Ted Talks: Outrageous Optimism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUIYlDMOuWw

Guy Browning talking on Outrageous Optimism

'Outrageous optimism is all about having a full glass of exactly what you ordered'
(cartoon by janet brown)

Photo by Arthur Whitman in the collection entitled 'The Family of Man'

Browning had this photograph in his house growing up. He admires the photo so much because 'he likes seeing people having a good time'.


This video is based on Brownings ambition to make a funny film, as he believes that there are hardly any funny films out there. But he wanted to make a proper one, one that would premier at Leicester Square as opposed to filming a short 10 minute iPhone video (what he calls being a cautious optimist- basically the a pessimist on a good day.

• He got the whole village involved with a poster saying 'Brad Pitt won't be in it, but you could be' 
• First thing learnt; 'If you share your dream, PEOPLE WILL COME'
• What you need: Power, money and sex...
• In a small village, these things were hard to come across but with the community spirit, all of these things were possible by working together and being optimistic.

Power of ASKING people: 'everyone has a big YES inside them waiting to get out'.

'Outrageous optimism works the best at its bleakest (when the film was four hours long and didn't make sense'. Someone came along and edited the film for them, and it was great.

Voila!!

Another photo making Browning happy (very much like the first) of his whole village watching the premier in Leicester Square!

'You can't do everything yourself, but if you roll the red carpet out for people, they will roll it out for you'

Guy Browning

I have chosen Guy Browning as my second author to study, as his work is worlds apart from the classic, southern gothic style of Harper Lee, and is also very current. 

Browning is best known for writing his 'How to' column in the Guardian from 1999-2009, which from he has written three books in collection; Never hit a jellyfish with a spade, Never push when it says pull, and How to be normal. 

His humour is described as being 'gentle and incise', steering clear of politics and cruelty.

Browning has also directed his first film entitled 'tortoise in love' in 2009 as a sort of village community project with himself and the people of Kingston Bagpuize.

So far, my impressions of Guy Browning are that he has a very positive nature and aims to inspire others through the means of public speaking and writing. 
I am eager to delve into this intriguing sense of humour of his, and gain an insight into his high level of optimism.

The Film (TKAMB)

To compensate for my extremely slow reading speed, I decided to watch the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird. Like most films, it did miss out a lot of the minor details that are included in the book, nevertheless I thought that it was very true to the book (what  I have read so far) and that the characters are extremely accurate too.

The story was very moving and contained a lot of important life lessons and morals, although I found that there was a lot going on in such a short space of time (admittedly I did fall asleep during the film-oops!) 

In all honestly, if I would have been more enthusiastic about the book initially and completed reading it quickly, I would have warmed to Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird a great deal more.
In terms of choosing Lee as my main author to study, I don't feel like there is enough to her that I am passionate and interested about apart from her secluded and introverted life and her passionate writing skills.

Therefore I have decided to move on and study some different authors. I may complete reading To Kill a Mockingbird at a later date.