Every Metaphor and Simile has an Analogy Inside

This video is quite related with the lesson that I have learnt in class which is metaphor, analogy and simile. Hope it will help those who is still grasping in the dark.

Juxtaposition: Analogy, Metaphor & Similes

In this lesson we learn about analogy, metaphor and similes. Here I will define the three terms for a better understandings.

Analogy

Analogy is to use something familiar to explain a complex matter. It is a mixed between metaphor and similes. Analogy is 'reasoning or explaining from parallel cases'. Put another way, an analogy is a comparison between two different things in order to highlight some point of similarity.

Examples of analogy:

1. Glove is to hand as paint is to wall
2. Citizens are to president as solar system is to galaxy
3. Horses are to past societies as computers are to future societies

Metaphor

A figure of speech that implies comparison between two different things that actually share something in common. Using one thing to describe another thing

Metaphors are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way. Metaphors are a way to describe something. Authors use them to make their writing more interesting or entertaining.

Unlike similes that use the words “as” or “like” to make a comparison, metaphors state that something is something else.

One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol: “Hollywood has always been an irresistible, prefabricated metaphor for the crass, the materialistic, the shallow, and the craven” (Neal Gabler)

Examples of metaphor:

1. A lifetime is a day, death is sleep; a lifetime is a year, death is winter
2. Life is a struggle, dying is losing a contest against an adversary
3. Life is a precious possession, death is a loss
4. Time is a thief

Simile

A figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared. Simile is when you compare two nouns (persons, places or things) that are unlike, using the term 'as' or 'like'.

Examples of simile:

1. As flat as a pancake
2. Like a volcano
3. As light as a feather
4. The water is like the sun
5. The rain falls like the sun,rising upon the mountains

"The water is like the sun."

"The water is like the sun" is an example of simile because water and the sun have little in common, and yet they're being compared to one another. The "is" is also part of what makes this stanza an example of simile.

"The rain falls like the sun,
rising upon the mountains."

Here is another example, comparing falling rain to the rising of the sun. Good similes compare two very different nouns.

SENSES

Sadness is as happy as laughter.
You might cry because it hurts.
You might laugh because it hurts.
But I know one thing,
laughter is laughter and sadness
is sadness.
They can show the
same things like
hurting and gladness.

	It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog
	The Beatles

Chili and love

In the next lesson, we were asked to relate pictures into words. It can be an essay or even a poem about the pictures that were chosen. So, in the class I were asked to write about chili and love.

My essay on chili and love

I love eating chili but I cant keep going on with my life with just eating chili but I can put chili in every food I eat. Food without chili will fill me up but I can't help noticing there is something missing. That is how I feel about love. I can live without love but without it I am an empty hollow. It is exactly like eating food without chili. The need of love is like the need of chili.....

.

But if you eat chili you can get hot!!

Brainstorming Me

Usually mind mapping starts in the centre but I did not start the central idea in the middle of the paper. I tried to do the mind map using Tony Buzan's software of mind mapping and it helps me a lot. It is such a helpful software which help us to do a neat mind map and it is easier to read and understand the content. Before this I used the conventional method of mind mapping which is hand writing but when there is too much to write, everything was jumbled up and I could not even read what I have written. Besides, even an A4 size paper could not occupy the content of the mind map and the handwritings become worsen. I would like to encourage everyone to use Tony Buzan's software as it is effective and hassle free!

Mind mapping technique (logical mind map)

This week we learn about how to mind mapping in a systematic way. Mind map is a graphical way to represent ideas and concepts. It is a visual thinking tool that helps structuring information, helping you to better analyze, comprehend, synthesize, recall and generate new ideas. Brainstorming is usually related to the process of mind mapping. According to Alex Faickney Osborn, brainstorming is a process for developing creative solutions to problems. Brainstorming works by focusing on a problem, and then deliberately coming up with as many solutions as possible and by pushing the ideas as far as possible. One of the reasons it is so effective is that the brainstormers not only come up with new ideas in a session, but also spark off from associations with other people's ideas by developing and refining them. Just as in every great idea, its power lies in its simplicity.

There are four basic rules in brainstorming (Osborn, 1963) intended to reduce social inhibitions among team members, stimulate idea generation, and increase overall creativity:

• No criticism: Criticism of ideas are withheld during the brainstorming session as the purpose is on generating varied and unusual ideals and extending or adding to these ideas. Criticism is reserved for the evaluation stage of the the process. This allows the members to feel comfortable with the idea of generating unusual ideas.
• Welcome unusual ideas: Unusual ideas are welcomed as it is normally easier to "tame down" than to "tame up" as new ways of thinking and looking at the world may provide better solutions.
• Quantity Wanted: The greater the number of ideas generated, the greater the chance of producing a radical and effective solution.
• Combine and improve ideas: Not only are a variety of ideals wanted, but also ways to combine ideas in order to make them better.

Coldplay - The Scientist

This is a very rare way of telling a story and this video really fascinated me. At first I did not understand why he is walking backwards all the time but when I watched the whole video till the end now I have grasped the idea that he is actually telling a story. This is a very creative way of telling a story and not by using a typical approach. However, there is a very slight mistake in the video that disappointed me a little bit otherwise everything is great. Whatever it is the idea is the main focus in everything we do.

Creativity and Novelty | Invention and Innovation

"One of the buzzwords you hear a lot in the business world these days, is “Innovation”. Yes, it’s a genuinely worthy thing to aspire to. Genuine innovation creates lots of genuine value, every young intern knows this. Which is why people like to throw it around like confetti. It’s one of those words that sound good in meetings, regardless of how serious one is about ACTUALLY innovating ANYTHING."

“Innovative” is an “external” word. It can be measured. It generally talks about things that have been tested properly and found to have worked in the real world."

“Creative”, however, is more of an “internal” word. It’s subjective, it’s murkier. It’s far harder to measure, it’s far harder to define. It’s an inward journey, not outward. Which is why a lot of people in business try to keep the word out of their official lexicon, preferring instead more neutral, more externally-focused language like “Value”, “Excellence”, “Quality” and yes, “Innovation”.

- Hugh MacLeod-

Creativity, novelty, invention and innovation.

These are the topic in lesson 2. Well, when I came across this in the class first word that caught my attention is 'invention'. Well, simply because it is easier to understand compared to others but actually the word itself portrays the relationship between creativity and invention. In my opinion the greatest inventor of all time is John Boyd Dunlop (1840-1921). He is the recognized inventor of the first practical pneumatic or inflatable tyre. Why do I choose him? Because I wish I would think about that earlier than he was. Actually, in any vehicle components tyres are vital parts however certain people do not appreciate the importance of tyres. Well, enough about invention before I start babbling about tyres. Let's move on to the definition of those four terms so that we may understand the topic in further details. In this case I would love to use

Theodore Levitt’s classic definition of creativity and innovation.

[Theodore Levitt’s classic definition of creativity and innovation]

Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.

Creativity = Ideas

but

Innovation = Ideas + Action

The ideas are often judged more by their novelty than by their potential usefulness, either to consumers or to the company.

Creativity = Novelty

but

Innovation = Novelty + Value

It’s hard to argue with the logic. No reasonable person would claim ideas are more valuable than action – but then creative people are notoriously unreasonable.

Or are they?

Summary

Creativity is marked by the ability or power to create, to bring into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new.

Creativity is like a cat chasing its tail.

In the act of creating or in solving problems in creative ways we often go round and round in endless circles wanting to pounce on an idea. Sometimes the answer or solution is right before our eyes but we can't see it. In order to find the solution, find the missing piece, solve the problem, we need to just look at something familiar in a new and different way.

Novelty is considered as an essential factor of being creative. It is the quality of offering a new and unusual experience through conception. It is also related with originality which is the quality of being new and original (not derived from something else).

Invention is

"the discovery or creation of a new material (either a new manufactured product or a new composition or matter), a new process, a new use for an existing material, or any improvements of any of these."

Inventions are easy to define but can be difficult to recognize.

So when is something an invention? Obviously it must be new, but if I throw paint at the wall , then I’ve created something new while not something inventive. It must be new in the sense that it has novelty and utility. Unlike creativity, inventiveness seems to require the creation of a tool of some sort that others can use. Invention can somehow be disassociated from creativity in the sense that one can slog one’s way to an invention (or utility creation) without the flash of inspiration and imagination that is associated with creativity.

Innovation

however, requires the contexts of both the past and the future. Innovation must be creative (the past, see above), but must also cause a change in the creations of others (the future).

If the invention improves some product, process or service for the public, then that invention transforms into an innovation.

Innovation thus demands a social context of some sort that creativity does not.