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I've been pondering the following two items today...
1. What do I consider extraordinary, and is this subjective?
2. Can someone be truly bad or good? Or there any bad guys or good guys?
Both arose from conversations with other people. The first was online, the second was with a co-worker. (Who I inspired to start watercoloring botanicals. She shared two of her art books with me. She's very good. Very detailed artist. She has an Associates Degree in Art, a BA in Education and Psychology, along with Botany. People can be very interesting. You never know who you will learn something new from.)
The first? I think we defined extraordinary differently? ( Read more... )
The second conversation? Which kind of bounces off of the first - which arose out of a debate on whether Walter White (and two monsters from X-Files) had extraordinary talents.
The second one...came up with the interesting idea of doing a children's book where one side tells the story from one perspective, the guy who thinks he's the hero, then the reverse side of the book tells it from the alleged antagonist's perspective and how he is the hero. Basically the concept is - we're all the hero of our story in our heads. The villain doesn't see themselves as the villain, they see themselves as the hero. And there really aren't any good guys or bad guys in life.
( Read more... )
The book idea is interesting. However? I think I've seen it done before. Almost positive that I saw it done in either Marvel or DC comics. They like to do those sorts of experimental things. Actually, it's what I like about pulp. Daytime Soaps, Superhero comics, all of that? It experiments. Buffy did too. Why? Because they lie below the critical radar screen - the writers and artists aren't being that closely monitored, because there's so much content they are churning out day by day - that they can play and be a bit more creative about it.
But, I do wonder, are there instances where people truly are one or the other? My co-worker was stating no one was one or the other - and she was trying to teach her son not to see himself as a bad person for making bad mistakes. I agree with her there - too often we demonize the person not the action. People aren't bad, it's the act that is. People are more than one thing. Going back to Walter White - he loved his family, he loved Jesse, he was loyal to both, he gave money to help his obnoxious emasculating brother in law. But he was also a conniving, sniveling, nasty, good for nothing drug dealing, meth making, murderer. Both sides existed in him. He was both. And that is possible. People are capable of horrendous and wonderful things often at the same time, we can often be both the villain and the hero in our own stories - Walter White was.
I just don't this is true of Donald Trump or Adolph Hitler...
***
For this week's Artist Date - (The Artist Date is where I am assigned to take my artist self out on a date. It can be anything really - except that I have to do it alone (no problem there), and it has to be something for my inner child or fun or something I want to do - not work related, not a chore, not something I have to do such as groceries or laundry.)
I decided to do it on Friday (today) instead of Saturday, because it is supposed to be rainy and cold all day tomorrow. It was lovely after work - the sky was blue, the sun blazing, and it was unseasonably warm at 56 degrees, almost 60 in the sun. This was at 4:30pm. (I get off work at 4 - I work from 8 to 4 each day, with an hour and ten minute commute to and from work or thereabouts. Used to be an hour and a half, but they kindly shaved off twenty minutes by making the trains more frequent.)
I got off the commuter train at Atlantic Avenue Terminal, and instead of going directly to the subway, walked a block or two south on Layfaette, (the subway is on Layfaette and Fulton) to the Center for Fiction. It used to be located in Manhattan, but several years back it moved to Brooklyn. (I know it was in Manhattan - because I visited it when I worked, briefly, at Grand Central. Convenient of it to move closer to me, wasn't it? )
I'd been meaning to check it out for some time now. But kept talking myself out of it. Today, I did it. Finally. And it was lovely. I spent more money than I should - buying things I did not need.
What did I get?
1. I discovered this weird little short story kiosk - where you hover your finger over a 1 minute, 3 minute or 5 minute button, and a little short story prints out for you on a long narrow piece of paper. It's free.
( short story that came out of the kiosk )
2. I found a ceramic coaster with the literary cover of Zora Neal Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God".
( blurry photo of coaster - because my hand shook )
3. This month's The Paris Review (because I liked the cover)
( The Paris Review )
4. The others were two boxes of matches - one big box "Make a Wish" and one small box "with the Hobbit on the front", a Jasmine scented candle, and a handpainted notebook (because I really need another notebook...(I don't but I like them). )
( Read more... )
***
All of these little purchases (which did add up) made me happy. I may go back there for events. It's a cool little place. They have a cafe with books, and a little stage where people speak. And a large book store - focused mainly on fiction, but also non-fictional works, and staff suggestions.
Big windows. Very swank. That's the word that comes to mind. Swank.
Overall, a productive little Artist Date. Also I bought toys for my Artist, as the book recommends. (Although my artist is hardly deprived. Based solely on self-help books, I am beginning to think there are a lot of miserable people on this planet who don't know how to treat themselves?)
Having finished the Cranston book, I'm currently listening to Brene Brown's book on Shame, she's a shame researcher, and she wrote a book on that research and how to be resilient against shame - which is prevalent in our society. She's right, it is. Not a day goes by in which someone somewhere isn't trying to shame me or someone around me. I need a people free day - which is tomorrow.
***
( work more or less... )
1. What do I consider extraordinary, and is this subjective?
2. Can someone be truly bad or good? Or there any bad guys or good guys?
Both arose from conversations with other people. The first was online, the second was with a co-worker. (Who I inspired to start watercoloring botanicals. She shared two of her art books with me. She's very good. Very detailed artist. She has an Associates Degree in Art, a BA in Education and Psychology, along with Botany. People can be very interesting. You never know who you will learn something new from.)
The first? I think we defined extraordinary differently? ( Read more... )
The second conversation? Which kind of bounces off of the first - which arose out of a debate on whether Walter White (and two monsters from X-Files) had extraordinary talents.
The second one...came up with the interesting idea of doing a children's book where one side tells the story from one perspective, the guy who thinks he's the hero, then the reverse side of the book tells it from the alleged antagonist's perspective and how he is the hero. Basically the concept is - we're all the hero of our story in our heads. The villain doesn't see themselves as the villain, they see themselves as the hero. And there really aren't any good guys or bad guys in life.
( Read more... )
The book idea is interesting. However? I think I've seen it done before. Almost positive that I saw it done in either Marvel or DC comics. They like to do those sorts of experimental things. Actually, it's what I like about pulp. Daytime Soaps, Superhero comics, all of that? It experiments. Buffy did too. Why? Because they lie below the critical radar screen - the writers and artists aren't being that closely monitored, because there's so much content they are churning out day by day - that they can play and be a bit more creative about it.
But, I do wonder, are there instances where people truly are one or the other? My co-worker was stating no one was one or the other - and she was trying to teach her son not to see himself as a bad person for making bad mistakes. I agree with her there - too often we demonize the person not the action. People aren't bad, it's the act that is. People are more than one thing. Going back to Walter White - he loved his family, he loved Jesse, he was loyal to both, he gave money to help his obnoxious emasculating brother in law. But he was also a conniving, sniveling, nasty, good for nothing drug dealing, meth making, murderer. Both sides existed in him. He was both. And that is possible. People are capable of horrendous and wonderful things often at the same time, we can often be both the villain and the hero in our own stories - Walter White was.
I just don't this is true of Donald Trump or Adolph Hitler...
***
For this week's Artist Date - (The Artist Date is where I am assigned to take my artist self out on a date. It can be anything really - except that I have to do it alone (no problem there), and it has to be something for my inner child or fun or something I want to do - not work related, not a chore, not something I have to do such as groceries or laundry.)
I decided to do it on Friday (today) instead of Saturday, because it is supposed to be rainy and cold all day tomorrow. It was lovely after work - the sky was blue, the sun blazing, and it was unseasonably warm at 56 degrees, almost 60 in the sun. This was at 4:30pm. (I get off work at 4 - I work from 8 to 4 each day, with an hour and ten minute commute to and from work or thereabouts. Used to be an hour and a half, but they kindly shaved off twenty minutes by making the trains more frequent.)
I got off the commuter train at Atlantic Avenue Terminal, and instead of going directly to the subway, walked a block or two south on Layfaette, (the subway is on Layfaette and Fulton) to the Center for Fiction. It used to be located in Manhattan, but several years back it moved to Brooklyn. (I know it was in Manhattan - because I visited it when I worked, briefly, at Grand Central. Convenient of it to move closer to me, wasn't it? )
I'd been meaning to check it out for some time now. But kept talking myself out of it. Today, I did it. Finally. And it was lovely. I spent more money than I should - buying things I did not need.
What did I get?
1. I discovered this weird little short story kiosk - where you hover your finger over a 1 minute, 3 minute or 5 minute button, and a little short story prints out for you on a long narrow piece of paper. It's free.
( short story that came out of the kiosk )
2. I found a ceramic coaster with the literary cover of Zora Neal Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God".
( blurry photo of coaster - because my hand shook )
3. This month's The Paris Review (because I liked the cover)
( The Paris Review )
4. The others were two boxes of matches - one big box "Make a Wish" and one small box "with the Hobbit on the front", a Jasmine scented candle, and a handpainted notebook (because I really need another notebook...(I don't but I like them). )
( Read more... )
***
All of these little purchases (which did add up) made me happy. I may go back there for events. It's a cool little place. They have a cafe with books, and a little stage where people speak. And a large book store - focused mainly on fiction, but also non-fictional works, and staff suggestions.
Big windows. Very swank. That's the word that comes to mind. Swank.
Overall, a productive little Artist Date. Also I bought toys for my Artist, as the book recommends. (Although my artist is hardly deprived. Based solely on self-help books, I am beginning to think there are a lot of miserable people on this planet who don't know how to treat themselves?)
Having finished the Cranston book, I'm currently listening to Brene Brown's book on Shame, she's a shame researcher, and she wrote a book on that research and how to be resilient against shame - which is prevalent in our society. She's right, it is. Not a day goes by in which someone somewhere isn't trying to shame me or someone around me. I need a people free day - which is tomorrow.
***
( work more or less... )
