Goatse continues to influence artists and graphic designers. Thanks Ninjas!
Funny business names
Previously I've entertained my loves of text and bad marketing ideas on this blog, so I thought I'd add a couple of Leeton business names that have recently amused me.Sadly I missed sharing the ad for "The Hairy Corner's opening" that appeared in the local paper last year.
I've been childishly giggling at the name ever since and considered making a prank call to see if they can offer me a hairy corner sometime. It wouldn't need to be big, in fact smaller is often better.
Kaka Pie is another business name that would've benefited from market research using even a small focus group.
In Greek the word 'caca' (which uses the hard c sound, like a k) means poo, so it was with some trepidation that I tried a kaka pie. It's basically a large flat-ish dumpling and tasty enough.
Cultured
When we moved in this was all grass.
Reminds me how disappointed I was settling into a lecture on culture at uni and they started talking about agriculture.
It's settling into one location that makes the investments in agriculture and culture both worthwhile.
You can see the chilli, pumpkin and beans but not the home studio in this pic.
Artshole
Can't remember which Facebook friend posted this pic. I've been thinking about writing a blog post on art for most of the year.The definition of art varies from 'works produced with skill and imagination' through to very subjective statements about recognising it when one sees it.
For a while I've been saying it's an outcome that engages with the expectations of the audience, because I think really good art anticipates your perspective and exceeds it. But then again, this is a subjective statement.
Scott McCloud has an idea that art is any activity that goes beyond what is necessary and provides a kind of additional ornamental 'look at me' sorta outcome. So that flushing the toilet with flourish could be considered art, I guess if I want to really trivialise it.
Anyway, this week I received payment for a video I made to promote my music. There are many music videos that I consider works of art, and they're a genre that fits nicely with McCloud's view of art, but it kinda illustrates for me that one person's marketing is another person's art. Reminding me of the classic debate about the distinction between commercial material and artistic works, which was something I first started thinking seriously about when reading Maxx Barry's book Syrup:
It reminds me of when I was writing about music and realised there is no distinction between mainstream and underground acts. They both produce musical noises, on record and live on stage, promoting the former with the latter and film clips, etc.
So once you deconstruct this distinction between art and commercial activity, all art starts to look like products and artists' expressions are acts of public relations and marketing. Or the artist might be the product, whatever.
Which leads me to conclude that the only art worth investing in are those works which inspire the community to make their own art and find fulfillment through realising an individual perspective on their environment and experiences. The rest of it props up egos and basically says your activities are only valuable if they produce a financial outcome.
One weekend activity
Previously I've mentioned how my daughter has started a sketchbook diary.This is her pic from the weekend, when she played Mario Kart on our new Wii.
The Wii was bought secondhand as I'm keen to play Skyward Sword and I think I unlocked a new level of geek (or maybe achieved a merit) when I spent Sunday updating the various hacks on the console so it would work.
Thankfully the internet has a record of the detective work undertaken by people smarter than myself in this area.
Headline doesn't match story
This story is very different to the headline.While sub-editing is increasingly sloppy on news websites, I'm suspicious since News Ltd's newspapers have been promoting the Coalition for many years.
Leeton Art Deco Festival 2013
Nice to see the 2013 Leeton Art Deco Festival using my design for their colouring-in competition, along with a couple of other ideas. One of the highlights in 2011 was seeing the Roxy's windows full of entries, especially the messier ones that hide the speed at which I put the design together.
Still unsure
Wagga's Daily Advertiser had this story on their site criticising the local council, complete with a quote from a former mayor (and former manager of the group who publish the paper) and a link to a popular online survey tool.
It was kinda bizarre and I'm still not sure if it was an April Fools joke or a suggestion to survey ratepayers about the decision to build a sporting facility rather than a convention centre.
PS -- Seems it's not an April Fool, here's a more recent piece.
Sketchbook diary: next generation
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