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Creativity

Don’t Sin Against Your Talent: A Lesson in Art from Tony Bennett

Manny Vallarino · July 21, 2023 ·

Today, on Friday, July 21, 2023, the world lost Tony Bennett.

This is a heartbreaking loss for the arts (and for me as a fan), but also an intense reminder of all the color he brought into the world via his singing and his painting.

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Selfism: A New Cosmology

Manny Vallarino · June 13, 2023 ·

This journal entry contains all three parts of my final project for Carnegie Mellon University’s “Designing Narratives Across Media” course, taught by Professor Ahmed Ansari. Sharing it here because I like it and because it could serve as an entry point to anyone interested in world-building or the Alexander Technique.

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Lessons from the book The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell

Manny Vallarino · June 10, 2023 ·

How fully I recommend this book: 6.5/10


Lesson 1: Ideas, products, messages, and behaviors are like viruses.

This may be the origin of the usage of “viral” to describe something that becomes very popular. Gladwell uses the virus analogy throughout the book to explore the “tipping point,” the point at which something begins to spread exponentially.


Lesson 2: The three elements of an epidemic.

  1. The Law of the Few: This is about who spreads the virus. Three types of people are crucial to any epidemic: Connectors (people who are connected to lots of people in different groups), Mavens (people who are experts and are passionate about sharing their expertise), and Salesmen (charismatic people who can affect those around them).
  2. Stickiness Factor: This is about the virus itself. How “sticky” is it? Can it be made stickier?
  3. Power of Context: This is about the context inhabited by the virus. Certain contexts are more conducive than others to the spread of a virus. Tiny contextual adjustments can make a huge difference in something reaching a tipping point.

Lesson 3: In relationships, proximity often trumps similarity.

“We’re friends with people we do things with.”


Lesson 4: What word of mouth actually is.

Word of mouth is not everyone telling everyone about something.

What word of mouth actually is: someone telling a Connector.

Then, the Connector tells all the people they know!

So, word of mouth is mostly accelerated by a few key Connectors, rather than by many people.


Lesson 5: Context can trump convictions.

“It’s possible to be a better person on a clean street than in one littered with trash.”

Gladwell’s research shows this, which surprised me!

Behavior and character are often times a function more of context than of convictions.

E.g.; Removing graffiti from the NYC subway system accelerated the precipitous drop in criminality in the city.


Lesson 6: Social channel capacity

Also known as Dunbar’s number, 150 seems to be the maximum number of genuine social relationships our human brains can maintain.

Military subgroups aim to remain smaller than 150. Same with hunter-gatherer villages.

Even a wildly successful corporation found that exceeding 150 people in a division or production plant often led to disorder and friction, so they now cap their groups at 150 and when the number of employees gets close to exceeding, a new group is created, and so on.


Lesson 7: Communication immunity.

The network effect would suggest that the more people participate in a network (social media, email, etc.), the more valuable the network becomes.

This, however, has a limit.

The more frequent the communication in a network, the more likely it is to create “communication immunity,” meaning that the messages in the network begin to lose importance, and traditional forms of communication, like a face-to-face conversation with a friend, gain more value.

E.g.; Email can texting can be overwhelming, so I have become more immune to those communication networks than to phone calls, which are more scarce and usually more important.


Lesson 7: How gossip is born.

Gossip is the result of a three-step distortion of reality:

  1. Reality is leveled, a process by which all kinds of details that are essential to understanding reality are left out.
  2. Leveled reality is sharpened, a process by which remaining details are made more specific.
  3. Leveled and sharpened reality is assimilated, a process by which the new constructed reality is changed so it can make more “sense” to those spreading the rumor.

Next time I hear any gossip, I will be sure to yell out, “Hey, stop spreading that nasty result of a three-step distortion of reality!”


Looking Forward to Doing Stand-Up! In Europe!

Manny Vallarino · June 5, 2023 ·

14 shows.

8 cities.

5 countries.

1 fool.

Grateful to everyone who made this stand-up comedy Eurotour so special.

Had fun on and off stage. Met some of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. Grew a lot as a comic, writer, and performer. Experienced and learned so much. Broadened my perspective on life. Reaffirmed my identity as a citizen of the world. Reorganized my value system. Snored while sleeping in trains. Truly a transformative experience.

Thank you! Děkuji! Danke schön! Grazie mille! Dankjewel!

I’m still…

Looking forward to doing stand-up! In Europe!


Film Recommendation: The Fabelmans, directed by Steven Spielberg

Manny Vallarino · June 5, 2023 ·

How fully I recommend this film: 10/10


For years, my favorite film about film has been The Purple Rose of Cairo, written and directed by Woody Allen. No contest.

Now, however, another film about film has tied it: The Fabelmans, directed and co-written by Steven Spielberg.

What a film!

It’s a realistic coming-of-age story that focuses on Sammy Fabelman as he grows into himself as a person and filmmaker.

We follow Sammy as he navigates his complicated but loving family, his out-of-the-ordinary passion for film and the arts, his family’s moves to different cities, bullying, antisemitism, romantic love, vocational love, the transformative power of film, and more.

The story is completely original, which I found to be oh so refreshing.

It has some great comedy, too. The opening sequence is very funny. But the praying-to-Jesus scene? I won’t spoil it, but I was crying tears of laughter. Brilliant and hilarious.

I highly recommend watching The Fabelmans! Grateful to all who were involved in its creation. Beautiful movie.


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I love comedy. Here's some comedy: Some comedy

© 2023 Manny Vallarino

 

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