So, i've finally found a parking spot. This is the first time my website feels integrated, and I've finally put most things under one roof. Of course, its still a work in progress, and we have a bit to go, to make this thing fully functional, with all the content I want to have up. But its going to happen, and it sure is happening fast. My big fear now is mostly related to grammar given the cursory nature of getting a site up and running.
Also, this past year I've spent some time in introspection about the monstrous bourgeoning of Web 2.0. As a man devoted to the arts (as much as one can make this claim while owning up to other responsibilities), this is becoming an increasingly tricky subject, which most people will never need nor want to think twice about.
On one hand, you have the power of connection to almost anyone from our past, present and future. We have increased tools of self-promotion, of conversing with our peers and fans. But these things are on one side of a debate that always get crushed by personal agenda, and sometimes solely on narcissism. Nowadays, we give away many types of information without proper processing. With this comes the commoditization of our personality, and negates the sense of proper individualism in a real world context.
These technologies forces a syntax of compression, and no better example is Twitters 140 character limit. This limit amounts to a verbal pitch, a commercial, relaying as much information as possible in the shortest possible way. With the succinct, you lose alternative meanings, deeper meanings. You lose the real sense of discussion. Of course, this is only a reductive and a bit of navel gazing, but I ask other artist to think about what it means to them to commit to the arts.
Some honest questions I would like to raise. How is being engaged 24/7 to the banalities of cooler talk, and hyper pop culture contributing to focus and or productivity? Do you feel that your intuition is as strong as it was in the years before everything became a "discussion"? Is your time spent "selling yourself" hindering your bigger, loftier dreams and goals? Is in fact, the 24/7 pimping of product (what we call art-i-facts) actually causing your potential admirers to find you antagonizing or annoying?
We have grown in a world where diversity of thought is being squeezed away by the hands of consumerism, and mostly by the cult of technology. I understand the urge or the need to give (hurl) yourself to your peers for personal reasons, for validation and acceptance, but remember, once we all start patting each other on the back, we will lose the fringe thoughts within ourselves, the punk attitude, our gonzo's, our rebels, the free thinkers whom care less about validation and more about the process of creating. We lose that particular sense of communication that only comes from disciplined distance, from the outside, looking in. Even the mainstream greats had that. Just imagine a world in which Woody Allen was sending tweets from his set on Manhattan. Or, if Spielberg was updating his facebook fan page with lines from an unreleased script of Goonies while in production. Where is the magic? Is the idea of “movie magic” only a nostalgic component of my own very personal past, that others are not (equally or at all) interested in anymore? Quite possible.
Before you label me a luddite, i say thank you. Also, i understand that this is presumptions and I myself have spent lots of time "pimpin my shit". This is only written to conjure the thought process. Thats all. I still respect guys who choose the path of Web 2.0, and I'm open to learning from them as well. Hell, I'm still partially entrenched in that world. It would be silly to render all the new tools as useless or as tools in an idlers playground. I'm only arguing that they are indeed very powerful when used with some diligence and polish.
So, next time you have that urge, pull back for a second and think, do I really want to say what I'm about to say to everyone I've ever known? And worst yet, in time, will anybody even care?
AM
Addendum: I'm just happy I have my own place to write whatever the fuck I want without a discussion.