Current Mistakes Can Become Your Long-Term Techniques

This argument of the cold digital screen vs. the warm analog page? It's bullshit. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Both have the potential to be educators and truth-tellers; both also have the potential to be flat-out liars to you. 

I've experienced a few things this week that have lit up a few of my synapses. It's not often that something makes me sit up and take stock of my own position on a subject, but this week it's happened twice. 

The first came in video meme form; a comparison of the money spent trying to help clean up the island of Maui vs. that spent on the defense of Ukraine. It was...a heavy-handed and inaccurate argument, that somehow we were spending more on a foreign country (Ukraine) as opposed to spending less on a state of our own union (Hawaii) that had just experienced some pretty severe natural trauma. 

The final conclusion showed an ashen version of Maui from last week versus the video of some totally nice freeway somewhere in Europe (assumedly; I couldn't read the plates of the cars) from literally any when. The idea being that we were wasting money on a country that was totally fine (it's not) in order to protect itself from a fascist country (Russia, which is) rather than spending it on ourselves. 

The original poster of the video had a pretty clear political agenda, which is easily countered by showing the unaffected parts of Hawaii in opposition to the more devastated parts of Ukraine while also breaking down the US dollars spent on both, divided by the amount of time both have gone through their current situations. But that's spending more time dismantling the bullshit argument of someone who's about as necessary as a velvet hammer. 

Another meme came down the pipeline, lambasting the use of tablets or screens by children instead of making them read a book. 

Again, this is nonsense. Despite my distaste for reading on a screen and a heavy preference for actual pages, one can get the same level of education or knowledge through a screen or through audio measures as they can reading. The medium is not the issue; it's the quality of the content being delivered through the medium that matters most. 

It is just as easy for me to lie to you through a screen as it is across a blank page. It is as easy for me to put the truth into permanent ink as it is to have it vocalized through a newscaster's mouth. But somehow we put one's importance and level of 'truthiness' above the other, despite both holding the same level of creative and destructive power within their respective existences. Like pitting those who would go through standard universities against those that go through trade schools. Makes zero sense; we are ALL necessary to the greater ecosystem of society, regardless of which path we took. 

Quality in, quality out. Quantity in, quantity out. 

The only good way you make either digital or analog your preferred method is by making sure that its output is quality as much of the time as you're able to do so. Otherwise you're just wasting your time, regardless of medium. 

We've got to be better about making these differences between mediums less antagonistic and more about the quality of content being consumed, because much of the quality is subpar and/or superficial at best and dangerously incorrect at worst. 

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An old DJ buddy of mine asked me a while back if I wanted to come out of my momentary grief-based absence from the music world. I'd been thinking it would be good to get back into the act of playing and manipulating music again since I've been out and about more, so my answer was an immediate yes. I knew it would be a good thing, and it was, and so now I'm hoping that perhaps more gigs will populate. New mixes certainly will, especially with all the fun stuff I've never played out before. 

Here's a recording of how that night went. You can find info about which of us played during what parts of the mix in the description. 

Elijah Smallz x Bucho Live @ Eclectic Essence | August 25th, 2023

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I've had to re-learn how I learn things. I listen to instrumental music when I write (more often dark, tension-filled, staticky ambient as opposed to anything with a structure to it), but when I paint, I tend to listen to stories being read or conversations being had. I don't know if this is my two brains being constantly at war with each other, or if this is my way of trying to not waste time and get everything done all at once, but it's become more prevalent recently. 

I also tend to be doing other chores or physical activities (dishes, cleaning, etc) while on the phone with someone. It's not that I'm bored with the conversation (if I'm actually on the phone, I rarely am bored with the conversation or the person I'm speaking with), but I'm certain it's more that I'm trying to not waste certain moments of the day.

AKA: if I'm able to do multiple things at once without sacrificing concentration on one or the other, then this is perfectly okay. Once that concentration is broken in one way or another, the premise becomes a bad one and I decide to focus solely on the conversation out of respect to the other person's time and efforts. 

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I've been slowly cleaning up my social media platforms. I deleted my Twitter account not long after Elon's dumbass took over, and every time I return based on something seen in my FB newsfeed or on the news, I'm reminded how good of an idea it was to leave. That platform is absolute trash now, not that I spent a ton of time on it in the first place. 

But I've also been slowly unfollowing (or removing followers) on Instagram with whom I never interact or who never interact with me. I've found that the platform has added a LOT of accounts to my "following" list that I never followed myself, which I find more than annoying. Too much filler, not enough worth paying attention to. 

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I've begun work on the literary-based tattoo structure on my right arm. I've gone back to one of my favorite people (@jason_alan_tattoo on Instagram) to start some decorative memorial pieces for my first three books. The first two have been published and the third is still under review with a publisher, but the iconography for all of them is static and ready to be inked up. This past Saturday's session was a short, but VERY productive, one. We've got some work to do on the shading of the third book's icon circle, but I'm stuper stoked to see how Jason implements the vegetation with the first book's iconography in future sessions. Gonna be a lovely, representative piece when all is said and done. 

I've been thinking about how to represent these publications for years and I'm loving the collaborative nature of art and intention with him. 

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I have some new paintings on the way, several of which will be posted up at the Salvage Space Art Gallery in the Crossroads this weekend. I won't be around for the show, but you can see my stuff hanging up this Friday night if you're out and about in the area. 

I've got some new fun ones coming, but I'll post up those images some time next month when I've gotten more of them completed. 

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