Category Archives: Creativity

Creativity, Self Help and Stuart Smalley

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In his book “Brainstorming: Unleashing Your Creative Self,” Don Hahn says that a lot of creativity books come off sounding like a Stuart Smalley self-help quote: “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!” Maybe that should be expected. Creativity is the highest expression of a person’s humanity.

Creativity is at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for self-actualization. Those, who believe in God, also believe that humans are formed in His image to go forth and do math or procreate, which is an act of core creation.

People are at their best when they’re being creative. They flow, they sparkle, they embrace their inner child, they play, and they laugh and find the humor. They love, they forgive, and they ultimately revel in the happiness that creativity reveals in the sore of their own being.

So, while Jen Sincero’s “You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life” is about becoming your best self, it’s also about becoming more creative. Because your best self is one that is actively participating in making something new. Go out and sing your song, paint a picture, experiment, and write up a storm. You’ll be better for it and so will the rest of the world. Penguinate!

Want to up your creative game? Get a copy of “Disneyland Is Creativity” and “Penguinate! Essays and Short Stories“

Have You Ever Seen a Sad Person with a Stuffed Penguin?

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Our penguins make us happy. Every time I walk into the living room and see it full with my wife’s new creations, my smile gets brighter, and I’m filled with a sense of love. While we can’t promise that you’ll be happy for the rest of your life because of one of our penguins, but we can say that your penguin friend will be ready to listen to you and help you face the most difficult situations.

Our penguins can provide you comfort and a non-judgmental ear to hear your concerns and worries. They can also provide you with a playmate for those days when you just want to enjoy life. All you need is to connect with your inner child, bring your imagination and open yourself to the experiences you treasured as a young person. Let our penguins revive your childlike qualities that help make like more joyful, creative and fun.

Order a handmade penguin today to improve your mood. If you have a specific clothing style in mind, we’ll do our best to accommodate your request.

Our penguins are made from faux fur and felt. They’re filled with holofiber. If you’re still not sure, read these 25 reasons you need a stuffed penguin.

Waving stuffed penguins
Waving penguins

The Mummy of Nuclear Waste

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In “the Mummy” (2017), Tom Cruise is a rogue army officer looking for ancient artifacts to sell on the black market. He gets caught in a tough spot, calls in an air strike, and blows a hole in the street of an insurgent occupied town that reveals a screaming face. His commanding officer gets there along with a woman who specializes in protecting antiquities. They discover a giant screaming bust, which she recognizes as Egyptian. Cruise, his partner and the woman go into the hole.

There the woman narrates what she sees: A rope with hieroglyphs to warn against evil spirit submerged in a pool of mercury being used to weaken its power, watchers faced inward (rather than outward) guarding against the pool, a set of chains (not for bringing the object up but instead, for keeping it down). We find out later that she knows monsters exist, and this is one of the most ancient. Even with all of these warnings and the knowledge of why the cavern looks the way it does, Cruise shoots the rope, activates the lifting mechanism and reveals the sarcophagus, which is taken aboard a military aircraft as a sandstorm threatens to engulf the plane.

Many of the other Mummy movies that came before involve a team seeking treasure in the desert and continuing to proceed despite warnings of natives, tribes put in place to guard against the release of the evil, and bad things happening to the team before they even enter the chamber.

There is a popular myth about the curse of Tutankhamun. Many people believe there was a curse written on his tomb and Howard Carter went in anyway. Even though there has been no curse inscribed on the tomb, it’s representative of what people will do for knowledge, history, fortune and glory. The truths exposed in these films and this legend include people are curious and people are greedy. And these are the reasons why burying nuclear waste won’t work.

Nuclear waste is deadly for 250,000 years. That’s longer than any languages will survive. Burying it with statues and pictograms detailing its deadliness may be treated as superstition from a less developed society. Or it may not be readable to explorers who have no context for the depictions. Worse, it may entice the future explorers to learn more about the inhabitants who lived amongst the strange drawings. At that point, the horror and joke will be on them. Assuming the mummy of nuclear waste isn’t unwrapped by natural disasters or our own people with malevolent intent.

‘Io’s’ Infuriating Ending Defies Character and Logic

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Netflix’ “Io” is a minimalistic, quasi-science fiction movie about the end of the world. The CGI and backgrounds are questionable, and the two main characters have a hard time holding viewers’ attention, which is too bad because I like Anthony Mackie. However, what drives me to write this review is the anger I felt at the main character Sam, played by Margaret Qualley, at the end of the film. (Spoilers ahead.)

The Earth is contaminated by ammonia vapors and the entire population has fled to Io, Jupiter’s moon, to find a new planet and build a new life. The entire movie takes place on Earth, so the movie name is a bit of a misnomer, but not so much that it creates cognitive dissonance. Sam, the daughter of a scientist who has claimed that people can adapt to the new atmosphere and urged people not to leave the planet, is the only one left alive as far as she knows. She self-administers some sort of inoculation against the toxic atmosphere.

Her human connection is a man who is already at the Io station. She meets Mackie’s Micah when he lands at her place in a helium balloon. Micah is looking for Sam’s father and headed for the last shuttle off the planet.

In no particular order, she dumps the man on Io, there’s a flashback of her father telling her that the human connection is more important than science, and Micah reinforces that idea when he says people aren’t meant to be alone. Sam acknowledges all of this and agrees to go with Micah to the shuttle. Before that happens though, she seduces Micah overcoming his objections with “we have to.”

And here’s where I get angry. Sam goes to a museum and then tells Micah, she’s not going with him. She sees life on Earth where everyone else sees death. She rips off her mask and survives the toxic atmosphere. Micah leaves the planet. She gives birth to a child, and they go visit the sea. What? Seriously? She’s a scientist working in biology. She should know that women don’t necessarily get pregnant after one session of intercourse. But it can happen, so let’s go ahead and give that to the movie.

Here’s where the movie doesn’t make any sense. When Micah tells Sam that she’s coming with him, she has already gone through the process of convincing herself that’s the only logical plan. She’s lost the bees. She needed help with the windmill. Most importantly, she knows she needs the human connection. She’s accepted that. She says, “Okay,” and that should be that. There is no indication that she has changed her mind about human connection in the rest of the film or that she understands she is pregnant.

There is no sense to her decision, and if she knows she’s pregnant, she makes the most selfish decision available. First, the treatments didn’t work for her father, and administering them to a child would be different. She doesn’t have the expertise or data necessary to insure the survival of the child.

Second, that child is going to grow up, she’s going to die, and the child is going to be alone with no chance for human connection. She is basically sentencing her child to solitary confinement for much of its life – at best, and she’s doing it for no other reason than because she still believes the human species can adapt. Except, the child will not be able to reproduce. He or she (according to the credits, the child is a boy) will be the last person on Earth with no chance to find the human connection beyond the mother-child one. Which brings us to the last point, she cannot on her own establish a new species or a human adaptation to the ammonia with just her child, which begs the question of incest and menopause, if they both survive to his sexual maturity.

I was willing to deal with the long, slow parts of the movie, but to have it conclude so illogically and against the character of the only real characters in the film, was more than disappointing. It was disturbing and enraging.

The Consequences of ‘Stranger Things 2’

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Why let reality get in the way of your enjoyment of good entertainment? If you don’t want to read anything about what ‘Stranger Things 3’ should be like, move on to another article. Otherwise, here are some things that probably resulted from ‘Stranger Things 2’ that will need to be explored in the threequel.

Economics – Hawkins has to be a dried-up ghost town or the ruins of a small town when the lab closes up. The small shops and restaurants could survive while the shutdown was in progress because of the influx of military and moving people. After that though, there’s no way to replace all of the revenue lost from government workers who rented or bought homes, went grocery shopping or stopped at the local diner. An economist will trace the downfall of the economy to the failure of several crops in the area, most notably the pumpkins in every pumpkin patch. But the closure of the lab will be the true economic downfall. Some people might point out that all those dead government workers would’ve had the same effect. However, had the U.S. government kept the lab open, it would have brought in more workers. The poverty rate is going to climb unless…

This is the middle of Reagan’s presidency. Maybe he deregulates and sells off the property, which is bought by a weapons manufacturer. Employees flood into the area again, but is this a good business and will they find 11?

Ninja Kids – Steve’s been beat up twice now. He really needs to learn how to fight. He is supposed to be the number one jock in the school when we first meet him. He shows his athleticism swinging a bat. He’s got the physical talents, he just needs to develop them. The “Karate Kid” was released in the summer of 1984 before the events of “Stranger Things 2.”

Steve’s not the only one that needs to develop fighting skills. The nerds need to develop their real-life fighting skills. After the first incident, everyone leaves thinking, “Well, that’s over. Thank God,” and they go back to their relatively normal lives as was evidenced in one of the first scenes with Nancy and Mike. Mike steals Nancy’s quarters and doesn’t tell her why. They promised no more secrets after the first season; they were back to fighting and leaving each other in the dark in the second. It’s human nature to ignore one bad thing. However, when after a second incident occurs, it’s time to find someone who can teach you how to fight. The best fighters know when they’re overmatched; the best teams learn to fight as a team. They also play to each other’s strengths. “The A-Team” came on the air in 1983; “The Stranger Things” kids have a group to pattern themselves after. They can’t just go back to playing D&D; it’s just a game.

Science Kids and Preppers – Maybe the nerds can’t become the best fighters. They can learn to shoot more effective weapons than the wrist rocket. Bows and arrows would be in their wheelhouse as something they could get excited about because they play D&D. Nancy already knows how to shoot a gun; she could teach the rest of them.

If those aren’t their thing, they could work on their science skills. Knowing which chemicals create toxic reactions and which could be explosive would be useful. Survival skills like setting traps would also be good to know. Again, they have role models in “the A-Team.” And they’re already pretty good with Morse code. (Does anyone know that anymore?)

Relationships – Let’s leave out the whole relationship thing. They’re kids. It wouldn’t last longer than 6 months for any of them. Maybe the teens have a shot. The way these relationships work or don’t work is going to come down to the writing and who the show appeals, too. Eleven and Mike are 12 when they meet. They’re 13 when they go to the Snow Ball. We don’t live in the age of Romeo and Juliet, so their romance really isn’t okay. The same holds true for any of the pre-teens. Dating might be a part of growing up, but it doesn’t have to define the show. Yet, with the interracial dating of Max and Lucas and the clear hatred of her brother for Lucas’ “kind” of people, it could wind up playing a big and important part.

Emotional Connection – Is anger the strongest emotion? That’s how El moves a train car. It’s how she closes the gate, but it feels empty and hollow. If anger is really the strongest emotion, then Billy should be the star of the show. There are a lot of angry characters. Max and Hopper both admit to their anger issues. Still, if this is the message of the series, then maybe we all just need to be a little angrier to attain our true power. I don’t happen to believe that, but I’m not sure what other message is currently being sent by “Stranger Things 2.” There’s a work together theme. There’s a take action theme. There’s a friendship theme… It just seems that anger has won out in the finale of the show, even with the love of the Snow Ball playing a small role in the denouement and teaser.

All of these thoughts were ones that occurred immediately after watching the last episode of “Stranger Things 2.” I enjoyed the series while watching it, but there are far too many questions if you try to throw a little reality at it. Yes, I know it’s sci-fi. However, it uses the real world as its basis for reality. No one will believe in the monsters. Atari’s the big gift. He-Man loves Barbie. Science fiction and fantasy set up there rules and have to play by them; otherwise Superhero Bob could come back to life with superpowers from the radioactive bite of a Demodog or really anything else could happen and the viewer (or reader) would have no way of being able to suspend disbelief. I guess the other question is whether or not they will explore 8’s character more. That whole sequence really seemed like a toss off, but it did develop El’s character, gave her a choice, and allowed her to come back to the real story.

Feel free to leave your comments about “Stranger Things 2.” Try to keep them nice. Check out my other blog posts on penguinate.com. If you want to meet a member of the Stranger Things cast, get your tickets for Lilac City Comicon 2019. The science teacher/AV advisor Mr. Clarke, Randy Havens is scheduled to be in Spokane. You can read more about Lilac City Comicon here.

‘Avengers: Endgame’ faces impossible challenge after ‘Avengers: Infinity War’

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The problem with “Avengers: Infinity War” is the way it ended and what we knew about the next Marvel movies. Basically, Thanos’ snap eliminated the newest half of the Marvel Universe, including most of Ant-Man’s allies, leaving the old heroes to find a way to avenge the snap, which would fit in perfectly with what Tony Stark told Loki in the first Avengers film and serve as a way to tie the franchise together.

However, the upcoming movie slate after Infinity War includes “Spider-Man: Far from Home” (eliminating the emotional impact of his demise in Infinity War), “Black Panther” (which could possibly give rise to a female Black Panther because T’challa was dusted), “Guardians of the Galaxy 3” (though James Gunn departure after a controversy left this in doubt, Kevin Feige says it’s still on; it could team Rocket with the Reavers and/or Nebula) and “Doctor Strange 2” (which at this point I don’t have an observations on, except its Benedict Cumberbatch, and Mysterio looks like he uses magic).

With all of these movies, and the stars whose contracts are expiring – Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) – as well as the apparent good byes and statements that some won’t be returning to the roles, there is no way for the Marvel Universe to continue without a complete reversal of an entire movie. This seems like it has all kinds of potential to go lame though that type of action has happened before – most notably in the last episode of “Twin Peaks” season 3.

One twist for Endgame could turn the Marvel Universe on its head. What if all the characters that died were the ones to survive, and the audience saw the dusting from the characters’ who actually died point of view? This would mean Rocket died, which would make sense because it has already been stated that he doesn’t have a long lifespan as a raccoon. It would also mean that Bruce Banner is dead, but the hulk isn’t necessarily dead. This type of reveal would make it easier to accept the Nick Fury/Spider-Man alliance. It could be interesting to see how the old characters deal with the reality of their demise while the mirror splits back to the new characters who did actually survive.

At this point though, “Avengers: Endgame,” which releases on April 26, 2019, lacks the stakes that Infinity War had during its run. The new characters are going to come back, and no one will be surprised when the old characters die. Marvel has more creative people than me working for it, and just because the general outcome of the movie is known doesn’t mean it won’t be good. But because we already know so much about it beyond the movie itself, it may not be engaging, especially if Peter Parker comes back and is threatened with death again. He’s already got a movie coming out, and it has a trailer. (Check out other movie related posts.)

‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’; just not as far as you might think

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In spite of its implications for “Avengers: Endgame,” Sony has released a “Spider-Man: Far from Home” trailer, which clearly shows that Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker, is alive and well and on Earth, and so is Nick Fury. The “Far from Home” title doesn’t indicate Spider-Man is still in space. Instead, he’s in Europe. Seriously, Europe? That’s far from home after traveling to the planet Titan? Oh, I have so many questions.

The first question is: How does this school have so much money? When I was in school, we had to have permission slips, our parents had to pay, and we barely got to go on a field trip to the park across the strip in elementary school. Flash forward to high school, and I had zero field trips. Nowadays, it seems like it would be even more difficult. With schools cutting budgets for the arts and fun while focusing on the core of reading and arithmetic, how does Spider-Man’s school have enough money to take the kids to Washington, D.C. much less Europe? The cost of insurance alone would be staggering. What school district does Parker go to?

Peter Parker is supposed to be poor, right? Even if his aunt can afford to put him in an upscale school, can she afford all these trips and their associated costs? Is Stark footing the bill? Was the fundraiser at the beginning really for Spider-Man?

How do his classmates not figure out he’s Spider-Man? Kids aren’t that dumb. Spider-Man shows up in Europe at the same time as the class? He was also in D.C. and saved MJ and disappeared from a bus while there was a super fight going on outside. Maybe it’s a case of Clark Kent’s glasses.

“Peter Parker here to pick up a passport, please” tongue twister? How many times did Tom Holland have to say that before he got it right?

Are we going to get a Doctor Strange/Spider-Man crossover? Mysterio seems to be using the same kind of magic as Strange does, and we all know Doctor Strange is coming back from Thanos’ snap, just like Spider-Man and Nick Fury.

Spider-Man is facing off against the elements. All of the monsters have the same form but are made from one of the four elements – fire, earth and water. Only wind is left out. I’m not sure how to phrase that as a question, just more of an observation.

If you have answers or more questions, leave them in the comments below. Check out more of my movie-related commentary. Watch for my “Avengers: Endgame” commentary coming soon!

Curiosity, being childlike and Questlove’s experience getting older

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Being childlike is important to creativity. Children are curious; they ask questions about everyone and everything. They don’t care who is better. They don’t care about their egos. They don’t care if someone is stepping on their own creativity. They play with abandon and talk to famous people with the same irreverence as the talk to their parents and friends.

“When I was ten, I was curious with reckless abandon. There wasn’t any fear about consuming things: if they interested me, I took them in. I ranged far and wide because I wanted to see what was out there,” says Questlove. “Now that I’m older, I’m more cautious. I’ve whittled my influences down to my pantheon of drummers and singers and guitarists, and it’s hard for new people to crack the shell.”

In “Creative Quest,” Questlove calls this a “hardening.” He says that there are some artists about whom he “feels a certain way,” which he explains is “nuanced form of snark.” It allows him to slow roll “whatever envy you admit by not admitting.”

This not-quite jealousy keeps Questlove from listen to a few artists “at all.” It may be that he doesn’t want to be influenced by or learn more about the artist or he feels a certain way, and “it gets worse with age.” Questlove recognizes this as a problem, this “brittleness,” and he says that as a person ages, he or she is going to have to deal with it.

There are a million reasons why its hard to be curious as you get older. Even with the Internet, it’s harder to satisfy that curiosity. Who has time to find out and understand why solar panels work? Who wants to learn new information that could challenge old, long held beliefs? Who wants to find someone younger doing something better in the same field wherein they both work?

It’s easier to keep on living with the information that one has accrued and not to challenge that status quo in one’s own life, even when one specifically self-describes as a creative. It’s much harder for people who think they’re only a little creative or they’re not creative. However, adopting a childlike acceptance of your own limitations and taking wonder in what other people are doing in your field (like children at play) will help you become more creative and have better ideas. It’s in the challenge and the questioning of the status quo that creativity thrives. Find the space that allows you to play, to be curious and to create.

For more on creativity and Questlove, check out: “‘The Pirate Union’ and collaboration” and the links at our Creativity page.

If you liked this essay, you can get more in ‘Penguinate! Essays and Short Stories.’ To improve your creativity, get ‘Disneyland Is Creativity.’

‘The Pirate Union,’ collaboration, and Questlove’s ‘Creative Quest’

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When Edward Allen and I wrote “The Pirate Union,” we were in college. We passed the manuscript back and forth at least once a week with a reading for our friends on the weekend. Fast forward to years later, and Questlove describes the collaboration process for creativity (and “The Pirate Union”) perfectly.

“This was a collaboration,” writes Questlove in “Creative Quest” (p. 102) about working with Tariq, “We negotiated briefly, but most of the energy in the process was spent participating. He waited eagerly for my beat so that he could get going with his lyrics. I excitedly assembled my beat because I couldn’t wait to hear it with his lyrics.”

Ed and I weren’t writing music. We were writing a story, but the feel was the same. We only had one rule: We couldn’t kill the other person’s characters. This kept us from having to start over and having a book full of dead characters (though with the success of “Game of Thrones” maybe we should have killed each other’s characters).

What we did instead was try to find situations that would stump the other author. Sometimes, one of us would write just one sentence. Other times the situation would be much direr. “He leveled the gun at Chantel and pulled the trigger, firing three shots. ‘Three in the head, you know they’re dead.’ Chantel jolted back, dropping Charlie, her head cracked hard against the floor. Mr. Bigbottom smiled down at them and grotesquely blew on the end of his pistol like a cliché cowboy.”

Chantel wasn’t my character, so I couldn’t technically kill her. Ed’s jaw dropped; how could he write her out of this situation? I thought for sure, I had him. And then he smiled, he came up with a solution in seconds and took the manuscript from me. “I know exactly what I’m going to do,” he said. I was afraid and excited. How would he get her out of that situation? Chantel grew into one of my favorite characters.

“Collaborations work best this way, when there’s a mutual desire to see what the other adds,” writes QuestLove.

Like Tariq and Questlove in school, Ed and I had an audience who was also waiting for the next installment, and “The Pirate Union” is better for it.

“Daddy’s Home 2”: Laughs and Heart

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“Daddy’s Home 2” is a sequel that’s better than the original and proves that, in this case, more is better. The premise of old-school, toxic masculinity meeting new-world, kinder, gentler men uses a time-tested winning formula composed of slapstick, the absurd, and a heart-felt change in the characters that makes sense. While the writing sets the film up for success, it’s the casting and the acting that keep the film together.

Brad (Will Ferrell) and Don (John Lithgow) play to type as the uptight, over-emotional dad and granddad. Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) is the tough guy trying to change and adapt to a new reality while his father, Kurt, played by Mel Gibson, is stuck in the 1980s, womanizing and espousing the old values of masculinity that still work for him, but are, at the very least, questionable in the era of #metoo. The confrontation between the two styles of living comes into conflict as Dusty tries to conform to a life his father seemingly disapproves of.

“Daddy’s Home 2” plays to the strengths of its stars. The changes in character are believable, and even in the most absurd cases, the movie is never so far out there as to invoke disbelief, which is odd as a comedy. These qualities make “Daddy’s Home 2” a high-quality movie that isn’t just about getting belly laughs, which it does throughout the film, but it also explores the relationships between family members, especially fathers and their sons. For some, this film may seem like a guilty pleasure, but look closer and you have a film that really finds its meaning in the season. For more about the movies check out my other blog posts.