Strands of Genius [BFTP]: People Without Internal Monologues, Faris Fighting Binaries, and ICYMI: The Ads from the Super Bowl
BLAST FROM THE PAST [FEB 2020]
WRITING FROM | Krabi, Thailand
WORKING ON | ~*taking a sabbatical*~
LOOKING AHEAD
Aug 24-?? | Thailand
October 1-22 | Japan
Oct 22-Nov 4 | Isla Mujeres, MX
Nov 4-Nov 12 | Nashville, TN
Nov 12-23 | Chattanooga, TN
Nov 24-Dec 5 | Isla Mujeres, MX
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
We’re taking some time away from our computers, but we didn’t want you to miss us too much!
This is a blast from the past, featuring content from February of 2020.
:: THE LINKS ::
SOME PEOPLE HAVE NO INTERNAL MONOLOGUE
Ryan discovers that some people have no inner monologue and it ruins his day. Do you have that voice inside your head? One you can dialogue with? Yes? Us, too. Which is why we were also baffled by the fact that some people don’t have that inner voice. It’s fascinating to think about how other people think, and this is certainly worth diving into. (Wordpress)
FIGHTING THE BINARY
Faris was a guest on The Deep Dive Podcast with Philip McKenzie and they talk about binaries, strategic fragmentation, inspiration, processes, curiosity and creativity, generalists vs specialists, hip-hop, free jazz, short term-ism, management by metrics, mental accounting, psychology experiments, medieval cathedrals, air quality in Delhi and more... (Deep Dive)
ALL OF THE SUPER BOWL ADS, ICYMI
Annnnd in case you were refilling your snack bowl during the commercials, or skipping the big game entirely, here are all this year’s Super Bowl commercials in one place. (Vulture)
:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: SECRET DATE NIGHTS ::
Secret date nights are a thing we’ve been doing since well, the early days of getting together. The canonical secret date was when Faris surprised Rosie with tickets to The Little Mermaid when she had just arrived back from a work trip. All Rosie knew was the dress code, and where to meet Faris.
That’s the key, really: Take on the planning without involving your partner, and build up excitement through surprise. If you really want to get creative, you can throw in a false flag or two (ie: Be sure to be wearing a red button on your front left breast pocket when you arrive.)
We’ve had secret date nights that have involved making dumplings in a Chinatown kitchen, Broadway shows, walking from Union Square to Times Square blindfolded together (yes, really), tasting menus, burlesque shows, even city-wide scavenger hunts. We even had a sneaky double secret date night that required Faris to get a drink at a bar, where he and our friend Julia ran into each other, totally unexpectedly (but not by Rosie & Clay), only to find they were being double secret date night’ed when the bartender delivered a ransom-style-note cut from magazine letters featuring clues which eventually led Julia & Faris to where we needed to be (back at the house, after Rosie & Clay had cooked the lobsters.)
Why are they so special? Because organization can be overwhelming. Logistics are tiring. You’re not offloading any cognitive burden on your date, all the while you’re intuiting what they might like to do. Except, unlike a surprise birthday party, it’s low stakes. The more you enact Secret Date Nights, the easier they become to do. As a giver, you’ll become more comfortable with the narrative elements of surprise. Or if you’re like Rosie, you’ll learn to be a better receiver — because you’ll see that everything turns out just right, even when you don’t have control.
Don’t let yourself off the hook just because you’re single. Secret date nights with friends are totally a thing, too.
:: AND NOW… A MONTH OF CREATIVE CHALLENGES ::
Our friend, Steve Chapman, is behind WHAT THE FEBRUARY!? “29 daily creative/weird/wonky challenges to celebrate the most non-conformist month of the year. Some challenges are solo. Some involve others. Some are artistic. Some are social experiments. Some are simply odd. Plus a handful of challenges set by specially invited guests. Began 1st February 2020. To take part follow @stevexoh or the hashtag #WTFEB .
Since this edition of Strands was written the book What the February is now for sale! It launched on the 25th of May 2023 and you can find out more and grab a copy at www.wtfeb.com.
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Getting to meet like-minded folks is one of the best parts of living nomadically, so please let us know if you see if we'll be in a city near you :)
rockON,
faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co
@faris is always tweeting
@rosieyakob hangs out on instagram
@ashley also writes for deaf, tattooed & employed
Know someone who could use some inspiration in their inbox? Send ‘em our way!
It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)