Wild Earth Integration

As a writer and creative soul, I’ve hit a lot of blocks. Writer’s blocks, artist’s blocks, verbal blocks, Lego blocks – I’ve experienced them all.

One thing I’ve found that always helps is music. But not just any music. When times are tough and you need do something epic, you need to turn to the big guns. When you’ve got blocks, you need to blast them. And blast you shall – with decibels.

So here it is. The official Wild Earth Integration Top 10 List of Songs for when you Need to Kick Arse. Please note that these songs are geared to help beat the blocks, so you can do anything fantastic and difficult. Like write a paper, paint a picture, fight a ninja or solve world hunger. They are in random order, because, well, I am a commitment phobe when it comes to lists.

1. Queen – I Want To Break Free — For Pete’s sake, Freddy Mercury is wearing a mini-skirt and tights. You have to at least give him your attention for that. In all honesty though, this song can break down barriers in your mind, get you revved up and commit you to your task at hand. Wig optional.

2. Hans Zimmer - Chevaliers de Sangreal — You probably don’t even realize how many of Zimmer’s songs you have etched into your neurons. Seriously. Google him and you’ll see just how much of your brain he owns. This one in particular works its way up into an incredible crescendo that is worthy of the masterpiece you are creating. If I ever met Elvis, Einstein, Da Vinci – I’d want this song to be playing in the background.

3. Metallica – One –It is paramount here that you listen to the Metallica and Symphony version of this song. Not only is it an astounding piece of integration, mixing the Metal of the Ica with brass, strings and sophistication, ‘One’ is just one of those songs that gets inside your blood and makes it run just a little bit faster. Perfect for getting your butt in gear.

4. Moulin Rouge - Come What May — Yes, yes, I hear you. Moulin Rouge is a musical and the actors aren’t even ‘real singers’. But hear me out. Ewan McGregor has a voice. Not just “oh, yeah, he can kinda sing, maybe at parties and stuff.” He has a voice. The sheer ‘beltiness’ of this scene is enough to get through any block, and you’ll be on your way to success before you can say ‘Why is John Lequizamo so short?’

5. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Free Bird — ‘Nuff said.

6. The Who – Love Reign O’er Me — Like Metallica’s ‘One’, this song gets inside you and makes you forget about what you were thinking about (which is how much you want to be a rockstar/artist/writer/non-loser) and takes you to a whole different arena. That arena is the one wherein You. Just. Rock.

7. u2 - Beautiful Day — Ironically enough, I’ve heard at least 5 people say that if they were to set a song everyday to wake them up, this would be it. Maybe it’s the trembling guitar riffs, maybe it’s Bono’s glasses… but this song makes you feel like you can run a Marathon, shoes optional.

8. Elton John & George Michael — Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me — Of course, pretty much any Elton song could be on this list, the man could cough into a can and it would become a hit record overnight. But I digress. This is one that is close to my heart because it has gotten me through many a 4am-why-can’t-I-finish-this-sentence-already writing dip. It’s passion, and that is exactly what you need when you want to kick some serious … well, you know.

9. Great Big Sea – Ordinary Day — This list wouldn’t be complete without some Canadian content – (Represent!) Great Big Sea is one of those bands that appeals to all ages. Even my own father, who is prone to listen to ‘Easy Sunday Country’ on the AM radio, gets the appeal of GBS. The beating rhythms and raspy front man work wonders on a mind that is heavy with (as yet) unattained goals.

10. Michael Jackson – Thriller — I debated long and hard before including this song on the list, mainly because it has been so hyped up in the past couple of decades. Then I realized – that’s part of its charm. You just can’t listen to this song without getting up and trying your best to do the moves (if you can get more than three people doing this in a mall with you, send me footage). In the very least, this song will elicit you to chair-dance while doing the zombie head jolts. There is no such thing as a block when MJ is in the house.

So what have we learned tonight, folks? The key to getting rid of blocks and kicking absolute arse does not lie in rational thinking about goals, or drowning one’s sorrows in root brusky. It lies in passion. Passion for what you are doing and passion for why you are doing it. Whether these songs are from your favorite genres of music or not, the one thing they all share is passion. And that, my friends, is quite contagious.

Now it’s your turn. What music helps get out of a rut?

Note: Songs that are better left for non-productive days = anything by James Blunt.

Hey folks! Check out this dandy article on neuroscience and music – published by the fine folks over at Cramscience. If you’re into popular science and hit music, you’ll love it. Click here to find it – hope you enjoy!

I was at the library yesterday indulging on my somewhat healthy obsession with children’s books and came across this gem. Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes takes me back to the days when I used to toddle to the local library with an armful of books I could hardly carry and subsequently hole myself away reading Matilda in a corner for hours.

Inside are recipes inspired by Dahl’s amazing books, like ‘Wormy Spaghetti’ from The Twits and ‘Mosquitoes’ Toes and Wampfish Roes Most Delicately Fried’ from James and the Giant Peach. I think my favorite is the ‘Enormous Crocodile’, imaginatively built from a baguette covered in spinach and artichoke ‘scales’, with hard boiled eggs for eyes. Of course, you can make a teeny crocodile with a small submarine bun.

The book filled with Quentin Blake’s unique illustrations, so if you’re a fan of Roald Dahl, or maybe just looking for a sandwich that can look back at you, this book is tops. Now, I’m off to find myself some spinach…

More about Quentin Blake here!

My first plasticine zebra!

It is a truth universally accepted that if you don’t stand out, you’re much less likely to rock the boat. People might call this being a wallflower, but in the wild, blending in can save your hide. What can we learn from the camouflaged creatures out there?

Tiger stripes make sense. The shimmering gold and black plays tricks with your eyes, so much so that you can’t make out their bodies, which are inevitably stalking their prey in the grass with a ghost-like coolness. (Admit it, tigers are to cool as Tom Cruise is to kooky). They look like the grass, the grass looks like them – score one for camouflage, the world makes sense again.

So, what about the zebra? A black and white horse in the middle of the browns, yellows and greens of sub-Saharan Africa? What kind of a monochromatic joke is this? Would it not make more sense for them to blend in? The secret lies in the bigger picture.

It’s called disruptive patterning and it’s pretty much one of the coolest tricks of the wild trade. Here’s how it works. Of course, if a zebra were out there on its own, its stripes would stand out like a sore thumb. Or more accurately, it would stand out like something bright, black and white in a land where browns and greens abound. They’d be eaten up in a heartbeat.

But here’s the catch. Hardly ever is there just one zebra. Instead, they’re always hanging out together in large groups. Social animals have safety in numbers on their side. Zebras take it one step further. Disruptive patterning works so well because their predators can’t tell where one zebra ends and other begins. Their audacious stripes confuse everybody, so lions (or anyone else looking for a meal) don’t know where to attack. To a lion, a herd of zebras can look like one big, black and white blob. So, even though they stand out, they’re really as safe as almost anything else in the Sahara.

What can we learn from this? If it suits you, you can choose to blend in. You can be like everything around you and never worry about rocking the boat. But if you decide to be different – like a zebra, fear not.  Because soon enough, others will notice your bright stripes and they’ll join you.

Then, before you know it, you’ll be running with a whole crowd of zebras and you’ll wonder why you were so worried about standing out.*

*In case you missed it, I’m not just talking about what you wear!

As an integrative knowledge specialist, I’m familiar with the writing styles of all disciplines. I am also (admittedly) a bit of a grammar fiend. If you’re looking for constructive help with your masterpiece, I can help you out.

For editing and proofreading services, just drop me a line at wildearthintegration@gmail.com. Whether you are writing a paper, dissertation, cover letter, query letter, book or the back of a cereal box – we can work together to make it polished and ready for the world.

For emergency editing (college and university students, you know what I mean!), just specify your timeline and we’ll work some magic!

Happy Writing!

New art, new art! Here’s the original:

And here’s the clay version!

So who is this guy? Archaeopteryx (besides being ridiculously hard to spell a few times in a row) is also known as the ‘original bird’. He is thought to be the missing link between birds and dinosaur evolution. In other words, he’s a pretty important discovery!

The first Archaeopteryx (let’s just call him Archie) was publicly announced in 1861, right after the late and great Charles Darwin published the infamous Origin of Species. Fine timing, I say! We have since found 9 other specimens, all of which have lent evidence to the theory of evolution.

The coolest thing about Archie isn’t that he was around 150 million years ago (crowsfeet, anyone?), but was that he had one awesome feature — Archie had feathers. Now, whether or not Archie was a real flyer or more of a ‘glider‘, we don’t really know. But his tail feathers were quite broad, which tends to imply they were used to get his body off the ground.

Of course, if there’s one thing scientists are notorious for, it is not being able to agree. Some folks think that Archie was a tree-dweller – climbing his way through the branches to find food. These guys think that flight evolved as animals glided down trees. (This is known as the ‘trees down’ hypothesis.) Other scientists believe that birds evolved flight by running along the ground and finally lifting themselves into the air. Surprise, surprise – this is called the ‘ground up’ hypothesis.

Either way, Archie was a pretty awesome find and although the combination of reptile + feathers may sound menacing, he was only about the size of a large chicken!