Existential Crisis Mobile Command Unit

Neglected blogs and self-perpetuated writing blocks

2011-08-25T20:32:00.002-06:00

The internet is a strange place populated by online cliques, bad information repeated ad nauseum, and unavoidable advertising. When I began this blog I did so with the intent of sharing useful information I had teased out of the nonsense, without all the catch phrases and news items blatantly "shared" between the mediums of social networking and television. One topic in particular that has held my interest for years has been the link between resistance and creativity; nothing is more despised by one who creates for a living more than inertia. It's also one of the most common problems as well.

Oh the irony. I found myself making lists in my sketchbooks of topics I'd like to tackle, where they would go and how I would go about explaining them without my dark humor getting in the way of the 'voice' of my blog. Nothing is more frustrating to me than logging on to a social networking site and finding comments from people who sound like they're feeling sorry for me when I actually find something amusing or disturbingly ignorant. Another bothersome sibling of this sort of retort is one in which someone is trying to give me kind, but unwanted, advice.

Between this kind of gesture and the very good possibility that I could be misunderstood I found myself avoiding writing on here all together. I wanted to learn more about blogging and how to lay out text in a way that it would be read easily, if I should avoid putting links within my text or add them at the end, if I should avoid using run-on sentences such as this one in order to keep the readers interest. What should I write about? Who will read it? Why is my vocabulary and ability to articulate different from one day to the next? What if no one reads this? What if I end up sounding like a pretentious hipster asshole? What if I am a pretentious hipster asshole? What if all the pretentious hipster assholes think I'm a neophyte pseudo-intellectual? And worse, what if I am a neophyte pseudo-intellectual?

Just like any other kind of creative work, writing is something that can come to a screeching halt when perfectionism enters the picture. Perfection has no place in art. Nor does it have any place in the real world. Despite everything our society and education has trained us to believe, sometimes the only thing you really need is the ability to keep going and the capacity for authenticity. Not to say that technical skill and the drive towards mastery has nothing to do with it, it's actually a very important part of the equation. But when the focus turns to something outside of using your work to communicate something you feel deeply the work becomes sterile, predictable and and of no consequence to anyone who matters.

Another obstacle I devised was considering the ethics of communication. There's no point in catering to pluralistic ignorance. Everyone is seeking to know that other's feel the same way. I'm not necessarily talking sob story the-world-is-big-and-scary-and-I-feel-alone-when-I'm-with-people feelings. We all get that. We're caught within our own reality, our own perspective, and we can never see through another persons eyes. We can empathize, we can feel the same emotions and share similar beliefs but we can never experience another person's reality. That's why it's so important to be authentic and avoid regurgitating information without personal insight and well researched facts.

My biggest concern was this giant goal I decided to set for myself of writing things that were meaningful and of use to people. I know what I find interesting and what information I find to be useful to myself but dammit I have a responsibility to my readers! Actually, no, no I don't. I could be like 80% of the blogs out there and no one would care. All I really want to do is write about the topics I find interesting and maybe other people will too. But I found other things to do and when did have the time, the right subject, and the motivation to write, I avoided it like the plague. Sometimes, you just have to take the pressure off yourself and just do what you do. And in a soon to be published post (no really, I will write it soon) I will divulge some really interesting info about creativity, inertia, procrastination and the creative process. Obviously these aren't end-all solutions that will permanently fix the problem, but little tools and techniques to use when you've really had enough with setting aside something and you're actually ready to go at it. Until then, I'd be interested in hearing if any of you have issues with writing, creativity or getting around to projects and if so, what methods do you use when you're ready to tackle them?

Cherry Ad-ons, Links, and Gadgets

2010-12-07T11:17:00.002-07:00

Despite all the time I could possibly waste on the internet, I'm a student; I have papers to write and research to do. I've come across some very cool and very practical little tools that have been huge time savers for me in the past week and I'd like to share them with you. So here are some cherry picks from the world wide web:

Apture
This browser add-on allows you to highlight a name, word, title, pretty much anything, and gives you the option to look up more information under that heading in a miniature window. You get wiki articles, photos, videos, Twitter, and Google results without having to open a new tab or leave the site you're on. It works on Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. It's a huge time saver and it's free.

After the Deadline
Another plug-in for your internet browser that allows you to spell check your text when the option isn't normally available. Just last week my college online courses changed their spell check method to a pop-up window that doesn't work at all. This tool came in pretty handy and it's much faster than the embedded spell checkers. One strange thing I have noticed about it though: when you click the spell check icon it has the tendency to temporarily remove any formatting or special characters while you use it. Once you exit the tool things go right back to normal. Also, once the tool is activated, it works by using the left mouse button rather than the right.

Google Dictionary Extension
Highlight any word and click the dictionary icon in the address bar, the definition comes up in a small drop-down window. This extension only works with Google Chrome. Users are awaiting a Firefox extension but until then, Mozilla fans can use Dictionary Tooltip

One Look

You know what the word means but you can't remember it for the life of you. Frustration escalates and you start asking friends, family members, who ever is around with a decent vocabulary to help you identify that one word that encompasses the message you're trying to get across. Sometimes you remember hours later, other times you give up and rewrite the sentence you agonized over. You don't have to waste that time again; some mad genius created a reverse look-up dictionary. If you can describe the word, you can find it. You can even look up words that start and end with specific letters, or phrases that have specific words in them. This site generates a list of suggestions based on your description and provides links to their definitions. Drawbacks? You need to be short and clear about what the word means. Hopefully that's the case if you're trying to use it in a sentence anyway.

Pilot Extra-fine | Ufunk.net

2010-08-19T03:06:00.000-06:00

This ingenious little ad campaign by the Grey Agency features ink work on LEGO people promoting the new Pilot pen.

Bad ass LEGO Tattoo – Pilot Extra-fine | Ufunk.net

Gnome: Part Deux

2010-08-15T02:47:00.001-06:00

After going through some old images I decided to experiment with some of them a little more and see what else I could do with them. This was taken a year ago when I moved back in with my family. I woke up one morning and looked out the window and this was what I saw. The prankster at large was my brother, Alex, who continued to find new and interesting ways to torture the gnome for several days.

This first image is the newest version, inspired by vintage family photos.

This second image was the original interpretation of the photo. It's interesting to note that this was done before taking digital photography classes with Karl Dukstien. Before taking these classes I had been doing photography for ten years and found myself sliding into a strange habit of making my photos look more like typical commercial work rather than what I really wanted to do. Karl, having an attraction to the strange and innovative inspired me to have the courage to really let myself play rather than focusing on the typical expectations of commercial work. I never really had the desire to do commercial work but somehow found myself drifting towards that style before I was set straight.

TWIN Project

2010-08-15T02:31:00.001-06:00

Photo collage comprised of two vintage photos sent to me by David Spahr and a label from the inside of a bag of bedsheets.

A Brief Explanation and Disclosure

2010-08-15T01:33:00.000-06:00

I've created this blog with the intention to create without someone on the other end waiting to see the result. to explore, to share beneficial information I come across, to play, to be vulnerable, to make a mess.

Originally I thought about creating a completely anonymous blog where I could write down all my misconceptions about the world and feel free to do so without backlash within my immediate environment. Then I considered making it strictly a photo/art blog, mostly lacking in text. But I don't want a Tumblr. I want to show you who I am. Take it or leave it. I believe in sharing the information I have personally found beneficial or interesting. Along with that I'll be posting art projects, photography and sketches.

If you have nothing nice to say, be constructive about it. If you have suggestions of how to make something better, or add something, feel free to share.