Before he co-wrote and directed Step Brothers, Talladega Nights, and Anchorman, Adam McKay was the head writer of Saturday Night Live. Yesterday, I was reminded of this brilliant and bizarre short film he did for SNL.

via Zoomdoggle

(via Bud Caddell)

There's an excellent article in the July 28th issue of The New Yorker called "The Eureka Hunt" by Jonah Lehrer (unfortunately only the abstract is available online). The article explores what makes the discovery of an insight unique, how is it different from solving a problem through brute logic. Lehrer interviewed several neuroscientists who have been studying what actually happens in the brain when we have an Aha! moment.

The insight process, as sketched by Jung-Beeman and Kounios, is a delicate mental balancing act. At first, the brain lavishes the scarce resource of attention on a single problem. But, once the brain is sufficiently focused, the cortex needs to relax in order to seek out the more remote association in the right hemisphere which will provide the insight. "The relaxation phase is crucial," Jung-Beeman said. "That's why so many insights happen during warm showers."

I love how the article describes this necessary state of simultaneously concentrating while also letting your mind wander. Here's a great example:

Kounios tells a story about an expert Zen meditator who took part in one of the C.R.A. insight experiments. At first, the meditator couldn't solve any of the insight problems. "This Zen guy went through thirty or so of the verbal puzzles and just drew a blank," Kounios said. "He was very used to being very focused, but you can't solve these problems if you're too focused." Then, just as he was about to give up, he started solving one puzzle after another, until, by the end of the experiment, he was getting them all right. It was an unprecedented streak. "Normally, people don't get better as the task goes along," Kounios said. "If anything, they get a little bored." Kounios believes that the dramatic improvement of the Zen meditator came from his paradoxical ability to focus on not being focused, so that he could pay attention to those remote associations in the right hemisphere. "He had the cognitive control to let go," Kounios said. "He became an insight machine."

I want to be an insight machine. What are your tips and tricks for fostering insights?

Re-post from Talking Points Memo

A mere $70 at the JohnMcCain.com store ...

(some language NSFW)

via Coudal

Faris Yakob:

Look at what the monkey is doing - not what kind of phone he has.

 

When I checked out Faris's Transmedia Presentation this nugget stuck out. I've been staring at this post-it note all week.

How often do we make the mistake of describing or identifying communities of people based on their gadgets, favorite websites, or services, rather than what they actually do? We should study the dialect - not the blogging platform. We should watch the friending habits - not the friending tools. We should look at whats in the stream - not the feed faucet.

there's also a lot of other random wonderful stuff on Jeff Bridges' personal website.

via The Sound of Young America Blog

In the early 1960s, James P. Coyle and Mal Sharpe roamed the streets of San Francisco, microphone in hand, roping strangers into bizarre schemes and surreal stunts. On this episode: Coyle and Sharpe talk a military man into robbing a bank with them, and when they reveal it's all a hoax, he has a truly remarkable reaction.

via Urban Prankster

I love the part where he critiques his own early work as a radio journalist.

via Charlie Todd

via Very Short List