Recently in creativity Category
thebigmoney.com, presented by Slate, profiles the 11 most obscure Google doodles. Below is Tetris Google, which was on the search engine's web page this past June to celebrate the iconic game's 25th anniversary.
Flip Flop Fly Ball is an interesting site showing bizarre baseball stats and 'what ifs' through inforgraphics. Creator Craig Robinson's other site, Flip Flop Flyin', is full of infographs of all subjects.
New York City cab driver Fabio Peralta has turned the back seat of his yellow cab into an art studio for his passengers, and has commissioned thousands of works. So far, he's collected 7,000 sketches, which he binds into glossy booklets and gives away for free; his last print run was for 2,000. .
Recent Brighton University graphic design graduate Rob Matthews has an interesting idea for legitimizing Wikipedia. It would be impossible, but cool nonetheless.
I love the latest ad campaign from Quaker Oats. It turns out, however, that Quaker isn't just trying to be catchy. They would like humans to empower themselves and end childhood hunger.
What a wonderful book idea over at Snarkmarket. They're exploring emergent fields of the kottke-termed Liberal Arts 2.0.
I'd like to get more into this later but here is a totally unorganized synopsis from the ongoing discussion of what LA2.0 is.
Art
Design
Photography
Music
*
Languages
Literature
Philosophy
*
History
Politics
Economics
*
Mathematical Sciences
Natural Sciences
Biological Sciences
*
Food
Per Jason in the comments section:
Here's the list I came up with shortly after concocting the term for a talk I did in early 2007:
Graphic design, freakonomics, photography, programming, film, remixing, video games, food, advertising, internet life skills, journalism, fashion.
To be sure the concept must be explored more, but the idea is that young people need a new skill set these days.
There is a new home economics to learn - as they discuss on the aforementioned pages - and video games are no longer the exception (now they are the rule).
Guitar World has put together their list of the 50 greatest guitar solos. I don't know if this is a common symptom of those of us not musically inclined, or if it's just me, but great solos of any kind of any instrument never cease to amaze me. But guitar solos will always hold a special place in my heart. For music fans this will be a great read with some insight into how those great solos came about. I find it particularly interesting how different the process can be from song to song.
6 - "November Rain" (Slash) - Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion I, 1991
"I think that demo session was the first time we played 'November Rain' together as a band," says Guns guitarist Slash. "We actually did it on piano and acoustic guitar. As far as the guitar solo, it was so natural from the first time I ever played it on the demo that I don't even know if I made any changes to it when we did the electric version on Use Your Illusion. I never even went back and listened to the old tapes. One of the best things about a melody for a guitar solo is when it comes to you the same way every time, and that was definitely the case with 'November Rain.' When it came time to do the record, I just went into the studio, played the solo through a Les Paul Standard and a Marshall [2555, Jubilee head] and said, 'I think that sounds right,' " he laughs. "It was as simple as that."
4 - "Comfortably Numb" (David Gilmour) - Pink Floyd The Wall, 1979
Gilmour's classic guitar solo was cut using a combination of the guitarist's Hiwatt amps and Yamaha rotating speaker cabinets, Ezrin recalls. But with Gilmour, he adds, equipment is secondary to touch; "You can give him a ukulele and he'll make it sound like a Stradivarius."Which doesn't mean Gilmour didn't fiddle around in the studio when he laid down the song's unforgettable lead guitar part. "I banged out five or six solos," says Gilmour. "From there I just followed my usual procedure, which is to listen back to each solo and make a chart, noting which bits are good. Then, by following the chart, I create one great composite solo by whipping one fader up, then another fader, jumping from phrase to phrase until everything flows together. That's the way we did it on 'Comfortably Numb.'"
Sometimes I like to think of my favorite music as these magical, intangible forces. More then just a man-made arrangement but a gift given to the artist from the heavens above. Now I'm envisioning David Gilmour sitting with a notebook (like Michael Bierut), sketching a working chart of solos that he is fusing into one incredible piece of music. Working alone in the studio for hours and hours, placing notes and rhythms here and there until the puzzle is complete and now I'm beginning to think that envisioning a heavenly gift diminishes and marginalizes the level of work, dedication, effort, sacrifice, love and patience required for such a piece of art. The result is a magical, intangible force BECAUSE it's a man-made arrangement not in spite of it. Intelligent design anyone?
It's currently 10:00 pm on Thursday evening and there is a major winter storm headed towards Philadelphia metropolitan area for Friday morning. I am really excited!
Snow always makes me happy. There is something magical about snow that I can't put my finger on. There is a mystique, an aura that there is someone or something bigger that us. Oddly enough, it gives me faith that I'm being watched over and taken care of. The next time it snows, set your alarm for about 2 am have a seat on your front porch. Listening to the sound of falling snow in the middle of the night is an experience that needs to be relished.
