"...because that is what storytellers do... we restore order through the imagination..."   ~Walt Disney

Building Success - Guy Laliberté & Chrystia Freeland at European Zeitgei...

An interview with Guy Laliberté

On the art of " Just Do YOU!"

Les Trois Inventeurs

A re post: i  never tire of  its inspiration.

Creative People Say No

https://medium.com/thoughts-on-creativity/bad7c34842a2

Kevin Ashton

A Hungarian psychology professor once wrote to famous creators asking them to be interviewed for a book he was writing. One of the most interesting things about his project was how many people said “no.”

Management writer Peter Drucker: “One of the secrets of productivity (in which I believe whereas I do not believe in creativity) is to have a VERY BIG waste paper basket to take care of ALL invitations such as yours — productivity in my experience consists of NOT doing anything that helps the work of other people but to spend all one’s time on the work the Good Lord has fitted one to do, and to do well.”

Secretary to novelist Saul Bellow: “Mr Bellow informed me that he remains creative in the second half of life, at least in part, because he does not allow himself to be a part of other people’s ‘studies.’ ”

Photographer Richard Avedon: “Sorry — too little time left.”

Secretary to composer György Ligeti: “He is creative and, because of this, totally overworked. Therefore, the very reason you wish to study his creative process is also the reason why he (unfortunately) does not have time to help you in this study. He would also like to add that he cannot answer your letter personally because he is trying desperately to finish a Violin Concerto which will be premiered in the Fall.”

The professor contacted 275 creative people. A third of them said “no.” Their reason was lack of time. A third said nothing. We can assume their reason for not even saying “no” was also lack of time and possibly lack of a secretary.

Time is the raw material of creation. Wipe away the magic and myth of creating and all that remains is work: the work of becoming expert through study and practice, the work of finding solutions to problems and problems with those solutions, the work of trial and error, the work of thinking and perfecting, the work of creating. Creating consumes. It is all day, every day. It knows neither weekends nor vacations. It is not when we feel like it. It is habit, compulsion, obsession, vocation. The common thread that links creators is how they spend their time. No matter what you read, no matter what they claim, nearly all creators spend nearly all their time on the work of creation. There are few overnight successes and many up-all-night successes.

Saying “no” has more creative power than ideas, insights and talent combined. No guards time, the thread from which we weave our creations. The math of time is simple: you have less than you think and need more than you know. We are not taught to say “no.” We are taught not to say “no.” “No” is rude. “No” is a rebuff, a rebuttal, a minor act of verbal violence. “No” is for drugs and   strangers with candy.

Creators do not ask how much time something takes but how much creation it costs. This interview, this letter, this trip to the movies, this dinner with friends, this party, this last day of summer. How much less will I create unless I say “no?” A sketch? A stanza? A paragraph? An experiment? Twenty lines of code? The answer is always the same: “yes” makes less. We do not have enough time as it is. There are groceries to buy, gas tanks to fill, families to love and day jobs to do.

People who create know this. They know the 

world is all strangers with candy. They know how to say “no” and they know how to suffer the consequences. Charles Dickens, rejecting an invitation from a friend:

“‘It is only half an hour’ — ‘It is only an afternoon’ — ‘It is only an evening,’ people say to me over and over again; but they don’t know that it is impossible to command one’s self sometimes to any stipulated and set disposal of five minutes — or that the mere consciousness of an engagement will sometime worry a whole day … Who ever is devoted to an art must be content to deliver himself wholly up to it, and to find his recompense in it. I am grieved if you suspect me of not wanting to see you, but I can’t help it; I must go in my way whether or no.”

“No” makes us aloof, boring, impolite, unfriendly, selfish, anti-social, uncaring, lonely and an arsenal of other insults. But “no” is the button that keeps us on.

Another way to fine art!

For my love of excellence!!!

Remembering a dream...

i've seen it.
green more vivid than any i've seen in this world
a blue more shiny than blue could be...
the yellow was white and  the white was yellow...

i turned about, and almost left.
it was those rays reaching that beckoned me to look..
to barely see the  path that was hardly there..
just a few blades of grass bent over from the few feet before..
 the cul-de-sac was the end of  tar and gravel.

not sure whose land i was upon,
up from the pavement i walked where i felt like i didn't belong.
i saw...i think...  the place where the sun rests it's feet. 

trust.

"TRUST"
has long been one of my least favorite words in the english language. It is a  con artist cloaked in phonics.  And I imagine the first person to ever utter it  did so with intention. Having already created a  contradictory reputation by action, they now lobbied for the suspension of another's innate and experiential intelligence with the magical plea  of "...trust me." no. I trust by deeds. They are the numbers of my quadratic human equations.  I trust a person by demonstration of self. Not more and not less. It has a negative sound, but is actually quite positive and allows me to be quite accepting.  Rather than suspend intelligence, I suspend prior expectations. And calculate and equate actions as I do numbers.


Math was not my favorite subject growing up, but it was by far where I received the highest marks. In the 5th grade I was placed in middle school math.  In  middle school,  I was skipped to  high school Math. In college, I  considered it as a major.  (Then I decided to minor in physics or astronomy. was disappointed to learn that  there were no minors in such studies...all or nothing.)
So, I instead went for studies that were less study and more doing--the making of words and things. Ink and clay.   hmph.

[ Ink and clay  | oil dye water and dirt.]

So what to do with such a being?
A heart of water. Wet with emotion, intuition---hyper with sensitivity. A mind of iron.  Churning cogs, oiled mechs  with calculations of an industrial site... 

So... who does she trust? 

everyone. 

especially me.

to be exactly as we are. 

[oil dye water and dirt.]

and she humms...
and i wish and i wish and i wish i didn't see like this
and i wish and i wish and i wish i didn't know like this...
and i wish and i wish and i wish I couldn't conclude like this...
this mind this mind this mind of mine this mind this mind this mind of mine this mind this mind this mind of mine this mind this mind this mind this mind.

i walk the path of 1 and 1
i walk the path of 2 and 3
i walk the path of 3 and 5
i walk the path of life after life
i walk the path of 5 and 8
i walk the path of the winding straight
i walk the path of a golden thirteeeeeeennn.
this mind this mind this mind of mine this mind this mind this mind of mine this mind this mind this mind of mine this mind this mind this mind this mind.

Kyoka Suigetsu

Thinking on Freedom and Discipline...

and synchronized movement...

(The burning of the library of Alexandria

the burning of Shaolin library...

Google, rare books..a digital fire. )

from sketch to vector

http://www.shutterstock.com/blog/2011/06/converting-to-vector-art/
by  Karl Rosencrants

When creating new illustrations, brainstorming often happens by sketching using paper and pencil. Sometimes it can be hard to transfer those sketch ideas into vector art. Here I will outline two different ways to turn your sketches into vector art.

The first step is to sharpen those pencils, get out the paper and start sketching! Just get all your idea out and onto the page. Don’t worry if they don’t look perfect. We will give them better definition inside of Illustrator.

The next step is to scan the sketch pages. Scanning at a resolution of at least 400dpi gives the best definition to some of the smaller sketch lines.
Open the sketch pages inside of Photoshop. Select the favorite sketches out of the bunch and crop them into their own files.

At this point, adjust the Levels. Increase both the Shadows and the Highlights. The goal is to whiten the paper until it is completely white and darken the pencil lines for easier conversion later. Also be sure to erase any lines that aren’t part of the final artwork.

Hint: Hold down Alt or Option, then click on the Highlights slider and the preview in the Levels dialog box will change, turning black for every pixel that isn’t completely white. As you slide the Highlights slider toward the middle, the preview area will turn white for every pixel that turns completely white. The same thing works for the Shadows slider. This will help you ensure that the paper is 100% white, which is important later.

Select the entire canvas, then use CTRL+C or Cmd+C to copy the sketch to the Clipboard. Switch over to Illustrator and paste the sketch onto the canvas.
Here in Illustrator we will explore two different methods of creating vector artwork from these sketches. One is an automatic conversion process and the other is a manual process.
Select the pasted image, and in the properties bar along the top, a Live Trace button will appear.

Live Trace is a command that automatically converts a raster image into vectors. The Levels adjustments done in the previous step will help tremendously with the success of the conversion. The greater the contrast between white and black, the better the automatic conversion.
Click Live Trace and the raster image will be converted into a preview of converted vectors. If the conversion doesn’t look quite as you would like, simply click on the Tracing Options Dialog icon.

This dialog box will allow you to adjust the conversion settings, customizing the results. This step is very subjective, so just play with the sliders and settings until the image looks as desired.
Hint: The Mode chooses between Black and White, Color, or Grayscale conversion results. The Threshold setting will help darken and thicken lines when using the Black and White conversion method. The Path Fitting, Minimum Area and Corner Angle will help smooth out the resulting vector lines.

Click Trace inside the dialog box, and now you will see two options in the properties bar at the top: Expand or Live Trace.
Choosing Expand will convert the preview into vector shapes. The vectors are completely editable as any vector would be. You can change the fill or stroke color, adjust the anchor points, move edges, etc.
Be aware, the white background has also been converted into a shape, so if you don’t need it, delete it.
 
Choosing Live Trace in lieu of Expand will convert the raster image into a special type of vector group called a Live Trace group. All the vector shapes are still editable independently of each other as they were in the previous method. The biggest difference is now the artwork can be colored using the Live Paint Bucket, which is an easier, quicker way to add color to a design.

Activate the Live Paint Bucket, select a fill color, then simply click on an area of the artwork and it will be filled with the selected color. The Live Paint Bucket fills all closed vector areas with color. The active area to be painted will be outlined in Red Highlight to make it clear what area will be filled with color.




Closing all the gaps may destroy the artistic quality of the artwork, or some gaps might be so small, they become nearly impossible to find. So Illustrator has a built in Gap Detection. Simply activate the Selection Tool, click the Live Paint Group, and the Gap Detection icon appears in the Properties Bar at the top. In the dialog box that opens, you will be able to adjust the settings for Gap Detection. With Preview active, the gaps that will be closed with the current settings will be indicated with a red mark.

Click OK, and now the Live Paint should fill in the area as if it were completely closed off.

The manual method of conversion isn’t nearly as flashy as the previous automatic methods, but allows you to customize the artwork, because you are drawing it from scratch.
After pasting the raster image onto the canvas, set the opacity of the layer to around 30%, and then lock the layer. Create a new layer under the raster layer in the Layers Palette and name it Vectors.



Now simply use the sketch as a guide and draw the artwork using all of the vector tools; the Shape Tools, Lines Tools, Pen Tool, etc. Do all of the work in the Vectors layer and the sketch guide will always remain visible above your artwork, allowing you to draw underneath it. If you need a better look at the vector art while you are drawing, simply hide the layer that holds the raster image.

Murmurs

Video of a massive starling flock turning and twisting over a river in Ireland has gone viral, and with good reason. Flocking starlings are one of nature’s most extraordinary sights: Just a few hundred birds moving as one is enough to convey a sense of suspended reality, and the flock filmed above the River Shannon contained thousands. What makes possible the uncanny coordination of these murmurations, as starling flocks are so beautifully known?


.

re·mote·ly

riˈmōtlē/

adverb

adverb: remotely

1. 1.

   from a distance; without physical contact.

   "new electronic meters that can be read remotely"
2. 2.

   in the slightest degree.
   
   
   
   
   

   brain waves

   sonar imaging

   incense  smoke

   galaxy mergings

   screens savers

   breath.

5 Things: Playwriting Tips

as says  marsha norman
(from  5 Things: Playwriting Tips from Marsha Norman)

1.  Story: “The audience only cares about stories that ask questions they are wondering about right      now. You don’t ask directions to a place you don’t want to go. And the questions are always: How do we get through? What are our struggles as human beings on the earth?”
2. The cooked and the raw: “A great play has both something you understand deeply and something you find shocking and perverse.”
3. Home: “Home is where you are able to speak, where you have a voice.”
4. Dramatic conflict: “We can’t be without the battle. That’s the hard-wiring. Humans are heart-filled beings who want to go out and do battle to protect their families. That’s why video games are so popular — they let us relive the experience of being engaged in the battle on our own behalf.”
5. Why Romeo & Juliet should really be called just Juliet: “The main character is the one with the most to lose. Romeo & Juliet is really about Juliet. Face it—Romeo was going to die anyway. But Juliet could’ve married a nice man and been happy.”

Thanks ms. norman. this makes me think about my own "rules" ...i would like to think i have none. But that's not true. But they are a bit different.
1. the story:  i don't know what other people are asking deep questions about, just me. so 1. for me is about my own questions , concerns and inner toilings.  i suppose through creative expression (let's say a Play!) i invite the people into an outward illustration of my insides as i ponder them... at the end there may not be an answer... but at least some comfort found or ...some better questions.

2. The cooked and the Raw perhaps so. but again, it's about what hits me deeply. and how i'd like to make those who participate also feel deeply. I don't need the shocking or perverse. but i do need Awe. Great wonder. the Sensual. Beauty. i need the 3 year old with mouth agape  pointing at a napkin twirling high in the breeze in the middle of time square... yanking my hand to say with a gasp,  "LOOK!" and ask "...how's it doing that???" to me,  those things alone offer questions worth exposing.
3. & 4 Home and Dramatic Conflict.... are the same as 1. for me. as writer, i am the home. i am the conflict. the players  merely a multiple personality type of expression of me as i battle it out.   
   and,
5.  The main Character/Highest Stakes well... in my mind (This is all pretty self-centered, huh?) the audience is the main character. the play will end. but the audience will continue to live. it's there.  that is  where the stakes are highest for me. within a single framed window of time... a character transformation must take place. that is the goal. 
as says i.

New underwater work from declaires

work underway...

(excerpts and  inspirational materials)

..if it's not boiling yet, how can you tell its done...
i  can hear the molecules begin to speed up....

"i'll tell you " 

he said.

 "i'm either way before my time...

or way after."

..so when i was a  girl, i was  a tom-boy to the max..
I  could make the longest skid marks with my bicycle tire, pop the  highest wheelies, and could bare the sting of pine cones against my legs until I reached our fort of hay on the other side of the park. And i still have the scar on my upper  arm from when the boy pushed me down mid race onto a heap of metal 'cause i was already 2 laps ahead of him!

but then there were  the other moments too of course... like the day we  were jumpin the creek...
No problem. This was my fortay! i knew i could clear that creek in one jump without a running start!
Until somebody shouted  "LEECH!" and there in the middle of the creek was a leech this big...

and well, TOM? hmph. Left me! and all the boys were shoutin..."What's you  waitin' for?! Jump!!" My brother. He must have saw it comin. Cause he just looked at me like " ..... (don't. you. dare.)..." They still shoutin for me to come on,  brother still givin' me a solid glare,  but my feet wouldn't move. yep. ..I started to cry. (Oh, it was a shameful day for tom boys that day.)  My brother had to come back to the other side of  the creek to get me. And  worse? He had to HOLD MY HAND! ...as he dragged me to the other side. All the while, i'm still crying and aiming my tip toes like a ballerina at every rock i could find along the  way. ... Come to find out, the leech? Wasn't even a leech. Just a rock under the water, with its tip exposed. It was gonna take me a while to live that one down...

Be More Awesome!

School is back in session.
Met an awesome young man today -- Kasiem.
ah. saw the glow of greatness he is marked with
and with it, he taught me.... 
reminded me that it's all an honor.
direct access to the young human mind and spirit...
a bag of clay.

the basics...

I recently ordered a book called "The 100: Most Influential People in Human History"
.... and,  I know by category it's not a human...but, I  vote sesame street to such a list one day...  for future beings to look back upon as they ponder just what was in place to keep the human spirit --the child within watered and fed.  colorful. alive. happy.  ... the basics.  


" it's not down in any map; true places never are"
                                                                     ~ Herman Melville

how to hollow out a bulb

DIY Hollow Out A Light Bulb

 

http://www.teamdroid.com/diy-hollow-out-a-light-bulb/

When I was growing up I had a keen interest in the sciences. Mostly because of the cool gear that scientists used, you know, beakers, flasks, Bunsen burners that sort of thing. Well, not only did I not have the money for those sorts of thing but I had no idea where to even buy them if I could. So I had to improvise. One of the better improvisations I was able to do was to hollow out a light bulb and use it for other things. The glass that makes the envelope of the build is quite heat resistant and the screw base is good to attach things to (even better if you can find old ones with brass bases, you can solder to those). I made a number of small boilers in order to learn about steam and distillation. I hope to show people that even if a bulb burns out, it can still be useful.

Step 1

You will need some common tools, a screwdriver (regular) and snips (or needle nose pliers). Use whatever bulb you have handy. *CAUTION* Never use a fluorescent bulb for this project, no matter how cool it looks. The powder used to coat the inside of them is made from phosphor and is quite toxic. You’re also working with glass, so use eye protection! You can’t see mine because I’m wearing them. You should also use gloves or wrap the bulb in a towel just in case it breaks. Yeah, you can’t see mine because i didn’t have any handy. So do as I say and not as I do, got it?

Step 2

First, grip the little solder point and give it a good twist. You will free the brass contact and break one of the wires leading to the filament.
Step 3

Once the contact has been pulled out, carefully crack the glass insulator. The chips from this are quite pervasive, they get into just about anything in the area and they are razor sharp. Use caution.
Step 4

After the insulator has been removed you can see the inside supports of the filament and the fill hole. In the old days bulbs were evacuated of atmosphere to keep the filament from oxidising and burning through. Now days the glass envelope is back filled with an inert gas like argon. The keeps the filament from burning through and makes the bulbs safer.
Step 5

Use the screwdriver to break the fill tube.
Step 6

The fill tube could be saved for a later project if you wish.
Step 7

You can now shake the filament assembly out of the tube. If the tungsten wire is still intact you could probably find a good use for it. You could make another light bulb if your stuck for something to do I suppose.
Step 8

The bulb needs a good cleaning. This powder, is called kaolin and is pretty safe. You should still be careful and keep it away from your mouth and anything you might eat near.
Step 9

Mind the sharp bits of glass in the socket when doing this. If you have some stubborn bits inside of it that you can’t get to with this technique you can fill the bulb with a little salt and shake it about. this should scour the powder off the walls.
Step 10

Impression: Pageants Among Mountains

and this sums it up....

...but i make no promises. 

Lesson Planning....

Power of words:

tending to your mind field.

fertile dirt

pull the weeds (life owies, negative words, lil monsters)

plant the seeds (day dream. imagine. speek it write it. claim it in present tense )

 water 

then  the flowers come.

 

 

                                                                                                                               (7 marks completion)

The Sing For Hope Pianos: A Short Documentary

 .

Happy that I get to be a part of this today...gonna paint me a piano!
be sure to stop and play on 'em when you see them...and sing out of tune some too!
lots of love and beauty happening here.
http://www.singforhope.org/about

Testing out a New Work... May 16th Dixon Place

ANALOG
A short Solo Pefromance

"...And all of this is the schism....

 between internal nature and external obligation...

This. This Is what it feels like to be obligated to Blackness-- Carbon. 

When your insides are made of Cadmium Orange." 

Artwork by Nehprii Amenii and the Lamp Light on my desk. thank u light!

DIXON PLACE

161 Chrystie St.

East Village, NYC

Thurs, May 16th

​6:30-11:00pm

6:30-7:30 Drinks, food, performances in the  Lounge

7:30-9:00 Performances in the Theater

9:30-1100 More drinks, more food, more performances in the Lounge

http://sarahafterhours.wix.com/sarahafterhours

MP3 onto Blogger ( was determined to figure it out!)

For those struggling with setting up audio consoles within blogger...

not sure what has caused the recent shifts...

but here's what i've figure out--w/ help of the following sites:

step 1: 

http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/2007/02/add-music-to-blogspot-blog.html

the above link provides the html language to create the audio console however, you need a hosting site-- an online space to provide a url of the file. i was using fileden...tried several. things got shaky.

so...

step 2:
follow these steps in the link below  to create a google site:

http://www.bloggertipspro.com/2012/06/add-mp3-files-to-blogger-part-1.html

it has perfectly clear instructions...that do the job!  except my sound file still wouldn't play. ???
hope it works for everyone else tho...

but if not: try my rigging of step  1 and 2

use the html code  of : (from step 1)

autostart="false"

height="40" loop="true" playcount="2" src="URL of music file" width="300"/>
and insert a link hosted by the google site ( from step 2) 


i've been doing a lot of sound design work/audio editing and so, needed this..but oh my! 
this here above tech- blogging-stuff-- this is my 1st and will be my last! so enjoy it! 
 

Note to the brilliant minds of google: blogger is your weakest link in your attempt to take over the world.
step it up please. you can do it! 

This week...

 

  There is a girl, just trying to catch the train…

                                  ...A mother casting magic…
                                        …And brethren, many brethren, who await.


Inspired by the killings of Black men at the hands of police and other institutions of authority, this work utilizes mixed-media and mask- puppetry to explore the process of dehumanization, positive and negative space, invisibility and well...the MAGICAL-less -ness of it all! A three-part expression of rage, indifference, and celestial knowings.

Friday April 12th and Saturday April 13th
Show times at  7:00pm and 8:15 pm
Pre-show reception with food at 6:30pm and 7:45
 Sponsored by DAPS (Natalie Gross) and The Dean of Studies and Student Life (Dean Al Green)

Performance Arts Center, Open Space, Sarah Lawrence College 
 
*Please note that  audience will stand for the majority of the show and that all large bags will be coat-checked in the lobby.