Imagination & Junk Bill Barol & Mat Ricardo
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Thomas Edison said "To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk." Join writer Bill Barol in the US and variety performer Mat Ricardo in the UK for a freewheeling transatlantic conversation about creativity -- what it is, where it comes from and why it matters.
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Episode 15: Mousetrap
In the last episode of Season 2, we're recalling the worst things that ever happened to us as creative people, and trying to excavate whatever lessons we can from the wreckage. Featuring: Murder in Encino, and a near-international incident in Beijing.
We'll be back with a new season of Imagination & Junk after a short break. -
Episode 14: The Gorgeous Notebook Store
In this episode we're talking about tools of the trade. Every creative trade has them. But they function in a variety of ways: As tools, yes, but also as signifiers of membership in a group, and as objects of desire. Also: Man purses, puppies, promiscuous scribbling, snappy suits, Japanese dining tables, Toots Thielemans, custom juggling balls and cricket.
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Episode 13: Six Feet From Genius
Here's a creativity brain puzzler: Is it better to break new ground or to keep polishing the same act until it gleams? It depends, to a degree, on for whom you create in the first place. Also: Jackie Chan, treading water, private eyes, the changeup pitch, Eurovision, litigation, the verdict of history, singularity, space shoes, The Shipping Forecast and quite a bit, actually, about the eternal villainy of The Beach Boys' Mike Love.
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Episode 12: Chaotic Playtime
This week we're looking at Getting Things Done, and at the cult of productivity that's sprung up around David Allen's original GTD methodology. It looks good, it sounds good -- but is it an aid to creative work or the exact opposite of what creativity calls for? Once again, we have thoughts. And this time we've put them in a nice list, with checkboxes. Also: Raccoons, stone tablets, Starfighters, making a mess and tidying up, disresepcting the Bing, shallots and where to put them, things that are too good to check, and the night Bobby Flay made a mockery of Kitchen Stadium.
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Episode 11: Super Auto
Can creativity be malign? Or is it always just... creativity? In this episode we're looking at what researchers call "dark creativity," or the use of creative tools to gain an unfair advantage over another person. And yes: We have thoughts. Also: Con artists, hammers, work snacks, spoon-bending, Bond villains, Stevie Wonder Wednesday and the trouble with ponds.
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Episode 10: Buzzing Neon
This week we're talking about criticism, including the trickiest kind: Self-criticism. We'll also look at the buzzing neon sign hanging outside the hotel room of your mind that spells out your own doubts and insecurities, and how to filter it out. Plus: Humility and its plodding cousin experience, spoons, the Dunning-Kruger Effect, sleeping policemen, fixed-rate mortgages, the magical power of putting things in drawers, and the worst heckle ever. (Seriously. The all-time worst.)
Customer Reviews
Imagination and Junk
I love every episode! These two are smart and adorable.They’ve taught me about what they do—writing and variety performance—and in the process helped me think about about choice and habit, hard work and inspiration. In the most charming, honest way, they talk with each other about what’s behind the process of sending something you create out into the world.
These guys are great and great fun
I have no imagination but I do have a lot of junk. I also don’t have the creativity of Bill Barol and Mat Ricardo, so if they want to talk about how to find ways to be creative, I’m all ears.
It turns out they do, and in the most entertaining way imaginable. Where have you ever heard a discussion about style while Gorilla Monsoon is mentioned in the same sentence?
It’s fun, it’s helpful. It deserves a wide audience. Give it a listen.
Wicked Smart & Witty
Two episodes in and I feel like I've found the two most fascinating and entertaining conversationalists podcasting today.