My Creative Manifesto

1. Don't Listen To Negativity

2. Understand When Someone is Genuinely Trying To Help

3. Don't Limit Yourself

4. Come Back to Unfinished Ideas, You Might Know How to Finish Now

5. There is Always Room for Improvement

6. Never Get Complacent

7. Don't Believe Your Own Hype

8. Consume As Much Media As Possible. It Expands Your Horizons

9. Find Creativity In Other Artists' Ideas, Just Don't Be Too Similar.

10. Be Yourself. Don't Try to Be Your Favorite Artist. Strive To Be Better Than Them

Thank you to anyone who read my blog this quarter. I know I missed a lot of assignments, but I've been going through a lot of shit stuff and I have few regrets on how it all turned out. Hopefully through all of this craziness I still did well enough to get better than a C in this class. If not, then I guess I'll see Eric again in the fall, as I'm sure spring quarter's already full. السلام عليكم.

Written response to Karim Rashid’s Creative Manifesto.

The aspect of Rashid's Manifesto that resonated with me most was the first one on the list: don't specialize. I've used this quote from Donald Glover before, but I think it fits well here also: "Who knows what they are all the time? I’m different stuff every second of every day. I don’t know why people confine themselves. I know it be easier if I just did funny stuff, or just music, or just writing, but I’m more than that. That’s not me. That’s not anyone. Everyone is everything, if they let themselves." I know that I would have a lot more pent up energy if I didn't express myself creatively through more than one medium. I write, I rap, I tell jokes. I can't just flip a switch and turn one of these off, even if I wanted to. Sometimes it's distracting when I'm writing stand-up and an idea for a short film pops in my head, but I know I would be worse off in the end if I didn't take a break to write it down and visualize it. That's not me.

Week 10 blog A

This blog is my critique of David Rendall’s “FREAK FACTOR: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness”.

#3. Flawless: There's Nothing Wrong With You

While I was initially turned off by the title, after reading the section I see that Rendall has a point. Perhaps the fact that I have a short attention span is really helpful for my creativity. I've been writing episodes for a possible TV show for about 5 months, and I have never finished an episode in just one sitting. Looking back, I realize this is a good thing, because I sometimes got great ideas for the ending of an episode from witnessing things in between writing sessions. I've had similar things happen with my stand-up, and now I think this may be the best way to write. I wouldn't suggest stopping if you're on a roll, but if you're stuck then come back to it later and you might bring some new inspiration with you.

#6. Focus: You Can't Do Both

This section spoke to me as a comedian. The section is about not being able to have things both ways and as a comedian I have found that I can't make people laugh and please everyone at the same time. Personally, I have chosen to develop a comedic persona that is somewhat offensive and narcissistic, of which I am neither. This began mostly by the fact that my greatest comedic influence was and is Daniel Tosh, but it also helps because I am telling jokes mainly to white college students and they aren't likely to get upset at any of my jokes. I've focused on my (I guess you'd call it a strength?) that I am also a white college student and I write jokes that I myself would laugh at.

#9. Freak Factory: Putting Your Quirks to Work

This one was a little bittersweet for me. He talks throughout the whole article about focusing on developing your strengths, but in this section he flat out says you should stop doing things that you're weak at. For me, this is schoolwork. I would say that my major weakness right now is that I have no motivation to do any schoolwork that I'm not interested in. Even now, in a media class that I thought would motivate me, I am painstakingly writing this. However, I know I can't drop out. My parents wouldn't support me if I did and I haven't made enough of a name for myself as a stand-up comedian to start going out on the road (also, my car can't go on highways). I like this section in theory, but pragmatically I am against it.

Week 8 blog

www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/178/superpowers

Here is my assignment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMCqaqMvyMc

Week 7 Blog

Our group for the joke video went in two very different directions. Obviously the affinity between the two videos comes mainly from the fact that both videos were created around the same joke. Also, the genres were the same, so the overall looks of the videos were similar. The directions we took the jokes in, however, were very different. The video that I wrote was the one that I also acted in. I wanted to create a lot more tension than the joke originally provided. Obviously, the more sexual version of the joke provided a higher tension. Visually, we tried to build tension through close ups and quick movement by me. We also used a lot of flat space to give the feel of how closed in and nervous my character was. I don't remember much about the video J.T. directed, as I was in class during some of the filming. However, I know that his was much more true to the original joke and used wider shots and deeper space, because his character didn't have reason to be as nervous as mine.

Ryan Priestle @ACUG 2/16/11