FACE 1: Prasert Eamrungroj (Thailand) - We talk every day about creativity and how important it is, however --some countries do not value creativity and even think it is not good. Mr. Eamrungroj lives in Thailand and is worried because creativity is not honored in his country. He says that kids in Thail schools are not taught to think and create, but only memorize facts. It worries him that in business younger employees are not allowed to share an idea or have an opinion that is different from those of the older employees. It also worries him that businesses in Thailand only copy others and never come up with anything new. He likes to remind people about Dick Fosbery's high jump technique as the perfect example of a new answer to an old problem. Watch Fosbery's video today! He calls Thailand a left brain ONLY thinking nation; he reminds us that when you row a boat you will go in circles if you don't row on BOTH the left and the right, reminding us that both sides of the brain are to be used. Mr. Eamrungroj believes the creative right brain is important! You are fortunate to live in a nation that values creativity, you are fortunate to go to school at a place that teaches creativity and expects you to use it every day. CREATIVITY QUOTE: "Creativity is a new answer to an old problem that generates great results!" (Prasert Eamrungroj)
He shares his concern about creativity -(in Thai with subtitles)
FACE 2 - Ravi Shankar & Norah Jones: Ravi Shankar is an Indian musician and composer best known for his success in popularizing the sitar. Shankar absorbed the musical traditions of the West when attending school in Paris. This mixture of Indian and Western influences can be heard in his music. Shankar composed pieces for orchestra that mixed sitar and other Indian instruments with classical Western instruments.Shankar became widely known for his association with the Beatles and other Western musicians; he taught Beatles' guitarist George Harrison how to play the sitar, a long-necked Indian stringed instrument, of which Shankar is considered a master. Some in his country criticized him for using instruments in his music that did not originate in India. Today he is known as the "godfather of world music." As early as age three, Jones began showing a keen interest in music, closely watching her father when he played his sitar. Her style is unique and unlike that of other pop singers. Just as her father used his creativity to mix traditional Indian music with that of the western world, Norah --too--has found a one of a kind sound. The music of both father and daughter is unlike anyone else's --it is creative!
CREATIVITY QUOTE: Creativity knows that often mixing together two very different ideas results in something new, something wonderful, something unique... it worked for this father and daughter!
...although played on the sitar, the music sounds much like what you hear electric guitarist play!
Norah Jones doesn't sound exactly like a pop singer OR a jazz OR folk singer --she sounds like a mixture of all 3! Just like her father she has discovered a creative way to sound by mixing together styles.
FACE 3: Troy Bradley, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Leonid Tiukhtyae of Moscow, Russia: Troy Bradley is one of the most accomplished balloonists in the world, with more than 60 world ballooning records and some 6,200 piloting hours under his belt. In 1992, he made the first U.S.-to-Africa balloon flight. Leonid Tiukhtyaev is a chairman of a major Russian bank and the current president of Russia’s balloon federation. Like Bradley, he also has many piloting hours and awards to his name, including eight world records. The Two Eagles helium-filled balloon landed safely some four miles off the coast of the Baja Peninsula, Mexico, on January 31st, 2015, becoming the second vessel of its kind to successfully cross the Pacific Ocean. In doing so, the two have achieved unofficial world records for distance traveled and duration aloft in a gas-filled balloons. They shattered the previous distance record that had stood for over 30 years. Moving at the speed and will of the wind, it took them 160 hours and 37 minutes to cover the 6,646 miles. Gas-filled balloons are distinct from hot-air balloons, which have never made that trip.
CREATIVITY QUOTE: Creativity knows that even though it seemed and seems impossible, records always have and always will be broken; creativity always finds a way.
Look how high up they are!!! Those are clouds below them!
Fishing boat recovering balloon.
Their “home” for the crossing is a five-foot by seven-foot capsule
FACE 4: Don Quixote - Don Quixote is the main character in a novel written by a very famous author from Spain named Cervantes. Don Quixote liked to read a lot --he liked to read so much that he pretty much stopped doing everything else. His favorite books were about knights, which he read over and over. He decided he would even become a knight! He pretended his skinny old plow horse was a splendid knight's stallion and that a poor local farm girl was a beautiful royal maiden. He imagined windmills were giants which he fought. His armor was a rusty old shield and the rest of his armor was even worse. He saw the flocks of sheep on the hillsides as armies. His imagination really went wild. His adventures never turn out well. His story gets crazier and crazier and has been enjoyed by many for years and even turned into movies and music. Don Quixote believes in following his dreams.
CREATIVITY QUOTE: While we are reading, we are all Don Quixote --good readers do more than read --they imagine they are in the story; creativity knows it is the Don Quixote readers who love, truly love books.
FACE 5 - ALFONSO CUARON : Most people think of the United States, especially Hollywood when thinking of the movies; however, one of the best directors for film come from Mexico. Alfonso Cuaron won the Academy Award in 2014 for "GRAVITY" and directed "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." CREATIVITY QUOTE: Open your eyes --creative people are found in countries all over the world, showing Americans new ways to think.
