Sunday, May 29, 2011

What everyone's looking for

Pasted_graphic

If there is one thing that seems to connect everybody, it's that they have the same desire, the same need, the same want, the same longing, to be justified, accepted or validated; To feel what what they have inside them, can be expressed and it can be noticed, appreciated and admired.
So many people feel that they've started working for a boss but not really enjoying the job and not really feeling that what they're doing with their life has any great meaning or purpose and this is what I'm really trying to change.
I really want people to know that they do have potential in them to do something unique. To do something personally meaningful and that they can express something that is creative and wonderful to them. Something that is incredibly enjoyable. Something that they want to do, and yet many people are just so distracted by all the things around them.
All the things outside of them and too often not looking inside themselves and seeing what's happening there and seeing the potential they have.  That they have so much to offer.
This exploring starts inside you. 80% of the process of finding what your truest expression is, comes from taking a look at those things that should be important to you. Your daydreams & the night dreams you have. Your personality, your talents, your interests, your passions & concerns.
Those little things that you may ignore and discount as just silly, are all important. They're all signpost to your ideal future.

Steve Writes on Creative & career development
You can find me at www.ineedtocreate.com

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Great Twitter lists descriptions from people who I've inspired.

People on Twitter have put me on 233 follow lists. Here are the great descriptions their have written for those lists. I feel very honoured to be inspiring people so much.

 

•People who encourage the world to think out of the box.
•People who are shaping the face of modern media on the web, tv, art, music, design, radio etc.
•Famous people who passionate about creativity & inspiration and creative ideas.
•Thought leaders in making "ideas" and "creativity" a reality.
•People interested in creativity.
•creative inspiration, innovative ideas.
•Inspiring Creatives: artists, writers, photographers, thinkers, teachers...
•Creativity research.
•People I have been blessed to connect with in the twitterverse
•Ever so much more than "Teachers".
•inspiring thoughts, coaches, events, & other creativity fodder.
•Creative Tweeps, the kind who make things that didn't exist before.
•Fellow treasured travelers of the creative path.
•The art and science of creativity and idea generation. Inspire me!
•So who are the real "Gifted"? This eclectic list.
•Creativity, Psychology of Creativity and those who write about the writing life.
•Some of the greatest minds in writing, editing, publishing and more!
•Thoughts on and about life. Inspirational. Motivational. Sensational.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Comedy at it's simplest: Man verses gravity

         
Images

We all remember those old movies & cartoons where the characters ends up in the air, and starts falling to earth with that typical whistling sound. Or something falls on them, like a Grand piano.
Actually, comedy seemed to involve a lot of falling. And it never gets old, dispute how sophisticated comedy can be. If fact, a lot of comedy happens when the physical meets physics. Once you get anything moving or balancing, then things fall in a heap.
In comedy, there are many forms of falling: The rise & fall in a characters expectations, progress or circumstances. If you look at the effect of gravity on a situation or story, you open up the range of possibilities that your story can go.
I'm not a comic script writer but if I wanted to be one, I would probably explore how 'gravity' can play with a characters hopes & intensions.
It's always funny to see someone who's at war with gravity.

(For the comedy & Comedians series)
Note: I'm not a Comedian but I wanted to understand what makes good comedy work. So I hope this will help inspire aspiring comedians (& communicators) to develop this very creative craft.
-Your comments are very welcome.

Steve writes & coaches about Creative & Career Development
You can find Steve at: www.ineedtocreate.com

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

A fractured soul is the inner child left behind. A comedian is someone who left behind his inner adult.

Images

There's a concept that states that if a child suffers a traumatic event, then part of that child's personality fractures away from the rest. That separated part doesn't develop with the rest of the person. Part of them still has the same needs as a child, even though the person has grown into an adult.
I suspect that a comedian is the opposite. He left behind his inner adult. That part of him that was meant to grow into a 'normal', responsible adult.
A comedian seems to possess a child like wonder about the world. They show that personal vulnerability & social sensitivity you see in many comedians.
He's the Man-Child. The big kid. The prankster. The one that's always kidding around. The guy that never grew up.
They ran ahead of the adult they were 'supposed to be'. But we love them for it.
And because of the childhoods some people have had, many comedians are probably living out the childhood they were meant to have.

(For the comedy & Comedians series)
Note: I'm not a Comedian but I wanted to understand what makes good comedy work. So I hope this will help inspire aspiring comedians (& communicators) to develop this very creative craft.
-Your comments are very welcome.

Steve writes & coaches about Creative & Career Development
You can find Steve at: www.ineedtocreate.com

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A comedian is someone who gets payed to have people laugh at his own expense.

Images

There are few professions where you can be payed to have people laugh at you. But in a good way of course. There seems to be two areas of comedy. One where the intent is to have the audience laugh at the adventures of the comedian, or laugh at the things other people do. Political satire does this a lot.
I thinks that a comedian that is happy to divide the focus between his life and the lives of others, had gotta have a lot more material to work with. Assuming you know yourself better than you know anyone or anything else, comedy is mostly about you, –Your life, what bothers you, the observations you make & the things that affect you.
Show them how human you are.
Let them laugh at you and let them laugh with you.

(For the comedy & Comedians series)
Note: I'm not a Comedian but I wanted to understand what makes good comedy work. So I hope this will help inspire aspiring comedians (& communicators) to develop this very creative craft.
-Your comments are very welcome.

Steve writes & coaches about Creative & Career Development
You can find Steve at: www.ineedtocreate.com

Monday, May 16, 2011

A comedian is a specialist in explaining the things they don't understand.

      
Images

With most professions, you expect people to have some expertise. To know more about a particular subject than everyone else. A comedian, on the other hand, isn't necessarily an expert in any particular area. They are just very good at noticing things that other people live with but don't seem to notice. They see repeated themes. They make funny connections between things. They put things into a new context. They make fun of anything that pretends to be normal. Or shouldn't be normal.
He doesn't have to explain the reasons why things are the way they are, but he loves to express his slanted perspective. He doesn't have to understand everything, but he enjoys the opportunity to offer 'suggestions' on why something happened.
A professional comedian's job is to show he is an amateur in everything else.
A comedian is one of the few people who can start a sentence with, "The thing I don't understand is…."
So be confused, be baffled, be honest about the things you don't understand. Your audience will love it.

(For the comedy & Comedians series)
Note: I'm not a Comedian but I wanted to understand what makes good comedy work. So I hope this will help inspire aspiring comedians (& communicators) to develop this very creative craft.
-Your comments are very welcome.

Steve writes & coaches about Creative & Career Development
You can find Steve at: www.ineedtocreate.com

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

A comedian is a mime artist who forgets to stay quiet.

Images

If you ever watched a scene in a movie and the character is not talking but is trying to do something. There might be some background noise or music, but the character is doing most of the communicating through expressions and actions. Then he hears an unexpected sound, the character stop. He's realises something just happened that he didn't want or expect. 
You laugh but it also builds the expense. Then the character speaks. I cry of desperation that is designed to emphasis his growing frustration, building the tension in the audience. Then, as the final moment, that tension is released, –The audience fall off their seats.
That shows that comedy is a visual language as much as a way of talking.
And sound, then used sparingly, adds to the comedy. The comedian knows that NOT talking can be just as funny as talking. They use their face, their body language and things around them to tell the story. Words are a comedians best friend but silence, is his silent partner.

(For the comedy & Comedians series)
Note: I'm not a Comedian but I wanted to understand what makes good comedy work. So I hope this will help inspire aspiring comedians (& communicators) to develop this very creative craft.
-Your comments are very welcome.

Steve writes & coaches about Creative & Career Development
You can find Steve at: www.ineedtocreate.com

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A comedian exaggerates what he gives and misunderstands what is gets.

Kramer-seinfeld

I'm sure a lot of comedians are very sensitive to the human failings they see around them everyday. They see the slip ups, the insecurities & the strange things that can happen when people attempt to communicate & interact with each other.
All you have to do is read or watch the news to see the things people get themselves into.
A comedian must have an internal lie detector. –They can smell something's off before anyone else says anything.
They see the exaggerations and the misunderstandings. So many of these observations can make there way into their work. Their characters and stories explore & exposes the tendency for the average person to exaggerate what they have achieved & understand. But at the same time, they misunderstand what is really going on around them.
So play with exaggeration & misunderstand. Give your characters delusions of grandeur but give them a blindfold as well.

(For the comedy & Comedians series)
Note: I'm not a Comedian but I wanted to understand what makes good comedy work. So I hope this will help inspire aspiring comedians (& communicators) to develop this very creative craft.
-Your comments are very welcome.

Steve writes & coaches about Creative & Career Development
You can find Steve at: www.ineedtocreate.com

Monday, May 9, 2011

A comedian allows their audience to be surprised by their own common sense

Up-in-the-world-in-1956-s-006

To me, Comedy is a very creative art. It amazes me how agile the comic mind can be.
It's the art of being one step ahead for the audience, but at the same time, giving the audience the idea that they are one step ahead of the character.
Comedy lets the audience sense that the character is going to slip up, yet not able to predict exactly what will happen.
The audience sees the character climbing an old ladder. The audience knows it can't end well. They think he will just fall off, but something unexpected happens. He falls in a way no one predicted.
So allow the audience to imagine solutions before the character figures it out, But NEVER let the audience predict how he manages to escape. It's rarely funny if the audience can predict the outcome.
Keep them surprised but give them plenty of opportunities to imagine ways to surprise themselves by their own common sense.

(For the comedy & Comedians series)
Note: I'm not a Comedian but I wanted to understand what makes good comedy work. So I hope this will help inspire aspiring comedians (& communicators) to develop this very creative craft.
-Your comments are very welcome.

Steve writes & coaches about Creative & Career Development
You can find Steve at: www.ineedtocreate.com