And I loved it even more after reading the article. What I liked about what I read is that Pixar gives their creatives a lot of leeway the ideas that they generate. If I have learned one thing in class, it is that one of the best way to generate good ideas is to generate a lot of them, and Pixar puts this into action by allowing all its creatives to go crazy with their ideas.
Of course not all of these ideas would end up being blockbusters. In fact, I'm betting that around 99% of the ideas generated there never make their way into production. But the fact that they are open to bad ideas means that the good ideas will come.
I also agree with Pixar in their effort to eliminate the tiring task of going through the proper channels before a member of one department can ask help from a member of another department. In my two weeks at SOLARtv, I have been a part of a few of these requests. Someone from the PR department would ask me to do something but then when my boss found out (I'm a part of the New Media Department), he told me that requests such as that would have to go through the proper channels. I know he was just looking out for my best interest because the other departments might just bombard me with requests if I keep on saying yes to them but then I think things would be much easier if people were allowed to interact with other people without having to talk to everyone else's superior. But then again, that's not my call.
I've also heard horror stories from other TV stations. One of my friends who works for one of the biggest stations told me that their creativity is limited by the higher ups. Sure, they're allowed to be creative but they are always expected to have ideas that are somehow familiar. I think this is not creative at all. They are basically given the pieces to work with then they just make a bunch of combinations. Maybe this may be the reason why Philippine TV has not improved a lot. Sure there are shows now with 3D capabilities and they have huge ass touch screen TVs for the news. But if you look deeper, these changes are all superficial.
More companies should look at the success of Pixar and maybe they could loosed the their grips of the necks of their creatives.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Snoop Dog! (wala lang, para lang may title)
I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for. So I just went ahead, looked around, and took pictures. I also asked the person to take pictures of her room so that I'd know what part of her room she likes best.
I had no intention whatsoever of snooping at the rooms of my guys friends for a few simple reasons. 1. Most of them are filthy. 2. I wouldn't want you guys to see their porn collections. 3. It's hella awkward roaming around their rooms knowing what horrors those walls have seen.
So I asked a female friend if i can snoop around her room while we were, along with a bunch of other friends, were hanging out in their house. The first thing I noticed was a mini notebook collection. It, of course, is not nearly as wide as some people, ahem ahem. But it was nice to see something familiar. I guess girls like notebooks.
Seeing this collection made me think that she's organized. Notebooks are for writing stuff and a person who writes stuff must be organized to some extent.
There was also a desk where she works. There were tons of pens, a picture of her and her significant other, a picture of Jose Maria Escriva, pictures of other family members, and some notes. She also makes good use of post-its to remind her of tasks she needs to do like illegally download episodes of her favorite TV series.
She had a large collection of books which she said is her favorite part of the room. The books were arranged neatly which automatically reminded me of the Robocop Factor.
The sheets were rather interesting. Most of the girls I know want their sheets, blankets, and pillow cases to match. My friend on the other hand didn't. I think this was a hint of her agreeableness. She wasn't OC about the sheets as long as the sheets are comfortable.
The arrangement of her clothes weren't as OC as her books. The clothes were packed neatly but her cabinet looks clean.
There were a lot of identity claims in her room. A bunch of John Mayer CDs gave her away. The pictures in her desk were all directed at her when she was working so it's obvious that all those pictures inspire her to work harder.She shares a room with her tita but the pictures here are all her parts of the room. Sharing a room, I think, is a sign of her agreeableness.
If I was to give her a birthday present, it would be kick-ass John Mayer concert tickets. I don't think I can giver her anything that she'd like more than those tickets.
I think her most dominant personality trait is her agreeableness or the Mr. Rogers Factor. Because I know her quite well, I guess it is easy to say that this is indeed true. She is one of the most lovely people I know and I think her room communicates that very well.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Comb Over
It was much tougher trying to choose something to write about for Yuck than it was for Wow. It was not tough because of the lack of what I can write about but the sheer abundance of stuff that I absolutely hate seeing.
Let me give you a quick rundown of stuff that I thought of writing about.
1. The masculine wash.I just don't get why men need anything other than soap, I just don't.
2. The MMDA urinals. Yup, the dreaded (formerly pink and blue, now green) things that you see in the streets. However, upon closer inspection (don't laugh!) of the said urinals, I saw that the already the normal urinals, the kind we see in regular bathrooms. They no longer had the disgusting rubber funnel looking urine catchers that are absolutely disgusting.
3. Charice Pempengco's Botox injection, for obvious reasons.
But then I decided to write about something I really hate seeing. And yes, "yuck" is the first word I think about when I see this.
I am talking about the Comb Over. You may not be familiar with the term but I think you've definitely seen it. I'm betting one of your dad's friends is even sporting it.
This is the Comb Over.
This dude is known as the Baldy Man, a Mr. Bean like character but his story revolves around his obsession with his hair.
There are more samples of this hair style. Here is perhaps the most well-known comb over in the known universe, Donald Trump's.
The comb over is basically a hair style for balding men. What they do is grow a part of their hair extremely long, then comb it over the bald parts to make it seem like their not bald at all. Click here for definitions from the urban dictionary.
Here is a quick step-by-step guide.
Usually, balding guys comb over from the side, but if hair from the side of your head does jot want to grow, you can also comb over from the back for a more awkward look, like this guy.
In extreme cases, guys get addicted to combing over that they could no longer stop. Here is the around the world comb over.
And still some love it so much that they start giving their pets the same hair style.
The poor dog looks pissed at his new do.Anyway, here are the reasons why I do not like the comb over.
1. It looks unnatural.
2. The guys who sport it can;t accept the fact that they are balding.
3. They're really not fooling anyone. Everyone who see them know what's up, yet they pretend like nothing is wrong.
4. It's ugly.
5. It attracts attention, specially when the long strands of hair aren't where they're supposed to be.
6. The comb over is a half-baked solution to a problem. You can do things if you're balding. First, you can learn to accept it. Take it all off and get a shine. There are lots of men who are happily bald. Second, if you really do not like being bald, there are measure you can take to grow your hair back. Mark Gil now has hair, if he did it, you can to.
Going forward, I think these are the things that I do not like in general that I see with the comb over.
1. I don't like it when people could not accept themselves. They try to do stuff that would hide parts of themselves when what they should do is accept it and move forward.
2. I don't like it when people try to get away with stuff when it is obvious that other people know it was them (example: farting on a crowded elevator and trying to look innocent, politicians stopping the right to information bill and trying to make it seem that they aren't thieves, etc.)
3. Things that are ugly. Comb overs are ugly. I've never seen one that I liked.
4. Doing things because other people are doing it too. I know some people who prefer comb overs simply because they've seen other balding men do it. I really do not like it when people start doing stuff no because they want to but because they saw someone else do it.
And that, my friends, is why I think the comb over hair style must die.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
On Cognitive Fitness
People go to gyms to exercise their body. Why? Because they want to be healthy. People who get regular exercise would most likely have better functioning bodies than people who do not get exercise. And when they grow older, people who got in the most exercise would have better bodies that people (like me) who did not.
Same is true with the brain. It needs exercise to keep it sharp; not using it will dull it down.
Gilkey and Klits listed down four mental exercises that could ensure us that our brains will be as functional as 40 years from now.
Use experiences to grow your brain
This exercise is pretty easy to understand. Use your experiences to grow your brain means that we should think about what we do and determine if these are good or bad, were they worthwhile or not, was it fun or not, among other things. We should think about the things we do in retrospect because this will help us exercise our brains.
Another way to do this is exercise the brain by using other people's experiences. Case in point. I box for fun. I do not do it to exercise or anything like that, I do it because I love the sport and I want to learn as much as possible. As you many know, I watch insane amounts of boxing. i'll watch boxing all day if i could but it probably won't be healthy. anyway, when i watch boxing, I rewatch things that take my attention. If I see a new combination or nice footwork, or good head movement, I watch it over and over to memorize it. Then I try doing it while i'm boxing.
i think this is a good example on how I exercise my brain through the experience of other people.
Work hard at play
I like this part of the exercise because play is, well, fun! I absolutely love playing scrabble with my grandfather. I get my ass handed to me most of the time but every time we play, I can't help but be in awe of my grandfather's memory. I often run out of words but he does not. He'll always have some word to form. In the beginning, I had to check the dictionary to see if the words are correct. But then every time I checked, the word would be there so i just stopped.
Now I have no idea if my grandfather is bullshitting me or not.
Still, I think it is his way of exercising his brain. We rarely get to play anymore but I still know he is one of the sharpest old people i know.
Seek novelty
Seeking novelty could be scary for some. People often brush aside new stuff thinking that they won't understand it anyway. Old people don't think they could learn how to use computers but they should realize that this is important to exercising they brain. People should be open to new things.
We do not have to be experts in all if the new things we try, but it does not mean we should not try it out and learn how it goes.
Search patterns
Seeking patterns is somehow related to what we discussed two weeks ago. I think seeking patterns is only a different of saying looking for intersections. Looking for relationships between seemingly unrelated things is an exercise that we should all do. Taking Sun Tzu's Art of War, getting it out of it's original context, then using it for business is an useful example of seeking patterns.
These four steps are very good methods on how to stay sharp. We all want to be as sharp for years to go. I think learning about this now is important because we can start now.
Same is true with the brain. It needs exercise to keep it sharp; not using it will dull it down.
Gilkey and Klits listed down four mental exercises that could ensure us that our brains will be as functional as 40 years from now.
Use experiences to grow your brain
This exercise is pretty easy to understand. Use your experiences to grow your brain means that we should think about what we do and determine if these are good or bad, were they worthwhile or not, was it fun or not, among other things. We should think about the things we do in retrospect because this will help us exercise our brains.
Another way to do this is exercise the brain by using other people's experiences. Case in point. I box for fun. I do not do it to exercise or anything like that, I do it because I love the sport and I want to learn as much as possible. As you many know, I watch insane amounts of boxing. i'll watch boxing all day if i could but it probably won't be healthy. anyway, when i watch boxing, I rewatch things that take my attention. If I see a new combination or nice footwork, or good head movement, I watch it over and over to memorize it. Then I try doing it while i'm boxing.
i think this is a good example on how I exercise my brain through the experience of other people.
Work hard at play
I like this part of the exercise because play is, well, fun! I absolutely love playing scrabble with my grandfather. I get my ass handed to me most of the time but every time we play, I can't help but be in awe of my grandfather's memory. I often run out of words but he does not. He'll always have some word to form. In the beginning, I had to check the dictionary to see if the words are correct. But then every time I checked, the word would be there so i just stopped.
Now I have no idea if my grandfather is bullshitting me or not.
Still, I think it is his way of exercising his brain. We rarely get to play anymore but I still know he is one of the sharpest old people i know.
Seek novelty
Seeking novelty could be scary for some. People often brush aside new stuff thinking that they won't understand it anyway. Old people don't think they could learn how to use computers but they should realize that this is important to exercising they brain. People should be open to new things.
We do not have to be experts in all if the new things we try, but it does not mean we should not try it out and learn how it goes.
Search patterns
Seeking patterns is somehow related to what we discussed two weeks ago. I think seeking patterns is only a different of saying looking for intersections. Looking for relationships between seemingly unrelated things is an exercise that we should all do. Taking Sun Tzu's Art of War, getting it out of it's original context, then using it for business is an useful example of seeking patterns.
These four steps are very good methods on how to stay sharp. We all want to be as sharp for years to go. I think learning about this now is important because we can start now.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
World Cup WOW!
First of all, congratulations to Spain for winning this year's World Cup. I was rooting for Germany but that damn octopus didn't cooperate.
Anyway, once every four years, the world goes into World Cup frenzy. Even Filipinos, who are not really that interested with football, watch. Many do not really understand how the game is played or what-not but they want to be a part of the action.
Because of the worldwide attention it gets, advertisers of course try to get into the action by producing commercials that have a World Cup theme. One example is that most recent Rexona commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCN_ALDrQFQ
One day I was walking around a department store with my sisters when a saleslady approached me and said they had a promo on Rexona deodorants (yes, I'm writing about deodorants because I'm unpredictable like that!).
Why do I like it? Here are a few reasons.
1. Because it was on sale. 150 pesos for two bottles of deodorant is an absolute steal.
2. It did what it needed to do. I think I don't need to explain that further.
3. It has a cool factor. Spray on deodorant is better than roll-on, at least in my opinion.
4. The bottle had a really good design. I don't mind having it inside my room.
5. It smelled good.
6. It felt natural. Some other deodorant roll-ons take a while to dry. I remember staying in front of the electric fan for minutes so that the stupid roll-on will dry up.
With this list I think I can formulate a general list things i look for in any product.
First, it should serve its purpose. It isn't a chair if it can't support your butt.
Second, it should be something that I can carry around and not be embarrassed that I'm carrying it around. A product can be the best in the market but if it's packaged poorly I don't think i'll use it. It needs to be good and look good.
Third, I think products need to feel natural. People want to feel as natural as possible. If a product is good but feels weird, it most likely would not sell.
Fourth, it needs to be well priced. I don't think i need to explain that any further. Some people think that a $20,000 designer bag is a steal with a 50% discount while other people think that's still way too much. Point is, we all have our different ideas about how much is too much and the price of the product must be below that.
Anyway, once every four years, the world goes into World Cup frenzy. Even Filipinos, who are not really that interested with football, watch. Many do not really understand how the game is played or what-not but they want to be a part of the action.
Because of the worldwide attention it gets, advertisers of course try to get into the action by producing commercials that have a World Cup theme. One example is that most recent Rexona commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCN_ALDrQFQ
One day I was walking around a department store with my sisters when a saleslady approached me and said they had a promo on Rexona deodorants (yes, I'm writing about deodorants because I'm unpredictable like that!).
Why do I like it? Here are a few reasons.
1. Because it was on sale. 150 pesos for two bottles of deodorant is an absolute steal.
2. It did what it needed to do. I think I don't need to explain that further.
3. It has a cool factor. Spray on deodorant is better than roll-on, at least in my opinion.
4. The bottle had a really good design. I don't mind having it inside my room.
5. It smelled good.
6. It felt natural. Some other deodorant roll-ons take a while to dry. I remember staying in front of the electric fan for minutes so that the stupid roll-on will dry up.
With this list I think I can formulate a general list things i look for in any product.
First, it should serve its purpose. It isn't a chair if it can't support your butt.
Second, it should be something that I can carry around and not be embarrassed that I'm carrying it around. A product can be the best in the market but if it's packaged poorly I don't think i'll use it. It needs to be good and look good.
Third, I think products need to feel natural. People want to feel as natural as possible. If a product is good but feels weird, it most likely would not sell.
Fourth, it needs to be well priced. I don't think i need to explain that any further. Some people think that a $20,000 designer bag is a steal with a 50% discount while other people think that's still way too much. Point is, we all have our different ideas about how much is too much and the price of the product must be below that.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
To be able to think out of box, you should first have a box
Just when I thought the term “thinking out of the box” was the coolest thing since the other side of the pillow, I get hit with this awesome quote. Wow. I absolutely did not see that coming.
Howard Gardner’s article was a very interesting read. It kind of had a “self-help” book feel to it because the minds he was talking about could very well be pointers on how we can help ourselves be better and more productive persons. By telling us of these five minds, he basically gave us a check list of the things could do.
I think he was trying to point out that we could have a disciplined, synthesizing, creative, respectful, and ethical mind.
The Disciplined Mind
I think one of the best ways to concretely develop the disciplined mind is spend time with kids and try to figure out what are the things that really excite them. In his article Howard Gardner said that he was playing with the three uses of the term discipline. So I think it is best to come up with three ways to exercise and develop the disciplined mind.
For the first definition of discipline, Gardner said it was about muscle-memory, training your body to memorize whatever it is that you’re doing so that the activity feels like second nature, if you practice hard enough, being good at what you do could be as easy as breathing. How can we develop this? I think it should be instilled in the mind of young kids that practice indeed makes perfect. Parents should support the kid in whatever it is that interests him/her. Say, your kid likes basketball. You can get him into programs where he could train with other kids. Be supportive of him by driving him to practice sessions and watching his games. Being at practice a few times a week and seeing results could definitely help kids feel that discipline leads somewhere, and if they adopt this for the other aspects of their lives, their disciplined minds can be developed.
The second and third definitions are kind of similar. One is for the kid to be good at a certain discipline and the other is to master a type of job. One of the ways to develop this is by keen observation of the child. Once observation is done, then schools can offer classes/activities that would further help the child in whatever it is that he/she is interested in. We actually did something like this in high school. We would take these tests and the guidance department would try to figure out if we fit better in the physical science, medical science, or business tracks. I know the three choices are not comprehensive but at least we had sort of a specialized training in the fields that we were ore comfortable in. Of course we all took science, math and English classes, we were just given two or three classes that differed from each other.
The Synthesizing Mind
The best way to develop a synthesizing mind is first know what the hell synthesizing means. In this age of modern technology and infinite sources of information, training kids to discern what are good sources from bad ones could be a start to developing the synthesizing mind.
The Creative Mind
Developing the creative mind is tricky. I guess I can borrow from my example from the disciplined mind part. Because there are a billion things a person can be creative at, it is of great importance that a person’s interests are defined as early as possible. If this happens, the person will have more time learning about things that the person wants to learn about and could therefore be capable of doing something creative because of his vast knowledge in that field. As said in the article, it takes at least ten years to master something and only then can you be capable of coming up with something creative.
I think another way of developing the creative mind is by letting it make mistakes. In today’s world, parents often suffer from the mean-world syndrome. They try to hold their kids too tightly because of they fear that something bad could happen to them. I’m not saying to leave your kids alone in the street or anything like that, what I’m saying is that kids should be allowed to explore, see the world with their own eyes without guardians force-feeding them what they want them to see.
The Respectful Mind
I think due to the deep state of division that the world has been in for so long, it will be hard to develop the respectful mind. However, the fact that communication today is a lot easier that it was before, this could be of great help.
The respectful mind needs to be introduced to a lot of different cultures and the time to understand them. I think one of the best ways to concretely develop the respectful mind is to read a lot about other people. Traveling could also be one concrete method of developing the respecting mind because meeting people from different walks of life would surely widen the horizon of anybody. I also think meeting more people could help the respectful mind to be more open about the beliefs and practices of other people. You do not have to travel the whole world in able to say you respect the traditions of Earth’s inhabitants. I think going to a few places and meeting a few different people is already enough to give the respectful mind the idea that there are different ways that people do things. I also think you cannot respect what you cannot understand so traveling would surely help.
The Ethical Mind
Training people to look at their own selves before gazing towards others could be a good point of entry in developing the ethical mind. Training them to be mindful of their media consumption patterns and how it leads to them objectifying other people should also be done.
Parent should also bring their kids to community-building activities. If a kid grows up being around his parents who make it a point to help take care of old people by volunteering in nursing homes, then the kid could grow up sensitive about the needs of other people and strong enough to do something about it.
Howard Gardner’s article was a very interesting read. It kind of had a “self-help” book feel to it because the minds he was talking about could very well be pointers on how we can help ourselves be better and more productive persons. By telling us of these five minds, he basically gave us a check list of the things could do.
I think he was trying to point out that we could have a disciplined, synthesizing, creative, respectful, and ethical mind.
The Disciplined Mind
I think one of the best ways to concretely develop the disciplined mind is spend time with kids and try to figure out what are the things that really excite them. In his article Howard Gardner said that he was playing with the three uses of the term discipline. So I think it is best to come up with three ways to exercise and develop the disciplined mind.
For the first definition of discipline, Gardner said it was about muscle-memory, training your body to memorize whatever it is that you’re doing so that the activity feels like second nature, if you practice hard enough, being good at what you do could be as easy as breathing. How can we develop this? I think it should be instilled in the mind of young kids that practice indeed makes perfect. Parents should support the kid in whatever it is that interests him/her. Say, your kid likes basketball. You can get him into programs where he could train with other kids. Be supportive of him by driving him to practice sessions and watching his games. Being at practice a few times a week and seeing results could definitely help kids feel that discipline leads somewhere, and if they adopt this for the other aspects of their lives, their disciplined minds can be developed.
The second and third definitions are kind of similar. One is for the kid to be good at a certain discipline and the other is to master a type of job. One of the ways to develop this is by keen observation of the child. Once observation is done, then schools can offer classes/activities that would further help the child in whatever it is that he/she is interested in. We actually did something like this in high school. We would take these tests and the guidance department would try to figure out if we fit better in the physical science, medical science, or business tracks. I know the three choices are not comprehensive but at least we had sort of a specialized training in the fields that we were ore comfortable in. Of course we all took science, math and English classes, we were just given two or three classes that differed from each other.
The Synthesizing Mind
The best way to develop a synthesizing mind is first know what the hell synthesizing means. In this age of modern technology and infinite sources of information, training kids to discern what are good sources from bad ones could be a start to developing the synthesizing mind.
The Creative Mind
Developing the creative mind is tricky. I guess I can borrow from my example from the disciplined mind part. Because there are a billion things a person can be creative at, it is of great importance that a person’s interests are defined as early as possible. If this happens, the person will have more time learning about things that the person wants to learn about and could therefore be capable of doing something creative because of his vast knowledge in that field. As said in the article, it takes at least ten years to master something and only then can you be capable of coming up with something creative.
I think another way of developing the creative mind is by letting it make mistakes. In today’s world, parents often suffer from the mean-world syndrome. They try to hold their kids too tightly because of they fear that something bad could happen to them. I’m not saying to leave your kids alone in the street or anything like that, what I’m saying is that kids should be allowed to explore, see the world with their own eyes without guardians force-feeding them what they want them to see.
The Respectful Mind
I think due to the deep state of division that the world has been in for so long, it will be hard to develop the respectful mind. However, the fact that communication today is a lot easier that it was before, this could be of great help.
The respectful mind needs to be introduced to a lot of different cultures and the time to understand them. I think one of the best ways to concretely develop the respectful mind is to read a lot about other people. Traveling could also be one concrete method of developing the respecting mind because meeting people from different walks of life would surely widen the horizon of anybody. I also think meeting more people could help the respectful mind to be more open about the beliefs and practices of other people. You do not have to travel the whole world in able to say you respect the traditions of Earth’s inhabitants. I think going to a few places and meeting a few different people is already enough to give the respectful mind the idea that there are different ways that people do things. I also think you cannot respect what you cannot understand so traveling would surely help.
The Ethical Mind
Training people to look at their own selves before gazing towards others could be a good point of entry in developing the ethical mind. Training them to be mindful of their media consumption patterns and how it leads to them objectifying other people should also be done.
Parent should also bring their kids to community-building activities. If a kid grows up being around his parents who make it a point to help take care of old people by volunteering in nursing homes, then the kid could grow up sensitive about the needs of other people and strong enough to do something about it.
This creativity thing is hard
As I've said in class, I'm not exactly the most creative person out there. I remember way back in grade school, in our art classes, I'll do nothing for the entire period then I'll go home and ask my mom or dad to do it for me. In the few times that we were required to finish the work in the period given, I'd look around for whoever finishes the project first, then bully them till they agree to make another one for me.
As the saying goes, all good things come to an end. Simply put, I was caught passing work that wasn't mine. My project was selected as one of the best in class but it looked similar to the work of one of my classmates (of course, he did it for me).
The required work was to cut stuff from magazines then paste them into one art paper to make it look like a new art work. You know what I did? I cut four long strips of paper and glued them to make a square. Then I cut really small pieces of paper, placed a wad of glue on the inner part of the square, then sprinkled the tiny bits of paper.
I failed.
The teacher asked me what the hell it was. I answered "abstract." He didn't buy it.
I wish I can scan you a copy but I threw it away as soon as it was returned to me.
Wala lang, just wanted to share how uncreative i am.
About my uncreative blog name, I was thinking of a really cool, funky blog title that would make all of you laugh. I had a hard time thinking so I just dropped the whole bit about being cool and funky and just concentrated on making you guys laugh.
And since you all laughed when Sir Mark said it in class, I'd say my blog title is legit.
Thanks for reading, and to reward you, here is a butt ox.
As the saying goes, all good things come to an end. Simply put, I was caught passing work that wasn't mine. My project was selected as one of the best in class but it looked similar to the work of one of my classmates (of course, he did it for me).
The required work was to cut stuff from magazines then paste them into one art paper to make it look like a new art work. You know what I did? I cut four long strips of paper and glued them to make a square. Then I cut really small pieces of paper, placed a wad of glue on the inner part of the square, then sprinkled the tiny bits of paper.
I failed.
The teacher asked me what the hell it was. I answered "abstract." He didn't buy it.
I wish I can scan you a copy but I threw it away as soon as it was returned to me.
Wala lang, just wanted to share how uncreative i am.
About my uncreative blog name, I was thinking of a really cool, funky blog title that would make all of you laugh. I had a hard time thinking so I just dropped the whole bit about being cool and funky and just concentrated on making you guys laugh.
And since you all laughed when Sir Mark said it in class, I'd say my blog title is legit.
Thanks for reading, and to reward you, here is a butt ox.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
How my work tried to murder my creativity
As I’ve said in class, I currently resigned from work. After graduating in 2007, I basically took the summer off then started working immediately after that. I’ve been with the company for two years and 11 months, a pretty long period, I think, because some of my friends have worked for two, three, even four companies in the same period. No, I’m not going to waste bandwidth deciding if it encouraged or discouraged creativity, I’m just going to tell you straight up how my work tried to kill it.
I worked as an editor and we edited science journals. Journals that we, communication majors, would not dare touch with a 20-foot pole. Why I took this job, I’m not entirely sure. Maybe because I needed money, maybe I wanted to one-up my batch mates who were still looking for jobs, I can’t tell you for sure.
Looking at my job from outside, I think one would say that I should have known that it would try to kill my creativity. Creativity does not belong in editing science journals you might say. However, I think this is not the case. The journals may be boring as hell but I felt there was something I could do creatively for these articles about yttrium aluminum garnets and light emitting diodes.
I know the common idea about creativity involves, colors, and luster, and other fun things but I think creativity does not solely rely on these things. I knew I could do something creative to those articles that would help its readers understand it better. May it be deciphering what a Chinese author wants to communicate, but can’t, due to the fact that English isn’t something that is natural to him or it could also be about trying to find a way to alter the author’s table in a way that it could be understood easier by the reader; I thought that there is a chance to do something creative in this line of work.
However, after a couple of years working there, the management decided to employ a quality assurance system for our work. It was a welcome addition as it ensures that we submit high quality work. But the management mishandled the whole thing. They hired some employees that were let go from another project. They didn’t have a solid English background and knew nothing about our workflow.
The QA trained for a couple of months then started their work. The problem arose when the stuff that we normally do with our manuscripts were branded as errors. As a copyeditor, we had some sort of creative leeway. But now it was taken away from us, we were supposed to adhere to whatever they think is right. I slowly lost interest with the job from that point, not because someone was checking my work but because I now have to explain fairly simple grammatical stuff to them so that my work won’t be branded as poor. We’d spend countless e-mails going back and forth about a single sentence and it was time that I could have spent doing something else.
This is where Ken Robinson’s article meshed with my experience. As he explained, the education system that the world has was founded centuries ago and it was primarily to aid the industrial revolution. It teaches us to answer that we want to be a doctor, or an engineer, or a pilot when asked what we want to be in the future. I think the current work environment, in general, suggests that we do everything like how it’s been done before. Sure, companies tell people they want innovators and out-of-the-box thinkers, but after these highly creative people are hired, they end up doing what everyone else does. Their new ideas don’t end up being accommodated due to a multitude of reasons. He can’t be taken seriously because he’s just a new guy, a fresh graduate at that or his idea can’t reach the boss because I, as his superior, will look bad if it does. Our current economic system discourages creativity. Sure, the ad agencies out there are always pushing the envelope and finding new ways to promote whatever it is that they are promoting, but this is only a very small part in the entire economy of the world. The sad part is that even in the business of “art,” creativity is also discouraged. For example, our country’s movie industry: The films that are going out all seem to have a familiar storyline and familiar characters. The loud gay guy, the mean step mom, the supportive best friend, dumb house helper. We’ve all seen it before. What’s worse is that instead of thinking of new and creative titles to the films, they end up using song titles or familiar song lyrics.
Robinson was trying to drive home the fact that due to the lack of attention given to art and creativity in school, the other facets of our world suffer. Our education system does need tweaking or altering, it needs to be transformed and transformed immediately. It seems like an insurmountable task but we should be starting now.
Computers are, day by day, being modified to be closer, in function and ability, to the human brain. Humans on the other hand are being told it is better to have a computer-like efficiency with their work. Isn’t it ironic?
I worked as an editor and we edited science journals. Journals that we, communication majors, would not dare touch with a 20-foot pole. Why I took this job, I’m not entirely sure. Maybe because I needed money, maybe I wanted to one-up my batch mates who were still looking for jobs, I can’t tell you for sure.
Looking at my job from outside, I think one would say that I should have known that it would try to kill my creativity. Creativity does not belong in editing science journals you might say. However, I think this is not the case. The journals may be boring as hell but I felt there was something I could do creatively for these articles about yttrium aluminum garnets and light emitting diodes.
I know the common idea about creativity involves, colors, and luster, and other fun things but I think creativity does not solely rely on these things. I knew I could do something creative to those articles that would help its readers understand it better. May it be deciphering what a Chinese author wants to communicate, but can’t, due to the fact that English isn’t something that is natural to him or it could also be about trying to find a way to alter the author’s table in a way that it could be understood easier by the reader; I thought that there is a chance to do something creative in this line of work.
However, after a couple of years working there, the management decided to employ a quality assurance system for our work. It was a welcome addition as it ensures that we submit high quality work. But the management mishandled the whole thing. They hired some employees that were let go from another project. They didn’t have a solid English background and knew nothing about our workflow.
The QA trained for a couple of months then started their work. The problem arose when the stuff that we normally do with our manuscripts were branded as errors. As a copyeditor, we had some sort of creative leeway. But now it was taken away from us, we were supposed to adhere to whatever they think is right. I slowly lost interest with the job from that point, not because someone was checking my work but because I now have to explain fairly simple grammatical stuff to them so that my work won’t be branded as poor. We’d spend countless e-mails going back and forth about a single sentence and it was time that I could have spent doing something else.
This is where Ken Robinson’s article meshed with my experience. As he explained, the education system that the world has was founded centuries ago and it was primarily to aid the industrial revolution. It teaches us to answer that we want to be a doctor, or an engineer, or a pilot when asked what we want to be in the future. I think the current work environment, in general, suggests that we do everything like how it’s been done before. Sure, companies tell people they want innovators and out-of-the-box thinkers, but after these highly creative people are hired, they end up doing what everyone else does. Their new ideas don’t end up being accommodated due to a multitude of reasons. He can’t be taken seriously because he’s just a new guy, a fresh graduate at that or his idea can’t reach the boss because I, as his superior, will look bad if it does. Our current economic system discourages creativity. Sure, the ad agencies out there are always pushing the envelope and finding new ways to promote whatever it is that they are promoting, but this is only a very small part in the entire economy of the world. The sad part is that even in the business of “art,” creativity is also discouraged. For example, our country’s movie industry: The films that are going out all seem to have a familiar storyline and familiar characters. The loud gay guy, the mean step mom, the supportive best friend, dumb house helper. We’ve all seen it before. What’s worse is that instead of thinking of new and creative titles to the films, they end up using song titles or familiar song lyrics.
Robinson was trying to drive home the fact that due to the lack of attention given to art and creativity in school, the other facets of our world suffer. Our education system does need tweaking or altering, it needs to be transformed and transformed immediately. It seems like an insurmountable task but we should be starting now.
Computers are, day by day, being modified to be closer, in function and ability, to the human brain. Humans on the other hand are being told it is better to have a computer-like efficiency with their work. Isn’t it ironic?
My first non-boxing related blog post
Hey everyone.
As I've said in class, I have been blogging for a few months now but I've never written anything that is not related to boxing. so for all our classmates who are newbies about blogging, don't worry, this is a whole new thing for me too.
Apologies for the stiff-looking picture. I'm quite horrible with pictures. Anyway, we were required to use a real picture so even if it's against my will, I'm posting a picture of myself for you to laugh at.
I asked my sister to take a picture of me but the first few shots were really awkward, yes, more awkward than the one I've posted. Then I thought of including the "thing" that would best describe me. So I grabbed what is by far my most prized possession (I know it's worth close to nothing now but i presume it'll cost a lost of cash in about 20 years or so), an Everlast glove signed by Manny Pacquiao (see? I totally can't write a blog post without boxing stuff being in it).
As I've said in class, I have been blogging for a few months now but I've never written anything that is not related to boxing. so for all our classmates who are newbies about blogging, don't worry, this is a whole new thing for me too.
Apologies for the stiff-looking picture. I'm quite horrible with pictures. Anyway, we were required to use a real picture so even if it's against my will, I'm posting a picture of myself for you to laugh at.
I asked my sister to take a picture of me but the first few shots were really awkward, yes, more awkward than the one I've posted. Then I thought of including the "thing" that would best describe me. So I grabbed what is by far my most prized possession (I know it's worth close to nothing now but i presume it'll cost a lost of cash in about 20 years or so), an Everlast glove signed by Manny Pacquiao (see? I totally can't write a blog post without boxing stuff being in it).
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