Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Talent
Aside from the drunken post the other night, I don't talk about talent much. In short, I have some. Some. Not enough to do anything with, but enough to impress people just a little.
I'll start with music since that was the post that made me start thinking about this. I can play harmonica and sing pretty passably. I can play guitar well enough not to totally embarass myself in public. I can write a song, odd as any of them may be. When it comes right down to it, what I can really do is make people smile. I've opened for actual musicians, the kind that get paid. I've been paid myself a time or two for music, never much, but what the hell, it beats playing for free.
I write a little. I was published last year, not for something I was too terribly proud of, but someone liked it enough to publish it. Mostly, I write this blog. I get a goodly number of visitors, some leave nice comments. Some stick around a while and come back. I really do the writing for myself, it helps me organize my thoughts. It helps me keep my views a little more consistent since I can review what I think about a certain topic. I hate contridicting myself, though I'm sure I often do. I can write. I like to think I write pretty well.
I do a little bit of computer graphics, mostly photo manipulation with Adobe Photoshop. Again, it's something I started doing because I enjoyed it. I started posting on a political blog a couple of years ago, and found that sometimes I couldn't get my point across using words alone. So I did my own version of political cartooning. I can't draw, but I can mess with photos. I sometimes have a different way of looking at things then other people will. I get lots of hits at BOJ News Service, a political graphic humor blog I started a little over a year ago. It amazes me that I get the occasional hit from the House of Representatives, I actually get a lot of hits from the DC area. Politicos and near-politicos tend to come back for more. Pretty cool.
All three of these things sort of dove tail nicely into humor. I'm a funny guy. Sometimes I don't take things seriously enough, but that's just the way I am. Like with music, all I want to do is make people smile. I do. The few times I've spent around a few professional comedians makes me realize that I'm not one, but I can hold my own with a pro. I get my share of laughs. Also pretty cool.
So I write songs, I write stuff, I make political graphics, I do some of the humor thing. All of these I've done in the pressence of those who do each of these tasks as a profession. I'm not a professional, but in my best moments the casual observer probably couldn't tell. Man, that gives me a really good feeling, it makes me really like myself.
And it doesn't mean a God damned thing!
Talent doesn't mean jack squat. None of these talents has ever done me any good other than make a few people (myself included) happy for a few moments. I've applied for jobs that would use my talents with writing and graphics. Nobody seems to give a shit. Even if I combine them with proven talents in the television industry, it just doesn't matter. None of these talents has ever done me any good.
What the good are any of them? It's becoming very clear that I'll never even derive ancillary income from any of these. And I just used the term ancillary properly in a sentence. It was the first word that popped into my head for what I was trying to say. What the hell is up with that. I hear people misuse virtually and literally all the time, people who get paid to use words. And me, TV boy, I don't get shit. Life isn't fair. Wait, I did that one a while back. It's true, though.
It just makes me want to quit all creative pursuits. Yes, I realize the irony of pointing that out in a piece of prose. I also realize that I stole it from the episode of The Simpsons where Sideshow Bob stole a nuclear weapon and threatened to blow up Springfield if they didn't do away with TV. That's another thing, how come nobody cares that I can come up with shit like that off the top of my head. That's not really even a famous Simpsons episode, but there it was, in my brain, ready if I needed it.
But nobody gives a shit, nobody cares. Just like everything else. Makes me not even want to try to make a good MBW post.
BOJ
I'll start with music since that was the post that made me start thinking about this. I can play harmonica and sing pretty passably. I can play guitar well enough not to totally embarass myself in public. I can write a song, odd as any of them may be. When it comes right down to it, what I can really do is make people smile. I've opened for actual musicians, the kind that get paid. I've been paid myself a time or two for music, never much, but what the hell, it beats playing for free.
I write a little. I was published last year, not for something I was too terribly proud of, but someone liked it enough to publish it. Mostly, I write this blog. I get a goodly number of visitors, some leave nice comments. Some stick around a while and come back. I really do the writing for myself, it helps me organize my thoughts. It helps me keep my views a little more consistent since I can review what I think about a certain topic. I hate contridicting myself, though I'm sure I often do. I can write. I like to think I write pretty well.
I do a little bit of computer graphics, mostly photo manipulation with Adobe Photoshop. Again, it's something I started doing because I enjoyed it. I started posting on a political blog a couple of years ago, and found that sometimes I couldn't get my point across using words alone. So I did my own version of political cartooning. I can't draw, but I can mess with photos. I sometimes have a different way of looking at things then other people will. I get lots of hits at BOJ News Service, a political graphic humor blog I started a little over a year ago. It amazes me that I get the occasional hit from the House of Representatives, I actually get a lot of hits from the DC area. Politicos and near-politicos tend to come back for more. Pretty cool.
All three of these things sort of dove tail nicely into humor. I'm a funny guy. Sometimes I don't take things seriously enough, but that's just the way I am. Like with music, all I want to do is make people smile. I do. The few times I've spent around a few professional comedians makes me realize that I'm not one, but I can hold my own with a pro. I get my share of laughs. Also pretty cool.
So I write songs, I write stuff, I make political graphics, I do some of the humor thing. All of these I've done in the pressence of those who do each of these tasks as a profession. I'm not a professional, but in my best moments the casual observer probably couldn't tell. Man, that gives me a really good feeling, it makes me really like myself.
And it doesn't mean a God damned thing!
Talent doesn't mean jack squat. None of these talents has ever done me any good other than make a few people (myself included) happy for a few moments. I've applied for jobs that would use my talents with writing and graphics. Nobody seems to give a shit. Even if I combine them with proven talents in the television industry, it just doesn't matter. None of these talents has ever done me any good.
What the good are any of them? It's becoming very clear that I'll never even derive ancillary income from any of these. And I just used the term ancillary properly in a sentence. It was the first word that popped into my head for what I was trying to say. What the hell is up with that. I hear people misuse virtually and literally all the time, people who get paid to use words. And me, TV boy, I don't get shit. Life isn't fair. Wait, I did that one a while back. It's true, though.
It just makes me want to quit all creative pursuits. Yes, I realize the irony of pointing that out in a piece of prose. I also realize that I stole it from the episode of The Simpsons where Sideshow Bob stole a nuclear weapon and threatened to blow up Springfield if they didn't do away with TV. That's another thing, how come nobody cares that I can come up with shit like that off the top of my head. That's not really even a famous Simpsons episode, but there it was, in my brain, ready if I needed it.
But nobody gives a shit, nobody cares. Just like everything else. Makes me not even want to try to make a good MBW post.
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 12:14 AM 
Comments:
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Talent, schmalent. We pursue creative endeavors because we must. Because we are compelled to do so by the inner workings of our artist's heart.
Some very, very lucky people get to make their living from their art. Too many marginally talented, well-marketed individuals make a living from their "creations" which leaves the impression that anyone who is talented in any of the arts ought to be able to make money off that particular talent.
It is much more valid to create something of beauty to look upon, read, or listen to and have it all to yourself than it is to create something mediocre, make oodles of money at it, and have the adoration of millions.
I am a writer. I am a singer. I am an actress. I am a costumer. I still have to work hard at a regular job to make a living, but that job does not begin to define me.
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Some very, very lucky people get to make their living from their art. Too many marginally talented, well-marketed individuals make a living from their "creations" which leaves the impression that anyone who is talented in any of the arts ought to be able to make money off that particular talent.
It is much more valid to create something of beauty to look upon, read, or listen to and have it all to yourself than it is to create something mediocre, make oodles of money at it, and have the adoration of millions.
I am a writer. I am a singer. I am an actress. I am a costumer. I still have to work hard at a regular job to make a living, but that job does not begin to define me.
# posted by 
: 7:18 PM
: 7:18 PM << Home
