House

I think, from my experience, there are three different things that happen with Netflix. The first is just aimlessly scrolling through, maybe when you have some unexpected free time or company and you aren't sure what to do until you decide on something you've already seen to avoid disappointment. Secondly, much similarly to the first, is deciding there is a film you want to watch and looking it up on Netflix - inevitably leading to leading to joy when it is or disappointment when it isn't - but it is on another on demand service which you don't have. Or the third, which I think most people experience - binge watching a box set. I think the culture today is not so much to watch TV when it is actually on but to record it, on demand it or buy it when it is on DVD. It's lovely to just keep watching and know there is more, but you do end up a gap to fill when it is finished.

At the moment I am watching House which was on TV pretty much when I was at secondary school between 2004 and 2012. The reason I actually started watching House more recently was because of work experience. In Year 10 I worked at A-Z Maps for two weeks. There I got to make my own map of my local area, and explore the building to see how all the maps were put together. The main office was in the village where I live which was lucky, because I was interested in geography systems and I could walk. Win win really. A lot of the work was ICT based, which at the time I was not used to, and unfortunately I started getting bad migraines in the afternoon which lead to the doctors, which lead to only working half days in the second week.. This is also how I found out that I am terrible at taking tablets - they just make me gag. So when I was working half days, I would come home in the afternoon and close the curtains and sit in the dark with the TV on for background noise. I always remembered House from this, and when I saw it on Netflix thought - hey I remember that. I'm hooked, close to the end of the sixth season with two left. I started watching this on my own, but I started sneaking in the odd episode onto the TV and no we're both watching it.

I was trying to find the map that I made as they printed it out for me but I couldn't find it but I do ironically have another scroll of paper, which was a gift from a colleague. Where I work, I have had a couple of different nicknames but the one that seems to have stuck is penguin. So here is me as a penguin - it's pretty awesome.

I think the penguin idea came from wearing a three piece suit.. Which I still do to this day, not everyday but.. Pocket watch n'all.

Creativity

Something I have always admired about small games companies, or individuals is how creative they are. Big games like Final Fantasy literally have hundreds of people working on them over their life time and they tend to just focus on one thing. There's a team to develop the story, one for character creation, one for the environment. Smaller companies and individuals, do most if not all of it. Of course, on a comparison of scale, the games are vastly different but not less enjoyable than one another. One of my favourite games is The Binding of Isaac which encompasses you traversing randomly generated floors collecting different things making the game pretty much unique every time you play it. Whereas a game like Dead Space for example, you play it once and you know the story, you can play it different ways but you are prepared for whats ahead - still doesn't make it less scary though.

Why do I admire that? I've always wanted to see something out there in the world with my name on it, whether that be a book or game, something I can be proud to say - "I did that." I think my problem is a mix between creative block, and being too ambitious. I have on occasion created an idea in my head and pieced it together and wrote ideas down.. But when it comes to doing it, I find it hard to flesh out. To make this idea for a story have believable character relationships and logical development, to make the characters I have designed move on a screen. Honestly, it's my fault. I have a habit of thinking too big and when I can't see a logical path to get to the end result, it puts me off. I find my break through moments are when I can shrug off this aura of following logic and things making sense, and I just do something. Add something random. Change something you think doesn't need changing. I'll come back to it with my logical hat and see connections I didn't before.

Source: http://www.cfau-pd.net/wallpapers/creative-pictures.html

I've always liked how creativity is expressed with a light bulb. The concept of an idea, coming to light. I think people will often look at this as the idea suddenly appearing in your mind. I like to think of it as.. A switch, illuminating a thought that was already there.