Assignment 5...

Since HTML does not seem to work for this blog, I will officially be doing the rest of my posts on the blog Goldenflux Media Inc. Please add this to the class roster under my name when you get the chance.

JAC...

Assignment 4.

(The following is a response to Seth Godin's "Brainwashed", which can be found by going to Change This, a web site determined to deliver all things non-sequitor.)

In Seth Goden's article "Brainwashed" he discusses his concept of layers of self-innovation or reinvention. Though he details seven layers, two of them stuck out to me in particular:..

ACKNOWLEDGE THE LIZARD:

I felt that Goden's point in this section was a bit lost in his attempt to use clever lingo, but I feel like I ultimately understand what he was getting at.

Goden says that the lizard, or "lizard brain", is that instinctual part in all of us that tells us to follow the code, and fears lack of acceptance from society. Goden believes if we acknowledge this primal part of our brain, that we will be able to move past it and progress beyond.

In a way, I guess I would agree with this. I tend to be the type of person who likes to acknowledge a problem rather than ignore it, and this certainly goes for the flaws that I find within myself. I believe someone is always better off identifying their faults than trying to ignore them.

CONNECT:

I agreed strongly with what Goden had to say about connecting. The internet can be a tool for endless pass-times, or can be a tool, that if utilized in the right way, can connect one to the rest of the world. Even when I am on Facebook I try to be aware of the fact that I am on the worldwide domain. On YouTube, I try to make decisions as if my audience could be anyone out there, though only some of my videos have hits in the thousands.

This concept of connecting goes deeper than just media connection, though, in my opinion. If we connect with people and the world around us, then those people can become tools in our own progress. Connectivity is key to success.

DISCUSSION:

I believe that most of Goden's suggestions are good ones, though they tend to be one-minded. It is a good idea to connect, but for a lot more reasons than Goden has listed. Within the concept of connect, Goden focuses almost exclusively on media. He could easily have gone further to explain how media connects people.

I suppose he does this a bit, but I found most of the sections a bit unfulfilling. Overall, I do believe that Goden's suggestions are good, though. It never hurts to be aware of one's self and the world around them, and all of Goden's suggestions seem to revolve around this theme.

JAC...

Assignment 3...

Go to GoldenfluxMediaInc. for my third blog post, as embedded audio/video no longer works on this original blog. Thanks.

JAC...

Assignment 2 Comments...

The following is a list of the people's blogs I commented on for extra credit on Assignment 2...

JAC...

"Find Your Howl": An Auditory Response...

The following is a response to Jonathan Flaum's "Find Your Howl", which can be found by going to Change This, a web site determined to deliver all things non-sequitor.

Response to what Flaum had to say...

The first story that Flaum tells details the quest of a wolf named Mumon. Because Mumon was a red wolf born into captivity, he did not know how to howl properly when he was released back into the wild. Thus, Mumon sets out on a journey to find his "howl".

Along his journey, Mumon meets several animals who give him cryptic advice about finding himself. One of these animals is a deer, who he eventually eats, another is a raven, who tells him he should not feel guilty about killing the deer.

Eventually, Mumon reaches the center of the world. It is there that he finds his howl, which he has now also become. The howl is such a part of who he is, that Mumon and his howl are one.

Flaum seems to see finding one's own howl as a sort of rebirth. He says that one might need to undergo a sort of loss of self in order to grow past who they once were.

One of the main points that Flaum makes that really spoke to me was that we must push through the bad things in life rather than attempting to circumnavigate, or go around them. Flaum believes that jumping over these hardships is losing much-needed adversive experience.

My Own Howl...

(An auditory howl of this poem can be heard by going to Goldenflux Media Inc.)

"Jubilee"

by Goldenflux

Rejoicing, you're voicing your soul to the sea,

No choice in emoting the elation you breathe

And when you are done, the sun he concedes,

That before you came basking he did not believe.

But King Sol himself, with his arm'ry of deeds,

Can't avoid the allure of your mis-guarantees.

Near blind in the gleam of the feats you've achieved,

He still sees you will triumph, and humbly takes leave...

Explanation of Jubilee...

I like this poem because I find it extremely empowering. It doesn't dawdle on the line between confidence and arrogance, the speaker almost seeming to refer to themselves throughout, despite the fact that the entire poem is in the second person.

I would like to see what this poem could be if I expanded it to longer than eight lines, but at the same time it seems to get right to its point within the eight lines that are presented, so I'm not sure that any addition to it would strengthen it in the long run.

JAC...

Assignment 1 Comments...

I commented on the following people's blog posts for extra credit on the first assignment:

Brian Recker.

Lucas Slykerman.

Kent Engel.

Ian Bullington.

Brady Heins.

JAC...

Ideas...

(1B).

(The following is a response to Mitch Ditkoff's article "14 Ways To Get Breakthrough Ideas" which can by found at Change This, a web site bent on spreading what they consider to be important ideas and changing the minds of their audiences. You can also follow Mitch Ditckoff on Twitter.)

In Mitch Ditkoff's article "14 Ways To Get Breakthrough Ideas", Ditkoff attempts to detail certain procedures, or mindsets, that will help the creative individual to find an end to their means. That being said, it seems that Ditkoff does a good job overall of coming up with creative fuel for the creative individual. Below, I have detailed three of Ditkoff's fourteen ways to get ideas. Though I believe most of Ditkoff's suggestion are decent catalysts for contemplating one's creative self, or that which one is currently creating, I believe that these three ideas are particularly advisable to execute for the creative individual...

1) "Follow Your Fascination"...

Though this might seem a bit cliche, or obvious, I believe that this is very good advice. How can one succeed at something if they are not fascinated by it, or passion about it?

A simple example of this from my own life would be taking classes. If I care about a class, I can succeed, but if there is a class that is boring that has little real value in my own life then it is hard for me to find it fascinating. Without this fascination, the passion is lacking, and therefore I tend to do more poorly.

For me, fascination is necessity in creation. I only create (write/produce/edit) things that I am fascinated in, and this seems to do well in giving me the creative momentum I need to complete each new project that I start.

5) "Fantacize"...

Ditkoff says that few of us are ever encouraged to fantasize, and I believe that there is a lot of truth to this statement. I can remember countless times in my life when someone has given me an odd look just for going off on a tangent about one of my ideas or plans. Most people try to think with the masses, because they believe that this is what the masses want and praise.

There are three types of thinkers: the fantasizers, those who do not fantasize, and those who fantasize but keep their mind's more fantastical inventions to themselves...

I personally believe that those who defy the masses, who allow themselves to fantasize and think outside the box, are those who tend to set each cultural norm in its primacy. The only times that I can remember really getting what I believed to be true positive feedback from something I created was when it was something that people found unique, or novel.

9) "Notice And Challenge Existing Patterns And Trends"...

I believe that this final idea goes hand in hand with the previous idea: those who are willing to fantasize tend to notice and challenge the pre-exissting patterns, or trends, within any facet of society.

Within media, these are the revolutionaries who have been willing to study their predecessors, but also to break away from some of the norms and traditions that those forerunners have set. In my previous post, "Creative Influences..." (which can be found below or by clicking the title) briefly details the life of Andy Kaufman, the man and the controversy. Though Kaufman had quite the conventional early career (working for Saturday Night Live and other primetime and mainstream television shows), Andy Kaufman really became a legend when he stepped outside of the box that comedy had been slowly placed into up until that point.

Defying the trends and patterns he knew so well, Kaufman began to start a comedy revolution, able to do so with fame already in tow from his previous work in mainstream television.

With this power, Kaufman suddenly chose to do what he found funny instead of what he was sure his loyal devotees would, such as getting a hundreds-thick audience hyped up only to wind up reading them the entire novel The Great Gatsby. With pranks like this, Kaufman eventually began a new wave of comedy, often leading the audience to question who he was and what he was getting at, whether than just getting them to laugh at singular gags and jokes.

Though he passed away many years ago officially, some people even think Kaufman faked his own death as a joke and is still alive somewhere today, laughing at the world...

It can be hard to defy what works because what works is what people are sure will make money. That being said, when risk is taken, a greater reward can often follow.

THE JIST...

In essence, I believe following one's creative intuition is best, but that being aware of one's audience and how one's creation might be received can be equally important.

CHALLENGE...

After Mitch Ditkoff's fifth suggestion, "Fantasize", he prompts the reader with the following:

"Think of a current challenge of yours. What would a fantasy solution to this challenge look like? What clues does this fantasy solution give you?"

Thinking about my own life in particular, I have been facing a financial challenge for at least a year now. Every college student deals with bills and the works, but if I don't think of a solution for my dilemma within the next ten weeks or so, I could jeopardize my house, and ultimately, my ability to attend Ohio University...

A fantasy solution to this would be if I were to hit the lottery today. I suppose this could be considered a realist solution, but I personally don't believe there is a realistic possibility that I will hit the jackpot any time soon. That being said, the lottery is a fantasy solution to my fiscal problem, or a solution that diverges from reality.

The fact that this solution sounds so perfect and yet so far-fetched clues me into the fact that it might take some realistic, critical thinking to actually solve the problem at hand. Either way, Ditkoff forcing me to address the issue makes me want to come up with creative solutions right this second.

FINAL QUOTE...

"...fantasizing is exactly how many breakthrough ideas get their start - by some maverick, flake, or dreamer entertaining the seemingly impossible."

Mitch Ditkoff.

JAC...

Creative Influences...

(1A).

TO CREATE FOR THE MASSES...

It is hard to define what type of creative person I am, because this is constantly changing...

I started writing when I was six years old when my family moved to Osaka, Japan. I kept a typed journal every day, and though some times this was tedious, looking back on it, I am very happy to have a bank of textual memories.

Since I have been back in the states, I have tried several times to start a journal up again, but always find myself wanting to write something less non-fictional, always finding the stories that I can create in my mind more interesting than telling actual events. This being said, I think I initially wrote for the sake of memory, and slowly moved from there towards creation for self-fulfillment.

I didn't begin writing for others until I was in high school. My freshman year, I started a web site so that my friend Tsuyoshi Sugiyama and I could write together, despite the distance that was usually between us. Unintentionally, this site quickly had over fifty members, becoming a small, online writer's group for a few of us who, despite our ages, believed we had a lot to say.

Summer after my freshmen year of high school, my family moved to Athens and my life changed. At first I saw this move as a bad thing, but eventually found that there were many more people in Athens interested in creating than there had been at my old school. In addition, I had gotten my first video camera eight days before our family made the move, and I was ready to make the most of the tiny Sony Mini-DV despite its limited capabilities...

My second month in Athens (now a sophomore in high school) I began editing on a computer for the first time at the local public access station. Though the audience of channel 23 is no where close to the size of the audience I hope to eventually reach, it was nice to get my message and my movies out there.

I soon realized that it was much more fulfilling to create for an audience than to create just for myself. Though I had enjoyed looking back at my journal from Japan throughout the years, I realized that what it contained would mean very little to people outside of my family.

The dilemma of creation for the self or creation for the masses plagued me for a few years as I transitioned to almost entirely fictional writing. Now, I never wrote anything if I wasn't intending on showing it to at least one other person.

When I entered college, my grades were not high enough to even attempt to get into the media school (then known as the School of Telecommunications). Though I knew by then that being a part of the creative process in film in some way was what I wanted to do, I was forced to choose another major. Unsure what else I would ever want to do with my life, I enrolled in the only other choice that seemed natural to me: creative writing...

And the following two years were unfulfilling. I quickly decided that the only way that I could achieve my goals was to bring my grades up so that I could transfer into the School of Media.

And this year was finally the year that I began classes in video production, a junior-freshmen of sorts. It is very humbling to be so far behind, but it is only all the more incentive to work that much harder towards the goals that I have maintained for so long. Knowing all along that I am the type of creative person that works for the audience instead of himself, I quickly found the outlets within the School of Media that I had sought for so long, finally able to get my message out there...

Influences...

Though I am obviously more of the visual ilk when it comes to creativity, there are few people who inspire me more than the hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco. Inexplicably, Lupe Fiasco has probably inspired me the most creatively in the past two or three years is Lupe Fiasco. Below is the song "Hip Hop Saved My Life" off of his 2008 album "The Cool":

Lupe Fiasco...

The thing that I probably love most about Lupe Fiasco is his lyrics. In one verse, his text and subtext can be speaking complete opposites. In the example above, it seems the the young rapper that Fiasco is talking about has no talent, but the understanding the subtext lets you know that this is the point: that it does not take greatness to become famous now.

Andy Kaufman...

Though I give a longer explanation of Andy Kaufman and why he inspires me in my next post, "Ideas...", I will say that there is no one who compares to Andy Kaufman comedically in my mind. His willingness to intertwine the audience's expectations with his own, opposing delivery is, to me, sheer genius. One of the methods that Kaufman often used to employ is the idea of tension and release. Kaufman would often build up tension in the audience, such as when he would challenge any woman in the audience to come up and wrestle him, offering them his hand in marriage if they were to beat him. The audience would be on the edges of their seats until eventually the gag would be revealed. Some times, Kaufman would defy the dyad of tension and release, only building up the tension with no release (such as the story about The Great Gatsby in my next post). Though this would usually create a negative reaction from the audience, this negative reaction seemed to be what Kaufman worked towards and thrived on.

Sin City...

Sin City, directed by Robert Rodriguez, has to be one of my favorite films of all time. There is something that is so cinematically, visually inspiring to me time and time again.

I think one of the ways the Rodriguez succeeds in making this film so captivating is by playing to the audience's conscious and subconscious minds. Consciously, we see that there is a lack of color except for a few reds, blues and yellows. Subconsciously, however, and most likely unbeknownst to us as the audience, the colors are creating a certain perception of the characters and events. Consciously, we see that Mickey Roark is covered in a deep, red blood that contrasts the greyscale surrounding him, but subconsciously we may not realize what that red color triggers in our minds.

FINAL QUOTE...

"It's so loud inside my head/with words that I should have said."

Lupe Fiasco.

JAC...

First One...

First edit using iPhoto (Stiffy munching lettuce).

JAC...