Light Dressing

With the season sublimating from winter to summer, I’ve realized I have no presentable warm-weather clothes.

My favorite khakis have developed a blue stain over the right, habitually pen-carrying pocket. My polos have stretched far from their original shape. And even my plain t-shirts, over the course of too many washings, have shrunk down to what Jess recently described as baby t’s.

She kicked off the fix yesterday, buying me a pair of light-blue khakis, grosgrain flip-flops, and a summer-weight checked button-down. So, at least once a warm week, I can look presentable.

But, I suspect, one outfit isn’t enough to take me from here to fall. So, it’s time to purge my closet, construct a plan of attack, and start shopping. Beau Brummel, eat your heart out.

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Just My Type

As Jess is a Libra, and I a Cancer, it’s not entirely clear that we’re a good match, horoscopically speaking.

However, also according to my horoscope, as a Cancer I should be quiet and withdrawn. Which pretty much blows my faith in the whole thing.

On the other hand, I do put real stock in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which nails me to a ‘t’:

ENTPs are quick to see complex interrelationships between people, things, and ideas. These interrelationships are analyzed in profound detail, resulting in an in-depth understanding of the way things and relationships work, and how they can be improved. To the ENTP, competence and intelligence are particularly prized, both in themselves and in other people.

ENTPs are frequently described as clever, cerebrally and verbally quick, enthusiastic, outgoing, innovative, flexible, loyal and resourceful. ENTPs are motivated by a desire to understand and improve the world they live in. They are usually accurate in sizing up a situation. They may have a perverse sense of humor and sometimes play devil’s advocate, which can create misunderstandings with friends, coworkers, and family. ENTPs are ingenious and adept at directing relationships between means and ends. ENTPs “think outside the box,” devising fresh, unexpected solutions to difficult problems. However, they are less interested in generating and following through with detailed plans than in generating ideas and possibilities. When ENTPs are used correctly on a team, they offer deep understanding and a high degree of flexibility and problem solving ability. The ENTP regards a comment like “it can’t be done” as a personal challenge, and, if properly motivated, will spare no expense to discover a solution.

So I was particularly interested when Jess took a Myers-Briggs test herself, and came up an INFJ:

INFJs are conscientious and value-driven. They seek meaning in relationships, ideas, and events, with an eye toward better understanding themselves and others. Using their intuitive skills, they develop a clear vision, which they then execute decisively to better the lives of others.

INFJs are quiet, private individuals who prefer to exercise their influence behind the scenes. Although very independent, INFJs are intensely interested in the well-being of others. INFJs prefer one-on-one relationships to large groups. Sensitive and complex, they are adept at understanding complicated issues and driven to resolve differences in a cooperative and creative manner. INFJs have a rich, vivid inner life, which they may be reluctant to share with those around them. Nevertheless, they are congenial in their interactions, and perceptive of the emotions of others. Generally well-liked by their peers, they may often be considered close friends and confidants by most other types. However, they are guarded in expressing their own feelings, especially to new people, and so tend to establish close relationships slowly.

INFJs tend to be easily hurt, though they may not reveal this except to their closest companions. INFJs may “silently withdraw as a way of setting limits,” rather than expressing their wounded feelings–a behavior that may leave others confused and upset. INFJs tend to be sensitive, quiet leaders with a great depth of personality. They are intricately and deeply woven, mysterious, and highly complex, sometimes puzzling even to themselves. They have an orderly view toward the world, but are internally arranged in a complex way that only they could understand. Abstract in communicating, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. With a natural affinity for art, INFJs tend to be creative and easily inspired.

Also dead on.

Which is particularly good news, because, though we may be astrologically star-crossed, according to Myers-Briggs analysis, ENTP and INFJ types are instead ‘natural partners’, as strong a fit as you can find.

If you’re similarly self-fascinated, take a fast Myers-Briggs inventory yourself, and see where you end up.

Picture This

Jess hates being photographed.

But when one of her clients, Brooklyn-based designer Hayden-Harnett, asked her to pose for an advertising series they were doing, she couldn’t say no.

irlissue.jpeg

Her main complaint about the result: the dress, shoes, and jacket were all just a bit too large. Apparently ‘small’ is a relative measure.

Coming Attractions

For the past few years, Cyan has been working solely behind the scenes – putting together financial structures, building our infrastructure, and generally missing out on all of the fun parts of indie film in favor of more ulcer-inducing fare.

But, now, all that work is finally paying off, as we’re shifting back to actively making and releasing movies.

To kick off the shift, we’re counting down to pre-production on two new films, Keeper of the Pinstripes, and Yelling to the Sky.

In some ways, the two movies couldn’t be more different – the first a big-budget family film built around the New York Yankees, the second a small, gritty, race-complicated indie drama. But, in other ways, they’re quite similar – both coming-of-age stories, both driven by scripts strong enough to have garnered amazing casts.

We’re hoping to add three more films to our 2009 slate, all of which, ideally, we’ll be releasing in theaters throughout 2010. We have a number of strong contenteders for those three slots, but, at this point, we’re also focusing nearly all of our attention on simply surviving these first two.

As they’ll be consuming much of my life for the next couple of months, they’ll likely also be taking up a lot of this site. Stay tuned.

Pesach GTD

There’s a piece of Talmud read each year at the Passover seder, Mishna Pirkei Avot 2:21, in which Rabbi Tarfon explains:

“It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task. Yet, you are not free to desist from it.”

Which, in my mind, is the crux of so much of life – from the very small (why we procrastinate) to the exceedingly large (why we stand by apathetically while genocides rage in places like the Sudan).

As we can’t imagine finishing, we don’t even begin. Yet, as I often say in regards to entrepeneurship, there are only two steps – start, and keep going – and you lose most people at the first step.

So, whether you’re Jewish or not, take heed of Tarfon’s wisdom, and take advantage of this time of year to reflect where it might apply to your own life: you don’t have to finish, but you do have to start.

Helpful Hint

If you’re a student looking for an internship or post-college job, khakis and a medium-blue button-down don’t say “professional”.

They say “dickbag”.

(And, if you must, for god’s sake: brown shoes, brown shoes.)

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