Quick – Cornell

When constructing a blox for Quick, I wanted to focus on the central image that I included in the Experience post. I really liked the sentimentality that the photo captured of Tina Fey with her group at the Second City. I also liked that Fey was the focal point of the image.

Ruminating on Fey’s experience at the Second City I wanted to portray that same feeling of excitement and wonder that was included in the chapter. Therefore, I chose to have an image of exploding fireworks in the background at a low opacity (so as not to detract the attention from the photograph). I chose fireworks instead of en explosion because of the positive connotation. I also chose an image of multiple fireworks being set off at the same time because that is always the impression I get when I watch good improv – fast bursts of energy that create something beautiful.

At the bottom of the blox I chose to include a (rather stereotypical) image of the open road. Fey explained that so much of the time she spent at Second City was traveling on the road from show to show. On the road her group decided to throw out all of their old sketches and make brand new ones in a collaborative effort. I also decided to include the phrase “Just say Yes” in the blox because that is the central motto of improv which I explained in my post about Experience.

Quick – Experience

Oh, Festina Lente (Hurry Slowly) – I think that this phrase will be burned into my brain forever since I’ve been over this concept of Quickness so many times. Calvino described quickness in writing that has speed, not haste. I am reminded of the man on horse who told the story so badly he was cut off mid-sentence!

I think I chose the perfect book for the quality of Quickness because comedians make the best storytellers! I definitely felt that Tina Fey exhibited this quality when she relayed her experience of working with the Second City improvisational group. During this experience, Tina Fey and her improv group, BlueCo, drove for days on end just to perform in front of audiences for very low pay. But they loved it! From the book, it sounds like they were able to express themselves by throwing out the “best of” sketches that they were supposed to perform and instead made up new sketches where they could play the parts they wanted. I think it is here that Tiney Fey learned some of the best storytelling abilities. In improv, you need to be able to think quickly. But not only that, you need to be able to do it in a way that is interesting or funny, or else you will lose the attention of your audience. Fey mentions that one of the rules of improv is that you need to be apart of the solution. You should follow the “YES, AND” rule:

If I start a scene with “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you just say, “Yeah…” we’re kind of at a stand-still. But if I say, ” I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you say, “What did you expect? We’re in hell,” now we’re getting somewhere.