Author: James Gang

Verbotomy Game Inventor, James Gang, chats with jedijawa, winner of Dan Pink’s Right-Brain.

James Gang: Congratulations on your win jedijawa! Here are the final stats: https://www.verbotomy.com/verbotomists.php?week=2007-04-11.

Weeklink has called you “creative genius and fierce competitor”, so I am sure that all the other Verbotomists have one question they would like to ask: How do you come up with your words?

jedijawa: Sometimes the words pop into my head, but I usually try to think of synonyms for the concepts that go into the definition. Then I try to play off of those, if they have a good sound to them, or can be mashed together with another word. If I’m having a hard time, I’ll see what direction that the other players are taking so that I don’t end up repeating what someone else has already done.

James Gang: Did you find Verbotomy harder when you first started playing? Did your creative approach change or evolve as you played?

jedijawa: When I first started, I did find it hard to think in terms of creating new words to the definitions, as I tended to over-think it. Now I try to let something come naturally and may look up a few synonyms to jog my memory or to get the creative process started.

James Gang: And now, as award-winning Verbotomist, is your creative approach different than when you started?

jedijawa: I don’t know how the others do it, but there are some long time members of this site who have been consistently amazing! And I don’t know how they do it every day like that, or how I managed to win the contest that week. All I can say is that I’m glad I came up with “blahg” or I wouldn’t have made it.

James Gang: Have your heard of Dan Pink before? What do you think of his idea that Right-Brainers (i.e. creative people ) will rule the future?

jedijawa: I have not heard of Dan Pink but I am pessimistic about the future of right brained-thinkers.

James Gang: Do you consider yourself a “Right-Brainer”?

jedijawa: I fancy myself a Right-Brainer but I’m afraid that creativity is dying out in society with the proliferation of so much pacifying technology that eats up people’s time. Nobody goes to see theater, the symphony, or live performance art anymore because they can get all of that on their ipod, from Netflix, or from turning on satellite radio or tv. I’m afraid the same is true for reading, playing music, or creative writing (except for maybe some of those bloggers out there).

James Gang: Are you “creative” at work?

jedijawa: I am an attorney so I get some chances to be creative in my law practice and my job focuses on words and language so I consider myself to be a logophile. In the end I think that blogging is currently my most creative outlet.

James Gang: An Attorney? Wow! Do you have any opinion on the way the game of Verbotomy is structured? Would you change any of the rules, or the way it is played?

jedijawa: No, I’m pretty happy with the way that you have it laid out. I like the way that you’re doing some contests now so that you have more motivation to push for the big win in a week. I wouldn’t say you have to do that all the time, but the occasional contest is nice.

James Gang: We will see what we can do about the contests. As you know we are doing the Verbotomy Cup this week, and next week we are doing a themed week around the novels and stories of Cory Doctorow. It should be fun, especially for you, as an Attorney, because Cory has some very strong opinions about copyright/copyleft and intellectual property, so we should come up with some great Verbotomy challenges… And speaking of definitions, do you have any rattling around inside your head? Would you like to share them with us?

jedijawa: I would like it a lot … I just have forgotten the couple that I thought of earlier this week. How about:

“The act of circling a parking lot looking for the closest possible space to your destination.”

Or:

“The tendency for people to believe they are above average in some activity when it is a statistical impossibility (because we can’t all be above average).”

James Gang: Those are great. We will add them to our list and I will email you when we post them. So once again, congratulations on your win! By the way, Dan Pink is in Japan for 3 months, so it could be a few more weeks before he sends you an autographed copy of his book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.

jedijawa: The prize was a neat incentive for this week and I see that you’re doing it again. So, thanks again. I’m still surprised that I beat that Stevenson fellow. I was a bit more inspired this week and maybe that was why … or I just got lucky! 🙂