Julius Henry Marx, or best known by his stage name Groucho Marx, is considered by many one of the best comedians of all time. If you have not heard of him before you probably have seen the famous Groucho Glasses:
Originally starting out as a singing vaudevillian actor along with his brothers, they soon were to ditch their musical stylings for comedic skits. He is best know during this time for his quick talking wise guy character. The look of big framed glasses, with the thick black mustache and eyebrows also originated from his vaudevillian acts where he would apply greasepaint.
After evolving from vaudeville acts to Hollywood making movies with his family. His films were mostly well received and some are considered the most creative products of Hollywood during his time. He was also known for being a radio talk show host, where one of his quiz game shows then became live broad-casted on television. The quiz game highlighted Groucho's form of comedy where it focused on his quick wit and wise cracking. He remained on air for 12 years, during which he won an Emmy.
His style has influence modern many aspects of modern media. Where many comedians carry on his tradition of quick wit banter (John Stewuart, Stephen Colbert). I believe that comedy requires a big source of imagination, where a comedian needs to apply a constant ability to abstract the nature of a situation and distort in a manner that creates some form of perversion that it is funny. This level of imagination, also needs to continually be happening in short bursts that require a huge level of ingenuity and mental concentration. This
level of imagination, also needs to continually be happening in short
bursts that require a huge level of ingenuity and mental
concentration. This use of imagination to extract the abstract
elements of a situation is reminiscent of Einstein’s way of
thinking. Einstein is someone who was able to imagine some of the
greatest theories of physics through his thought experiments in
which he would visualize and distort his environment.
Whether you
personally view Kanye as a creative genius or ranting lunatic, he is doing
something different. He has sold more than 32 million albums and 100 million digital
downloads. He has won 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded
artists of all time. Kanye is more than an egotistical maniac and more than a rapper
from Chicago, he is a social activist.
Kanye began
exhibiting signs of talent at the age of 5 in the form of poetry. His passion
for music and art became apparent in third grade and continued to grow. At the
age of 20, he dropped out of college as the environment was not conducive to
his musical dreams. His mother would later look back on this moment and
comment, “It was drummed into my head that college is the ticket to a good life…
but some career goals don’t require college. For Kanye to make an album called
College Dropout it was more about having the guts to embrace who you are,
rather than following the path society has carved out for you.” Skipping
forward a few years in October 2002, Kanye was involved in a nearly fatal car
crash after falling asleep at the wheel. This near death experience is what
Kanye himself credits as the momentum that sparked the beginnings of his first
album College Dropout and the Kanye we know today.
College
Dropout went against the gangster rap stereotype of hip hop of the time and
exposed themes of family, religion, college, race relations, criticizing
rappers for being poor role models, and self indulgent materialism. One of my
favorite components to this album are the skits throughout. These have the purpose
of setting the stage for the lyrical discussion of the above mentioned socially
fueled topics. Two of the most socially charged songs on the album are “We Don’t
Care” and “Jesus Walks”. “We Don’t Care” is an ironic approach to shedding
light on the influence the thug or gangster life has on youth and how detrimental
this is to underprivileged areas. Lyrics such as,
“Sittin' in the hood like community colleges
This
dope money here is Lil' Trey's scholarship
'Cause
ain't no to tuition for havin' no ambition
And
ain't no loans for sittin' your ass at home
We
forced to sell crack rap and get a job
You
gotta do somethin' man your ass is grown”
which further
touch on race relations as they relate to higher education and therefore opportunities
for poor African Americans. “Jesus Walks” was revolutionary by mentioning a
religious undertone in a rap/hip hop song while incorporating gospel singing. Kanye
discusses the inherent value of all, following up with the repeated lyrics “Jesus
walks for them”. The music video furthers the focus on race relations with slavery related imagery in the chain gang.
This fall, Kanye had a very public mental breakdown. This reminded me of "Secrets of the Creative Brain" authored by Nancy Andreasen and the link between mental illness or borderline madness and creativity. Many creatives have ended their own lives (Virginia Wolf, Earnest Hemingway, etc.) and Kanye has publicly spoken on his suicidal thoughts before. Andreasen concluded that creatives did have a higher rate of hereditary mental illness including bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, panic disorder, and alcoholism. Unfortunately, Kanye too has shown signs of mental illness and I personally have a hope that he addresses this in his next album and brings to light the struggles of this. He has empowered many in the past through his music and I hope he can continue to do so in this new outlet.
However
controversial, Kanye uses himself and his platform to begin the conversation
surrounding pressing issues in a creative way, through music. This is common in some aspects, but was not brought to his genre in such a way that reached mass audiences until College Dropout. Many outside of the groups he is
referring to would not have been exposed to many issues without his music. Having
a more meaningful and socially impactful message than drugs, women, and violence is what has set Kanye
apart from others in his genre and what will continue to propel his success.
Sources:
Andreasen, Nancy. "Secrets of the Creative Brain." The Atlantic Monthly Group (2014): n. pag. July 2014. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
How many uses do you have for a marble? 2? Maybe 5 if you are lucky? I bet you would never think that a marble could make a 4 minute long song. Martin "MacGyver"Molin did just that.
Molin is a Swedish electronica musician who was previously part of a band called Detektivbyrån, who won 2 Grammis awards (the Swedish equivalent of an American Grammy) as well as many other awards for their accomplishments. However, when the band broke up in 2010, Molin started working on a new project: a musical machine.
He wanted to challenge himself by trying to find a new way to mix technology with music. He states in an interview with Wired that he stumbled across the marble machine subculture and wanted to put a new spin on it. When he first had the idea, he thought," Marble machines always make music, but [he] was thinking maybe . . . that it doesn't make chaos, but is actually controllable in the sounds it make." After 14 months and 2,000 marbles later, he finally finished it: the Wintergatan Marble Machine.
Source: YouTube
The video gained attraction and has over 38 million views. The machine has 6 different instrument: the vibraphone, bass guitar, cymbals, kick drum, high hat, and a snare drum. All it needs in order to play all of those instruments is one person turning the wheel. The song that the machine plays was originally composed on the piano and then Molin pieced each part of his machine to fit that tune.
Source: YouTube
All the parts of the machine were crafted by hand. He drew up the plans and cut every single part for the machine. He drew out each part of the machine and then made each piece by wood. It was a very tedious process and it was a "trial, error and failure method", Molin describes. He is currently on tour with the Wintergatan Marble Machine as well as his other new musical contraption; the music box. He knows that this machine is not perfect at the moment and he knows that he eventually has to fix it, but right now "all [he] wants to do is make music".
Molin's experience in creating the Wintergatan Marble Machine reminded me of Guildford's Alternative Uses Task. Instead of "how many uses can you think of for a brick?" it is now "how many uses can you think of for a marble?" (or in his case, 2,000 marbles). He exhibits divergent thinking, which is essential for creativity. Being a Pro-C creative helped his creative process as well. He was an established electronic musician before he created the machine and he used this past knowledge in order to know which instruments needed to be added and how to arrange the music for the machine.
It is only with the help of his past experience that he was able to create such an extraordinary and unique musical instrument.
It's a bit curious when a band is known for
videography, rather than their music, but American rock band OK Go had done
just that. From filming in zero gravity to performing complex routines on
treadmills, their music videos have always had a special, creative element
thrown into production.
Their latest project, The One Moment,
is no exception. The first three-quarters of the video are shot in 4.2 seconds
in real time; with an added 16 seconds of real-time lip-synching and a final
scene of 3 seconds, the video totals out to 23.2 seconds shot in real time. The
video was then slowed down, toggling at different speeds, to sync with the 4.5
minute song. It's no wonder Rolling Stone called this music
video a "marvel" (an understatement, in my opinion).
"The song is a celebration of... those moments
in life when we are most alive. Humans are not equipped to understand our
own temporariness," front man and video director Damian Kulash,
Jr. said about the song. "For the video, we tried to represent
this idea literally — we shot it in a single moment. We constructed a moment of
total chaos and confusion, and then unraveled that moment, discovering the
beauty, wonder, and structure within."
With a total of 318 events happening within
the filmed 23.2 seconds of the video, the final product involved hours of
planning, patience, and hard work. For Kulash, this meant a spreadsheet of 25
columns and 400 rows to synchronize the timing of the song with every
single salt explosion and exploding guitar:
OK Go's project relates to Czikszentmihalyi's
idea of dichotomies (1997). The bright colors and fast pace represent
a playfulness, yet, as seen with this spreadsheet, it took a great
amount of discipline to pull off. OK Go's reputation for imaginative
videos is backed up with the reality of creating a spreadsheet like
the one above to make sure the product comes out well-timed with each
event and each beat of the song. And finally, the band plays music in
line with classic alternative rock music, yet rebels against with
traditional music videos with their creative concepts.
OK Go is masterful at keeping everyone on their toes, so I'm excited to
see what their next music video concept will be.
Sources:
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and
the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper/Collins. - Chapter
3
