Opinion

Why We Need Imagination In Our Economies, Media, and Careers

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I’ve decried the lack of space opera – because it requires thinking big thoughts and often thinking of the future, it seems those traits aren’t in vogue.

I’ve recently read a brutal look at the plethora of startups that aren’t original. I had to agree.

I had a discussion with a friend who works in gaming that led to a series of bitter exchanges as we lamented rampant unoriginality.

We can look at economic and political discussions where the same thing is said over and over again. Most lately the dismal attempts at austerity that don’t seem to be solving things.

I would like to postulate that one of the problems in media, in economy, in economics and politics, is a lack of applied imagination.

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Frustration Friday – Trending to Stupid

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I'm a news junkie.  I'm also a geek, which means that I'm used to getting my news from some blogs, aggregators, and sources that are pretty informed.  You know what I mean of course – you're a fanboy, fangirl, geek, nerd, otaku, what have you.  We THRIVE on information.

Which is why I'm getting a bit tired of the news cycles of the geekosphere.  You know, where you can predict to the quarter – if not the MONTH – what the big story will be, who will be up, who will be down.  Those times where every few months this company is big – and the next few months they're in trouble.  Those times when the news "discovers" something they discovered a few months ago.

It's getting old, people.

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Properties, Media, Loyalty

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So, yes, there will be a Risk movie.  And a Monopoly movie.  There's the failed attempt at Thundercats that looked actually cool, but films as we've seen are really working to create effort-free Multimedia synergy.  Or to put it more crassly – grab a name, slap a film on it, profit from the free publicity and associations.

I am sure people will see the aforementioned films and others out of various reasons, from buying the publicity to morbid curiosity.  Some may even make money or provide interesting experiments (the Monopoly film may do so).  However, I think those behind the films are missing something.

Namely, a longer-term plan that builds interest, community, and long-term involvement.

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