Today’s TED blog is all about memory. This is one of the things I really need to work on, I have horrible short-term memory, which is not a good thing in improv. I especially find it hard to remember all of the things I need to as I am performing in a harold. I thought this video would help me out in that department. While it did give a few good tips, the overall take away was “to remember to remember.” We don’t remember things because we don’t pay attention, the best way to improve memory is to live in the moment and take our world in through a meaningful way. If we practice that piece of advice, our memories will improve! Sounds like great improv and life advice to me!
Category: TED Favorites
Today’s TED flows right up with building our creative confidence! David Kelly talks about building our creative efficacy and going out into the world and doing what is most important to us. Through his program people build confidence and the feeling of being more successful overall in life, it just takes getting past that barrier! Sounds like taking an improv class to me! If you continue on or just go for the opening experience, I think improv falls right in line with this speech!
Today’s TED shows the story of creating the 9/11 Memorial Museum at ground zero in New York City. It’s an interesting story with some short videos from a future documentary on the topic. Very interesting story on how museums are created and the stories they tell. Also helps put 9/11 into perspective.
This week’s TED is directly improv related. Charlie Todd the founder of Improv Everywhere in New York City discusses his organizations goal of bringing fun, play, and positive shared experiences to public places. I really love this quote by Todd describing the reason for his missions, “There is no point and there doesn’t have to be a point. We don’t need a reason. As long as it’s fun.” I improv, because it allows me to play as an adult, and Todd backs me up on that idea in his talk. So find a way to play today!
Like this:
“My girlfriend drives a Honda doing work out tapes by Fonda.” There are some inspiring lyrics to start off this week’s TED video. Anyway, Jane Fonda discusses how we are living on average 34 years longer then our great grandparents. She discusses how this is changing our psychology and how we need to rethink our life cycles. In the third act of the talk, Fonda goes on to discuss positivity and how we need to use that to retrain our brains to create a more productive life. Sounds like improv to me!
Ok so I have really gotten into this TED-ed talks. This one is again a bit animated, as Adam Savage tells three stories about how major scientific discoveries came from simple ideas. It show how even a small interaction from years ago in someone’s childhood can really affect their thought process in the future. I think this really brings to life a story of how the creative process works!
Check out this TED Talk which is a bit different from the ones I normal post. Chris Anderson is a curator for TED, and this is an animated video he shared on the TED-ed channel. The video talks about questions we have no answers to, one being how many universes are there the second being why can’t we see signs of intelligent alien life. I love going to the edge of our knowledge, in any activity we do, this is where we learn the most. But something else I find fascinating is the edge of our collective human knowledge. Sometimes I think all of the questions are answered, but this just reminds me that the more we learn the less we actually know!
Enjoy this TED talk by Billy Collins former Poet Laureate of the United States. Collins shares six poems throughout the talk, and before you turn on your anti-poetry deflector shields, which according to Collins you developed in high school. This talk shows off some work where Collins’ poems were put to animation. It’s pretty cool to watch the animation and how it brings the poetry to life in a new way. Also Collins portrays a funny deadpan delivery though out the talk which is a lot of fun!
This week’s TED talk is pretty intense. I think it is very impressive to listen to people who speak with such conviction and dedication to a single cause. You can tell the Diana Nyad has a very direct and concrete view of herself and what she wants to accomplish. Nyad attempted to swim between Cuba and Florida, a feat no one else has ever accomplished. Listening to her story really pushes me to look further in my life. The end is especially powerful when she asks, “what will YOU do with your wild, precious life?”
This is a really powerful TED talk. We all know I am a bit of a Pixar freak, and it’s really awesome to hear one of their head honchos talk about his creative process. There is so much to love about the talk, around the 9 minute mark Stanton basically quotes strength theory. It’s also great to hear Stanton break down storytelling into such simple terms! Watch and enjoy!
