A Slashdot post brought this wonderful TED Talk to my attention. Johanna Blakely describes how creativity in fashion thrives despite the virtual absence of intellectual property protections. This really calls into question the argument that we need copyright to encourage innovation. Check it out, and also take a look at her website at readytoshare.org. I love the Dali quote on her website: ”Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.”
I have not been alone in musing about the iPad for the past few weeks. Just what is it? What will it do? Why would I want one? What is it for? Today I stumbled upon an answer. The iPad is not a device to read electronic books, the iPad will help us invent electronic books. More “below the fold”…
I love color. One of my favorite college courses was a class on color theory where I learned that color was a lively thing, capable of surprise and even deceit. I enjoyed this article on The Meaning of Color today. I also want to recall this nice color theory tutorial.
The course was taught by Richard Lytle and was, I think, largely based on the plan set out by Josef Albers in his book Interaction of Color. I wish more art departments had such welcoming courses, so many jump right into drawing and never look back.
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) just announced that it is suing the Central Corridor project. That is a line I am not willing to cross, so Mary and I have suspsended our membership. I love MPR, but this is a boneheaded move! Here’s the note I sent them:
Please suspend our sustaining membership of MPR.
We are not willing to support an organization that is hindering as important a civic project as the Central Corridor rail line. We have been uncomfortable with your position for years because the Central Corridor plans were well known long before MPR renovated its space. As far as we are concerned, it is wholly MPR’s responsibility that it built studios as close to a known future rail line as it did. You should not be suing the state, but rather asking funders like us to up our contributions a bit to help you make necessary remediations.
Now that you have decided to sue the Central Corridor project we can no longer in good conscience support MPR. Maybe once this suit is over we will consider rejoining, we will see what the consequences of your action are. If this in any way leads to the demise or diminishment of the Central Corridor project, though, then you have lost us as member for good.
Years ago when we were renovating our attic I made the naive choice to do the tile in the bathroom myself. I was inspired by Hundertwasser, but really knew nothing about tile. Many calls around town revealed a new little shop near the fairgrounds, Mosaic on a Stick. Lori Green and Maria founded the Stick as not only a source for the materials that mosaic artists need, but also as an open studio and learning space to invite people to discover the artform and fall in love with building a world from broken pieces. Today I read this wonderful article about Mosaic on a Stick.
I enjoyed it immensely. The broken plate had been sitting on my dresser for months, and every time I looked at it, I had a twinge of sadness, remembering the whole plate it had once been. But once I started breaking it up into half-inch pieces, it turned into something else entirely. Raw bits ready to be reassembled into something new. Possibilities.
I enjoyed arranging the pieces onto the wood picture frame, like pieces in a puzzle. It required a quiet concentration that was soothing, and I soon lost track of time.
If you live in the Twin Cities, you should really stop by some time. It is a healing experience!
The boys and I are thinking of escaping to a movie this evening and Nathaniel suggested going to see The Lovely Bones. As I was trying to assess it I stumbled upon commonsensemedia.org expecting a right-wing take down of a scary movie. Instead I found a thoughtful and well put-together review of the movie with great questions to think about with your kids and even reviews by parents and kids themselves. I found it very helpful and want to remember to come back and participate in this community down the road. Does anyone have other resources to suggest when evaluating media and talking about it with kids?
Are you as frustrated as I am at the timidity of Democrats in Washington? We act as if it takes 60 votes in the Senate to do anything. The Senate! Already an undemocratic institution (Wyoming == California, I don’t think so), has been made even more ineffective by our readiness to cave to filibusters that don’t even happen.
51 is a majority! And we have way more than 51 votes in the Senate. Let the Republicans talk for days on end if they want to block legislation. We should be making law! We have the votes. If someone wants to filibuster, make them get up and do the deed.
So I say, 51 is a majority, use it or lose it. If we stay timid, we will get what we deserve come November. Democrats have to be ready to make sausage, to compromise, but we must also get things done.
Pick something up there if you agree. Pass it along. Tweet, blog, talk to your friends, call your Congresspeople, and call your Senators or Senator-wanna-bees. Make sure they know you expect courage and progress.
The Design Director of the Obama campaign, Scott Thomas, has collaborated with artists and designers to create Designing Obama, a chronicle of the art from the historic campaign. Get the inside story on how design was used by the campaign, and scope out the pieces, created unofficially, by grassroots supporters.
Maybe just because they are Austrian and oh-so Viennese, maybe because they break all the rules for web design, maybe because the whole damn thing is in Flash, which usually I hate, maybe because the video is just hilarious… I don’t know what it is, but I love the Screenagers web site. Go ahead, take a look!
Those who have heard me get on a soapbox know that one I return to again and again is the theme that creativity is born of constraints. Many people think that rich resources make you creative or innovative. Sometimes. But I think more often it is scarcity and boundaries that provide the tension necessary to focus and create, to rise above the mediocre. This applies to everything from webdesign to airlines, newspapers, entrepreneurship, even politics.
This evening I stumbled upon another example, the Record Club create by Beck. Beck gives the Record Club, himself and a few friends, 24 hours in the studio to recreate an album. They pick the album when they start, they don’t try to do anything profound, just cover each of the songs, seeing what emerges along the way. The constrains are severe, the results are wonderful.
Writer of things creative and productive Merlin Mann provides examples for, and neatly sums up, how creative constraints can paradoxically free you. In the case of so many Big Serious Projects (or BSPs, for this post’s sake), setting up a personal constraint scheme — 12 songs in one day, 140 characters or less, 20 minutes of no-distraction coding before lunch every day — is simply a way to trick a big part of your brain into thinking that your BSP isn’t actually that big, or serious.
