This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff

^But I don't not deign to forge social relationships! It's less a 'everyone is stupid' idea as it is 'I don't understand how can a billion people not take five minutes to think about what's being said behind that podium? They're capable of reason, they're human beings like anyone else, so why are they chanting hateful mantras and waving flags?'

I dunnnnooooo, maybs humanity is wired that way since that image has existed since the beginning of civilization, but isn't that just being defeatist and saying society will never change?

I don't hate everybody at all! I just don't like manipulatey people.

Can i just say i'm a terribly selfish person and i'm too lazy to be something more than a pseudo-misanthrope and still claim superiority because i acknowledge it?

Slorange if I murder someone will you let me be a misanthrope?

Mitt Romney is more of a robot, or more realistically, a highly-functioning autistic person. If you watch videos of him interacting with people, you'll see him miss or trip over basic social cues. He tries to fit in, but he has no idea how to. That's why he'll say, in order to connect with the people he's supposed to represent, "Some of my friends are NASCAR owners" or "It seems right in Michigan, all of the trees are the right height" or "who let the dogs out"

See, Mitt Romney seems more like a sociopath to me. High-functioning autistic people have opinions and generally, at least some connection to other human beings.

I feel like Romney is trying (ineptly) to use people as tools, and that he doesn't care so much about opinions as taking office. But that's just me.

Yes. I would expect the leading candidate of either party to be soft on tough issues. Riding the middle is how you win in the two party system.

Well, however "middle" middle is. Right now? Pretty damn far right.

I'm kinda bummed that this is the first presidential election I'll be able to vote in. Is this adulthood? The choice between disappointment and more disappointment?

Well, you could do some personal research and select a candidate that espouses a cause or solution you feel strongly about. While your vote won't contribute to the overall result of the election, it does make a small statement about what is important to you and it is likely the person you chose would greatly appreciate it. ( unless they are a hard-line "vote for either or" voter.)

I think it's time for a dedicated politics thread.

whenever anyone says vote and third party I start having mafia flashbacks

I think it's time for a dedicated politics thread.

We have one already.

Sometimes, just sometimes, i wish i wasn't so bitter about things like shitty april fools' jokes

I suddenly want to give up on art forever/i'm extremely inspired forever.

He's

everything i want to be.

My reaction to cool art is usually something along the lines of "oh god i will never get work in this industry D:" and then a nice helping of self hatred.

Then I get over it and go use the inspiration to draw some more.

It depends on the mood i'm in when i discover it. It also depends on the kind of visual art, if it's something that doesn't directly resonate with my groove but i still find amazing i just gasp loudly and move on.

Some other times i'm completely stunned when something really reverberates with my style. I obsessively study it and try to imitate it/incorporate it along with my other influences. Most of the time i fail to please myself and give up, then move on to something else (giving up usually involves spending many hours of practice without satisfying results).

Most people don't do art in the same style I do so I find I'm usually pretty resistant to feelings of inadequacy.
I can pass it off as "that's a completely different method to the one I am using, so it's OK".

The exception is the guy who does this who does draw everything with aliased lines in MSPaint, and whose tumblr doodles regularly make me envious of his mastery of lasso tool and colour selection

SpoilerShow

This is a really great discussion so not to break the flow of it, but that last post made me think of Soops holding a toddler by the heel and saying "why is this so fantastic? I have to dissect it!"

I don't know if there is an analog in visual art

It's not as immersive, but i'm ecstasied when an experienced artist pushes the rules of what the human mind can conceive to create something unique. When there's such a mastery over the medium, that it becomes an extension of the artist's personality, like realizing that something couldn't be expressed in any other form.

I'm probably not making sense, it's not easy for me to express it with words.

Also, i'm really disappointed there's no equivalent word for "plasmar" in English.

In my eyes and hands and voice and cursor, art is all about trying to communicate what the inside of my brain is like. To me, it's about trying to express something more than the sum of the parts of some art, baring one's heart - and it's everywhere, just waiting to be grasped - if that makes any sense?
I write because I like to make words flow and be more than pixels or blobs of graphite or ink, to paint a picture in the imagination and make it move and twist like multifaceted foil. I like reading what I write out loud, to see if it comes easily off the tongue, like chocolate fondue, still-hot, flowing like silk...
I draw, a lot, especially when I have an idea of what to draw and goals as to what to design - I can't actually draw or even doodle things if I have no idea what there is to draw beforehand. On occasion I feel like there is a picture in my mind already, my hand juuuust has to move the right way to bring it into being...invariably it ends up being something I'm happy with on the first try. And as selfish as it sounds, I love to draw for the approval it gets, when I show someone something and they like it too - I love knowing that I've created something that's made someone's life a little richer.
I try to music, buuuut I haven't mastered transferring music from my head (also music turns into squiggly shapes there o.o) into actual hearing music. I sing though! Singing is the closest link I have connecting the outside world and imagination music. I love to siiiing~

I also apparently love to ramble yay

You know this is, in a lot of ways, a conversation about passion. Soops one thing I've admired about you is your unashamed passion for music. There's very little people can say against being passionate about something or someone (unless that something is harmful? But it rarely is.) I feel pressed while reading this to come up with an analogue for myself, something I'm passionate about, something tht when I see something that is miles ahead of me, I'm encouraged rather than distraught.

(damn this is sounding facetious! I blame you agent - for writing in a way that puts me in a artsyfartsy mood!)

My brother's passion is music as well, though in a more guitar-playing song writing lets start a band genre. He's wanting to go to college in Nashville - the land where everyone has mastered the guitar. He's alright, but he's no master at it. I asked him a similar question a few days ago: "won't you be discouraged when surrounded by dozens of peers who are better than you?"

He just shrugged and said: "the way I see it, that's the only way to learn."

It's not the attitude I traditionally have about the things I claim to be passionate about. If someone is an excellent speaker or author, my instinct is to avoid listening, to keep myself from realizing how far I have to go.

Ugh want to type more but that old man won't bathe himself...

I cannot fathom what else could possibly drive people through life if not passion.

Obligation? Fear of death?
There's no question that plenty of people live lives where they are totally unwilling or (more often) unable to pursue what they would like to in any capacity.

My apathy sustains me like no passion could, not that I care or anything

I feel like sometime eventually I'll become super passionate about something but right now, ehhh. I love drawing, but I know I don't really have the drive to improve that I'd like to. Part of it I think is that I'm too afraid of things not working out like I want them to for me to actually do the things I wanna do.
What do you guys do to get around that apprehensiveness to act?

SpoilerShow

on a side tangent: oh dang superfrequency did I never link you to the androidarts guy before?
I swear I've looked at like all the videogame-art pages a billion times or so.
... I seem to forget to tell people about cool art stuff. He also has some cool thoughts on world building and game design which are things I'm always fascinated by!

What drives you? The new Toyota Passion XF52SSSFXHBO

I should hope you are the one driving the car

Rather than the other way around

Toyota is always thinking forward NTA