Team 4 Star: Making the Ridiculously Awesome Even Better

           When people here the word "creativity", they believe it to be interchangeable with originality.  Essentially all the great writers, artists, philosophers, etc. all received praise for their own masterful work.  Breaking away from the Status quot is Team 4 Star.  Scott Frerichs (KaiserNeko), Nick Landis (Lanipator), and Curtis Arnott (Takahata101) are the creators of the famous Dragon Ball Z abridged.  These guys did not create Dragon Ball Z.  In fact, they didn't even pioneer abridged series (This title belongs to Martin Billany [little kuriboh], creator of yugioh abridged.  However, these guys knew that there is more than one way to realize the legend.  Their ingenuity in script writing and flawless editing created the best abridged series ever.

       

          There are dozens of abridged series out there, but every single fan agrees that DBZ abridged is the best.  The biggest strength to the series is how much the creators love the work.  In Pretend Play by Sandra Russ, Andrew Robins, and Beth Christiano, they claim that there is a strong "relation between play and creativity."  The creators absolutely love Dragon Ball Z and they have a real passion for voice acting.  It's a little scary how accurate their voices are to the original voice actors of the show.  It's this passion that has put their show at number one on every single abridged series ranking.

       

          What's most creative about Team 4 star is how they seamlessly weave in their own subplots to the show.  When watching most abridged series, it's easy to tell that you're note watching the real show because editing for subplots looks forced.  Team 4 star is able to edit their in perfectly and make it stick to the actual story line.  Pokemon Abridged by 1kidsentertainment, is another excellent abridged series, but it can't compete with DBZ abridged for this reason.  Their subplots with Misty's fire obsession and Brock's breeding problems tend to veer away from the show.  Team 4 star on the other hand intertwined the God Popo and Nail subplots perfectly.


       
          Another reason why Team 4 Star is so creative is because they take their time.  Due to the increased popularity of abridged series, creators tend to produce their shows hastily which diminishes its quality.  The time that Team 4 Star puts into their work is integral to creativity.  This theory is supported in the article by Chen-bo-Zhong.  In the article, a study was discussed, in which people had to create product names.  The ones who took their time came up with more creative names than the ones who tried to think of things quickly.          

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          Though every abridged series maker wants their series to be the best, they all agree that working with team 4 star is always a positive.  Little kuriboh makes fun of his series all the time by saying that it's "only half as popular as Team 4 Star."  He and several other abridged series use the services of Team 4 Star (particularly Nappa), to enhance their own series.  They all attend anime conventions to showcase their series, and everyone has a ton of respect for Team 4 Star.  T4S is very fortunate that they are appreciated in their own time.

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          In final analysis, there are a lot of truly awesome abridged series.  The best I've seen are from 1kidsentertainment, littlekuriboh, and the ultimate: Team 4 Star.  Many have tried, but no one has come up with as great of an abridged series as those 3 parody behemoths.

The Beautiful World of Birchbox

Facebook is not the only outstanding business created inside a Harvard dorm room. College roommates Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna loved to take advantage of online deals for luxury cosmetics, but would get frustrated every time they received a product that did not live up to its online description. Tired of wasting their hard-earned money, Beauchamp and Barna created Birchbox, the first online beauty subscription service. These Harvard business school students combined their love of cosmetics, their creative ability to solve problems, and the excitement they felt while swapping cosmetics with friends into a successful online business, thus paving the way for more than thirty-five different subscription box services currently in operation.

Since its creation in 2010, Birchbox has grown from a small, dorm room operation into a multi-million dollar business. For only ten dollars a month, Birchbox subscribers receive a box of four or five deluxe beauty samples individually picked to meet each subscriber’s unique wants and needs. If the subscriber loves a product, they can conveniently purchase the full-size version on the Birchbox website. As one of over 100,000 Birchbox subscribers, I eagerly await the arrival of my Birchbox each month and desperately check for online sneak peaks to get an idea of what I will be receiving in each box. Unfortunately for my wallet, the amazing service Beauchamp and Barna offers is borderline addictive. Who wouldn’t love receiving a surprise in the mail every month?

Starting Birchbox required a lot of hard work, determination, and creative thinking. Because they created the beauty box industry, the Birchbox team had to rely on their own ideas instead of following the examples of others. Barna said she and her business partner faced difficulties, but were motivated to continue their process of creative thinking because they genuinely loved what they were doing. Through creating Birchbox, they were able to successfully combine their passion for beauty with their training and aptitude for business. When asked about the difficulties faced during startup Beauchamp said, “There is no secret to doing this. You start with a vision, and then it is about problem solving, getting things done, and remaining tenacious even when the uphill pursuit becomes steeper.”

According to Mary Ann Colins and Teresa M. Amabile’s writing on motivation and creativity, a major motivator behind creativity is the feeling of enjoyment and satisfaction that a creator receives from working in their chosen field. Beauchamp and Barna both agreed they would not have been able to endure the grueling startup process if they were not passionate about what they were doing. Furthermore, it is also argued that effective motivation, which is a person’s desire to control his or her environment, also plays a major role in creative motivation. In the case of Beauchamp and Barna, their desire to control their environment is evident. They wanted to solve the problems they faced while online shopping. In order to do so, they took charge and created a brand new outlet for women interested in trying new and unfamiliar cosmetics. Instead of passively accepting the burdens that beauty lovers originally faced, the creators of Birchbox proved their autonomy and ability to be the masters of the world of beauty.

Barna and Beauchamp’s hard work is continuing to pay off with both financial compensation as well as the internal rewards of satisfaction and pride, which are also major motivators for many creative individuals. Each year, the number of Birchbox subscribers has grown drastically, the business’s revenue continues to increase, and new subscription services are added constantly. Watch out Zuckerburg. These ladies could dethrone your title as the best Harvard inventor.  

Check out Birchbox.com to learn more about Birchbox and to subscribe for a monthly box. Trust me, it is well worth ten dollars!

 Here is Barna and Beauchamp's full interview: http://theeverygirl.com/feature/katia-beauchamp-and-hayley-barna-of-birchbox

Dilbert: Satiric Commentary on White Collar America

If you have ever felt that your boss was completely incompetent or that most policies implemented in your workplace seem to exist only to frustrate you, then you know the pains of Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert cartoon strip. These little pictorials encapsulate all-too-common feelings of the modern worker: loathing, bemusement, and acceptance. While some strips seem too implausible to seriously entertain, even their essence is close enough to reality that nearly everyone can empathize with at least one of the characters’ workplace plights.



Although earning multiple degrees in economics, Scott Adams decided that he had had enough of corporate America after working over ten years at various levels of management. While its insipid idiosyncrasies drained him, its incredulous ironies inspired him to create one of the longest-running cartoon strips in history. His creativity lies in the fact that he earnestly exposes workplace problems as humorous but still worthy of serious contemplation.

Yet, Mr. Adams did not suddenly wake up one day and decide to be a satirist. Ever since he was a child, he enjoyed creating comic strips. He dabbled with them from childhood through high school. It was only because he was rejected from art school that he decided to major in economics, but he continued making comic strips in his free time. Hinting at his future career change, Mr. Adams related that he often inserted his homemade comic strips into presentations to make business meetings more enjoyable. With Russ et al. (1999) surely agreeing, Mr. Adams’ youthful creative tendencies appeared to have stuck with him into maturity.

 

Mr. Adams did not seriously consider becoming a full time cartoonist until his experiences at the Pacific Bell Telecommunications Company. The people he met there were so cartoonishly unreal that they provided the basis for many of his iconic characters like Wally, the lazy, apathetic bald man. Mr. Adams began submitting his Dilbert strips to local newspapers while still working fulltime. He woke up at four a.m. every morning simply to get everything done in a day.



To sacrifice so much of his time and energy for what begets only a morning chuckle, Mr. Adams must hold a strong, internal commitment to his passion. In fact, he acknowledged that it was only his intrinsic motivation that kept him burning the candle at both ends both before and after his royalty checks began filtering in through the mail every month. His first check was for a measly $368.62. When he could finally live off the royalties, though, he quit his regular job to peruse his ideal life as a fulltime cartoonist.

From a psychoanalytic perspective, Mr. Adams appears to have sublimated his contentious yet inappropriate feelings towards his coworkers and workplace policies into the socially acceptable medium of lighthearted, but pointed, comic strips. This method offers a sincere but critical commentary on what he perceives to be wrong with the workplace. But, Mr. Adams’ ideas are not just an individual’s critique that is valued by a select few; his satire has spawned a TV show based on the strips, generated new business philosophies, and even coined several words. By far, his term Confusopoly (sellers purposefully giving consumers confusing information to make buying certain products easier) captures his greater impact on the world beyond a good laugh. Anytime individuals buy a cellphone, sellers give them large tracts of information that are mostly meaningless. This incomprehensibility serves to draw consumers to plans based on emotional factors like the name of the product (ie: phones called Shine or Chocolate) because they cannot comprehend the important technological factors, which sellers exploit for higher profitability.

Scott Adams offers us a sobering laugh at American white-collar culture. His creative doodles unwittingly draw us in—only to wallop us with distasteful truths of corporate (mis)management, the deleterious effects of jumping on industry trends, the peculiarities of our coworkers, and what—if any—meaning we can find in our own lives by operating within such a bumbling system. To these philosophical dilemmas, Mr. Adams offers us some answers: we can become droning workaholics, drink ludicrous amounts of coffee, or we can laugh at our own absurdity and carry on as best we can.

 

Visit these websites for more information about Scott Adams or Dilbert:

·         http://www.dilbert.com/ (Daily Dilbert uploads)

·         http://dilbert.com/blog (Scott Adam’s personal blog)

·         http://www.npr.org/2013/10/21/236207605/scott-adams-explains-how-to-fail-at-almost-everything-except-dilbert (An interview with Scott Adams on his success and failures)

The Life and Times of a Band Called: Death

     I grew up with music constantly filling my eardrums. Harmonizing in the car with my mother and the Carpenters, crowdsurfing at the South Hollywood House of Blues, and spontaneously jamming with my talented peers are some of my fondest memories. I am very passionate about music and I honestly believe it's in my genes to love music. My other passion is movies, and when I saw a documentary on NetFlix about a protopunk band called Death how could I not watch it? Protopunk literally means "a prototype of what would become the punk genre" these artists range all over the rock spectrum and are considered the instigators of punk. When I think of the pioneers of the punk genre I think of the Ramones, Sex Pistols, and the Clash. But before them Death set the precedent for what was to become punk.

     Death started with three brothers: Bobby Hackney, Dannis Hackney, and David Hackney. With the support of their family the Hackney brothers began to learn and develop their skills as a band. Death was spearheaded by the stubborn and determined David Hackney on guitar. David Hackney and Bobby Hackney co-wrote Death's first full length album ...For the Whole World to See. Bobby Hackney played bass and was the lead singer of the band and Dannis Hackney played drums. It was David Hackney who changed the name from Rock Fire Funk Express to Death in order to put a more positive spin on such a dark idea after being deeply affected by the death of his father. The three brothers continued to practice and refine their sound as a band and eventually landed some studio time in Detroit's United Sound Studios backed by Columbia Records. However, after David refused to change the name of the band, only seven of the twelve songs originally planned were recorded. Death ended up releasing two singles from the studio time on their own independent label known as Tryangle. They made five hundred vinyl presses and handed them out to friends and colleagues to no avail and in 1977 the Hackney brothers decided that it was time to end Death.  Dannis and Bobby Hackney went on to play in a reggae band for a time.  Sadly, in 2000 David Hackney passed away due to lung cancer.  

     

Although it was a brief history Death resurfaced after punk enthusiasts began to cycle the vinyls around and post digital copies of the songs on the internet decades later. The uniqueness and ingenuity was only realized after many years had passed but that doesn't change the fact, at least for this listener, that Death made creative efforts that were just a few years ahead of its time. For a time when Motown and Disco were on the rise these three brothers created music that would only later become known as punk. For the time, the means in which these musicians blended their talents were unheard of and revolutionary. Blast beats, distorted guitars, and shouted vocals had all been done before but it was the execution and synthesis of these techniques which made Death's sound special.  Today two of the three brothers, along with a member of a group formed after Death, have joined to continue writing and creating punk music under the name Death.  The bands self-determination and refusal to change their name to a more marketable one provided more support for their own unique work.  As Collins & Amabile state, in Motivation and creativity, "creativity must occur in a context of self-evaluation rather than being driven by a concern with being evaluated by others." 

Below is the entire ...For the Whole World to See album by Death and the trailer for the A Band Called: Death documentary by Mark Christopher Covino and Jeff Howlett.

Album Stream

Trailer

Life-Saving Care in Less Than Three Minutes

At the age of 15, Eli Beer, a native Israeli, took an EMT course and started volunteering at an ambulance company in the city of Jerusalem. Now, nearly 25 years later, he is the co-founder of a volunteer organization that is over 2000 strong and acts throughout the world to bring prehospital emergency care as quickly as possible to those who need it. Referred to as a "life-saving flash mob", United Hatzalah, or United Rescue, responds to 500 calls every day in Israel, in situations where seconds can mean the difference between life and death.

Beer's early experiences with emergency care in Israel were fraught with difficulty and frustration. At the age of 6, he witnessed a bus bombing that led to a lot of injuries and deaths; despite being too young to help, he was inspired by this incident to become an EMT. He volunteered for an ambulance company in Jerusalem for two years, but unfortunately, he did not save any lives due to the heavy traffic that plagues the city and prevented emergency care from moving through efficiently. Beer witnessed several deaths that could have been prevented if the ambulance had not been prevented from reaching the scene of the emergency in a timely fashion.

Infuriated by these unnecessary deaths, Beer decided (along with 15 of his friends) to begin responding to emergency calls in his own neighborhood. However, when he asked the ambulance company to alert this group of volunteers to calls in their area, he was refused. This initial hostility on behalf of the ambulance companies didn't slow Beer down for a second. Self-described as a "stubborn kid", he went out and bought two police scanners, and he and his friends took turns listening for emergency calls and responding to those in their area. Within days, Beer had saved the life of a 70 year old man who had been hit by a car by rushing to the scene and acting to stop the man's bleeding before the ambulance arrived to carry him to the hospital.

In 1989, United Hatzalah was officially founded in the city of Jerusalem; now, the organization has grown dramatically, saving over 207,000 lives in 2012 alone. Instead of relying on ambulances moving through the heavy traffic of Jerusalem, motorcycles outfitted with all of the necessary emergency medical supplies (other than a bed, of course) are sent to the scene of an emergency. Because the motorcycles can move between cars and on the sidewalks in order to avoid traffic, the response to an emergency call can occur in under three minutes within the city. Beer is careful to point out that United Hatzalah does not exist to replace ambulances; instead, they lessen the gap between when a call is received and when help arrives.

The name United Hatzalah originated in Brooklyn, where a Hasidic Jew with a very similar idea to Beer's had begun sending medically-equipped cycles throughout the streets of New York. This idea spread throughout the Jewish community; however, with Beer's help, this life-saving community has expanded beyond the boundaries of religion, race, and nationality. Early on in the life of the organization in Israel, Beer helped to found a branch in East Jerusalem, enabling Jews, Arabs, and Christians to work together toward a common goal: saving lives.

Eli Beer is an excellent example of a creative personality. His desire to save lives motivated him to expand upon a simple idea that had never spread beyond the Jewish community in order to respond to emergency situations on a global scale. His refusal to back down in the face of rejection from traditional ambulance companies, combined with a large dose of chutzpah, enabled him to help save lives on a scale beyond his original dreams. His passion for his work and his willingness to put everything else aside to respond to an emergency as quickly as possible make him both an excellent medical professional and a creative inspiration.

For more information on United Hatzalah, look here.

To watch Eli Beer's TED MED talk, go here.

A New Look at Splint Therapy

Cynthia Garris often recommended splint therapy to patients that would come to her for occupational therapy. She was well aware of the benefits and value of splint therapy, and had been practicing it on her patients for years. Splint therapy is often used in conjunction with occupational therapy to help individuals suffering from short term trauma or lifelong debilitating diseases in order to continue to have normal use of their hands and joints.
In 1974, Garris was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and was forced to reevaluate the current technology used in splint therapy. Traditional splints are made of metal or plastic and, Garris would soon learn, are often too cumbersome for long term everyday use.
        
After years of prescribing splint use to her patients, Garris finally had to wear one herself after her diagnosis. She was presented with a problem she didn't even know existed until she began splint therapy. Common plastic splints, though smaller and more custom fitting than larger metal splints, were not durable enough to be worn for more than a few weeks without breaking or losing their form. For people suffering short term trauma, these splints serve their purpose well enough. But for Garris and others suffering from debilitating joint problems like arthritis, hyperextension, or lateral instability, splints must be worn every day in order to have relatively normal joint use; plastic splints just don't hold up.

  

Garris drew inspiration from the work of jewelers, especially looking at the process of making of rings. She used analogous thinking to parallel decorative rings to practical finger splints. Gentner et al. (1997) discuss Kepler's use of analogy for discovery, whereas Garris used analogy to expand upon preexisting ideas. She saw that the metals used in jewelry making are malleable enough to create a custom fit, while still being strong enough to hold their shape and remain durable. She expanded on the idea of wearing rings for decorative purposes by making them into functional splints as well--creating the Silver Ring (SIRIS) splint.
The SIRIS Splints are also an example of creative problem finding and solving. Garris solved the simple problem of needing a more durable splint by replacing the plastic with metal, but she also solved cosmetic problems as well. Many of her patients would say that they did not like the look of the plastic splints (or were embarrassed by them), and therefore would not wear them as often as the therapist prescribed. Splint therapy does not work and cannot provide relief if the splint is not worn. Garris created a splint that was both aesthetically pleasing and medically effective. The splints are entirely customizable, in both fit and style. She offers splints in both sterling silver and gold, and even offers specialty splints with precious stones embedded in them. By giving patients the option to customize their splint, Garris ensures that they have a splint they are happy to wear.
 
When creating SIRIS splints, Garris addressed joint problems that could arise from arthritis as well as a wide variety of other joint and muscle problems in the hand and wrist. Her splints are also used by artists and musicians to encourage finger stability and strength when creating artwork or playing instruments. The SIRIS splints offer a more practical option in general, because their jewelry like design allows them to be worn with gloves, fit through sleeves, and can be worn when washing hands.
Like many creative personalities (as described by Csikszentmihalyi), Garris proved stubborn when in the process of finding a splint to wear after her diagnosis. Upon the realization that current technology in splint therapy wouldn't fulfill her needs, she took it upon herself to create a splint that would. When discussing the invention of SIRIS splints, Garris remains modest. She is proud of her work, yet is never completely satisfied. She sees the success of her splints on her patients, but is continuously working on new models and improving on others. She also works to make her measurement system even more accurate.
Many therapists acknowledge the benefits of splint therapy; it reduces pain and inflammation while offering joint stability and protection. Cynthia Garris took splint therapy one step further by making it more appealing to patients because of the comfort and style in which she presents her splints. Therapists often find it difficult to encourage their patients to continue therapy, especially in cases where the therapy would be lifelong (as is the case with Rheumatoid Arthritis). Through analogous thinking and problem solving, Garris was able to create a splint that not only alleviates pain, but also betters patient well-being and self-image.

The SIRIS website provides more images and information about the different kinds of splints that the company offers. It also has a listing of the different problems addressed and the splints associated with them.
The University of Southampton published research on the effectiveness of the splints compared to traditional splinting methods.
An occupational therapist offers insight on the benefits of splint therapy in general, and the different joint and muscle problems that it addresses.

Creativity Beyond Creativity

We had been in line for well over three hours and we were finally approaching the man everyone was here to see.  I had only heard of the man from my roommates constant rants about how great he was, I was lured to go hear him speak out of curiosity about what could be so great about one single doctor.  After hearing him speak I was certainly impressed, but still more than agitated that I had waited almost 4 hours just for this guy to sign my roommates book.  When we approached the front of the table a man, who appeared to be in charge of the event, apologized for the long wait explaining, "Paul likes to take a little bit of time to get to know each person he meets."  Again I was impressed but could not help but maintain some skepticism about how great and kind everyone seemed to think this guy was.  Finally I walk up to him, Paul Farmer, and step to the side for my roommate.  He looks at me and asks where my book is, and I tell him I do not have one.  Of course, I had not purchased one because I did not have the interest in getting it signed.  He turns to one of the people helping him out and asks for her to bring him an extra book.  He asks me a few questions about myself while writing inside the new book's cover and then hands me the book saying "anyone who waited that long should get a book."  He then signed my roommates book after having a conversation with him, and then we left.

This short experience with Paul Farmer left me thinking that I really should get to know a little bit more about this man, who for no other reason than I waited a long time, gave me a free book along with a nice inscription and signature.  I took up my roommates long standing offer and began to read a book, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracey Kidder, which gave a small glimpse into the life of Paul Farmer.  The books describes Farmer's efforts in Haiti where he spends much of his time helping the poor get treatments and help for any disease or sickness.  While visiting Haiti weekly, he also works at the Harvard Medical School as a professor, and at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston as an attending physician.  Farmer also co-founded an international social justice and health organization; Partners in Health (PIH).

The symbol for Farmer's organization PIH ( donate.pih.org)

As we have investigated what makes a person creative and have read some theories about the characteristics of a creative, it has been evident that Farmer falls into this category of a "big-C" creative.  Csikszentmihalyi lists 10 traits, sometimes contradictory, that often come together in a creative person.  While Farmer has almost all of these traits, a few are truly highlighted within him. Csikszentmihalyi first says that they are often very energetic people yet quiet and at rest.  This is easy to see with Farmer, who not only travels every single week, but travels within the places he arrives.  At one point in Mountains Beyond Mountains Farmer travels a very long distance, traversing mountains along the way (part of the inspiration for the book title), just to see a patient who could not make it to see him.  It is obvious that a vast amount of energy is needed for this, but he is also at rest in a sense once he reaches or is with a patient.  He is relaxed, calm, and never rushes his time with a patient, often to the displeasure of those who are trying to make sure he is everywhere he is needed.  Another trait that is mentioned is that creatives are often prideful and humble at the same time.  Farmer's success and life's work is definitely something to be proud of, and when he speaks you get a sense that he is confident, and is proud of what he has done.  But he also humbles himself by making it well known that there has not been anywhere near enough done by him and by everyone else to solve the issues of health care around the world.  One of the most striking things about Farmer that I think Csikszentmihalyi describes very well is the idea that he is rebellious, yet cultured.  Throughout Tracey Kidder's stories of Farmer, he often says the Farmer would ignore, "bend", or push past the rules to help someone who otherwise would have not received any treatment for their illness.  He also complains about how the system currently is put together, and is seen somewhat as a rebel against it.  At the same time, he is an attending physician, and works at one of the most prestigious medical schools around.  He also travels the world gaining an appreciation for all of the differences in culture and lifestyle.                

Farmer examining a patient (achievement.org)

Csikszentmihalyi also explains that creatives must be passionate about their work.  This very often comes at a cost to the creative that I think Farmer also experiences.  There is no doubting the passion that Farmer has for the work he does.  What stands out alongside this though, is what he must sacrifice for this passion.  He sees his wife and daughter infrequently, though still doing his best to see them more and more.  He also appears to sleep very little, and spends what time could be spent sleeping answering the hundreds upon hundreds of emails he receives every day.  I think this idea of passion coincides with the idea many other talk about with creatives being intrinsically rewarded for doing what they are doing.  Farmer does receive accolades and money for what he does, but what truly drives him is his passion to help others and to more specifically help those who are truly in need of that help and cannot seek it themselves.

After hearing and reading about all he's done I have often thought to myself, "What am I doing", or "How can I come anywhere near to doing what he's done to help others."  I let myself feel intimidated rather than inspired.  However, after voicing this to my roommate he told me, "I don't think Farmer wants you to do what he does, because most people can't, he just wants you to do what YOU can do."  And with that I added my own trait to what makes a truly great creative... They inspire others around them to begin to challenge, see, and think of things in a different light and although we may not be able to do what they did, they inspire us to do what WE can.



I highly recommend reading Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracey Kidder to learn more about Paul Farmer and what he does, or to read a book by Farmer himself (there are many).  

References:

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracey Kidder

The Creative Personality by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi