Homework 5

For the first batch of questions, I'll give short answers to each of them.
1) I decide if something is worth "stealing" if I know I can make it different enough to call my own, and good enough to justify that feeling.
2) Seeing as how postmodernism tends to reject the notion of old rules of art from previous generations, the first two chapters seemed to buck the notion that art must be fully original. Kleon is saying the opposite; the since that's impossible, embrace taking from others.
3) "No idea's original" is actually freeing to think about it, especially since I have always worried far too much about being original in that regard. It's good to understand and accept the natural limitations that come with that mindset, and instead to feel compelled to study those I admire.
4) As Kleon stated in the text, hoarders collect a variety of junk because they feel they have to, while artists collect only those things that interest them.
5) Duchamp meant that it is easier to study and model after one person who you admire and find intriguing rather than try to take on that person's form of art as a whole all at once. It will be far too overwhelming to be successful at.
6) Smith and Mapplethorpe were friends who decided to move to New York, and became artists by simply pretending to be artists. "Fake it 'till you make it" certainly worked for them because their efforts to succeed by merely acting as if they already had garnered them successful results.
7) Practice is to observe something, learn from it, and re-apply it in your own voice. Plagiarism is blatantly stealing someone else's work and claiming it to be your own.
8) Much like #7, imitation is directly copying something/someone you saw, while emulating is taking what you have seen and putting your own unique spin on it. ("Remixing" is another way to describe it as Kleon referenced many times throughout the first two chapters.

One of my favorite creative heroes is Conan O'Brien, and the biggest reason I have enjoyed his work so much over the years is because he manages to do very dumb, absurd comedy brilliantly and without a trace of intellectual superiority. One of my favorite examples of this is when doing audio commentary for a documentary about him, and they see a shot of his sidekick Andy Richter wearing a white cowboy hat, O'Brien quips that Richter looks like the guy who failed to protect Lee Harvey Oswald from getting shot by Jack Ruby. It's such a silly joke, but it takes a creative genius to be able to think of that on the spot, and to do so while laughing with someone rather than use it to displaying their mental prowess. O'Brien has talked about many of his comedy idols growing up including Johnny Carson, David Letterman and Groucho Marx. Marx's sensibilities rub off on O'Brien because he often acts very vaudevillian or physical in his routine, and interestingly enough, Kleon specifically referenced O'Brien's relations to Carson and Letterman in the book.

Being a COMM major at GMU lends itself to being lost in the field, as I'm willing to guess that a solid 90% of the student body is doing the same thing (Kidding...I think.) But the key for me has been trying to find my own voice out of that group, and try to take my angle on it (Broadcasting, preferably sports broadcasting) and carve my own niche out of it. I also have to learn to not be afraid to fail as Kleon mentions in the book, because if I don't, then I'll get nowhere in life.