every thing is ideal
The ideal is inherent in all things. There is an understood idea embedded within any tangible object.
Sharpened metal becomes the knife. Sewn leathers become a Prada bag.
It was the Alchemist’s metaphysical mission to transmute these base materials into gold. To refine a rough object and polish out its valuable core, taking that gold and then elevating it to a greater potential.
To make the ordinary, extra-ordinary.
For branded commodities and services, the alchemical drive is still relevant. To discover core qualities and ideas, then take these often primal essential energies and articulate them into something tangible.
The elements that develop from this creative cauldron are not just simple objects though, but awesome artifacts that invoke the impossible. Through the processes of creative strategy, brand development, and other visual cultures. The thing, the object, the artifact, the commodity, the brand! It becomes the homunculi beast that continues to grow and become something more dynamic; a center of value greater than the sum of its parts.
Transmutation. Synergy. 1+1= π
Language — Composition/Rhetoric — Literature
Ideas — Poetry
Monstres & Story
Reading Lists
Narrative / Sequential Arts
- The Art of Dramatic Writing, Egri
- The Making of a Story, LaPlante
- Screenplay, Syd Field
- Screenplay, Russin
- Story, Robert McKee
- The Writer’s Journey, Vogler
- Save the Cat!, Snyder
- Backwards & Forwards, Ball
- Story Structure Architect, Victoria Schmidt
- Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
- Making Comics, Scott McCloud
- Screenwriting, The Sequence Approach, Gulino
Humanities
- Sexual Personae, Paglia
- Glittering Images, Paglia
- The Golden Bough, Frazer
- The Hero with A Thousand Faces, Campbell
- On Writing, Stephen King
- The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud
- The Nude, Clark
- The Uses of Enchantment, the Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, Bettelheim
- The Prince, Machiavelli
- Zen in the Art of Archery, Herrigel
- The Art of War, Sun Tzu
Cinema and Directing
- The Command to Looks, William Mortenson
- The Five C’s of Cinematography, Mascelli
- The Visual Story, Block
- Shot by Shot, Katz
- Cinematic Motion, Katz
- Lighting for Television & Film, Millerson
- The Aesthetics and Psychology of the Cinema, Mitry
- Directing, Film Technique and Aesthetics, rabiger
- On Film-Making, Mackendrick
- Theatre Theory Theatre, Gerould
Dance, Drama, and Music
- The Making of Dances, Humphrey
- The Dance Technique of Lester Horton, Perces
- Ballet Technique for the Male Dancer, Tarasov
- Character Dance, Pagels
- Basic Principles of Classical Ballet, Vaganova
- Classical Ballet Technique, Warren
- 45 Master characters, Schmidt
- The Power of the Actor, Chubbuck
- Tunesmith, Jimmy Webb
- Dance and Music, Cavalli
- The Upright Citizen’s Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
- A Source Book of Theatrical History, Nagler
- Acting, Boleslavsky
- Audition, Shurtleff
- A Challenge for the Actor, Hagen
- To the Actor, on the technique of acting, Chekhov
- The Craftsmen of Dionysus, Rockwood
- Speak the Speech, Silverbush
- The Perfect Monologue, Friedman
Literature
- Dracula, Bram Stoker
- The Epic of Gilgamesh
- Letters to a Young Poet, Rilke
- The Rubaiyat, Khayyem/ Fitzgerald
- The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald
- Tartuffe, Moliere
- Pastoralia, Saunders
- Brave New World, Huxley
- The Wasteland, Eliot
- Stories, Katherine Mansfield
- A Handful of Dust, Waugh