We're All Insane!!!

[Guest]

Kinda figured I would touch a nerve there, well, at least for those who can read and comprehend.

You have the right to retain your illusory dream about cold Paris flats and starving artists and the bimbo's that service their needs.

See if I care.

ami

Well, speaking of illusionary dreams, I remain amazed at the absolute multitude of political threads you start each day.

Have you nothing else with which to occupy your time?

I'm going to have to put you back on ignore so I can find the AH.

 

[amicus]

I appreciate your sentiments, Bianca, by all means, continue to believe as you do.

My first jobs in radio, I did without compensation for the experience. The going rate when I did get a job was, believe this or not, $1.00 per hour.

It took a while for even small raises, but then the market place acknowledged and very well paying 'gigs' began to appear.

I make no claims to being an 'artist' of any kind. My dream in my early teens was to be able to write or perform music that made people happy, made them want to dance. That was the early Elvis era when Rock was happy and delightful and good for the soul.

Since I didn't have the talent to become a singer or a musician, I found that by playing the music I knew so well and appreciated on the radio, that I could approach that dream.

I do play piano and guitar, I have written lyrics and I have sold a painting or two along the way. I write to make people feel things and think things and I have been told that those things have happened.

I offered a valid point of view that differs from yours, and from most, that is also a skill of mine, encouraging people to think outside the box.

A pleasant evenin' t'ya Lass...

ami

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

I appreciate your sentiments, Bianca, by all means, continue to believe as you do.

My first jobs in radio, I did without compensation for the experience. The going rate when I did get a job was, believe this or not, $1.00 per hour.

It took a while for even small raises, but then the market place acknowledged and very well paying 'gigs' began to appear.

I make no claims to being an 'artist' of any kind. My dream in my early teens was to be able to write or perform music that made people happy, made them want to dance. That was the early Elvis era when Rock was happy and delightful and good for the soul.

Since I didn't have the talent to become a singer or a musician, I found that by playing the music I knew so well and appreciated on the radio, that I could approach that dream.

I do play piano and guitar, I have written lyrics and I have sold a painting or two along the way. I write to make people feel things and think things and I have been told that those things have happened.

I offered a valid point of view that differs from yours, and from most, that is also a skill of mine, encouraging people to think outside the box.

A pleasant evenin' t'ya Lass...

ami

I will, and I appreciate you not coming down on me for in

Seriously I think the depth people go to in art are different for many. But it is a depth which is why I believe some fall too far. They achieve greatness, but don't get to enjoy it. Very sad.

 

[TE999]

Easy. People would climb the strings and pick their noses with frozen raindrops.

Hahahaha! Good one!

 

[amicus]

Well, speaking of illusionary dreams, I remain amazed at the absolute multitude of political threads you start each day.

Have you nothing else with which to occupy your time?

I'm going to have to put you back on ignore so I can find the AH.[/QUOTE]

~~~

I can't begin to tell you how pleased I am to have amazed you. He said with a smile.

Actually, I had quite a productive day, since you inquire; I put two coats of Satin Black Paint over the Rustoleum Primer coat on my old Chevy Blazer, she looks a little better now, thank you.

The AH, my dear, is what we make of it; good luck in finding what was, may you not discover the sad truth, 'that you can't go home again...'

The thread title is, "Are we Insane?" or something close to that, not my thread by the way, my my response, to the question, was appropo; yes, you are.

Perhaps you are familiar with the term 'obsessed' in terms of artists and art; and perhaps even, 'compulsive', and I am sure you can connect the two and discover the term.

The Liberal Arts Community has too long been in the driver's seat of this bus and it is time for others to ascend. Case in point, Roman Polanski, who drugged and anal raped a 13 year old; he/they, perhaps you, think because you are of that special breed of artist, that the rules don't apply to you. You glorify the use of drugs, barbarian sexual habits, irresponsible social behavior and a distaste for anything normal, traditional or conventional and absent religion, an ammoral lifestyle.

To, 'do' art, is not to do something that no one else can appreciate because the artist is so far ahead of his time, or sees things no one else can see.

True art, by definition...well...that is difficult; let me say that it does involve creativity and does enrich the human experience. It deals with beauty and harmony, the...

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice
In fair round belly, with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide,
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.​

Therein lies art and the essence of humanity.

It is the artist's choice to focus and direct his attention to humanity and the values of life...or not...

There is, really, good art and bad art.

How will you ever know the difference?

Amicus

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I understand 'science' as the application of what you know to produce something that already exists; art is the application of what you know to discover something new.

 

[vrosej10]

I am bipolar type 2 and I am far more creative, productive and intelligent during the initial stages manic phases, but once I pass what I call the armpit of the attack, my ability to work drops off sharply because I become very scatty. I agree with JBJ, that your average schizophrenic would have too much difficulty functioning during an attack to be productive, but the way they think could produce some very inventive language....

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I am bipolar type 2 and I am far more creative, productive and intelligent during the initial stages manic phases, but once I pass what I call the armpit of the attack, my ability to work drops off sharply because I become very scatty. I agree with JBJ, that your average schizophrenic would have too much difficulty functioning during an attack to be productive, but the way they think could produce some very inventive language....

Most of them fingerpaint with shit. Dont volunteer to shake hands unless you see what theyre palming.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Well, speaking of illusionary dreams, I remain amazed at the absolute multitude of political threads you start each day.

Have you nothing else with which to occupy your time?

I'm going to have to put you back on ignore so I can find the AH.

Lemme see. Youre the old RUM-DUM who crawls in, mumbles-stumbles like Teddy Kennedy, cries, and squeezes all the boys' heads against your tits?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I mentioned Hemingway. But alcohol begs the question; everyone is in recovery for something, and it isnt a phenomenon limited to artistes. Most people who suicide are drinking.

Pussy didnt kill Al Capone, syphillus killed him.

Personally, my hat's off to anyone who can write great stuff while they're drunk. God knows I can't.

But we're not talking about people in recovery. We're talking about people who are trying like hell to crawl into that bottle and stay there.

At the time of his death, Kerouac was drinking a case of beer and a quart of whiskey a day. He finally bled to death internally at age 45 while watching The Galloping Gourmet on TV and eating tuna fish straight from the can. Supposedly he hadn't been a day sober in the previous 7 years.

Lately it occurs to me that one of the reasons so many successful writers drink so damned much is over their disappointment at the money they make from their books. The publishers get rich, the authors get shit.

Hemingway supposedly killed himself because he'd become impotent.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Personally, my hat's off to anyone who can write great stuff while they're drunk. God knows I can't.

But we're not talking about people in recovery. We're talking about people who are trying like hell to crawl into that bottle and stay there.

At the time of his death, Kerouac was drinking a case of beer and a quart of whiskey a day. He finally bled to death internally at age 45 while watching The Galloping Gourmet on TV and eating tuna fish straight from the can. Supposedly he hadn't been a day sober in the previous 7 years.

Lately it occurs to me that one of the reasons so many successful writers drink so damned much is over their disappointment at the money they make from their books. The publishers get rich, the authors get shit.

Hemingway supposedly killed himself because he'd become impotent.

True. The odds against writing success are greater than the odds of playing professional football or basketball or baseball.

But I'll tell you something's that true. A century ago almost every town and village had a newspaper, and there were some wonderful writers contributing to those papers; people who earned shit for their stories. Most of the great writers began at such newspapers.

I collect these stories to use in my horror tales. I have no idea if the stories are true; I suspect they arent. Kenneth Roberts got caught submitting an invented story; the city editor drug him to the publishers office, the publisher read the story then ordered the city editor to use it.

 

[Palba_Noruda]

The odds against writing success are greater than the odds of playing professional football or basketball or baseball.

This way of defining success is seriously FUCKED, though very common.

 

[amicus]

Quote:
Originally Posted by JAMESBJOHNSON
"...The odds against writing success are greater than the odds of playing professional football or basketball or baseball..."

This way of defining success is seriously FUCKED, though very common.

~~~

I haven't the faintest idea what Pabla_Naruda means, but would you care to define success in your terms?

Amicus

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Wazzmuhchek U.

This way of defining success is seriously FUCKED, though very common.

Low standards and low expectations are the hallmark of America today. The Negrofication of the nation is almost complete. Everyone gets a plastic trophy for signing up, much less showing up! My local school district eliminated spelling tests and gives all the kids calculators to standarize performance across the social groups. And everyone looks retarded when they take the SAT or state tests.

So I'm not surprised that most scribblers feel good about the crap they spew. Hell! On another thread the assclowns dont know to check words in a dictionary or know the functiion of adjectives. "Lazz wek I cudnt spel wryetr and dizz weak I izz won." They know so little theyre okay being ignorant gomers, like the Clampetts in Beverly Hills.

Success in 2009 is signing your mark on the application form and collecting yo chek.

 

[Palba_Noruda]

Quote:
Originally Posted by JAMESBJOHNSON
"...The odds against writing success are greater than the odds of playing professional football or basketball or baseball..."



~~~

I haven't the faintest idea what Pabla_Naruda means, but would you care to define success in your terms?

Amicus

For me, the definition of success in writing is very personal. I ran across an essay written by an autistic guy that puts it in a nice way (PM me for the full essay and reference information.):

While I sometimes express anger a bit too frequently, I have trouble expressing most other emotions at all. For instance, it is impossible to tell a friend something as seemingly simple as, "I'm glad we are friends." It's impossible for me to tell even my closest friends about how I feel if I'm upset or depressed. I don't understand why this would be so difficult, but it is. Recently, for instance, I had something happen in my life which caused me to be so upset that I wasn't even able to leave my house. I really wanted to tell my close friends about it, so they could give me support, but I was unable. The words simply would not come, in spite of my efforts.

In the last few years, I've discovered that there are certain emotions that I only feel clearly while I am writing. One of these emotions is sadness. While I am beginning to feel sadness when I'm not writing, I feel it much more strongly when I am writing. I can only recall two instances in my life when I cried (due to sadness) at a time when I wasn't writing. Both times were, I believe, a gift from God (I'll explain later).

In addition to feeling emotion more clearly through writing, I also am also able to express it more clearly. There are some things which I can't say verbally or in-person, but I can express in writing. For instance, I can't verbally express sorrow when I have caused someone else pain. But I can express sorrow in writing. I am thankful that I have at least the limited medium of writing to express some of the things that are very intense for me. However, there are still some things which I can neither express verbally or in writing.


I would consider this guy to be a successful writer. He is able to use writing to express something he wouldn't be able to express verbally. I think this is common to a lot of writers, autistic or not. I think some writers come to Lit, for instance, to express something that they wouldn't be able to express to family and friends.

The essay writer is also able to tap into emotion through the process of writing. I find that very powerful. I can only recall two instances in my life when I cried (due to sadness) at a time when I wasn't writing. The guy is feeling something very powerful that is only available to him when he is writing. Surely that could be considered successful writing. It doesn't matter if anybody even reads it.

I'm not autistic, but I have my own struggle with feeling right, feeling human, feeling at home, feeling connection, whatever you want to call it. I think I've been able to use writing in a way similar to the autistic guy, albeit not as dramatically.

On another note, when I share writing with people, I think it has to do with creating a sense of connection. Most people are connected to some other people, but the connections we have don't always cover the whole range of connection needs. Enter writing. Give them something else of the self to connect to. Get even one response and the feeling can be very satisfying. Success!

People write for all kinds of reasons:
To play a role

To see into their blind spots and boundaries.

To look at the world from a different context

To express something subtle that needs expressing

To expose the self

To record the vanishing tendrils of daily living

To get a reaction, a laugh; to move an audience

To relieve boredom and escape existential crisis

To me, it seems counter productive to define success so narrowly that only a handful of people can achieve it.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

An art teacher I had years back told the class that he knew any number of lawyers, accountants and engineers who were children of professional artists. All of them were artistic but weren't about to starve for their art. Once they had accrued enough for a comfortable living, they intended to return to art but not until then. Makes perfect sense to me. Art is a wonderful hobby but unless you are preternaturally good at it, trying to earn a living that way is grim. Besides, it's too much fun to make work.

Personally, I find the idea astonishing that anyone would pay to read what I write. That they do is success as far as I'm concerned.

 

[impressive]

"molecular factors" sounds kinky.








What?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

For me, the definition of success in writing is very personal. I ran across an essay written by an autistic guy that puts it in a nice way (PM me for the full essay and reference information.):

While I sometimes express anger a bit too frequently, I have trouble expressing most other emotions at all. For instance, it is impossible to tell a friend something as seemingly simple as, "I'm glad we are friends." It's impossible for me to tell even my closest friends about how I feel if I'm upset or depressed. I don't understand why this would be so difficult, but it is. Recently, for instance, I had something happen in my life which caused me to be so upset that I wasn't even able to leave my house. I really wanted to tell my close friends about it, so they could give me support, but I was unable. The words simply would not come, in spite of my efforts.

In the last few years, I've discovered that there are certain emotions that I only feel clearly while I am writing. One of these emotions is sadness. While I am beginning to feel sadness when I'm not writing, I feel it much more strongly when I am writing. I can only recall two instances in my life when I cried (due to sadness) at a time when I wasn't writing. Both times were, I believe, a gift from God (I'll explain later).

In addition to feeling emotion more clearly through writing, I also am also able to express it more clearly. There are some things which I can't say verbally or in-person, but I can express in writing. For instance, I can't verbally express sorrow when I have caused someone else pain. But I can express sorrow in writing. I am thankful that I have at least the limited medium of writing to express some of the things that are very intense for me. However, there are still some things which I can neither express verbally or in writing.


I would consider this guy to be a successful writer. He is able to use writing to express something he wouldn't be able to express verbally. I think this is common to a lot of writers, autistic or not. I think some writers come to Lit, for instance, to express something that they wouldn't be able to express to family and friends.

The essay writer is also able to tap into emotion through the process of writing. I find that very powerful. I can only recall two instances in my life when I cried (due to sadness) at a time when I wasn't writing. The guy is feeling something very powerful that is only available to him when he is writing. Surely that could be considered successful writing. It doesn't matter if anybody even reads it.

I'm not autistic, but I have my own struggle with feeling right, feeling human, feeling at home, feeling connection, whatever you want to call it. I think I've been able to use writing in a way similar to the autistic guy, albeit not as dramatically.

On another note, when I share writing with people, I think it has to do with creating a sense of connection. Most people are connected to some other people, but the connections we have don't always cover the whole range of connection needs. Enter writing. Give them something else of the self to connect to. Get even one response and the feeling can be very satisfying. Success!

People write for all kinds of reasons:
To play a role

To see into their blind spots and boundaries.

To look at the world from a different context

To express something subtle that needs expressing

To expose the self

To record the vanishing tendrils of daily living

To get a reaction, a laugh; to move an audience

To relieve boredom and escape existential crisis

To me, it seems counter productive to define success so narrowly that only a handful of people can achieve it.

My attitude is God gives everyone a different prize in their box of JACKER JACK.

Inspite of what women say none of them are comfortable with men who cry. They'll cut you a little slack if your mom dies, but tears are the kiss of death with the girls. So I dont cry, either. Any woman who disputes this is lying out her ass.

I'm kind to animals, hospitable to people, and generally keep my mouth closed around assclowns, but if friends, lovers, or assclowns insist on an opinion, I have plenty.

Be who you are.

 

[Liar]

I haven't the faintest idea what Pabla_Naruda means, but would you care to define success in your terms?

I'm a more successful writer than most. And by most I mean all who write and wish to make a living off it.

Most can't make a living off it. I can. That's success.

But the way success in writing is defined, in the media and in the general discourse, is something else. It's stardom. Write a bestseller or you're worthless.

Funny thing. You don't have to cure cancer to be a sucessful doctor, or build the pyramids to be a successful contractor, or defend OJ to be a sucessful lawyer. But for creative jobs, the general view of success is stardom, or bust. Same thing for actors, musicians, artists et al. Success is to be loved by masses.

I'm not loved by anybody (as a writer, at least ). But I'm appreciated by some. And it pays the bills and the beer comfortably. That's good enough for me.