Sunday, June 17, 2007
It's Not the Heat . . .
I was on StumbleUpon and found a website for a woman who is putting together a book based on fan experiences of Dave Matthews Band. The woman, Lynda from New York, has created some very fine art inspired by the band's music. Check it out here. There's a link to her MySpace page on her website for more personal info about the artist.
As a writer and artist, the idea of inspiration is an interesting one to me. What is it about a particular band's music, or a particular writer's essay or book, or a particular artist's painting, that drives us to create something new? How does that inspiration turn and twist through the fibers of our own experience and emotions to convolute into something new, something that may, in turn, be inspirational for someone else?
In thinking about this, it would be fascinating to take an inspirational work and put together a schematic of all the additional works the original has spawned. Take something like Poe's "The Raven" and chart out its influence. Hmmm. Has this ever been done before? The genealogy of a work of art?
In other news, it's miserable hot again. No wait! It's not the heat, it's the humidity. Windy as all get out, too. The silvery backs of leaves are showing themselves, which means we're in for rain. It can come none too soon. I'm roasting.
As a writer and artist, the idea of inspiration is an interesting one to me. What is it about a particular band's music, or a particular writer's essay or book, or a particular artist's painting, that drives us to create something new? How does that inspiration turn and twist through the fibers of our own experience and emotions to convolute into something new, something that may, in turn, be inspirational for someone else?
In thinking about this, it would be fascinating to take an inspirational work and put together a schematic of all the additional works the original has spawned. Take something like Poe's "The Raven" and chart out its influence. Hmmm. Has this ever been done before? The genealogy of a work of art?
In other news, it's miserable hot again. No wait! It's not the heat, it's the humidity. Windy as all get out, too. The silvery backs of leaves are showing themselves, which means we're in for rain. It can come none too soon. I'm roasting.
Labels: art, books, dave matthews band, dmb, edgar allan poe, fans, genealogy of creative work, inspiration, minnesota, music, rain, someone working on dmb book, stumbleupon, the raven, weather
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Stumbleupon & Writing
Do you ever get bored with the internet? I do. It's all stuff all the time. Overwhelming really. So overwhelming, in fact, that I tend to get into ruts and look at the same sorts of things all the time. When the itch of boredom gets to me, I start flailing around looking for new blogs or aggregation sites to read. While checking out Pi's blog, I stumbled upon Stumbleupon and did a wee bit of a search. When I don't know what topic to search, I default to Dave Matthews Band, just to see who else has this interest. If this doesn't net me anything interesting, and it often doesn't, I look for writing sites. Stumbleupon had a nice selection of those, which I present to you here:
There's an essay by Kurt Vonnegut on How to Write with Style . . .
Paul Brians' Common Errors in English, which links to a page of errors for reference (lay & lie are always tripping me up) . . .
One Sentence: True stories, told in one sentence (you can submit your own) . . .
and One Word, which is a site that gives you a word and you have 60 seconds to write about it. Good for shutting off the critic and getting down to the business of writing.
There's an essay by Kurt Vonnegut on How to Write with Style . . .
Paul Brians' Common Errors in English, which links to a page of errors for reference (lay & lie are always tripping me up) . . .
One Sentence: True stories, told in one sentence (you can submit your own) . . .
and One Word, which is a site that gives you a word and you have 60 seconds to write about it. Good for shutting off the critic and getting down to the business of writing.
Labels: dave matthews band, english, internet, kurt vonnegut, paul brians, pi, stumbleupon, writing
