Friday Finds: Food!

We've talked a lot about creativity, generally with academic theory and the occasional Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. That's all well and good, but it's more fun to see creativity in the real world and to share clever tricks we can use in our daily lives. In that spirit, enjoy a bit of DIY inspiration with these fun (and creative) foodie finds. [gallery]

For some links to follow, we've got (1) hard-boiled egg hearts, (2) egg'n peppers, (3) removing corn silk with a toothbrush, (4) cupid's arrow, (5) perfect chocolate-covered strawberries, (6) quick 'n easy strawberry hulling, (7) fresh fruit ice cubes, (8) ice cream cone cupcakes, (9) mass-produced breakfast sammies, (10) cookie cups, (11) novice chopsticks, and (12) the easy way to remove an avocado pit. Thank you, interwebs!

Now let's nerd it up a bit. You may have seen half of these already, or don't think some of them are that creative. And that's totally fine. Many people will agree that Jackson Pollack's work is (or was) novel, but they may have a hard time finding meaning in a canvas that's been massacred with a paint can. The definition of creativity that we've been using is that which is "different than what's been done before" while also being "valuable, appropriate, or expressive of meaning." Every term in that phrase requires individual interpretation, which means that in some way creativity must be in the eye of the beholder.

So if we take these ideas back to our kitchen, are we being creative? Probably not, if we simply copy the ideas wholesale (although our friends may disagree). At the same time, no idea is truly novel, and the heart of the creative enterprise is sharing, adapting, and improving existing ideas. That is what makes forums like Pinterest and Lifehacker so valuable; they allow people to exchange ideas and inspire one another like never before. I recently came across a post where someone had shared the egg-n-pepper idea above, and by the next day another commenter had riffed on it by adding onions and bacon to the meal. That artery-clogging adaptation is what creativity's all about.

And it's delicious. Happy Friday!

We Think You Need This

Nobody likes commercial breaks, but advertising is what keeps so many of our beloved products like Wordpress, Gmail, and ABC's The Bachelorette online and available. And it's not just a necessary evil, it's a really interesting and really valuable opportunity for creative thinking. Advertisers have a fascinating problem: how do you convince someone that they should purchase a product, given that they're likely bombarded by around 5,000 ads per day and that even if they do notice you they'll probably resent your interruption? Google goes for data. With their giant suite of products they're able to capture ever more data about you, and if you read up on their business plan it's to (eventually) present ads that are so targeted and so relevant that you're glad to see them. In conventional media, ads can be bright and flashy (Sunday Sunday Sunday!), loud and annoying (Head On! Apply directly to forehead!), or downright subtle.That's the idea behind product placement, which is designed to sneak past your anti-advertising filters and make you think, "yeah, Doritos really would be good right now." Companies can appeal to childhood memories (Coke), sports heroes (Nike), heartstrings (SPCA), or national pride (Bud). But the ones that I find most exciting are those that engage our minds and our curiosity.

The Sony Bravia series from 2008 is a favorite. How do you show someone how beautiful a high definition TV can be when they need one to understand? Answer: immerse them in an iconic city, then add some soulful Jose Gonzales and a million colorful bouncy balls.

The result is, well, beautiful. Four years later I still think about this commercial; I haven't bought a Bravia, but they definitely succeeded in standing out from the crowd (and there's even a Facebook fan page). Given the size of the industry and the amount of talent out there, it's easy to name hundreds of memorable ads. What are your favorites?

Grab a Drink: It's Time to Get Creative

What did Beethoven, Poe, Hemingway, and Jackson Pollock all have in common? First, they're considered to be among the most prolific and creative minds in history. Second, they all had more than a bit of a fondness for the drink. And that's probably not a surprise to many people: "altered cognitive processing", brought on by insanity, sleep state, or substance use, has long been linked to creativity in artists and problem solvers. But will grabbing a beer really help you or me tackle tasks more creatively? That's exactly what three researchers at the University of Illinois recently set out to test. Their paper, titled "Uncorking the Muse" and published earlier this year in the Journal of Consciousness and Cognition, has got to be one of the funnest studies ever printed. Here's the punchline: intoxicated individuals solved a test of creative problem solving more completely, and in less time, than their sober counterparts. They were also more likely to have confidence in the creativity of their solutions.

To test the effect of alcohol on creativity, the authors recruited a target sample of forty male social drinkers aged 21-30 through Craigslist and the University community. The subjects were "administered" a succession of Smirnoff vodka cranberries and shown the movie Ratatouille. Once they reached peak intoxication, the participants completed a battery of creative problem solving tasks known as the Remote Associates Test (RAT), while also undergoing occasional breathalyzer tests. The control subjects did the same routine, minus the Smirnoff.

Not only did the intoxicated subjects complete a greater portion of the RAT items, but they did so faster and more creatively. The underlying intuition is that alcohol reduces ones ability to mentally focus and control attention. Laser focus may help a lot on structured analytical tasks, but actually inhibits creativity by discouraging associational, divergent, and nonlinear thinking. By limiting the ability to keep one's thinking straight, alcohol can therefore encourage creativity. In this sense, it acts just like grogginess or sleep deprivation, as I discussed in an earlier post.

Now, this doesn't mean that getting smashed is going to make you more creative, but it does suggest that having a beer before your next project might not be a terrible idea. And hey, it's Friday.

Check out the paper here. Thanks to Brooking for the heads up!