Everything is Good, Everything is Bad

What do you like? What do you hate? We all look at things differently. Specific things you really need an interest in to care about. A trip to the art museum or café could reveal a discord between friends. 


One of the big things people have a disagreement on is modern art. To the common eye- bad. Is that because the common eye is untrained? Abstract art doesn't have the obvious beauty that a portrait or landscape might. Modern art has an important part in the long and rich history of art. It's not pointless. Believe it or not, there is precision and plan to it. Despite style changing it will always be part of the foundation of art and highly esteemed by some.



Even though coffee is supremely popular around the world, not everyone goes to the same length to achieve a particular taste. Coffee may be nothing more than a $1.19 charge at the McDonald's drive-thru. Extra cream. Five sugars. Would you agree with me if I told you that ruins it? 

Freshly roasted beans ground to the right consistency. Pure water heated to the correct temperature. Proportion of those two together for a certain amount of time.  These are important factors to anyone who's enthusiastic about coffee. Yet something like an expensive burr grinder may seem unnecessary. Forget owning a basic Krups electric blade grinder, a lot of people buy their coffee already ground. Not every friend will be interested in listening to how you're working on improving your brew method. That's okay! Neither the Mr. Coffee user or the guy with a Chemex needs to feel guilty.


As I was watching an anime I wondered- Is really as lovely as I think it is? Or is it childish?
Then I read a comment on it that said "It's anime like this that reminds me why I liked anime to begin with. This one in particular has such vivid imagery and powerful metaphors in its animation. It's no longer anime; it's art in motion with plot." This comment had 657 "likes." So I'm not alone!

Specific types of art, food or T.V shows you enjoy can be influenced by where you live. Since anime is only a big thing in Japan, your friends could see you fascination with it as off the wall. Don't worry. There are others fans somewhere in your country who have started saying "Arigatō" as often as you have.


Can there be a final authority on whether something is good or bad? It's a matter of taste. Not everyone went to art school. Not everyone knows what factors affect the taste of coffee. And anime? Maybe you don't live in Japan. But just because you are disinterested in something doesn't mean it's no good. In order to enjoy certain things you need to have an appreciation for the work and forethought behind it.

Playlist - Spring 2014

   No season says "new" quite like spring. It's time to get up from the desk and breath in some fresh air. 

These songs will let you know the snow has melted and put some pep in your step!

   I put together a spring playlist two years ago. Why not bring it back? Now improved with a Spotify playlist for easy listening. 

Ole Parking Lot Sky

   How could a parking lot interest anyone? Well you aren't just at everyone's favorite place to shop but a place to see a beautiful sky. It's just nice you don't have to be anywhere special like the prairie of Missouri or a beach in SoCal to see the sunset. Their beauty is there for anyone to admire and capture. A parking lot gives an open space to view one. Here is my series "Parking Lot Picture of the Sky."

                           

                  

       

 The buildings and cars do obscure sky but that's okay. 

Insta-guess

   Picture taking is at an all time high. Professional photographers aren't the only ones recording life.  It's not 1930 anymore. You don't even need to specifically carry a camera anymore. Cellphones have a lens built right in for you to take a decent photo. 

   What will you do with the pictures? You probably are not going to share each one on the internet. Most of them aren't taken with the purpose of being instantly posted on social media. We keep them to look back on. Whether the day comes when we show a friend part of our photo library doesn't matter. They don't need to be featured anywhere. But when you take a picture of an impressive landscape, a delicious coffee drink or a group shot at a party you have to decide it it's worth clicking "share" on. I hit on that question in my last post concerning baked goods. 

   There's always that one friend who seems to have no filter and documents much of what they see. I don't mind that. But that's not the case for all of us. Some are too busy and don't see the need for posting very often. We have to weed through the new hundred images during the week and decide what makes the cut and what doesn't. 

   Do I have a good enough reason to post? It has to be something that I like and think others will like, even if it's just have a few people I have in mind. The biggest thing I'm talking about is Instagram. Do you post for friends only or quality photographs for a person who might not know you would appreciate? 

   I never gave much thought to the standards there are for a picture to be considered "good" in the eyes of a stranger. A book publisher won't put out a book that doesn't have an interesting story. A record producer won't release a song only the artist's mother could stand. Before a song or book can be out for public consumption it has to meet an established criteria.

   Some focus on the product and choose to follow the rules and share photos that could attract anyone out there. I'm trying now to see the skill involved with being able to do that versus being straightforward and posting what's plainly in front of you. It's like informative writing that gets the point across compared to descriptive writing that is attracting and enjoyable for a wider range of people. 

   I have an idea for another app as a predecessor to Instagram or anything else you use. Insta-Guess. Upload a photo and people can vote 'yes' or 'no' if they think the picture is worthy of being seen. Until that app is built, we'll have to decide for ourselves- Offer strictly good quality photos for anyone or appeal to a smaller audience of just your friends? There's a need for both. You can set the standard. It's just a personal choice that won't get you in trouble one way or another.

Easy

   Do you have a hobby you've picked up that can be considered a skill? It's enjoyable to do even simple things. Whether it be creating by drawing, painting, sewing or something athletic like running, playing a sport with friends. In all my free time last year, I got into baking from scratch. 

   Baking seems pretty straight forward to me. All you have to do is follow the directions. How can anyone mess it up? Yet lots of people will confess they don't do well in the kitchen. Having millions of recipes right at my fingertips made it very easy to bake whatever I was in the mood for. Lots of different cookies, muffins, and cakes were dished up. Along with this came the need to share a picture of what I made with others. When I started out I was pretty impressed with each thing and considered it worthy of  Instagram. Since I've made even more things this year, the less impressive things have went to Flickr. And some rank so low they go unseen by anyone on the Internet.  

Just look at this cinnamon-sugar muffin picture I didn't consider worthy of any website. Now it will have it's time in the sun! 

With every other picture I post, I get a "that looks so good" comment. I wish anyone who wanted a sample could just reach through the computer and have some. But in the mean time- why don't they just make something themselves?  I've picked up a reputation of being good at baking among a few people. Most of us enjoy sweets so baking can be seen as a valuable skill. But it feels like I'm cheating somehow because nothing I've done has required any test and fail or advanced knowledge. Maybe the only thing I know that not everyone is aware of is the correct way to measure flour. So can I really be considered good at baking? I feel very far from anything my grandmother, and maybe yours too, ever did. I would sooner pick writing as my talent because it's an ability I really care about and want to develop.

Is there anything you're praised for that is easy for you to do? Not a skill you've acquired by putting time in and gaining knowledge about, but whatever doesn't take much work in your eyes. 

Hero

   We all have people we look up to. Someone with good traits who's done admirable things. From the average guy whose work you follow to the renowned visionary who changed everything. Here is a list of my heroes, television personalities edition.


Mike Holmes- Anyone who cares enough to help people with home renovations not done properly is awesome. That's exactly what he does on his show Holmes on Homes on HGTV. Sure it's his business but it seems like he cares about making the homeowner happy and not solely for the money. He is very smart and a hard worker. I wouldn't be taking on those long and difficult jobs as he and his crew does. Also he's from Canada so that makes him even cooler in my eyes.

Jim Cantore- I've always enjoyed learning about weather. I also get very excited about storms! Jim Cantore is a pro and veteran meteorologist always out there reporting severe weather. He stands fighting in the 80MPH wind and horizontal rain of hurricanes.  I admire what he does and I'd love to be out there too.

LeVar Burton - I watched Reading Rainbow as a kid and even remember borrowing a VHS of my favorite episode from the library. He encouraged kids to gain knowledge through reading. The things talked about on the show are still valuable today. Just think of how loved you would feel if you were with he and Mr. Rogers at the same time.

Les Stroud - When my 8th grade English class had to write an essay about your hero, I wrote about Les Stroud.  The show Survivor Man gripped my attention. As his website describes the premise of the show "No food, no shelter, no fresh water, no tools...no camera crew. One man- alone in the wilderness for seven days." He survived in extreme situations when it seemed impossible to. It showed how resourceful you can be when you have practical knowledge.  Bear Grylls tried to do the same thing but Les did it in a serious way without being showy.

Mission Statement

   Someone you know starts a blog. Great! There's something new for you to read. They almost always start with a mission statement, a call to action of some sort. It explains why they have started the blog and possibly the reason behind the title of it. It's go time! What happens next? After one or two more posts, there is nothing. After the call to action, they abandon their blog!

   There's plenty of reasons people don't continue posting. But if you seriously want to have a blog maybe it's better not to start out with your mission statement. There is evidence that shows an intro is not necessary.

   Out of all the movies you've seen, how many of them start out with "This is the story of Harold and each tumultuous event he faces in his life. There will be love, rejection, human conflict and triumph of the struggling human spirit." OK that's a bit much. Some set up the story to explain the setting and characters, not necessarily touching on the plot. Many ignore any intro, even starting with an end scene or jumping right into the story. Books do the same thing. The artist that tells someone what they're going to paint won't paint it. None of them have to reveal what their mission is. I think if you start off doing what you want, you will be less likely to quit early. There are countless blogs across the Internet started and not continued. Let's do away with the clutter.

   I speak from my own experience. I didn't have an idea firmed up on what this blog would do. I just talked about ideas I had no other outlet for.  Only a few people read this blog. My advice obviously isn't a master list to follow for a successful blog. I want to show you can start and continue using a blog without any destination in mind. 

   For me, I enjoy writing. Posting on this blog makes a difference to me. I can define it as a personal blog. The pressure is off! Personal blogs don't have to reach any level of success. Some only have posts which center around pictures with their only purpose to be seen by far away family and friends. That and what I'm doing can at least be seen as a step up from blogs rambling on about what the person did today. Those only appeal to a small audience. As long as what you're doing can be understood when it's seen by someone who come across your blog one day, how can you go wrong?

   Do what you will be satisfied with. Any expression of original thoughts are not wasted space and something to be proud of.