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raremikey · 2 years

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Stupid little ramble about pete/mikey etc read if you dare

The whole pete mikey summer of like thing has been taken way too far and while this isn't particularly new, i want to just talk about it.

Idk how controversial of a take this is but p/tekey (censor for search) should be kept in fan spaces. I remember when Chris had that insta live where he talked about his friendships with pete and mikey and tbh the chat was actually horrible. Maybe I simply had too high of expectations but I expected more people would've been respectful. So many people just filling the chat asking if pete and mikey were together. I remember Chris talked about how our (fans) idea of how the whole summer of like thing went is different to real life, and basically that the truth would probably be disappointing. And he's right. Our perception of sol is largely based on fan speculation. In truth, we don't really have solid proof. Pete never came out and said "ya me and mikey fucked in 05". Our view of sol is largely based on things like lj posts and them sharing clothes and other stuff.

I keep seeing people taking it all way too far. I rbed some posts about this earlier but ppl who think that a lot of fob songs are about Mikey need to realize that not only are they reducing the meaning of the lyrics to being about mikey, but also mikey is not in fact the only person important to pete. Because yes making silly posts about bang the doldrums is fun (genuinely such a good song can we all collectively acknowledge that) (also its even funnier that it was written for fucking shrek. There is another timeline where bang the doldrums was in shrek) but dude. Saying all of ioh and a bunch of other assorted song are actually about mikey is just untrue. Pete as a songwriter puts a lot of layers and different meanings in his songs, and with ioh specifically, the lyrics reflect some of the struggles pete was dealing with at the time. Others have brang this up as well, but id just like to add that petes songwriting isn't acknowledged for being really amazing and innovative. There are a lot of factors as to why and I've rbed other posts that talk more about this. But i want to say that people further minimizing petes songwriting by simply saying his songs are about mikey are just doing harm, whether or not they mean to or not. Being silly about bang the doldrums is one thing but saying songs like I've got all this ringing in my ears and none on my fingers are about mikey is :| dude (sorry first song that came to mind)

Joe mama😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

And above all. These are real people. You may be thinking "well you post weird stuff about mikey you have no room to talk" and that's a whole other can of worms but doing things like commenting under pete or mikeys or ppl associated's posts asking about p/tekey or tweeting at them or tagging them or generally attempting to directly ask or bring it up to them. Yeah thats fucked up. Constantly bringing up something that happened 17 years ago to p or m is not gonna make them talk about it. Asking them or publicly speculating about their sexualities isn't gonna make them talk about it either. From what I know, Mikey is not comfortable publicly disclosing his sexuality and frankly it isn't our business. Just in general stuff like shipping etc needs to be kept in fan spaces. I'm not anti p/tekey or anything obviously. I think it is fun. I feel like generally how people characterize the relationship and m and p in general (ex. How they are written in fic) is more based on fan knowledge than real life. Like how ppl characterize mikey as either a sexmaster or shy nerd, but obviously irl I'm sure mikeys personality can't be put in a box like that. It's like the way a lot of fans see band dudes is more like a fictional character than a person. I know that personally, i see a divide between the fan interpretation of mikey (basically the way we as fans characterize him based on the info and speculation we do have) and irl mikey, who we (im guessing) do not know personally. We don't know about his private life.

Basically people go too far and take the whole gay pete mikey thing too seriously and i dont like it. But i am just some rando on the internet so others may see it differently. Idk. Just my thoughts

But thats a theory... a game theory 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

#admin

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taz-writes · 5 years

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Introduction to Nymia/Colorverse

I mentioned making a post about that other secondary storyverse the other day, right? Well, here it is! (Fair warning, this is less of an active WIP than a concept I like to play with—I probably won’t create any finished product for this world for a WHILE. It’s more of a creative sandbox than a proper novel-in-the-making.)

TLDR; magical girls/boys in a fantastical 1800s steampunk-adjacent setting work together (with varying levels of success) to right the wrongs of the world they live in. Although they were all trained together for a few years in their early teens, it’s been a while since they’ve reunited, and they’ll have to contend with challenging geography, a generations-long war, and their own clashing ideologies before they’ll be able to start figuring out what the problem is. The whole thing’s 90% driven by my love of dramatic irony and secret identities.

Genre-wise, this is another fantasy, but it has a very different flavor from Feilan. It’s also a bit more mature in general, straddling the YA/NA line because of the ages of the protagonists. The timeline flipflops and some scenes are set during the squad’s Academy days as young teenagers, but the real plot happens when they’re in their early 20s. I wouldn’t say this is darker--Feilan gets super fucked up in places--but it’s probably going to feel a little less optimistic, and there are more shades of grey.

The Colors

Regardless of where in Nymia one hails from, everyone knows of the colors. You may know them as gods, or archetypes, or spirits, or ancestors, but their influence is ever-present and ever-powerful regardless.

The colors are manifestations of human symbolism and belief. They began as formless congregations of a natural energy that flows throughout the planet, and as early humans developed civilization and encountered them, they began to take on the traits of certain colors in the spectrum of light. They are influenced by humanity, and influence humanity in turn—more like primal forces of nature than thinking, feeling beings. Despite this, though, they have clear wills of their own and personalities. They’re sort of... human-adjacent, but ultimately something greater. Human mages are able to draw on the powers of the colors and cast magic based on their color of choice!

The precise meanings and powers of the colors vary by the culture and social class of the believer, but they are worshipped across Nymia, and plenty of patterns pop up. Unfortunately, most of Nymia doesn’t get along—of the four realms consisting the continent, two have been at war for generations, and the remaining two are somewhat isolated from both the warring countries and each other.

Each generation, the colors choose humans to wield their powers and enact their will to encourage peace and balance throughout the realms. These humans are called the Paladins. They’re not very well-known, though, because the last few generations of paladins were not strong enough to make a significant difference or achieve much of anything. This generation, those paladins are our protagonists! Which brings me to...

The Characters

This storyverse is WAY more character-driven than my other WIP, which is why I keep dodging around it and hiding from a plot, but the characters are the best thing I’ve got going here. I won’t beat around the bush, just introduce them.

Talxin Zatruc is the Paladin of Red! He’s really short, he barely hits 5’3”, but there’s a lot of intensity packed into that petite form. Red is the color of plague, poison, decay, and death. As such, they tend to be vilified in most places, and redmages aren’t winning any popularity contests. To Talxin, though, red means something else. He was raised dirt-poor in the country by parents trapped in Elcrin’s broken legal system, and to them, red is the color of justice. All things are equal in death, after all. His red magic isn’t limited to just killing people. He’s not a very trusting person, and he tends to stammer a lot and bow out of conflict, but there’s a core of steel under his surface. He’ll cross any line if it means achieving a better world. He’s like, my way of protesting about how badass Anakin Skywalker could’ve been if the Star Wars writers gave a shit.

Syzyga Lazuli is not in fact associated with the color blue! She’s the Paladin of Orange, who represents exploration, navigation, innovation, and human ingenuity. In her native country of Kelrie, she’s in constant demand fixing trade ships and assisting mapmakers, but her true passion lies elsewhere. Syz is an avid inventor, constantly creating new ways to make the world a better and more exciting place. Remember Master Builders from the LEGO movie? That’s basically what Syz’s orange magic does, it’s pretty cool. One of her trickiest creations is the wired mechanical “exoskeleton” she wears on her arms (cooler name pending), which compensates for an extreme hypermobility disorder she’s dealt with since childhood. Her ultimate dream is to create a functional flying machine—something that many orangemages have attempted, but none have succeeded in so far. She likes pointy things, stargazing, and using said hypermobile hands to occasionally one-up Nyrene’s attempts to freak people out.

Soenya Arrenya is the Paladin of Yellow. The emoticon :} is an accurate summary of her personality. Yellow is associated with weather and natural disasters as a trickster archetype, but they are also a patron of underdogs and comedians. They’re one of those archetypes whose interpretations vary wildly by location. Soenya hails from a remote town in the northern Sapiran tundra, the kind of place where ice tornadoes are things that exist, and her notion of practicality is... we’ll just say, it’s a bit different from the city-dwellers’. She doesn’t have much concept of property damage (or property). She’s really flirtatious and will hit on just about anyone, which embarrasses her colleagues sometimes, to the point where most of the other paladins figure she’s just doing it to mess with them. She and Nyrene do NOT get along.

Darrus Colere is the Paladin of DICK MAGIC Green, and I did NOT draw him buff enough in this picture. He needs to be like twice as buff and twice as Big. He’s almost 6’4” and deserves to be built like an Olympic deadlifter. Green is associated with healing, plant life, fertility, and sexuality. They’re one of the only two colors ever given a gender, as in Sapir Green also represents masculinity. Darrus is valid to fuck. Unfortunately he’s also easily flustered and a little bit dense, he tends to get strange ideas in his head and it takes a LOT of pushing to redirect him. He’s got inertia. Darrus cares more about plants than most people, he will run after you crying if you step on “his” grass. He and Talxin shared a room at the Academy as baby 13-year-olds and they’d fight constantly because Talxin kept accidentally killing Darrus’s houseplants with poorly-controlled red magic. Also, he’s genuinely terrified of Talxin, which in terms of sheer physicality is hilarious. At his core, he’s a very caring person! He expresses affection by lecturing people on your behalf. It’s kind of sweet. He’s from Kelrie like Syz, but the other side of the country.

Anlied Atidae is the elusive Paladin of Blue. Raised in the upper echelons of Sapiran society, she’s still grappling with the extremely repressed behavior she was raised to exhibit, but even behind her veil of mystery she’s a strange and deeply thoughtful individual. Blue is the archetype of thought, philosophy, emotion, and the human mind. In Sapir, Blue represents femininity. Although private, Anlied is very sincere in her desire to help others. Her life of privilege and nobility tends to blind her to the reality she lives in, though, and even as an adult she is very naive. She’s all about the conceptual thought exercise of fixing the world but stalls short in horror when presented with an actual problem. Despite using magic that specializes in emotion and the mind, she has very little awareness and understanding of her own emotional experience. Rationality is prized above all else in Sapiran society, particularly in the noble circles Anlied grew up in, and it is considered taboo to express any kind of emotion outside of a Blue temple. As emotions are sacred to Blue, they should be shown to Blue alone. Some Sapiran royals will even veil their faces in blue fabric as the ultimate expression of non-expression. This culture.... this culture seriously messed with Anlied’s head.

Nyrene Enkeli is the Paladin of Purple and the team’s most infamous wildcard. She’s tall, skinny, pointy, and an avatar of mayhem—literally. Purple is, among other things, the archetype of chaos. They also represent cycles, wisdom, and the passage of time. Nyrene really likes knocking people off-guard, and can produce an impressive variety of disturbing noises. She also swallows swords, spits fire, and juggles like a fiend. She’s the sole representative among the paladins of Nemmonay—an elusive free state off the coast of Kelrie that shelters pirates, outlaws, and a dozen other criminal elements holding each other together in a perilous state of organized anarchy. Nyrene is the embodiment of that trope where a character has to remove all their weapons, and holds up the line for 20 minutes picking tiny knives out of their hair and bootsoles. Upon first glance, she seems like she’s totally off her rocker. She says weird stuff that doesn’t make sense, and does weird stuff for shock value alone, and generally moves like a cat that’s seen a ghost in the corner. What she really is, though, is a bona fide genius. Nyrene’s purple magic allows her to travel through time to a certain extent, and she’s often balancing two or more perfect loops at once, with some really bizarre caveats added to make sure the streams don’t cross. She has a lot of ulterior motives. She considers Syzyga her best friend, because Syzyga is the only person who hasn’t panicked at the sight of spontaneous sword-swallowing. She really doesn’t get along well with Soenya.

Pariya Spinel is the current Paladin of Pink, though she wasn’t the first in this generation. The OG pink paladin turned out to be such an unspeakably awful person that Pink themself appeared to strip her of her status. Pariya joined the group late and didn’t have much time to get to know the others, which she’s rather self-conscious about, but pretty much everyone likes her. She doesn’t have too much to worry about. Pink is a tricky archetype to pin down. They’re associated with creation, they’re the pantheon leader, and they have symbolic ties to space and the heavens. In practice, this means Pariya has the power to create things like energy constructs or even just simple objects. It’s a difficult and tiring power to use but has the potential to be super broken. Pariya isn’t very good with her magic, and she’s extremely anxious and self-conscious about it, to the point where her nerves may be preventing her from doing much of anything at all. She’ll get there, one day...

So, yeah! That’s the squad! Not pictured is Rovato, whom I’ve mentioned briefly on this blog before—he’s the main antagonist in this universe. He’s a paladin of Silver. Silver used to be part of the pantheon, once upon a time, but they’ve been forgotten over the last few generations for an assortment of reasons. Most of those reasons have to do with Rovato. As purple represents chaos, silver represents order, and the exertion of will upon the whims of the natural world. Silver once had different aspects in the same way the other colors do, and in Sapir they actually represented change and manipulation—this is the aspect Rovato exploits. He’s used some loopholes in the magic system to make himself into a near-immortal shapeshifter and he wants power and stuff. I’m still working out the plot, so this could change, but that’s what I have right now.

The general backstory is that the Paladins were gathered together by the elusive headmaster of the Academy, a school on an unclaimed island meant specifically to train each generation’s set of paladins and prepare them to bring peace to the world. While at the Academy, they were not allowed to share their real names or anything about their origins, so that they couldn’t judge each other for their differences and stuff. The paladins are spread across the continent to represent all four realms and every end of the class spectrum and the whole point of the team is to encourage unity. Can’t have them being racist at each other! Unfortunately, the status quo of the war between Sapir and Elcrin shifted dramatically during their third year at school, and they were sent back home before being allowed to learn each other’s names and origins and all that stuff. Now, approximately five or six years after the Academy disbanded, something is happening that can only be resolved by the paladins themselves. So now they have to get the team back together, and seek each other out across national borders and geographic obstacles and LOTS of weird culture clash. I’m still working on figuring out what’s happening. Like I said, the plot’s a work in progress.

And that’s that! I don’t know how much I’ll talk about these guys here, since the colorverse story has been on my back burner for a LOOOOONG time, and I still want to get through Feilan in the next century. But I wanted to introduce them, so I could talk about them without confusing literally everyone. They’re my second-oldest set of OCs after the fairies and I care about them quite a lot.

#taz talks #colorverse #nymia #i don't know what the WIP tag for this one would be quite yet #even the ELEVATOR PITCH is in question #my writing

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 6 years

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The Gliding Dragon

Day 1 of @avatarworldweek‘s summer love event: Unconditional love.

I haven’t seen any fics at all for Azula/Teo so I wrote one. Because why not?

She was there strictly on business, or she was supposed to be anyhow. The Fire Nation needed new machines, but creativity wasn’t exactly an area of expertise among Azula’s people. Not in an era where dancing had been banned. The Fire Nation needed an inventor. Apparently, it was her job to find one, as Zuko busied himself with other matters. Frankly she believed that she should be the one fussing with foreign affairs back at the palace as opposed to making another journey to the Earth Kingdom. A place where she left empty handed, with only a small lead. None of the machinists in the Earth Kingdom impressed her well enough for her to request an alliance. But she heard tell of a machinist who dwelled in the Northern Air Temple after being displaced by a flood of sorts.

This tip had her on her way back to the Fire Nation to retrieve an airship, and then right back in the direction she had just come from. It had been so tedious. But she would only accept the finest for the Fire Nation, for her nation. Azula sighed, the things she did for it.

She supposed that the hassle of the trip was all well enough in the end. The mechanist was highly skilled, almost beyond what she had hoped. And with the offer of a place to stay for he and what remained of the others in his village, he would put his skills to use.

Azula had accomplished her mission, with seemingly no personal gain—something Zuko was annoyingly proud of; “finally you did something out of the kindness of your heart!” She vowed that if he kept it up, it would be the last selfless thing she did.

Azula fell onto her bed, she was exhausted. Travel was losing its appeals, she felt as though she was spending more of her life in the Earth Kingdom than in her own home these days. She didn’t know how she let herself be drawn into it. She had a strong feeling it had to do with something, something along the lines of, “a change of scenery will be good for you.”

Right.

In the days to follow she began to see more of the mechanist’s son. She would see him in the halls, observing the Fire Lord portraits. She would run into him while on walks in the town. She would find him dining in the same restaurant as she, and never with any plans to meet up there. Beforehand she didn’t pay him much attention, her goal was to strike a deal with his father and that was it. In her time at the air temple the man had been absent most of the time, whizzing about on his glider. She had been meaning to ask him about that. Perhaps, that’s what compelled her to finally strike up a conversation with him. If she was going to be seeing him around so often, she may as well make him less of a stranger. Naturally this is when she stopped seeing him around so frequently.

She didn’t see him again, in fact, until a week or so later when she found herself sitting on the rim of a fountain in the center of the Capital’s shopping ring. Azula wasn’t much of an artist, it was a hobby she had just taken up. It was something that seemed to be coming naturally to her. In current the princess was sketching one of the dragon statues that rested before a weapons vendor. Though it was hard to work with someone eyeballing her unfinished work. She turned the sheet over with a purpose.

Shamelessly the man inquired, “whacha drawing?”

“Mind your own business.” Azula muttered, before looking up to see who was addressing her. Just like that she realized her chances of finding out more about the man’s glider had just diminished some. She turned to him and mumbled something akin to, “your father’s inventions are quite innovative.”

“Yeah, he comes up with some neat stuff.” The man wheeled himself up next to her.

“Did he make that wheelchair glider for you?”

The man smirked, “mind your own business.” She had half the mind to push him into the fountain. “Yeah, he made it for me a long time ago. I was always kind of stuck, ya know, watching the other kids chase each other around. I was invited but never had much fun.” He motioned to the wheelchair. “I couldn’t go as fast so I always lost tag. So my father gave me a way to see the world. I kind of think that it’s better than walking.”

“What happened? Where you always like that.” She asked, pointing to his legs. She turned away abruptly with the faint feeling that it was rude to have asked so bluntly and in the manner that she had. Why was she so dreadful with words when she wasn’t speaking politically? If she could smooth talk into getting the better end of a deal than she ought to be able to hold up a more simplicity conversation. She muttered a quick apology for the ignorant wording of her question.

But the man didn’t seem phased. “I’ve heard worse.” He waved it off. “But no, when I was a really young child I was able to walk. I lost the ability during the flood that destroyed my village.”

“I promise we, here in the Fire Nation, don’t condone flooding.”

The man laughed, “I’ll hold you to that next time it rains hard enough.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“I’m Teo.” He held his hand out.

Azula took it. She assumed that her name was more or less common knowledge and she couldn’t imagine that he didn’t recognize her, but she returned the introduction anyhow. Better to be formal in forming relationships. It would be her first friendship since Mai and TyLee. She didn’t have any enemies at this point, but she didn’t allow anyone to get particularly close either. No, the princess liked to keep to herself. It felt safer, more comfortable.

But Teo had an air about him, a laidback air. She couldn’t see him offering her any sort of drama and she had no prior connection to him. No abundant and questionable history, only a very vague memory of seeing him among those at the Western Air Temple when she’d attacked it. It hadn’t been personal, not in the way it was with Zuko. She wondered if she should bring it up at all.

Instead she turned her page up again and handed him the sketch.

He held it up to the actual dragon statue. “Not bad.” He noted.

“Not finished.” She reminded. He handed it back. Rather he tried to. “It’s yours.” She didn’t know why she had given it to him, he hadn’t requested it. But if felt like a good thing to do at the time.

“Thanks.” He grinned. “I don’t think anyone has given me a drawing before, especially not a lady. I’m not exactly a hit with the ladies.”

“I’m not exactly a… ‘hit’ with anyone.” Azula muttered.

“I don’t know, I like you.” He replied. “You’re…eccentric.”

Azula concluded that, that was rather well as far as first encounters went. It hadn’t been as smooth or seamless as she wanted it to be, but she hadn’t ruined anything yet. The truth was she wanted a friend again. She needed a friend, especially one that didn’t come with a messy history.

She spoke with him many times after that. Each time he treated her very well, better than perhaps most people treated her. She came to know his habits and those little quirks he had; such as pushing on his aviation goggles when he was bored or trying to distract himself. She wondered if he had picked up any of her habits. He enjoyed sightseeing, Azula came to find. Teo constantly requested to see new places, and so she began showing him lesser known spots. Sections of the Fire Nation that she’d come to know because she had lived there for so long and explored it so passionately.

One day Teo asked her if she had ever flown before.

“Many times.” She replied. “On warships and on the back of a bison.”

“How about with a glider?” He asked.

“Once.” Azula replied thinking of the mishap where she’d thrown herself off of Appa in a poorly planned escape attempt. “Well it wasn’t exactly flying.”

“A while ago I dated this village girl named Li-Roa.” Teo started. “Before we broke up she wanted to fly on my glider with me, so my father invented a glider big enough for me and my chair and for Li as well.” He explained. “I haven’t used it since…”

“And you want to use it with me?” Azula filled it.

“If you’re interested.”

Somehow Azula felt honored, which wasn’t an easy thing to make her feel. But she was conflicted; she’d seen Teo on his own glider and it never looked stable. He boasted that he’d been using the same glider wheelchair since he was a boy, only changing it when he out grew it. Azula was no aviator, in fact being so high up with nothing to hold onto made her somewhat queasy, but she would never admit it. Yet there Teo was, vowing to teach her to fly. The princess didn’t know if she wanted to fly.

Not until she allowed him to slip in and convince her.

He took her hand and helped her into the chair.

“We won’t go too high at first, not until you get the hang of it.”

“The hang of it?” Azula frowned. “You’re steering.”

“Yes, but you have to do some peddling also.”

“Wonderful.” Azula grumbled. But she wasn’t one to shy away from a challenge, even if her belly was fluttering and tied in all sorts of knots. Teo walked her thought the basics; as it would turn out he neglected to tell her that she would be in charge of steering the rear glider. He explained it much like sailing, all she had to do position the glider-piece so that it would catch the most wind. As long as she did that and distributed her weight evenly the flight would go smoothly. “If you can beat us during an eclipse where we have the disadvantage, you can do this.” Teo declared.

“Well I suppose you’re right.” Azula agreed. Rather she pretended to. She still had her doubts.

She had expected him to reassure her, to tell her that she’d do just fine on more time. And he did. What she didn’t expect was a hug. She could remember the last time someone had initiated one with her. But it was probably a time when she and TyLee wee close. She let him hold her for a moment before she finally returned the gesture. The nervousness that, that ignited within her pushed out the fluttery feeling brought by the anticipation of flight. She hoped that her cheeks weren’t any shade pink. He let her go and with a smile asked, “are you ready?”

Actually, being in the air was a different matter altogether. It was exhilarating. To have her hair tossed about and her robes fluttering so wildly. She felt like a real dragon. Flying with Teo was much different than the airships and much different than the bison. This time she had some navigational control and it was fantastic. She felt so free. On top of that, she’d never had such a splendid view of her nation. Once or twice Teo called back to her to tell her that she was doing great or to ask her which way she’d like to go next. That was the thing though, in that one moment, she wanted to go everywhere.

In time, wanting to go everywhere became wanting to go anywhere. Teo had a sense of adventure that she didn’t, not until she talked to him more. Teo kindled within her, the ability to express herself, to truly decide what she wanted to do. And she found that she was rather fond of the notion of seeing the hidden corners of the world. She took him to Ember Island and to Hira’a. Hira’a where she revealed things about herself that she kept concealed from most others. Things that concerned her poor relationship with her mother. She didn’t ask for it and she didn’t think that she had displayed any particular signs of distress, but he took her hand anyways and he held it for a long time. That night she had sketched a picture of a bamboo mask; one of the many things that adorned the town stage. She found herself answering Teo’s inquiries more than actually watching the play.

In return he took her to the place where his village used to stand. That had been a very raw moment. One where he rubbed at tearful eyes and told her about how he’d lost his mother there and how that was the moment he’d become a freak. The princess wasn’t good with words of comfort and gestures of it came hard as well. But she had assured him that he was no more of a freak than someone who heard things that weren’t there. She noted that he probably wouldn’t be Teo without the hardships and lessons that the loss of feeling in his legs had given him. Anyways, she was slowly learning that the perfection that she had once coveted was overrated anyhow. It was odd to admit it and if felt wrong coming from her lips. But apparently, she had done something right. Because that day was first time he kissed her. She wasn’t a graceful kisser to begin with and trying to find the right position around the wheelchair was a bit of a task, she felt a tad flustered for it. Eventually he coaxed her into sitting on his lap, from there pressing her lips against his came naturally. For some time he held her with her head against his chest and his hand over brushing over her hair, watching a few stars begin pop up over one of the many ruined houses.

A quick sketch of the ruins and the stars above, found a place among her other drawings.

Eventually, spending so much time with her, Teo would see sides of her; the darker, rougher ones. The wilder ones that most people feared. The ones she went out of her way to bury deep and hide from him. He was the only person who didn’t seem to fear her nor to be weary of her and she wanted to keep that. Teo had been spontaneous from the start so she shouldn’t have been surprised at how readily he accepted and worked with the more dangerous of her moods. He was patient and somehow unphased by the worst of her threats, until her temper dulled again.

Azula found it very well to know that at least one person seemed to love her in spite of her worst self. To know that at least one person was accepting of that part and didn’t demand that she make any abrupt changes. For the first time she felt at ease with someone. For the first time she felt as though she had someone who didn’t expect anything of her. Someone who didn’t love her power nor her brains, but loved the person shaped by these qualities. The person who possessed them. She just hoped that he felt as comfortable around her. That she conveyed just as much care.

She must have if he was still traveling with her.

If he still unfolded the drawing she’d given him when they first talked.

“You still have that?” She asked one day as the sat at the edge of a dock. Jang Hui was a gem so close to home she wondered how she had never been. Last she heard, the place was a sludgy mess. The river looked rather pristine to her.

“Of course I still have it.” Teo replied.

“It’s a terrible drawing.” She muttered.

“I don’t know, I think that it’s better than that lion-moose you tried to draw.” He shrugged.

She gave his arm a swift punch. “My lion-moose looked better than you ever will.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“Ouch.” He muttered.

“Here.” She said suddenly, handing him an assortment of pages. She and Teo found themselves on one of the Fire Islands. It was close enough to home for Azula to know their trip was coming to a close. It seemed like it had been such a short time, had it really been over a year? It must have been; each drawing in that collection had been dated. And there were hundreds of different sketches, one from each day—a little something that meant something to her. Some were quite dismal, the ones that she had painted in some Earth Kingdom bayou for one. That part of their trip had been a mistake, it was a part that had thrown her terribly off and sent her right back into a place where she couldn’t decipher the real from the false. On those days she had drawn her hallucinations, horrifying swamp beasts and the taunting face of her father as it molded in with the scenery. The only thing that kept her from going completely under was Teo admitting that he’d been having visions of his own. The swamp had been alive with spirit energy and it had, had them both on edge.

“What’s this?” He asked.

“Sketches, from each day since we started this journey.” Azula replied. “I wanted to make something for you.”

Teo flipped through the pages. Many of them were adorned with flora, trees, and other plant life—most of which were the ones he’d pointed out to her. She also had a few buildings, artifacts, and people. The one that stood out to him was her rendition of the elaborate door to the Southern Air-Temple. There was something very Fire Nation to her version of it, he thought that this was how the door would look if made by Fire Nation hands. Her latest drawing was of a very old man named Doc…or was it Shoo? He seemed to use them interchangeably. Each and every one seemed better than the next, her skill was flourishing fast, not that he expected anything else. “They’re gorgeous.” He sighed, “but I didn’t make anything for you.”

Azula shrugged. “I didn’t ask you to.”

“I should have thought of it though.” He pointed out.

“You gave me the opportunity to draw them at all.” She replied. He watched her kick her feet at the water. If he could draw, that would have been an image to capture. She looked peaceful, her hair let loose and rippling over her shoulders.

“I guess that that’s true.” He agreed. “I wish I could do that.”

“Draw?” Azula asked.

“No,” he pointed to her swinging feet. “I’ve never dangled my feet in the water before.”

Azula looked at him for a moment, contemplating something. Without so much as a warning, she lifted him from his wheelchair. The woman was stronger than he had anticipated. Carefully she set him down, took his shoes off, and turned him so that his feet finally met the water. He was overtaken by a sense of glee, it was such a simple and stupid thing to be delighted over. And yet…

“Well? Is it everything you hoped for.”

“Yeah, I think I can see some fish under there too!” He exclaimed.

“A few have brushed by, yes.”

He wished that he could actually feel them rushing by. Feel the sensations of the water. But it was enough for him, to be able to have his feet in the water at all.

“Thanks.” He beamed up at the princess.

She shrugged, “you act like it was hard to do.”

“It still means a lot. People don’t realize that I like this kind of small stuff…” he trailed off. “It’s always Teo the bold and adventurous. Teo the independent and daring. No one seems to think that sometimes Teo could use some help.”

No one seemed to think that of Azula either so she nodded in understanding. “I take it you don’t like to ask for it either.”

He rubbed the back of his head with a goofy smile. “Not particularly.” And then he added, “I don’t want to bother anyone.”

“You didn’t bother me.” She rather liked having someone to help, actually.

“Would you mind helping me back into my wheelchair?” He asked.

“Now that’s asking too much.” Azula smirked. She gave a small pause before scooping him into her arms. She was going to fufill his request, but decided that she liked holding him more than she fancied helping he right back into the chair. Anyways, he didn’t seem to mind it any. With him in her arms and the late summer sun dazzling her skin, Azula decided that she liked this much more than she would have enjoyed the throne. There was a sense of imprisonment that came with the throne, Zuko couldn’t very well just leave on a year-long sabbatical as she had just done. She rested her chin on the top of his head.

To think, it began with one irritating political quest and one ridiculous moment at a fountain.

#awwsummerlove #Azula #Teo #TeZula #Avatar #Fanfiction

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supercunninglinguist · 6 years

Text

BACK FROM HIATUS

Even though I never declared one. my schedule was kept pretty full, so updating this blog wasn’t a priority. c’est la vie. but here I am.

2018 has had a weird start. but it’s an alright year so far, I guess.

Still living in Viet Nam. I drive a motorcycle now, a Hanamoto Nam, originally built in Laos. it’s helped me grow a new appreciation for mechanical systems, plus purchase price and self-maintenance is cheaper than renting a scooter. Recently, I’ve been pondering ways to bring advanced data science to corporations in this country as an industrial data analyst. it’s definitely possible, but, as a foreigner, there would be some significant hurdles to jump through. I also make money on the side by distilling natural insecticides (how I paid for my motorcycle!), and I’m really getting into vaporwave music.

My Vietnamese hasn’t really improved. I know some new words now and I can speak simple sentences, but it’s difficult to actually converse with Vietnamese individuals. even when I try my best to replicate proper tones and speech, they rarely recognize that I’m even trying to speak Vietnamese, and inevitably someone who speaks English comes over to help. literally every foreigner here that I have met who speaks fluent Vietnamese originally learned either by dating a Vietnamese person, or by taking classes. and since I don’t really have time to date or take classes... high regional diversity makes learning even more difficult. several times, I’ve learned words or phrases from one Vietnamese person and later been told by another Vietnamese person that “nobody would say it like that” or “people from [district\province\area] say that.” there’s some small phonetic\phonological differences between regiolects that can significantly impede acquisition.

Starting back in September, I wrote a new doctorate research project, and starting sending it to linguistics faculties in mid-November. the first version I sent out was not as good as it should have been, but subsequent revisions are much better. unfortunately, out of approximately 60 faculties (~40 linguistics faculties) that I contacted, none have shown interest. I haven’t sent an application in months, and I still receive a new rejection every 2-3 weeks. 5 soft categories of responses were noted: 1) This faculty does not focus on this research area, which is fine; 2) this is great and all but there’s nobody at this faculty who can supervise your project (which includes this faculty does not have the resources for a doctorate project like this), also fine, sure whatever; 3) This doesn't seem feasible\tractable\realistic\possible\logical\valid, which usually also included a hefty dose of you need to prove that this will work before we will even consider it, seems highly unfair, especially since the methods I’m advocating are already in use for 15 years and the citations for that are already in the proposal, plus how do I get the fucking data without an institution to back me up!? l; 4) This faculty is not interested in your project, fair enough, thats alright; 5) I can’t even understand what you’re proposing, like, come on, I know it’s complex and dense, but there’s a lot to say, and I did it with only 4 pages - did you try skimming any of the references or try using google or wikipedia? The worst response so far came from Dr. Mattis List, who literally just flat out responded with “this isn’t going to work”, and fallaciously attacked a very simplified example that I gave to him in order to help him understand the core concept of my proposal. Neither Dr. Heggarty nor Dr. Gray were particularly interested. Dr. Gerhard Jaeger had a fairly friendly response, but still questioned how feasible it actually is. My response to questions about tractability (which is a genuine concern, since a model must be economical in order to be feasible) has been: do you really think we can generate better resolutions for language typology, history, and ecology by retaining simple models and basic levels of information? Modelling a complex system requires a level of data that reflects the complexity of the source system. Groundbreaking results don’t just appear - innovations are required. after receiving rafts of negative, even some outright hostile, responses (mostly mocking my reductionist perspective on language), my opinion is that mainstream linguistics is ignoring this fact, and ignoring the additional fact that there are already methods for modelling complex systems, like human speech. and that these methods are already verified and in-use. so I’ve given up on rejoining the field of linguistics. y’alls be some orthodox mothafuckas, ya know that? Y’all like to pretend that you’ve moved past the formalist conceptions and theories of language but you really haven’t. There’s still a large and apparently high-level portion of the linguistics community that actively spurns the philosophy of computationalism and experimentation, who think that it’s a fad, and who also don’t even see the problems inherent to currently used methods (or don’t see them as problematic). I, on the other hand, think interdisciplinary linguistics is a better linguistics. or moreso, better to adopt methods from other disciplines than to have those disciplines steal chunks of research potential from linguistics. or better to be that person who steals chunks of research potential from linguistics for another field.

However, I might try new applications for 2018, but I’m really tired of dealing with academia. I turn 30 this year. I don’t have time to waste personalizing applications or writing 10 different variations on a research proposal to please every possible faculty that could be interested. at least if I present my ideas as a commercial venture to someone with dollar signs in their eyes, they’re going to see the potential dollar signs; that’s a hell of a lot better than an exhausted researcher who has exactly 2 days to review 80 reasonable doctorate candidates and their projects and choose which to actually consider. a close friend told me to not even bother with applying to linguistics faculties for next time, and I think he’s right. I might focus more on applying to mathematics and computer science faculties.

Here in Viet Nam, during the summer, air conditioning and mosquito spray\incense are your friends. Will exposing yourself to DEET and other synthetic insecticides possibly harm your body in currently-immeasurable\unknown ways? possibly, even probably; you know what will harm your body in currently-measurable\known ways? Getting dengue fever because you’re being bitten by at least 30 mosquitoes every night.

buying vegetables and fruits at the Cho (local open market) is so much cheaper and fun than the grocery store, but beware: unless the shopkeepers see that you’re a regular, a lot of them will try to rip you off. it can be annoying. but keep in mind: unless you can converse in Vietnamese with them, they’re almost always taking some extra time to help you obtain your products, so don’t be salty if you pay the foreigner-price; for a very large purchase at a cho, it’ll be maybe 35,000 VND extra.

guys, I can’t believe that there are only 2 episodes of Adventure Time left!

not much else to report on or to say at this time. if anyone in the tumblr science community is in a position to read and advance my proposal to a particular faculty, I’ll gladly email it to you, but I’m not making it publically available yet, and I would rather it not be shared or given to anyone without my consent first. I’ve already received some warnings - naming even specific faculties - about having my proposal unscrupulously stolen, and I have enough unfriendly acquaintances throughout linguistic academia that, yes, it is something I have to be worried about.

#life #research proposals #summer is alright though I really like the sun on our balcony #driving a motorcycle is more fun than I thought #I had to learn manual from the guy I bought it from #people literally pointed and laughed whenever I stalled. but just look at me now!

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thesinglesjukebox · 5 years

Video

youtube

CARLY RAE JEPSEN - NO DRUG LIKE ME

[5.38]

Waiting for the Carly to kick in...

Jonathan Bradley: Love is the drug, as pop music knows well, but Carly Rae Jepsen has never before needed the metaphor to evoke the intoxication in infatuation. And if she had never before sighed "starry eyes" over skin-glow synths, the cause could only be errata; that particular exhale has swirled since time immemorial in the primordial plasma from which all Jepsen music is formed. On this new single, she dives into inkiness on lines like "you say you love me but you wouldn't dare" and "a little history of us in there," but, for the most part, "No Drug Like Me" sticks to its tried fundamentals. These ones are quite fundamental. [6]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: "Party for One" was a boring rehash of CRJ tropes, but "No Drug Like Me" is worse: a half-baked idea stretched thin. Jepsen's at her very best when she's able to allow a specific emotion to feel like the single most important thing in the world, the instrumentation working hard to keep pace. On "No Drug Like Me," Jepsen's vocal melodies stifle the intent of the lyrics, and the beat is just as confused about what she's trying to accomplish. The verses' bubbling pulses and silky synth pads hint at a foreplay that never reaches climax. In the awkward, wobbling funk instrumentation is a revelation: Jepsen's been able to make all-caps EMOTIONS feel limitless, but her approaches to doing so have always been extremely limited. [3]

Will Adams: Maybe it's the titular drug that's causing all this unnecessary haze (hey, here's a downtempo Carly song that doesn't sound like it's been smothered in gauze), or maybe it's just a fluke. Then again, the other co-single, while upbeat and glittery and generally better written, is little more than TV spot fodder. The lasting impression from these three songs of the past six months is less the impactful Emotion type and more perplexity about when exactly Carly Rae Jepsen stopped sounding like Carly Rae Jepsen. [5]

Katherine St Asaph: Between this and "Party For One" I am genuinely worried about Carly Rae Jepsen's voice. The problem this time isn't shitty comping so much as a general smear of processing; the result isn't distracting, until you compare it to her vocals on Kiss, or even a few years ago. Did the label hire a new, terrible vocal producer? Is it some ill-fated attempt to sound breathy and R&B -- particularly weird, considering the genre's full of singers like Kehlani and SZA with clear, bright voices? Did she blow out her voice on the "Cut to the Feeling" chorus? She still writes swooning lyrics -- "if you make me feel in love, then I'll blossom for you" should, well, blossom. But Jepsen's voice always made every lyric feel urgent, exquisitely pained, almost piercing; flatten her vocals and and you get a flattened affect. It is a very strange feeling to wish Carly Rae Jepsen were singing a Carly Rae Jepsen song. [5]

Alfred Soto: The big fat bass serves as guard rail, arm rail, and anchor -- I can't hear CRJ because I'm alternatively clutching or clinging to it. I can call this experience intoxicating or rote -- there's no drug like Advil after a night of mixing cocktails, but I wouldn't call it one of a kind. [4]

Danilo Bortoli: Truth be told, Carly Rae has her own, very unique grasp to pop music. Not only because Emotion perfected and encapsulated a then ongoing trend, the nichification of pop, a world that album treated so specifically and absolutely that it is no wonder some people inside the bubble reacted to it being some sort of "Bible" for the modern era pop music fan. And absolute is a proper word for Jepsen now: her own narrative of love is so intense, so full of gimmickry, it is hard for critics not to confound her posture for extreme ingenuity. This wholesomeness has become her brand, a place of guaranteed safety which could often suggest something dangerous hidden below, both lyrically and sonically ("I have a cavern of secrets/None of them are for you," culled from "Warm Blood", are the best lyrics she has even written). The thing is, "No Drug Like Me" borrows from that strategy, which is ideal actually: While its twin is perhaps unduly sugarcoated, the latter is a bit more pensive, almost hypnotic. "No Drug Like Me" is not overproduced per se, but her approach to love as an ideal, lacking tension, has started to sound tiring. Which is to say: if Emotion was great partly because of its production on a sound design level (yet was transcendental to the point of becoming pop music), then "No Drug Like Me" tries to no avail to compensate its lack of tension with sound design. That offers an "interesting" sound, as a sound designer would say. But not enough from the queen of love itself. [5]

Pedro João Santos: This Jeppo dual release is yet another day of #JusticeForEmotion, padded out with the praises of newer, more tangible love, and with a micro-backlash. Languid, glistening deluxe track "Favourite Colour" is brought to heel by a speed-up, a rubbery bassline and tighter songwriting, not to mention some sort of psychosexual vibrancy not unlike that of "Warm Blood," but though excellent it may be, no surprises rest to be found. It's interesting how these new songs are supported by sonic options. Those teasing, dizzying arpeggios buried in "Party for One"'s hook, the batshit hi-NRJ bric-à-brac of "Now That I Found You," the deep groove of this one? Yessir. How I wish they went hand-in-hand with some sort of compositional or lyrical sense of innovation. [7]

Iris Xie: "Take me to the limit, hold me down" is a promising intro, with a little bit of direct beckoning in a quiet space that pulses a bit in anticipation. But that's where it ends, and afterwards, it all stalls. The chorus sounds stilted and forced, while not containing any of the expansiveness or wildness that usually would come from making a highly-tempered statement like "No Drug Like Me." There also is an issue where the throbbing synths accentuate the dryness of her timbre, which doesn't flatter the thinness of her voice. It's a strange decision to make, considering how Emotion's production hid it quite well with the level of reverb applied to her singing, which brought out the luminosity of Jepsen's sentiments. Additionally, in comparison to "Run Away With Me," where the instrumentals focus on heightening the sensation of breathlessness that is the gap between her desires and her acting on them, "No Drug Like Me" and its inert bassline swallows up Jepsen's usual heartfelt proclamations and makes her sound frail. Overall, "No Drug Like Me" exposes Jepsen's weaknesses as a vocalist when not hyped on 4000 per cent joyful vulnerability and cavernous synthpop, and sounds like the start of her Side C album. Still, the little parts that call back to a quieter intimacy are not bad, especially in the part of "Why would we risk it for another try? (Another try, come alive)." But that sounds like the post-chorus, or bridge, of another, better song, and is not this one. [5]

Thomas Inskeep: That synth bass on the chorus is PHAT. The rest of the song is a bit more lightweight than I'd like to hear from CRJ; there needs to be more there there, y'know? [6]

Vikram Joseph: Everything seems to be in its right place here -- a shimmering electro-pop pulse that bubbles gently under the surface, a chorus that fizzes and sparks just as you'd expect it to -- but this doesn't land for me; it feels just a little rigid, forced, even. Perhaps it's familiarity, or perhaps Sigrid and Tove Styrke are just doing this kind of alt-pop better right now, but Carly Rae Jepsen sounds short on flair and personality here, and "No Drug Like Me" struggles to get through Phase 1 trials. [5]

Stephen Eisermann: Although tonally much of the same, "No Drug Like Me" feels much darker than most CRJ songs and it's a welcome departure. This song takes a pretty tired metaphor and makes it feel new again, with the pulsing beat and CRJ's smooth vocals doing a lot of the heavy lifting in creating a feeling of mystery being unfolded. It's thrilling, sure, but more than that it's CRJ's best outing and is hopefully indicative of a different vibe for this next album. [8]

Josh Love: I'm not the first to point out that Jepsen's music is the YA of pop -- readily enjoyable art made by an adult and largely consumed by adults that taps into the feelings and experiences of being a teen, the outsized romance and the innocence being dramatically (though usually safely) punctured by illicit thoughts and deeds. Its simile linking the effect of substances to the sensations of love without naming or describing a specific vice, "No Drug Like Me" embodies Jepsen's earnest thrills. [7]

Edward Okulicz: While I'm not the Jukebox's biggest CRJ fan, even I can appreciate the delirious joy she exudes when she's the subject of a good pop-crush story. I think she's got a fine voice for the excitement of being awestruck in love, but her songs don't quite hit the spot. On this one, the song's worse than usual, I can't even hear the aspects of her voice that I like through the treatment, and she's lacking that bubbly enthusiasm she wears well as the subject of obsession. As the object, I don't even believe her. [4]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#Carly Rae Jepsen #pop #music #music review #writing

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catherinesnyder · 6 years

Text

What is creativity? The ultimate guide to understanding today’s most important ability.

Creativity is one of those traits that people seem to have an intrinsic understanding of, but if you actually ask them to define it, they get tripped up. It’s easy to come up with a list of creative people (Frieda Khalo, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Einstein), and the outcomes of creativity (a novel, an invention, a new way of looking at the world), but it’s difficult to wrap your head around the actual concept of creativity. The more I researched this article, the more I realized creativity is an incredibly nuanced phenomenon.

by rvasilovski

But you have to start somewhere, so let’s begin with a definition:

Creativity is the ability to transcend traditional ways of thinking or acting, and to develop new and original ideas, methods or objects.

Let’s break that down:

It’s an ability It’s also an ability to run a mile, or to do calculus or recite a Shakespearean sonnet (Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?). So creativity is a skill that is specific to an individual. For some people, it might seem to come naturally, but it is something that anyone can improve at if they give it the time and effort.

It transcends traditional ways of thinking or acting Transcending means you’re going above and beyond. It’s recognizing the limitations of what already exists, and trying to improve upon it.

It develops new and original things I think the key word here is develops. Creativity goes beyond imagining: it’s about developing. If it’s an idea, you go out and do the research to prove it. If it’s a new process you try and test it to see if it works. If it’s an object, you build it.

Great! And now that I’ve provided you with that enlightening definition, let’s wade a bit deeper and try to really understand what creativity is (and why you should or shouldn’t care).

Creativity is a relatively new phenomenon —

Creativity has only been a thing for the past 60-80 years or so.

“But wait,” you say, “what about all those amazing artists and inventors of yesteryear. Are you telling me you don’t think Mark Twain and Sir Isaac Newton weren’t creative? Preposterous!”

I am certainly not one to dis the fathers of Tom Sawyer and gravity. What I’m saying is that the concept of creativity as we understand it—even though it seems so ubiquitous—wasn’t really part of the popular lexicon until midway through the last century:

From Google’s Ngram viewer

In many ancient cultures, ideas or advancements that we would attribute to an individual’s creativity were deemed “discoveries.” Even artwork was seen as an imitation of nature rather than a form of creation.

In the medieval Christian world, creative ideas were positioned as divine inspiration. Did you do something awesome? You owe god a high five for sending that fantastic idea your way, my friend.

With the dawning of the enlightenment, we started to see a gradual shift towards individual responsibility, but even then the focus was on imagination and intelligence—both of which are definitely part of the modern definition of creativity, but not quite the same thing.

by E·the·re·al”

Where we really begin to see the emergence in the idea of modern creativity is in the 1920s. With the birth of psychology1 at the end of the 19th century, paradigms in the western world shifted to focus more intently on the individual, and our unique capabilities and personalities. (Another one of those things that we think as innate—personality wasn’t really a thing until Freud.) Creativity as an ability, or a personality trait, first gained popularity after Graham Wallas’ book Art of Thought. In this work, Wallas presents a model for how humans approach problems and think creatively.

And thus, the modern idea of creativity was born. Since then, psychologists and researchers in other disciplines have only continued to develop the idea into what we understand today.

So does that mean that no one was creative until the 1930s? No, clearly humans have had the ability to think outside the box and develop new ideas for a long time. What the current focus on creativity does show is that it’s a valued quality in our culture right now. The focus on it as a coveted trait can probably be linked to the rapid development of new ideas and technology in the past century.

Creativity is a pattern of thinking —

So we know that creativity is an ability that allows people to develop new ideas, but that still feels a bit vague and intangible (kind of like saying swimming is the ability to not drown in water—technically true, but not particularly useful if you’re going for a deeper understanding, or ya know, wanting to not drown). Put on your floaties and let’s dive into the deep end.

All skills originate in our brains: whether it’s physical (learning to do the breaststroke) or mental (learning to solve an algebraic equation), it’s all about neurons in the right part of your brain firing over and over again until what you’re doing becomes ingrained.2

Creativity is the skill to transcend traditional ways of thinking and come up with new ideas. But where do these new ideas come from?

Forget left vs. right brained, it’s all about the networks.

Like the persistent “we only use 10% of our brains” myth, the concept of left-brained = creative vs. right-brained = analytical is total pseudoscience.

by LittleFox

Yes, there are parts of our brain that have specific functions, but it’s the connections between these areas, and the subsequent networks they create which creates cognition. For example, if you’re trying to climb over a log that’s fallen on a path, you’re likely engaging the network which links the parts of your brain that process visual images and govern motor coordination. If you’re explaining to a friend how to climb over said log, add in the parts of your brain which control language.

When it comes to creativity, neuroscientists have identified three large-scale (and aptly named) networks of the brain that are important:

The executive attention network helps you pay attention and focus

The imagination network allows you to daydream or imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes

The salience network let’s you identify when things you have buried deep in your brain are salient to the world around you (e.g. you’re going for a hike and taking in the scenery, and you notice this plant… realize it looks familiar… and that it’s poison ivy! And you just saved yourself from a terrible itchy rash.)

The more active these networks are in your brain, and the more they work together, the more creative you are.3

So going back to our original question: what is creativity? Creativity is a skill that allows you to draw understanding of the world around you, connect those observations to your existing knowledge reservoirs, and imagine new applications of your knowledge on the world.

Is there a connection between creativity and intelligence? —

This study purports to find a positive correlation between creativity and intelligence, but our in-house statistician was dubious of the results.

So if it’s all about what’s going on in certain brain networks, does that mean that creative people are smarter? I wish I had an easy yes or no answer for you, but the study of creativity is still a pretty new thing, and the research isn’t entirely settled on this matter yet.

In 1999, researchers Sternberg and O’Hara provided a framework of five possible relationships between creativity and intelligence:

Creativity is a type of intelligence

Intelligence is a type of creativity

Creativity and intelligence are overlapping constructs (they have some traits in common)

Creativity and intelligence are part of the same construct (they’re basically the same thing)

Creativity and intelligence are distinct constructs (there is no relationship between them)

There are studies that provide evidence in favor of each of these perspectives, but thus far none has been overwhelming in its conclusions. So essentially there’s nothing that shows if you’re smarter you’re more creative. But there’s nothing showing that there’s not a correlation either.

Are children more creative than adults? —

If you do a Google search on creativity, you’ll pretty quickly run into an article that mentions a study run by Professor George Land that seems to show that children become less creative over time.

youtube

The gist: Land worked with NASA to develop a creativity test that would help them select innovative engineers and scientists for the space program. In 1968, he and colleague Beth Jarmen gave the same test to 1,600 children and found that—shock—98% of five-year-olds were apparently creative geniuses. And we all just got less and less creative as we aged, until only a measly 2% of us adults qualify as creative geniuses.

by fritzR

Now, maybe I’m just bitter because I’m jealous of all those child prodigies and their ideas that would allow them to be astronauts, but I’m a bit skeptical of these results. Sure, they make for great clickbait and feel-goodry (just embrace your inner child, ignore the pressures of society and you might be able to qualify to go the moon!) but have you spent any time with a five year old recently?

My colleague has a son about this age: this past weekend he linked together a Barrel of Monkeys to create a ladder for his green army men to climb.

Not only is this adorable, but it’s an amazing example of out-of-the-box creative thinking. But real world application? Maybe not so much. (Though I’m having a fantastic time imagining this scenario!)

Fewer synapses = fewer monkeys?

Young children have amazing brains: they develop literally trillions of neural synapses in the first few years of life. Then, through a process called synaptic pruning, those connections decrease over time, as some of these synapses are used and others aren’t.

In other words, kids connect all sorts of weird things together in their minds because they haven’t learned that these things don’t necessarily go together yet. This ability to make connections between seemingly unrelated things—also called divergent thinking—is an important tennant in creative thinking. But it’s just one part of it. And probably why I’m not quite ready to trust the Space Program to child geniuses just yet.

But this highlights an important question:

How do we test for creativity? —

Some of our designers excel at divergent thinking. Flying turtle by Fafahrd Deustua.

The original creativity tests developed in the 1960s are tests of divergent thinking. A couple examples of these include alternative uses (how many different ways can you think of to use a paperclip; the number and originality of your ideas impact your score) and incomplete figure tests where you’re given a line on a paper and asked to finish the drawing (uncommon subject matter, implied stories, humor and originality earn high marks).4

Other researchers have tried to measure creativity through self-reported creativity questionnaires and social-personality approaches (where they look at a mix of other personality traits and try to find a “formula” for a creative person). Both of these methods have some inherent biases.

So while divergent thinking tests have been criticized, they are currently the most accepted measure of creativity. (Though I’m very curious to see where the neuroscience takes us.)

Why should you care about creativity? —

I hope I’m not being to presumptuous when I say everyone wants to develop new skills or grow their abilities. (Who wouldn’t want to be a faster runner or a better poker player?) But we all have limited hours in the day, so you can’t practice to get better at everything. Why is creativity one of those skills you should spend time developing?

by InQueen

Well, if you care about your career, it’s probably worth the investment. Both individuals and businesses value hold those with creative qualities in high regard. According to a survey by Adobe, people that identify as creative earn 17% more money than those who don’t. Similarly, in a survey of 1,500 CEOs, IBM found that creativity is the number one trait needed for business success.

And yes, the data from these surveys is based on opinion or self-reported creativity levels, but even if the scientists might squawk, it’s probably worth paying attention to. Basically, your boss and your boss’ boss both think creativity is important. And that makes sense as the definition of a creative person is literally someone who comes up with good ideas and can bring them to fruition. In today’s world, that is exactly the fuel that drives business success. So if you want to get ahead, start churning out those ideas like a barrel of monkeys. (Am I doing it right?)

Can you become more creative? —

Absolutely! Creativity isn’t a magical gift bestowed to just a few lucky individuals, it’s a skill that you can hone and develop. The trick is figuring out how to flex your creativity muscles.

1. A number of things happened at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries that shifted our world view, from the discover of relativity to the invention of mass, fast transportation, new ways of communicating across long distances, and of capturing reality (i.e. photography and filmmaking).

2. This TED Talk on how to practice effectively is great. It offers a great explanation of the impact of practice on our brains.

3.All that being said, there are some compelling evidence that our current education system is not setup to nurture the type of creative thinking that we value in today’s society. Which makes sense if you consider that the basic structure and curriculum of schools (at least here in the United States) comes from the 19th century.

4. Interested in more? 99U has a great article with 5 classic creativity tests you can try.

The post What is creativity? The ultimate guide to understanding today’s most important ability. appeared first on 99designs.

via https://99designs.co.uk/blog/

What is creativity? The ultimate guide to understanding today’s most important ability. syndicated from https://www.lilpackaging.com/

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helenpattersoon · 6 years

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What is creativity? The ultimate guide to understanding today’s most important ability.

by rvasilovski

But you have to start somewhere, so let’s begin with a definition:

Creativity is the ability to transcend traditional ways of thinking or acting, and to develop new and original ideas, methods or objects.

Let’s break that down:

It transcends traditional ways of thinking or acting Transcending means you’re going above and beyond. It’s recognizing the limitations of what already exists, and trying to improve upon it.

Great! And now that I’ve provided you with that enlightening definition, let’s wade a bit deeper and try to really understand what creativity is (and why you should or shouldn’t care).

Creativity is a relatively new phenomenon —

Creativity has only been a thing for the past 60-80 years or so.

“But wait,” you say, “what about all those amazing artists and inventors of yesteryear. Are you telling me you don’t think Mark Twain and Sir Isaac Newton weren’t creative? Preposterous!”

From Google’s Ngram viewer

In the medieval Christian world, creative ideas were positioned as divine inspiration. Did you do something awesome? You owe god a high five for sending that fantastic idea your way, my friend.

by E·the·re·al”

And thus, the modern idea of creativity was born. Since then, psychologists and researchers in other disciplines have only continued to develop the idea into what we understand today.

Creativity is a pattern of thinking —

Creativity is the skill to transcend traditional ways of thinking and come up with new ideas. But where do these new ideas come from?

Forget left vs. right brained, it’s all about the networks.

Like the persistent “we only use 10% of our brains” myth, the concept of left-brained = creative vs. right-brained = analytical is total pseudoscience.

by LittleFox

When it comes to creativity, neuroscientists have identified three large-scale (and aptly named) networks of the brain that are important:

The executive attention network helps you pay attention and focus

The imagination network allows you to daydream or imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes

The more active these networks are in your brain, and the more they work together, the more creative you are.3

Is there a connection between creativity and intelligence? —

This study purports to find a positive correlation between creativity and intelligence, but our in-house statistician was dubious of the results.

In 1999, researchers Sternberg and O’Hara provided a framework of five possible relationships between creativity and intelligence:

Creativity is a type of intelligence

Intelligence is a type of creativity

Creativity and intelligence are overlapping constructs (they have some traits in common)

Creativity and intelligence are part of the same construct (they’re basically the same thing)

Creativity and intelligence are distinct constructs (there is no relationship between them)

Are children more creative than adults? —

youtube

by fritzR

My colleague has a son about this age: this past weekend he linked together a Barrel of Monkeys to create a ladder for his green army men to climb.

Fewer synapses = fewer monkeys?

But this highlights an important question:

How do we test for creativity? —

Some of our designers excel at divergent thinking. Flying turtle by Fafahrd Deustua.

So while divergent thinking tests have been criticized, they are currently the most accepted measure of creativity. (Though I’m very curious to see where the neuroscience takes us.)

Why should you care about creativity? —

by InQueen

Can you become more creative? —

Absolutely! Creativity isn’t a magical gift bestowed to just a few lucky individuals, it’s a skill that you can hone and develop. The trick is figuring out how to flex your creativity muscles.

2. This TED Talk on how to practice effectively is great. It offers a great explanation of the impact of practice on our brains.

4. Interested in more? 99U has a great article with 5 classic creativity tests you can try.

The post What is creativity? The ultimate guide to understanding today’s most important ability. appeared first on 99designs.

via https://99designs.co.uk/blog/

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365footballorg-blog · 6 years

Text

Armchair Analyst: With US out, here's how I'll watch the 2018 World Cup

June 13, 20189:00AM EDT

It is finally here, the long summer of our discontent made glorious autumn – soon enough, anyway – by the fall of teams I will be rooting against with all my heart.

That is one of my two planks for this 2018 World Cup. Please understand that the US failure to qualify has devastated me, but also freed me. It means that I can go into this tournament unshackled from the soul-crushing worry over “my” team; the impotent fury at coaching malpractice; the utter despair at in-the-moment, on-field mistakes; the numb resignation when it all inevitably comes crashing down and breathes its last.

I don’t think I’ll miss that. I think I’ll enjoy watching a World Cup without a mental countdown clock tracking the hours, minutes and seconds between now and “When do we play next and oh, God what if we lose?”

Now I get to think about what other teams do when they lose. I like that more.

And that leads me to plank No. 2: misery leads to innovation. Fear of failure leads to innovation. Desperation leads to innovation. I’m trying to get through this paragraph without typing “necessity is the mother of invention” but I’m just not gonna be able to do it, so there we are.

Amongst the things I love most about our game are the tactical tweaks – some big, some little – teams and coaches make from game-to-game, and sometimes in the run of play itself. The way we think about soccer is always evolving, so it makes sense that the way the game’s played is always evolving, and that keeps the sport fresh and new pretty much no matter who’s playing.

Of course, the best tactical tweaks and inventions are ones born of a solid, fundamental and consistent structure in the first place. If you have that underlying, thoroughly understood identity then you’re positioned to make meaningful (if incremental) progress, and that’s the type of thing that wins.

If you don’t…

JCO’s Wild Ride

Juan Carlos Osorio guided a good New York Red Bulls team to an appearance in the 2008 MLS Cup final, doing so with a relatively young and promising squad. As most coaches would do he … actually no, as very few coaches would do, he didn’t build on that. Osorio blew it all up in 2009 and went back to his tinkering ways. The same RBNY team that had made MLS Cup in 2008 went 2-16-4 in 2009, he was fired, and they went 3-3-2 down the stretch with an interim coach. They have not missed the playoffs since his departure.

Osorio’s predecessor and successor had better records with RBNY than he did. His predecessor and successor had better records at Puebla than he did, at Atletico Nacional than he did, and at Sao Paolo than he did, and it’s because he can not stop tinkering. His motto appears to be “If it ain’t broke, take it apart and find out why not.”

Osorio is currently doing the same thing to Mexico. Ask 100 El Tri fans what the team’s best lineup is and you will get 100 different answers, and chances are that actual lineup will have gotten some playing time together.

“Great!” you think, “That’s a manager who’s willing to try new things!”

“Yes,” I reply, “but the one truly new thing he needs to try is building cohesion and team chemistry, which he’s not done.”

Osorio no termina por entender que estos ya no son días para experimentar en la cancha… no contra #Dinamarca, mucho menos, a una semana de enfrentar a #Alemania #ElTri

— Pedro Dorantes (@PedroDorantes98) June 9, 2018

For non-Spanish speakers out there, the translation of that tweet is “Oh, my god, we’re going to get killed by Germany if this man does not pick a lineup that works together and then stick with it.”

And Mexico fans know what’s up because they got slaughtered 4-1 by Germany in last year’s Confederations Cup. And they got worked by Chile, 7-0, in the previous summer’s Copa America. Osorio’s overall record with El Tri is 31-9-8, but in three tournaments there’ve been three colossally disappointing showings. Here’s what I wrote about his tenure heading into last summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup (which indeed goes down as one of those colossally disappointing showings):

Mexico are probably a top 8-ish team in the entire world in terms of their raw talent, which is why they win most of their games. But they have continually struggled against top-tier competition (7-0 vs. Chile, 4-1 vs. Germany, a draw and a loss vs. a Portuguese team that is a cut below those two) because they are constantly, bafflingly, rotating players and lineups and formations and roles and responsibilities.

And so you get a team that gets bounced from the Copa America because they have no idea how to handle a simple cross-field switch, or how to stop a breakaway. And then you have the same team bounced from the Confederations Cup 12 months later for the exact same reasons. Juan Carlos Osorio just does not believe in the power of reps.

…I do wonder if Mexico will stop being a pieced-together Frankenstein’s Monster and start looking like a contiguous whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

One way or another this is the end for JCO with Mexico. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll get to see whether his experiments were meant to culminate in something, or if they were just an endless, pointless excuse for more experiments.

Choose Your Underdog

Or, actually, don’t. I understand why people were charmed by the likes of Iceland in the 2016 Euros and how great it is for the country of Panama to be making their debuts. I hope all the players play well and get paid, because careers are short and World Cup glory is long. I wish none of them any ill.

But I’m not going to root for them. They play ugly, destructive soccer – against, not with the ball – and honestly, no thanks.

Know what I’m charmed by? Passing. Those little moments of magic where two or three or four or all 11 players are working in sync to disorient and destroy the opposition, to create angles and channels and goals.

If you’re gonna root for someone, don’t choose David. Choose Goliath.

Ride or Die

To that end, I will be supporting (such as it was) Lionel Messi and Argentina. Messi is the greatest soccer player who’s ever lived – he is impossible – and I would appreciate the cosmic justice of him finally being on the right side of the scoreline in a final for his country.

He doesn’t and shouldn’t need that to cement his status as the GOAT. Just look at this:

[embedded content]

I’ll also admit that I still love the 4-4-2 diamond and am pleased that Argentina are playing a version of it (though Jorge Sampaoli insists it’s a 2-3-3-2). Yes, I’m rooting for a formation.

The Next 5-4-1

Let’s stay on the topic of formations. Costa Rica are a particularly miserable team to play against because 1) they’re talented; 2) usually well-coached; and 3) utterly aware of their strengths and weaknesses. And their strength boils down to thinking along these lines: “When we play compact, we are almost impossible to break down, and that means our opponent will get frustrated, and that means we can hit them on the counter.”

That’s how the Ticos got to the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup.

But the surprise factor of the 5-4-1 was part of it as well. It’s a formation few had seen much of, globally, to that point, but one that’s come into vogue and has been a favorite of underdogs worldwide ever since. Each weekend you can see a handful of MLS teams attempting it (the Colorado Rapids tried and failed in Houston on Saturday), and while a formation is not tactics, formations and tactics work hand-in-hand.

Four years ago, Costa Rica’s formation worked to flummox Uruguay, Italy and England. Now it’s gone global.

Will something similar happen this tournament? I kind of hope so, though I’d rather see an aggressive, attacking formation steal the spotlight. (How about a 3-3-4 with a No. 9 who drops in off the frontline to turn and play runners through?)

Time To Shop

The Secondary Transfer Window opens July 10, and runs through August 8, providing a time of renewed hope and great expectations. MLS teams have more money than they’ve ever had before. You do the math.

Here’s a few players I hope coaches here are watching:

Gaston Silva, LB/LCB, Uruguay/Independiente (24 years old)

Ismael Diaz, FW/W, Panama/Deportivo B (20 years old)

William Troost-Ekong, CB, Nigeria/Bursaspor (24 years old)

Miguel Borja, FW, Colombia/Palmeiras (25 years old)

Let me know who you’re keeping an eye on, too.

Series:

Topics:

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