07/04/2015

I think it's time to close this blog.

Or to try something else.


Dunno ...

Learning Writing Lessons

Molly Crabapple's 15 rules for creative success in the Internet age

To celebrate the release of my new book, Information Doesn't Want to Be Free: Laws for the Internet Age, I've invited some of my favorite creators and thinkers to write about their philosophy on the arts and the Internet. Today, Molly Crabapple presents her 15 iron laws of creativity. -Cory Doctorow

BY MOLLY CRABAPPLE

I'm a visual artist and writer. What this means is that I have done most things one can do that involve making pictures (as to making words, I'm far newer). I've drawn dicks for Playgirl. I've painted a six foot tall replica of my own face and carefully calligraphed things people have said to me on the Internet, then displayed it in a Tribeca gallery, as a sort of totem. I've live-sketched snipers in Tripoli. I've illustrated self-published kids books for ten dollars a page. I've balanced on jury-rigged scaffolding on a freezing British dawn, painting pigs on the walls of one of the world's poshest nightclubs.

I've made my living as an artist for eight years, almost entirely without galleries, and until relatively recently without agents. It was a death-slog that threw me into periodic breakdowns . I'm pretty successful now. I make a good living, even in New York, have a full time assistant who gets a middle-class salary, and have a book coming out with a major publisher. I feel so lucky, and so grateful, for every bit of this.

My success would not have been possible without the internet. I've used every platform, from Craigslist and Suicide Girls to Livejournal, Myspace, Kickstarter, Tumblr and Twitter. I'm both sick of social media and addicted to it. What nourishes you destroys you, and all that. The internet is getting increasingly corporate and centralized, and I don't know that the future isn't just going back to big money platforms. I hope its not.

Here's what I've learned.

1. The number one thing that would let more independent artists exists in America is a universal basic income. The number one thing that has a possibility of happening is single payer healthcare. This is because artists are humans who need to eat and live and get medical care, and our country punishes anyone who wants to go freelance and pursue their dream by telling them they might get cancer while uninsured, and then not be able to afford to treat it.

2. Companies are not loyal to you. Please never believe a company has your back. They are amoral by design and will discard you at a moment's notice. Negotiate aggressively, ask other freelancers what they're getting paid, and don't buy into the financial negging of some suit.

3. I've cobbled together many different streams of income, so that if the bottom falls out of one industry, I'm not ruined. My mom worked in packaging design. When computers fundamentally changed the field, she lost all her work. I learned from this.

4. Very often people who blow up and become famous fast already have some other sort of income, either parental money, spousal money, money saved from another job, or corporate backing behind the scenes. Other times they've actually been working for 10 years and no one noticed until suddenly they passed some threshold. Either way, its good to take a hard look- you'll learn from studying both types of people, and it will keep you from delusional myth-making.

5. I've never had a big break. I've just had tiny cracks in this wall of indifference until finally the wall wasn't there any more

6. Don't be a dick. Be nice to everyone who is also not a dick, help people who don't have the advantages you do, and never succumb to crabs in the barrel infighting. 

7. Remember that most people who try to be artists are kind of lazy. Just by busting your ass, you're probably good enough to put yourself forward, so why not try?

8. Rejection is inevitable. Let it hit you hard for a moment, feel the hurt, and then move on.

9. Never trust some Silicon Valley douchebag who's flush with investors' money, but telling creators to post on their platform for free or for potential crumbs of cash. They're just using you to build their own thing, and they'll discard you when they sell the company a few years later.

10. Be a mercenary towards people with money. Be generous and giving to good people without it.

11. Working for free is only worth it if its with fellow artists or grassroots organizations you believe in, and only if they treat your respectfully and you get creative control.

12. Don't ever submit to contests where you have to do new work. They'll just waste your time, and again, only build the profile of the judges and the sponsoring company. Do not believe their lies about “exposure”. There is so much content online that just having your work posted in some massive image gallery is not exposure at all.

13. Don't work for free for rich people. Seriously. Don't don't don't. Even if you can afford to, you're fucking over the labor market for other creators. Haggling hard for money is actually a beneficial act for other freelancers, because it is a fight against the race to the bottom that's happening online.

14. If people love your work, treat them nice as long as they're nice to you.

15. Be massively idealistic about your art, dream big, open your heart and let the blood pour forth. Be utterly cynical about the business around your art.

Finally...

The Internet will not save creators.

Social media will not save us. Companies will not save us. Crowd-funding will not save us. Grants will not save us. Patrons will not save us. 

Nothing will save us but ourselves and each other.

Now make some beautiful things.

http://boingboing.net/2014/11/04/molly-crabapples-rules-for-c.html

14 Things

14 Psychology Facts Everyone Should Know

----------------------------------------------------

1. Your favorite song is likely associated with an emotional event.

You and everyone else. (source)

2. Music impacts your perspective.

This one seems kind of obvious! A study at the University of Groningen showed that music has a dramatic impact on your perception. (source)

3. The more you spend on others, the happier you are.

According to various studies. Be sure to give plenty this holiday season! (source)

4. Spending money on experience instead of stuff also makes you happier.

Collect memories not things, right? (source)

5. Kids are more high strung today than the average psych ward patient in 1950.

Which is pretty scary but not surprising. About half the human population now suffers anxiety, depression, or a sort of substance abuse. (source)

6. Certain religious practices lower stress.

“The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Mood Disorders” shows that people who engage in meditation and prayer religiously are less stressed out. (source)

7. Money does buy happiness, but only up to $75,000 a year.

For the average American, $75k a year buys happiness. It liberates you from poverty and gets you what you need in life. (source)

8. Being with happy people makes you happier.

This should come as no surprise. (source)

9. 18 to 33 year olds are the most stressed out people on earth.

Family, education, work, it can all be pretty stressful. (source)

10. Convincing yourself you slept well tricks your brain into thinking it did.

Thus giving you more energy. They called it “placebo sleep”. (source)

11. Smart people underestimate themselves and ignorant people think they’re brilliant.

It’s called the Dunning Kruger Effect, it’s real, and just go on Facebook and you’ll see what I’m talking about. (source)

12. When you remember a past event, you’re actually remembering the last time you remembered it.

Alright, that one blew the hell out of my mind. This is why our memories fade and distort over time. (source)

13. Your decisions are more rational when thought in another language.

A university of Chicago study showed that Korean citizens who thought in foreign languages reduced their overall bias. Neat. (source)

14. If you announce your goals, you’re less likely to succeed.

It’s true. Tests since the 1930’s have pretty well proven it. (source)

http://higherperspectives.com/psychology-facts/ 

I Wish this were my morning

Battle Royale class painting & photo

J Cole (featuring TLC) - "Crooked Smile"

I'm on my way, on my way, on my way down
On my way, on my way, on my way down
You're the one that was trying to keep me way down
But like the sun know you know I found my way back round

They tell me I should fix my grill cause I got money now
I ain't gon' sit around and front like I ain't thought about it
A perfect smile is more appealing but it's funny how
My shit is crooked look at how far I done got without it
I keep my twisted grill, just to show them kids it's real
We ain't picture perfect but we worth the picture still
I got smart, I got rich, and I got bitches still
And they all look like my eyebrows: thick as hell
Love yourself, girl, or nobody will
Oh, you a woman? I don't know how you deal
With all the pressure to look impressive and go out in heels
I feel for you
Killing yourself to find a man that'll kill for you
You wake up, put makeup on
Stare in the mirror but its clear that you can't face what's wrong
No need to fix what God already put his paint brush on
Your roommate yelling, "Why you gotta take so long?"
What it's like to have a crooked smile

I'm on my way, on my way, on my way down
On my way, on my way, on my way down
You're the one that was trying to keep me way down
But like the sun know you know I found my way back round

To all the women with the flaws, know it's hard my darling
You wonder why you're lonely and your man's not calling
You keep falling victim cause you're insecure
And when I tell you that you're beautiful you can't be sure
'Cause he don't seem to want you back
And it got you asking
So all you see is what you lacking
Not what you packing
Take it from a man that loves what you got
And baby girl you're a star, don't let 'em tell you you're not
Now is it real? Eyebrows, fingernails, hair
Is it real? if it's not, girl you don't care
Cause what's real is something that the eyes can't see
That the hands can't touch
That them broads can't be, and that's you
Never let 'em see you frown
And if you need a friend to pick you up, I'll be around
And we can ride with the windows down, the music loud
I can tell you ain't laughed in a while
But I wanna see that crooked smile

I'm on my way, on my way, on my way down
On my way, on my way, on my way down
You're the one that was trying to keep me way down
But like the sun know you know I found my way back round

Crooked smile, we could style on 'em (back 'round)
Crooked smile, we could style on 'em (back 'round)
(You're the one that was trying to keep me way down
Like the sun, I know you know I found my way back round)

We don't look nothing like the people on the screen
You know them movie stars, picture perfect beauty queens
But we got dreams and we got the right to chase 'em
Look at the nation, that's a crooked smile braces couldn't even straighten
Seem like half the race is either on probation, or in jail
Wonder why we inhale, cause we in hell already
I asked if my skin pale, would I then sell like Eminem or Adele?
Yo one more time for the 'Ville
And fuck all of that beef shit, nigga let's make a mil
Hey officer man, we don't want nobody getting killed
Just open up that cell, let my brother out of jail
I got money for the bail now, well now
If you asking will I tell now? Hell naw
I ain't snitching cause
Man, they get them niggas stitches now
If you was around, then you wouldn't need a witness now
How you like this crooked smile?

I'm on my way, on my way, on my way down
On my way, on my way, on my way down
You're the one that was trying to keep me way down
But like the sun know you know I found my way back round

Crooked smile, we could style on 'em (back 'round)
Crooked smile, we could style on 'em (back 'round)
(You're the one that was trying to keep me way down
Like the sun, I know you know I found my way back round)

Nothing Happened - Yay!

An update on the Blogger porn content policy

This week, we announced a change to Blogger’s porn policy stating that blogs that distributed sexually explicit images or graphic nudity would be made private.

We’ve received lots of feedback about making a policy change that impacts longstanding blogs, and about the negative impact this could have on individuals who post sexually explicit content to express their identities.

We appreciate the feedback. Instead of making this change, we will be maintaining our existing policies.

What this means for blog owners

• Commercial porn will continue to be prohibited.
• If you have pornographic or sexually explicit content on your blog, you must turn on the adult content setting so a warning will show. If a blog with adult content is brought to Google’s attention and the content warning is not active, we will turn on the warning interstitial for you. If this happens repeatedly, the blog may be removed.
• If you don't have sexually explicit content on your blog and you're following the rest of the Blogger Content Policy, you don't need to make any changes to your blog.