Random Ravings

I just saw an ad for latest Fantastic Four that is coming out in July. Looks pretty cool. I am an old FF fan. My comic interests growing up were a little off the standard - Green Arrow instead of Superman. FF instead of the Avengers. It is nice to see the FF getting first class treatment.

Not happy with audioblogger

I had just finished my walk and I wanted to record some thoughts, more for myself than becuase I thought anyone here would want to hear the raving, and I just kept getting a busy signal from audioblogger. Grrrr!!! Looks like I will have to consider a microphone for my iRiver. It is an ancient 390 model, but it has 256 meg and I usually don't keep a lot on it.

Anyways I was relistening to David Winer's Morning Coffee Notes from 27 May. Although it was on a variety of topics, he got me thinking about creativity. He was commenting on how kids just sing for the fun of singing. They don't care if they are good or not, they just do it. The wider implication, and one he has made in a prior podcast, is that creativity is not limited to the "blessed few." As long as we are having fun (and not harming anyone), why can't we create whatever we want?

I have mentioned that I am taking a workshop on creativity. I have never really considred myself creative as most people think of creativity: Drawing or other visual arts, writing (in case you have not gathered that already), music, etc. A large part of that was the wonders of public education - Given the overworked art & music teacher if you did not show a natural talent you were pretty much left on your own to figure out how to do stuff. As for writing my high school experience was somewhat bipolar - one teacher wondered if English was my first language and another who thought I could possibly do some professional writing.

However on a wider scale, why do we all feel that our creation has to be perfect? Most artists i have met constantly talk about the imperfections of their work. There was a quote that said something like a book is never finished it just stopped in interesting places. Do we have to create to make money? Can we just create for the joy of creating?

Blogs, podcasts, and moblogs (to a point) are a way for everyday people to expresss some creativity in a more public arena. The price of entry on the web is much lower than when you needed to print up a zine or get some time in a studio to record.

And in a way these mediums also get us to exercise our skills. If you want to write, a blog can be a great way to motivate yourself to write everyday (or nearly every day). A moblog could be a way to motivate yourself to get some photos taken. You get the idea.

Speaking of creativity, one of the things I have learned, or more to the point relearned, is you need to refill the well. For me programming is my creative outlet. I have always said programming is more art than science, and I never really thought much about how creative it is until I read an articlethat pointed out for some programming can be as creative as painting or playing drums. The last 3 or 4 months have really zapped my desire to do much of anything creative, and even affected my job since the well was empty and I was just not able to make those weird leaps of logic that are needed sometimes (many times) in any creative endevor.

So how does one go about filling the well? For me it involves regular walking, getting to some live music (that ideally does not involve a smoke filled bar), going to the art museum or maybe a lecture. Even reading some weird books, or at least some books outside of my normal tastes.