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.

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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 us deep joy, even when it gets hard.

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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 in 2019. The podcast has covered Greek philosophy, Islamic philosophy, and European philosophy up to the early modern era, and also launched series on Indian philosophy (with co-author Jonardon Ganeri), Africana philosophy (with co-author Chike Jeffers), and Chinese philosophy (with co-author Karyn Lai). Next to his other academic publications, Adamson has turned the podcast into an eponymous book series.

In this episode, Peter and I talk about what it’s been like to maintain a weekly podcast for more than 14 years — including the reason he doesn’t burn out. He shares some valuable insight into how he’s able to make philosophy palatable for the average person as well as the early pushback from his listeners that helped him change his thinking and make his podcast better. Near the end of the episode, Peter shares some recommendations for people who want to get into philosophy for the first time — his “Minimum Effective Dose” if you will.

Website: https://historyofphilosophy.net

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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 this episode, Matt and I talk about the creative process behind his debut novel, The Belan Deck, a thought-provoking story about a businessman who is working on a PowerPoint presentation at the airport.

No, I’m not kidding. And yes, it’s actually good.

Beyond the book itself, Matt and I discuss a number of things — from exploring your family tree as powerful inspiration for stories to the beauty of falling down Wikipedia rabbit holes. We also touch on copyright law, technology, artificial intelligence, horses, three authors named David, and how to stay creative while working in Corporate America.

Website: https://www.mattbucher.com

Purchase The Belan Deck here: https://www.amazon.com/Belan-Deck-Matt-Bucher/dp/B0BZWKP2WN

FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www.alwayschooseorange.com

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 Stone Violence is a Heavy Loan to Pay is available on all platforms.

 In this episode, David and I talk about writing narrative-driven music which is something that, in my humble opinion, he’s really, really proficient at. Back in 2017, he released a concept album about the biblical story of Jonah that combined a folky-acoustic sound with sea shanties and narration from legendary theologian and writer N.T. Wright (who wrote a biography of the apostle Paul that was my favorite read of the year). David explains the backstory of the album and what he did when the whole thing got deleted from his hard drive before he was able to release it. 

We also talk about how his songs form, the tension between grief and hope that undergirds his music, and the way that he goes about expanding his sonic palette when he wants to change his sound. And of course, it wouldn’t be an episode of Always Choose Orange without some outrageous story or detail — at one point, David talks about a five-star review he received that said he sounded drunk throughout the entire album and he also shares the fascinating story about how the sound of his keys jingling made it onto the outro of his song “No Debts, No Masters”.

Website: https://davidbenjaminblower.com

Substack: https://davidbenjaminblower.substack.com/

Bandcamp: https://benjaminblower.bandcamp.com/music

FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www.alwayschooseorange.com

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 this episode, we'll talk about all those things and more. AND, we'll talk about a few composers who had their music critically eviscerated, including the one whose music was described as "the most dreadful deluges of piffle, bombast, and nonsense ever perpetrated on an audience in these environs." Surprisingly enough, it wasn't Richard Wagner…

Material Mentioned in This Episode:

• Tim Ferriss' 8 Rules for Dealing with Haters
• Lexicon of Musical Invective: Critical Assaults on Composers Since Beethoven's Time by Nicholas Slonimsky

FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www.alwayschooseorange.com

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 and striking chapter openers.

FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www.alwayschooseorange.com

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% of all proceeds are donated to help feed and give medical treatment to stray cats.

In this episode, Noam and I discuss his musical upbringing, including how he started learning the harmonica at age 7 before picking up piano and the accordion. We also talk about a professor he had in college who taught him a way of deconstructing musical styles that he still uses today to create compositions that are inspired by anything from prog rock from the 70s to motets from the Renaissance. Noam talks about how his love for cats, musical experimentation, and the beautiful handwritten scores of Johann Sebastian Bach all combined to form the basis of his famous musical pet portraits. He walks me through his creative process from start to finish and details his recent ventures into calligraphy.

Website:  https://www.sympawnies.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Sympawnies

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sympawnies/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sympawnies/

Check out Noam's calligraphy pieces here:

• The Intense Gaze of an Endangered Realm - piano & calligraphy performance
• Tiny Liquid Ballerina

FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www.alwayschooseorange.com

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 graphic novels of Lynd Ward and Frans Masereel. In 2003 he quit his teaching position to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a full-time artist. Two years later, he founded Starving Artist Books as a means to help support orphanages and charities around the world. In 2015, Kreg was honored with a retrospective featuring his paintings and prints at Pensacola State College. His works are in many private and public collections, including Purdue University and the Halsey Contemporary Museum of Art. Kreg's most recent book, Everything Could Be a Prayer: 100 Portraits of Saints and Mystics is available now through Broadleaf Books.

Website: https://www.kregyingst.com/index.html

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/psalmprayers

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/workingarts

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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: 

1. Which book surprised you the most?
2. What is the most ambitious book you read this year?
3. Which book had the best prose?
4. What is one book that made you cry?
5. Which book impacted your life the most?
6. What was your personal favorite?

Our selections include books from the following genres: fantasy, science-fiction, religion/spirituality, poetry, graphic novels, history, and literary fiction.

Material Mentioned in This Episode:

• Nature’s Oldest Mandolin: The Poetic Science of How Cicadas Sing | The Marginalian
• Ways of the Six-Footed by Anna Botsford Comstock

You can purchase Andrew's debut poetry collection here: The Fire of Love: A Compilation of Spiritual Love Poetry: Volume One by Andrew Drake

FOR EXCLUSIVE CREATIVITY TIPS, MUSINGS, AND EXERCISES, SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALWAYS CHOOSE ORANGE NEWSLETTER: https://www.alwayschooseorange.com