If you are new to River and need a quick crash course: we call people who "do what they want" lifestars.

It's simple but a surprisingly hard task to do what you want, but luckily there are always examples and I want to introduce you to a few of mine.

Days of being wild (1990) mambo dance scene

About 7 years ago, I somehow found myself in possession of a 4k projector for an entire summer. One of my newfound activities during that time was getting a McFlurry, smoking weed, and watching 50gb movies the I’d been torrenting for 3 days. 

And for no reason, I became compelled to watch every Wong Kar Wai movie in order, which made "days of being wild" the second movie in my new nightly freewill activity.

As I was starting to slouch deeper from wkw's typical lollygagging plot – I saw this scene of Leslie Cheung dancing in his apartment.

Leslie Cheung plays a character who's in pursuit to find his birth mother and is often rootlessly drifting through relationships and situations.

Though he's not a particularly satisfying or inspiring figure, there is a certain steadiness of "doing what he wants" that makes us want to relate and like him by the end.

And this scene is the first moment where that lightness peaks through and the messiness that can come from "doing what we want" feel not so bad.

Hiromi Uehara "My Way"

I discovered this clip of Hiromi Uehara improvising My Way in the suggestion section while watching a video of Messi trying to score a goal on a 30ft inflatable goalkeeper on a Japanese game show.

I don't know much about the culture of Japanese variety shows, but if it's anything like Korea's (which I grew up watching), I know that there is a certain pressure to be funny/entertaining even if you're not.

Aside from the incredible improvised performance Hiromi gives, what struck me the most when I first saw this clip was how seamlessly she oscillates between "performing" and "entertaining".

When you are really good at one thing, maybe it's not as hard to introduce a new element to your craft – but it's still incredible to see how "effortless" some people can be when they're fully in their own world.

By the end of the video, it's clear that there is now more awe than laughter in the room, but I think the best will always blend the two.

Strandbeest Evolution 2021

Theo Jansen is a dutch artist who creates large kinetic sculptures built from PVC pipes that uses wind to move on their own.

Jansen says Strandbeest, which means "beach beest" in dutch, are about "creating new forms of life...and becoming wiser in the understanding of existing nature by encountering the problems of the real Creator".

(There's even a family tree of all the different Strandbeests.)

In the FAQ section of his website, Jansen answers a question about the "process" of making of these sculptures:

"In the spring I bring a new animal to the beach, which I built in the winter. The process of thinking and design precedes building. During the summer I do all kinds of experiments with the sand, the wind and the water. At the end of the summer I made all sorts of adjustments to the beast and I became a lot wiser."

What I find remarkable about works as ambitious as Jansen's is that "doing what you want" is often not always relatable or even easily understood by most people. And in many cases, it can be a long and obscure process of realization.

But this project is ultimately a testament to show us that if you know what you want that's more than half the battle.

Smerz - You got time and I got money

If you know me, you know how much I've raved about this song since the first moment it came out. I've even claimed it to be the song of the generation in attempt to express the incompleteness that it feels to call it the song of the year...

But I'm not sure I can explain why I love this song or why it feels "lifestar" and I think somethings are meant to be felt and that's it.

"Sense of urgency" French Laundry

A couple months ago, I came across a video where Anthony Bourdain goes to the French Laundry. As he and the two other chefs he came with start eating, they all notice something:

"All of us started playing detective, trying to solve a mystery. It should be pointed out that all four of us are getting a completely different tasting menu of about 20 courses. Which if you’re a chef, will make you shudder with fear and terror to even contemplate."

I was suddenly trying to play detective too, not to crack the code it takes to serve 80 different dishes, but why chef Thomas Keller was doing this.

I never landed on a conclusion, but a couple days ago I found something that made me think about it again.

If you go to the French Laundry website and open up their daily menu, at the bottom you will see that it says "sense of urgency."

It's taken me a long time to navigate my relationship with "urgency" and something that I'm still learning how to embrace it more. However, i'm starting to see what things in life are really worth chasing with a heightened sensitivity for timeliness.

Another way to think about "doing what you want" is to see it as "doing what makes you happy" and what time is there to waste?