END MIDDLE BEGINNING
A Blog About Creativity
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A New (End Middle) Beginning
I rebranded by accident.
Not entirely by accident, of course. But there was quite a bit of serendipity involved.
I’ve never used a slick stage name or a meaningful phrase to represent my personal brand. The right concept remained elusive, so my name has been my brand.
A Ridiculous Card For Every Occasion
Ridiculous times call for ridiculous greeting cards. I decided it was my solemn duty to provide some new options.
The Inspiration Unicorn
The Real Cause of Imposter Syndrome
Many talented people have dealt with imposter syndrome. It’s the uneasy feeling that you’re not nearly as good as other people think, that you don’t deserve your success, that you’re a fraud who will be “found out” at any moment and your life will come crashing down around you. Imposter syndrome takes “fake it ‘til you make it” and turns it into “I’m still faking it and nobody seems to notice yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”
Find Your Surf
I’ve always been drawn to the romance of surfing. Or at least my own romanticized version of it.
I love how surfers are so dedicated to finding that perfect wave. I love how surfing is the first thing they think about when they wake up as the sun rises. I love how they use surfing as a sort of Zen meditation, a way to disconnect from the troubles of the world, become one with nature, achieve a kind of inner peace. I love how that inner peace and one-ness gives them patience as they wait for the best waves. I love the idea of living in eternal summer, never really growing up or needing to “go back to school” and fit into the restraints of society.
New Music, a Full Free Movie and More
I’m well aware that it’s been a very long time since I posted anything substantial to my blog, but there’s a pretty good reason for it: I’ve been busy. Busy making cool stuff that I’ll be able to share with you in the future.
Listen To the Soundtrack of "I Hate You"
Watch the Trailer for "I Hate You"
As readers of this blog know, I spent all of 2015 and a bit of 2016 scoring an independent film called I Hate You. I chronicled the process in three blog posts and shared some samples from the score in my latest audio reel.
Dealing With Criticism as an Artist (While Keeping Your Sanity)
So you’ve created a thing and now some people know about it. Congratulations! Someone is about to be a total asshole to you.
Creative Procrastination: How to Stop Putting It Off & Create Awesome Shit
I am a professional procrastinator. Well, I would be a professional procrastinator if I ever got around to turning it into an income source. I’ll do that tomorrow, but for now I’ll write about the pervasive problem of avoidance in our creative work.
You may be one of those gifted people with a preternatural ability to focus, never succumbing to distractions. Maybe you don’t have any sort of attention deficit and aren't prone to wasting large chunks of your day accomplishing jack shit because why not the Internet exists. Well congratu-friggin'-lations, you’re way better at adulting than I am. You can stop here and hang your valedictorian certificate on the wall after reading all of Infinite Jest in a single sitting. I’ll meet back up with you in my next post.
Deep Field Dreaming
Whenever I get a little lonely, or I start to feel like I’m not part of something important or great, I look at the Hubble deep field photograph and imagine myself flying through it...
New Composition Reel
I compiled a playlist featuring samples of some of my compositions. It features a variety of styles and genres I've tackled over the years. Some of these are your first chance to hear samples from the indie film score I spent much of last year composing. Some are from short films, commercials, web series, podcasts and other projects.
How To Discover Your Personal Philosophy in Three Steps
It’s become a bit of a running joke in a group of my friends: hang out with me long enough, especially if you add a few beers into the mix, and I quickly become philosophical. I can’t help it, really. I’ve always been bored to tears by small talk and am often guilty of jumping straight into the deep end of a conversation without letting it properly warm up. While I realize not everyone is like that, I’m occasionally surprised at how many people seem to live their life without any philosophical context. By that I mean a lot of folks seem to be going about their daily motions without thinking too deeply or asking questions about why they’re doing what they’re doing. Will this decision advance me toward my personal goals? Does that action truly align with my values? Will that next tequila shot make me puke in my Uber? (That answer is usually "yes.")
Clean Jimmy Sheen: A Danny Elfman-esque Score
My good friend Adam Hann-Byrd wrote and illustrated a children's book called Clean Jimmy Sheen, and I composed music for the 30-second teaser trailer he created for it. Take a look/listen and learn more about this imaginative story!
Shouting Into the Crowd
Sharing your creations online is kind of like shouting into a large, loud, busy crowd...
How To Be an Artist With a Day Job
There are fifty thousand articles online about turning your creative passion into a full-time career (that's an exact number I counted myself, so no need to check if it’s accurate). Many of said fifty thousand articles include very good advice. You should read them and maybe take what they say to heart. But there aren’t many articles tackling the far more common situation: being an artist and having a—*gulp*—day job.
The Zen of Film Scoring: Always Change Your Pants Before Recording
With my work on the film score nearing completion, I am focusing most of my creative energies on getting it finished. I have many ideas for general creativity-themed blog posts in the near future, but until I can spend the required time writing them, I give you this film score-centric post to tide you over.
It turns out scoring a film requires developing some creative philosophies (the importance of which I detailed here), using some extremely advanced techniques (and by advanced I mean not particularly advanced, you see what I did there?) and making some interesting discoveries and observations along the way. Here are seven examples from my recent experience.
How (and Why) to Establish Your Creative Philosophy
Creativity and philosophy go hand-in-hand in crucial ways. In fact, you will have trouble making any worthwhile art without first understanding the philosophy behind it. Luckily, it's easy to achieve in a few simple steps.