Document your passion
A 3D-printed rigid zipper video sends Juan into a flashback of his old university inventions: a paint-mixing machine (three syringes of cyan, magenta, yellow, a motor dosing each to make any color, so his painter mother would carry three tubes instead of bags of them), where he'd wanted a compactible chain-syringe, exactly what the 3D zipper now is; and a dispenser cap for soda bottles that he actually built, working with water until soda's pressure leaked. The ache is that he never shared or published any of it, kept it all to himself, and if he'd started documenting the process back then the way they film cooking now, they could live off it today. Hence the advice: whatever your passion, however small, document the process. Because the bigger shift is that today you can go viral from anywhere, the Amazon TikTokers, Luva de Pedreiro from a remote poor town now photographed beside Messi. Fifty years ago you needed the right place; today you just need the right time, and if you don't expose yourself, train all you want, you're nothing.
// trace: where this idea came from
- ↳ video diary @ 12:59 (un zíper 3D rígido le recuerda sus inventos de universidad (la máquina de mezclar pintura))
- ↳ video diary @ 20:23 (nunca compartí esos modelos; si hubiera documentado como ahora, ya viviríamos de eso)
- ↳ video diary @ 26:56 (hoy te vuelves viral desde cualquier lado; hace 50 años necesitabas el lugar, hoy solo la hora)
- ↳ Entry 259-1: The switch and the survivor (el mismo poder de documentar temprano, como el Cody de Kanye)
A 3D-printed rigid zipper video sends Juan into a flashback of his old university inventions ▸ 12:59. A paint-mixing machine: three syringes of cyan, magenta, and yellow, a motor dosing each precisely to make any color you pick, so his painter mother would carry three tubes instead of bags of them, and he’d wanted a compactible “chain syringe” for it, which is exactly what the 3D zipper now is. A dispenser cap for soda bottles he actually built, replicating a water-jug cap in miniature, working with water until soda’s pressure leaked. The ache is that he never shared or published any of it, kept it all to himself, and if he’d started documenting the process back then the way they film cooking now, they could probably live off it today ▸ 20:23.
documenta la pasión; hoy te vuelves viral desde cualquier lado →
So the advice is plain: whatever your passion, however small, document the process. Because the bigger shift underneath is that today you can go viral from anywhere. His friend who dreams of pro MMA trains kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, and boxing every day, but if he doesn’t expose himself it’s nothing, and a couple of simple stunts, “10,000 pesos says you can’t beat me” at a new dojo, would already have found him a sponsor ▸ 22:52. Luva de Pedreiro rose from a remote poor town and now stands beside Messi. Fifty years ago you needed the right place, a chain of contacts to a bigger city and finally New York; today you can be in the middle of the Amazon and just need the right time ▸ 26:56. Everything is entertainment now, and the tape you don’t roll is the leverage you throw away…