If you didn’t read this week’s post “Pure Nonsense” I will read it to you, dramatically and enthusiastically, below. 👇
Reading commences as soon as you hit play. Enjoy!
Notes from the Captain
Ahoy, crew,
I’ve been having a lot of fun writing lately. Not just writing—making things in general. It’s so good to feel the energy of creativity flowing through my body. Don’t call me a hippie. Ok. I’ll own it. My soul in on fire and I’m a hippie.
Very glad to have my mojo back.
Have you ever used the cut-up technique on anything? Watch some of the source materials below and let me know if you’re tempted to give it a go, or if you’ve tried it in any of your creative endeavors. Perhaps you have a hybrid technique for shaking the creativity out of your brain and assembling into something new? You do? Share it in the comments and let’s learn from each other.
We stitch, we jumble, we stick things together to see if they fit. It’s human nature. For Monday’s post, I enjoyed the challenge of taking random one-liners I had kicking around in old notebooks and figuring out how to connect them—plus some new lines I’d generated—into something that made sense. I know I called it Pure Nonsense, but I think it all ended up hanging together quite well.
Editing video is also a form of cut-up. I texted my friend—a video editor and subscriber to The Stream—last week and gave him some kudos for his career because until you spend all day in a chair with Premiere Pro open and chopping and moving and assessing clips, you really don’t appreciate what a skill it is. While I enjoy making the videos, it is quite—what’s the word?—EXHAUSTING! A real juggle of mind and thought and, well, footage.
Aaron, my Captain’s hat is off to you and I am saluting stiffly, sharply, and with much respect in your Kansas direction. 🫡
And now, bring on the weekend vibes. I’m heading off to go see my first Supercross race in person at Anaheim this weekend, and I’ll be honest—I’m really excited about it. Twistin’ throttles and making noise, yep.
Ok, I’m out. Enjoy the video and keep on creating. Or to put it another way: Love what you love, and I’ll see you out there, making stuff.
Your Captain, Janeen 🫡
Thangs from this episode…
👩✈️ The Cut Up Method
While “Pure Nonsense” was not a cut-up in the purest sense, it did start out with the essence of ‘let’s jam some shit together’. But here are some real-deal purveyors of the art. (I used clips from these in the video above)
How David Bowie Used the Cut-Up Technique
👩✈️ The Dadaists and the birth of the cut-up
“To make a Dadaist Poem”
Tristan Tzara, 1920Take a newspaper. Take some scissors. Choose from this paper an article the length you want to make your poem. Cut out the article. Next carefully cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them all in a bag. Shake gently. Next take out each cutting one after the other. Copy conscientiously in the order in which they left the bag. The poem will resemble you. And there you are—an infinitely original author of charming sensibility, even though unappreciated by the vulgar herd.
Here is the above made into a thing which I liked.
What exactly is Dadaism?
👩✈️ The Soft Machine
Read a preview of the book here I loved the variation in covers the book has had for different editions.
Yes, a book, but also a band (named after the book). Here’s some The Soft Machine jams
👩✈️ Austin Kleon blackout poems
Here’s a post from Austin on his history with these poems. Included in the post is the one I own, “Overheard on the Titanic.” I was still living in NYC when I bought this. Time flies.
He also has a published book of them.
Thanks for listening/watching and sharing this week. If you want to chat about any of the concepts in this week’s post—or just in general—feel free to leave a comment for the Captain (it me.)
Do. Make. Be.
🫡
Shameless Podcast Plug
Listen to audio versions of early issues of The Stream on my podcast, Field of Streams, available on 👉 all major podcasting platforms 👈
Here’s Apple
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