Here’s a (very incomplete) list of the things I've been looking into this week:
I don’t follow too many actors on social media or online, but one exception is Wil Wheaton who played the ineffable Wesley Crusher in Paramount’s classic series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Everyone loves a comeback story and this is really where Wil shines. He went from being abused (by parents and people in the industry), hated by many in the Trek community, and summarily dismissed as a failed actor who once had amazing promise to a respected character actor, best-selling writer/blogger, and a bonified nerd with serious street cred.
His post this week about receiving a bit of serious redemption at the screening of the final season of Picard made my heart all warm. “I felt so seen, so loved … and had to take a deep breath to force the tears back…”.The controversies around AI-based generators has been well documented on the internet over the past few months. As these conversations begin to dramatically heat up we can expect each of the AI services to take fire as we come to grips on what this new technology means for creativity. Noam Chomsky, a well known professor and intellectual, recently took aim at ChatGPT for its “basically high-tech plagiarism” and the impact it will have on the role of the undergraduate essay. The interview weighs in at just over an hour (jump to the 3:30 mark to get right to this specific part related to AI), but if you’ve been following what AI will mean for the creative professional, then this is a solid addition to your knowledgebase.
I really try to widen out when it comes to reading books and articles on creativity. Otherwise, I spend too much of my time purely focused on design. So many of the arts inform one another that it helps to take a broad approach to the application of creativity and what its practitioners have to say about it.
I just picked up The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin. While I haven’t been able to get into it just yet, I’ve been looking forward to digging into this. Rubin’s impact on music in incalculable and to have a chance to dip into that thinking and experience is exciting. Paging through the book reveals a common format in which a creator picks a number of points to expound on and devotes 1-2 pages based on their thoughts and experiences. These bite sized chunks are great for annotation and frequent revisiting.I have a tendency to nerd out a bit when I find blog posts or articles in which a writer takes a deep dive into a subject related to printing and book making (or any other random subject that strikes my interest at the moment). Austin Kleon’s amazing blog and Substack newsletter has been a favorite of mine for a very long time for just this reason. Lots of great information about writing and creativity disseminated through the lens of a working creative pro.
His post this week about Roget’s Thesaurus was fantastic. Who knew that it was so different from a regular dictionary? It actually inspired me to pick up a copy to add to my library as I do not currently have one here in the studio. Words, language, and grammar are complex topics, but are really needed in our daily lives.On the subject of writing, I’ve been thinking a lot about this project and why I’m doing this. I went back to my notes and pulled this quote from Steven King’s amazing book, On Writing. I should really print this out and put it somewhere I can see because it perfectly describes why I take the time to do this work and share knowledge where I can.
“Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.”
Have a good week, friends. Be wonderful.
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