis, the person who inspired The Swashbucklers Club almost 20 years ago.

Making Space for Dreams

The world used to have a lot of empty space. Physically and mentally. There were gaps. Places you could go where there wasā€¦ space. Nothing. Just you and the world. And your thoughts.

Slowly but surely weā€™ve ā€˜progressedā€™. If you can call it that. Iā€™m not honestly sure we should. But weā€™ve started filling the spaces with reckless abandon.

Sitting on the bus. Standing at the pedestrian crossing. Waiting at the traffic lights or in line at the supermarket. They all used to be empty spaces. Now theyā€™re filled withā€¦ stuff. Probably your smart phone.

Youā€™re talking. Reading. Looking. But much less often, thinking.

Actually, I shouldnā€™t speak for you, but thatā€™s what Iā€™m doing, and I see plenty of other people doing it as well.

Itā€™s not inherently a bad thing, of course. Connection is a beautiful thing. But I know Iā€™ve found myself struggling to find space at times. And as someone who thinks and creates things for a living, I often find myself feeling a little ā€˜suffocatedā€™. Bombarded and assaulted by all sorts of temptations and noise, and without the space I need to simply sit and think. ā€Øā€ØSo itā€™s become increasingly important for me to find clear air. Without the distractions. And this isnā€™t just a business thing, coming up with ideas for work. But life as well. Itā€™s space to think, and plan, and dream.

Because itā€™s easy to get caught up in what youā€™re doing. What already is. For me at least, I know thereā€™s now a lot less time to plan what could be. Unless I make the effort to make time for it.

In the film Don Juan De Marco, Marlon Brando talked about getting caught up in the ā€œmomentum of mediocrityā€. And as the great philosopher Ferris Bueller once said, ā€œLife moves pretty fast. If you donā€™t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.ā€ Today, it moves faster than ever.

Which is why a little while back, I jumped in a car and drove to the centre of Australia and back. Yes, I went for a quick work project, but I could have flown there and back to do that. In a plane. Filled with people. Andā€¦ stuff. Maybe music. Or a film. A book. And not much space. I knew what I really wanted was some space. Actually, I didnā€™t just want it, I needed it.

ā€œItā€™s a long drive and thereā€™s not much out thereā€ one of my friends warned me. My reply? ā€œPerfect.ā€ That was exactly what I was looking for: nothing. Miles and miles of glorious nothing. Just me and space to dream. To think about what could be instead of just being swamped by what already is.

Iā€™m not saying you should jump in a car and drive 4,000kms to find your space. Iā€™m sure it can be done with much less effort , and fuel, than that. Maybe thatā€™s why people meditate? I couldnā€™t tell you, Itā€™s not really my way to find space. Trail running has always been my meditation. Just me and Mother Nature. That definitely works for me.

And Iā€™m not saying you should let your social media accounts sit idle for a few months like I did to get away from all that noise either. Although I also found that incredibly useful.

What I am saying is donā€™t forget to make space for yourself. And your dreams. To plan what could be, who you could be, instead of simply getting caught up in the momentum of mediocrity and what already is. Because life moves pretty fast. Donā€™t miss it.

NOTE: With special thanks to EuropCar for the SUV I drove for this adventure. It’s worth noting, many Australian hire car companies have restrictions on where you can take their vehicles. If you plan on traveling to remote areas, be sure to check this in advance. EuropCar were incredibly kind and helpful to come to my rescue at the last minute when I found this out the hard way at the very last minute.

We’re sending postcards!

Yesterday, someone randomly left a note on my car. It was obviously someone who knows me at least a little, as they referenced things I’d shared on social media, but other than that, it was simply a ‘random act of kindness’. After I’d had a pretty rough time on the weekend. And it got me thinking. Actually, that’s not true, I’ve been thinking about this for a while. As good as technology is, how nice is it when something ‘old school’ arrives in the mail? Something other than junk mail or bills?

I’d been considering sending out some Swashbucklers Club postcards, with personal messages on them, to relatively random people out there. Thanks to yesterday’s random note to me, I’m now committing to doing it.

I have no idea if one of you will put your hand up, or 100s of you. If it’s 100s, I’ll have to randomly select some of you. But here’s what I propose: If you want a message of support, or even better, want to nominate someone else who needs one, email me and I’ll start randomly sending a few off. At the very least, I’ll need a first name and mailing address. If you want to be slightly more specific and want me to tailor a message, then give me a clue if someone needs a cheer up, is sick, dealing with some other sort of challenge, or just needs a general nice message, then feel free to let me know that as well.

That’s all there is to it. Let me know, and I’ll start writing and sending.

Stay awesome everyone! And be excellent to each other.

Exploring Tasmania’s North East Coast

With the Tassie Trail Fest behind me, it was time to head further east to the coast and sneak in a bit of exploring. First stop was Binalong Bay. A few years back this was described as one of the “hottest” spots to visit by Lonely Planet, and about forty seconds after getting there I could see why. (Although it was anything but hot when I arrived!) Sand so white even Donald Trump wouldnā€™t have any excuse to discriminate, and water so blue it was second only to my toilet bowl after loading it up with some Toilet Duck. Unfortunately it wasnā€™t exactly beach weather while I was there so there was no swimming on the agenda, but I did go for a nice long walk, climb on some rocks, get some ridiculously fine white sand in my shoes, and take some pictures of me staring meaningfully off into the distance for my Instagram account.

After that I worked my way down towards Freycinet and stopped at the nearby town of Swansea for the night. Having stayed in the Bates Motel in Derby for three nights, the Swansea Motor Inn was basically like the Ritz Carlton. Double bed. Bathroom. No bird shit on the carpet. No vomit in the bin. OK, to be fair, that last bit was my fault at the last place – if you missed that story feel free to read it in all itā€™s glory right here.

Anyway, the hotel, was pretty plush by comparison. And the Salt Shaker cafe down the road was pretty epic too. To celebrate my awesome hotel room I ordered basically one of everything from the menu and dug in. There was oysters, seafood chowder and scallop pie. If you’re ever in the neighborhood. itā€™s well worth a visit. Tell them Sputnik sent you. They wonā€™t have any idea who I am, but it would be an awesome thing to do anyway.

The next day I headed down to Freycinet – for those of you as stupid as me, itā€™s not actually pronounced Fray-see-net. But Fray-see-nay. Itā€™s French. Or something. Whatever. I went there. The jewel in the crown there is a place called Wineglass Bay. Cause itā€™s kind of curved. Like a wine glass. I suppose. I plotted a bit of a loop run that I was guessing would be about 11 or 12kms. Out to the left, check out Wineglass Bay, then cross over through the bush to the other side of the peninsula to Hazardā€™s Bay, and back again. How hard could it be? If youā€™re a decent runner who didnā€™t run/crawl a 45 km trail marathon a few days earlier, probably not that difficult at all. If youā€™re a bit overweight, quite a bit out of shape, and coming off a 7.5hr trail marathon combined with a marathon 12 hour spewing effort, a little more difficult than I may have expected. Iā€™m also ridiculously scared of snakes, so some of the single track sketched me out a bit. I tried telling myself there were enough people around to have scared them off. But the truth is there werenā€™t that many people around. And Tiger Snakes arenā€™t that easily scared off anyway. So I spent half the time fairly convinced I was going to be bitten by a snake and die a slow and painful death alone in the bush in a place with a fancy french name.

Turns out none of that happened, which youā€™ve probably guessed by now. And instead I completed my loop. Had a Gatorade, didn’t spew, then drove up to the Tourville Lighthouse to check out the trail there – one of Tasmania’s 60 Great Short Walks. In this case, really short as it was only 600m. The weather was rolling in by this point and although I was, as always, wearing my awesome ioMerino clothing to keep me warm, I decided I was ready to put my feet up so I headed back to Coles Bay, met up with Chris and Simon from Adventure Types (whoā€™d arranged the Tassie Trail Fest) and Flix the Freak. OK, thatā€™s not his real name, but this is a guy who rode his bike 400kms from Hobart up to the Trail Fest, helped set everything up, then went out and ran the marathon. And won it. So yeah, heā€™s a bit of a freak. Lovely bloke though, and an epic runner. Obviously. We met up at a local cafe where I ate a bowl of hot chips. And they didnā€™t. Which probably explains why theyā€™re all quite fit looking. And Iā€™m not.

Then it was back to the Swansea Ritz Carlton for another awesome sleep. The novelty of being in a clean bed and not feeling like Iā€™d smoked a carton of cigarettes by the time I woke up in the morning hadnā€™t yet worn off – and neither had the stink from three days in the Ashtray Hotel. That night I decided against another indulgent feast and instead tucked into a smorgasbord of left over bits and pieces Iā€™d bought for the trip. When I do a road trip, I have a bad habit of hitting the local supermarket when I first arrive and buying enough food for 18 people. For about four months. So that night I chowed down on a combo of baked beans, salt and vinegar chips, bread rolls and an assortment of other snacks, all washed down by a couple of cans of Mike Tyson ā€˜Black Energyā€™ drink Iā€™d found on special at the Reject Shop. Iā€™m not entirely sure calling it ā€˜Black Energyā€™ is entirely PC, but I sure as shit wonā€™t be telling Mike that cause I doubt very much he’s all ears. And apparently it’s Poland’s best selling energy drink. Seriously.

On the last day I drove back to Launceston Airport with a minor diversion to Cataract Gorge – just outside of the city. It reminds me quite a bit of Morialta in my own home town, and Iā€™m sure if I lived there, (in Launceston, not the Gorge), Iā€™d probably go running there all the time. I did one of the more modest walks, checked out some of the old historical buildings, then chickened out of doing the full loop through Snake Gully, because it was called Snake Gully and my guess is if theyā€™re using the same amount of imagination they did when naming Wineglass Bay, thereā€™s a fair chance thereā€™s a shit load of snakes in Snake Gully and my interest in seeing any of them was whateverā€™s less than zero. So I did a cheeky little out and back then drove to the airport, getting their nice and early. Too early as it turns out as Launceston Airport isnā€™t exactly a thriving metropolis and I had to wait an hour to check in. I suppose I could have gone and sat at one of the fine food and beverage establishments to kill the time, but since there werenā€™t any, I flogged a spare wheelchair instead and sat in that instead.

And that, my friends, was my Tassie Trail Fest adventure.

Intentions count. Chill out.

Jamie Oliver recently caused quite a stir by making what were deemed to be ‘inappropriate’ comments about breast feeding. Whether you love or hate him, Jamieā€™s done some fairly decent things out there in the world when it comes to making sure young people in particular, have access to decent food.

Iā€™m not his biggest fan, so I canā€™t comment on the finer points of what heā€™s achieved over the years, but I can comment on intention. And while intention doesnā€™t count for everything, it does count for something, and I think itā€™s time people chilled out a bit. Not just over this, but lots of things.

If you spend more than a few seconds before you react to things, you could probably make your world, and the world in general, a lot better, happier place. I know outrage sells, but come on, letā€™s get real. Itā€™s not difficult to tell the difference between someone who knowingly says or does something negative or that you don’t agree with, (think Donald Trump), and someone who does it somewhat unwittingly, even if they should know better. Sometimes even the best of us can let slip a poorly chosen word. Jamie included. And this is where intention comes in.

Intention is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card to shoot your mouth off without thinking and say whatever you want, but let’s not ignore it completely when things go a bit tits up. Pun intended.

I pose this challenge to you: before you launch at someone for something theyā€™ve done or said, look past the words and at their intention. Whether itā€™s someone in the public eye, or someone you know personally, itā€™s usually pretty easy to tell what someoneā€™s intention is. In Jamieā€™s case, a few poorly chosen words does not justify every man and his dog, or in this case every woman, getting stuck into him. By all means ask for clarity if you need it, but donā€™t get sucked into sinking the boot in for no good reason. And donā€™t let a few poorly chosen words overshadow what may actually be a predominantly good, useful and important message either.

These days we seem very quick indeed to look past the good, and to put a ridiculous amount of emphasis on the bad. Maybe itā€™s because a good rant gets such good traction on social media. Something everyone can join in on with calls to ā€˜burn the witch!ā€™. Nothing like good old mob mentality. Whereas, for some unknown reason, thereā€™s so much less glory in posting good vibes. Well, I say itā€™s time to chill out, recognize good intentions, maybe even have a bunch of your own, and keep the good vibes alive.

 

Footnote: Great to see some more balanced reporting out there in this article.

Is technology making us mean?

Technology has been the source of many amazing things. I can now fly to America in a day and eat bad airline food instead of sitting on a boat for months, eating bad boat food and getting scurvy. Technology allows me to connect with like minded people I would otherwise have never met, and share the joys of random, obscure things. And because of the wonders of modern technology I can send messages across the planet in an instant. It also allows me to be a complete and utter asshole to absolute strangers.

In days gone by, it would have been highly unlikely I would have walked up to a stranger, famous or otherwise, and abused them. I wouldnā€™t have done it for a number of reasons. Manners. Fear. Common decency. But like a lot of the commons, (common sense is in there also), it seems these character traits have gone the same way as fax machines and vinyl records. Technology seems to have made them somewhat redundant.

Back then, I would most likely have avoided someone I didnā€™t like and not spoken to them at all. It was good formula. And mum was right when she said ā€œif you havenā€™t got anything nice to say, donā€™t say anything at allā€. Sadly, now, that seems to be more a case of ā€œIf you havenā€™t got anything nice to say, not only say it, but shout it as loud as you possibly can, regardless of the consequences, and share it with the world.ā€

These days, itā€™s not at all unusual to unleash a tirade on anyone and everyone, for pretty much any reason at all, or none at all, on the internet. Weā€™ve got technology to thank for that. Kim Kardashian? Watch out, there are any number of people out there who want to tell you what they really think of you. Taylor Swift? Complete and utter strangers have got some very unkind words headed in your direction too. In fact, you donā€™t have to look much further than ā€˜Celebrities Read Mean Tweetsā€™ to see what a phenomena this is. And celebrities are just the tip of the unkind iceberg.

What I used to say to celebrities I didn’t like.

When I was younger I used to camp outside hotels to meet my favorite pop stars. It wasnā€™t a super common past time, I guess most people had better things to do. But for those of us who were big enough fans, weā€™d wait outside the hotel we assumed they were staying at – (itā€™s one advantage of coming from a small city where there was really only ever one or two hotels worthy of celebrity visits) – and you know what weā€™d do when they came along? We’d asked for autographs. And if we were really well off, snap a few photos on our pocket brownies. Thatā€™s it. But then, they were the celebrities we liked.

So what about the ones we didnā€™t like? Nothing. We didnā€™t wait for them so we could tell them how much we hated their last album. We didnā€™t write them letters saying how much we hated them personally. We didnā€™t do any of that. Because we werenā€™t mean. We werenā€™t assholes. If we were talking amongst friends, I suppose weā€™d say who we did and didnā€™t like and why, but we didnā€™t broadcast those feelings to the world. Or to that person directly. And you know why? Because we werenā€™t as mean and unkind as we are now.

Enter technology. And the golden age of unkindness.

Now, I know what youā€™re going to say, if those people put themselves out there, put themselves in the public eye, they deserve everything they get. Ah, why is that exactly? Surely itā€™s just as reasonable to suggest we should be kind to people? Whether theyā€™re in movies, on TV, making music, designing fashion or the kid sitting at the desk in class next to you, why do we now feel so compelled to say mean things?

Technology has certainly made it easier, but then, technology has made it easier to have a coffee enema, and weā€™re not all rushing out to do that. Being an asshole isnā€™t mandatory.

Some will even justify it by saying they are entitled to their opinion. And, of course, they are. They are also entitled to keep it to themselves. Or stuff it in their ass. There is no obligation to share an opinion when all it does create negativity and misery.

A while back I was quite unkind to someone. Because letā€™s be honest here, just because Iā€™m writing about this subject now like Iā€™m the Dalai Lama or Mother Theresa doe not mean I am immune to this condition. So I was quite unkind to someone, and even though it could be argued it was not altogether undeserved, it caused a lot of trouble. And a lot of heartache. Not only for that person, but also myself. And after much reflection, I came up with the following thought: Just because you can, doesnā€™t mean you should.

Now, to be fair, this is not likely to go down alongside ā€œI have a dreamā€ as one of the great and profound philosophical sayings of all time. But maybe it should. Let me say it again: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Let that sink in. Technology allows us to do many things that we were previously unable to do – but just because we can, doesnā€™t mean we should.

Don’t be a dick pic.

We can send dick pics now without having to duck down to the local photo processing store, lodge a film, have the poor people who work there see the pictures come out of the developing machine, pop them in an envelope, and post them off to someone. Possibly even a stranger. So itā€™s much easier to do that now. Whack out the smart phone, whack out your bits, snap, send and voila! Instant asshole. But hey, just because we can send dick pics now, doesnā€™t mean we should.

You know all those barriers to doing it before? The fact you would likely not do it because it would mean other people would know what you are doing and you would likely feel embarrassed or uncomfortable? To the extent where you probably wouldnā€™t do it? Those things are clues. Clues that sending dick pics is not a decent thing to do. Even though you can.

And before you ask what the heck dick pics have to do with you when all youā€™re doing is giving your ‘opinion’ on Facebook, well, if youā€™re being unkind, itā€™s the literary equivalent of a dick pic. Except youā€™re the dick. No one asked for it. Itā€™s not necessarily decent. And just as in days gone by when you would have had a few real world prompts that it was inappropriate, we should probably still recognise being an asshole is as out of fashion as itā€™s ever been.

Iā€™m also not pitching mass compliance. Itā€™s still OK to have different values. Itā€™s still OK to be outraged by injustice. Itā€™s also still OK to have manners and be polite and be decent and be kind. And itā€™s still not OK to not be all of those things.

Just because you donā€™t see the results of your actions doesnā€™t mean they donā€™t exist. We canā€™t see gravity, but weā€™re all pretty happy to accept that exists. (I’m sitting with my ass firmly planted in my seat courtesy of it right now.) Same goes with how people would react to your actions. Your words. You can’t see it. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

What do your words say about you?

Next time you go to tweet or comment or whatever the next big thing is, Iā€™d ask you to consider this simple notion: if the person youā€™re communicating with, or about, was your brother or sister or mother or father or son or daughter or any other loved one, how would you word your feedback? Would you be decent and kind? Itā€™s highly likely that person, who is most likely, although I suppose these days not necessarily, a human being, is someoneā€™s loved one. How do you think they feel? How do you think their loved ones feel? What do your unkind comments really communicate? Do they say something about what kind of person they are, or what kind of person you are?

And this: What are you actually hoping to achieve by saying mean things? Seriously. What? Are you challenging some monumental injustice? Are you affecting positive change in the world? Or are you just intentionally causing another human being heartache? And in the process showing the world you are mean. Unkind. An asshole.

I started by proposing that technology is making us mean. But you know what, letā€™s not shoot the messenger. Or in this case, Messenger. Or Twitter. Or Whatever. Technology isnā€™t the problem. Social Media isnā€™t the problem. The culture of celebrity isnā€™t the problem. Itā€™s us. You and me. The ones who have set decency aside to take up the opportunity to broadcast our mean-ness. Yes, technology allows us to do that, but just because we can, doesnā€™t mean we should.

Is alcohol our guns?

Right now in Australia thereā€™s all kinds of fuss and uproar about our increasingly tough, and some would say draconian, rules surrounding alcohol. And more specifically, the hours you can and canā€™t buy and publicly consume it.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I should admit I donā€™t drink alcohol. At all. It wasnā€™t always that way. Iā€™ve definitely done my fair share of alcohol consumption. Some might even say more than my fair share. So Iā€™m no goody two shoes who doesnā€™t understand drinking culture at all. The difference is, I turned my back on it the better part of ten years ago. So perhaps my opinions are always going to be a little skewed.

It’s time for a reality check.

But I think itā€™s time we admit weā€™ve got a drinking problem. And itā€™s time we got a reality check. Not being able to buy alcohol from a store after 10pm is not a crime against humanity. And neither is shutting licensed venues at 3am. Now, before you start throwing your empty beer bottles at me in protest, let me explain.

Thereā€™ll be those that say this is very backwards of us. That itā€™s embarrassing us globally. Well, Iā€™m not sure I agree. We do a pretty good job of embarrassing ourselves. We already sit embarrassingly high up on the list of countries with the highest alcohol consumption per capita. But the really embarrassing thing is weā€™re not embarrassed by this at all, but rather proud of it.

A few years back, in my drinking days in fact, I was in an American town where I was quite surprised to find licensed venues shut at around 1am. How strange, I thought, having come form a place where I could drink until daylight – a very intelligent and productive thing to do. A time when all the best decisions are made. But oh yeah, that little town I was in? Los Angeles. You may even have heard of it? I donā€™t see anyone running around saying theyā€™re a little backwater town because people canā€™t go out drinking til daylight. I actually struggled to find what time the current closing time there is, although this article suggests last drinks get called around 2am. Surely enough time to work up a fairly decent hangover, throw up, or punch a random stranger for little or no reason? According to good old Wikipedia, it seems 2am may still be the go. Although on the upside, you can take an Uzi with your Ouzo over there.

Which brings me to guns. Most Australians look at Americaā€™s gun laws and just donā€™t get it. They seem stupid to us. (The laws, I mean, not Americans in general.) Well, most of us. That whole gun toting culture, makes no sense at all. What are they thinking? Why don’t they just crack down on it and change for everyone’s good. Surely being able to buy and shoot guns isn’t that important? But maybe our alcohol laws arenā€™t so different.

Sink a few boats full of refugees and thereā€™s barely murmur in middle Australia. But tell us we canā€™t drink til 6am and all hell breaks loose. What the fuck happened to us? When did drinking ourselves into oblivion get so damn important?

Sure, thereā€™ll be those who have their businesses and jobs affected by these changes. And Iā€™m not completely unsympathetic to that. Change can be tough at times. Iā€™ve been through it myself and itā€™s not a lot of fun.

Iā€™m also not 100% certain changing these laws will have the desired affect of reducing alcohol fueled violence. (Although some of the initial research coming through may suggest it is.) But is it worth a shot? (No, not of Tequila.) You know what, I think it probably is.

And from what I can see, as usual thereā€™s at least a smattering of hypocrisy in the exemptions for Casinos. Because people donā€™t get drunk or get violent when they drink in those resorts of places, right? Iā€™m not pitching the changes as perfect, but hey, maybe itā€™s better than nothing. (Oh and for those of you questioning exemptions, you only need to look at our speed limit laws to recognise that sometimes, there are different rules for different areas and thereā€™s a pretty good reason the speed limit in school zones, for example, is 25 and not 100. Double, or even multiple standards? Sure. But certainly not unprecedented legally.)

Thereā€™s still plenty of time to buy alcohol if thatā€™s your thing. And certainly enough time to drink it until you end up on someoneā€™s embarrassing SnapChat post.

Iā€™m all for a bit of outrage. A bit of protest and revolution. But I sure am embarrassed there seems to be more disgust and noise around this issue than things like refugees, same sex marriage, domestic violence and any number of other causes that are infinitely more worthy of our attention and outrage. Yes, I know you canā€™t compare causes, and some of us have enough outrage to go around, but come on people.

Itā€™s easy to look at things as theyā€™ve always been and think itā€™s outrageous that they should change, especially when those changes donā€™t suit us, or seem as though weā€™re going backwards. But what if itā€™s positive progress? What if weā€™re making changes that will make things better? Building with asbestos was once the norm. Oops. As was telling people smoking cigarettes was good for you. ā€Øā€ØDoh!

Rest assured you can still buy as much alcohol as you want, (before 10pm), and drink as much as you like (not necessarily in a public place where your actions and superior dancing skills are more likely to affect others), so are these changes really worth so much negativity?

For those of you who may have forgotten, while ‘getting on it’ is not only culturally accepted, but actually encouraged, at the risk of being a loser of epic proportions, letā€™s not forget alcohol actually has a fairly impressive list of adverse affects. The cumulative effects list on this page is particularly impressive.

Personally, I think itā€™s time we pulled our heads out of the sand, and gutters, and had a good long hard look at ourselves. Those crazy Americans and their silly gun laws arenā€™t the only ones making fools of themselves right now.

Why awards shows are ‘Triple F’.

(GRAMMYS SPOILER ALERT)

Today was The 58th Grammy Awards and Taylor Swift won Album of the Year for 1989. Kanye didnā€™t storm the stage this year to tell her someone else should have won, but thousands of Kendrick Lamar fans did virtually the same thing via Social Media.

When are we going to learn that Awards shows are, by definition, what I like to refer to as being ā€˜Triple Fā€™: Fundamentally Fucking Flawed? There is quite simply no way you can determine comparative worth. And any attempt to do so will almost always end in tears for someone.

We shouldnā€™t be asking if Taylorā€™s record is better than Kendrickā€™s because that question makes literally absolutely no sense at all. Do you like one record more than the other? Now thatā€™s a fair question. Did one record sell more copies than another? Thatā€™s fair also. Did more people vote for one record than another? Fair. But is one record better than another? Stupid, stupid question.

Popularity does not equal value.

All things have value. All people have value. All art has value. I suppose some of that value is in the thing itself. But really the value is with the person who values it.

A priceless piece of art has no value to me if I have no desire or appreciation for it. Does that make it worthless? No. But it has no value to me.

You can compare music or art or films or people as much as you like, but all it really comes down to is what we all like more than something else based on our own personal beliefs and preferences. And if I happen to be a judge in an awards show, then my beliefs and preferences are what youā€™ll see reflected in the winners. Will they be the same as yours? Maybe, maybe not. Who cares?

Popularity is not necessarily a sign of value. Just as lack of popularity does not automatically imply a lack of it.

Iā€™ve been personally involved in many awards shows over the years. Iā€™ve judged everything from advertising awards to the Miss Nude Australia Competition. (Yes, seriously.) All you can ever do is apply certain criteria, then do your best to judge against that. But there’s always personal opinion, personal judgement, involved. The important word here being ‘personal’.

Those criteria do not necessarily make one record, one ad or one nude person better than another. It simply gives us a framework to judge with. A winner gets announced. They get a nice shiny trophy. And you still personally like what you like regardless of what any judge says.

Love what you love. Leave what you don’t.

Judging is useful at awards shows. But in life, not so much. Love what you love. Leave what you donā€™t. But donā€™t compare. There’s no point. It only robs you, and sometimes others, of joy.

The world is wide and thereā€™s plenty of room for us all to love many different things, without it reflecting on the value of the things, or the people, we donā€™t.

If you love Kendrick’s album, go love that and enjoy that. Don’t let what this year’s Grammy judges liked affect your joy. Me? I’ll be busting some moves to 1989.

Why are creative people so stupid?

Why are creative people so stupid? (And uncreative?)

Paradigms are funny things. Itā€™s not like theyā€™re completely useless, but theyā€™re one of the reasons plenty of things stay the same, when they could be much better being different.

The official definition of ā€˜paradigmā€™ is something like ā€œa set of concepts or thought patternsā€ and we all have them. At times, they can be useful because they’re how we know how to deal with this or that. We reach into the memory banks and find a paradigm that lets us know how things work and what to do about them. ā€Øā€ØBut sometimes, weā€™re so set in our ways, we donā€™t think to change things up and make them better. To ask if there may just be a better, faster, easier, more fun, or more effective way of doing things.

So imagine my surprise when I watched this yearā€™s Golden Globe Awards and thought to myself, ā€œSelf, fuck creative people can be stupid sometimesā€.

I havenā€™t researched the origins of awards shows. Perhaps it goes back to caveman days when they all sat around the campfire and gave someone a dinosaur leg* for best rock throw of the day or something. Who knows. But for as long as I can remember, awards shows have been basically the same.

The paradigm is this: Get a bunch of people together. Pat each other on the back for doing a good job. Possibly cry a bit. And see who can make the most boring speech of all time thanking people 99% of us have never heard of.

The only real changes Iā€™ve seen in the last however many years is the technology has gotten better and awards shows are now broadcast to even more people who can be bored shitless by those stupid speeches. Why is it even like that? Because itā€™s always been like that, thatā€™s why.

And itā€™s gob-smacking really, isnā€™t it? With the Golden Globes in particular, thereā€™s some of the most creative film and tv people on the planet, creating some of the most dead boring tv ever broadcast. Incomprehensible. And boring as bat shit.

OK, it wasnā€™t all boring. The host Rick Gervais was awesome as usual. So thatā€™s a total of about 15 or 20 minutes out of a few hours. And the people who said ā€˜fuckā€™ kind of made it interesting. And love her or hate her, Amy Schumer really spiced things up by going one further and dropping the c-bomb while she was presenting.

Personally, I think itā€™s time for ā€˜The Thankyou Boothā€™.

Awards shows were created before the internet, right? Everyone thought if they were going to say something, they had to do it right there and then. Thereā€™s people um-ing and ah-ing their way through things. There’s people sobbing with gratitude. Thereā€™s people reading impossibly long lists of names off the back of postage stamps. Thereā€™s people using the opportunity to thank god, their parents, indigenous people, their cat and whoever else they can think of. The list goes on. And on. And on.

And then thereā€™s the excruciating wind-up music. Surely itā€™s not just me that gets embarrassed for everyone involved when that happens? Hereā€™s someone whoā€™s worked their entire life to do something that gets recognized creatively, they finally get up on stage to give their speech, and before theyā€™ve gathered their composure some asshole producer with a deadline to keep fades up the background music while theyā€™re still speaking letting them know itā€™s time to finish off already. Great job, well done, now fuck off. Excruciating.

So come on people, this is the 21st century. We have a thing called the internet now. Letā€™s rethink things. Letā€™s create a new paradigm. Which is where ā€˜The Thankyou Boothā€™ comes in.

Iā€™m sure there are many solutions, but this is mine:

I think itā€™s terrific to be grateful and to thank everyone from your goldfish to the person who gave you your lip implants or last colonic. But do you have to do it on live tv when 99.9% of people watching have no idea who the fuck youā€™re talking about?

How about this: how about you use your 30 or so seconds to just say something interesting or entertaining or profound or useful. Something for the broader audience. You know, the ones who make up 99.9% of your audience. Say ā€œThanks everyone andā€¦<insert pompous/witty/insightful statement here>ā€ then bugger off back stage to The Thankyou Booth, possibly one of many, where you can stand there all night, with no background music interrupting you, and give the speech of your life.
Thank everyone. Take your time. Sing a song if you like. And the people who are interested can watch it online. It could be live streamed, technology means we can do that these days. Go figure. Or we can watch it on demand later. Easy. No time limits. No embarrassing musical wind ups. No forgetting anyone. Cry as much as you like. Swear as much you like. And the people who are interested will watch it. Simple, right?

Dare to disrupt.

The truth is, I donā€™t really care about the Golden Globes. I imagine theyā€™ll go on for many years without my amazing suggestions. But I just wanted to touch on the fact that almost nothing is a given. We need air, water and food. Thereā€™s gravity. (For now.) And we die. (For now.) Almost everything else is variable. Often governed by our own beliefs, our own paradigms, about how things should be and what is and isnā€™t possible.

Just because somethingā€™s always been a certain way, doesnā€™t mean it always should be. Or will be. The world needs more people who can help change things. Who invent electric cars. Who find ways to clean the oceans. Stop deforestation. Protect animals. Cure diseases. Eradicate poverty. Or just be nice to people.

We need more change. Question everything. Does it really have to be this way? The answer is almost always ā€˜noā€™. What will you dare to disrupt?

Stay awesome.

Sputnik
Chief Swashbuckler

 

 

 

* Yes, I know cave men and dinosaurs were apparently not around at the same time. But come on, us creative people never let the truth get in the way of a good story. So shut. Up.

 

 

“The map is not the territory”

One of the hot topics right now out in Digital Land is the role of social media, and in particular, how it doesnā€™t represent real life. Well, of course itā€™s not real life, itā€™s social media. One happens out in the real world, in real time, with all its up and downs. And one is a place where people go to share certain things. Maybe the good stuff. Maybe the bad stuff. Maybe a combination of both.

On our Swashbucklers Club social media, for example, we tend to share fun, exciting, adventurous and inspirational things. Because thatā€™s what weā€™re about. Do we live that life 100% of the time? Of course not? At times, a lot of effort, sacrifice and heartache goes into doing what we do. Planning, plotting, scheming, sleepless nightsā€¦ all sorts of things. But we donā€™t share that stuff cause we just figure you guys are more interested in the cool and interesting stuff. Not the mundane goings on that make all the other stuff possible. We’re pretty sure no one wants to read stories about me putting my garbage cans out on Monday morning or what I had for dinner.

To be clear, we donā€™t do this to make it look like things are like that all the time for us, just because thatā€™s the stuff we think you guys want to see. Our mission is to add a little more awesome to your day, so that’s what we try and do.

This whole issue also reminds me of the famous saying ā€œthe map is not the terrainā€. It was something the scholar Korzybski said and really itā€™s mean to remind us that we all have stories about the things that happen. That we all have our perception of what happened and what it means, and no matter how accurate it may be, itā€™s still a ā€˜mapā€™. Or as I prefer to call it, a ā€˜storyā€™. The problem is, at times we tend to take our own stories as gospel. As 100% accurate when they almost always involved filling in some of the gaps with assumptions. Assumptions about peopleā€™s intentions and motivations. Assumptions about all kinds of things. So it really is worth remembering, your story is just that, a story. And your map is not the territory. And neither is anyone else’s – especially on social media.

So whether itā€™s something thatā€™s happened in the real world, or on social media, just remember, itā€™s not the territory. Just a map. Maybe a comprehensive one with all sorts of details about the ups and downs. Maybe just one with the highlights.

Having said all that, and with these issues in mind, for anyone who is interested in what goes on in the gaps between reality and social media, Iā€™ll be writing a few real life stories and the lessons Iā€™ve learned from them. Some of the non-highlights that give you a different perspective of things. Maybe no one will be interested, and thatā€™s fine as well, but Iā€™ll personally be writing some more personal stories to keep things real. So if thereā€™s anything youā€™d like to know, feel free to let me know.

Stay awesome.

Sputnik
Chief Swashbuckler

Sputnik MTBing in Moab. Social Media Vs Real Life/

Sputnik MTBing in Moab. Social Media Vs Real Life