Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Superstitious Creatives
I found this post by Josh Clark on the blog Global Moxie via another blog called Creating Passionate Users. In short, Josh discusses the use of totems, magic boxes, and rituals by artists as a means to get into their work, to tap the muse. When I first read it, I thought, hmm . . . I don't have any totems that pull me into my creative flow. No stones do I rub, no Buddha statue do I pray to, no pillow do I turn around on three times before settling in. I don't have much in the way of rituals, either, unless you count turning on the computer and getting out my dictionary and thesaurus. I guess those are rituals. Probably the closest I have to a totem or ritual is turning on some music. Dave Matthews Band is my favorite (in case you hadn't noticed by now), because there's enough fuzzy writerly stuff in the music and lyrics that it jump-starts my imagination. When I'm sick of DMB, which happens occasionally, I'll put in other disks . . . The Killers, Enya, U2, Depeche Mode, Michael Buble, Queen. The secret is that the music has to be something I've already listened to so much that it's been ingrained in the fibers of my being. It has to melt away into the background so that it doesn't disrupt my writing.
Labels: blog, creative, dave matthews band, depeche mode, enya, global moxie, killers, michael buble, music, queen, rituals, superstition, totems, u2
Monday, January 01, 2007
What's Unusual
I'm roasting. Sitting upstairs at the computer & sweating, even though it's winter in Minnesota. (We finally have a wee bit of snow & a whole lot of ice - the roads are skating rinks.) Heat rises, so our second story is always warmer than the main floor. What's unusual about my warmth is that I tend to run on the cold side, so even if a room is warm, I'm the one that's over-dressed. Not tonight. Now I'm stripping layers off.
I'm sitting here listening to a new CD while I blog & surf & sweat. I broke down and bought 2 new CDs for myself, Dave Matthews Band's The Central Park Concert (currently playing) and The Killers' Hot Fuss. Those who know me well know that I'm tight-fisted and have great difficulty spending money on myself. This is a direct result of having grown up in a household that was perpetually short on cash. I was well indoctrinated in scarcity thinking & it's pretty hard to break out of that rut to move into abundance thinking. I keep trying. Buying myself CDs, books, or fiber arts materials is the way I manifest abundance thinking when I can stop myself from worrying about the bills. (Ever notice that there's always one of them due?) I decided to buy these particular CDs after having checked them out of the library & giving them a listen. (See, music biz executives? Sometimes a free listen turns into a purchase.)
My other recent purchase was a nice wooly skein of yarn, hand-dyed, I believe. It cost about $7 for the skein. I also got some circular knitting needles. (I'm going crazy with the Cheese Whiz on this abundance thinking thing. Don't worry, it won't go to my head.) I've decided to knit a hat using a pattern from a book I got for Christmas. I've never knitted in the round before, so it's an adventure. Knitting was one of the last fiber arts forms that I learned. As such, it's been the most difficult for me to master. The hat is going well so far, once I got past figuring out how to join the stitches in a round. (Thank you, sister-in-law!) The next obstacle will be decreasing for the crown, which involves switching to double-pointed needles. If I can lick this, I may just be able to tackle a pair of socks. (Crossing my fingers on that.)
By the way, Happy New Year, readers, and thanks for reading my blatherings.
I'm sitting here listening to a new CD while I blog & surf & sweat. I broke down and bought 2 new CDs for myself, Dave Matthews Band's The Central Park Concert (currently playing) and The Killers' Hot Fuss. Those who know me well know that I'm tight-fisted and have great difficulty spending money on myself. This is a direct result of having grown up in a household that was perpetually short on cash. I was well indoctrinated in scarcity thinking & it's pretty hard to break out of that rut to move into abundance thinking. I keep trying. Buying myself CDs, books, or fiber arts materials is the way I manifest abundance thinking when I can stop myself from worrying about the bills. (Ever notice that there's always one of them due?) I decided to buy these particular CDs after having checked them out of the library & giving them a listen. (See, music biz executives? Sometimes a free listen turns into a purchase.)
My other recent purchase was a nice wooly skein of yarn, hand-dyed, I believe. It cost about $7 for the skein. I also got some circular knitting needles. (I'm going crazy with the Cheese Whiz on this abundance thinking thing. Don't worry, it won't go to my head.) I've decided to knit a hat using a pattern from a book I got for Christmas. I've never knitted in the round before, so it's an adventure. Knitting was one of the last fiber arts forms that I learned. As such, it's been the most difficult for me to master. The hat is going well so far, once I got past figuring out how to join the stitches in a round. (Thank you, sister-in-law!) The next obstacle will be decreasing for the crown, which involves switching to double-pointed needles. If I can lick this, I may just be able to tackle a pair of socks. (Crossing my fingers on that.)
By the way, Happy New Year, readers, and thanks for reading my blatherings.
Labels: abundance, blog, dave matthews band, family, holidays, killers, knitting, minnesota, money, music, scarcity, weather, yarn
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Comparisons
I've got it! When I first posted about The Killers, I mentioned that they reminded me of some other band. Well, it's not ONE other band they remind me of, more like a cross between a couple of bands - Echo & the Bunnymen and The Cure. Somewhere on Hot Fuss, during some little phrase, Brandon Flowers also sounds like Freddy Mercury. You probably don't think so, and that's okay. In fact, you'll probably think that The Killers sound like someone else altogether.
Why is comparison of the unknown to something known such a human trait? I'm sure a scientist or psychologist could give me a good answer to this. Like our fear of the unknown, like our desire to figure things out & we have to do the comparison in order to understand new things. Blah, blah, blah.
The one place where comparisons drive me batty is when they are used to critique a creative artist. "That painting of a nude by Gesso McPainterly has the verve of a VanGogh with a splash of Renoir and a twist of O'Keefe." This practice of comparison during critique has become so commonplace that it's starting to smack of lazy writing. Maybe that's because the comparisons are made within the same field, i.e. new musicians are compared to older musicians, new writers are compared to older writers, etc. What if critics started comparing musicians to writers or sculptors or movie directors? What if they started comparing songs to books or paintings? You might end up with something like this: "The new album of Band X has overtones of a Coen brothers' movie, with the raw quirkiness of Christopher Moore's book "Coyote Blue" and the scattered notes of an Alexander Calder mobile."
People would have to think about comparisons like these, but they'd sure make the critiques more interesting.
Why is comparison of the unknown to something known such a human trait? I'm sure a scientist or psychologist could give me a good answer to this. Like our fear of the unknown, like our desire to figure things out & we have to do the comparison in order to understand new things. Blah, blah, blah.
The one place where comparisons drive me batty is when they are used to critique a creative artist. "That painting of a nude by Gesso McPainterly has the verve of a VanGogh with a splash of Renoir and a twist of O'Keefe." This practice of comparison during critique has become so commonplace that it's starting to smack of lazy writing. Maybe that's because the comparisons are made within the same field, i.e. new musicians are compared to older musicians, new writers are compared to older writers, etc. What if critics started comparing musicians to writers or sculptors or movie directors? What if they started comparing songs to books or paintings? You might end up with something like this: "The new album of Band X has overtones of a Coen brothers' movie, with the raw quirkiness of Christopher Moore's book "Coyote Blue" and the scattered notes of an Alexander Calder mobile."
People would have to think about comparisons like these, but they'd sure make the critiques more interesting.
Labels: art, brandon flowers, christopher moore, coen brothers, comparison, creativity, killers, music, writing
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Relevance Over Time
I'm very much enjoying The Killers' CD Hot Fuss that I mentioned a couple of days ago. Listening to it obsessively, I am. I've mentioned that I'm usually late to finding music that gains popularity among the masses. I'm not one of the early hordes that makes something popular in the first place. But, so what? Isn't it in the best interests of creative artists to have audiences that discover them over time? Sure, it's got to be lovely to have the big horde find you and love you into financial security and fame, but I wouldn't want to lose relevance over time. Whether in music, or art, or literature, or whatever creative endeavor, the way to immortality is to have your stuff speak to people long after you've made it.
Labels: art, creativity, fame, immortality, killers, money, music, security, writing
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Totally Killer Post
Last night, I checked out The Killers' Hot Fuss CD from the library. I've heard a few Killers songs on the radio, seen the video for Mr. Brightside, saw the band on Saturday Night Live (SNL), but had not ever listened to the whole album until today. (Yes, that's me, a day late and a dollar short on popular music.) My favorite song thus far is "All These Things That I've Done." The Killers have a dark happiness to their music. It almost reminds me of some other band's music, but not quite, so the comparison dissolves like a sugar pill on my tongue. Hot Fuss is worth the fuss, along with being a great juxtaposition of words for a title.
When I caught The Killers on SNL, I didn't recognize Brandon Flowers, the lead singer, right away. He had a beard and moustache and casual outfit on, none of which matched the image he adopted for the Mr. Brightside video. His stiff carriage and voice gave him away, but I had to do a double-take to make sure.
That's the extent of my knowledge of The Killers. Not much, I know, but I don't need to know much to enjoy the music.
If you're looking for new music found with a sense of randomness, I'd suggest checking out the CD selection at your nearest library. You, too, might find something Totally Killer.
When I caught The Killers on SNL, I didn't recognize Brandon Flowers, the lead singer, right away. He had a beard and moustache and casual outfit on, none of which matched the image he adopted for the Mr. Brightside video. His stiff carriage and voice gave him away, but I had to do a double-take to make sure.
That's the extent of my knowledge of The Killers. Not much, I know, but I don't need to know much to enjoy the music.
If you're looking for new music found with a sense of randomness, I'd suggest checking out the CD selection at your nearest library. You, too, might find something Totally Killer.
Labels: brandon flowers, killers, library, music, saturday night live
