Perspectives

Because I still want to eat donuts.

Written by UI-Staff

I ate 3!

Make it easy on yourself this year. Re-energize your creative mind and feel accomplished with a list of creative promises to yourself. No more ‘I will quit eating donuts’ or ‘I will stop smoking like a chimney’ resolutions. Really, why would you want to change your hedonistic ways?

To help get you started, I’m sharing my own shortlist of favorite creative sites. Enjoy. And love and happiness to all in 2013.

Brain Pickings
Touted as, “pieces that enrich your mental pool of resources and empower combinatorial ideas that are stronger, smarter, richer, deeper and more impactful.” This weblog by writer Maria Popova is chock full of inspiration specifically aimed at producing better ideas and expanding the creative mind. A personal favorite: John Cleese on Creativity. I’m basing one of my resolutions off of his list! Resolution #1: Create some space for myself.

McSweeney’s
No matter what the medium you can get your McSweeney’s. Founded in 1998 by Editor / Writer Dave Eggers, McSweeney’s publishes books, a quarterly literary journal Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, the literature and humor site McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, magazine The Believer, food journal Lucky Peach, sports journal Grantland Quarterly and DVD magazine Wholphin. And they of course have an iOS app. It’s basically one giant collection of up-and-coming, albeit brilliant creatives. Go-on and discover a new muse.

Design Sponge
This one is an oldy, but very-much still worth the mention. Run by a Brooklynite since 2004, its a go-to for a diverse set of readers; crafters, decorators, designers, event planners, moms and fash-whores alike. Design Sponge has even been declared a “Martha Stewart Living for the Millennials” by the New York Times.

Dangerous Minds
Not that movie with the Coolio Soundtrack. But a “…compendium of new and strange-new ideas, new art forms, new approaches to social issues and new finds from the outer reaches of pop-culture.” Dangerous Minds is a great daily resource for upping your IQ on all things news-worthy and weird. Creativity can come from anywhere.