They all have a few key elements in common, but they also have a lot that differentiates them from each other.  Here’s some of the commonalities:

• Raw.  They’re real performances put on by exceptional people. They’re not cut and glamorized official music videos that seem sterile and antiseptic. The raw feel makes the artistic provocations more real, more edgy.
• “Environmental aura.” That phrase popped into my head.  It seems to fit.  The environment that these performances take place in is just as important as what the actors are actually doing.
• Narrative structure. There’s a story going on.
• Good music with a strong baseline.

To dig into each of these, in order of complexity…..

(i’ve made up these titles for descriptive purposes)

Magic Headphones

The setting appears to be a gas station or a small convenient store. But it could’ve just as well been any place where people are walking around through their day-to-day.  The narrative focuses on a pair of headphones left outside, where 3 unknowing individuals discover them, and try them on. The headphones act as the muse of the performance.  And it’s funny, this gimmicky device somehow evokes a strong sense of the magic of discovery and serendipity.

I love the people walking in an out of the store.  They may have been planted, but it doesn’t matter too much.  It’s believable.

Dance of Desolation

It starts with a simple overture of driving through what appears to be a healthy middle america (gas for $2.59!)

Now, I can’t be sure, and I don’t want to sound like a high school literature teacher that reads into things way too much, but when i first watched this, I got the feeling there was something being said about hard economic times.  Notice that the car drives into a well lit, bright and clean gas station (gas stations seems to be the place to dance).  But then the scene fades to a rundown, dusty, deserted gas station. It’s desolate and lonely.

The music is soft and strong. The performer’s attire is the clothing of a working class, rural male — he’s got the vibe of a hustler.

These elements really resonate well.  And the video seems quite impromptu. Almost like the guy had his camera with him, decided to stop at this location, let the film roll, and said “this is how I feel now.”

Notice some of the details: the camera view is slightly off, he’s fairly far away which brings out the environment, and the car door is on the screen.  I consider these enhancements to the raw, real life feel.

I don’t know if it was by design, and I almost hope it wasn’t, but I think this video is artistic brilliance.

Sinister Showdown

I find this one mind blowing.

Really in your face. Sinister. Cocky. Mischievous.

The setting is some sort of ornate hall with columns and chandeliers — something I saw in a history book. The performers are wearing clown masks, somewhat like they used to wear in old plays long ago.  This causes the performers to seem anachronistic, ahead of their time, and a bit alien. Like they came from some other dimension where people are brash and dance really well.

The actors are a bit threatening.  Almost like they wouldn’t be afraid to rob you, but that’s probably because they remind me of the Joker’s thugs.

Enjoy.

 
-Kevin
9.24.2011
 

(I’m still growing into the video medium.  Lots of ways I could make my video content more compelling, but I’m always more interested in listening to what you have to say. )

The bullet points of this video post:

• Just finished listening to the audio version of Stephen King’s memoirs on writing.
• Great listen
• Very interesting to understand his creation process.
• He does not start with a plot and fill in the details.
• He uses a “generative” approach.
• Here’s the post I refer to: Understanding the Design Process: 4 Key Methods

Watch the video for more.

-Kevin
6.12.2011

Abbreviated Text Version:

I’m currently reading Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly. In the book, Mihaly makes an incredible powerful statement.

Mihaly states  in order to live a more satisfying life, we must strive to become increasingly more complex individuals — where complexity is defined by differentiation and integration.

So what does this mean?

We need to become increasingly stronger individuals with a clear role and domain and mastery.  But at the same time, while making ourselves more distinct, we must also become more strongly connected to others.

The reason this is so powerful is that it’s the perfect articulation, the perfect abstraction of the goal of our personal development.  So the real question is: how do we become more complex?  And how do we accelerate the process?

This is something I’d like to discuss further, so my question to you is: how have you become a more complex individual in your life? what have you actively done to further this process?

As always, looking forward to your thoughts.

-Kevin
5.28.2011

Note: The idea of complexity in human development gets right to the heart of many concepts I’ve written about on how we can become more effective and happy people.  See if you can start seeing the connections.

Image via Wikipedia

I think it’s extremely valuable for anyone to have some experience creating via the arts. But for reasons besides what you might guess.  I’ll explain why, but first, here’s an example of a lesson I observed in a drawing class:

When attempting to draw something, people tend to try and draw it the way they think it should be drawn.  Even simple geometric shapes come out horribly wrong when this happens.  I found myself falling into this trap. But, if you’re able to be coldly objective, and draw the information that is actually being presented to you, it comes out looking pretty good.  The trick is figuring out how to pierce the veil in between what you think you’re seeing and the information that is actually presented.

Without our conscious agreement, we attempt to fit the information we think we have observed to our mental model.  And when we do this, even if it’s something as simple as a cube, we get the picture wrong.

This concept of forcing things to fit a model is often tossed around in various forms–confirmation bias, “seeing what you want to see.”  I also later came across what seems to be a reasonable neuro-scientific explanation for why this so commonly happens in this drawing example (it boils down to the fact most people have been trained such that their left hemisphere becomes dominant which thinks in symbols instead of pure spatial information).

But talking about this lesson doesn’t compare to actually experiencing it.  Furthermore, talking about it doesn’t help you learn to overcome this fault.

This example points to why even basis artistic pursuits can enable us to grow:

When we create, we express our humanity.  Our humanity then stares back at us. In this manner, when presented directly in front of our nose, we sometimes can catch a glimpse of what it really is.  Art provides a very elegant and sharp means of experiencing this.

And when making decisions, working with other people, communicating, and just operating in the world in general, it’s important to understand and remember our humanity.

-Kevin
5.8.2011

Image by doug88888 via Flickr

I had a post on Greenhorn Connect earlier this week about different design processes (Understanding Design: 4 Key Methods).  I thought I’d repost here for my thoughtful readers, as I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.  Leave a comment or just shoot me an email.  One of these days I’ll write a much more involved piece on this concept, as I think it’s a very important framework to develop.

Here are the major types of design that can be observed in most development processes:

Shotgun Design.

This seems to be the M.O. of people that fall on the highly creative spectrum.  If there are many inspirations, the “designer” is compelled to make many things.  Many musicians, inventors, and artists even take strategies of doing many works every day until they produce something that was “properly inspired”.  Supposedly, George Gershwin, the famous musician and pianist, wrote six pieces every morning “just to get the bad ones out.”   (There’s an important corollary here:  not everything you make will be good.)

Evolutionary Design.

We see this in nature–over generations, a species learns from its environment and adapts to it.   Evolutionary design is a powerful process.  In fact, if you zoom out far enough, most development looks like an evolutionary process, whether it’s a core technology, a product, personal habits, or a startup.  

When Steve Blank  and Eric Ries talk about the “customer development model” or “agile development,”  they’re really talking about best practices in applying evolutionary design to building a company.  If you spend time talking to your customers, you learn from your environment.  And if you have faster iterations that incorporate these learnings, your company will adapt to the environment faster, survive, and hopefully prosper.

Pure Design.

This is what happens when someone with a high level of expertise sits down, puts pen to paper, and specs out true value.  The nuance here is that what they design actually works, and they can do this consistently.  If it exists at all, it seems to be quite rare.  Nikola Tesla claimed to be able to design his inventions in his head, every single measurement and piece of minutiae, and never make a mistake.  Mozart is often depicted as being able to sit down and write music so flawlessly that it seems he was copying it from the astral plane.  Bram Cohen, creator of BitTorrent, paces around and, once he’s ready, sits down and writes flawless code(Wired, “The Bittorrent Effect“).

Unfortunately, the creation process is often exaggerated by people to make it seem like Pure Design when it really isn’t, so when you hear of these stories, I’d approach them with a bit of  skepticism.  I’ll avoid going too much into the psychology, but most people aren’t interested in hearing about regular people.  We want to hear about “geniuses”,  giants, and heroes.  (Do people watch golf or Tiger Woods?  Basketball or Lebron?)  The desire to see superstars makes us vulnerable to tall tales and causes us to overlook the focus and honest labor that goes into accomplishment.  

Gary Kasparov, the chess grandmaster, illustrates our lust after stories of Pure Design in his essay, “The Chess master and the Computer“:

“[The result of the tournament], though startling, fits with my belief that talent is a misused term and a misunderstood concept. The moment I became the youngest world chess champion in history at the age of twenty-two in 1985, I began receiving endless questions about the secret of my success and the nature of my talent. Instead of asking about Sicilian Defenses, journalists wanted to know about my diet, my personal life, how many moves ahead I saw, and how many games I held in my memory.”

Introspective Design.

This one is a bit curious.  This is simply creating something you personally desire.  Not just acting on an idea that’s yours, but actually making something so you yourself can have it.  

Personally, I find introspective design to be the strategy I most often employ.  Personal desire is extremely powerful.  But to make something valuable, it requires the maker to have clear purpose, strong awareness of the environment, and strong sense of self.  To make something you want, you need to first know what you want.

By having an understanding of these design processes, you’ll probably find making things much easier.  You’ll likely be able to formulate a better strategy for one. But, it goes beyond just that. Making something is an emotional process, it’s a reflection of you.  Consequently, understanding  design is valuable for managing yourself.  Ever been frustrated by the fact that you knew your essay just wasn’t right?  Worried your product lacked vision?  Or upset that so many of your creations just didn’t meet your expectations? Understanding the design process will help you solve these issues and deliver better work.

-Kevin
2.13.2011

Image via Wikipedia

“My mind rebels at stagnation.” –Sherlock Holmes

Recently, I found my mind feeling a bit stagnant.  I hadn’t been writing, and I started to wonder if I’d lost my creative prowess.  I just didn’t have any thoughts to write about.

But, then I realized that it was the other way around.  I wasn’t taking time to write (or read), so I wasn’t doing as much thinking.  Moreover, I wasn’t taking advantage of the clarity of thought engendered by writing.

I’ve mentioned the importance of writing and blogging quite a bit here on the blog.   It’s one of the most powerful thought refinement techniques.  I suppose I can’t say it enough–heck, I forget sometimes myself.

-Kevin
12.16.2010

People talk a lot about creativity, how to get more of it, and how important it is.  It’s one of those things that probably gets talked about more than it’s actually used. However, most of these discussions yield little because people misunderstand the fundamentals of creativity.

We don’t understand the cognitive processes that generate creativity.  And much Like the human brains that contain it, creativity is incredibly diverse.  Nonetheless, we can recognize it.  Creativity is defined by what it creates. Creativity is expressed as an act that is done differently from others that provides value.

An important part of what makes us human is the creative capacity of our intellect.  However, the error we often commit is thinking of creativity only as a mental faculty, and consequently forgetting that creativity requires action.  By viewing creativity as a set of actions that produce value, by acknowledging Creativity must actually produce to truly exist, things become clearer:

The Key to Creativity is being a strong individual.

The Key isn’t a special mental ability. Many people have creative thoughts.  But thinking is the easy part, and by itself, it does not give us the ability to create. To be creative, we must be willing to act, and do something that may be completely different.  We also need to be ready to catch a lot of criticism and meet strong resistance.  Most people can’t operate under these conditions.

Creatives wear this willingness to be an individual on their sleeves.  Their individuality emanates from their natural tendency to think and act for themselves in accordance with their own minds.

When I look at the people that we consider to be some of the most creative individuals in history, people that changed us, I cannot deny this.  I see people that are fiercely individual and deeply genuine.  They will never be replicated:

Salvador Dali

Albert Einstein

Martin Luther King

Muhammad Ali

Gandhi

Thomas Edison

Daft Punk

In my experience, this ability to act as an individual is the real sticking point.  I’ll write more about this later.  Until then, let me know what you think of the claim (and suggest more pictures for me to add to the list above!)

-Kevin
12.5.2010

Image by Chee Chin via Flickr

Today, I watched the movie Kick-Ass.  In the movie, the heroes are more violent than the “bad guys.”  This got me thinking.

In books and movies, “evil” is almost always represented by a villain whose values (and goals) are in opposition to the values of the story’s hero–the character we most connect with.  In reality, outside the constructs of the narrative, the villain and the hero are interchangeable characters; if the story is retold from a different perspective, we feel differently and quickly change sides.  Thus, the literary terms “antagonist” and “protagonist” offer a better categorization for characters than morally charged words like “good” and “evil.”

We might take this to believe that Evil (in the moral sense), is simply relative to our value perspective.  This is incorrect.   When things appear to be relative, you should always check your premises, as relative definitions easily lead to contradictions.    Furthermore, relative views are dangerous. (I better dash on to the next topic quick…otherwise I’ll get stuck in one of the many philosophical vortexes already surrounding me….)

Image via Wikipedia

Evil isn’t mass murderers, crimelords, or even psychopaths.  These could be agents of Evil, but they are not the true enemy. Our greatest foe is Entropy.

The pervasive power of Entropy

By definition, Entropy is essentially “disorder”.  And without directed action, the world moves towards higher states of Entropy.  We can observe this at many levels.

Anyone that has ever taken care of anything understands Entropy at some level.  Imagine you have a small vegetable garden in your back yard.  Through your purposeful actions, you are able to cultivate the land and command it to provide nutritious (and delicious) food items.  But, imagine you get sick and can no longer tend your garden.  Entropy immediately begins to set in.  Weeds start to grow.  The plants begin to wilt.  Pests take hold.  Eventually, there will be no remnant of the garden.  It will have been consumed by Entropy’s nothingness.

The destruction of a vegetable garden may not be particularly convincing of the role of Entropy.

Cancer is entropy.  As the cells of your body grow, divide, and repair themselves, errors occur and unwanted by-products start to be produced.  Cellular machinery starts to wear out.  And eventually, the harmonious interactions between the cells are disrupted so much that cancerous cells develop.  Entropy sets in, cells no longer act purposefully,  and the body starts to destroy itself.

Pollution is entropy.  Pollutants are molecules that leak out into the environment and disrupt purposeful processes.  If purposeful environmental processes are disrupted enough, we will be overtaken by these pollutants.

Poverty is entropy.  Wealth, what provides us the opportunity to live and live happily, is generated by purposefully combining chunks of the world into a form that functions in a beneficial way.  Without the directed actions of those with purpose, entropy sets in, and we eventually have nothing that functions for us.  We live in squalor.  And if things continue this way, we die.

Creation is Entropy’s opposing force

You probably noticed the frequent appearance of “purpose” in the previous sections.  Purpose derived from the careful use of our intellect is the weapon for fighting Entropy.   Purpose combined with intellect allow us to create.

Image via Wikipedia

Intellect and the danger of unquestioning minds

Intellect plays an important role. If one does not use their own intellect to develop their purpose, they’re merely an agent of mindless ideas and philosophies.

And this is how morally reprehensible ideas and actions are able to spread.  Throughout history, dictators and corrupt organizations have been able to meet their ends by dominating the unquestioning minds that have abandoned Intellect and Purpose and, consequently, have submitted to Entropy.

Final Thoughts

Things will far apart if we let them.

-Kevin
9.19.2010

HDR photography is wild.  They’re like a punch in the face from the world’s visual information (they actually make my eyes hurt).  Even a picture of a dirty building with a motorcycle looks incredible.

Got any links to some good galleries?

-Kevin
8.17.2010

The last week or so of blog posts haven’t been up to my expectations—not anywhere close.

Writing is important to me, and when I’m not writing interesting things, it’s a bad sign.  Writing requires clear thinking.  And if I’m not writing interesting things, I’m not spending as much time thinking clearly about interesting things.

It’s easy to figure out why I’m not writing as prolifically: I’m not focusing on it.

Focus.

In this current moment, I hate the word.  I fully recognize its importance and have become very good at focusing.  Nonetheless, I hate it.  To me, “Focus” doesn’t mean “get to work and stop lollygagging.”  Focus means “ignore all those great ideas and other interesting things that you could also be doing.”

We live under the constraint of time.  It is our most brutal reality.  We must pick our priorities.

I spent some time going over my priorities today.  Writing was one of them.

-Kevin
7.21.2010