What may eventually make Stellar – a baby in social network terms having launched in 2011 – take off is that it actually sets out to do very little.

Stellar takes your favourites from Twitter, Vimeo, Youtube and Flickr and populates a personal ‘flow’ for others to follow. Whilst there are plenty of apps and networks that allow you to disseminate outwards, Stellar is one of the few inwardly focused networks.

Rather than invade your every waking moment with stream of conscious like updates, Stellar – as it exists today anyway – helps to distill that flow and highlight only the most interesting things in a very low volume way.

Here’s how creator Jason Kottke describes where Stellar fits in:

People favorite things on all sorts of services across the web and the services don’t really do anything with them. They take the stuff that people love the most and ignore it. If it works correctly, Stellar should give people a good view of the things their friends like best from around the web. So yeah, Stellar is like Favrd, but for more than just Twitter. It’s kinda like Friendfeed, but just for favorites. It’s designed to show you

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1. Embracing failure

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The article highlights a number of studies looking at the divide between talent (or intelligence) and the qualities that assist us in unlocking and delivering talent. So, looking at a large number of people, from Einstein to Darwin, right through to West Point graduates, musicians and finance bankers, and exploring what enabled those at the top of their field to unlock their talent, and in some cases, to succeed even where talent isn’t immediately obvious (apparently Darwin never considered himself an intelligence powerhouse).

One of the researches, psychologist Angela Duckworth, isolated those qualities that might serve as a predictor of outstanding talent:

1. The tendency not to abandon tasks from mere changeability. Not seeking something because of novelty. Not “looking for a change.”
2. The tendency not to abandon tasks in the face of obstacles. Perseverance, tenacity, doggedness.

Which Duckworth boils down to the quality of ‘grit’.

People who accomplished great things, [Duckworth] noticed, often combined a passion for a single mission with an unswerving dedication to achieve that mission, whatever the obstacles and however long it might take.

Seems some of… Read more

1. Murakami on endurance and focus

To start with I’ve been lucky enough to score a gig over at milkbarmag.com writing the monthly literature events round-up. The mag is still in its infancy, and it’s great to be on board to help it bloom.

Second, I’ve hooked up with a talented and enthusiastic bunch of collaborators on a new video project. Watch this space for more news later in the year.

More recently Skyrim entered my life and promptly knocked me senseless with a dwarven staff of obsession. For the last two weeks I’ve been hiking icy mountain paths in search of equal parts night thistle, skeever tail and troll fat – no stone left unturned.

I’m fairly sure that the thin line between fantasy and reality will soon unspool, but until that happens, Skyrim and I are kindling a fine, and unexpected, romance.

I recently read Alan Jacobs’ The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction, which I’d recommend to anyone reaching a kind of impasse in their reading habits (as I was).

Jacobs prescribes a… Read more

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1. Embracing Stellar
2. Ira Glass on storytelling

1. Embracing Stellar
2. Ira Glass on storytelling

The title sequence (shown above) is a kind of sober up ‘slap in the face’ before the visually torturous (at times) 161 minute journey through neon soaked Tokyo begins.

The story is told/seen through the disembodied spirit of a deceased drug dealer who watches over his grieving sister, and the unique perspective allows Noe to frequent all sorts of places where cinema rarely dares go, including the inside of an abortion operating room, horrific car accidents and plenty of other traumatic landscapes.

The vision Noe has presented is completely deranged, occasionally awe inspiring, and almost impossible to watch. The frequent use of strobing neon light combined with thumping beats lulls you into an almost hallucinatory viewing experience. Or at least that’s what’s intended; more often than not I had my hand in front of the screen to shield my eyes from the painful blinking lights. If you’re at all susceptible to flickering lights, do not watch this film.

Although an incredibly difficult and confronting film to watch, its construction reminded me a lot of the short… Read more

1. Loved on Water

Firstly a confession: I’ve spent the last few years quietly enjoying Frankie Magazine over my partner’s shoulder. Now, thanks to Smith Journal, I have my own Frank to play with.

Not every Australian male dreams of becoming a successful entrepreneur, footy player, or racking up a perfect set of abs. There’s a shallow spectrum of Australian masculinity loafing upon the pages of popular men’s magazines such as Ralph, GQ, Zoo and Alpha. It’s high time the rack got a bit of a shake-up, even if that shake is more of a pat from this mildly mannered new kid on the block.

Smith Journal is the kind of magazine that makes you want to be a better man. Not the kind of man who can do 50 squats each morning, but the kind that collects wild reeds from the edge of a creek and fashions them into furniture that maybe no one will ever buy, but he does it just the same. Why? Because that’s what the man wants to do. Mates or no mates.

Writers of Smith, many of whom also contribute to Frankie, use words like ‘blunder’ (meaning ‘did bad’) and ‘crack’ (meaning ‘have a go’). When… Read more

1. The Cormac McCarthy Journal

Having spent the last year cramming writing sessions before and after work hours, I’m really looking forward to seven uninterrupted days of quiet, solitude and hopefully, a little creative spark. All fingers and toes crossed.

This time I’ll be completely distraction free (ie no camera), so there’ll likely be no sequel to last year’s effort (above) anytime soon.

Feel free to leave me lots of comments so I’ll feel missed…

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1. Ideas for Short Stories: March 18

1. Ideas for Short Stories: March 18

Almost as loud as the voice that asks are we going to write today? are new accompanying (and irritating) voices asking who are we writing for?, what format should we write in?, which word processor?, what genre is this?, how should we publish? and finally: do we have the right font to start with?

This saturation of choice can be debilitating at any stage of writing, as it often feels that it’s no longer as simple as deciding to bunker down and ‘just write’ (as if that were easy to begin with!).

Increasingly, the craft of writing is linked to the business of writing, with new pathways to success and collaboration open to writers able to diversify away from ‘just writing’ and instead acquire skills such as HTML coding, search engine optimisation, video editing and social media. Skills that no writer would have likely ever heard of prior to a few decades ago.

At times this new state seems daunting. The expansion of choice can add a new layer of weighty, and potentially useless, overhead to the more primal task of getting words to the page.

But understanding the landscape, checking your compass (choose the more appropriate metaphor), can be just as… Read more

1. Emerging Writers’ Festival launch in one minute
2. 15 minutes with Linda Jaivin