Creativity - Blog Posts
Has there ever been a bigger power move than Thomas pointing out immediately that Roman's sword is a katana before sword buffs called him out on it in the comments
Eric Smalls is a sophomore at Stanford studying computer science. In 2012, President Barack Obama featured Smalls in a campaign video about the importance of...
Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking and Arthur C. Clarke - God, The Universe and Everything Else (1988) [52:10]
Bummed I missed the first episode of the new Cosmos, but I'll catch it on Sunday!
A couple of clips from this excellent video, an hour well spent... Big questions and Curiosity Science, Politics, and Skepticism Creativity
Bid on 8 Guest Passes for the Santa Ana Zoo, along with other unique items such as a custom-painted #Fender Squier Stratocaster, 4 ea. 50-yard-line seats at the #UCLA vs. Washington State #football game at the #RoseBowl on 11/14/15, and so much more at http://ht.ly/SKoUW Proceeds from this #FUNdraiser support the #art classes, exhibitions, lectures, film festivals at @chuckjonescenter that re-invigorate the creative spirit in all ages. #PIF4Creativity #creativity @theocmix @sococollection #CostaMesa #OC #OrangeCounty #SeeJaneExplore #ExploreOrangeCounty
Festivals i becaris || festivales y becarios
http://www.annaflorsdefum.com/
Naixement del pit-roig floral ||
Nacimiento del petirrojo floral ||
Birth of the little floral bird ||
Histories quotidianes al metro (subway’s daily stories). Barcelona. 2012.
WIP Thoughts
I picked up crochet several years back. Out of all of the hobbies that I have cycled through over my life, crochet has stubbornly stuck around. While most of my creations tend to the practical (hats, blankets, leg warmers, bags, and more hats) the evolution of my current project has greatly surprised me. I quite a black thumb, so I never really were drawn to lush leaves and delicate blooms. Until now. I found a way to craft my own undying flowers and vines. Looking at each one as I finish my creations delights me in an entirely unexpected way! I am excited to see how this project continues forward. I am not entirely sure what the end product will just yet. Currently I am toying with making a garland of wisteria blooms and strings of hearts to adorn my bed canopy. I also have to see how my little voidling (cat) will respond to them, once fully assembled.
The primary task, I feel, is to create a piece of art that is better than the same amount of silence...
Nico Muhly (https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n20/nico-muhly/diary)
People tend to think that creative work is an expression of a preexisting desire or passion, a feeling made manifest, and in a way it is. As if an overwhelming anger, love, pain, or longing fills the artist or composer, as it might with any of us—the difference being that the creative artist then has no choice but to express those feelings through his or her given creative medium. I proposed that more often the work is a kind of tool that discovers and brings to light that emotional muck. Singers (and possibly listeners of music too) when they write or perform a song don’t so much bring to the work already formed emotions, ideas, and feelings as much as they use the act of singing as a device that reproduces and dredges them up. The song remakes the emotion—the emotion doesn’t produce the song. Well, the emotion has to have been there at some time in one’s life for there to be something from which to draw. But it seems to me that a creative device—if a work can be considered a device—evokes that passion, melancholy, loneliness, or euphoria but is not itself an expression, an example, a fruit of that passion. Creative work is more accurately a machine that digs down and finds stuff, emotional stuff that will someday be raw material that can be used to produce more stuff, stuff like itself—clay to be available for future use.
David Byrne ‘Bicycle diaries’
this is productive
and creative, give me bonus points 4 creativity plox no one else’s websites will be real but mine, mine is. plox give me the extra credits
John Cleese - “A Lecture on Creativity”
“Creativity is not a talent, it is a way of operating.”
I’m all scratched up and I can still taste spray paint in my mouth and my husband almost fell out of a tree BUT THE GHOST SCULPTURES ARE FINISHED!
They’re finally finished and I’m so happy with them!!
Some progress shots:
"In positivity, balance = negativity..." Dirty Rotten Scoundrel. I want nothing but lyrics, bruh, no junk on my set. #jeruthedamaja #creativity #knowledge #wisdom #understanding #90shiphop #90shiphopjunkie #mcs #gangstarr
It doesn’t seem like much but I just failed for the third time on the exact same project and I’ve already spent way too much money on it and it’s after 1am and I think I might cry but I don’t want to wake my wife up.
Say hello to Mjolnir. It's not done yet but yesterday was the first day all the components were put together. I'm very happy with how it's turning out :)
Day 35 (1:05) of rewriting my novel
Today was a "bridge the gaps" day.
Yesterday, I wrote about Vimir. The day before that, I wrote about Taguchif. In order to bridge those scenes with what I already had, I wrote for, like, 4 hours and about 2,100 words piecing it all together. Now, Part Three is like 12,000 words, and I'm probably just over 1/3 of the way there? I'm staring down the barrel of probably 40,000 words necessary for Part Three.
To be clear, in no way is Meiste meant to be consumed in four parts. Later, I plan to block off chunks as chapters. But not until after I've gotten all four parts to places where they can reasonably be split off into chapters.
Part of what I mean by that is this: Part One was really rushed, comparatively. My "alpha" reader pointed out that the pacing is really rushed in Part One, and that's been on my mind this whole time, but that was really so I could work up the motivation to get through Part Two.
Part One is even, comparatively, short compared to parts Two and Three: it stands at just 12,000 words. And mostly as an introduction to the other three parts. That was a critical flaw in choosing what has become, essentially, in media res to start a fantasy novel.
I plan on adding a scene at the end, once this is all said and done, where Izi, Vimir, and his boss are all at church. With that I can do several big things:
Lay out Zenestian religion. While the Constitution of Zeneste is inherently a religious document, Zenestian government has strayed so far from its original intents to suck power from its citizens that the religion has almost become a sort-of government worship. This was one of the big reasons my "alpha" reader was confused in the first chapter by everyone just accepting that "the Constitution said Izi is Emperor, so Izi is Emperor." It's a level of Orwellian brainwashing that is crazy deep.
Lay out what Izi's world even looks like. At this point in the story, he's just an eighteen-year-old worker in a rice farm taking a single evening of rest to go and worship with his community, including his best friend and most loyal ally.
Set up the windows scene in Part One. In Part One, Izi's astounded by the lack of designs in the Old Chapel of Zeneste, and when he finds the old windows in the attic, he hires somebody to come and replace the windows for him. Since the reader doesn't have context for this, it might make Lozerief's outburst even more confusing.
Foreshadow his mom being the Hero of Life. Like, the Hero of Life appears everywhere, and I don't wanna give away Izi's mom being the Hero of Life too early, but I can afford to drop more hints.
This, alone, would add probably 2,000-3,000 words.
In addition, she recommended changing the pacing so Izi has more like a month in the palace (instead of the 3 days that I wrote in originally.) I definitely could use this to illustrate what the Zenestian government is like: a bunch of corrupt politicians figuring out how they can get more power (Lozerief is an exception).
This has mostly become me ranting about novel plotting, and what I have to do later, but feel free to let me know your thoughts! I'm always open to hear other peoples' opinions (except when they necessitate the disenfranchisement of others.)
Wow it's been awhile since I last posted on here! Here's the 10th part of my concentration
I would probably need this at some point.
how to generate creative ideas:
(i need to get this out of my brain)
Make moodboards, playlists, keep a list of people who inspire you. Before starting a project think about the general vibe you want it to embody. Ask questions like “What would this concept sound like if it was a song?” ,“What would this concept be like if it was a person?”. Create a shirt that looks like a building you like, literally anything can be combined.
Take unrelated things or concepts and mix them together. Let’s take Addams Family as an example. “What if it was a story about a typical suburban family…but GOTH!”. It basically flips everything upside down. Or “What outfit would someone wear, who’s personality is the mix of the vibes of these two songs?” Random word generators are amazing for this if you don’t know where to start from.
Try making something truly BAD and then add a twist to it. It’s a great way for your brain to let go of expectations and then think outside of the box. But you can also use this to find out what you do not wanna do under any circumstances.
Think without worrying about the limits of what you can do and when it’s time for excecution, find a way around what’s impossible. It births more creativity and adds uniqueness.
Consider what your idea is NOT before considering what it is. Limits are the best way to avoid getting overwhelmed and giving up. Don’t ALWAYS do this though (unless you wanna…), it’s just something to try out when you feel like you’re seeing too many possibilities to the point that they’re contradicting each other. Unless your goal is to make something full of contradictions, you’re a Free Man, do whatever you want.
Keep a list of random ideas you have throughout the day in your notes app or something and then at some point actually review them. Keep what you think is worth exploring and then act on it.
Find out how something works very throughoutly so you know which aspect can be changed to create something new.
Take a concept and break it down into smaller concepts, ideas, questions, key elements and then also break those ideas down etc. This will naturally lead to associations, unique ideas you wouldn’t think of without doing this. I found that this is a great way of coming up with metaphors.
This one is similar to the last two: take a piece of art you really love and try to find out the thought process behind. What’s the story, where did the artist get inspiration from, how did they incorporate those ideas in their work. How did an artist combine their personal interests and knowledge into one big thing. For example: Tolkien was an erudite linguist, so much so that he created entire functional languages in his work, such as Elvish in Lord of the Rings. Hirohiko Araki loves 80’s music so much he named characters in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure after music references. This is why no knowledge is useless knowledge.
Think about the times you’ve been the most creative before. What were the specific circumstances? For me my best ideas always come when I have a strict deadline for something unrelated, like school (which I’m way too willing to sacrifice), or when I’m doing something mindless like walking and listening to music, or playing a game that requires no thinking. Most of the time after 10p.m. This doesn’t mean I can’t “force” myself to be creative (tips above), it just means these are the times ideas come most naturally. For some people this might be being out in nature or experiencing high emotions, maybe having their life on the line idk, to each their own.
You can’t just create. You also need to consume. The more information you absorb, the more possibilities you have with your ideas. So if you’re not feeling that creative, that’s fine, it’s the perfect opportunity to learn something new.
If you don’t already do these things and you’re looking to get more creative my advice is to ACTUALLY TRY THESE OUT. You’ll best understand them in action.
To children, the world and everything in it is new, something that gives rise to astonishment. It is not like that for adults. Most adults accept the world as a matter of course. This is precisely where philosophers are a notable exception. A philosopher never gets quite used to the world. To him or her, the world continues to seem a bit unreasonable- bewildering, even enigmatic. Philosophers and small children thus have an important faculty in common. The only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder.
Jostein Gaarder- Sophie’s World.
