creativity Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Joshua Spodek

How I edit these posts

Usually when I sit to write an article I expect to finish it quickly. I have what I consider a useful article and I feel inspired. Yet each article consistently takes one to three hours to write. I spend most of that time editing. I believe most writers do. So what do I edit besides the stuff everyone does? I remove judgmental language. Most of the stuff below you might find in Strunk and White, but I rarely see others practicing this rule or the next one and I wish I did. I've written extensively on how counterproductive I believe judgment is to improving your life and relationships. I've removed a lot of it from my regular speech, but I still try to remove it.…

August 14, 2012

Awareness / Blog / Freedom

Rules: what are they and how do you get to play by your own?

Speaking of superstars, they seem to play by their own rules. Most of us wish we could. How do you get to play by your own rules, not someone else's? Today I'll look at rules from a few different contexts and ask a few questions about them. A rule describes how people should behave. Context 1: Mutually agreed-on rules When I think of playing a game, rules make sense. We want to enjoy ourselves or maybe see who is better. Playing chess only makes sense if we agree on rules. Otherwise, what's the point? Context 2: Rules agreed on by some Laws are kinds of rules. Most laws imposed on me were written before I was born. I tend to agree with many of them,…

August 10, 2012

North Korean children’s nearly unbelievable performances

Art / Creativity / Education / NorthKorea

North Korean children’s nearly unbelievable performances

The pictures below don't even approach showing the almost unbelievable performance ability of North Korean children. Joseph's pictures showcase their talent better. But no images can show the professionalism, dedication, and raw talent these kids have. The pictures below are from the Children's Palace, which trains children to perform and create art and puts on incredible performances. After their performance last time, my travel groupmate who was starting a school to train opera singers, reacted with disgust at the performance. As I understood, he saw their type of performance -- technical perfection that could only result from repeated drilling and repetition devoid of personal expression -- as destroying everything he valued about art -- personal expression and emotional exploration. He saw children whose artistic world…

August 4, 2012

Blog / Creativity / Entrepreneurship

Another genius business idea: real-life fairy tales

Today's post in the series of genius business ideas may not be a sustainable business model, but it covers a product I think today's children would benefit from as adults. Market demand Parents want the best for their kids. They don't want them needlessly hurt, especially by going down paths they know will create unnecessary pain and hardship. A friend suggested to me that many people have problems in relationships because of overly rosy expectations. They envision that calling each other boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife, will lead to them living happily ever after or riding off into the sunset. You can say people know life isn't that simple, but everyone I've talked to about it believes it to some degree despite themselves. Or at…

July 31, 2012

Art / Blog / Creativity

Great Bruce Springsteen article in this week’s New Yorker

I just finished reading and enjoying an article on Bruce Springsteen in this week's New Yorker. I recommend it, especially if you like the long New Yorker articles. This one is over 15,000 words. I've mentioned Bruce before. Growing up in the 70s and 80s in Philadelphia you couldn't miss him. I remember a radio promotion on one of the stations I listened to quoting a fan yelling, I guess outside a Springsteen concert "He's the best. He's Bruce. He's the Boss!" Greetings from Asbury Park was one of the first cds I bought when the medium came out. And the older brother of the first love of my life -- my high school girlfriend -- was a huge fan, with cases of concert bootleg…

July 30, 2012

Art / Blog / Creativity / Tips

Do you overvalue originality at the expense of getting the job done?

Society values originality and creativity in problem solving instead of getting the job done. I'll illustrate how. Imagine you have a problem you need solved. For concreteness let's say you need plumbing work done in your house, but it could apply to any problem, personal, professional, or otherwise. Say you ask two plumbers how they would fix the problem to decide whom to hire. The first plumber says "I have the most creative idea for how to solve your problem. No one has ever seen a solution like this one. I will get your plumbing to do things no plumbing has done before. You will marvel at the originality and creativity in your plumbing." The second plumber says "Oh, I've solved problems exactly like this…

July 28, 2012

Blog / Creativity / Entrepreneurship

The U.S. has a “dysfunctional patent system”

The U.S. has "a dysfunctional patent system." Those aren't my words. They aren't the words of an ignorant person either. They are the words of U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner, one of the nation's most esteemed judges and faculty at University of Chicago. A patent dispute between Apple and Motorola prompted that description. Here's an article from a couple weeks ago -- Famous judge spikes Apple-Google case, calls patent systemÂ "dysfunctional" -- describing the case. Here's a recent article -- In bid for patent sanity, judge throws out entire Apple/Motorola case -- reporting that he threw out the case with prejudice. My thoughts I could write volumes on the problems with patents and copyright. The ideas have some merit and they probably once served widespread useful…

June 28, 2012

Xian!

Art / Blog / Creativity

Xian!

Business brought me to the lovely city of Xian, not that far from Shanghai. My hosts brought me to a central area they covered with LEDs, I guess for tourists. I couldn't help take pictures to post here. It was borderline garish, but just this side of too much. I don't know if the pictures capture it. It almost felt like daytime at night. The city lit up a whole area with statues, pillars (wrapped in LEDs I couldn't help by overexpose in the pictures), municipal and art buildings, etc. Lots of people were enjoying themselves. Anyway, if you are near Xian, visit. Tomorrow I'll post on the famous terra-cotta army, also not far away. A couple friends who visited here told me to visit…

June 21, 2012

Art / Blog / Creativity / Education / Humor

My comedy sketch script

I've meant to post this script for a long time. In business school I wrote a script that ended up in Follies, Columbia Business School's student-run sketch comedy and musical production at the end of each semester. In my time there, Follies produced some of the best sketch comedy and musicals, including Every Breath Bernanke Takes, which got us press and a letter from the White House. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipJTqCbETog[/youtube] The sketch I wrote ended up a very funny piece. Getting to be on stage for a piece I wrote, including a line or two that got the 500 people in the audience to laugh on cue, with the type of laugh -- I don't know of anything that made me feel better than those moments and…

June 4, 2012

Human history, on a flash drive

Blog / Entrepreneurship

Human history, on a flash drive

A couple friends created the eVr1 Codex -- part accessory, part memory drive -- that stores a huge canon of literature so you can keep it with you at all times. I know both friends from business school classes. You can also see the California outdoor love of nature they share. Here's one of their products. Our Vision eVr1's vision is to connect modern man with the long, global human story. Â We achieve market leadership in sustainable goods that connect humankind to the web of life, while inspiring wonder & purpose in our employees & customers. Their outdoors-y love of nature is different than my physicist love of nature, but I'm pleased to say I'm on their Academic Board, so I'm helping choose the science…

May 28, 2012

Xu Bing’s gallery show at the Shanghai Gallery of Art

Art / Blog / Creativity

Xu Bing’s gallery show at the Shanghai Gallery of Art

I enjoyed a show by an artist named Xu Bing at the Shanghai Gallery of Art. He created a book using only symbols so that anyone could understand it, no matter what language they spoke. The show showed the book and the four-year process he took to create it. The simple, blocky images telling a story suggested to me that taking simple, direct pictures of them would tell the story of the show. I hope I achieved my goal. I hope you'll forgive my making the images a bit too big for the blog design, but I wanted to show more of the art. Hovering over the image pauses the slide show, which I recommend doing when you see individual pages of his work (clicking…

May 20, 2012

My interview by Leaders in Software and Art

Art / Blog / Creativity / My Favorite Posts

My interview by Leaders in Software and Art

Leaders in Software and Art posted their interview of me at my solo show at Crossing Art Gallery last June. I thought Isabel did great camera work with a medium that's hard to capture on video (EDIT: see comment below, where Isabel pointed out Jeff Becker did the camera work). http://vimeo.com/39370221 I'm in Beijing, where the government blocks video-sharing sites, so I can't see how the above video renders. Here's the direct link to the site if it doesn't come out -- http://vimeo.com/39370221.

April 9, 2012

Telling my awesome story on stage about inspiring my mom’s first marathon

Art / Blog / Fitness / Humor

Telling my awesome story on stage about inspiring my mom’s first marathon

Monday night I told my second story at the Moth, to about two hundred people. A bit scary, though not as scary as last time, but awesome! Improving public speaking improves your abilities in almost any field. Few structures match the story structure in engaging people to listen. That's why I stuck my neck out to practice storytelling in public -- to exercise useful skills. And to have fun, of course. Here's my second on-stage story, based on inspiring my mom to run her first marathon. I'm happy with how the story came out, despite my nerves and inexperience. I see ways to improve, though welcome feedback. I owe thanks to my friend Mick who recorded it, though he missed the opening line, which says…

February 29, 2012

Blog / Creativity / Tips

Forget what you have. What can you create?

Think of what you want in life -- from work, play, relationships, etc. Now think of what you already have in those areas. Many people evaluate their lives by what they have. Great. What you have doesn't tell you as much as what you can create. What you have describes the culmination of a past you can't change. The ingredients to create -- usually skills more than material possessions -- describes your future and suggests how to live now. More important questions for improving your life is do you have the ingredients to create what you want and how do you get them. Since no one will create your future or live your present for you, only you can take responsibility for creating what you…

February 23, 2012

Improve your public speaking through storytelling, part 2

Art / Blog / Creativity / Tips

Improve your public speaking through storytelling, part 2

Yesterday I suggested ways to improve your storytelling skills through practice. Performing in public can be daunting, so today I'll tell about my first experience telling a story in front of hundreds of people, being judged. First, despite my anxiety before going up, I loved the experience, learned a lot, and without a doubt will do it again. I recommend it to anyone, especially if you're scared, like I was. Here I am, telling my story: The storytelling began with my friend David, with whom I swam across the Hudson River, originally told me about the Moth years ago, suggesting telling our Hudson River swim story when he heard the theme for Monday's event was sports. We planned to do something perhaps for the first…

February 10, 2012

Art / Blog / Creativity / Tips

Improve your public speaking through storytelling, part 1

Want to improve one of the most important skills for any field, almost free? Want to hook and engage anyone you communicate with? Tell a story. Everyone knows it, but it bears repeating. All communication can benefit from having it tell a story. Whether you're pitching a product, pitching your company, answering a question in a job interview, talking to a friend, flirting on a date, or anything, humans love stories. I posted earlier on how to structure stories effectively (I only need to remember "CCSG"). Besides structure, you need to tell the story. Your voice, body language, pacing, and so on matter. How do you tell better stories? The same way you do anything better. Practice! How do you practice? One simple, free way…

February 9, 2012

Art / Blog / Creativity / Freedom

This photograph is free!

I find this picture of the Eiffel Tower beautiful. A guy namedÂ Tristan Nitot took the picture and posted it for people to share and enjoy in a post called "This photograph is free." He posted it in response to some other guy whose name I don't know who posted a picture he took entitled "This photograph is not free." I won't link to him because I'm afraid he might attack me and if he doesn't like sharing I won't share. Because I like beautiful photographs and people sharing, I'm sharing his beautiful photograph. I commented on his site I find your picture beautiful and your act to share it adds to its beauty. You made the other guy's picture (the not free one) and motivations…

January 11, 2012

Awareness / Blog / Creativity / Leadership

Srikumar Rao’s talk follow-up: deep discounts on January’s class

To follow up the talk I organized for Srikumar Rao, Srikumar's business manager offered deep discounts (almost half price) for members of the Columbia Business School alumni club (anyone can join, whether they went there or not) to take the New York session of his course, Creativity and Personal Mastery (CPM). Having taken it about four years ago, I recommend the course without reservation. Click here for a pdf with more information on dates, logistics, costs, and an overview. Quoting from the brochure: Dates are as follows for the New York Spring 2012 CPM Class Session #1: January 27th, 28th and 29th, 2012 Session #2: March 2nd 3rd and 4th, 2012 Session #3: March 30th, 31st and April 1st, 2012 Reserve Dates: April 13th, 14th…

December 21, 2011

“Elements” — Special viewing of my art December 10, 8-10pm

Art / Creativity

“Elements” — Special viewing of my art December 10, 8-10pm

Please join us for a special viewing of Elements Artwork by Joshua Spodek at District 36 If you missed my show at Crossing Art Gallery in June, this will be your first chance to see my new series. If you've only seen my public pieces Union Square and Bryant Park, this series is on a whole other level. Plus we can have wine here. If you haven't seen it since Crobar, you've never seen anything like these pieces. RSVP to me or District 36 (at 212-244-3636). District 36 is at 29 West 36th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Stay to hear Sharam, of the Grammy-award winning duo, Deep Dish, play after. See you Saturday, December 10 at 8!

December 6, 2011

Art / Blog / Creativity

Director of MTA Arts for Transit on Union Square in Motion

The Architectural League of New York's online magazine Urban Omnibus interviewed Sandra Bloodworth, the Director of the MTA Arts for Transit. In the article, "Arts for Transit: A Conversation with Sandra Bloodworth," she mentions Union Square in Motion, which is also shown in photograph. Considering others mentioned and pictured include Roy Lichtenstein, Sol LeWitt, and Elizabeth Murray, that's an honor. The quality and quantity of art within the MTA is probably larger than you thought. The article covers a lot about a world you pass through every day.

November 26, 2011

Central Park: Sunday’s stunning explosion of autumn colors

Art / Blog / Creativity / Nature

Central Park: Sunday’s stunning explosion of autumn colors

A friend asked what site to see in New York City if she could only see one. Without hesitation I said Central Park. Thinking about it later, I thought if an alien asked what site to see on Earth if he, she, or it could only see one. I might still say Central Park. I've seen beautiful days, but none more so than Sunday, when Central Park exploded with autumn colors. Unfortunately I had only my crappy cell phone camera, but I like the pictures anyway. A nice bookend to when the explosion of spring in the park across the street from me prompted me to post pictures of it. Here's a tree quote, not that relevant to Central Park, but useful in life anyway.…

November 15, 2011

Union Square in Motion on NY1

NY1 Interview for Union Square in Motion

Art / Blog / Creativity / My Favorite Posts

Union Square in Motion on NY1

Usually I keep the stories about art on the art page, but a two-minute news story on NY1 on Union Square in Motion gets special mention. The reporters did their research and spent time understanding the piece. Plus with the designers Coco && Breezy passing by and being interviewed, the exchange was amazing. Below is the news story and here is the link to the NY1 story online. The video features artists Jeanne Kelly and Josefina Santos, designers Coco && Breezy, and yours truly. Tina Redwine did the story for NY1. https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/NY1_USiM.mp4 New Yorkers walking through the Union Square subway station can see a temporary art exhibit that moves as the viewer moves. NY1's Transit reporter Tina Redwine filed the following report. Curiosity is the…

November 6, 2011

Union Square in Motion NY1 Interview with designers

NY1 Interview for Union Square in Motion

Art / Creativity

Union Square in Motion NY1 Interview with designers

The scene: Friday 10am at Union Square in Motion. NY1 is interviewing Jeanne Kelly, Josefina Santos, and me. After the interviews, the NY1 crew record us watching the display. The action: While recording us, as often happens, a group of maybe ten or so riders stops to watch the display too. Among the people who stop are there particularly stylish people who show more enthusiasm and interest in the art than others. They take out their cameras to record what they see in the display. Jeanne, Josefina, and I love that the group formed. The NY1 people dug it too and started recording them. Turns out the stylish people included Coco && Breezy, among other accomplishments, featured in a recent Beyonce video and, according to…

November 4, 2011

Art / Awareness / Freedom / NorthKorea

North Korean propaganda and our advertising, part 3

Continuing from yesterday... If you're American or in a developed country, you're probably overweight, though your grandparents and all earlier ancestors probably didn't even know anyone overweight. You probably watch television nearly as much as you work, though your grandparents and all earlier ancestors didn't have televisions. You may have little to no physical activity in your life, though your grandparents and all earlier ancestors were physically active every day. You probably ask people what they do for a living before you ask them what is meaningful to them. My point is not to rattle off statistics, but to point out the life the system you live in created for most of us. For me, being active, fit, and interacting with people actively instead of…

October 29, 2011

Art / Awareness / Freedom / NorthKorea

North Korean propaganda and our advertising, part 2

Continuing from yesterday... When I communicate the ideas from yesterday's post to others, they tend to respond by pointing out the differences between their systems and ours, for example that we can choose what products we buy but they can't choose their government, along with many other differences. Of course I know those differences. That's why I began that post pointing out my theme that anyone can see differences, but what do you learn from them? The challenge is to see the similarities, which teach you more about yourself and your culture and give you ways to change and improve. Both they and we have billboards showing us messages others craft to motivate us for their benefit. You probably receive more ads than they receive…

October 28, 2011

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