Recently, I feel, I haven't had the will to create. I really haven't felt creative in a while. Yeah, sometimes I shoot things and sometimes I can get really creative with cameras and lighting, but it hasn't had that fulfilling creative effect. I haven't really been inspired by anything in a while and haven't had anything to put into an art form to show the world a view of itself.
Currently I am taking classes at Emerson for Summer Session I. I was pretty pissed about taking them, but they are necessary so I can stay out in LA after Fall 2013 and start the rest of my life. The class that has taken me sort of by surprise is my Contemporary US Theatre class. I haven't really studied Theatre since High School, but I have always enjoyed it. Of course they started with my favorite movement as the first assignments.
I had to read the classic Absurdist play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" by Edward Albee for class. I was reading the play on my iPad and I was being sucked into the text. I haven't felt like that in ages. And I realized, I love the absurd.
Absurdity has been a part of my life (and our lives) since we were children. I grew up on absurd cartoons like Rocko's Modern Life, Angry Beavers, Johnny Bravo, Spongebob, and Looney Toons. I've been watching shows like Aqua Teen Hunger Force and South Park all my life. I recently have been watching more and more absurd comedies like Arrested Development, 12 oz. Mouse, Wrong, and Pain and Gain.
I'm realizing that most of the media and entertainment I love has been absurd. From Vonnegut to Hedberg, and Dupieux to Python, I have had absurdity in my life since as long as I can remember. And it's time I played what I've been dealt.
I've finally been inspired to create. I've had ideas kicking around my head but had no way to get around them. I've had one film idea that is a short that would be part of an anthology with over arching themes that I have had no inspiration to write. But now that I have this class and now that I am realizing how much I love comedy and especially absurdism, I think it is time to finally explore this thing I know best rather than trying to think of gritty dramas or things of the such (they become so cliche). Absurdism is an outlet for me to express myself (and my distaste with the reality around me). I like to think my comedy (and our comedy) has been more on the nonsensical side and it's really been an inspiration.
Today in class as we talked "Zoo Story" and "Virginia Woolf", I could only think of ideas to write about. And that is what my challenge to myself is for the rest of the summer. I now have two ideas that I can research and begin writing; one is a short and one could be a feature. I really need to do research and I am not ready to formulate the ideas on this blog, but as soon as I begin working on these ideas, you will all be the first I call for advice and help.
All I gotta say is that I haven't felt this good creatively in a hell of a long time. I feel like I finally have a grasp on the world around me, or lack there of.
It's time to stop asking "why?" and answering with "why not?"
awesome. this made me think of 3 things...
ReplyDelete1.) i was just hanging with ella and jesse yesterday and we were talking about that production company that you had brought up at tango's party a couple weeks ago, and how it would be fucking awesome, but we need organization and scripts. so if you started banging out absurd scripts thatd be fuckin sweet.
2.) a while back you sent me a link to that Fucking Homepage site, and one of the links on that site was for www.alive.do, which is a site where you can make goals, then create steps for those goals. Then every time you take that step you get points, and you can level up and shit. For me it kinda serves to A: motivate and B: keep me on track of what I want to be doing, especially when I have spare time, so maybe this could help keep you writing, if you needed help, which is doesnt sound like you do, but it's easy to lose motivation.
3.) not to connect everything back to my shrooms, but everything is kinda connecting itself back on its own. like in the hours of philosophizing that we were doing, we'd constantly be questioning things, and the counter-question "why not?" came up like a billion times. so i just thought it was funny you ended that way. because seriously, why not.
Boom goes the dynamite.
ReplyDeleteShaking with caffeinated excitement.
Gonna sign up for that site. Tried one before that was a cool concept but went towards nothing. The steps aspect could really help.