Archive for November, 2008

Do you know your creative breaking point?

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

Scene: My living room, last night. Me and my husband on the couch, he’s watching tv and I’m working on my laptop.

“ARGH!” I yelled at my computer. “What stinking piece of code do I need to change to get this to work?!”

My husband looked at me like I was crazy, “honey, why don’t you just put it away for the night and relax. It will go better if you give it a break.”

I looked at him and thought, “what does he know?” but said “Just give me 10 more minutes, I swear I can figure it out.” 10 minutes later, I was still just as frustrated and had somehow changed every piece of text to italic, yet I couldn’t find a single broken <em> code anywhere. I exhaled a huge breath and muttered ‘screw you code. Screw you.’

When he heard that, he took my computer from my lap, clicked save on the document and closed the top. “Honey, you really shouldn’t work past your limit, working at breaking point does no good for anyone.”

…Sometimes he gets things so right on it amazes me (and helps me come up with great posts)!

What he made me realize was I had reached my limit probably an hour ago, but because I’m so stubborn, I kept working. And, even though I was working, I wasn’t getting much done (in fact I messed up a section of code so bad I couldn’t figure out what I did). The reality is, we all do it. We’ve all worked until we are too frustrated and exhausted to make positive changes to the project we are working on. We do it because many of us don’t know that we have reached our limit until we have gone too far. Now, I barely know my limit, let alone am able to tell you yours. I can tell you, creativity seems to fit a curve:


The closer you get to your breaking point, the worse your creativity levels and the less beneficial you are to your project. So, the next time you are feeling frustrated with a project, take a step back and see if you’ve reached your breaking point.

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Today’s images brought to you by the word “Twitter”

Friday, November 21st, 2008

Each friday I try to show off a piece of art, music or photography from an artist that I have found. If you have someone that you love, or a piece that makes you feel creative, let me know – I’m always looking for great new creative minds!

Today’s creativity is brought to you by the word “Twitter”. All of the following photographs, images and designs are from different people that I follow on twitter. Being creative is not reserved for those who get paid for it (although a few of them do) – creativity is for us all. Below each image is their Twitter name. Enjoy their creativity (I know I do!) And if you haven’t, follow me on twitter for my creative ramblings

@simplyamusing

@simplyamusing

@mcritz

@mcritz

@shoesmitten

@shoesmitten

@minxdragon

@minxdragon

@kennysaunders

@kennysaunders

Is there someone you’ve seen on twitter that has great images? Feel free to share their link as well!

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Are you getting in the way of yourself?

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Is trying to figure out what to do stopping you from actually doing it?

Do you spend more time planning your to-do list than crossing things off it?

Are you allowed to just go for it and see where it takes you or do all projects require a map?

Do you force your creativity conform to a set rules or do you let it run free?

My goal is to get you to think about how you can allow yourself a little more freedom to get things accomplished, rather than just planning what needs to be! Try answering the question: What can you do today to help your creativity tomorrow?…and see where it takes you.

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Apparently the department of defense is creative too?

Monday, November 17th, 2008

Despite your political affiliation, we are all for our soldiers coming home alive. Creativity is at the heart of this goal. We have to be creative about our attack methods, creative about our strategic planning, and most importantly, the most creative and technologically advanced in our weapons and tools. We often think that true creativity is reserved for the artists and musicians of the world. That technology companies, although their products may be revolutionary, aren’t really that ‘creative’. I guess this all depends on how you see creativity. I see creativity as a person or a product that changes the way we look or think about something – and the “Big Dog” from Boston Dynamics definitely fits the bill.

The department of defense’s recent prototype definitely brings creativity to a whole new level. Not only could this be amazing for recon work, but imagine the ability to send in a whole army of these with weaponry. We would never need our boys on the front lines again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww – watch around the 36 second mark – the thing catches itself!!

What do you think? Is this actually an example of creativity?

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When movies and creativity don’t mix…

Sunday, November 16th, 2008

Have you ever created a document, a slideshow, a presentation or a marketing piece and realized after it was too late that you made a mistake? Nothing so big that it ruins the document or the speech, but something that gets pointed out to you after? Now imagine making a mistake in a movie that millions of people will see. The director and producers of movies spend huge amounts of money to make sure that the cup in a girls hand stays the same color, the hair part is on the same side, or the lightswitch is on when it should be. Unfortunately, when we the creativity of the director gets involved – some things can’t help but slip through the cracks.

The key to remeber is that these mistakes never ruined the movie or the creative idea behind it. This is an important fact to remember when you are working on your own project. Perfection is not what makes you creative, sometimes mistakes are inevitable in order to let creativity flow…

But then again, it is always fun to point out those little errors ;) ! For those with a bit of type A in them (I can’t help it…), here are the best movie mistakes of all time.

1

Commando

After chasing down Sully, the yellow Porsche is totally wrecked on the left side, until Arnie drives it away, and it’s fine.

2

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The criminologist describes the events of the movie as taking place “on a late November evening”. In the very next scene, Brad and Janet are driving in Brad’s car, and President Richard Nixon’s resignation speech is playing on the radio. Nixon resigned in August of 1974.

3

Charlie’s Angels

When the Angels are fighting the “Creepy Thin Man,” right before Drew Barrymore lifts up Lucy Liu to spin her around and kick the thin man, to get Lucy’s attention, Drew hollers out “Lucy!” even though Lucy Liu’s character’s name is “Alex.”

4

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

In the scene where John & Catherine are in the hangar at the runway, the Cessna’s tail number is N3035C. When the plane is shown in the air, the number is N3973F. When they land, the tail number has changed back to N3035C.

5

Star Wars

When the stormtroopers break into the control room, the stormtrooper on the right of the screen hits his head on the door frame. On the DVD release they’ve added a thump when he hits it.

6

American Pie

In the bedroom scene the girl is holding a clear cup full of beer. The camera goes off her and when it comes back she is holding a blue cup. The camera goes back off her then on her and the cup is clear again.

7

The Matrix

In the scene where Agent Smith is interrogating Neo, after Smith has sealed Neo’s mouth shut and he is backed into the corner, when the camera cuts back to Smith you can clearly see a reflection in his glasses of Neo still sitting down in the chair.

8

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Just as Jack says, “On deck, you scabrous dogs,” to the very left edge of the screen over Jack’s shoulder is a grip crew member with a tan cowboy hat, white short sleeve tee shirt and sunglasses, just standing there looking out to sea.

9

Gladiator

In the “Battle of Carthage” in the Colosseum, one of the chariots is turned over. Once the dust settles you can see a gas cylinder in the back of the chariot.

10

Spider-Man

In the scene where Mary Jane is being mugged by four men, Spider-Man throws two of the men into two windows behind Mary Jane. The shot switches to Spider-Man beating up the other two guys. When it cuts back to Mary Jane the two windows are intact.

11

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Merry and Pippin were bound when taken by the Uruk-hai, and the bonds weren’t cut until after they managed to escape during the fight. Yet, when the horse almost crashed down on Pippin, he had his arms spread out up near his face, not bound, even though they weren’t cut until later. In the next shot, his hands are bound again.

12

Black Hawk Down

Near the end of the movie when the convoy is heading back to the Pakistan Stadium, a Humvee stops briefly to allow a man to walk across the street with a child in his arms. When the shot changes and the Humvee begins driving again, a crew member or cameraman is seen inside the Humvee wearing a white shirt. All of the men who entered the Humvee were wearing fatigues.

13

P.S. I Love You

After Gerry gets smacked in the face by the ‘broken’ suspender clasp, we see the silver clasp land under the dresser. Yet, when he’s moaning and lifting his leg to get onto the bed, <i>we can actually see the clasp still intact on the front suspender that came loose</i>, which is dangling right behind him (just look between his legs). Of course, in the next shot, that clasp is gone. Since the silver clasp is one of the plot points, this is bizarre to say the least.

14

Titanic

The lake that Jack told Rose he went ice fishing on when she was threatening to jump is Lake Wissota, a man-made lake in Wisconsin near Chippewa Falls (where Jack grew up). The lake was only filled with water in 1918 when a power company built a dam on the Chippewa River, six years after the Titanic sank.

15

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

At the beginning of the scene near the end of the movie with Lucius Malfoy fuming at Dumbledore in his office, Malfoy’s hair is fanned back behind his shoulders. The lighting in the room illuminates the back of his neck, where you can see his real, short brown hair.

16

Teen Wolf

In the scene of the championship game, one of the final shots shows Scott’s Dad coming out of the crowd to congratulate him. There is a fan behind him who stands up to cheer and deliberately exposes himself to the camera.

17

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

When Harry, Ron and Hermione rush to Hagrid after the end of the year exams, and Harry is saying something that ends with, “Why didn’t I see it before?”, Hermione is mouthing part of that line.

18

Ocean’s Eleven

Linus and Rusty are standing in the Botanical Garden at the Bellagio going over Linus’ observations. Rusty has a cocktail glass of shrimp in hand. When they change angles he has a plate in his hand, then change back, it’s a glass.

19

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

In the scene where Sam and Frodo are in the field with the scarecrow, you can plainly see a car cruising past in the distance, from right to left. Further comment – there are two different shots which show the car moving from right to left. One starts at the top right distance, and in a shot a few seconds later the car has traveled down the road a bit and is more easily visible. Complicating matters is that the dust thrown up by the car looks similar to smoke from a chimney in the right distance, making some people think it is just the chimney. But chimneys don’t move, and the smoke from the chimney is separate from the moving vehicle. <em>[It is deleted on the DVD, but you can still see an obvious bit of image fakery on the hill just left of the smoking chimney. One can see the hill, tree, and surrounding area move up and down and shimmer slightly where someone has done a cut and paste to cover up the auto. The "car inclusive" scene appears on the National Geographic documentary, "Beyond the Movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." Also, watch the music documentary on the Extended DVD - when it shows this scene the car is still in it. Bizarrely, in his commentary Peter Jackson said he never saw a car and doesn't know what people are talking about, but the production/post-production team say in their commentary that despite not thinking anyone would be able to see it, they took it out anyway.]</em>

20

X-Men 2

In the end, when the President is visited by the X-Men, he receives a blue binder, which is laid in front of him on the table. When they have left, you see a shot including the President’s desk, and you can see that the only thing he has on the table are some sheets of paper, stapled in the upper left corner, opened up. Then the shot changes to a close-up of the President, and then back again, and you see the blue binder in front of him, closed, and the papers have disappeared.

21

The Wizard of Oz

In the beginning while Dorothy is still on the farm, she walks along the pig pen fence and then falls in. When Bert Lahr picks her up out of there her dress is perfectly clean.

22

Raiders of the Lost Ark

While Indy and Marion are in the Well of Souls, and they encounter the snakes, Indy falls to the ground only to be confronted by a hissing Cobra rearing its head. Look carefully and you’ll see the snake’s reflection on the safety glass between it and Indy. Briefly you can also see the torch’s reflection while he’s waving it around. <em>[This has been corrected in the new DVD set. You can only see it if you have the original VHS. I think it's visible in the "making of" on the DVD as well.]</em>

23

Die Another Day

In the final fight scene on the plane between Jinx and Agent Frost, Jinx is slashed across her stomach, drawing blood. In a later scene, when Jinx and 007 are pouring diamonds over one another in the hut on the cliff her stomach is unblemished.

24

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

The T-1000 punches his body through the window of a helicopter to get inside. An instant later, the hole in the windshield is gone.

25

Top Gun

At the end, a victorious Maverick is hoisted on the shoulders of the guys. As he goes up, he isn’t wearing sunglasses. His head goes out of the shot, and when he comes down, he’s wearing a pair.

26

Jurassic Park

In the scenes where there’s a video link to the docks shown on computer, there’s a bar moving along the bottom of the screen, showing us that it’s actually a video that’s just playing on the computer.

27

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

The movie is supposed to take place in and around New York City, however during the car chase where Angelina and Brad are fighting off the three BMW’s, a wide shot clearly shows a street sign announcing Los Angeles.

28

Beauty and the Beast

In the ‘Gaston’ song sequence, near the end, Gaston is sitting in his huge antler chair with Lefou. In the wide shot, there is a bear rug behind the chair. The camera does a close up of Gaston, then in the next wide shot, the chair is on top of the bear rug. Also, after this, Gaston gets up off of the chair and in the next shot, both the chair and the rug disappear completely.

29

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones

When Amidala & Anakin are eating and he cuts her a piece of the fruit and “floats” it back to her, the bite appears in the fruit a split second before she actually eats it.

30

Grease

In the soda shop, the waitress turns off the lights with her elbow because her hands are full, but she misses the light switch by 6 inches.

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Where does the water go?

Friday, November 14th, 2008

We all know how frustrating it can be when you have to clean out your rain pipe. But what if your rain pipe looked like this?

This pipe was found in Germany, and is one of the most visually impressive I have seen. The great news is the ones being created in Seattle are not only visually impressive, but are part of a green project by Buster Simpson to create a way for rain pipes to feed the plants in the area.

Yes, it is a little over the top to ‘go green’ but the thought behind it is great.

What are you doing to create a greener environment? As shown by these piping designs, you don’t have to give up your creativity or style to go green…

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Creating a conversation and a new clothing line

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

Creativity can stem from the strangest places.

I can’t even count the number of times I have seen a building, overheard a conversation (if they are talking so loudly that they can be heard clearly 10 feet away, it’s not eavesdropping!) or in this case, read a tweet and gotten motivation. For those of you who haven’t joined the Twitter phenomenon, you are missing out on a constant flow of creativity that can aide even the most blocked mind. I have found that n my toughest days, spending 30 minutes reading through the twitterverse and seeing what is going on can often bring me back to focus. One of the twitterers that I follow, @HappyHourBoston, is a unique clothing designer with some great thoughts on life. Until recently, I had never actually checked out the clothing line (sorry…) but I was a little ‘blocked’ today, and a tweet about a stencil caught my eye, so I journeyed to check out the site. And, just like I thought, looking around definitely jumped my creativity (and impressed the heck out of me!). Happy Hour Clothing has started creating clothing based on the twitter conversations from the day!Not only is is a great idea – the look is awesome. I can’t wait to see what their next design is!
What can inspire you today? What interesting places have you found your creative ideas?

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High Tech fountain causes people jam

Monday, November 10th, 2008

I realized that I have been really bad about keeping up my Friday photography and art, as Friday’s tend to be a bit crazy and don’t really allow my mind (or my fingers) time to search for something worthy of showing off. But, I do love interesting photography and art so I have decided not to restrict it to Friday. Today, the art comes from Japanese technology. This incredible fountain is in a mall in Japan and has caused a few people jams…and I can understand why! The dolphins around the 16 second mark blew my mind…

Which is your favorite? What do you think of the fountain – waste of money or worth the creativity?

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Turn back your clocks and turn up your creativity.

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

The last few months have been tough for us all (and I don’t even want to think about tomorrow…) but so far, I am surviving. It may be just barely, and it may not be the most fun, but it is still surviving.

Although it isn’t exactly the first of the month, it is the first Monday and therefor the first day of this month that I am thinking about work and how to keep it going for the next few months. One of the best ways for me to start a month off right is by learning something new that I can spend the rest of the month trying to improve. For example, last month was my time to focus on learning to use photoshop better than I already can. This month, I have decided to take a step back and review some of the basic web design tricks. Often we are so focused on moving forward that we forget to go back to basics, but with how crazy everything is around me right now, it feels good to go through and simplify a few things – plus, there are always new tricks I can pick up…because unfortunately, as much as I wish I did – I don’t know everything ;) .

What new tricks can you pick up? Is there a great tutorial site you turn to for help?

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