Crazytown

WHY I LOVE VINE

How creative can you be in 6 seconds?
By Kimberly Lew (Playwright/Blogger)

Though I am a firm believer in the digital revolution and our need to adapt to these changing times, I will admit that sometimes it seems like social media is out of control. There are new platforms popping up everyday-- and the truth of the matter is, even as someone who loves the idea of marketing and being a part of a social (albeit digital) community, I'm a strong believer that not everyone needs to be on every big social media platform.

 

Maybe this is why I was so resistant to Vine, the video-driven social media platform that allows people to post 6-second videos to a personal feed (and Facebook and Twitter). Basically, it's a video version of Twitter.

Okay, but wait! Hold your Liz Lemon eyeroll for just one moment. Because while I once shared in your skepticism, I now have to admit that I am a true believer. I am a Vine convert.

Why do I love Vine? Let me count the ways:

BOHEMIAN DREAMS: JAS KNIGHT

Meet NYC’s most promising starving artists - before they’re rich and famous. This week get familiar with realist painter, Jas Knight, and find out what he has to say about assigning values to objects, religious symbolism, and shrimp burritos.

By David Davila (playwright / songwriter)

(a snap shot of Jas Knight's ALTARPIECE while it was still in progress)

The L train is an interesting place. That’s something I’ve learned over the last few months as I moved deeper into Bohemia. Every night on the train I meet someone new and interesting – I’ve even been sketched no less than four times. It was a particularly quiet night on the L train when one of Jas Knight’s paintings caught my attention from across the car and I immediately shuffled over and introduced myself.

His gorgeous mix of urban iconography, middle class realism, and religious symbolism are like nothing I’d encountered before and I knew right then that I was meeting someone special.

Jas Knight, from Hartford, CT, finds regular objects and people extraordinary. As a realist painter Knight has mastered the art of making ordinary things beautiful as if through transubstantiation. This month he’s prominently featured in a show about the history of BoomBoxes at House of Art Gallery in Brooklyn (through June 9th), and I can't wait to see what else this guy has up his sleeve.

I caught up with the realist painter at the café at The Met (if you’re not a member you totes need to be) and chatted about not drinking coffee, the ever-changing moods of Bill Evans, and the definition of realism.

Here's what the iconographer had to say:

THE PERILS OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Pick a road, any road. It might be the last choice you and your art ever make.
By Jen Littlefield (Choreographer/Librettist)

This might be the best visual representation of what our minds go through when creating something original:

Created by Subnormality. Available as prints here

One of my writing partners found this on StumbleUpon, and added it to our inspirations and works-in-progress. My first response was: This is amazing. And terrifying. And the more I look at it, the more I agree.

Let's discuss.

You start out with an idea and three route options - scenic, express, and self doubt, represented here as a short road to a fiery pit. This is more true than anything ever. And then I look around and see all the little red self doubt signs at every turn, just waiting to lead a great idea to a grinding, crushing, diving, no-way-out, horrible demise. It's so clear and simple and absolutely true - self doubt leads only to dead-ends and destruction.

The rest is really clever and you can look at it all up close for yourself, but my favorites are the never-ending loop of words you think when you compare yourself to others (the race track), a free ticket to the easy way out, popcorn included (laziness), and the maybe-I-should-do-something-else-with-my-life sidetrack (the potato farm).

This is what all potato farms look like, right? (doodle by Rick Green)

MARCH MUSICAL MADNESS

By Rob Shapiro (musical theatre writer)

If you follow sports, you know that the bracket for NCAA college basketball was released this week.  But since you're reading this blog, then you don't follow sports.  So here's the bracket for you!

ROB SHAPIRO is a musical theatre writer living in Brooklyn. www. thatrobshapiro.com
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BEHIND THE MADNESS: ADAM GWON, VOL. 2

More risotto balls and revelatory insights with the extraordinary writer of Ordinary Days. 
By Michael Ruby (Writer)

When last we blogged, I was sharing highlights from my conversation and West Bank Café snacking session with the incredible Mr. Adam Gwon. (You can read Volume 1 here.) Here is the conclusion, featuring some optimistic observations about the state of musical theater and pure proof that anything is truly possible.

You’ve talked about how visiting The Met helped to inspire you when working on Ordinary Days. Where else do you find inspiration?
When I was writing Ordinary Days, I was in the midst of a Dramatists’ Guild Fellowship. One of the mentors they brought in said that, whenever she gets stuck, she goes to The Met for inspiration to get unstuck. She also wears a hoop skirt so that no one gets too close to her.

Do you wear a hoop skirt?
No, I do not wear a hoop skirt. But I do still go.

Where else do you turn for inspiration?
I read a lot and love reading books. Old books. New books. Red books. Blue books. Writing is also a good form of therapy, so a lot of ideas come from self-reflection.

*Adam belly laughs. His laughter says a lot but reveals nothing.*

 Sometimes there’s a question in life I don’t have the answer to – and I wonder, can I answer it by writing a song about it? 

Do you have specific people who are muses, or who that you love to write for?
I feel like I have a lot of muses. I have a lot of awesome friends who are also amazing talents who I can write for and know they’ll be amazing. Two of the many people who are friends and who are amazing are Kate Wetherhead and Alex Wyse. Both are incredibly funny, dynamic performers – and really inspiring people. Even when I’m not working with them, watching them do their thing makes me want to do what I’m doing better.

                      (Kate Wetherhead singing "Calm" from Ordinary Days)

I also had the incredible honor of Audra McDonald singing “I’ll Be Here” in her concert tour last year. Hearing her sing that song and meeting her…it was maybe the most exciting moment in my career, seeing her sing my song at Carnegie Hall.

TAKE THE NYC CHRISTMAS DECORATION & HOLIDAY DISPLAY WALKING TOUR

Nietzsche said "All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking" - it's like that movie 'Walking Barefoot in the Park' only not really at all. (And one should make sure to keep their shoes on while walking in any NYC  parks. But that was a great movie!) AND it is a great time to walk in New York because it's Christmas season up in this biaaaaahtchhhh!
-By Leah Bonnema 

I absolutely love walking around NYC in December. New York got major decoration game son! The lights and window displays are simply incredible; I dare say THE best of the best. 

Not a bad pic for a Blackberry!

Amidst all the chaos of trying to get everything in order for the holidays and finishing up loose ends before the new year begins, it's been really important for me to take a moment and just enjoy exactly where I am. (I definitely don't do it enough.) So for the past two weeks I've made a concerted effort to go for a walkabout every night after stand up shows and simply admire. Walking seems to help melt away all the bullshiznit from the day, leaving me feeling clear minded and grateful. 

Looking to 5th from RockCenter they play a friggin' mini movie on the side of Saks!!!

ALMOST BETTER THAN THE REAL THING

How a study in art forgery could be promising for future artists
By Joanna Syiek (Director/Producer/Blogger)

Our culture gives great weight to authenticity. We are constantly reminded to "be true to ourselves" and to "be original" - whether we choose to heed this advice is up to us. In the case of fine art, we want to know a piece's history, its origin. It's what differentiates the multimillion dollar gallery painting from the one that never makes it out of the garage. But who are we really to decide what marks one for fame and the other for obscurity?

In an Oxford study, a set of researchers set out to explore how much of our perception of "great art" is tied to seeing a famous name grace the museum placard beside the work.

Their research experiment was relatively simple: 14 subjects were placed in an fMRI machine and told the following: In this experiment you will see a sequence of 50 Rembrandt paintings. Before each image appears, an audio prompt will announce whether the upcoming painting is ‘authentic’ or a ‘copy.’ A blank screen will appear for a few seconds after each image to allow you to relax your gaze. But of course there's no experiment unless they shake it up some. The scientists told half of the participants that the authentic Rembrandts were actually forgeries and vice versa. The results blew them away.

They discovered that there was no detectable difference in the response of visual areas to Rembrandt and “look-alikes.” All of the paintings garnered identical sensory responses. However, what is interesting is that the scientists were able to pinpoint brain activity that occurred whenever a painting was said to be a real Rembrandt.  When this happened,  "subjects showed a spike in activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, a chunk of brain just behind the eyes that is often associated with perceptions of reward, pleasure and monetary gain." This orbitofrontal response happened even when a forgery was labeled a true Rembrandt - suggesting that the quality of the art itself mattered significantly less than the name attached.

And while this study could be sobering, it also proves that great art can be found in more places than you think. The finest painter in the world may not have made it to the galleries yet. The best show on earth may not be on Broadway with the highest ticket price. The world's best musician may be scrambling for rent this month and busking in the streets to help make a few bucks. So look around. Keep your eyes peeled and courageously decide who the most inspirational artists are for you. Then support them passionately. Who knows, you may end up with one of their works before they start selling for $3 million a pop.

Image Source with text overlay. 

JOANNA SYIEK is a Los Angeles-based music junkie with a penchant for long road trips, original theatre work, clean graphic design, and really good Indian food. She directs around the City of Angels and writes about nourishing creativity, Broadway favorites, and talent obsessions over on her blogging home. www.thoughtsontheatre.wordpress.com
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BOHEMIAN DREAMS: TYLER WALLACH

Discover NYC's most talented starving artists before they're rich and famous. This week meet artist Tyler Wallach and find out what he looks for in a muse, and how he colors his maps...
By David Davila (Playwright / Songwriter)

Tyler Wallach's sticker art has literally been stuck to the walls and city signs of NYC for the past two years, and is slowly moving its way around the world. You may recognize the bright colors and rainbows with the signature line "Hello my name is TY." Since TY means "Thank You" in text-speak, it seems very appropriate that the Thanksgiving edition of Bohemian Dreams should feature this up-and-coming artist.

Tyler Wallach, from Houston, TX, paints Clouds. Well... he calls them CLOUDZ; street-art-humanoid-cloud-characters in bright colors who interact with eachother in every raw human emotion under the sun (no pun intended). These are not little happy clouds that float in the sky, but angry, humorous, obsessive, heart-broken, joyful, agonizing, spiritual, enamored clouds who share rainbow fluids like the drippings of dirty sex. 

It's this unique colorful and raw-emotional style that is causing TY to turn heads on every street corner in Manhattan with his series of TY stickers. Last February his stickers were featured in an exhibit of Queer art in LA, and this summer he was featured in an exhibit at 116 MacDougal. Now he's got a new digital CLOUDZ series, a new TY sticker going global, and plans for another series of TY sunglasses.

(Tyler Wallach & his exhibit at 116 MacDougal - photo by Samuel Anacker)

I sat down with Tyler Wallach over some delicous chicken nachos at Therapy night club (yeah they serve more than martinis there... and these are some of the only good nachos in town), and talked about Keith Haring, electronic dance music, and coloring within the lines. Here's what the "sticky" artist had to say:

YOUR BRAIN IS HUNGRY, FEED IT SOMETHING

How thinking in patterns can help you to become a more creative individual
By Joanna Syiek (Director/Producer/Blogger)

Neuroscientist Daniel Bor gives us a whole new idea of brainfood with his book The Ravenous Brain: How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning. Just like Steve Jobs' famous postulation that "creativity is just connecting things," Bor explores the human need for pattern-making and how it is essential to creativity.

Delish.

One of the more fascinating stories he tells focuses on "chunking," that is, grouping items together to make more room in your memory. One man, an undergraduate of average IQ, learned to use this mental trick to unlock the boundaries of his working memory. He participated in an experiment where researches read him a list of random digits and asked him to repeat them back in the order he'd heard them. If he got the sequence right, the next list would be one number longer. If incorrect, one digit shorter. And he did this one hour a day, four days a week, for two years.

At first he was able to remember 7 digits - better than the average person's 4 digit sequence and not unusual that it was the length of most phone numbers. But Mr. Test Subject soon got so bored by the experiments that he tried to challenge himself to improve his limit tenfold. Which he did. By the end of the test period, he was able to repeat back 80 digits with ease. That's 11 new friends phone numbers back to back (10 from the city, one out-of-towner with a different area code). Which is astounding. But also a stark reminder that the brain really is a muscle, and it benefits from a good workout just like the rest of your body.

But how you ask?

FRESH FRENCH ART - PART 4

By Laure Porché

For the last installment of my French Art series, let me talk to you about a friend of mine. I had the chance to work with several photographers over the last few years: never have one captured so well the images I had in mind that my friend, Gilles Alonso. He's got an extraordinary eye for location, and his portraits of women always have a special feel to them, reflecting the person he's photographing. Find some of my favorite pictures of his below (click on the images to view them bigger). For more, visit his website.