Comedians@Google Eddie Izzard: Sometimes you have to kill your creative babies

Eddie Izzard stops by Google for a conversation about his life, his influences, and comedy. The interview was conducted by Mark Day.

I'm a big fan of Eddie Izzard and his erudite style of surreal comedy. In this conversation, conducted by Mark Day, he talks about his life, his influences, and comedy. His comedy DVDs are highly recommended as a source of creative inspiration as they are full of hilariously out there juxtapositions. (In an early-in-his-career performance he did a routine on technology and the ridiculous challenges of getting a printer to work correctly that basically rendered me into a convulsing mess of laughter the first time I saw it).

Some of his insights from the talk, slightly paraphrased: 
• Spend time on what you are making, don't see it as the obstacle between you and success. 
• If you try too hard at being good, then often the final result is lesser than if you let go and just do the work, especially in creativity. 
• You've got to create and then move on. 
• Create things to be constantly moving, designed to be fluid, so it's constantly alive.
• Avoid creating something fully concrete.
• Whatever you are doing, it's not rocket science, it's not that hard, it's just a lot of work.
• Shame and guilt together are humiliation.
• The first goal is to make them laugh, the second goal is to inform using street language and not preaching.
• Make yourself the first person in the audience.
• The whole world is about the classroom. 

The anticipation of giving: Rare video of Frank Oz eulogizing Jim Henson

Watching this, I've never laughed and cried so hard in my life. This video is not yet on Youtube (That I can find). So I'm uploading it in hopes that sharing this, more people can see just how special Jim and Frank's relationship was. The New York memorial was held at the Cathedral of St.

(via Stuart Witts & Chris Brogan)

Sweet, moving and funny. A celebration of the life and ( full of specificity) work of Jim Henson.

PBS Arts: Off Book - Episode 4: Steampunk

Subscribe to the new Off Book channel at http://www.youtube.com/pbsoffbook Steampunk art evokes an alternate reality where steam is the primary source of power. Technology, though highly advanced, has taken on a very different look and feel, and fashion is heavily influenced by Victorian styles. In this episode, we explore the Steampunk aesthetic and art movement.

PBS Arts: Off Book is a web-based series that explores cutting edge art and the people that make it. The 13 episode series focuses on the process, motivation and meaning of a new generation of artists.

Episode 4: Steampunk
Steampunk art evokes an alternate reality where steam is the primary source of power. Technology, though highly advanced, has taken on a very different look and feel, and fashion is heavily influenced by Victorian styles. In this episode, we explore the Steampunk aesthetic and art movement. We speak with a Steampunk artist, a composer who created an entire piece of music inspired by Steampunk, and a performing arts collective whose work falls naturally into this intriguing world.

Featuring:

Joey Marsocci aka Dr Grymm
Third Rail Projects
David Bruce, Composer
Ensemble ACJW

Previous installments: 
Episode 1: Light Painting
Episode 2: Typography
Episode 3: Visual Culture Online 

Paola Antonelli on Design as the Interface Between Progress and Humanity

Paola Antonelli — Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at the MoMA, longtime proponent of humanized technology, self-described “curious octopus” — has arguably done more for the mainstream infiltration of design literacy than any other individual in contemporary culture. In her recent opening keynote at the unequivocally titled media and ideas conference The Conference in Malmö, Sweden, Antonelli pulls the curtain on her curatorial process and, with her signature on-stage charisma, takes a revealing look at how her shows go about the incredible balancing act of being both beacons of the bleeding edge of design and an approachable education platform for instilling in the general public a basic understanding of the fundamental importance of design — something she describes as “push[ing] design down from the realm of art and up from the realm of decoration and prettification into real life.”

via openculture.com

PBS Arts: Off Book - Episode 3: Visual Culture Online

Subscribe to the new Off Book channel at http://www.youtube.com/pbsoffbook For decades now, people have joined together online to communicate and collaborate around interesting imagery. In recent years, the pace and intensity of this activity has reached a fever pitch.

PBS Arts: Off Book is a web-based series that explores cutting edge art and the people that make it. The 13 episode series focuses on the process, motivation and meaning of a new generation of artists.

Episode 3: Visual Culture Online
For decades now, people have joined together online to communicate and collaborate around interesting imagery. In recent years, the pace and intensity of this activity has reached a fever pitch. With countless communities engaging in a constant exchange, building on each others' work, and producing a prodigious flow of material, we may be experiencing the early stages of a new type of artistic and cultural collaboration. In this episode of Off Book, we'll speak with a number of Internet experts and artists who'll give us an introductory look into this intriguing new world.

Featuring:

Chris Menning, Viral Trends Researcher, Buzzfeed
MemeFactory, Internet Researchers
Olivia Gulin, Visual Reporter, Know Your Meme
Ryder Ripps, Artist and Co-Creator, Dump.fm
John Kelly, PH.D., Founder and Chief Scientist, Morningside Analytics 

Previous installments:
Episode 1: Light Painting
Episode 2: Typography