Strands of Genius: Dream Engineering, The Oldest Joke in The World, Life Advice from Chess Hustlers
plus Max Frost, inspiration and learning by doing, sexuality & power dynamics through WAP
WRITING FROM | Beersheba Springs, TN
WORKING ON | several workshops, interviews, and a new business proposal this week
LOOKING AHEAD
April 1-29 | Beersheba Springs, TN
April 29-May 1 | Nashville, TN
May 1-28 | London, UK
May 28-June 6 | TBD: Portugal or France
June 6-24 | London, UK
June 24-27 | New York, NY
June 27-July 12 | Wingdale, NY
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
We have (finally) been reunited after a couple of weeks apart, both seeing family in sad circumstances in different parts of the world. So it goes but, while we’re dealing with yet more grief, we’ve dedicated enough space in the newsletter to it, for now anyway. This week we are feeling grateful. We are grateful to have families that we love, grateful for Ashley and Valerie who make sure everything keeps moving, grateful for having compassionate clients who we have strong relationships with, grateful to be back together and grateful we feel ready to get back on it. LFG! ;)
And on that note, we’re especially excited to host Jenny Chang next Tuesday, April 12th. She’s going to be diving into sexuality and power dynamics in music through the lens of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s WAP. Y’all. This is gonna be a good one. STRANDSOFGENIUS gets you 50% off your first month for the School of Stolen Genius. Come see what we’re all about :)
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Uncle Sam, who had the biggest heart and the best laugh and was always down to play card games with us, Susan, Chad, our entire Springfield family, Madison, Abdulla, Berna, Laith, Bex, Zac, Ariana, adventure golf, Delta Close, Kamal&Amal, Dave&Frances&Willow&Elliot, Love Is Blind, Station Eleven, Georgia for hosting an inspiring breath work workshop for SoSG, our friend Tony Gulisano who we knew and loved for many years as he worked at the Clios, LIAs and Oneshow and tirelessly championed creativity in advertising with a smile on his face and a story on his lips, & YOU.
S C H O O L O F S T O L E N G E N I U S >> H I G H L I G H T S
// WAP: Women Asserting Power with Jenny Chang | Community Meet Up
Tuesday, April 12, 2022 12:00 PM -1:00 PM
More details for members on School of Stolen Genius.
:: THE LINKS ::
DREAM ENGINEERING
Can technology shape our dreams? Various strides have been made towards ‘dream engineering’ in recent years, as research explore human creativity and try to understand why we dream at all. There are certain techniques that seem to be able to inform our dreams with certain ideas. Inevitably, brands heard about this. “The Coors Brewing Company had gotten wind of his device and contacted him with a proposal. They’d hoped to provide a number of people with Dormios and incubate their dreams with the words “Coors beer,” the results of which would then be used in a new advertising campaign. Adam, horrified, turned them down instantly.” (Ha!) More interesting perhaps is their insights into creativity as a raw, chaotic force. “Creativity is a soothing, positive, productive presence in advertisements and tech slogans. Direct insight into the relentless creativity of the dreaming brain, on the other hand, can be disturbing.” (Harpers)
THE OLDEST JOKES IN THE WORLD
Have a lot to teach us about what humans find funny. There are recognizable features in the oldest jokes on record. “National Public Radio (NPR) in the US suggested in 2016 that the oldest recorded joke is from Bronze Age Sumeria (an early Mesopotamian civilisation dating 3300-1200BC). The joke goes: "What has never happened since time immemorial?” (Head to the article for the punchline). Why do we even have humor, as Calvin muses below? “Some researchers suggest that because humour brings us together it might have an evolutionary purpose. Perhaps our ability to make light of bad situations helped us to overcome them – by joining together in laughter, we were able to reinforce our social bonds.” How do jokes work? “McGraw says that effective jokes are a "benign violation" always walking a delicate balancing act between too soft and too extreme.” (BBC Future)
LIFE ADVICE FROM NYC CHESS HUSTLERS
There’s lots of wisdom, about life, business, relationships and games in these three short interviews with “chess hustlers” who are part a tradition in Washington Square Park that goes back at least 80 years. The three very distinct personalities all come through very strongly, worth paying attention to if you ever had to write qualitative research debriefs, for example. “The first day I played here was November 8 of 1978. I've been playing in this park for 43 years. What's changed? More people play chess. Because children learn from the computer. That's the number one thing to change. You get kids coming in here eight, ten years old, they can beat some of us. And we're good players.”
(Cafe Anne)
Strands of Genius is currently read by 13,000 subscribers. Support us by sponsoring an issue, becoming a member of The School of Stolen Genius, or encouraging friends or colleagues to subscribe.
:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: MAX FROST ::
We discovered Max Frost a few years back via the Spotify recommendation algorithm and he is very much (one of) our jam(s). We heard the song once, but couldn’t remember enough of it to find it again. So we kept playing the song from which Spotify suggested it until it came back up. We’ve had dance parties in kitchens to his song ‘Good Morning’ with our friends, we’ve even used it as walk-on music for speaking gigs. Anyway, we’re getting distracted. All this is to say that he has a new single out. It’s great. And his new video was mostly made in his garage, and has whiffs of Old Spice and OK Go.
He also talks about learning by doing and inspiration in the short interview:
You should also check him out on Instagram where he has a long running series of him arranging and performing famous songs as other famous artists.
Join a community of people looking to work smarter, not harder.
Enroll today >
http://schoolofstolengeni.us
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
rockON,
faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co
@faris is always tweeting
@rosieyakob hangs out on instagram
@ashley also writes for deaf, tattooed & employed
Know someone who could use some inspiration in their inbox? Forward this email to them! We appreciate you spreading the word.
It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)