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It's been a while, but when I went college visiting to Seattle last month, I added a lot to my library. I experienced my first overnight stay at a college, and I remembered how much I loved the climate, and the nice blend between urban and natural beauty Seattle has to offer.

I was also exposed to very interesting TED talks, and Shakespeare documentaries on the plane, and during my stay.

Part 1
TED talks:
On the ride to and from Seattle,

TED: Beyond Looks
This short talk provided an interesting look into the lives of models. The model here talked about how she thought it was so odd how girls want to have an occupation where they just need to look pretty, instead of having an occupation where they could be a "ninja cardio-thoracic surgeon poet."

TED: Fashion Lesson
This fashion designer went into the culture of fashion, and how their lax copyright laws allows for innovation and competition. I thought this was an interesting, since I'm a supporter of the protection of intellectual property. The video also goes into the positives of copying! (Something we've discussed a lot in STAC.) The most interesting part of the video was that the idea of free copying made others strive to make something so unique that no one would be able to copy it (ex. where all those crazy fashion designs come from!)

TED: Learn to read Chinese with Ease!
In this TED talk, a basic chinese lesson is taught (with radicals). I knew the concept before, but the way ShaoLan incorporates humor into an educational lesson -the part where two women characters together symbolizing the character for argument made me smirk- impressed me.

TED: Elusive Creativity
The author in this TED talk discusses a very interesting concept on genius. When she introduced the topic, she talked about how people asked her if she'd ever create another best-seller. This is how I feel about my animation (after the great piece I made in 10th grade, I haven't had any tremendous ideas, which scares me), so this talk touched me on a very personal level.
The author talks about the origins of genius. A "genius" was actually a familiar, or muse, that lived in creative people's homes and helped them with works of art. Only recently has the word "genius" been attributed towards the person themselves. The author connected this to the pressure "geniuses" face because of this re-alignment in association, and why "geniuses" often become mad and suicidal.
The concept of allowing yourself times of lethargy was very different for me, but I do agree with the author in that you still try and create work during these flatline times, until your muse decides to pitch in again.