For some reason I’ve spent the last hour learning about the best in the world in the art of Beatbox. So here are my favorites, from least to most talented:

• French (Joseph) Beatboxer

• Joel Turner

• Mr. Scratch

• Roxorloops

• Faith SFX

So just so there’s no confusion, Roxorloops and Faith SFX are the best.

[ Comic ]

I like to find (a) simple solutions (b) to overlooked problems (c) that actually need to be solved, and (d) deliver them as informally as possible, (e) starting with a very crude version 1, then (f) iterating rapidly.

I’d say that’s a pretty solid way of approaching entrepreneurship in today’s tech world.

I used to be into drawing a bit. Today when I want to draw something I basically muddle through using Flash to do what I should be using Illustrator for.

But this thing might be able to change all that. Very impressive indeed.

I just read about semacodes over at KuiperCliff. Semacodes are a really interesting technology that lets you convert a URL into an image that can be read by camera-enabled mobile phones.

Semacode works by embedding a URL (web address) into a sort of two-dimensional barcode which looks like a dense crossword puzzle (pictured) — called the tag. The SDK software contains the capability to detect and decode the tag very rapidly with the camera on your phone. It extracts the URL and sends you to that address using the phone’s built-in browser. semacode example This may seem complex — and technically, it is — but the user experience is simple to use and easy to learn. By connecting users from physical media to mobile content, the system creates new affordances, new ways to interact with the objects and media that surround us (including augmented reality, remote presence, social software and location tagging). In each field, be it marketing, tourism, games, etc., there are a number of opportunities to use this technology to improve the way people interact and communicate. (from semacode.com)

There are all sorts of projects based on the technology; the most interesting of which I think is Semapedia, which generates these things for Wikipedia URLs that you can then affix to physical objects.

Very cool stuff.

VIDEO: He Supposedly Doesn’t Even Play The Instruments

I’ve been a role-player since 7th grade and had the good fortune of being indoctrinated into a very elite form of the hobby — custom games. When I say custom I mean anything home-grown vs. store-bought, i.e. someone actually came up with the setting, mechanics and other inner-workings of the game.

The Difference

What I’ve noticed about those who play custom games vs. those who exclusively play D&D, etc. is that the former tend to be far more creative than the latter. I think I figured out why.

It’s not that all store-bought and “big” games demand mediocre imaginations from their players; there are tons of people who play mainstream game systems and do so in a very advanced way. But I’d argue that they are in the minority.

The trick is that creative people believe the things that they make up are just as legitimate as the things other people make up.

Non-creative people can’t make that jump. So to a non-imaginative person, developing a game setting, a storyline, characters, etc. is doomed to failure from the very beginning. In their own minds anything they come up with is immediately stupid and inherently not “real”.

The Symptoms

It is for this reason that these same sorts of people shy away from role-playing systems that don’t have an official logo on them. In their minds, if it doesn’t say “Dungeons & Dragons” on it then it’s not role playing. This is a limitation of them, not necessarily of the system in question.

Try this: create in your own mind a traditional D&D-style monster. Make it unique. Imagine what it eats, what it can do, how it attacks, etc. Now give it a name. Think of what it would look like. Could you describe it to someone? Could you convince another role-player that this is a real, “legitimate” monster that they hadn’t heard of?

If you can do this then you’re likely to be able to write a short story or create a custom game system. If you can’t then you’re afflicted with an all too common ailment these days — a lack of creativity.

All this really means is that you don’t believe you’re creative. It means that you could come up with a very cool idea but you’d never believe it was simply because you came up with it. That’s where my tree-hugger, love everyone, hippie education came in handy. I was always told that everyone could be creative, and I believed I was included.

Make Your Own

So to all those who role-play, but don’t play anything that’s not “real” fantasy game, I offer to you that you should expand your mind with some basic exercises. Try and make a game yourself. Make a new system. Make some characters. Make a combat system.

Put some real thought into it and get it so that you can convince someone that it’s a “real” system that just came out from Wizards of the Coast. Once you can do that you’ll find that your creativity in general has been boosted. Boosted by confidence.

That’s the bottom line — if you believe that you’re creative then you probably are. But if you believe that you aren’t then you almost definitely are not. Don’t let negative thoughts effect your reality. Change them.