The Art of Doing

Author: Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield

How to Grow Killer Weed with Ed Rosenthal

The Guru of Ganja Ed Rosenthal’s 10 tips on “How to Grow Killer Weed.”

It was the Sixties, and Ed Rosenthal, who listed his future career as “plant geneticist” in his high school yearbook, had discovered pot. After college, living in an oversize apartment in the Bronx, Rosenthal decided to grow his own. The rest is marijuana history as Rosenthal went on to become “The Guru of Ganja” and a godsend to both the home growing hobbyist and the commercial grower. He has authored a dozen books on marijuana cultivation and his popular grower’s advice column Ask Ed ran in High Times for two decades and is syndicated internationally.

Here are Rosenthal’s 10 tips on “How to Grow Killer Weed,” excerpted from our book, “The Art of Doing.”

1. Know the consequences. Face it, pot isn’t legal in most places yet. There are almost a million marijuana arrests in America every year, so know your local laws, both state and county. If you get busted in Oklahoma for growing a single plant you can get two years to life. In some states a medical doctor can lose his license for cultivation. A student can lose rights to scholarships. You can even lose your driver’s license or right to vote. Ask yourself: “Is growing worth it?” The police blotter is full of stories of people who didn’t think it through. Continue reading “How to Grow Killer Weed with Ed Rosenthal”

If You Want to Find Love Online, Get Real

The founders of online dating site OkCupid say that, “Getting 99% of the people to kind of like you is a waste of time.” And then offer advice on how to find, “The 1% who will love you for who you really are.”

We interviewed the founders of OkCupid, one of the most successful online dating sites, for a chapter on “How to Find Love Online” in our book. Although the founders claim no lothario-like superpowers—based on their teeming mass of statistical data and observational evidence they can advise us on how to find someone online who will love us for who we really are. Continue reading “If You Want to Find Love Online, Get Real”

Alec Baldwin and Robert Carlock on What Made “30 Rock” So Funny

We went to Silvercup Studios to interview Alec Baldwin and Robert Carlock (show runner and co-head writer) of the recently deceased and already acutely mourned “30 Rock” for a chapter in our book on “How to be Funny (on TV).”

Alec Baldwin and Robert Carlock on the set of "30 Rock" on "How to Be Funny on TV" for the book, "The Art of Doing"
Alec Baldwin and Robert Carlock on the set of “30 Rock”
We went to Silvercup Studios to interview Alec Baldwin and Robert Carlock (show runner and co-head writer) of the recently deceased and already acutely mourned “30 Rock” for a chapter in our book on “How to be Funny (on TV).”

Alec Baldwin, who plays Jack Donaghy on “30 Rock,” described his relationship with the show’s writers as a “singer songwriter thing.” He told us:

“[The ’30 Rock’ writers] have ruined me. When someone who wants me to host a show pitches me with, ‘Soooo…you’re a Cub Scout Master and you get stuck in…’ I want to tell them, ‘I work with the funniest people in the business, and you guys don’t know what funny is.'”

And Robert Carlock told us about what it was like to write for actors like Baldwin:

“Comedy is musical, the timing and the pitch. And you’ve got people like Alec Baldwin doing the acting, you can only blame yourself when it doesn’t work.”

Read our exclusive interview with Baldwin and Carlock excerpted from our book, “The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do and How They Do It So Well,” on The Daily Beast here.

 

 

Hello, Wisconsin

As cold as it may be in NYC today, as we sat in a Chelsea sound studio, waiting to begin our interview, we heard the WPR live feed in our headphones. In Madison, Wisconsin it was zero degrees! But soon we were engaged in a very warm conversation about superachievers with WPR Radio Host Veronica Rueckhart—who is, in her own right, a superachiever of listening.

Podcast of our interview: “What Separates the best from the rest?”

Our book is now in stores and online. You can buy it here.

The Art of Doing on TV

The Art of Doing on MSNBC’s “The Cycle” with Touré and Yahoo!’s “The Daily Ticker” with Aaron Task.

You can see us on  Monday, January 28, 3:30 PM ET on MSNBC’s “The Cycle” with Touré.

And Tuesday, January 29th on Yahoo!’s “The Daily Ticker” with Lauren Lyster. We’ll post the link when it’s up.

You can buy the book here.

Get Smarter About Your New Year’s Resolutions

New Year’s resolutions often seem most attainable in the rose-colored imaginary future that will begin just after the confetti has come down: It’s a new year, it will be a new you. But according to a survey conducted by the British psychologist Richard Wiseman 88% of all resolutions end in failure.

We’ve all been there, I’m going to join a gym and get fit this year. The first few days, even weeks, may go well. But after the initial enthusiasm wears off you no longer want to get out of bed an hour early to make it to the gym. Five days a week seems too much. So does four. Then three. By May you’re not going at all. Your original optimistic goal seems not only unattainable but a stinging rebuke.

But why do the majority of resolutions end so ignobly? Continue reading “Get Smarter About Your New Year’s Resolutions”

What Dogs Can Teach Us About
Coping with Holiday Stress

Photo by Theron Humphrey

Imagine a dog that is so habitually electroshocked that when it is presented with an opportunity to escape further shocks he or she just gives up. Instead of forming an escape plan the dog acts as if the pain is inevitable and accepts it.

Sound familiar?

During the holidays as we gather with our families many of us can feel a sense of helplessness in the face of destructive family dynamics—whether it’s the presence of a meddling aunt, an overpowering mother, a caustic uncle, bickering in-laws or an alcoholic father. Continue reading “What Dogs Can Teach Us About
Coping with Holiday Stress”

When Making Art is a Moral Dilemma

Illustration Edel Rodriguez for New York Times Op-Ed article, “Do We Have the Courage to Stop This?” Nicholas Kristof, Dec 15, 2012

Just hours after a gunman forced his way into an elementary school in Newtown, CT, killing 20 children and 6 adults including himself, Edel Rodriguez, a prolific illustrator, received a call.

The caller’s request was simple: Would Rodriguez illustrate a New York Times Opinion column on the topic of gun control and gun violence in America?

Before becoming an illustrator, Rodriguez had worked for Time Magazine as an art director. He told us,

“I became accustomed to concentrating on work even when covering some of the worst news imaginable. There was always a magazine to get out and we had to focus on telling the story.”

But, how, he wondered, could he tell this story? Continue reading “When Making Art is a Moral Dilemma”

Fifty Shades of Green, or
How I Got Over Andrew Solomon Envy

If E.L. James had based the life of her protagonist Christian Grey on a literary star instead of making him a financial master of the universe, she could have modeled his career on that of award-winning author Andrew Solomon. (Not that Mr. Solomon has ever indicated a penchant for whips and chains!) The glamorous, heady life of the fictional Mr. Grey bears some resemblance to the glamorous, heady life of the very real author Mr. Solomon whose superbook (“Far From the Tree”) sold by superagent (Andrew Wylie) to supereditor (Nan Graham) now has the supermedia giddily throwing open their doors (and pages and broadcasts and bandwith) to give Mr. Solomon and his tome a hero’s welcome. Continue reading “Fifty Shades of Green, or
How I Got Over Andrew Solomon Envy”