We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Here are the promised photos of our decorations. I don't feel they do the decorations justice but...

Anyway, a couple of stories might go up and I have drawing and 3D tutorials to do, so this is likely to be my last blog other then a few things like speed drawings and things, so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
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Meow!!!!! A meowing Christmas present!

Meet Mischief, my mum's new kitten, isn't she sweet, awwwwww!

She was a Christmas Present to Mum because we lost a cat a couple of weeks ago.

She certainly lives up to her name and you can't leave anything lying aound because if it's food she'll eat it and if it's not it'll get bashed around the house. As you can see from the photo, if it hangs she wants to play with it, if it moves she wants to pounce on it.

Home for Christmas and the decorations are up, you can't see them well in this light but tomorrow I'll take photos and post them to show you how my house looks during the day. I'll get a good outside photo too.

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This creativity blog has left me in despair! - End of Term Creativity Blog!

So, last official blog of 2007 and what am I supposed to say?

In this one, I’ve got to round up everything I’ve said and found out about creativity… oh dear… this could be a long one folks, everyone got their sunglasses on for when I bore you to death by droning?

I think I’ll start by commenting on Ben Mathis’s lecture on creativity, or rather a rather blunt and honest take on Ben’s view of the Gaming Industry.

1. He has a rather jaded view but gave an honest account into how art is done in the industry, that concept arts and 3D artists are normally not one and the same unless you’re in a very small group, and that, in his opinion, most Art Directors consider themselves Emperor of Art and like sticking their noses in where it isn’t needed.

He didn’t have that much planned to say because he was supposed to be talking about creativity in the industry and apparently only concept artists get to demonstrate that feature of themselves and the 3D Artists tend to get their creativity out on personal projects…

Like the one we’re working on now, a week project to create a character for a competition and we have to make it in 5000 polys for the model and infinite polys for assets (eg weapons, armour…).

I have plans, I have Photoshop paintings, what I lack is the speed or skill to keep up at that pace, something I plan on fixing over Christmas if I can help it. By the end of Christmas, I am hoping to have finished Sam and have both a Mudbox high poly model and a 3DSMax low poly model that’s textured and looks good.

OK, so, next part of the blog, game review.

2. If you know me, you’ll know just how excited I was about Pokemon Battle Revolution coming out.

It is brilliant, but they haven’t fixed the AI, as it gets to a certain point of the night and the AI decides that it’s had enough losing and sticks Pokemon in your path that you’ve never seen it use before, even if you’ve done this match before and pretty much rips you into tiny little shreds.

I like a challenge, especially in battle, but it gets a bit ridiculous at some points and I feel sorry for Emma and Ray who had to put up with me on Wednesday night as I cursed at it for cheating yet again.

The game itself runs smoothly and gets more and more challenging as it goes on, but there is the cheating factor again and people online do not like losing if they use Ubers or Legendaries. It seems to be polite to share your friend pass with Trainers that you have a good battle with but those with Ubers that I’ve beaten don’t seem to like losing as they don’t do so.

Anyway, in summery, I quote Nintendo Official Magazine from a few years ago – “Nintendo maintain that their games never cheat, we however are not so sure.”

4. Creativity summery.

Wait, what happened to three?

Never mind, I have to get this finished.

Creativity is a wide subject that stretches right across the board, from painting and drawing, to writing and maths. It is not something that can be defined easily and as such it has been something I’ve researched heavily (or attempted to), and have formed opinions about over the course of the last few months. Most of the research has in fact been a major part of my Countdown to Battle blogs that have been going on since the end of November as I counted down until Pokemon Battle Revolution came out.

We were started on creativity by watching a ten minute lecture given by Sir Ken Robertson, discussing if creativity is educated out of people by the school system.

He said yes, and I agreed, having gone through the education system myself and wanting to give it a boot to the head… preferably an ice skating boot… with the blade guard off… anyway, once again I am getting off track.

This led me to think about me and my friends and the various ways that they are creative, I have my Fanfiction, another has their music, another is creative with numbers, none of us use creativity the same way as even when we’re using it for the same things the end product is very different… see Joey Taylor, Robin Moto and Ray Venn Hakubi.

Creativity, I decided, was also drowned in people who were stuck in a dead end, unfulfilling job, as they cannot think properly after an overly busy day and as they’re doing the same thing day in, day out, the creative juices had no spark to get them flowing.

Through my research, I discovered that schools and the education system, seems to view creativity as something that has to be focused into classes and homework and is useless if it’s not increasing the child in question’s grade. There are websites on creativity, on how to make creative things and there’s even a site that gives names and contact details of ‘Creativity Coaches.’

Yes, you read that right.

Creativity Coaches.

Coaches to make people creative.

I have no idea how that works, and in fact I’m not sure I want one considering I’ve always considered coaches to be quite scary people, with the shouting and the screaming and the… unless they mean an actual coach… Ra damn it not again.

Then I found it, the point to highlight just how bad the education system is for creative people. A website, for teachers on how to ‘deal’ with Creativity and creative students, describing creativity as a good thing if it relates to the lesson and a bad thing if it doesn’t and offering advice on how to restrict creativity to lessons only.

This is a very, very bad thing and underscores just how bad the education system has gotten.

Comparing education websites with other websites, like craft ones and such, creativity is considered both the work of the devil and glory from on high.

I suppose that in conclusion, creativity is a great thing, terrible, but great (sorry couldn’t resist, blame Olivander), in the education system being a creative person is something that you will have to fight to hold onto, as teachers will try to fight with you every step of the way to keep your creativity locked in their subject, which isn’t how it works at all and they need a… you know… while outside the system, creativity is a bonus as there are so many things that a creative person can do to keep their creativity going, dancing, singing, drawing, painting, writing, making schools explode, no wait I didn’t say that, joke I swear.

Welcome in universities, Girl Guide Groups and most of life, it’s unwelcome in the education system and dead end jobs.

And that, I think, is that.

A difficult choice of topic, a strange one to summarise, but an interesting one.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all, and to all… A BOOT TO THE HEAD!

*Runs away*

Joey

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Countdown to Battle - 1 Day to Go!

A slightly different Boot to the Head...


OK, I think that tonight I am going to be very boring and just write about what I have read on Wikipedia about creativity.


This would be because of a combination of ow my leg hurts and gah I can't think of anything to say and I want to save any interesting stuff I think of for tomorrow's blog.


So...


Creativity (or "creativeness") is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.

From a scientific point of view, the products of creative thought (sometimes referred to as divergent thought) are usually considered to have both originality and appropriateness. An alternative, more everyday conception of creativity is that it is simply the act of making something new. - Wikipedia


(I found a problem with writing about Wikipedia already...use English Ra damn you! Not everyone can understand technobable!)


I know, I know, I know!


I'll write about what it says about social attitudes to creativity!


Although the benefits of creativity to society as a whole have been noted,[52] social attitudes about this topic remain divided. The wealth of literature regarding the development of creativity[53] and the profusion of creativity techniques indicate wide acceptance, at least among academics, that creativity is desirable.

There is, however, a dark side to creativity, in that it represents a "quest for a radical autonomy apart from the constraints of social responsibility".[54] In other words, by encouraging creativity we are encouraging a departure from society's existing norms and values. Expectation of conformity runs contrary to the spirit of creativity. Nevertheless, employers are increasingly valuing creative skills. A report by the Business Council of Australia, for example, has called for a higher level of creativity in graduates.[55] The ability to "think outside the box" is highly sought after. However, the above-mentioned paradox may well imply that firms pay lipservice to thinking outside the box while maintaining traditional, hierarchical organization structures in which individual creativity is not rewarded.
- WIKIPEDIA


IN ENGLISH - Society says that creativity is a good thing to a creative persons face then laughs about it behind their backs. Firms are supposed to encourage creativity but don't so they don't have staff members thinking creativity about what they're supposed to be doing and wondering why the hell they're either stuck in a job like this or find a way of doing things that messes with the status quo.


Creativity is desirable in Universities most of the time but they're wrong in saying it's well come in all academics because most schools are only interested in grades....


I'm beginning to get the feeling that creativity is found in people who like causing trouble and being different because that seems to be how every site I've come across terms it as 'breaking the mold' and 'free from constraints of society'...


Well, I only have one more blog to put up before Battle Revolution comes out, and that will be on the conference I've got to go to tomorrow morning...


I'll see you all either tomorrow or next week,


Joey


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Countdown to Battle - 2 Days to Go

Wow, where are the days going?

Friday soon and then... :D

Ok, yes, it's another Pheonix Wright Movie, but this one links back to one I put on here as few weeks ago...

Ok, insanity over as I try not to bounce all over the place, let the work commence...

I thought I'd try a change of pace today and go over the creative toys on the Mulberry Bush website.

All of the toys listed on this page are good for promoting creativity in children as they are all craft and design related toys, for example the badge art or the bead boxes, even the remote control cars are build it yourself kits, which I think is really clever as it gets children to think as they're making things and gets them to do hands on things that stimulates the brain.

Hmmm, I wonder where and when they deliver...

No, no distractions...

Anyway, it has toys for both girls and boys and have stuff that appeals to both and it's almost all things that (in the girly things at least) I'd consider doing with the Rainbows if the parts are safe for them to handle, or think the girls could handle with their parents.

And that's a good thing, because it means getting the girls to think creatively while they're still 5-7 and expanding their view of the world.

(This is one of the reasons I love Rainbows, they're such fun to make things with, although I swear when we do anything chocolaty or sweet covered they end up with more in their mouths...)

Anyway, just a little one today...

And a battle vid, I personally feel that using that many ubers or legendary Pokemon on a team is a cheap tactic, but he or she was only playing the CPU so it doesn't matter...



Anyway, g'night and see you in the morning,

Joey

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Countdown to Battle - 3 Days to Go

Have a video to get us started today...

Right, now that's out of the way (Thank Emma's fiance for that vid), lets get down to business.

Creativity: Method or Magic is my next victim.

This site is basically an essay on Creativity.

Hense I won't go into too much detail because it's written in goobledegook (Essay technobable).
It tries to sum up creativity by saying, what isn't creative, whether it's a trait or a state and by trying to explain how it works.

For example it talks about problem solving and that creativity isn't achievable if 'anything goes' as the creative mind doesn't have to come up with that hard a solution.

Creativity is also said to be shown in improvisation and performance, as creativity has to occur for it to flow and for a performance to work well, you can't just copy a script if you're doing a play, or learn the words if you're singing, you have to be able to show emotions, think on your feet if something goes wrong...

Have you ever seen the last few days of a pantomime?

If you haven't you have missed some of the most creative stuff...

Because Bristol is often the last stop on a panto's tour, by the last few days the actors are tired and sometimes fed up, and you can see it when they mess up their script and then try to cover it by continuing as if nothing has happened, it's brilliant, especially if it's the last day because they will often come out with something completely unrelated and they have to creatively get back to the script.

*Shakes head* Distracted again but so I can see where how it could say performance is creative...

But if I'm brutally honest, I'm no good with essays so I made a mistake choosing this website and I'm now going to run away, far away!

Joey

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Countdown to Battle - 5 Days to Go

I will apologize now for skipping day 6, but I was in bed all day ill, so I have a reason.

National Curriculum in Action is my victim tonight.

It's a website for teachers on how to spot creativity and promote it in pupils.

According to them

"A good starting point for defining creativity is 'All our futures: Creativity, culture and education', the National Advisory Committee's report (DfEE, 1999). This report states that we are all, or can be, creative to a lesser or greater degree if we are given the opportunity. The definition of creativity in the report (page 29) is broken down into four characteristics:

First, they [the characteristics of creativity] always involve thinking or behaving imaginatively. Second, overall this imaginative activity is purposeful: that is, it is directed to achieving an objective. Third, these processes must generate something original. Fourth, the outcome must be of value in relation to the objective."

Is this all true?

The first is, as creativity cannot thrive without imagination, the second is mostly true, as sometimes creativity has no real purpose at the time, it can sometimes just be spontaneous, the third again is mostly true, as creativity has to have an inspiration somewhere and the fourth confuses me, because I thought that creativity didn't necessarily have a preordained objective, but then perhaps it's just me reading it wrong after my last day at work.

It seems to me, unless I am reading this website wrong, that they only want pupils to be creative if it relates to their work.

They don't seem to understand that creativity is good in all forms (unless it's creative bullying obviously) and to me, when they describe how to spot creativity, they seem to use a lot of the words my old school would use for describing trouble pupils they couldn't understand or often asked not to put their hand up.

But then should I really be surprised, as this is a 'National Curriculum' website and the National Curriculum is only really interested in getting you through your exams.

(I would like to point out at this point that most of the Teachers Guide for dealing with Creative Students, sorry promoting creativity, seems to restrict their actual creativity by dragging t kicking and screaming into an evaluated atmosphere again and again.)

I suppose I'm not giving this website a fair chance, considering I've been in work for nine hours and am always a little short tempered afterwards but...

I think back to the lecture on does Education restrict creativity and I think it does, more so after reading this website.

Then again, I might just be biased against the Education System up to this point so...

Anyway, sorry for missing 6 Days to Go and there will be a new one tomorrow,

Joey

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