Matt Agnello’s Blog

Between my 99th and 100th post on my film blog there was over a hundred day gap. I realized I wasn't posting ultimately because I was afraid I couldn't really add to the conversation, and that idea is wrong. I wrote a short post on the subject that I want to reprint here because I think the themes are very important for anyone doing creative work. Enjoy.

This is my hundredth post! The irony is that it comes over 100 days since I did my 99th.

I have to apologize for not posting for so long. I can't offer being busy as a reason, or having nothing to post about. Neither is true. It was more a confidence issue.

Reading more and more about the history of blogging and watching social media develop as a medium, I found it hard to believe that I could really add much that hadn't been touched on already by better minds. But this view, I later discovered (or re-discovered), is completely wrong. I reaffirmed for myself something I had known intuitively for a long time but faded when I never asserted it: everyone's perspective matters.

One might not be a master wordsmith or know the perfect metaphor for the moment, but the Web invites even the dustiest prose, and the most amateur author, to speak. The act alone is important, because you can't evaluate beforehand the impact of your words. You have to form them and put them firmly into the world first to really know their worth. And even if your work is not deemed worthy, it's a step toward getting your 10,000 hours in and learning the craft.

I wrote about Ira Glass's comments on storytelling and creativity a while ago, and it came back to me as I thought about this topic. He talks about how people in creative fields start out with great taste but little skill. It takes a while, a long while, for those two things to converge, where you can make something that really matches the image you have in your mind. What he doesn't come out and say is this: perfectionism and fear of failure will make you fail. You have to try and fail over and over again, and rarely will you be rewarded for the act of trying, but it is by far the most important thing you can do to increase your ability to "be the change you wish to see in the world "(Ghandi).

My perfectionism and fear of failure kept me silent since March. I hope not to succumb to that again. To make it up, I have some posts coming up after this one to talk a bit about what I've been doing in the last few months, and I hope you enjoy them.

Update: Here are some direct links to the three new blog posts.

• PLoS Conversations: Episode One
• The great backlight adventure
• The Melmarc Zone, a new kind of corporate video

--
Matthew J. Agnello
http://hungryfilmmaker.com/

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Google Voice has another cool feature that allows anyone to use a special Google Voice Widget to call your phone or leave you voicemails. To use it, just click the widget, enter your phone name and phone number (mark private if you don't want me to see it), and Google Voice will call you. When you answer, you'll get instructions on how to leave a message. No long distance charges, no hassle.

If you have a comment that just can't be expressed in text, or you'd like to get in touch with me, please leave me a voicemail; I'm eager to see how it works. Be sure to spell out your email address if you'd like a response, leave me your phone number, or make your message completely anonymous. It's up to you.

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A couple weeks ago, I got my invitation to Google Voice's closed beta. Since I only have one phone (my iPhone), it had limited use, so I didn't play with it too much other than test to see if calls went through. But recently I gave their web app a try, and I was definitely impressed.

 The interface is pretty sparse at the moment, but the functionality is strong. I had a coworker call me to test out the voicemail-to-text transcription feature. When he called, I saw his bright and shining face on my screen along with his actual number. When I answered, a voice menu asked if I wanted to answer or screen the voicemail and to press the right number. I screened and listened to the voicemail. Seconds later, I got a text with the first couple lines of the voicemail, and a minute later my phone pulled down an email of the full text. I could also go to the mobile web app, look at the item, and mark it as read just like an email.

 I haven't tried anything else out yet, but I'm seriously considering updating my contacts with my Google Voice number and conducting as much of my calling life through that service as possible. One very nice perk is that my Google Voice number is a local LA number, and my mobile phone is not, so if I run into a situation where long distance calling is a problem, someone can call my local Google Voice number to call my mobile.

 I definitely recommend signing up for the beta and trying out the service. It's
Incredibly Cool. And if there are any AT&T or Apple employees reading this, please, please find a way to get this app on the iPhone.

 And if there are any Google Voice employees reading this, find a way to interface with Skype and other voice-over-IP services and you'll have me singing your praises forever.

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--
Matthew J. Agnello
http://hungryfilmmaker.com/
Sent from my iPhone

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Andy Ihnatko asks this very question that I myself have been struggling with. How should one use Posterous?

Do you make it what he calls a "Super Twitter" — used when 140 characters just can't contain the full grandeur of you genius? Or do you use it as a conduit through which you post to everything else and let it be your Lifestream?

Initially, I used Posterous as a personal blog where I posted anything that really didn't fit into my entertainment industry blog. Then it became more of a photo repository for my iPhone. Now I've rediscovered its elegance, and its interconnectivity, my mind is racing with possibilities but few answers. A good tool will make you do that, so Posterous guys, I applaud you.

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--
Matthew J. Agnello
http://hungryfilmmaker.com/
Sent from my iPhone

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I have a very hard time remembering things. Since I don't have a desk,
I get endless ridicule from my coworkers as I leave sunglasses and
coffee mugs and files all over the office like bread crumbs trailing
behind me. I'm especially forgetful if I get sidetracked away from
something important; I might never get back to it. That's why I
adopted GTD, a systematic approach to relying less on your own brain
and more on constant things like paper and pen to recall things for
you. But like so many of my generation, I'm a sucker for technology,
so I went hunting for a great TODO list manager for the mac and
iPhone.

 I decided to pit OmniFocus vs Things in an out and out battle for my
TODO lists. Both are great mac apps, and both have superb iPhone
companions. Both are essentially GTD compatible and do the jobs they
set out to do. So, how to tell the difference? While looking for that
difference, I found that everyone else in the mac productivity world
had compared these two heavyweights already, so I had a lot of
opinions to work with. Reviewers generally found Things far easier to
use and prettier to look at than OmniFocus but claimed OmniFocus
provided far more power and functionality.

 Both worked for me. I enjoyed working in each enough that I thought
the other wasn't worth trying again. However, what eventually settled
the dispute for me happened outside the program itself.

 I'm a firm believer that you never buy a product, you buy a company.
Things, while certainly friendly with their marketing and prices, just
doesn’t have the same excited user-base sported by OmniFocus and the
whole Omni Group. Omni has a long track record of great software and
amazing customer service, plus a fully active community. With such a
supportive community, OmniFocus was the clear leader here.

 A supportive community is especially essential for those practicing
GTD. GTD requires a lot of habit changes all at once, so a supportive
community makes those first steps significantly easier to wade
through. You can all hold each other accountable to the habits you're
all trying to build. A dedicated user-base also means you can get
answers to those inevitable off-the-wall questions from people
honestly interested in them. Things had a forum at one time and
currently hosts a wiki, but it doesn't come close to the vibrant
community of OmniFocus users.

 I ultimately decided to invest my time and resources in OmniFocus.
However, I don't think OmniFocus is the right tool for everybody. I'm
more rigid in my application of GTD and stranger with my needs.
OmniFocus can be moulded to fit those needs while holding me to GTD
more strictly. Those that are looser with GTD or just want something
that works without much fiddling will find a perfect match in Things.

 I also rediscovered paper. Ironically, focusing on a digital approach
made me use more paper in my day-to-day routine. I always kept some
blanks by my home computer, but now I also carry around a half-size
legal pad and a multipocket file at work. Now I can have a little
inbox and capture pad with me all the time as an alternative to the
sometimes-cumbersome iPhone (I say as I write this post on one).

 The lessons I took away are many, but the primary one was that
changing one tool will not make you more productive. You have to
change your relationship to that tool and at the same time use all the
tools at your disposal to get things done.

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--
Matthew J. Agnello
http://hungryfilmmaker.com/
Sent from my iPhone

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--
Matthew J. Agnello
http://hungryfilmmaker.com/
Sent from my iPhone

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Just finished one of the fastest CBS runs ever. Time from hand off to to drop off was about 7 minutes 47 seconds, but who's counting?
 
To all those I cut off on Beverly, I apologize. You're just not as important as Dr. Phil.

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