Written response to Karim Rashid’s Creative Manifesto. Extra credit

The point that speaks to me the most is:
-  Normal is not good
I think this speaks to me because being normal is boring.  Everything is normal to me is usually boring because nothing new is happening; therefore, nothing exciting is happening.  I think Karim Rashi's artwork is definitely is influenced by his way of thinking.  I mean what artist isn't inspired or motivated by the way he thinks.  I always take my values into what I do artistically.

My manifesto:

- To each his own.
- The only truth is that everything is a lie.
- Don't dwell in the past, live in the present, hope for the future.
- Don't compare your life to others.  There is no better or no worse compared to other people.  It is only  different.
- A fool says I know. A genius says I wonder.
-Don't blame others because then only they can fix the problem.  By blaming others you put the problem on them; therefore, only they can solve that problem.  The problem is yours no one else can solve it.
- Don't be afraid to do something because no one else did it.
- Change happens whether you are ready or not.
- Don't think outside the box, but think why there is a box at all.
- Nothing is truly done.

10A. Written response to reading: FREAK FACTOR

http://changethis.com/

2. What’s My Problem?
I think this a great idea because i do believe in what he says when he says weakness is there to see the strengths.  This is so true because without the weaknesses we wouldn't be able to know the difference between whether we are good at something or bad at something.  Without the problem then u cannot see the good.  Just like with good and evil.  Without evil there would be no good because we couldn't compare the two without each other.  I also have a lot of weaknesses, but i don't focus on the weaknesses rather I focus on my strengths.  I didn't have to over come my problems.  All I had to do was realize they were there so I can compare them to my strengths.  Like he says in the article there is nothing wrong with me.  Weakness are just clues to what is inside of me, the strength to do better things because of the bad.

5. Found ation: Build on Your Strengths
 I think this is another great point to make.  We truly need to build on our strengths because we (almost all the time) enjoy doing the things we are good at because we are good at them.  It makes us feel accomplished because we were able to do something.  Not just anything but something we put a lot of effort into because we like doing it.  Also because they our strengths of ours they will be better than what other people can do.  We might have a better understand or skill in our strength just for the fact of it being our personal strength.  Then the third point he makes is that our strength makes up for our weakness.  This is true because once you find what you are good at then the weakness is something that can be over looked.  You can look past your weakness and focus on that strength and build on it.

9. Freak Factory: Putting Your Quirks to Work
With this point he makes many "mini" points for the person looking for the job.  The first "mini" point is talking about time and energy.  Basically it says to conserve energy and time by maximizing the situation.  If you are in a place where your weakness show then just move.  The second point i don't agree with.  I love to procrastinate, but to permanently procrastinate means I will fail out of college.  I hate doing homework; therefore, if i never do it then I will fail.  The third point says to find people that complement you.  By this I mean find someone that has a strength where you have a weakness.  So, if you have a weakness in writing find someone to help you write.  The fourth point is funny because it says to find the freak in others, but I think this is another good point because with 8billion people on this Earth we need to stand out some how.

9B. Audio response to Collapsus.

www.Collapsus.com

 

9A. Reflections on the Gaming presentation

Two points that didn't come across well during the presentation definitely was with the visuals.  We could of done a lot more by maybe showing more of the game play.  Like maybe a gun you could find or another item found in the game.  We could added more characters that were well defined to our game.  Another thing we could of fixed was the music.  We kind of had a little bump during our presentation where our music didn't work.  So we would just have to go back into the presentation and readd them to the power point.

Rules are the easiest to understand in my opinion.  In games (normally) they give you the rules before you start playing or you learn them pretty quickly in the first few minutes of the game.  The rules are meant for players to challenge or make the game more fun.  This, in my opinion, is the most important thing about making games because without rules the game would be to crazy and no fun.

8B. Written Reflection on the Hero/Villain assignment

 Villain --->

 Hero

<-------

Jarrett Blumenschein - didn't have his hero/villain online.

Brie Donovan - Igor is the villain and Glen is the Hero.  Glen is in a wheelchair while Igor has use of his legs.  This gives the two characters both different MOVEMENT types.  Glen uses his wheelchair to get around giving him a more smooth movement.  Igor has more of a normal walk while he uses his legs.  Igor would have more weight in his movements because he is using his muscles rather than a machine to get around.  If i remember right, I think Igor can fly also.  Glen would have a parallel movement because he uses the wheelchair to run on the ground making him a little more parallel to the ground.  The hero Glen would have overlapping movements also because he is using his hands on the wheelchair to get around.  The hands are overlapping the wheel because he has to push the wheels in order to move.  The contrast/affinity between these two characters are very obvious.  We can see affinity between the two with the colors the creators choose.  Glen has an all red suit (with some yellow)  and Igor has only red in the 'I' in his shirt.  This gives them affinity because they are the same color making it go together well.  Contrast can be seen also with color.  Again glen is in all ready (mostly) and Igor is in a green suit.  Different colors equals contrast within the characters.  Another contrast is that Igor has an evil looking mustache while Glen's face is clean.

Caitlin - Perenniai Paz is the Hero while the villain is named Anne Archy.  Paz is more hippie looking using bright colors and softer tones.  Archy is more evil looking with spikes coming outta her and more Gothic looking with darker colors.  The COLOR in both the two pictures are very different giving them a more contrast look and feel to it.  The brightness  in the hero picture is much more light and bright.  It is drawn using color pencils (looks like) so that can give it a more of a brightness effect.  The villain on the other hand has darkness around her.  We can see shadows in her eyes and near her belly button.  The hue is softer in the hero because of the color choice.  The bright yellows and oranges.  The hue in the villain however, is much more dark again and has a grey/dark red color scheme.  The saturation with Paz is more apparent than Archy because you can see on her shirt how the colors mix together, absorbing one another.  In the villain picture the saturation is more black and you can see this with the lines (shadows) in the hair/ face/ legs.  Contrast/affinity is obvious here.  The colors are very different feel to them giving contrast.  The affinity between them is that they are both women.

8A. Audio response to This American Life.

www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/178/superpowers 

 Hiro Nakamura from Heroes

Time manipulation

7. Written Reflection on the Video Joke Assignment

These two videos are really similar in some ways, yet they are different also.  Both played off the same joke with the parrot and the repairman guy.  We used a lot of the same scenes in both videos such as the outside part showing the house.  Also the same scene when the woman who owns the parrot is calling for help from the repairman.  A major difference in the two videos is that the first video is in black and white, while the second video is in color.  The first video is in black and white because we felt it gave it a more old school look/feel to the video.  We were trying to go for a older type movie look; the ones with no voices and text boxes would pop up instead.  The RHYTHM in the first one is a lot quicker; in fact it is double speed.  This gives it a much more cartoon like feel to it because the movements are to quick making it funny to watch.  The SHAPE of the characters in both pieces has the same look and feel to them.  The repairman has a round head making him a likable guy to the audience.  Then there is the parrot that has a more pointed head.  In the first video he is a person with feathers sticking up and in the second video it is a drawn parrot with a pointed head.  This makes him not able to be trusted to the audience.  You can see this play out in the two videos because in fact the parrot was not to be trusted.  Since the parrot called the dog at the very end, the parrot was the "bad guy".

6B. Audio commentary critiquing video game imagery

6A. Video response to How to Be Creative

http://changethis.com/ Then search Hugh MacLeod’s HOW TO BE CREATIVE. 

5B. Audio commentary critiquing your favorite scene

originalmine

5A. Reimagining Visual Framing

 

    This painting was done by Salvador Dali.  I was drawn to the original picture because it was very unique looking in the design.  I mean who has tigers coming from a fish and the fish coming out of a planet.  Also the elephant in the background on what looks to be stilts and the obvious naked woman laying down in front of us, the viewer.  This is something I have never seen before and probably will never see anything like this again, in my life time.  I think that is why I like this image and why I was drawn to it.  I would think this painting is Active theme because I cannot really see Dali telling us what to think.  He more-so allows the viewer to decide on their own.  Also it is very subjective over objective because it is up to the viewer to decide what this painting truly means.  There is nothing to measure.

    I chose to re-frame the image the way I did because I think in the original painting the tigers really stand out over all the other objects in the piece.  That is why I cropped only the tigers out of the original.  Also tigers are pretty awesome in their own right.  Also, they way I cropped it, really shows how one of the tigers is coming out of the other tiger's mouth; then that tiger is coming out of a fish.  While the fish is coming out of a planet, it looks like.  This gives the tiger Visual Movement, because it gives the illusion that the main tiger is jumping out towards it's "victim".  You can really see this play out in the original painting with the tiger leaping towards the naked woman.

    I honestly have no idea why he framed this the way he did, but I think he wanted to show space and

lines.  With my framed picture there is little to no space for the viewer.  In the original though, Dali allows space in the sky and in the bottom of the painting.  He does this to give the viewer room to breathe because everything in the painting is so visually appealing for the eyes it needs space.  There are a lot of lines within the painting.  One line is from the gun pointing at the naked woman, which the tiger is holding.  So it goes from planet, to fish, to first tiger, to second tiger, and then to the gun pointing at the naked woman.  Also there is another line from the elephant's long legs in the background.  The legs go down right to the naked woman to give her more emphasis just like the gun pointing at her.  The legs are actually lines that help bring the viewer to that naked woman laying down.

4B. Audio Reflection on the Music/Song Assignment

The people I did audio reflections for are:
William Blunenschein (music/song wasn't posted)

Brie Donovan

Caitlin Stone

4A. Written response to Brainwashed:

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/66.01.Brainwashed

Acknowledging the Lizard:
Basically the Lizard is the little scared kid inside everyone of us that doesn't like being made fun of.  But it is an important part being an artiest to be different and to have some of our stuff laughed at or made fun of.  Without this then we couldn't perfect our artistic skills.
Learn:
This layer basically says that we never stop learning and it is important that we never stop.  If we stop learning then we stop growing as a person and artist.  It is by learning we can make our art better and grow as a person as well.

Personally I hate these blog assignments and they do nothing to help my creative process.  For me creating something can not be taught, but is learned through hands on experience.  I have a hard time learning when someone puts limits on my creative projects.  All these blog assignments due is busy work.  I don't get anything out of them other than it being fairly open in the sense, the blogs, are not to strict.  Kind of like do this, do that, and do one of those.  It is more open ended questions to be answered. I better way to spend my time or "class time" would to be handing out tutorials to follow and we recreate them without any limitation on the creative process (of course).

3B. Critique three Soundscape Assignments

I commented on the following blogs:
Patrick Koga
Shannon McAdoo
Isabella Knazek

3A. Demo and Written exploration of Cover Songs

~Chuck Berry

~Elvis Presley

   Both these videos or songs are from back in the late 1950's, early 1960's.  They songs are called Johnny B. Good.  The first video is done by Chuck Berry (the true King), while the second one is down by the "King" Elvis Presley.  The song was originally done by Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley just used the song.  The lyrics are exactly the same in both the videos above which is kinda of surprising.  There is one verse that only Chuck Berry sang:

"He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack
Go sit beneath the tree by the railroad track
Oh, the engineers would see him sitting in the shade
Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made
People passing by they would stop and say
Oh my that little country boy could play "

    I feel like Chuck Berry would of wanted money from Elvis Presley because Elvis used Chuck's song while preforming.  Although I believe Elvis Presley used a lot of Chuck's songs and styles.  I read somewhere that Chuck Berry started rock 'n roll, unlike the popular belief that Elvis Presley started rock 'n roll.
   The musical quality is much better in Chuck Berry's version of the song, in my opinion, because the tempo or speed is much slower and it seems much more organized throughout.  The pitch of both songs sound about the same during the whole song.
  In my opinion, Chuck Berry's song is much better.  For me Elvis Presley's version is to fast and I just do not like how quickly he sings it.  With Chuck Berry's version I get a much better appreciation for the song because it is slower and song better.  I really like how I can understand Chuck Berry's lyrics more so than Elvis Presley's version of the song.  The instruments even sound better within Chuck Berry's type of Johny B. Good.  It is also better because Chuck Berry actually started rock 'n roll; therefore, this (rock 'n roll) song should be better.  Elvis Presley has a unique performance, I will give him that, but he does not put feeling behind his lyrical notes as Chuck Berry does.

song

sound scape

audio response: Find Your Howl

http://changethis.com/

  One aspect that I will summarize is the one about the tiger in the cage.  This tiger is trapped within a cage within a zoo.  He is really good at jumping out of the cage, but after he jumps outside of the cage he ends up within another cage within another zoo.  This story is trying to parallel human life and how we are in cages even if we don't realize it.  Take the job you work at, you have been working here for awhile now and have gotten pretty good at every task that is asked of you.  After awhile you will become sick of this job because nothing new is happening and every day is the same almost.  Well one day you decide to quit this job.  Then you realize that you need to get another job to make money.  So as soon as you learn everything at the new job, it will become boring once again.  You will want to "jump" into another job.  Just like the tiger wants to jump from cage to cage.  Human's have cages too.

The word "howl" can be considered your soul or what makes you, you.  Everyone's howl is different and by that I mean howls let a person stand out from the crowd of people.  It will let the other people around you know that you don't conform to what other people do because it is what everyone else is doing, but rather you make up your own way of life.   You basically become a leader that everyone else can follow.  Possibly other people can find their howl too, through you.

The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge is Not Ignorance, It is the ILLUSION of Knowledge. -Stephen Hawking

 
This quote can be equated to being a creative person too.  Just change knowledge to creativity.  The illusion of creativity to me is someone trying to control my creative process.  It is like someone telling you how to be creative when truly creativity isn't something you learn but something you practice.

1B Written response to reading: WAYS TO GET IDEAS

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/49.06.14Ways

1. Follow Your FascInatIon :
This suggestion is a good one because being fascinated with something is a great way to make something really cool.  I get a lot of great ideas just because I like or am fascinated by a certain item or idea.  These ideas I can bring into my artwork or creative process.  It is important to be fascinated or interested in an idea before you bring it into your work.  So I would have to say that this step is one of the more important steps because this is where you can draw inspiration to create something awesome.  To follow ones fascination is a great way to get started in the creative process.  The things that fascinated us are the easiest because if we are fascinated by that item or idea then we are more likely to dive deeper into learning about that item or idea to use it in our creative process.   Although just because one is fascinated with something doesn't always mean it will translate into something that is creative.  Ones creativity is not always best used on things that are fascinating.  One might get more out of things that are not as fascinating to that person.  I guess it all depends on the artist who is the designer behind the creative process.

8. take a Break
I think this can be a little of both, good and bad.  It can be a good thing when you are working on a project for school or something that has a goal in mind.  This is because it is true, when you come to a problem it is best to just take a break.  Then you come back to it with fresh and new ideas to add too it.  Like I said this can also be a bad thing too.  It is only bad in my opinion when you are creating an art piece.  Something that you just want to express through artwork taking a break is bad.  It is bad because I feel that when working on an art piece that express how I feel then I want it to express how i feel at that very moment.  If I were to take a break then that emotion that I was feeling when creating this artwork maybe lost during that break.

9. notIce anD cHallenGe exIstInG Patterns anD trenDs
This suggestion is really a great one because in the art world it's all about making yourself stand out from the crowd.  It is important to notice all the patterns within our culture because once you find these patterns you can change them and make them your own.  By changing them we can challenge the trends within our society.  As an artiest the most important thing in my opinion is to point out the facts about society and the dullness of it.  If we can recognize those dullness's then maybe we can change them for the better.  It's like adding spices to food, it just gives it a better overall taste.  I might implement this into my creative life by choosing to challenge those existing patterns and treads I notice.  I may choose to write a satire or use irony to make my point about those constant patterns and / or patterns.


What new idea is fascinating you? What new possibility has captured your attention? 
In what ways can you honor this inspiration today?
The new idea of 3D without using the normal 3D glasses is the idea that is fascinating me.  So many new possibilities have captured my attention with this new technology.  Some examples include use of this 3D technology in video games, TV, movies, computer, etc.  I would love to see a world where I could play a video game in 3D without using those annoying glasses.  Come to think of it, I don't think there are any 3D video games out there right now.  Not to many in 3D at least.  Since I might go into creating video games, I might want to honor this new inspiration by starting to think in 3D.  By this I mean I need to start thinking about how people my interact with a 3D game.  Will they touch the screen? Or will they have to touch something that is sticking outside the screen in the 3D space.  Will the user even like 3D games?  These types of questions are important to keep in mind when coming up with new ideas.  Especially since it looks like our technology is headed towards a 3D future.

1A. Demo and Written answer to: Who influences you as a Creative Person?

Michael Bay: Movie Director

Michael Bay is known for his use of explosions and over the top special effects.  I think this is why I admire him.  I am fascinated by special effects and Mr Bay is one of the best directors to use them.  The video above is a montage of explosions and special effects in multiple films of Bay's work.  In some of Michael Bay's work he uses Tension and Release by having close ups of people talking, then it moves to extreme close ups of them talking causing this tension, and finally "releasing" us back to a normal view.  Contrast and Affinity can be seen in Bay's most recent film Transformers.  The two different types of auto-bots have different colors.  The "good" auto-bots are more colorful and the main bot has the colors of red and blue symbolizing "America's flag/colors".  The "bad" auto-bots are dull and less colorful.  Most of the films that Bay does lean towards Didactic vs Active.  Didactic because Bay uses the explosions and special effects to tell the audience what to think about this film.  If you see someone in the explosion then 9/10 times they are dead, especially if they are not a main character.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker: South Park Creators

Matt Stone and Trey Parker two extremely funny men who created South Park one of my favorite TV shows.  These guys influence my comedy a lot because I love their comedic humor they use through their TV show South Park.  They use Text and Subtext in South Park most of the time.  They have the children of South Park solving all the adult problems in every episode this being just one example of irony.  Irony because the kids are smarter than the adults cause they solve these problems.  At the end of almost every episode they have a little "I've learned something today" moment.  This is where Matt and Trey use more Didactic approach and not Active.  Didactic because they are telling you exactly what to think through what the characters have learned in that specific episode.  The South Park creators use Subjective stories more over Objective.  Most, if not all, of Matt and Trey's work is open to opinion because they use real events in our history.  Those events being bias; therefore, the events are subjective because they are opinion based.

The Blue Scholars: Music

The Blue Scholars are my favorite music group as of right now because they use such great beats and have amazing lyrics to go along with the beats.  Their song 50 Thousand Deep is one of my favorite songs by them.  The song is Subjective more than Objective because I think the Blue Scholars wanted you to have an open mind when it comes to the "riot" described in the song.  That is wasn't a riot but a uprising.  This song is also more Active than Didactic because the audience is suppose to make up their own minds when it comes to the police shooting the crowd/ protest.  The Contrast and Affinity in this song is about the poor and rich within the protest that the singer is in.  How the rich get arrested on purpose while the poor get arrested even though they are not part of the protest.

It's a broom