Something to PITCH About

Apologies if you can’t stand puns…but what about puns that relate to a good cause, like a philanthropun? Creative Pitch is a collaboration of Chicago’s advertisers and designers who work together to salvage materials and supplies headed for the dump, and then redirect those materials to “under served art programs” in the Chicago metro area.

Brainforest, the founding creative agency behind Creative Pitch, is hosting “Something to PITCH About,” the second annual fundraiser from the Chi-town group. Hosted at Lumen (839 W Fulton Market St) on Thursday, May 28, 2009 from 6 to 9 pm, guests will be supporting the organization with a $20 donation in advance, or $25 at the door.

It’s no secret that arts programs are suffering from fiscal shortages in schools across America, so it’s refreshing to see a group of people organizing and supporting arts education. Even if you don’t live in Chicago and you can’t make it for the music and drinks, a donation to Creative Pitch will help keep the arts alive for future generations. Thanks to Creative Pitch for leading the way in the necessary fight to keep art alive in education.

posted by: Scott Starrett

Watch: Battle in Seattle

How much do you know about the WTO (World Trade Organization), and how much of what you know did you learn from a national news source? An open discussion and/or criticism of the WTO is rare in the mainstream media. The supposed “riots” in Seattle during the 1999 WTO Ministerial Conference is what most Americans recall about this institution and the strong reaction it provokes. But one has to wonder about why those angry groups chose to disrupt what is supposed to be a nice peaceful set of trade negotiations in the first place. If you rely on the story painted by major media sources your view of the clash between protesters and authorities in 1999 is limited at best.

This limitation comes from the pervasive “if it bleeds it leads” notion shared by newspaper editors and television producers alike. The NY Times and CNN won’t get big revenue dollars by informing their audience about the infrastructure of the WTO and the massive control it has over our day to day lives. Mass media’s marriage to ad revenue means the viewer determines the content by tuning into what interests them most, and responsibility aside, media outlets get viewership by condensing and sensationalizing complex situations like the WTO protests. The general populous prefers good vs evil dogma to a substantive investigation into the complex inter-workings of the super powered multi-nationals that control the world economy.

Ten years later Stuart Townsend hasn’t forgotten N30 (November 30th, the day in which most of the protesting took place) and has made an attempt to bring the issue back into the zeitgeist. Townsend’s 2008 directorial debut ‘Battle in Seattle’ is the story of the 1999 WTO protesters who successfully blocked off intersections leading to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, sending home delegates and eventually shutting down the negotiations.

‘Battle in Seattle’ is a fictional account of the events that took place within the heart of the protests but is firmly based on reality. Most of the protest scenes you see in the film are an amalgamation of  hours of footage taken by the protester’s, all of which are available through YouTube.

Critics point to the film’s flux between documentary and action/drama aesthetic as a distraction from the message, while anarchists complain that the black bloc property damage demonstration was overshadowed and watered down. But criticisms and filming techniques aside, Townsend’s efforts to bring the World Trade Organization and its policies into the “main stream” are commendable. With a knowledge of the WTO comes an understanding of globalization at the hands of multi-nationals and other corporate entities like the World Bank, IMF, and Federal Reserve. Private entities whose policies control much of our economy and therefore our society.

‘Battle in Seattle’ trailer:

by: Scott Starrett

Pecha Kucha: The Art of Presentation

You get 20 slides, 20 seconds each, show anything you want and say whatever you wish…or play music, read poetry, question the crowd, expose truths, make jokes, make connections, just make sure it’s entertaining or inspiring enough to keep the crowd in their seats. Turns out power points don’t have to be boring, who knew?

These are the parameters for a new presentation form emerging among architects, artists, activists, and enthusiasts alike. The Pecha Kucha (PK for short) is quickly spreading throughout the world, with the last official number of PK Events at 183 cities worldwide and growing. Traditionally pronounced in three syllables, peh-chak-cha (or pech-a-kuch-a in the American tradition of bastardization) translates to the sound of chitter-chatter in Japanese. The term was appropriated by the Tokyo based architects Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein who developed the fast-paced, concise format to fill their co-owned performance venue SuperDeluxe with an audience engaged by a large number of presenters. Anyone can participate in a PK Night, simply choose your topic and follow these requirements: 20 powerpoint slides, each displayed for 20 seconds, 6 minutes and 40 seconds total and then it’s “40 seconds of fame” (as the creator’s put it) before the focus moves on to the next presenter.

The Rathaus urges everyone to check the Pecha Kucha Night website to see when a PK is coming to your area. Traditionally 8 to 14 performers take the stage at each event, and all you need is the willingness and a little preparation to be a performer yourself. The simple parameters make for unlimited possibilities among content; from musicians to businessmen, even ranting drunks, the only expectation is entertainment, engagement and presentation.

If you are interested in bringing Pecha Kucha Night to your city contact pechakucha@klein-dytham.com.

posted by: Scott Starrett

Doodle for Brains

Maybe it’s time bosses actually encourage employees to scribble aimlessly on their notes throughout meetings. Although doodling may be seen as a distraction and a general waste of time, a recent Plymouth University study seems to indicate otherwise.

Lead researcher Jackie Andrade explains what happened when 40 subjects were given the task of listening to a “dull” phone conversation. Subjects were later asked to recall names and places mentioned in the messages and the group allowed to doodle while listening performed 29% better than non-doodlers.

Perhaps the results of this study can quell the widespread contempt for work meeting doodlers everywhere. And beware the non-doodler, for what may be perceived as attentiveness could really be a poker face disguising a secret fantasy world filled with convertible rides and mint chocolate chip ice cream.

The results of this study were originally published in the journal: Applied Cognitive Psychology

:: Newsweek list of related stories

posted by: Scott Starrett

Read: How We Decide

Just because you make mistakes does not mean you learn from them, and just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you’re wise. That’s why Jonah Lehrer sings the praises of metacognition (thinking about the way you think). Challenging the long held philosophy that humans should perpetually strive to be rational creatures, Lehrer states a case, with the help of psychological experiments and fMRI machines, that neuroscience has discovered the importance of our emotional and rational minds acting in concert. Some of the information in Lehrer’s book can be found amongst various TED talks and on WNYC’s brilliant Radiolab. The facts in this book are rich and the writing digestible. You don’t have to be a neuroscientist to read ‘How We Decide’ and some of the information may even seem intuitive, but the studies Lehrer has comprised reveal the interesting desires and patterns of our neural pathways. Lehrer’s over-arching objective is to make the populous aware of the cognitive process within oneself, which he sets out to prove will in turn lead to understanding. This cognitive awareness can be used to shed a light on everything from credit card debt and overwhelming shopping decisions to standardized tests and life threatening situations. Lehrer has received considerable praise for ‘How We Decide’ and was even featured in an interview on the Colbert Report.

posted by: Scott Starrett