This time of year reminds me of one of the only things I would look forward to as a kid starting a new school year. There would be a new line up of Saturday morning cartoons.
One of my favorite shows was the Super-friends, which featured the Legion of Doom (see picture).
Legion of Chairs Too Close.
They are the inspiration for this weeks Creative Exercise.
I want you to come up with your own Legion of Doom.
Here are the rules:
Pick 10 characters (Legion of Doom had 13 so I’m taking it easy on you)
They can be from any FICTIONAL source or genre (serious or funny)
Give the name of the character and the source or genre it originates from (Movies, Novels, Soap Operas)
Make your ultimate team of bad guys.
Have Fun!
Bonus: Extra Points if all your characters come from the same genre.
I recently found this article that tries to explain why the new Karate Kid doesn’t do Karate. The article boils down that the reason they call it Karate Kid in this country is just to keep it associated with the original movie, but the story takes place in China to play well internationally. Other countries will call it the Kung Fu Kid.
Yes that is Lemar from Revenge of the Nerds in this clip.
Just from the previews the movie seems different enough to be considered a new movie. They could have even called it a sequel if keeping the name was so important. I’ll stop now before I rant further.
I thought it would be a great challenge to come up with NEW stories for old movie titles. Pick a movie from the list provided and come up with a short synopsis of how you would rewrite it to make a new movie.
Pick one of these movies (all taken from the Oscar’s best picture list):
The Sound of Music
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
An American in Paris
Gone with the Wind
Dances With Wolves
No Country for Old Men
All Quiet on the Western Front
It Happened One Night
You Can’t Take It With You
The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King
Here are the rules:
The title must work with your story
You cannot keep any of the original story’s elements
Every episode of the A-team TV show had the same scenario. The A-team get’s locked in some building that had a bunch of scrap metal and a welding torch. Then they always escape by blasting their way out the front door. I found this book and thought, what if YOU were your own A-team and found yourself trapped at your desk and had to fight your way out.
Look around your desk and in your mind using only what you have around you, create your escape weapon or weapons. What would it be, and how would it work? I don’t expect actual working prototypes or even practical ones, this is for fun. So Have Fun!
We’ve been helping my in-laws clean out their home, getting them ready for their big move. One weekend our task was removing items from the attic. We came upon a small alcove that looked like it hadn’t been entered in years. Way off hidden under a layer of spray insulation were two crates. I asked my father-in-law what was in the crates. He did not know but decided to crawl into the area and find out. I snapped a quick picture as he ventured into the area. Looking at the photo I thought it would be a creative challenge.
Look at this picture:
This week’s assignment is let your imagination go crazy and tell me: What was in the box? I want to know:
Who?
What?
Where?
Why?
How?
Bonus: What was really in the box? Wasn’t nearly as exciting as you may think.
There are few popular games that I play, some offer a “Hint” button while some offer an “Undo” button. Through some mad invention you created you figured out a way to create a magic button, but you can only choose one of the above options, “Hint” OR “Undo”. To make matters worse or to make this decision more of a challenge, each button has certain rules.
Hint: Will only suggest the first and sometimes easiest suggestion. It might be an option or solution you didn’t even see before but if you choose to follow it your stuck with it.
Undo: Though it may give you a second chance it is the only other chance you will get. You only can undo the last thing you did once.
So tell me which one you would choose and why. Have Fun!
Bonus: What other game features would you like to see in real life?
It’s late in the week and since last week’s exercise was a bit difficult (so I’ve been told) I thought I make this week’s easier. Driving into work today I noticed that there were ten Songs on my iPhone that began with the word All.
All Because of You (U2)
All I Want (Toad the Wet Sprocket)
All I Want is You (U2)
All My Loving (Beatles)
All Revved Up No Place to Go (Meatloaf)
All Shook Up (Elvis)
All Star (Smash Mouth)
All The Same (Sick Puppies)
All These Things That I’ve Done (The Killers)
All You Need is Love (The Beatles)
This week I want you to find TEN songs in your Music Library that have a common word in the title and here are the rules.
You are not allowed to use “the, I, a, you, me, and, or”
Anything else goes. The more uncommon the word the more points you get.
Have Fun!
Bonus: Find Ten songs that have a common theme about the title.
Watching Jeopardy tonight I noticed the generalization of the categories. An example of a category from tonight’s show was “Double E’s”. The Answers in a form of a Question were any words with two E’s in them like “What is Speed Trap”. Another topic was “Dogs”. Come on!
I don’t think they are trying hard enough. We need to help them, but picking six random trivia topics would be too easy. So I will give you some rules.
Pick six specific trivia topics that are about you.
Each one would be your expertise.
If you saw them appear on the Jeopardy board as a contestant you’d know you would win.
You have to come up with a clever Jeopardy style category title.
You can explain them if you feel you need to.
Have Fun!
Bonus: Give an example of the $1000 Answer for each category.
Da Vinci painted stimulating all his senses with wine, cheese, and violin music. I have beer, Cheez-its, and the Beastie Boys.
