Always Choose Orange

Resistance is futile! At least, it will be after this episode. In part three of our series on enjoyment, we look at four common ways we resist pieces of art and explore some tools we can use to invert that resistance. From identifying the different types of screaming in metal music to intentionally finding flaws in pieces of art, we explore curiosity and the power it has to help us enjoy things mo...

In part two of our series on enjoyment, we're looking at a quick and easy way to deepen your appreciation of a piece of art — moving your attention beyond the part you immediately focus on. From following along with the chord changes in "Penny Lane” to identifying the 23 flavors in Dr. Pepper, we'll examine some quick and easy ways you can hone this skill.   FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TI...

Enjoyment is not only a creative superpower; it's also a valuable life skill. And thankfully, it's one that any of us can learn. Using  this brilliant essay by Sasha Chapin  as a jumping off point, we're going to explore the micro skills that make up the larger skill of enjoyment. The hope is that each and every one of us can interact with our own creative process in a way that brings...

Dr. Peter Adamson is a philosopher and intellectual historian. He holds two academic positions: professor of philosophy in late antiquity and in the Islamic world at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich; and professor of ancient and medieval philosophy at King's College London. Adamson hosts the weekly podcast  History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps  which surpassed 25 million downloads...

Matt Bucher is the author of  The Belan Deck  and co-host, with Dave Laird, of The Concavity Show podcast. He is one of the founders of the International David Foster Wallace Society and administers the wallace-l listserv. His writing has been published in Electric Literature, The Dublin Review of Books, Puerto del Sol, Publishers Weekly, and other places. He currently lives in Austin, Texas. In t...

David Benjamin Blower is a prolific musician, a writer of theological books, a podcaster, and an activist from Birmingham, UK. His writing, like his music, is characterized by its political and religious vision and by its apocalyptic imagination. His new book,  The Messianic Commons: Images of the Messiah After Modernity , is out now through SCM Press and his most recent album,  Kindness is Solid...

Putting your art out for the world to see is a vulnerable thing. It often means leaving yourself open to criticism, and in some cases, outright hate. How can you sift through the deluge of comments, feedback, and judgment and use it to make yourself a better artist? How do you stop obsessing over a negative evaluation of your work? And do you look at "the haters" from a different angle? In...

It’s possible to start a chapter in six words or less AND have your reader want to keep reading. How do I know? I analyzed the opening sentence of every chapter in  Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar Saga  ( Magician: Apprentice, Magician: Master, Silverthorn , and  A Darkness at Sethanon ) and found some eye opening patterns. In this episode, we'll see what we can learn through studying Feist’s short...

Noam Oxman is a composer who turns portraits of beloved pets into beautiful musical compositions. His “sympawnies” have garnered thousands, and in some cases millions, of views on YouTube. Noam is a passionate animal advocate, and he uses his art to promote his message of compassion for animals and nature. You can learn more about commissioning your own pet’s portrait on his website. At least 20%...

Kreg Yingst is an illustrator specializing in block printing, with original works created from carved blocks of wood, linoleum, or other materials, and printed onto paper or other media. Initially trained as a painter with a Bachelor’s Degree from Trinity University and a Master’s from Eastern Illinois University, Kreg turned his attention to the block print in the mid-1990s after discovering the...

Now that 2024 is behind us, it’s time for a six-month reading check-in! My brother Andrew is back and we each discuss six books that affected us during the second half of 2024. We use the following questions as a guide:  Which book surprised you the most? What is the most ambitious book you read this year? Which book had the best prose? What is one book that made you cry? Which book impacted your...

To kick off the new year, let's talk about two ways of viewing and experiencing creativity — the first is scarcity, a white-knuckled clinging to ideas that constantly asks things like "What if the ideas run out?", "What if I never come up with anything better than this?", or "What if the inspiration goes away?" The second is abundance, a way of looking at the world that...

The year is coming to a close and it's a great time to reflect back and celebrate your creative accomplishments. This episode is one part highlight reel and one part guide to looking back on the art you've made in 2024 (as well the things that inspired you throughout the year). We talk about lists, accomplishments, statistics, learnings, favorite media, and the moments that make you smile....

One of the most common sources of anxiety for budding creatives is the struggle to find a unique voice. Should you spend your apprentice years by imitating the masters? Do you need to focus all your energy on being original? Or is it better to ignore those questions altogether and just focus on making as much art as possible? In today's episode, we'll look at the path to finding your own d...

Where do ideas come from? How do they grow? How do you know which ideas to pursue and which to save for later? In today's episode, we'll explore those topics and more! From Ramit Sethi's book-buying rule to YouTuber Any Austin's view that you can't make 100 bad ideas, we'll take a deep dive into the foundation of creative projects and have you out before your lunch break is...

Claire Luxton is a British contemporary multi-disciplinary artist working with photography, immersive installation, and poetry. She works from her rural studio based in East Sussex, and the nature she is surrounded by is reflected in her work. After receiving a BFA from Goldsmiths University of London, Luxton’s practice developed a strongly recognizable aesthetic, which quickly gained her recognit...

Kate Woodman is a Portland, Oregon-based commercial photographer specializing in conceptual and narrative imagery. A structural engineer by trade, Kate made the jump to photography after a work transfer to New Zealand got her interested in shooting landscapes, and things spiraled from there. Ten years into her professional career, Kate shoots everything from pharma to fashion and all sorts of thin...

Simon Van Booy is the award-winning, bestselling author of more than a dozen books for adults and children, including  The Illusion of Separateness, The Presence of Absence,  and most recently , Sipsworth . Simon is the editor of three volumes of philosophy and has written for  The New York Times ,  The Financial Times ,  The Washington Post , and the  BBC . His books have been translated into man...

Rob Bell (New York Times Bestselling author) is back to continue last week's conversation on creativity, the craft of writing, and his latest book,  Where'd You Park Your Spaceship? Book Two: There's Only One Noon Yeah . In this episode, Rob compares his experiences with traditional publishing and self-publishing, shares what it was like to watch his plays being performed, and talks ab...

Rob Bell is the New York Times Bestselling author of fifteen books and plays which have been translated into 25 languages. He creates visual art that can be seen on his Instagram, makes music in a band called HUMANS ON THE FLOOR, and hosts a podcast called The RobCast. His new book,  Where'd You Park Your Spaceship? Book Two: There's Only One Noon Yeah  is out now and in this episode, we s...

One year ago, I released the first episode of Always Choose Orange using my built-in MacBook microphone, a story about a stack of paint samples, and a hilariously obtuse method of generating an RSS feed. Since then, I've learned a few things (well, more than a few) about podcasting, creativity, and how to face fear. Tune into this week's episode to hear the lessons that I've taken away...

Creative exercises are one of the most powerful ways to hone your craft, refine your voice, and try out new techniques to see if they fit your process. And, the good news is that they don’t need to take up much time to have a big impact on your art. In this episode, we’ll talk about a fun little writing exercise I did in my writing group last year that involved rewriting the first chapter of  Harr...

As of 2024, there are over 100 million songs on Spotify, 3.9 billion videos on YouTube, and tens of millions of books on Amazon — that's a whole lot of content. How do we keep our noses above the proverbial deluge of information that floods us every day? The answer (or part of it at least) is curation.  Tune into this week's episode to explore the idea of thinking like a curator as it pert...

It may be hard for newer generations to imagine but there was a time when video games were not commonly seen as a legitimate cultural medium. In this episode, Tim from  Earbuddies , bravely steps forward to take on a ChatGPT-created straw man in a (mostly) friendly debate about the artistic merit of video games. From claims of excessive violence and sensationalism (i.e. the public perception of  G...

Austin is, in his own words, 'making the worst video game content on the internet by far'. His YouTube channel,  Any Austin , features content that looks into the hyper-mundane aspects of video games, including mapping out how rivers flow in The Legend of Zelda, how the power grid is represented in Grand Theft Auto IV, and what the unemployment rate of Skyrim is. His goal is to change the...