Special Effects: Take a Risk

"If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster."
~Isaac Asimov

Last year when I started filmmaking I realized I want to learn to blow things up. Looks like I may have found a go-to guy who writes how-to books and also philosophizes on the benefits of living dangerously:
William Gurstelle.
His new book is Absinthe & Flamethrowers: Projects and Ruminations on the Art of Living Dangerously. I haven't read it yet, just a review, but it sounds like what I need.

In an interview with Twin Cities Metro, June 2009, Gurstelle says:

"There's an art to living well, and part of that art is living dangerously. ...I'm not talking about living recklessly. [But] if we remove all the risk from people's lives, if we make everything safe, if everything has a corner protector on it, it turns everything into this bland, grey, soulless environment. Who wants to live like that?"

For me, living dangerously is a matter of taking the next, small step, not jumping wildly and freaking myself out. (Tried it. Didn't really help.)
Eventually I'd like to be able to say, like the Asimov quote above, that my fears don't stop me from living, even in extreme circumstances.

I'm not particularly afraid of blowing things up. The fears I'd most like to face down are more psychological than physical. One of the things that scares me the most is being a fool in public, and feeling ashamed. Blogging is a great way for me to take small steps toward being more comfortable with that.
And my patron saint/guardian angel is William Shatner.