Descartes probably wrote like that because his life wasn't the best-

 While not necessarily the stereotype of a 'creative', Rene Descartes did introduce what many honors students have learned is a system of methodological doubt (otherwise known as your first academically fueled existential crisis. Not an academic crisis, or a self-worth related crisis-- those were likely born during a time of reading Homer's Odyssey during our first weeks in Honors. Nevertheless, I digress;)

Descartes's Meditations are important to the western philosophical movement as a whole-- outside of Honors, I've had the fortune of covering the man and his works no less than thrice, analyzing him within a historical context, others through his role in epistemological development, and others by proxy of Descartes' work. Establishing a system of doubt, as I have been taught, was relatively novel for the discipline as a whole, but within the context in which Descartes lived, such doubt was expected.

 A major war was occurring in Europe at the time of Descartes's work on the Meditations. The Thirty Year's War began during 1618, and continued, you guessed it, for 30 years, until 1648. The conflict included religious interests, seemingly between Catholic and Lutheran sects of the church, as well as conflicts within the Holy Roman Empire. Both state and religious authorities would give conflicting messages, and that is the main historical context for Descartes' Method of Doubt-- a deep mistrust in the authority figures surrounding him. 

War and conflict seem to have causes Descartes to isolate himself, but the sociopolitical sphere was not the only influence on Descartes' work. As one honors teacher informed her class, Descartes was also theorized to have frequent migraines, which causes a significant break with reality for him, hallucinations especially. The Thirty Years War made Descartes doubt authority and doubt others, but his own struggles with migraines and possible disability had Descartes distrust his own senses.

This not only results in the distrust that we see displayed throughout the Meditations, but the formation of the theory of mind-body dualism, a theory which has been propelled into the medical field for it's implications.

Descartes is a large figure in philosophy-- there are a number of philosophers that are Cartesian and a number that are anti-Cartesian-- such are the likes of, say, Thomas Reid, who proposed the First Principles, a foundational theory that, in contrast to Descartes' fixation on certain knowledge, was founded on a basis of pragmatic knowledge. Reid's philosophy is commonly seen as 'common sense' philosophy in comparison to Descartes-- Descartes's philosophy is often objected to as a distant, idealized, and unrealistic take on epistemology and experiences, which, given his life experiences, I don't think is exactly fair. Descartes' philosophical work is heavily framed by the circumstances he found himself in, namely those of distrust in both external sources of information and his own perceptions of reality. And there must be something true in that experience which can be generalized to other disciplines and philosophies-- we, as a philosophical discipline-- mustn't through the baby with the bathwater.

Osamu Dazai and Yuko Tsushima -- The Suicidal and His Daughter

 "He could only consider me as the living corpse of a would-be suicide, a person dead to shame, an idiot ghost."(Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human)

“Just as my mother belonged in the kitchen, my father belonged in the graveyard.”(Yuko Tsushima, Of Dogs and Walls)

 

 

It came to light recently that the book I've been reading for this class has done little to capture my attention, and even now, some weeks from where-ever off in the audiobook I was, I dully remember that this artist was not kind to her children. Something about how her children-- who succeeded in life, came to write memiors-- became celebrated people, seemingly at the expense of her mother. I can't say whether or not she was a good mother, that artist-- I think people are odd like that, that they can be a good artist and a good person but a horrid parent. It's not that off, really, that some people succeed in different ways, I suppose it's more strange that someone that we come to idol may have some flaws. Parenting must be difficult, and I don't wish that task upon anyone unless they voluntarily make it-- anyways, all this to say that I can't speak on how she raised her daughters-- I don't know, and I don't really care to know.

There's a theme there, about how we can know someone in certain aspects and not others-- to think of an artist as an artist but not parents. There's also something to be said about how pain travels down generations like that. That is how we come upon Osamu Dazai; suicidal artist, and apparently father.

Osamu Dazai, born Shuuji Tsushima, is considered to be one of Japan's classical modern authors, most notably with his works of The Setting Sun and No Longer Human. Themes in his works often include the decline of the human condition, which reflects the era of Japan he was born and writing in, namely from 1928 (with his college publications of Cell Literature) to 1948 (with his final publication of No Longer Human). His works are popular, specifically among the youth, specifically in times of economic strife, instability, and general uncertainty about the future. That's how many interpret his work, anyways. I myself have only been able to read one of his works, No Longer Human, which is often considered to be Dazai's psuedo-autobiographical and final work before he killed himself. His work does follow a lot of what's reflected in a common reading of Japanese literature; the depictions of the Japanese upperclass during the changing times, often serve as a glimpse into what the world was like during Dazai's life, which include what seem to be the reaching affects of the Cold War (there are bits about joining a communist party, I think?). It's not what I got from the book when I first read it.

No Longer Human sparks a degree of kinship, I think. Empathy. Yozo, the main-character, is jarringly familiar, and is compelling nonetheless. Oh, what am I saying-- this isn't a book review. The plotbeats of No Longer Human follow the general beats of Dazai's life, mostly marked with suspicion, fear, which slowly graduate into self destructive alcoholism. It's steeped with melancholy and misanthropy, and it's hard to imagine that Dazai didn't struggle as Yozo did. Dazai wrote, and pressured himself into greatness, and trying to achieve and maintain that-- maybe the stress got to him. Maybe he felt he achieved all he could. Dazai was inspired by Akutagawa Ryuunoske, author of Rashomon, who, during the early stages of Dazai's writing career, killed himself. Those are Dazai's influences, reflected on his final works.

Dazai exists in a weird vaccuum-- it's probably that I should read more Japanese literature if I want to consider myself well read on this. I didn't consider that he had a child with one of his wives, but he did. And oddly enough, I look to her works now-- partly because this assignment reminded me of her, as did the motherhood-griping-- that yes, one of the saddest authors I've read did have a daughter.

I've only had time for a summary of her works, one being A Very Strange, Enchanted Boy. Within it details what is interpreted as a mother looking upon her son, and there's this argument of interpretation-- whether the mother's expectations on her son is what causes her to worry so much, if her worries are unwarranted in that, if she is the one to blame in that story. I haven't read it; I can't really speak on it.

But it was strange, to think, if Yuko Tsushima had a child-- and her father, who died by suicide when she was young-- to consider how that affected her views on parenting, if she vowed to be more than her dead father in this one case of caring for others and living. It's hard to say-- and given that the penname Osamu Dazai does not reflect the familial relationship between Shuuji Tsushima and Yuko Tsushima-- it's hard to tell how much readers look for her. But I did-- I only know her through her father, and his contributions. In a way, that's a bit of disservice to her, but that's also just what came to be.

Ah, well.

For more information on:
Osamu Dazai and his works:

https://youtu.be/yXATG3NSZjE?si=I7aR_H8EygRP4IBL

Yuko Tsushima and her work:

https://youtu.be/49ZxNCD2jOk?si=u08oLBoj6gbvsRQ1

Will Wood (Is Hard to Crack-- Would You Get Me an Axe?)

 

 Will Wood is -- well, bombastic is a good way to describe the opening of many of his songs. 2econd 2ight 2eer opens with a blaze of trumpets and horns, Laplace's Angel does the same with a descent of brass screams, Willard! with a symphony of woodwinds and other horns. These are not representative of all his work, some songs like Vampire Reference in Key and Cicada Days open with softer guitars, lulling strums and quieter piano supports. But the likes of Willard, Laplace's Angel, Thermodynamic Lawyer and such are the face of Will Wood's work-- loud, sure, if not slightly crazed.

The Will Wood persona follows up and plays into this slight crazed effect he has -- his live shows are described as 'delightfully unhinged', at times intentionally botching his own performances for his intended message to reach the audience. The subject matter of his songs-- brimming with a positive post-modern and sligthly nihilistic humor-- fits with the Will Wood persona, which he describes as playing on questions of the self, how malleable they are, and the impositions of social norms onto the self-- I/Me/Myself is a piece that deliberately plays on gender, and is about his exploration of gender queer identity, before settling on his identity as a man; " I once identified as genderqueer, until I realized that my attraction to traditionally feminine things did not interfere with my identity as a man." Fan reactions to I/Me/Myself is divided because it plays with gender like this, with the resounding message of the song itself being that gendered identities have a certain fictional and twistable nature to them-- the act of self-identification and fluidity of gender makes clear cut gender theory difficult, and the nature of I/Me/Myself is to play on and undercut those expectations. Self-importance plays in contrast with self-deprecation -- The Main Character as compared to Against the Kitchen Floor.

Will Wood's songs speak to alternative cultures, particularly gaining a fandom known for queerness and nuerodiversity, and there is good reason for this-- many find that his songs reflect their experiences well. I/Me/Myself, as already spoken, deals with gender roles and expectations. Willard! speaks especially well to nuerodiverse experiences, expositing a character with incredible empathy as well as incredible confusion at humanity-- their disgust, their social realties.

The lyricism of Will Wood is also simply- incredible. Willard! features a mouse (of which the main character speaks to) named Socrates, as referring to Socrates' allegory of the cave, Laplace's Angel plays on Laplace's Demon, Outliars and Hyppocrates: A Fun Fact About Apples opens excellently on a verse about the apple of Eden, and Black Box Okultra has too many references for me to properly list and name. Not only is everything a reference to another, but they are references they carry well-weight-- the allegory of the cave could refer to those 'enlightened' by leaving the cave becoming social pariahs, outcasted in the same way the narrator of Willard! describes.

Will Wood's process seems just as spontaneous as his songs make him seem, just popping into his head and working with the specific characters of the instruments at his disposal to create the overall feel of his finished works. He works with mania, from smashing his face on his keyboard and dressing up -- that creates his music not simply music, but a kind of performance art as well.

Other resources:

https://americansongwriter.com/will-wood-talks-process-funding-and-new-tune-love-me-normally/

https://nyunews.com/arts/music/2021/12/02/willwoodreview/

https://www.reddit.com/r/willwood/comments/jb97xe/imemyself/

Patrick Starr : Challenging Gender Norms through Makeup

Patrick Starr is a Filipino-American makeup artist who rose to fame around 2015 through his YouTube channel, which challenges traditional views of beauty and makeup. He was born in Orlando, Florida, to Filipino immigrant parents who had pretty narrow views of what was considered "successful". When he discovered his passion for makeup and started his first job at MAC (a popular makeup brand), they were unhappy with his career choice, as they wanted him to go to school to be a nurse. They were not the only ones that did not support his passion for makeup...Starr has revealed that at the beginning of his career, he was bullied and belittled online. When he started his makeup channel, there were very few male influencers in the beauty industry, a traditionally female-dominated industry. It was often scary for him to wear makeup publicly for fear of discrimination, but Patrick was determined to convey the message that makeup has no gender. He curated his makeup channel to be a positive, inclusive space for people of all identities and backgrounds. As a plus-size, gay, Filipino male makeup artist, he was no stranger to negativity and judgment, so he never wanted anyone in his online community to feel unwelcome. 

Today, in the US and beyond, the acceptance of men enjoying makeup and its fluidity is growing. Shows like RuPaul's Drag Race and more inclusive cosmetic campaigns are gradually reshaping the makeup industry. Patrick Starr, along with other influencers, is revolutionizing the use of makeup for self-expression and confidence, moving away from the idea of using makeup solely to conform to beauty standards. His motto, 'Makeup is one size fits all,' encapsulates his belief that makeup is for everyone, regardless of gender or identity.

I watched a few videos on Patrick Starr's YouTube channel to observe his creative process, as I couldn't find a concrete routine he follows online. I noticed that Patrick often uses inspiration from other makeup artists or trends he has seen online. He draws inspiration from fashion, pop culture, seasons, nature, and daily observations. For example, in one video, he made a "spring" look inspired by bright pastel colors. One of the main parts of his creative process is experimenting with looks and revising them to fit the face of the person he is working with. The nice thing about using makeup as an art form is that it is easy to manipulate and change if you want to try something new. In one video, Starr decided that he didn't like the eye makeup he had just done, so he simply wiped it off and started over. 

As a makeup artist, I think that Patrick Starr challenges the gender binary that is mentioned in "The Creative Spark" by Augustin Fuentes. Fuentes writes about how gender has a social and cultural basis rather than biological. Society constructed ideas about how men and women should act and interact with others and the world around them. Throughout more recent Western history, makeup has fallen into the category of "feminine" rather than "masculine," and we often view it as a means to garner male attention. Starr shows that makeup can be a form of art and creativity without gender. This also connects to Chapter 10, where Fuentes talks about humans using creativity beyond practicality. We find beauty in colors, shapes, patterns, and more, even if they do not serve a purpose other than just pleasing the eye. I think that makeup can serve the biological purpose of attracting mates, but it is clear that, as a makeup artist, that is not Starr's goal. He creates looks that serve as costumes or are just fun to look at! 

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/patrick-starrr-beauty/index.html

https://www.glamour.com/story/patrick-starrr-interview

https://people.com/celebrity/patrick-starrr-bio/

Scalawags and Landlubbers Beware: Pirates Are Both Creative and Entertaining

            Growing up there were few movies I returned to over and over again, but I always seemed to drift back to the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. These adventures had everything: treasure, danger, action, a love story. So I dove into the depths of  how they came to be. 

Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio are the actual dream team when it comes to writing family friendly blockbusters. Their works have included Shrek and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. When asked about how the series began Ted Elliot said, “Our involvement actually began around 1992. Terry and I had come up with this great approach to a pirate movie.” They pitched it to Disney as “a tie-in to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and at the time Disney said, ‘No.’” The writers, fortunately, kept their concept on the backburner and in the meantime continued to work. Ten years later. They got a call. Bruckheimer Films’ Mike Stenson Elliot explains that he and Rossio jumped at the opportunity but were very firm in adapting their original ideas and approach. Elliot conveys that they told Stenson they already had an approach and “it’s the only approach we want to write…If you don’t like this approach, we really don’t want to do the story.” Both creatives stayed true to their narrative and ideas, demonstrating extensive confidence in their creative abilities, and displaying tha often trusting your gut can lead to meaningful and successful art. Faith Ringgold was a woman who was not recognized or acknowledged for her art, demonstrating the black experience from the 1960s forward, until much later in her life. Yet, she stayed true to her narratives, communicating her experiences and those of African Americans in the US which ultimately led to her success. However, often outside influences or pressures can cause an artist to question their work or the inspiration behind it. These creatives however, firmly adhered to their unique ideas and artform and in the end were rewarded for their efforts. 

Novelty too is exceedingly important for successful creative works. Elliot and Rossio’s concept for this movie was unlike any before - “it was the idea of bringing in the supernatural element. Instead of doing a swashbuckling romance, doing a swashbuckling Gothic romance,” said Elliot. Rossio elaborates that, “there really hadn’t ever been a supernatural pirate movie attempted. We went to Disney and said, ‘Look, the ride itself begins with a talking skull.’” Both creatives wanted to stay true to the ride itself. Elliot goes on to say, “There are story elements to the ride, and a lot of them appear in the movie, but it wasn’t about adapting the story. It was about creating a movie for which the audience experience of the movie was similar to the audience experience of the source material.” Much of the inspiration for the movie came from the backstory of the ride. Pirates of the Caribbean is a “ghost story” that needed to begin like a “horror movie,” setting up a foreboding narrative that evolves into an eerie, haunting tale. These writers too have different tests with which they are able to conclude that the story they are telling is a good one. They communicate that they call one test the “strange attractor” test. Rossio says that,  “strange” signifies that “your idea should be unique” and “attractor” means “you’ve got to get people attracted to it.” For Pirates, they wanted to hit both elements and so their original ideas were centered around “a pirate movie, [where] instead of looking for treasure, they have to get back the treasure that they’ve stolen.” It’s unique and intriguing, inverting the script of a pirate’s journey for treasure. Inversion and intrigue too allow for the creation and the success of novel ideas. Ringgold wanted to uniquely portray her own experiences and that of those in her community. She invests the role of an artist both by painting and writing. Even as an author she succeeds at both writing children’s books and her memoir. Ringgold inverts the role of an artist itself, stepping out of conventional boxes to produce different forms of art. The mediums she uses present intrigue both to tell the story and to communicate her as an artist. She is uniquely gifted within her creative process to create both inspiring and thought provoking visual art as well as communicate stories on the page that draw in her audiences, making them ask more or question their own experiences.  

Elliot, Rossio, and Ringgold all create art collaboratively. Not only were Elliot and Rossio writing partners, but they described their collaborative process as unlike any usual Hollywood interactions. Instead of “shut up and do what we say, or else we’ll fire you and get somebody else who will,” they allowed their script to be fairly malleable, working with the director and the various actors - “Johnny Depp [Jack Sparrow] and Geoffrey Rush [Barbossa] and Keira Knightley [Elizabeth] - going through the script, incorporating their ideas.” Elliot said that “the final version of the story that Barbossa tells of the curse was probably twenty or thirty hours of work with Geoffrey Rush.” Faith Ringgold was a woman whose artwork, though her own, was created by collecting and working with the stories of herself and others. She felt called to create her own vision and version of the black experience in the 1960s in conjunction with others leading the movement like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin. Art and the inspiration behind her art was a collaborative experience. 

All of these creatives finally are storytellers. Their creative processes are  They also utilized classic movies such as Jaws a, “sea story,” and the Story of the Indianapolis. They concluded that in their artform, they wanted their characters to tell tales, communicate stories, and  recount legends. They worked with the actors to tell these stories correctly in an interesting and haunting way. Rinngold too worked to tell stories. Her memoir includes hundreds of remembered moments all folded into the pages. But her artwork too communicates stories. One piece in particular named Members Only documents the racial hostility Ringgold faced as a child on a school trip when a group of white men surrounded her and her classmates, carrying sticks. The drive to tell stories and do it well within her artwork could be inspired by how as a child she grew up in a family of storytellers and that was the primary way of communicating in her household. Stories are an incredibly powerful form of communication and the legends and stories in the Pirates movies bolstered them and their appeal, displaying that within that world there is a whole oral history. Stories are more than pieces of entertainment but a means of preserving your legacy. One story which becomes a recurring bit throughout Pirates is the tale of how Jack Sparrow escaped an island riding on the backs of two sea turtles. Stories hold gravity and throughout history and I thought it was so interesting that these writers made adamant choices about incorporating them into these movies. These three creatives inspired wonderful reactions for the works they’ve created and their ability to tell stories in a powerful, exciting, and thought provoking way. 

IMAGES: 

1,185 × 1,800

645 × 834

274 × 364

Source: 

https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/pirates-caribbean/

Dua Lipa: Dance The Night

Dua Lipa is a renowned singer/songwriter and a three-time Grammy winner. She was born on August 22, 1995, in London and she’s the daughter of Kosovar Albanians who were refugees escaping the war in the former Yugoslavia. She wrote her first song when she was four years old and was heavily influenced by her father who used to be in a rock band. In 2006, Dua and her family would go back to Kosovo when it was safe. Then at 15 years old, she convinced her parents to let her move back to London with a family friend as it would be beneficial to her education. However, she truly wanted to pursue singing and felt that she had the best chance to do so in London. Dua initially posted song covers on YouTube, hoping to be discovered and posted songs on SoundCloud. Her breakthrough would come with a commercial she sang on the show X-Factor, where she was offered a publishing deal. In 2017, her first album “Dua Lipa” came out and resulted in immense success for Dua. 

Mark Ronson is the music producer on the album for the movie “Barbie.” He is a seven-time Grammy-winning producer and is one of the most successful pop producers actively working. He worked closely with director Greta Gerwig to create a soundtrack for the movie that went along with her vision while also adding his own creativity. He produced 5 songs on the album and was responsible for reaching out to Dua Lipa and inviting her on the song. Greta provided Mark with minimal direction telling him she wanted a big disco number that was going to speak for Barbie’s best day ever. He initially sent a very raw track that would become “Dance the Night.” It was then Mark reached out to Dua via Instagram asking her to co-write the song with him. Dua Lipa was on tour at the time but quickly agreed and helped write the song while on break. 

The creation of the song is unique as the initial score Mark sent was the one used for rehearsals which meant there was not much leeway for the song to change. This also meant the song was written after the dance had been created in the movie. The challenge was to write lyrics that would match with Margot Robbie’s choreography which is unusual for a song but proved essential for the movie. The mechanisms or thought processes that get the creative person to the creative process started with the environment. Dua and Mark sat in the studio watching the choreography with Barbie dolls all around and post-it notes on the walls with thoughts of what the lyrics could be. Dua freestyled the lyrics while watching the choreography and she experienced insight or the ah-hah moment when Margot Robbie motions her hand towards her and Dua thought of the lyrics “come along for the ride.” Dua Lipa also added adlibs to the song that are intentionally whispered to represent Barbie’s inner monologue that was so unnatural for Barbie in the movie. Dua and Mark’s collaboration can be assessed through the Geneplore model as they each have their own strengths and built off one another to create this song. Mark, being the producer, created the beat and Dua came up with the lyrics, but they came together to analyze the song at each step. Their ability to collaborate with one another sprouted from their shared vision that Greta created. Dua Lipa had the creative freedom to freestyle the lyrics with the support of Mark fine tuning the song along with his support through visible affirmation when Dua began writing the song. 

“Dance the Night” would amass over 700 million streams and be nominated for two Grammys. This collaboration relates to my focus book Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan as Nick Cave talks about his experiences collaborating with other people. Specifically, his band-mate Warren Ellis. Cave talks about how they went into the studio immediately after lockdown had finished and created an album’s worth of songs in just three days. According to Cave, they barely spoke and “sat down at [their] instruments and ten months of quarantine poured out of [them]” (Cave 145). Their style of collaboration differs from Mark and Dua’s as they are more adversarial collaborators than the Geneplore style. Ellis and Cave butt heads a lot during the creative process and are constantly going back and forth but are still able to create music and work together. Another connection to my focus book is when Cave talks about the feminization of music. He points out that as music develops it becomes “more nurturing, more vulnerable, more empathetic, generally speaking” (Cave 177). He does acknowledge the presence of this in the past, but it is much more pronounced now. Given the song produced by Mark and Dua was for the Barbie Movie, which was dedicated to empowering women, I think this is an interesting connection that Cave made. While I personally don’t agree that those characteristics are contributing to the feminization of music, I do find it to be an interesting observation made by Cave. Overall, I applaud Mark’s decision to include Dua Lipa on this album and song as she fits the vision of Barbie and coincided with Greta’s vision for the movie. 

Sources:

Aswad, Jem. “Variety.” Variety, 21 July 2023, variety.com/2023/music/news/barbie-producer-mark-ronson-dua-lipa-lizzo-soundtrack-1235674871.

Cave, Nick, and Seán O’Hagan. Faith, Hope and Carnage. Canongate Books, 2022.

“Dua Lipa.” Biography, 28 Dec. 2023, www.biography.com/musicians/dua-lipa.

Variety. “How Dua Lipa and Mark Ronson Created ‘Dance the Night’ for ‘Barbie’ | Behind the Song.” YouTube, 15 Dec. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0TJtU2Y0s0.

Christopher Paolini: Adventures in Alagaësia and Beyond

At age 15, Christopher Paolini had no idea what was to come in the next few years. The story that he dreamt up and

so carefully plotted out would not only be self published within a

couple years with the help of  his parents, but would sell more than 25 million copies

and earn him a Guinness World Record for the Youngest Author of a Best Selling Series once picked up by a publisher. 

Paolini promoting the self published edition of Eragon

For many, the Inheritance Cycle is a story fondly remembered from childhood. Following the adventures of Eragon and his dragon Saphira as well as a myriad of other characters, millions have fallen in love with the series. One of the most important pieces of Paolini’s creative process and one of the biggest tips he gives is to make sure to know where the story is going. He recommends to outline the whole thing, but does note that outlining everything doesn’t always work for everyone. Paolini attributes his success in writing the Inheritance Cycle to this. He mentions that this was not his first attempt at writing, but the first one that stuck due to an understanding as to where the story was going. He also made a point to experience a lot of the things he was writing about, from camping in the mountains and chopping wood to forging his own knives and chainmail.

The full Inheritance Cycle with the newest addition 

All of these little things seem to add up into one whole novel or series, and again they remind me of the “seeds” that Rick Rubin talks about in his book  The Creative Act: A Way of Being. To me, this is just another way of looking at how “seeds” may differ from person to person. 

Paolini’s first series may have won him a world record, but he has continued to write. Most recently, he published a long awaited addition to the Inheritance Cycle, Murtaugh. He has also begun work in The Fractalverse series which currently consists of two novels with more on the way. 

https://www.paolini.net/biographies/christopher-paolini-full/

https://www.paolini.net/2014/11/12/thoughts-on-writing/

https://ywp.nanowrimo.org/pages/peptalk-paolini

https://www.paolini.net/2014/11/07/pub-eragon-rural-mt-nyt-bestseller/

George Lucas: From Drag Racing to Pod Racing

    When most people hear the name George Lucas, Star Wars is the first thing that comes to mind. However, the man behind one of the most famous space operas of all time, did not originally plan to go into the movie scene. George Walton Lucas junior was born and raised on a ranch in Modesto, California. While going through high school, he became fascinated with drag racing and was determined to become a professional race car driver. Unfortunately, this plan never came to fruition as he was involved in a car accident shortly after his high school graduation that ended his desire to race. Acting on his interest in filmmaking, Lucas attended Modesto Junior College and eventually enrolled in the University of Southern California film school. While enrolled at the college he created Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB and was awarded first prize in the 1967-68 National Student Film Festival. The Warner Brothers granted him and his scholarship in 1967 to observe the creation of Finian’s Rainbow directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Together Lucas and Coppola created American Zoetrope in 1969 which created a full-length version of THX 1138 in 1971. By the end of 1971 the two split ways and Lucas formed his own film company Lucasfilm Ltd.

George Lucas wrote and directed a semi-autobiographical American Graffiti in 1973, which won five Acadamy Award nominations and the Golden Globe, giving him the fame needed to begin Star Wars. Throughout 1973 and 1974, Lucas began writing the screenplay for Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The inspiration for this movie mainly emerged from Flash Gordan and the Planet of the Apes, as well as his knowledge of history. Initially, every production company turned down Star Wars, until 20^th Century Fox gave him an opportunity. After a rough time producing the film, it was finally released, breaking every box office record, and earning 7 Academy Awards. The overwhelming enthusiasm that met Star Wars allowed the saga to continue into what is now known as the original trilogy. However, the Star Wars story remained a trilogy for 20 years before Lucas continued the story.

During the 1980’s and 90’s, Lucasfilm had a turbulent financial path, and although every movie introduced major innovations to filmmaking, none approached the fame of Star Wars. George Lucas took a back row seat during these years, choosing to write the screenplays for films instead of directing them. Eventually, Lucas returned to direct in 1998 to produce the Star Wars prequel trilogy. This trilogy was divisive for both fans and critics but was extremely successful and fundamental for the continuation of the Star Wars Saga. Lucas continued his involvement in Star Wars through supervising Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which fills in the gaps between Episodes II and III of the prequel trilogy. Eventually, Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 and stepped out of the director’s chair. Later, he was consulted on the new Star Wars trilogy that began with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, although he claims much of his advice and preferences was ignored. However, the new trilogy eventually grew on him, and he no longer despises it, although he is not entirely supportive of the new route Star Wars has taken. Today, he is semi-retired and is known as the creator of the best space opera of all time.

Following the creation of Darth Vader from birth to death, the prequel trilogy was far darker than the original, but it also intertwined history at almost every turn. Throughout the series, the democracy of the Republic slowly progresses into a dictatorship under the Sith Lord Palpatine. Lucas was interested in how democratic societies could fall to dictators and examined this through the willful surrender of power of the Senate of the Republic. Much of the rise and fall of the Republic draws from Nazi Germany, as Palpatine mirrors Hitler and the stormtroopers who defended the Nazi’s in history and Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars. Hitler was not the only one Lucas drew inspiration for Palpatine from; an American president also joined the ranks. When asked about Emperor Palpatine’s background, Lucas stated, “he was a politician. Richard M. Nixon was his name. He subverted the senate and finally took over and became an imperial guy and he was really evil. But he pretended to be a really nice guy.”

The Vietnam War also played a huge role in the inspiration for Star Wars. Just as the Viet Cong waged a guerilla war against the United States, so too did the Rebel Alliance wage war against the Galactic Empire. Some of Star Wars cutest rebels are directly inspired by the Viet Cong as they manage to fend off the might of the Empire despite primitive weapons and small numbers. Although the Jedi appear to be superior and just in all matters throughout Star Wars, they too have a historical basis: the Knights Templar. These knights were a medieval monastic order known for their devotion and purity. Both groups participate in individual abstinence from money and worldly pleasures, are headed by a 12-member council, and wear hooded white robes. Similar to how King Philip IV arrested, tortured and executed the Knights Templar for heresy in 1307, Palpatine orders the Great Jedi Purge in Revenge of the Sith, which brings the Jedi Order to its knees.

In a way, George Lucas is a collector of sorts and that is reflected throughout Star Wars. Through the inspirations of Flash Gordon, his love for racing, and many childhood comic books, the idea for Star Wars was formed. However, history and its many twists and turns shaped the story of Darth Vader into one of the greatest villain stories of all time. Journeying through democracy and dictatorship, family unity and war, love and hate, Star Wars has become loved by audiences of all ages. From those who grew up watching Luke learn to be a Jedi to children dressing up as Ewoks for Halloween, Star Wars has made a place for everyone and demonstrates that the light of the Jedi remains even in the shadows of an Empire.

Sources:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000184/bio/ 
https://www.history.com/news/the-real-history-that-inspired-star-wars 

Defunctland: The New Standard for YouTube Documentaries

Defunctland is a YouTube-based web series that documents the rise and fall of theme parks, attractions, and more. The channel was started by Kevin Perjurer in 2017 and is organized into seasons and minisodes. He originally started the series because of his love for defunct theme park rides and combined it with his passion for creating documentaries. Each episode of Defunctland is like its own mini-documentary, but they all connect in theme to their season. Season 1 ran from February to December 2017 and was mainly focused on building a VR park, with episodes on the history of pretzel dark rides and Action Park. Season 2 ran from February 2018 to March 2019 and was heavily geared toward detailing Michael Eisner's history with the Walt Disney Company. Season 3 began in October 2019 and is still ongoing, focusing on futurism. The minisodes do not generally fit into the themes of the seasons, which is why they are released separately. These minisodes often relate to products and ideas, rather than parks and attractions, like the Handwich. Perjurer also created a few spinoffs, Debunkedland and DefunctTV, for more content that does not fit the scope of Defunctland but still interests him. The channel currently has four feature-length documentaries, one released each year between 2020 and 2023, with more on the way.

The casual channel viewer may not realize that some episodes take months—even years!—to create. For example, the Fast Pass episode, one of the feature-length documentaries, was only meant to be 20 minutes long. Still, Perjurer took about four months to complete it before finally releasing the 102-minute episode. Perjurer thoroughly researches every topic he presents, sometimes crowd-sourcing from his fanbase to find primary sources. Though he is the only full-time producer on the show, he often collaborates with others for writing and research. Many fans also notice the cinematic effects present in some episodes and are in awe of the production value. Most people do not know that Perjurer creates the effects himself and frequently documents the progress on the Defunctland X (formerly Twitter) page.

  

The time and care Perjurer puts into each episode is clear to see upon watching. Perjurer calls himself a perfectionist and thinks of everything possible to improve his documentaries. He also notes that he hates every part of the filmmaking process, but the only thing that he hates more than making a film is not making a film. Though this may seem confusing, it is actually pretty common in creatives. The actual act of creating can be challenging, but the satisfaction of the creation is far more valuable than not creating it at all. Another creative that has this sentiment is musician Nick Cave. He calls the creative process 'demeaning,' but once he is actually recording something in the studio, he finds pleasure in it.

Again, one of the most notable things that sets Defunctland apart from other web series is the sheer level of production value. The channel's setup almost mimics a true TV series, with seasons, episodes, and spinoffs. The feature-length documentaries act as individual films connected to the series. Perjurer himself calls Defunctland 'television.' However, the series is unique in that someone can watch an episode alone and enjoy it, while someone else will develop an appreciation for the interconnectedness as they watch the series in order. Perjurer also does not have a template for creating his episodes, so Defunctland does not follow any consistent format. Still, Defunctland’s episodes have a level of production that rivals other high-production documentaries despite being independently produced and not hidden behind a paywall. This sort of thing has not really been seen in documentary-style YouTube channels before Defunctland; however, the success of Defunctland has expanded the documentary scene on YouTube, with others striving to create the level of content that Perjurer has introduced.

If anyone is interested in watching an episode—or two!—of Defunctland (and DefunctTV), here are some of my favorites:

Disney's FastPass: A Complicated History https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yjZpBq1XBE

Disney Channel's Theme: A History Mystery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_rjBWmc1iQ

Defunctland: The History of Action Park https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flkW-ceNvck

Defunctland: The Bizarre Garfield Dark Ride https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK3Yr80lPOY

Defunctland: The Failure of Disney's Arcade Chain, DisneyQuest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZQGtnEL2xs

DefunctTV: The History of Zoboomafoo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USIVXo5R46Q

DefunctTV: The History of Bear in the Big Blue House https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzw-gXhcYW0

Sources:

https://www.numlock.com/p/numlock-sunday-kevin-perjurer-talks

https://twitter.com/kevinperjurer?lang=en

https://twitter.com/Defunctland?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2020/09/09/youtubes-defunctland-chronicles-the-history-of-amusement-parks/?sh=1c262af65758

https://orlandovoyager.com/interview/daily-inspiration-meet-kevin-perjurer/#:~:text=I%20grew%20up%20in%20Kansas,theme%20parks%20stayed%20with%20me.

Jon Bois and the Minnesota Vikings: The Art of Telling a Story

Speaking strictly as a fan, sports media is some of the stalest, unoriginal content around. The amount of rehearsed, ignorant, irrelevant, and lazy content surrounding such an entertaining and competitive sphere is astounding and aggravating. This field makes a creative like Jon Bois stand out. The 41 year old creative director at SB Nation is a self-described storyteller passionate about the oddities of sports.

Jon Bois combines sports statistics, storytelling, and 3D modeling to create documentaries unique to the field and accessible to anyone. The pictures he paints with partner Alex Rubenstein and the rest of the Secret Base staff tell sports stories using graphs, newspaper clippings, and dynamic animations, all in a unique world, not so far from augmented reality. Him and Rubenstein collaborate in an equal partnership he described in an interview with Filmmaker Magazine:

Once we do get going full-time, Alex and I have put in so many reps by this point that we have a pretty solid idea of how long a given project will take us. It all comes together in tandem—we’ll write a couple of script segments, design charts and arrange assets for those segments, then move on to the next chunk of script. It’s probably a pretty unusual order of operations, but it’s so nice to be able to test out some camera angles, pans and zooms as we’re writing the lines (Filmmaker Magazine)

Their creative process mirrors one another: using the creative model we discussed in class, Bois occupies the role of the "individual", with Rubenstein closely collaborating as "other people." Their process is almost on autopilot, and the partners do close to identical work in preparing material, writing scripts, and modeling in 3D. The saturated, quantitative domain of sports analytics is in desperate need of non-numerical statistics; Bois and Rubenstein collaborate and produce a product that fulfills this niche.

 

Regarding cooperation, Rubin writes "cooperation is a practice. the more skillfully we participate in the process, the more comfortable it becomes" (Rubin, The Creative Act). Bois and Rubenstein reflect this in their creative process. Through years of cooperation, they are able to reach heights previously unimagined. Their success reached a summit when their Vikings documentary was named one of the ten best movies of 2023 by the Atlantic.

The crowning achievement in Bois' filmography is his series on the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings have never won the Super Bowl, despite being one of the oldest franchises with some of the most total wins since the inception of The Big Game. Bois, who is a Chiefs fan, was not so much interested in the tragedy of the Vikings; he writes "The storytelling power of a team is what really draws me into them," and reasons that the Purple People-Eaters have many tall tales to tell (GQ).

This model shows NFL teams to not win a Super Bowl by their total Super Bowl-era regular season wins (Notice the Vikings alone at the top). 

Bois' other work includes a similar documentary on the Seattle Mariners. The graphics on this series include a box with every year of the ballclub's existence. The camera shifts back and forth through the 3D environment creating a dynamic sports video. He writes: “I also like to lean into the three-dimensional nature of the world whenever it makes sense to do so, just to establish the feeling that we aren’t looking at a big slideshow—we’re flying around in a virtual world, however basic it might be” (Filmmaker Magazine). Despite the eye-popping graphics, he is adamant that the films are "not a spreadsheet or whatever. I want to get to know these people and the amazing stories they lived through. That, to me, is much more interesting" (GQ). These stories are expertly crafted to create an entertaining show for sports fans and non-fans alike.

Bois' History of the Seattle Mariners, featuring MLB greats Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson, and Alex Rodriguez

Bois

I personally love Bois' work, and recommend his videos, especially if you are not into sports.

Cited:

https://filmmakermagazine.com/119858-interview-jon-bois-sb-nation/

https://www.gq.com/story/jon-bois-minnesota-vikings-interview

Bridgit Mendler

 

If you were a kid in the 2010s and ever watched anything on Disney Channel, you probably know who Bridgit Mendler is. Her first appearance on Disney was as a guest character in Wizards of Waverly place in 2009, but some of her more well-known roles during her time there were as Teddy Duncan in Good Luck Charlie (2010-2014) and Olivia in Lemonade Mouth (2011). While she continued on as an actress into the late 2010s, she is now the CEO of Northwood Space, a startup aiming to improve connectivity around the world by building ground stations that will enhance space communication. 

 In addition to Mendler’s career in acting before her startup, she had a career in the music industry. This singing career began with one of her acting projects, as she contributed to the soundtrack of Lemonade Mouth with songs such as “Somebody” and “Determinate.” While her music career started as a part of her acting career, she went on to release a studio album titled Hello My Name Is… in 2012. Off of this album, two of her songs, “Ready or Not” and “Hurricane” would be the most popular. I’ve linked videos of those songs below. In addition to the album, she released her EP Nemesis in 2016 and numerous singles up until 2017. 

                                                       "Ready or Not" - Bridgit Mendler

"Hurricane" - Bridgit Mendler

Mendler clearly has a love for creating music and she was quoted in an interview with MTV in 2016 saying that making her EP was “a very therapeutic process.” This immediately reminded me of Rick Rubin’s discussion of the therapeutic power of creativity in the chapter titled “The Possessed” in his book The Creative Act: A Way of Being. He states that artists are often portrayed as “tortured,” but emphasizes that one does not need to be “broken” in order to create. He argues that the creative experience can be agonizing or enlivening, but it is up to the artist to decide. Mendler remarked in the same interview with MTV as above that her EP was one of the projects that she felt she put the most of herself into. Thus, as Rubin argues that the creative process can be beneficial for the artist, it seems that Mendler felt this way about the music she had created. 

While still in the midst of her music career, Mendler enrolled as an undergraduate student of anthropology at the University of Southern California, where she graduated with her bachelor’s degree in 2016. She then went on to earn a master’s degree in media arts and sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she is now working on obtaining a PhD. Additionally, she is set to graduate from Harvard Law in 2024 with a Juris Doctor degree.

In between all of her schooling, Mendler’s creative outlet has shifted in a sense from her music towards her interest in furthering space communication. Mendler said that the idea for the company came to her during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which she and Northwood Space’s co-founders, Griffin Cleverly and Shaurya Luthra, began building antennas and receiving data from satellites. Thus, Mendler’s creative process seems to be a collaborative one in which she starts with an idea or a question and expands upon that until it gets to where she wants it to be.

Since then, Northwood Space was founded in 2023 and has since received over $6 million in funding. According to Northwood’s website, the aim of the company is to build “a data highway between earth and space” by building masses of satellite ground stations. It is hoped that these will then expand the abilities of communication on earth. 

It's clear that Mendler’s career has taken many different turns and it is exciting to see where her startup will go. While where she is now is much different from where she started, she obviously possesses a drive for innovation that takes her forward in multiple domains. 

Sources:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/21/how-bridgit-mendler-went-from-disney-star-to-space-startup-ceo.html

https://pagesix.com/entertainment/bridgit-mendler-career/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/02/19/disney-channel-actress-bridgit-mendler-launching-space-data-startup/?sh=ade71234fdc0

https://www.northwoodspace.io/about-us

https://www.inc.com/kit-eaton/meet-northwood-space-a-former-disney-child-stars-commercial-space-startup.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/19/disney-star-bridgit-mendler-launches-satellite-startup-northwood-space.html

https://www.livenowfox.com/news/bridgit-mendler-space-northwood-disney-education