Painting, prose style and the near-spiritual pride of making something.
Where it comes up 8
Within this theme 39
Concepts 6
- Light Touch
The subtle Japanese style Grant now values most: imagery used sparingly and purposefully, faint colours that still paint a picture, meaning 'lurking beneath the sentences'.
- Kintsugi
The Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics with gold. Tamir's intro uses it as an image of authenticity: imperfections are 'the true hallmarks of beauty' and asymmetry is magical.
- Human-made writing as luxury
Tamir's prediction that AI-generated text will be like fast fashion, making handmade human writing a rare luxury, like a tailored suit.
- Devotional offering
Ian's coach's idea: make art and give it to the world without needing recognition, such as stacking inukshuks by the ocean or playing guitar with the windows open.
- Inukshuk
Inuit stone figure; Ian's coach had men build inukshuks by the ocean as anonymous art offerings.
- One-Book Writer
Grant's view that a novelist is usually known for one best book and the rest disappoint audiences, whereas painters can reinvent themselves through new styles.
Books 3
- Divine Comedy
Dante's epic in which Beatrice has a clear role. Tamir mentions it with La Vita Nuova as Dante sharing a piece of his heart with the world.
- Killing Commendatore
Salih's entry into Murakami: on his 30th birthday in April 2018 he opened it in a bookstore and recognized his own wish to flee the city and paint, then finished it in three or four days…
- La Vita Nuova
Dante's first book, about his love for Beatrice. Tamir cites it as an example of turning unrequited feeling into art instead of victimhood.
People 6
- Salih Yayar
German Murakami devotee (a self-described 'Murakamian') from Gütersloh who runs the Haruki Murakami Art YouTube and Instagram channels (mini-documentaries visualizing Murakami's books)…
- Tyler Dorchester
Tamir's barber of seven years and close friend; a deep reader of fiction, a published comic artist and a writer of unpublished short stories, raised on a farm in rural Alberta. Tamir calls…
- Dante Alighieri
Tamir points to statues of Dante in Florence as evidence that Italian culture honored poets and artists alongside warriors, a multifaceted ideal of manhood.
- Franz Kafka
Tamir asks whether Kafka's absurdity parallels their talk of enigmas. Tyler describes Kafka as crippled by his father yet turning pain into art, a 'special species of happiness', and says…
- Ed Harding
A well-known Michigan artist who, after viewing her portfolio, accepted 21-year-old Sheela as an apprentice to teach her lithography and watercolor. She never started: she visited India…
- Zoe
Tamir's artist friend who painted a mural for his studio while listening to the 1Q84 audiobook, complete with glow-in-the-dark two moons; an upcoming guest for an episode on 1Q84 and art.
Quotes 6
That's what I value most highly these days: this very subtle style of writing where the colors are very faint. They still paint a picture; they're not these bright, loud, fluorescent colors.
Every once in a while you're going to want to read that handmade, human-made stuff, and that's going to be a delicacy for the mind.
Today's episode is about authenticity. That is to say, today's episode is about imperfections, the true hallmarks of beauty. These blemishes are insignia of the sublime.
I would rather experience something that I've never quite seen the like of before, even if it's like a six out of ten, than see another romantic comedy that's nine out of ten.
One of my favorite feelings in the world is stumbling across a singer or an author and realizing they just knock you on your ass, and you realize they have a whole back catalog that you now get to dive into.
If we only rely on movies, which can't capture everything that a book captures, we're lost. We need books.
Insights 6
- Greatness includes painting the picture
The poem moves from discovering new land to painting pictures on the walls, showing that greatness spans every archetype, not just conquest; the manosphere's single template reveals a lack…
- AI makes human writing a luxury
As AI floods the world with text, human-made writing becomes like a tailored suit in an age of fast fashion: rarer, pricier, and a delicacy.
- Dark stories hold the profound lessons
Most songs are about love, heartbreak or sex, but great books are drawn to darkness, and inside the darkness, if you look, is black humor that teaches you how to survive.
- Pain turned into art
Kafka never resolved his pain, but turning it into art was his 'special species of happiness'; even unresolved suffering can leave something beautiful.
- Creation is close to spiritual
Like a child proudly bringing home a finger painting, making something through time, effort, concentration and persistence brings a pride that is almost spiritual.
- Even the most masculine men made art
Ancestral hunters danced, drummed, and recited poetry around the fire; the artistic, devotional side of masculinity has withered, and modern men have lost touch with their ability to create.
Practices 1
- Make devotional offerings of art
Assignment from Ian's coach: find ways to make art and give it to the world without needing recognition, e.g. build inukshuks by the ocean or play guitar with the windows open to fill the…
Stories 6
- Giving up an art apprenticeship for love
At 21, Sheela was accepted by the well-known Michigan artist Ed Harding to apprentice in lithography and watercolor. Before the semester began she flew to India to see her mother after an…
- Million-dollar number one single
Colin overheard two men at Soho House in Los Angeles: 'Give me a million bucks, I'll give you a number one single.' He thinks they're right and that the music industry is about money, which…
- Zoe's two-moon mural
Tamir's artist friend Zoe painted a mural in his studio while listening to all 40 hours of 1Q84, adding glow-in-the-dark twin moons. She almost wanted to hate the book but found it too…
- Building a channel from old hard drives
Drawings online weren't enough for Salih, a visual person frustrated that so few Murakami novels have been filmed. He went through years of his own footage on his hard drives, combined it…
- Jazz cassettes in 1993
Spending a summer in the city at 21, Tyler walked into a secondhand CD and cassette shop and bought Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday tapes, thrilled to realize they had dozens of albums…
- Museums drained her enthusiasm for art
As a fine art student Sheela painted, made pottery and sculpted, but it grew heavy on her. Museums felt so sterile that she lost her enthusiasm, and after a while she stopped, and then had…
Films, music and art 4
- Haruki Murakami Art
Salih's YouTube and Instagram channel of long-form mini-documentaries that visualize Murakami's books using his own travel footage, stock footage, graphics and music.
- Two-moons mural
Mural painted for Tamir's studio by his friend Zoe while she listened to 1Q84, with a large moon and a smaller green moon that glow in the dark.
- Col Gerrard music
Colin has gone back to making music and releases it on Spotify as Col Gerrard. He describes winning over the industry slowly, 'bit by bit'.
- Israeli band with a Japanese singer
Tamir mentions a new Israeli band playing 1960s-70s Middle Eastern-style music that made a whole album with a Japanese singer. He gives it as a musical example of fusion: two things you'd…
Places 1
- Florence
Italian city where statues of Dante stand alongside those of warriors, cited by Tamir as a culture that valued poets as much as fighters.