Posts Tagged ‘art’

The #Work is the Win

Posted: January 30, 2024 in Stimulus Space Response
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

Itā€™s natural to want to be externally successful at what we do.

In the era of social media, that desire is exploited and gaslit at historic levels

I find the Hemingway quote, ā€œbe prepared to work always without applauseā€ to be as close to the perfect piece of life advice as there is. Itā€™s not negative. Itā€™s not cynical. Itā€™s honest. Itā€™s fair. Itā€™s objective. Itā€™s true.

Iā€™ve also always liked the term passion project.

Doing creative/artistic work is hard and there is no objective standard of quality.

Personal taste is not up for debate.

So how do we know if weā€™re good? How do we know if weā€™re successful? How do we know if weā€™re on the right path? Capitalist controlled cultures would point to money, fame, influence, clout, etc. Does that mean those are the only good creatives?

Perfectionism is the trap we put ourselves in to shield from external judgement. Not only from external criticism but from external success, and lack thereof.

If weā€™re creating from our ego, we need the success. Itā€™s not about the work, itā€™s about the result. Itā€™s not about the journey, itā€™s about the destination. Itā€™s not about the depth, itā€™s about the shallow features. Itā€™s not about whatā€™s real, itā€™s about the facade. Itā€™s not about originality, itā€™s about clap trap zeitgeist.

Get those numbers up, so they can be used as a pillars of humble brags and how to listicles. How can I monetize this? Monetize what? ANYTHING! EVERYTHING!

The work is the win. Creating is the purpose. Itā€™s so much better when we come from that place. Because then weā€™re not chasing. Weā€™re not selling. Weā€™re creating. Weā€™re contributing. Weā€™re being authentic. Weā€™re being real. We are being.

#Create One Thing at a Time

Posted: January 10, 2024 in Stimulus Space Response
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

Many of my journal entries over the past year or two have ended with me writing the words; one thing at a time.

Getting started can be so, so hard. The internal resistance to putting forth external effort and action if measurable, would go off the charts and break the instruments.

When one is able to at least temporarily squeeze through or push past perfectionism and create something, regardless of quality, the inner pressure release and sense of relief would be the equivalent of sky diving, while holding and anvil.

One thing at a time

One action at a time

One choice at a time

What is quality? What is good and bad? The gatekeepers have been out to lunch for decades at this point. Just do it.

Spotlight effect often holds people back. I know it held me back. With a little (or a lot) of Imposter Syndrome mixed in.

One thing I realized, after a very, very long time of thinking about it, journaling about it, meditating about it, drinking about itā€¦was that if I really did think what I wanted to create was so bad then I wouldnā€™t be negatively judging otherā€™s so frequently and/or so harshly.

But thatā€™s not what weā€™re doing when weā€™re negatively judging other acts of creation. Weā€™re projecting self hatred. I know I was. It got to the point where I was getting into verbal conflicts with people I hardly knew at bars overā€¦nothing. I think back to what started those verbal tiffs and after I cringe, I slap myself in the forehead and stay there because they never actually said or did anything. I was just projecting my self hatred onto others because I wasnā€™t doing what I wanted to do which was creating.

A creator that doesnā€™t create, otherwise known as a writer or artist sans the word professional prefixed.

Just publishing blogs, articles, essays, and thoughts has changed my mental and emotional state immeasurably. Is my content good? Is it important? Is it impactful? Well all metrics of external success would say no, then to pat me on my head and say at least you tried.

But itā€™s good for me. Itā€™s working for me. Itā€™s helping me. And you canā€™t help others unless you help yourself first. You canā€™t feed others from an empty bowl. You canā€™t put on someone elseā€™s oxygen mask if you are suffocating to death yourself.

One thing at a time

One action at a time

One choice at a time

Formally Studying the #Art of #Film & #Video Made me Less of a Cynical Critic

Posted: July 6, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

mm@C4logo2ajclogo2

by @anarchyroll
7/5/2014

While getting my BA I took a decent amount of film classes. Between film, television, and video studies I took eight classes that focused on the history of or making of the electronic visual medium(s).

I used to be quite the amateur, wannabe, cynical critic of movies. I assumed that knowing the history, terminology, etc would make me an even sharper critic since I would have actual knowledge to go with my sarcasm and self-proclaimed high level of taste. Instead the opposite happened.

Learning about the visual art of film making from misƩ en scene, cinematography, editing, set design, rule of thirds, set design, and the history of film from Edison and the Lumiere Brothers to the first talkies to the second golden age of American film in the 1970s gave me a true appreciation for almost all films and major motion pictures, even the bad ones. I really grew to appreciate the effort that goes into making a movie/television show.

That doesn’t mean that I confuse shit for steak, but I often see the good in the bad films, and rather than spend time, effort, energy, and emotion throwing shade at a lackluster film, I just follow the “if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all” paradigm.

I was and still am completely blown away by how much goes into making a movie. Even bad movies, even Michael Bay movies.

I thought studying film would turn me into a film snob who only liked avant-garde, black and white, indie flicks.

Instead my taste in film didn’t really change at all. In fact, the blockbuster movies I tend to see in movie theaters, I came to enjoy even more. Why? Because film is a visual medium. Big budget blockbusters are basically 100% tailored to be visual stimulation. Heaven knows most of them aren’t going to pull on the emotional strings based on their script(s). When I learned that nothing that appears on-screen of a film’s final cut is an accident, my appreciation and fandom grew.

My educated eyes allowed me to be more easily sucked into James Bond and comic book blockbuster movies, rather than more skeptical of them.

What I really learned in studying the history and processes of film, television, video production, directing, editing, cinematography, script writing and acting besides the terminology is an appreciation of each. That is why when I read cynical reviews online and in print all I see is bitter, childish, ego centered pouting by a failed artist/creator who now judges others. It’s why all of the film reviews I’ve posted on this blog have been pretty positive even though I have seen and written about some pretty underwhelming films.

I encourage anyone reading this to take a film history or art of film and video class. It will literally change the way you see what you see when you look at a screen, and that is a good thing.