Jack Guarnieri: Bringing Pinball to a New Generation

 Pinball has been around for almost one hundred years. In that time, the game has changed significantly. From original machines that had simple mechanics powering to the modern pinball machines with special effects and full videos contained within, pinball has always been about engaging the player into a specific setting. This makes it important for the theme of whatever game is being played to be engaging and fun. This is something that Jersey Jack Pinball founder Jack Guarnieri is aware of, as he continues to produce top rated pinball machines in the modern era of pinball.

Jack started in the pinball industry as a pinball mechanic in high school. With an innate interest in mechanics and electronics, Jack spent thirty five years fixing and selling pinball machines. In 1989, he opened two different arcades filled with coin operated arcade games and of course, pinball machines. In the 2000's, many pinball companies were going out of business, limiting the diversity of what pinball games existed. When only Stern Pinball, one of the biggest and most famous pinball companies remained, Jack decided to become a manufacturer himself; causing him to create Jersey Jack Pinball. Since Jersey Jack was founded in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, Jack has been focusing on making new pinball machines based on famous IPs including The Wizard of Oz, The Hobbit, and Toy Story.

Jack has noted that his creative process involves finding what theme will interest younger players. One thing he realized as he was in the pinball industry was that not a lot of kids or adolescents were playing pinball.  Jack Guarnieri is motivated by the hope that each new game will bring a new audience into the interest of pinball, which is always wonderful to see. Jack will go through several ideas before a final theme is decided on. During this process, he will modify and edit what is within the machine. Jack has explained that one perk of this process is that the game must be constantly tested, either by employees, or himself. 

I have been involved in the pinball community since I was a child. In my house we have somewhere between eight and twelve pinball machines that are being played or worked on. Seeing that there are still creators who are willing to bring new ideas into pinball is inspiring and makes me hopeful for the future of pinball.

Machine Gun Kelly - 2 careers in 2 genres of music

 Machine Gun Kelly, whose real name is Colson Baker, is a punk rock and hip-hop artist who is known for switching music genres abruptly 2-3 years ago. Machine Gun Kelly - also called MGK - began his music career back in 2009 at the age of 19. He began in the hip-hop genre, creating 5 full albums and numerous mixtapes until he abruptly dropped a punk rock album in September of 2020. His last two studio albums have been exclusively punk rock music and a new image of 'MGK' is beginning to form. How then did this artist go about doing a complete 180 in the music that he produced and have his sources of creativity shifted as well?

One of the biggest contributors to MGK's ability to create different genres of music is the fact that he is intrinsically motivated to do what he loves - to make music. In an interview done with Kerrang, MGK has said that he hasn't experienced the stressful burden of writer's block since 2015. His unplanned creative process went as follows: he would go out and party for the night and return to the studio in the early mornings, fresh with inspiration and ideas. Many of the imperfections and mistakes that were made in the studio were actually kept during the final cut as well. MGK believes that the "best part" about creating projects is that "all of the kinks make it to the album". He believes that they best capture the personalities of himself and his band. 

The new punk rock music that Machine Gun Kelly released was met with some early criticism. In the same interview with Kerrang, MGK notes that he knows that he had angered existing punk rock bands with his music. However, he has embraced it. He claims "I know it kills certain bands in that community that I got the success that I got, but I deserve this sh*t". 

Given that he has made a very successful career in music, Machine Gun Kelly is deserving of the pro-C title. He is definitely a professional in his field and has lots of success as well (in 2 genres too!). He is not quite to the level of a Big-C creator, but one day he may get there. Confident, unwavering, and open to adventure, MGK will continue to be a pioneer in music despite what other may think or say about him.

Sources:

https://www.kerrang.com/how-machine-gun-kelly-became-the-most-important-rock-star-on-the-planet

https://loudwire.com/machine-gun-kelly-pop-punk-success-earned-interview-mainstream-sellout/

https://images.complex.com/complex/images/c_fill,dpr_auto,f_auto,q_auto,w_1400/fl_lossy,pg_1/zuluyusih4jrosvyq1oq/machine-gun-kelly-responds-to-critics-who-think-hes-new-to-rock-scene?fimg-ssr-default

Joe Keery and his Surprising Stage Persona, Djo

 

Joe Keery was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts and throughout his childhood he did theater, attended performing arts camps, and acted in high school. This led to him studying theater at DePaul University where he graduated in 2014 with a degree in acting. After graduating from DePaul, Keery went to hundreds of auditions before finally landing his breakout role as Steve Harrington in Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things. While Keery is easily recognizable on screen, many people don’t know that he is also a talented musician and has been releasing music for years under the moniker Djo.

Keery started his music career as the guitarist and drummer for psych-rock band Post Animal. He released two albums with them in 2015 and 2018. Soon after the release of Post Animal’s second album, Keery had to part ways with the band due to acting commitments. However, he did not stay away from making music for long as in July of 2019 he self-released the single “Roddy” under the name Djo. Shortly after in August of 2019, he released his debut album titled Twenty Twenty.

His second album titled Decide was released in September of 2022 and was delayed much more than Keery had originally planned with more than three years in between albums due to his filming schedules and COVID slowing down production. However, due to this large time delay between albums, Decide really marks his evolution as an artist. This album showcases a more personal approach to songwriting, as described by Keery himself, it serves as “an oral history of his twenties”. Keery used this album as a way to make sense of the crazy journey he has been one from being a broke college student to a sudden rise in fame. He states that he did not try to edit himself in this album and instead tried to embrace the ugly side of himself as he felt it was more authentic. When commenting on his music writing process, Keery said that his favorite part is the arranging and producing process of music.

The moniker of Djo comes in the picture as Keery says he did not want his name to be so closely linked to his career as an actor. He states his goal with the stage persona is as a way to disassociate the music from the character that everyone knows him as on Stranger Things. While he is grateful for the boost in listeners from his success in acting, he wants the quality of his music to stand up for itself. This demonstrates his intrinsic motivation for producing and creating music. He likes to create something that is personal and stands up to his measures of success not extrinsic quantifiers of success. Additionally, he says there is a difference between his directing brain and performance brain and he is constantly switching between the two and learning to compromise. If Joe Keery and his unique persona of Djo can continue to push the boundaries of psych-pop, I believe he could be seen as a pro-C creative one day.

Sources:

https://www.iheart.com/content/2022-09-18-strange-things-star-joe-keery-reveals-shocking-musical-influence/#:~:text=Stranger%20Things%20Playlist&text=%22I%20really%20do%20love%20pop,That's%20an%20influence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsne0Gd9qKo

https://www.nme.com/features/tv-interviews/joe-keery-stranger-things-interview-djo-music-3287081

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Keery

Truman Capote: In Cold Blood

After reading and analyzing Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood in my English True Crime class two weeks ago, I instantly became intrigued by Capote’s method, personality, and motivation that allowed him to craft such a captivating novel. In Cold Blood recreates the true story of the Clutter Family Murders that took place in November of 1959 in Holcomb, Kansas. Capote’s extensive experience as a novelist combined with his techniques in journalism make the reconstructed telling of the Clutter Family Murders seem as though they are simply a product of his own imagination—characters that you know so well that it is only fitting that Capote must have created them. 

Truman Capote had a somewhat tumultuous childhood. Being the child of divorced parents, he found himself living with various older relatives in small towns of Louisiana and Alabama throughout his childhood. Upon his entrance into high school, Capote reunited with his mother and stepfather in Millbrook, Connecticut. After having completed high school, Capote decided that he was finished with his academic career. Instead of achieving higher education, Capote began to practice his passion—writing. 

Truman Capote’s earliest writings are fictional and based on his childhood experiences. However, his unique craftsmanship of In Cold Blood was different from anything that he had ever written before. Capote used a “journalism-101 approach” while composing In Cold Blood. This approach is evident in the notebooks that Capote kept during the information-collecting process of his composition. The notebooks used contain Capote’s questions about the crime, sketches of the Clutter House (crime scene), and interviews with the mother of a young girl of whom baked cherry pies with Nancy Clutter, one of the victims, on her last day of life. Another interesting detail of Capote’s journalistic approach is his traveling partner—Nelle Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird. Capote stated that Lee “kept [him] company when [he] was out there.” Lee accompanied Capote on various interviews and kept her own collection of notes, which Capote referred to during his writing process. 

In addition to Capote’s journalistic approach to researching and writing In Cold Blood, he applied a “hybrid” verbatim method. This method is especially evident in some of the quotes from real-life characters in the novel. During Capote’s researching phase, he interviewed many people associated with the crime, including those that knew the Clutter Family and the killers themselves. While many conversations in the novel contain true details of what happened, Capote oftentimes filled these quotes with novelistic information. For example, Capote included accurate depictions of the food that the murderers consumed after killing the four Clutter Family members based on receipts that he had found during his research. However, Capote added his own flavor when further detailing the longwinded conversations had between Perry Edward Smith and Richard Hickock (the murderers). 

Truman Capote’s writing process seems to revolve around his superstitious personality. For example, Capote will never begin or end anything on a Friday. He refuses to travel on a plane with two nuns, as he believes it is bad luck. Capote will not put three cigarette butts in the same ashtray. He will not allow yellow roses around him. Lastly, Capote will not call a given person if their phone number “adds up to an unlucky figure.” Other aspects of Capote’s writing process include writing longhand while lying down. Capote has stated that he is “a completely horizontal author.” As the day goes on, Capote often transitions from coffee to alcohol while writing. 

Truman Capote’s thinking style regarding In Cold Blood is exemplary of the collecting method. The collecting method, as noted in the mechanisms lecture, was utilized by Steve Jobs while creating the Mac. Collecting focuses on gathering and organizing information already present in the world and using the information to create a unique product. Capote demonstrates his utilization of the collecting method of thinking by combining his creative abilities as a novelist with the material gained through his journalistic approach to craft In Cold Blood. 

Sources:

https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2019/09/the-notebooks-behind-truman-capotes-in-cold-blood/

https://famouswritingroutines.com/writing-routines/truman-capote-writing-routine/#:~:text=Truman%20Capote's%20creative%20process,am%20a%20completely%20horizontal%20author

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/12/28/home/capote-interview.html?r=1

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Truman-Capote

The father of online shopping: PayPal and Elon Musk

    
    Elon Musk is a South African tech entrepreneur responsible for running three of the world’s most successful companies: Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX. He also was the architect of many other crucial aspects of the tech world, but one specifically stands out: PayPal.

 

Everyone knows about Elon’s current successes with Twitter and Tesla. But to truly understand his creativity, we must go back to the very beginning. In 1999, Elon Musk founded a company known as X.com. It was a hybrid website combining online banking with e-mail. In fact, it was one of the first online banks that was federally insured with FDIC. In 2000, X.com merged with Confinity another online bank, to streamline profits, as X.com was not as well-known as Confinity’s emerging software PayPal. Musk, then established Microsoft as their software system for running PayPal. This created a divide between many employees who preferred a different style software system. However, this Microsoft base code would propel PayPal to new heights even after Elon musk's departure from the board as CEO. As a result of the success of the Microsoft based system, eBay bought PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion, and Musk received $176 million from the sale. 

 

His divergent thinking when using the Microsoft base code was definitely unpopular among the staffers at PayPal. However, it allowed the company to move forward with a software that would stand the test of time. The old software, known as UNIX, is a very intricate system with multiple subsidiaries and multiple different types of language associated with the program. However, by using Microsoft, Elon Musk was focused on the long-term future of the company. This is pay dividends for PayPal in the following years since its acquisition by eBay. This is because, now every website with a transactional service or good has a PayPal option. The simple UNIX software would not have been able to handle all the traffic that PayPal currently receives today. It was a very smart business and logistical decision to switch over to Microsoft.

 

Additionally, his neurodivergence allows him to see things other people are not able to. Elon Musk has Asperger's Syndrome, a high functioning form of autism that causes lack of nonverbal communication skills, along with mental rigidity, and an ability to hyperfocus on things that are of interest to them. This hyperfocus pairs with the ability of many people with Asperger's to think of unorthodox solutions to the problems that are in front of them. This ties directly back into PayPal. No one at the current state of PayPal in 2000 would have thought to completely terraform the software system to make it for the long term. But Elon Musk did, and it allowed PayPal to blossom into the online banking super network that we know and love today. This Asperger's syndrome diagnosis also empowers other people socially. Before Elon Musk came out with his diagnosis during his monologue on Saturday Night Live, people thought of Asperger's progressively, but with limitations on what people with this ability could do. Now, the full potential of Asperger's syndrome is on display with Elon Musk, all the way from a young man who founded a banking company that transformed the world, to an old soul launching rockets into space with the goal of colonizing Mars.

Chris Roberts-Antieau: It's all about joy!

    Chris Roberts-Antieau is an American fiber artist, born, raised, and based in Michigan. She has Antieau Gallery branches in Santa Fe and New Orleans, as well as a frame shop, also in New Orleans. Growing up, Roberts-Antieau did poorly in school and was never recommended for college, which she ultimately never went to. On top of this, she never attended art school, for which she is “grateful-eternally” as she “never learned what not to do.” 

    Over Spring Break, I had the opportunity to visit the Santa Fe branch of Antieau Gallery. I went in completely unaware of Roberts-Antieau’s work, but immediately, I was taken aback by the incredible intricacy and level of talent she displayed. Though she dabbles in multiple areas of craftsmanship, the vast majority of Roberts-Antieau’s pieces are embroidered tapestries, done in such minute detail that they look painted. 

Traveler

    Completely self-taught, Roberts-Antieau learned to sew in seventh grade, but didn’t truly begin her artistic career until the 1980’s, when she was in her early thirties. She initially sewed 3D sculptures of various circus performers. But, eventually she began turning her everyday sketches into clothing designs for jackets, handbags, etc. And, upon this success, she realized she could translate her designs into even larger pieces of work: her embroidered tapestries. With the technique of thread painting, done on a standard sewing machine, Roberts-Antieau has created a world of art full of whimsical designs, with prices ranging from $1,000 to $66,000.

Home

    In terms of her creative process and motivations, Roberts-Antieau states that all she has ever done is listen to and trust the voice in her head telling her to follow her dreams. She wants others to listen to theirs too, and guarantees “it will take you where you need to go. Don’t be afraid.” A massive aspect of Roberts-Antieau’s craft is about discovering how to express and understand joy. “[The truth is that] we are all blessed with the ability to recognize and create joy, and…life is about that creation.” Roberts-Antieau also wants to bring out feelings of childlike wonder with her work, which is a feeling she always tries to connect with. Beginning with standard drawings in her sketchbook is one of the main aspects of her creative process that helps Roberts-Antieau connect back to her experiences as a child, which is in turn presented in many of her pieces. 

Ascension

    Chris Roberts-Antieau is without a doubt an intrinsically motivated creative. The vast majority of her artistic process comes from listening to the voice in her head and connecting herself back to her previous life experiences. She creates what she wants to, and enjoys that process immensely. Especially considering how she is self-taught, Roberts-Antieau is someone who demonstrates the ability to pick herself up and work how she wants to. She isn’t held to any external conditions or limitations. Her work is hers, in all aspects.

https://antieaugallery.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Roberts-Antieau

Leigh Bardugo: Page to Screen Adaptations

Award-winning YA author Leigh Bardugo’s fantasy series Shadow and Bone has been recently adapted to a series by Netflix. When the second season dropped on March 16, fans raced through the 10 episodes with giddy excitement. However, the season has been met with backlash due to its departure from the beloved books. The decision (spoilers ahead) to have the main character and the love interest split at the end of the season triggered both thrill at what the writers may have planned and trepidation at the idea that the characters may not end up together like they did in the books. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpz-hxGrv_o/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

As an executive producer for the series as well as the author of the books, Leigh Bardugo said from the beginning of the Netflix adaptation that this series was more like a “high-budget fanfiction” than an exact replication of what was on the page. She even described the trajectory of the Netflix series as “radically different” in 2019. Her creative process for the show has revolved around her growth as a creative since she first published the Shadow and Bone books in 2012. The show has made many subtle changes that encompass Bardugo’s personal growth, including allowing Alina, the main character, far more personal agency and choice than she had in the books, which culminated in her keeping her powers at the end of the second season instead of losing them like in the books. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpne3KfPqt9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Bardugo’s creative process is entwined with her deep love of the fantasy genre. She stated that her advice for fantasy writers, advice that she herself follows in her creative process, is to disregard the idea of a magic system being the main facet of worldbuilding. She argues that “magic is just another kind of power” and the author should consider how it impacts the setting and characters, and vice versa, like political or economic or social power. Other elements of her writing process include letting the first draft be “sloppy” in order to get the story on the page in its purest form, and to read outside of the genre you’re writing in. Bardugo’s storytelling examines the way characters are influenced by and can influence the power systems in their worlds, which comes across even more directly in the changes she made in the Netflix series. She feels that her writing is “braver” now than it was when she began and is glad it can allow her characters to shine brighter than before.

Works Cited

Edwards, Beth. 2016. “San Diego Comic Con Interview with Leigh Bardugo, Author of Crooked Kingdom! – YA Books Central.” Yabookscentral.com. August 9, 2016. https://www.yabookscentral.com/san-diego-comic-con-interview-with-leigh-bardugo-author-of-crooked-kingdom/.

The New York Times. 2023. “Leigh Bardugo Is Wary of Imposing Limits on Young Readers,” 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/05/books/review/leigh-bardugo-books.html.

Khruangbin: Laura Lee is in an Airplane

Khruangbin is a musical trio that seamlessly blends soul, rock, funk, and psychedelia in a cohesive new style of music. The name is "Airplane" in Thai, as stated in their social media bios, along with a pronunciation guide of the name to clear up any confusion. With bassist Laura Lee, guitarist Mark Speer, and drummer DJ Johnson, the group has created a unique, funky, groovy sound. Every time I listen, I can't help but to get up and move.  Laura Lee in particular is behind much of the visually creative works of the trio. She has created all of the poster work for the group, as well as all of their album covers. Not only is the trio known for its entrancing sound, but their style is equally eccentric. Laura Lee often shows up in extravagant dresses, yet another form of how she expresses her creativity. 

Bassist Laura Lee describes her creative process in many ways, the most important being self care. She takes daily walks and allows herself to be alone with her thoughts and get outside and moving. For Laura, "songs are moods and they're feelings." Constantly inspired by the visual world, she finds artistic influence in anything. When it comes to lyrics, the trio writes the music first, and the words come second. She flips through a book where she has lyrics pre-written, and finds something that fits the mood of the music. 

Laura Lee notes that although the group has traveled all around the world, there is one place that brings her back home. Their "clean slate place" is a barn on their farm in Texas (where the group originates from), where Laura finds that "every time we go back, it's empty; we have to fill it." There is no internet on the farm, allowing the group to be distraction-free and slow down, going back to the basics and enjoying the music-making process. Laura says that the barn has almost become a fourth member of the band. 

Laura Lee is an intrinsic creative. She produces her work with little thought of the outside world and their opinions. She views clothing, music, and visual art as ways to express herself, and the opinions of others come second to her own personal enjoyment. She finds her flow state in terms of lyrics when she's listening to the music that they have created, and flipping through the pages of her lyric book. 

I would highly recommend Khruangbin to anyone! They also have done two collaborative albums with Leon Bridges (another of my favorites), which are also amazing, and add even another layer to their musical genre. 

Sources: 

https://notion.online/the-endless-creativity-of-khruangbin/

https://blogs.loc.gov/nls-music-notes/2022/08/hidden-gems-of-the-nls-collection-the-music-of-khruangbin/

https://www.khruangbin.com (you all should take a look at their website- super fun!)

Denis Villeneuve: Using His Platform to Uplift Woman

Some of you may know Denis Villeneuve as the director of the recent blockbuster Dune movie, but he has been at the helm of an impressive number of films praised for their stunning cinematography and representation of heroines. One of these films is Arrival which features Amy Adams as the movie's protagonist, Louise Banks. In an interview, Villeneuve recalled his first ever feature for which he consciously chose a female protagonist. He insisted on challenging himself to represent a perspective that is somewhat foreign to him and offers an opportunity for female actors to take lead roles. 

The aforementioned ideals are best represented through Arrival's plot and characters which are reinforced by the fact that Villeneuve has had significant input in how characters and themes of the film would be represented. His effort to recognize the beauty of femininity represent it in his films is very intentional may be commendable to those hoping to see more films featuring female protagonists. 

Amy Adams (pictured above on the set of Arrival to the right of Villeneuve) can undoubtedly offer great insight given her time collaboratively working with the director. Her insight led her to comment that “Denis managed to make an emotional science fiction movie that feels intimate" through Arrival. He also manages to capture intimacy through his use of the telephoto lens to present detail that would otherwise be unobservable to the human eye. The ability to capture this feeling of intimacy within a genre that has often neglected this feeling in favor of fixating on technical aspects of its films is especially notable and has earned Villeneuve a great reputation amongst filmmakers and critics alike. 

Perhaps his success can be partially credited to a period of incubation, or as defined by our class material, a time away from the issue which in this case would be a fear of repetition of techniques and concepts already prevalent in the industry. He took multiple years away from filmmaking and screenwriting to come back with a sense of rejuvenation and preparedness to continue directing movies. 

Villeneuve's creative process for developing his films involves significant energy and time from the director. One interviewer commented on the Arrival film "Sucking up every minute of his time, every joule of his energy, and he was worried that in his exhaustion, he wasn’t making sense." It is interesting to note that for Villeneuve, directing, though not typically thought to be physically demanding, is an experience that has significant implications on both his physical and mental state. Arrival clearly benefited from his efforts as it has received acclaim from both general audiences and professionals in the industry. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/movies/denis-villeneuve-interview-arrival.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Denis-Villeneuve

Steve Lacy

 

Like everyone else, I first heard his song “Bad Habit” when scrolling through TikTok. At first, I was hesitant to listen to it all the way through. But after I did, I was hooked. I listened to his entire album Gemini Rights and continued to explore his other music. Quickly, he became one of my most listened to and loved artists.

Born on May 23, 1998 in California, Steve Thomas Lacy-Moya is a gemini and makes that known. While attending church, he developed his love for music and specifically the guitar. In high school, he was a member of his jazz band. While in jazz band, he met Jameel Bruner, who was a part of the band The Internet. Bruner brought Lacy to a few recording sessions and, in 2014, Lacy became a member and main guitarist of the music group. The band’s album “Ego Death” became Grammy Nominated in 2015. Lacy was a coproducer on it, which allowed him to gain recognition in the music industry.

After graduating high school, Lacy released his first self titled EP, Steve Lacy’s Demo, in 2017. These were recorded in his bedroom, on his iPhone, using the apps iRig and Garageband. His minimalist style of production is what Lacy calls the “bare maximum”-using a small set up to create complex content. In 2019, Lacy released his first full album, Apollo XXI. And just this last year, released Gemini Rights. Some of his major music influences are Thunder Cat, Mac DeMarco, and Pharrell Williams.

Steve Lacy doesn’t just work on his own music. He produced and helped wrote Ravyn Lenae’s Crush EP, been featured on Tyler, The Creator’s album Flower Boy, and worked with other artists like Mac Miller, Kendrick Lamar, and Kali Uchis.

Steve Lacy is a pro C creative. His theme of the ‘Bare Maximalist’ has created a shift in the bedroom-pop genre. He also has made waves by making major music achievements before he has turned 25.

My favorite Steve Lacy songs

• Dark Red (Steve Lacy’s Demo)
• Haterlovin (Steve Lacy’s Demo)
• Love 2 Fast (Apollo XXI)
• Helmet (Gemini Rights)

Referecnes

https://blackmusicscholar.com/the-future-of-production-steve-lacy/

https://totallywiredmag.com/why-we-love-steve-lacy/

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/steve-lacy-mn0003420473/biography?1679412936283

Dean Kamen and Perseverance in the Face of Failure

Imagine working your whole life on numerous groundbreaking inventions in multiple fields, being responsible for real accomplishments in science, but everyone knowing your name for one thing that didn't work out. That guy is Dean Kamen.

You see, Dean is most famous for inventing the segway, which is an invention that produced a lot of backlash. It was supposed to be a revolutionary piece of technology that would transform everyone's lives when it was unveiled in 2001. But as people realized immediately, it was just a big scooter that people only remember because it was in the Paul Blart: Mall Cop movies. 

Dean exemplifies how failure is integral to science and the scientific method. As Stuart Firestein articulated in his TED Talk, often the greatest successes in their fields failed . . . and failed a lot. Stuart specifically brings up how Joe DiMaggio is one of the best baseball players to ever live, but his career statistics demonstrate that he had a 67.5% "failure rate."

Dean's one failure has made people not realize that he actually contributed so much to the world, especially in the field of medicine. Dean's inventions include the at-home dialysis machine, which is crucial for people with kidney problems to filter their blood without having to go to painful appointments.

What's most interesting about Dean is that he's just a genius who looks to solve problems; there's not much I know what to say regarding his creative process. However, it is clear that Dean embraced what is essential to all creatives—never giving into public perception and failure. I think it's a topic we could talk more about.

Source: https://loyolauniversitychicago-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/rmorrison_luc_edu/EeJcsk0vz45BhFMd6dUCMgsBZtqCW21Y1yADapTQ-kJSvg?e=MU6rOn

An Author of the Modern NFL Offense

80 years ago, the game of football looked very different from the style of game we see today. Yes, the teams were different, jerseys very basic, and helmets extremely less safe, but the on-field product may be the most dramatic change. Passing the ball was certainly allowed, but most teams focused on running the ball in a more rugby-style sense. There were no routes like you see today or wide receivers streaking down the field. Pounding the run game was THE strategy. Sid Gillman was one of the first head coaches to develop the passing game, setting up the offensive style of football that is prevalent today.

Long before he headed the offensive revolution, Gillman worked at a movie theater. There, he would cut out the football segments that ran before the movies and study them at home. AT an early age, before the extrinsic motivation of winning, Gillman had a deep intrinsic passion for the game of football and he would use his job to study a bunch of different teams’ films. He had not yet found the problem that he was going to solve, but he collected and learned what he could from the existing game and began thinking of ways to make it better. The answer he came to was passing the ball.

The offense that Gillman creatively deployed as a collegiate head coach at Cincinnati and Miami and professionally at Cleveland and San Diego was based on looking first to pass the ball beyond the line of scrimmage. Oftentimes, he would have the running backs also go for passes, something that was not as popular as it is today. The 5-receiver set was something that Gillamn often used to get the most out of the passing game. Much like his days in the theater. Gillman studied film of his opponents and found the spaces that would be open downfield, targeting them in his receivers' routes. Today, the use of studying film is expected of all football players, but back in the 50s, Gillman was one of the first to do this. He would collect as much information on the other teams’ formations, even during their games, and create plays to exploit that. Even during his own practices, he would have the cameras rolling so he could study his players later. 

With the help of film, his passing offense often succeeded, leading his Chargers to an AFL championship in 1963 and his own nomination into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. He certainly attains the Pro-c designation, but probably falls short of the Big-C title. He was very innovative and was able to implement passing into his plays like no coach before, but he is not a household name or even that well-known within football culture. There are numerous coaches who worked under Gillman who continued the evolution of passing and credited Gillman for setting it in that direction. Unlike most examples of conceptual change, Gillman did not face as much resistance from the field against his creative passing scheme because it won games. As it worked on the field, more coaches implemented passing attacks. Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes would certainly not have flourished in football had Gillman not opened the eyes of the sport to the effectiveness of a creative passing offense.

Sources:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jan-04-sp-gillman4-story.html

https://magazine.uc.edu/issues/0101/sports.html

https://www.cfbhall.com/about/blog/throwback-thursday-sid-gillman/

 Peace and Love: The Digital Art of Ringo Starr

    I would argue that most people in the Western world have heard of the Beatles. Their music has proliferated pop culture for decades. Still, to this day, they remain one of the most streamed bands of all time and the legacy of their art is still apparent. It is common to see covers of their various songs, and household and clothing items displaying images and artwork done for and in reference to the band. One element of their body of work, however, tragically does not get enough attention; the digital art produced by the band's drummer, Ringo Starr. 

Yer Baby, 2005

    Ringo Starr was born in 1940, in the neighborhood of Dingle, Liverpool. He grew up as a sickly child, and to pass the time he frequently spent in hospitals, he began to look for creative outputs. Through time he found a love for creating music and would constantly seek out opportunities to play the drums. He was also introduced to other art forms, such as painting and acting, and these interests would follow him throughout his life. He says that ultimately, his desire to create visual art was borne from his feeling of boredom while on tour, the same feeling that caused him to learn the drums. To me, this is a blatant example of him displaying the Big Five Personality traits, with an emphasis on Openness to Experience and Neuroticism. 

Peace Forest, 2013

     Ringo first began to experiment with acrylic and oil paintings, but noting the shift towards a more digital world, he started to create digital art, through the medium of MS Paint. He still uses this software today. He says, “I started in the late nineties with my computer art. While I was touring it gave me something to do in all those crazy hotels you have to stay in on the road. In its way ‘Pop’ art is always changing-like ‘Pop’ artists. It's a natural move of things like pop music and even Popeye the Sailor Man.”

Eye Lidded, 2005

Ringo is still creating art to this day. His works are constantly evolving as he stays in tune with the current culture. He takes inspiration from his time as a Beatle and the fame and fortune that come with it. I hope this post inspires you to take a look at his wonderful gallery of works.

https://www.ringostarrart.com/

https://www.ringostarrart.com/about-ringo/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ringo-starr-art_n_1631787

Delusional Girls: Lena Dunham

 A master of the art of controversy.  For decades, misunderstood comedic geniuses have taken the fall for inflammatory comments made while in character.  I am not here to make judgements on the worthiness of such outrage, but I will argue that there is value in listening to the comedian when they explain that their jokes are separate from themselves as a person.  Bad characters are necessary in any unboring story, and they are allowed to be funny.  Being convoluted isn’t a crime.  The most important quote to understand Lena Dunham is from an instagram apology for crass abortion comments, “My words were spoken from a sort of 'delusional girl' persona I often inhabit, a girl who careens between wisdom and ignorance (that's what my TV show is too) and it didn't translate, that's my fault.”  The TV show in reference is HBO’s Girls, which Dunham not only wrote and produced, but also stars in.  It stands in line with the long tradition of autofiction that narcissistic New York writers so often fall into.  Dunham is a true narcissist, which might be a requirement for unadulterated creativity.

Girls, running for 6 seasons from 2012-2017, has experienced quite a renaissance in the last year, cemented by the New York Times running an article about the rewatch trend this past week.  Originally by and for millennial women, zoomer girls might be able to understand it better than anyone before.  In the pilot, Dunham’s character Hannah calls herself “the voice of my generation” and then doubles down to say “maybe a voice of a generation”.  This could not be more true.  Of course the show reached mainstream success while on air, but it has a vulgarity to it that allows for more thorough appreciation only in a post-Bushwick sleaze, post-post world.  We know how these women, the girls who the show is about, end up.  Perhaps regretfully still in Brooklyn, raising mulleted, never gendered children.  Younger viewers are wise enough to see past their false sense of empowerment and view this as a cautionary tale.  An indulgence in delusion and free love (sex) that only begets consequences.  We laugh at them and how relevant their internet strifes and cultural references remain.  But we know this is not aspirational.  Lena Dunham insists, with her writing, on how awful of people these girls are and this might have been lost on original viewers who found themselves so accurately represented for the first time.  Upon uncritical viewing, their poor choices may seem to be taken with pride, when they are really just being ridiculed.

Dunham’s talent comes through in creating a world of such horrible, hateable characters that still viewers can’t shake caring about.  Not to mention being hilarious.  A female Louis C.K., if you will, including all implications that come with such a label.  Notorious.  And that isn’t to reduce  her to merely a female counterpart of a more established comedian, it is just that their shared gross perversion is impossible to not conflate.  She knows she is a bad person, or at least that the persona she inhabits is a bad persona.  Bad people are not only allowed to create art, they are often very good at it, inner demons and such.  Dunham turned her little-c creativity of experiencing all she can for the sake of experience into not only big-C in writing about it, but pro-C in making it her career and claim to fame.  She did all those gross, cringe antics so we didn’t have to.  So we can watch it and laugh about it and maybe feel good about ourselves cuz we might be fucked in some ways but we at least know not to pull that kind of shit.