ECLECTIC PROJECTS BLOG

My partner bought me a copy of Ibi Zaboi’s Pride: A Pride and Prejudice Remix for my birthday earlier this year, and she’s been waiting anxiously for me to read it and let her know what I thought. In a moment of rather unfortunate tijming, I spent my birthday in a hospital this year, sitting at my father’s bedside while it became apparent that he wasn’t getting any better. He was gone twenty-four hours later, and I’d barely looked at any fiction in the months that followed. Anything I picked up was generally for the thesis, and the idea of reading for fun disappeared as dad’s death was followed by pet’s getting sick, my sister being ill, and other things that kicked the idea of “normal” into something unrecognisable. Over the weekend, all that shifted a little. My partner started reading one of the books I’d given her, breaking her own reading drought after a tough couple of months, and we settled onto the couch for an evening of devouring the written word. I quickly breezed through the last chapters of the research book I was working through, and figured it was time to give Zaboi’s book a go. It proved to be an exceptionally good choice, both as a gift and a book to pick up when you’re looking to get back into reading. I mean, I was in love from the very first line: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Peter M Ball (@petermball) on

When my partner first moved in and we struggled to find the space for everything in my tiny one-bedroom, the old 5-disc changer stereo got put away for a stretch. Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved that stereo. Much as I enjoy being able to log onto Youtube and track down pretty much any musician I own, there is a part of me that will always be attached to physically owning the media that means a lot to me: Hardcopy books, DVDs of beloved movies and shows, CD and LPs of the music that really speaks to me. Good art is an experience that changes your worldview, but the great art that you truly love is more than that. It’s presence in your space is a statement–this is me; these are the things I love. Online spaces offer the space to do something similar, but it’s never quite the same thing. Earlier this week, I set up the stereo again because it fit into the new work space. I am, once more, able to listen to entire albums while I work instead of searching for playlists. I get the physical pleasure of stopping something and putting it away. And it seems that I’d left a bunch of media in the CD player back when I packed it away, so I kicked off my first work day by listening through those four discs. DISC ONE: THE BEST OF COAL CHAMBER, COAL CHAMBER My partner–who is into metal on a level

I’ve spent a good chunk of the last week reading through Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The Psychology of Success. It’s an interesting book, presenting concepts that you’ve probably come across online in all manner of articles about praising effort instead of intelligence, or assuming character traits and intelligence are fixed rather than malleable. Mostly, though, I spent the book thinking about Yoda. You’re familiar with Yoda, right? Little green muppet guy from Star Wars with irregular sentence syntax? Owner of one of the most quotable lines from The Empire Strikes back. The one that goes: Do or do not. There is no try. Possibly one of the most iconic mentor figures in science fiction film, and beloved of nerd-types everywhere despite the prequels turning him into a pingpong ball? Well, here’s the thing: it’s really hard to read Dweck’s book and start figuring that, really, Yoda is a bit shit as a Jedi educator. The whole idea that you succeed or you fail is largely antithetical to the way brains actually work and learn, the way people develop skills, and the way we keep ourselves fucking motivated to keep learning and progressing. Admittedly, a long and growth-oriented struggle where you keep testing yourself against increasingly challenging tasks and attempting new strategies is significantly harder to film. It’s not a dynamic that lends itself to immediate conflict, and it doesn’t present the opportunity to lift an entire X-Wing out of a swamp and deliver a terrific visual. But this is the ongoing