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Posts Tagged ‘creativity’

Are you a fan of puzzles, or mysteries, secrets or treasure? Then perhaps you will be interested to hear about the latest in a tradition of hidden treasure games like The Secret:

A $1 million treasure hunt is underway in Canadian wilderness | Popular Science

An actual treasure chest filled with around $1 million in gold coins is hidden somewhere in Canada. However, the mystery isn’t tied to a centuries’ old pirate bounty or unsolved bank heist, however. These riches were instead intentionally hidden by a mining consortium to celebrate the country’s “rich mining heritage and spirit of adventure.”

The clues are presented in the form of a 13-stanza poem. Have I already asked AI for its opinion on this poem? Maybe. Is it fun that one of the top contenders for the secret stash spot is a place I go to on the regular? It is! And while I doubt that I’ll spend much more time on this, it’s an entertaining idea. 

(Speaking of entertaining, I expect that Josh Gates, TV host, explorer, and aficionado of similar puzzle/treasure hunts, will be doing a show on this at some point.) 

Because this game is sponsored by a Canadian mining company, the winner will have to be a Canadian citizen to claim the prize.* Sorry (not sorry)!

You have until the end of 2026 to find it. 

If nothing else, it’s a fun boost for poetry and a good excuse to get out in nature (explore responsibly, folks!). 

Regardless, the hunt is on!

* Although what’s to stop someone from finding it, enlisting a Canadian to cash in the prize, then becoming enmeshed in a sea of ever-shifting lies and betrayals as each party battles to claim the full amount, opening up endless avenues for dramatic retellings and fictionalized accounts? Why, nothing!

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“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

― Mother Theresa

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One of the best ways to understand art and think about developing your own abilities is to study those who came before. That applies to writers, musicians, painters and more. I’m going to go out on a pretty short limb and say that every master crafter out there had a “see Spot run” or “macaroni and string” phase.

The problem is that we don’t see that, we see their masterpieces. And that can be inspiring but also discouraging. How did they make the leap from macaroni to the Mona Lisa*?

That’s an excellent if somewhat off-base question. Because for most artists, that transition isn’t a leap at all. It’s more of a journey, and anyone can go on one of those. (Consider how often you hear someone being called an overnight success, and they laugh and say, “Yeah, but it took years.”)

Here’s an example from the art world.

Raphael is now considered one of the three great masters from the High Renaissance. (Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo being the other two, so he had a high bar to reach. My point is that he didn’t start out at the top.)

Where did he begin, how did he improve, and what lessons does his progress give to aspiring artists out there? 

How Raphael Became A Master – YouTube

This video provides an in-depth look at the what, when and how of it all. Hopefully it can also provide some encouragement to anyone working to improve, regardless of their art form.

And while it’s true that talent helps and that there are child prodigies out there (looking at you, Mozart!), most who achieve excellence do it exactly the way you are doing it: setting goals, studying what works, and practice, practice, practice.

* A note on the title: I know that the Mona Lisa was Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, and Raphael painted a lot of Madonnas, but given that titling this piece “From Macaroni to Madonna” seemed more likely to evoke ’80s pop music rather than classical art, I went with this instead. (Although to be honest, I’m feeling a little bad about this decision and may change it later!)

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“Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

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Have I posted this before? Don’t think so, but even if I have, it’s worth posting again. 

“Yell. Jump. Play. Out-run those sons-of-bitches. They’ll never live the way you live. Go do it.”

― Ray Bradbury

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“I get it. We all want easy. But that’s the devil talking, because the reality is that the ‘easy’ life is a mirage. People who choose easy end up living a much harder, less joyful life.”

— Arnold Schwarzenegger

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What are the most beautiful words in the English language? Here is one person’s list: 

The 100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language – Dr. Robert Beard

Not so sure about “moeity” but I like the first one:

Ailurophile A cat-lover.

* Thanks to Messy Nessy for spotlighting this!

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“Beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living within that way of life.”

— Hunter S. Thompson

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I have a soft spot for wacky and fun inventions, and this one is right up there. 

Watch This Guy’s Interactive Wooden Pixel Machine Make Art in Real Time

Sitting in my office in NYC, I sent a CNC machine in a guy’s workshop in Wisconsin a 40 by 25 pixel drawing and watched it flip hand painted wooden blocks across a grid, one by one, until the glorious smiling 404 Media logo appeared—then watched it slowly erase, like a giant Etch A Sketch, moving on to the next drawing. 

For more on the why and the how and the seriously?, see I spent 6 years building a ridiculous wooden pixel display.

Want to play (and have a Bluesky account)? Vist kilopixel and submit your art!

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“People overestimate what they can accomplish in a year but dramatically underestimate what they can do in a decade.”

— Maya Andrews, Olympic gold medalist

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