OUR DIY UNIVERSE

Excuse the poor picture quality. My scanner is packed deep in a 20' trailer.

All below have linked reference photos.

I like beautiful things, and delving deep in the blogosphere guarantees an onslaught of eye candy. Blogs and websites without appealing photos don't do well - especially food websites. Consider SLIM PALATE. The kid's photos and recipes are great, but his writing is terrible (granted, he is a teenager). Shouldn't a blog that has horrible text not get much attention? No, because we're a VISUAL SPECIES. There's plenty of data to support this and that VIDEO TRUMPS STAGNANT PHOTOS for audience engagement and attention. In fact, if I really wanted people to come to my blog I should post videos of me painting like MAJA WRONSKA and AGNES CECILE (I recommend muting sound while watching this one. Weird C-movie soundtrack music).

This all makes me think that people are actually more interested in the process of creative work than the creation itself. We marvel at the ability and secretly wonder if we could do the same. This is why Pinterest is so popular and why everyone is obsessed with DIY. You don't need a skilled artisan anymore. You can create ALL THE THINGS! This is also why PINSTROSITY is so pathetically funny.

So it's kind of horrendous and self-defeating that I'm even putting such horrible picture quality on here.

Instagram REFERENCE

Sharon Montrose REFERENCE

Pinterest REFERENCE

Sharon Montrose REFERENCE

RELATIONAL CURRENCY IN THE 21ST CETURY

I've recently taken a hiatus from Facebook. These are two reasons why:

#1: My long-distance friendships (coupled with my inability to sit and compose letters, send a postcard, or pick up that fancy phone/tiny computer and dial them) get reduced to shallow monkey clicking on the photos that stimulate the most visual feedbacks to my brain or on the statuses that are much more clever than my own. I need to do more to connect to my fellow man, especially ones I'm actually friends with. I'm hoping that axing this fast-food version of correspondence will promote healthier, more meaningful connexions.

#2: There are  SEVEN WAYS to be insufferable on Facebook. I've been culpable of a few of them, like posting lots of food pictures and cutesy relationship or shameless pet pictures. I've never done the most annoying one: No. 5, Oscar speeches: "I just want to say how thankful I am for all of you who have touched my life. Your support means everything and I couldn’t have gotten through a lot of things in the last year without you!" barf. Most of the time it's the "bragging" posts I see (No. 1 on the list), from all sorts of friends and family members - you know the ones: instant eye-rollers. Is life truly that great for you? Or are we all constantly deluding ourselves? Or are YOU trying to delude ME into how great your life has turned out, like Romy and Michelle? 

And look, I don't think I'm being cynical. If there's one thing I've learned from Winedale and being a teacher, you enjoy life regardless of the sucky bits, accepting things without cynicism. But there's something so calculated, robotic, and unhuman-like about these kinds of brainless cries for attention. I can't stand reading them over and over again, even from people I admire and respect and especially from people I don't. So I'm putting earplugs in.

On a more positive note, non-complainy note: I do believe THIS SONG will put a bounce in any pedestrian's step and an extra lift in any cyclist's commute.

Cheers!