Creativity
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Review : Dawnthief, James Barclay
Earlier this year, I read the fantasy novel Dawnthief, the first novel (of three) in The Raven Chronicles by James Barclay. I have a video on this topic if you are interested below! If I was to give it a score out of a hundred, it would be 82! Pretty good I say. All in all, the novel features a lovely blend of fantasy action and adventure, complete with a quest to the save the country. The excellent, almost “Avengers” or “Justice League”, ensemble-like team dynamic of the Raven are a real treat for fantasy lovers who yearn for deep interactions and banter-heavy adventures. But what really sets this world…
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The Communist Manifesto; Life Lessons and Epiphanies?
Ok, I was genuinely interested in the ideas and thoughts behind the Communist ideology so I decided to read it a while back. I finished the surprisingly short tome a few weeks ago and boy I’ve been stewing over it for a while! In perfect 20/20 hindsight, I wish I had taken more notes and really delved into the deeper ideas but that would take forever, so here are my thoughts on it, from the perspective of a political and economic layman. First up, the text is pretty dry and a heftier read then it looks. The actual manifesto written by Marx and Engels consists of only approximately 15% of…
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Aquaman, a breath of fresh sea breeze.
Today, I saw Aquaman. It was full of amazing characters and wonderful action scenes but most of all, I saw what I believe to one of the greatest means of creative expression – aesthetics. Man! This movie was so visually appealing! As a great lover and admirer of the sea, it was so refreshing to see(sea haha!) the way the director James Wan envisioned life under the ocean. The film presented a perfect merge of comic book visual accents and vivid, child-like imagination, complete with glowing jellyfish, riding on seahorses, meditating amongst manta rays and the sunken city of Atlantis. There is a certain way the colours and figures move…
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Creativity as a tool for the introvert.
I am a textbook introvert, give me two hours of socialising and I’m knackered. Over the past few months of soul searching, what I’ve realised is that this introversion has often been the underlying catalyst for my ideas and inspirations. Generally, an introvert is one who gains energy by spending time alone and tends to feel tired after a certain amount of socialising. In spending time alone, I often find that my mind is buzzing with ideas and interesting revelations that socialising simply cannot replicate. I believe this harks back to the comfort and emotional freedom introverts have when alone. These “shower thoughts” acts a means for the introvert to…
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Beowulf – the classic hero.
Having just finished the prose version of the classic poem, Beowulf, it leads me to wonder about the implications and effects of the poem itself. Originating in an era of rich oral tradition and in consideration of the limitations of literacy amongst members of that society, it is easy to see why the text comes across as difficult to understand today. It also raises a discussion of the poem’s significance both at the time of creation and the modern day. Beowulf is the tale of the classic hero, following the archetype of a daring, strong, adventuring prince in search of glory. The oral tradition of the poem allows it to…
