Convergence suggests that many seemingly novel ideas are probably similar to solutions developed for entirely difference circumstances. What works here….will probably work there, too. That’s a profound insight if you spend your life doing creative work. Rather than re-invent the wheel, consider how that well proven device might enable you to discover someplace entirely uncharted.
Read MoreTHE SHAKY RETURN OF ART
Arts require stability as much as they require energy, and for new voices to speak, the people who propel those voices must be able to stand, to eat, to think, to dream.
Read MoreI've Often Toyed with Sigmund Freud
Ideas crash and careen like seedlings caught in unpredictable zephyrs, often slapping uselessly into unexpected obstructions. Most seeds die, but the few that thrive are the ones that have a chance of catching our attention.
EVERYTHING IS FREE
The trend toward “free” under-values the ability to create great music because musicians cannot support themselves simply on the merits of their ability to play. The pursuit of the ability to make great music, to extend the example, requires financial support in some appreciable measure, and when those payments fall beneath a certain threshold, excellence cannot easily develop
Read MoreYOUR INSTRUCTIONS: RATE, REVIEW, SHARE
Some things simply don’t rate very well in the ten minutes after then pop into existence. But in a world seemingly powered by social media uber alles we seem to regard all qualitative assessments only in relation to the positive metrics defined by the title of this blog.
THE PROBLEM WITH BIG DATA
If you’re standing in a meadow, rays of sun illuminating blossoms and birds alike, you might consider fully immersing yourself in that singular moment rather than millions of others like it. The bottomless pit of data asking you to tithe one more bit cares not a whit for what you see, what you smell, what you feel when the rising afternoon breeze kisses your skin.
Read MoreRelavitism
Does classical music demonstrate a higher level of artistic value as a genre than, say, American folk music? The perils of relativism really roar when trying to compare separate but related ideas.
Read MoreTHE NOVEL
You can’t be doing something else when you’re reading a novel. You must do your own imagining. You also can’t check out periodically while you’re in the process of reading a novel. The moment you do, you’re not reading!
Read MoreFICTIONS REGARDED AS TRUTHS
Fiction offers more than just food for thought. It offers possibilities. Social media, conversely, offers us shallow moments of vicarious sensation. As something usually less than reportage, and certainly something substantially less than earnest invention, social media generally traffics in distraction where fiction, even in its most banal expressions, asks something more.
Read MoreCREATIVE WORK MEETS PANDEMIC REALITIES
Creative work is not something artists choose to do. The work itself chooses artists bring it to life (And if you’re not an artists yourself and think that statement is nuts, just ask a creative person in your life if he or she understands. I guarantee they do.)
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