#10 Clarity and brevity
Issue #10 Clarity and brevity
18th May 2022
Hi everyone. Your friend Chris Mead here.
I'm just back from Rome and the Welcome Festival. It was absolutely incredible.
I taught two Emotional Connection workshops to two very talented groups of improvisers and had one of those sessions live translated as I taught. It was a revelation to me personally to have to choose my words so carefully in order to get a specific point across. It reminded me of the rigour inherent in Craig Cackowski's brilliant improv exercise Seven words (or under). Clarity and brevity!
Elsewhere in the festival, I met a whole gang of new improv friends, ate pizza for just about every meal, performed SciFi and silent improv forms and even had the chance to talk to Dave Pasquesi about his experiences filming The Book of Boba Fett. Surreal to have the chance to chat to one of my improv heroes for a whole evening.
My thanks to the organisational team and everyone who made the festival such a blast.
Let's proceed, shall we?
Rule of three
[TV] Barry
I love this series about a hitman who starts to reevaluate his life after he enrols in an acting class taught by Henry Winkler. All of it is very good but there's a standalone episode in season 2 that comes out of nowhere and proves to be an absolute revelation. KARATE!
[Clothes] How to find your personal style
I'm obviously no fashionista but I found this short visual piece about curating your own personal style incredibly interesting and empowering.
[Newsletter] 3-2-1 Thursday
James Clear's book Atomic Habits was absolutely life-changing for me. It's a quick read, well-written and leaves you fully equipped to cultivate good habits and eliminate bad ones. I would never have been able to write this email each week without the lessons I learned from him. I have just discovered his newsletter 3-2-1 Thursday which contains 3 ideas, 2 quotes and 1 question each week. It doesn't outstay its welcome and there's always something fascinating in there. This newsletter aspires to do likewise.
Spotlight
I'm beginning pre-production on a new season of YesBot - my improv podcast where I ask improvisers to programme a small robot to be their perfect scene partner. The first season is available here. As far as the next season goes, I'm looking forward to recording more episodes (as well as editing the ones I already have in the can). When I started I was extremely UK-focussed but am looking forward to exploring an ever more diverse array of improv talent in the months to come.
Longform thoughts
“Most people get work because their work is good. They are easy to get along with. And because they deliver the work on time.
And the secret is… you don’t even need all three. Two out of three is fine."
Neil Gaiman
Read Be good. Be reliable. Be kind.
Radio days
So, Radio, who can now escape from his 60cm tall pen?