Meet the Geeks

I've been eyeing the book Talk to Me: How to Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers, and Interview Anyone Like a Pro by Dean Nelson for some time now. However every time I had a little money to spend there was always something else that needed to be picked up or had more value in my mind.   I was delighted then when I found out that the book was available as an audio book via Audible. Even better I had a monthly credit available and no other books in their repetoir were calling out to me. So with a click I am finally getting to, not read, but experience this book on my ride to and from work. It couldn't have come at a better time.  I've been looking for a podcast idea of my own that would allow me to try out my own journalistic skills. It's occurred to me on more than one occasion that I've been very fortunate in my lifetime to have been able to meet and befriend some very talented people. People like Laurie Smith and George Freeman, Lar DeSouza and others.  Init...

So why did we do it? As a youngling, I plied my art, certain I would be doing this as a career. I was writing and drawing my own original comic books and man I was good at it. As all artists do at some point, I started to question my abilities, and the drive required to make it. I was living in a small town, on Canada's East Coast. The logistics of getting to New York from there, getting my work in front of the right set of eyes, of scrounging by until that could happen--- If I got my work in front of the right eyes, was my work good enough? As I watched my own father struggle to feed his family, I started to wonder if I could make it, hit the big time and work for Marvel or DC. Practicality set in. I really got hung up. In the "regular" world, any one can get a job and if you worked reasonably hard you could get work. I wouldn't get rich but at least I could make some money. University came around. The drive to create was ever-present. But I took practical co...

Bert and Ernie are probably the greatest comedy team in history. Their lasting legacy built on their puppeteers  Jim Henson and Frank Oz was pure genius. But what made this duo so special and why is their legacy so enduring? Ernie was the troublemaker, the instigator, the chance-taker, the silly one, the crazy one, the one swirling in chaos and a lack of rules. Bert was all about rules, routine, safety, taking care of things and being reliable. The were the perfect foils for one another, the ying to the yang, the order to the chaos. They each brought out the best of each other. Ernie taught Bert to be adventurous, to take chances, to laugh out loud, the skip the chores from time to time, to break routine. Bert grounded Ernie, teaching him to be reliable, to take the time to look after things, to be responsible. They were polar opposites but it was that middle ground that made each of them better, and provided the true comedy of their pairing. They weren't the first pairing to...