Here you will find all episodes of Behind the Streams so you can easily jump to them if you miss a week.
While the title refers to the post each episode relates to, don’t worry about it—there is an audio recording of the post within each so you’ll never miss what I’m rambling about.
April 2024
NEW: Behind the Streams, Ep. 50: “Totality”
Watch now (13 mins) | The solar eclipse back in April 2024, the sun had an opportunity to catch up with its old friend the moon. Eclipse ramble incoming!
NEW: Behind the Streams, Ep. 49: “Space Out”
Watch now (17 mins) | Could you win a Space Out competition? And is there any value to spacing out in your creative life?
March 2024
Behind the Streams, Ep. 48: “Heart Hawk”
Watch now (13 mins) | Let's talk about open heart doors and Justin Hawkins and my trip to Glasgow for Art Safari, 2024.
Behind the Streams, Ep. 47: “Singular Humanity”
Watch now (16 mins) | How can we expand our humanity? Let’s talk empathy, being a good human, and pondering how many matches you could stick up your own nose.
Behind the Streams, Ep. 46: “Bird Flip”
Watch now (16 mins) | Here’s how and why you should flip some metaphorical birds at your creative roadblocks, including which birds work best for each.
Behind the Streams, Ep. 45: “Aisle Five”
Watch now (14 mins) | Here’s how and why you should flip some metaphorical birds at your creative roadblocks, including which birds work best for each.
February 2024
Behind the Streams, Ep. 44: “Drown”
Watch now (14 mins) | Inspired by Loudon Wainwright III’s “The Swimming Song”, today I talk about the value of drowning in the work of others to inspire your own.
Behind the Streams, Ep. 43: “Glitter Mouth”
Watch now (10 mins) | Francis Bacon was fascinated by the ‘glitter and the color of the mouth. He wanted to paint the mouth as Monet painted a sunset. Let’s talk about it.
Behind the Streams, Ep. 42: “Whistler’s Mum”
Watch now (12 mins) | Did you know that "Whistler's Mother", the painting, is not actually called that? Or that Whistler's mum, Anna, was not the original choice for the portrait?
Behind the Streams, Ep. 41: “Twist”
Watch now (16 mins) | Have you ever heard of the science or Oreology? Let's dig into it and discover the results of a study about twisting Oreos and creme distribution.
January 2024
Behind the Streams, Ep. 40: “Nonsense”
Watch now (16 mins) | The cut-up method was inspired by the Dada-ists and used by William S. Burroughs and David Bowie—and now me.
Behind the Streams, Ep. 39: “Face”
Watch now (13 mins) | All the human brain needs to see a face is three dots—two eyes and a mouth. In the toast, in a mailbox. Faces are everywhere, and it’s called “pareidolia.”
Behind the Streams, Ep. 38: “Bucket”
Watch now (16 mins) | Do you have a bucket list? What do you want to do before you die? Are bucket lists dumb and is there such a thing as a reverse bucket list? Let’s talk about it.
Behind the Streams, Ep. 37: “Robot”
Watch now (13 mins) | Let's talk about all the robots I've loved (and been terrified of) before the Roomba.
December 2023
Behind the Streams, Ep. 36: “Hippo”
Watch now (16 mins) | Pablo Escobar’s wild cocaine hippos and thought hippos of the brain. Both need to be sterilized.
November 2023
Behind the Streams, Ep. 35: “Carrot God”
Watch now (10 mins) | There’s a man in Melbourne who walks around with a giant carrot as a way of making people smile. Is there such a thing as a carrot god and is it wrong to worship vegetables?
Behind the Streams, Ep. 34: “BroomSquirey”
Watch now (16 mins) | Broom Squires make brooms. What sort of brooms do you think they’d make to sweep your mind clean? Don’t worry—I’ve thought about this enough for all of us.
Behind the Streams, Ep. 33: “Rat”
Watch now (14 mins) | Rats. What do they want? Global domination, obviously, but let's talk rats and inspiration, including some Scabby the Rat (the union hero) action.
Behind the Streams, Ep. 32: “The Wolf in Me”
Watch now (16 mins) | You don’t need a full moon to let the wolf of creativity out. In this episode, we talk werewolves, and how to release wild creativity.
October 2023
Behind the Streams, Ep. 31: “Everest”
Watch now (9 mins) | There are just as many ways to "die" while creating art as there are to die on Everest. The difference? You respawn! I call these creative respawn projects “Neverests” and this video will tell you all about ‘em.
Behind the Streams, Ep 30: "Teaspoons"
Watch now (14 mins) | The case of the disappearing teaspoons! Inspired by a research paper that looked into the rate of teaspoon loss in an office environment, I share my ‘give a spoon, take a spoon’ philosophy of the open teaspoon drawer of the soul.
Behind the Streams, Ep 29: "The Darkness"
Watch now (10 mins) | When you love something, love it completely. Let’s talk musical trinities! If you had to name your top 3 most influential bands or musical artists - and I mean they influence YOU not the scene - what would your trinity look like? Go leave a comment at the post.
Behind the Streams, Ep 28: "Grandma's Hands"
Watch now (8 mins) | Some additional thoughts on the passing of a sweet lady, my Grandma, aged 99-years-old. Nothing about creativity in here - just me lovin’ on my Gran.
September 2023
Behind the Streams, Ep. 27: “Literature”
Watch now (12 mins) | There were 50,000 Books at the Tom Verlaine book sale. What do the books we own say about us?
Behind the Streams, Ep. 26: “Flight”
Watch now (11 mins) | What does the creative process have in common with a pilot who crashed the same plane seven times in seven days. Let’s find out!
Behind the Streams, Ep 25: "Mountain"
Watch now (12 mins) | Let’s talk about talking with mountains, how to see the world clearly, and a lady boss by the name of Georgia O’Keeffe.
Behind the Streams, Ep 24: “Next Thought”
Watch now (12 mins) | "I don't think, therefore I am." Let me explain. (In a gripping 12-minute video which mentions Rodin’s The Thinker, The Thinker (comic book character), and the thinker, Eckhart Tolle.
Behind the Streams, Ep 23: "Jam"
Watch now (9 mins) | Inspired by a traffic jam in the Alps (created on purpose for ART!) this week we dive into the problem of creative or writer’s block and how the answer to being stuck can be found in the jam.
August 2023
Behind the Streams, Ep 22: "Golden Record"
Watch now (16 mins) | The James Webb Telescope found a question mark in space; I fell down a rabbit hole regarding the Golden Record; and this is what we got. YOU are the Golden Record. How did they pick the songs? What would you add if you could?
Behind the Streams, Ep 21: "Skittles"
Watch now (15 mins) | Do you need a gimmick to be successful today? Let’s do a deep-dive into a bowl of Mustard Skittles - which exist - and get to the tangy truth of the issue.
Behind the Streams, Ep 20: "Nude"
Watch now (12 mins) | What does it mean to be vulnerable in your work? In this episode, I weave Radiohead, Marcel Duchamp, and a desire to expose creativity seamlessly together to answer that very question.
Behind the Streams, Ep 19: "Worms"
Watch now (13 mins) | Scientists find some worms frozen in the Siberian permafrost. So of course they thawed them out. Surprise! They woke up. This episode is a deep dive into the permafrost of our frozen lives. Wake up!
July 2023
Behind the Streams, Ep 18: "Brainscape"
Watch now (11 mins) | You make the thing, you release it to the world - where it goes from there is anyone's guess.
Behind the Streams, Ep 17: "Otter"
Watch now (12 mins) | Sea Otter 841, a notorious sea otter in Santa Cruz was stealing surfboards from surfers in the break. Here’s a video packed with all the Sea Otter 841 drama you could ask for.
Behind the Streams, Ep 16: "Final Impact"
Watch now (10 mins) | Some people leave an imprint; some people leave a scar. What impression will you leave when you shuffle off this mortal coil? Let's dig into it.
Behind the Streams, Ep 15: "The Elements of Style"
Watch now (11 mins) | If you were to examine the elements of you - the air, fire, water, earth and aether - what would they be?
June 2023
Behind the Streams, Episode 14: "Citizen"
Watch now (9 mins) | A bit of a show and tell episode about the day I took the naturalization oath and became an American citizen.
Behind the Streams, Ep. 13: "Unmoored Thoughts"
Watch now (10 mins) | Watch and learn about the place where meditation and sea voyages meet. Basically, it’s an episode about the power of letting your mind wander.
Behind the Streams, Ep 12: "Quicksand"
Watch now (10 mins) | What ever happened to quicksand? When I was a kid, it seemed like the biggest threat to my generation, according to TV and film, was this sinking sand. In this episode, I show how the creative process is often like sinking in quicksand.
Behind the Streams, Ep 11: "Periodically Yours"
Watch now (10 mins) | Sometimes the weirdest ideas come to you at the precipice of sleep. In this episode I talk about periods and fullstops and how the period at the end of the sentence is just the beginning.
May 2023
Behind the Streams, Ep. 10: Make it Up
Watch now (11 mins) | I love making up words, and there’s something in the idea of just making up things as you go. Let’s discuss.
Behind the Streams: 9"Conflict"
Watch now (11 mins) | A video deep dive into the post: “The Conflict of Being in Conflict” which was about that voice in your own head that argues with you.
Behind the Streams: 8 "Mother"
Watch now (15 mins) | In the lead-up to Mother’s Day, I talk what the word Mother means (and a bit about my relationship with my mother.)
Behind the Streams: 6"Fold In"
Watch now (16 mins) | Do you like Mad Magazine fold-ins? What about poetry? Origami cranes? Go see what I made from these three inspirations.
April 2023
Behind the Streams: 5"Life Box"
Watch now (11 mins) | At the start of your life, you are given a box. Throughout your life you will put things into it and take things out of it. A video deep dive into the post: “Are you carrying unnecessary weight in your Life Box?”
Behind the Streams: "Riff Raff"
Watch now (11 mins) | Guitar riffs are memorable and repeatable. Your riff is the one thing you do really well. Your raff is all the other stuff you do to enhance the riff. Other creative outlets that can also help you determine what your raff is. Let’s dive into some mad-hot guitar riffery and life raffery.
Behind the Streams: Raise Your Voice
Watch now (11 mins) | The episode in which adult Janeen ROASTS teen Janeen’s clumsy writings on my way to explaining that, as embarrassing as they are, keep on plugging away to find your voice. Oh, and teen Janeen ripped of R.E.M. Yep. I did that.
Behind the Streams: Failure to Feel
Watch now (11 mins) | Do some people just not feel “the arts” when they look at it or hear it or watch it? Let’s discuss.