Brain Bank (8/30)

I read a blog entry today that was all about showcasing examples of creative and unique resumes. Most of the people using these resumes work in one creative field or another so these resumes are a perfect way to showcase their creativity and imagination while still getting all of the normal resume stuff out there to employers. This particular image is from a foldable resume printed on cardboard. I think these are amazing ways to get your name out there and stick in people's minds.

Chapter 28: Dreamscape

This thinkertoy exercise has me doing something that I've been telling myself to do for a long time, and that is to start a dream journal. The thinkertoy wants us to use the dream to relate to a problem, so I'll use it to relate to my problem of creating a children's book for my nephew. So this morning when I woke up, I wrote down everything that I could remember about the last dream I had. Here is my first entry in my new dream journal:
In my dream, I saw a stereotypical laboratory. There were tables holding beakers, bunsen burners, chalk boards, etc. And there was a scientist with brown hair, glasses and a long white lab coat. I was not in my dream, I'm merely an observer. The scientist is holding a cattle prod and I could tell that he's using the electric shock as a motivator to train a chimpanzee. What was he training the chimpanzee to do? I couldn't tell right away. As the dream went on I could see him punishing the monkey's errors with a shock. After a while, I realized that this monkey was also holding a cattle prod and that he was using THAT cattle prod as a motivator to train a mouse to run through a maze. And this scientist is training the monkey to be a smaller scientist.
Here are my answers to certain questions about my dream:
How were the people, places, and events in the dream related to my problem?
This doesn't really have that much to do with my problem other than the fact that they both contain animals. The scientist in my dream also had a problem to solve and that is the basis for my story.
Who were the key players in the dream?
The scientist, the monkey, and the mouse.
Does the dream change the nature of the question?
No it doesn't. It helps me to think that maybe I don't always necessarily have to solve my own problems, maybe I can train others to solve them for me and this would work as a collaboration.

I enjoyed this thinkertoy because it forced me to do something that I wanted to do for a very long time. I've always wanted to record my dreams because I know that that is a great untapped source of imagination and creativity. I did the first part of my dream in my bed as I woke up this morning, writing down my dream on a piece of paper as fast as I could before I forgot it. I did the rest of my thinkertoy after work on my dining room table.

Chapter 19: Hall of Fame

For this exercise, I was supposed to choose three business movers and shakers that I admire and learn more about them. I chose Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, and Richard Branson. Disney was a brilliant animator and was the main driving force in ushering in a new age of animation and bringing it to a mass audience, his passion and his drive are his best attributes. Jobs has obviously been instrumental to the development of home computing since home computing began over thirty years ago; his creativity and fearless nature in designing new products and ways to compute are inspiring. Branson is what I think of when I think of an eccentric billionaire, he's earned all of his money and fame and he started at such a young age; he is not afraid to expand business into a new or unsettling field. I have printed out photographs of these three individuals and placed them around my desk where I do most of my work and I have spent a good amount of time today gathering information and reading their biographies and I now have a folder on my computer with a lot of information about these men.

This exercise was a real eye opener for me. I really enjoyed learning about how certain people have come to be as successful as they are and I hope to really look to these individuals for inspiration in the future. I did this exercise in my bedroom on my desk, the lighting was low because I only used one halogen lamp and had my shades drawn this afternoon. I used no distractions such as TV or radio.

Brain Bank (8/29)

I found this image on a blog post about this artist who makes amazing portrait carvings into discarded phonebooks. This particular image is Jimmy Carter and I think they are all amazing and awe inspiring. I love finding alternative and unique media in which people practice their art and creativity and this one is one of my favorites. The artist found such an awesome material in which to carve these images and they work perfectly.

Brain Bank (8/28)

I found this image from a website that is full of customized toys. The person who makes these customized toys created a set of Victorian Era Marvel super hero action figures and this particular action figure is of a Victorian Era Captain America. As I've posted about before, I'm very much into re-imagining stories, characters, settings, etc. in alternate genres or time periods and this is no exception. I love this minute man-esque Captain America; things like this always spark my imagination and just make me stare in awe.

Brain Bank (8/27)

This is an image of a modded xbox 360 that takes on the look of iron man. I love the way iron man looks and I think it transfers very well to the xbox facade. I love the color and the chrome look and I really love the blue glowing circle on the side of the xbox too.

Brain Bank (8/26)

This is an image of a new facade that someone built onto an original generation GameBoy. What I love about this is that it combines two of my favorite things, the genre of steampunk and game boy. I love all things steampunk and this is no exception. It makes everything look better because it's amazing to think of the possibility of such advanced technology being created using simple mechanical structures.