Conscious Consumption

Social transparency, that is the new catch phrase that you will be hearing about.  Marketers, News personalities, media analysts, politicians (hopefully) and preachers will stand on their pulpits of influence sharing their thoughts on this old idea (something we used to call ethics).

What is social transparency?  Follow the lineage of how our/their dollars are spent? Are we doing good with our dollars? Is the business that we buy our products from doing good? The easy answer for most people is either “no” or “I don’t no” or "I don't give a damn how they are spent.”

Consume consciously; I like that idea.  About 7yrs ago I made the shift in how I think about food.  Is this food good for me? Does it create beneficial health? Does it create disease? Is it damaging to the earth? I made the jump to become a conscious consumer of food.  As Michael Pollan famously said, “eat food, mostly plants”...that works for me.

After reading Information Diet by Clay Johnson the shift of how I consume media became fully aware to me. I had no idea just how far down the rabbit hole I had fallen.

Junk info TV is not an epiphany to anyone, we all know that there is a Republican news channel and that there is a Democrat news channel.  We all know that Facebook is collecting data on us to sell to companies so that they can target their advertising dollars.

Do we know what all this consuming is doing to us?

Over-consuming food creates obesity, disease and early death but can overdosing on junk media kill me?

I decided to try an experiment in my home.  First thing I did was get ride of the TV that you can see from the kitchen table (no leap of genius there).  That is the TV that would stay on in the background most days with a cable news channel playing. Second thing I did was limit my time on social media.  Giving myself only ten minutes in the morning to post blog updates to FB and to answer any tweets or FB mail that may have come in previously.

Day nine into my experiment:

I noticed how difficult of a time I had trying to avoid using FB or watching cable new channels.  This scares me! I’m I addicted to junk news and social media updates? For the past week I used both of them sparingly, only giving myself permission to use FB in the morning for photo-biz and half hour of news media while doing yoga.  It wasn't an easy vice to put down; thank God I never became a smoker.

The biggest hurdle by far is to get FB off my phone.  This is where it all started for me.  Every time I pick up my phone, there it is: the FB icon telling me to check up on the “whatever” of the moment. This needed to stop! I went into my phone settings trying to find a way to turn off FB notifications, no luck.  Went into my FB account and disabled updates (at least I thought I did). I no longer get updates on my computer, but they still came through to my phone. Next I deleted the FB app on the phone.  Then I deleted FB on my list of active accounts that my phone had access to, still no luck.  It's a pervasive bug in my phone.  This is not good.  Why can I not free myself from FB without having to de-activate my account?

This brings me back full circle to social transparency and how I hope to consciously consume media...

What is to gain from consciously consuming media? Perspective! True self-understanding perspective.

Many times in the past year I have written and re-written the sentence, “pulled together for a common purpose, not pushed together for a common enemy." That is perspective.

I do not wish to see the world as a consumer.  I wish to see it as as a member of the human race.

After days of a junk news sabbatical and days of abstaining from the social media influx, this is what I have learned…..I have more time to make art! That is a good thing.

P.S. I still can not get the FB icon off my phone...HELP!

Show Up ~ Rant

You want to know what is great about awareness? The actual moment that you know you are aware.



Awareness...it’s an odd thing that we all search for at different times of our lives…higher purpose, simply to have purpose, guidance from the divine.

But then there is an instant when we hear our inner voice, actually hear it speak, both audible and in our gut at the same time…a truth.

Next, the hard part…What do you do with a truth from yourself? Worse yet, a gut truth that will nag at you until you do the damn thing that is revealed (nagging) to you.

You say your prayers then you go to work.

Deliver whatever it is. Be present.

Show up.

P.S.
I wrote this on Facebook yesterday but I feel it needs to be preserved here.

~ I am an advocate for being pulled together for a common “purpose”, not pushed together by a common “argument”.

Man-Spa

This past Saturday I went to a man-spa for a haircut.

Man-spa is not its real name, its real name is a French word that I cannot pronounce with funny symbols above specific letters in its name. I have been to this man-spa before for other types of man-spa treatments but I am no longer secure enough in my manliness to have these other treatments done to me in a public place whose name I cannot enunciate.

Sitting in the man-spa is a very manly experience for the man who wishes to feel pretty. They offer you lattés, cappuccinos and water that comes in oddly shaped bottles that look expensive. The waiting room smells of musk and leather, I think it might be burning candles. The magazine collection is a mixture of sports, cars, and man-style fashion magazines; think Vanity Fair for men. Vanity Fair is a magazine that men and women can both read, right? Nonetheless I pick up a copy of Esquire magazine and read an article about how Robert Downy Jr. is the second best actor in America. Never did find out who number one was.

The receptionist tells me that my stylist, Jess, will be right out. Jess? An androgynous, transgendered name…that always makes me uncomfortable. Not that I care if a man or woman cuts my hair; its the not knowing of who will walk around the corner to meet me. Ok Jess is a girl, a good-looking non-confusing gender of a woman. Don’t judge me, its a man-spa, I am here for the experience.

I explain the haircut that I want to Jess. It’s a mixture of Buddhist monk meets Brad Pitt haircut in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Jess calls it a buzz cut and places a number four guard on her clippers and within ten minutes I can see the white dome of my skull.

Next, the man-spa treatments that I am secure enough to treat myself to--scalp message with a hot towel wrapped around my face. The next three minutes with Jess are blissful.

Coffee Shop

Yesterday I was waiting in a coffee shop for a photographer friend of mine. You probably think that I am the type of person who would spend time in coffee shops. I am not but I should…

Top 5 reasons why I do fit the “coffee shop” stereotype:

1) I drink coffee.
2) I like to write in public places to steal ideas.
3) I have that scruffy-beard-artist-look-thing going for me.
4) Reading books in public places makes me feel cool. Got to feed the ego.
5) I like listening to music by white men with sad lyrics while playing acoustic guitar.

Top 5 Conversations overheard in a coffee shop:

1) Two stripper Moms trying to decide on daycare for their daughters
2) 80 year old man searching for his birth parents
3) Why fried bologna sandwiches are the best; seriously this was a great conversation to eavesdrop on.
4) Anything about religion, especially why other religions are wrong.
5) Isn’t John Craig extremely good looking?

4am & a Thought

Woke up early, again, very early 4am. Coffee is extra good at 4am and the computer screen is bright at 4am, painfully bright.

Been thinking about getting a hand grinder for coffee beans. There is something about brewing a cup of coffee that appeals to me.

Finished reading “Change By Design” by Tim Brown last night. The book ended with a quote by Tom Kelly that has sparked a thought in me.

“Innovation begins with an eye.” ~ that is the photographers job; to create something new and different. A photograph starts with a thought.

For 17 years I have been working in photography and in that time I have never felt like an inclusive photographer. I am not techie, nor do I subscribe to any photo magazines and have no interest in the latest gear. For me, my passion and effort has been pulled towards the compositional aspects of art. I think of myself as “I create therefore I am”, type of artist….my ego just exploded, sorry for the mess.

Nature. I am drawn to nature as a teacher of the arts. I figure that nature has a 4.5 billion-year headstart; maybe there is something that nature can teach me.

This is my compositional process: read books and go for walks in the woods, feel philosophical about myself…good thing egos are self-regenerating; I am on my third one today. Is this the correct process for photographers? No idea but it is the correct process for me.

Working on a post for next week: “Slow Photography Movement”. Raining outside, going to read a book by the fire.

Rant ~

To the Healthcare Protesters ~ shame, shame, shame on you…

What if healthcare was more like car insurance; 3 strikes and your out?

Let me use Rush Limp-ba as the chubby punching bag example:
Rush is fat: So Rush goes to the doctor to get heart medicine. The doctor tells him to take a pill a day, eat better and exercise.

Six months later the fatter Rush goes back to the doctor. The doctor tells him that he needs a stronger medicine (strike one).

A year passes and the Fat-R needs minor bypass surgery because he’s so overweight and doesn’t exercise. (strike two).

Recovering from surgery Fat-R discovers that he has a big appetite for prescription pain pills. He ends up in rich-man rehab, six weeks off from work while smoking cigars (strike three).

Let’s stop the abuse of healthcare with people who already have healthcare insurance. That would be the bulk of the protesters.

If a person does not care about improving their health why insure it?

If I get into three car accidents my insurance company will drop me faster that Fat-R can eat his way through a box of donuts.

I will pay more taxes ~ I want people to live ~ I care about universal health for our citizens.

If one person tells me that “sometimes people must die for capitalism to run true” I will punch you.

Rant

Things that have been on my nerves lately- Socialism…I am so tired of hearing everybody talk about the fear of being ruled by a socialist government. The bulk of our tax dollars are spent on defense…defense of keeping society safe. I like being safe. I like that I never had to fight in war. I like that I do not feel the threat of being attacked by a foreign land. Although I do not trust Australians, to quiet of a nation, watch your back.

I do not care about Socialism…because we already are, and have been, a socialist-run nation for the past fifty years…at least. We are a socialist nation who spends our collective tax dollars on going to war or preventing war or perpetuating the idea of somebody going to war. War makes people rich…ask Dick Cheney.

Dick Cheney…a man who has made his fortune in the private sector running companies who’s profits are derived from the United States being in war. No war, no profits. Now can you understand why Dick is on TV selling national security to us? He is trying to stay in business. For the past eight years he has been a media-ghost of the vice presidency. No need to talk when profits are bombing (no I did not mean booming).

People hate the term socialist and they hate the idea of government-run business. I get that I am a business man. I do not want the government telling me what and who to photograph. I hate the capitalistic business of war. I hate war. I hate that my tax dollars help to make Dick Cheney richer.

Here is the part where this rant develops into a dream…stop going to war. If we stop going to war every other decade and keep the tax structure the way it currently is we could have healthcare and education for all. That’s right. Our government tax structure could remain in tact. If taxes do not go up I bet you people will not care how our government is labeled.

I like capitalism especially when people with capital care about society.

p.s. – The opening sentence in the constitution is “We the people”, it is not I the person. I hope that those of you who wish to criticize this rant do so. Please refrain from quoting Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or Glen Beck; they are entertainers not journalists, nor academics. They claim to be good Americans yet they do not claim to be good human beings.

p.s.s – If you really hate socialism what you can do as an individual is refuse social security and Medicare when you retire. I bet the drug addicted, heart patient Limbaugh will accept that gift from government.

This Stuff Can Not Be Made Up

Last night I was driving behind a mini-van on my way to the gym (of course it is always a mini-van). The driver had to come to a complete stop every time they had to use their turn signal, EVERY TIME on a two lane road.

It took me an extra 15 min to get to the gym, but no road rage at all…it was just too damn funny to get upset over.

At the gym I am swimming laps. Standing on the edge of the pool is a very large man in a tiny blue Speedo swimsuit. Yes, eye-scaring but also it was quite impressive to see how far that tiny blue Speedo fabric can stretch.

At this point I am about 15 minutes into swimming laps and the large man in the tiny blue Speedo standing on the edge of pool is starting to stretch…yoga-pose-type of stretching. I start screaming in my head “please God make it so I do not look”. My prayers were not answered. I looked and more eye-scaring images burnt into my head.

Next - large man in a tiny blue Speedo swimsuit Jr. comes out of the locker room in matching tiny blue Speedo. Now I am hearing circus music in my head. The Mini-me lad meets his Dad at the edge of the pool and they start dancing like Irish Leprechauns.

Ok – the Leprechaun part is made up but everything else happened.

The letter “P” must die

The predicament with having a purpose in life is that it has to be attached to a problem for the purpose to be purposeful. What is practical about having a purpose if the only purpose is to point out a problem?

Answer: To persuade people to your perspective on the problem actually having a purposeful point in solving.

Sounds political so far, are you perplexed at this particular point?

My personal puzzlement is that I like pizza. If you want to eat pizza with pepperoni, pigs got to die. In principal I prefer things not to have to pass away to get on my dinner plate.

The purpose in solving my problem is; is it practical to kill all “P” to persuade you that my perspective is correct on getting pepperoni on my plate?

The letter “P” must die –goodbye to

Paris, Poinsettias, Poppies, Pasta, Peanut Butter, Pontiac, Porsche, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Peru, Poland, Pakistan, Palestine, Pens, pencils ….plea your case if you want me to ponder this predicament while I eat this plate that has been properly placed in front of face.

RANT

America is waking up again as every generation has an opportunity to change the world, yet again.


“If there is a hard, high wall and an egg that breaks against it, no matter how right the wall or how wrong the egg, I will stand on the side of the egg.” - Haruki Murakami


As I write this there is a crowd gathered that is picketing and protesting the legalization of gay marriage, women rights to choose and other random thing that should be left to the individual to select... 2,103 verses in the bible on serving the poor and less fortunate and they pick the 4 vague sentences to stage a protest.

Wonder how many homeless people they passed on their way to the protest.

Simplification postponed due to instability issues…

This Stuff Can’t be Made Up

Phone call from my wife:

Me: Hi Baby
Wife: Hello love – I just had to call you…you will never believe what I just saw.
Me: Asteroid?
Wife: No
Me: Bigfoot?
Wife: Shut up and listen!!!
Me: Ok
Wife: The bumper sticker on the vehicle in front of me reads “Save the planet; it’s the only one we got.”
Me: Nice!!!!
Wife: Don’t interrupt.
Me: Ok
Wife: The woman is driving an SUV and just tossed a cigarette butt out the window.
Me: Did you call Al Gore?
Wife: Shut up…I don’t have Al Gore’s phone number and quit asking.
Me: Is she eating a pop-tart??? Please tell me she is eating a pop-tart while making a cell phone call???
Wife: Shut up
Me: Love you
Wife: Me too, gotta go…

I’m Number 51, AGAIN

I’m angry, it happened again…fifth year in a row; I’m number 51. People magazine just listed 2008’s fifty sexiest men alive. They never print, publish, promote or publicize number 51. Just an Oh-So-Close e-mail, yet again. Then I noticed that most of the men are members of the cult (oops) club (oops) church of Scientology, check out this list. At this point I can no longer stand being number 51. As of this moment I dedicate my ego and all my good-lookingness to the cult/club/church of Scientology. Move over Oprah, I’m jumping on your sofa.

Good reasons to become a Sciencetologist:

- They don’t go to war

- They only accept beautiful people

- You become automatically rich through osmosis or by the company you keep, or something like that.

- Tax exempt status – that’s why they only accept the rich

- Jenna Elfman (she’s pretty)

- Done the Christian/ Buddhist thing: Service to others, practice forgiveness, mindful of my actions, and I suffered. That is so two thousand year ago.

- Get to be immortal. Come on, that’s just cool.

- Story of Xenu is better than Star Wars.

- Sciencetologist lawyers kick ass

- South Park dedicated a full episode to satirizing Scientology – this only happens to famous and successful people. When’s the last time anybody satirized the Presbyterians?

- If Kurt Vonnegut would have conceived the idea of Scientology instead of L. Ron Hubbard nobody would have a problem with it.

Palinism Rant

Sarah Palin has ruined this election campaign for me, as I suspect for others as well. I have been following and trying to educate myself on politics for the last eight years. Not an easy thing to do, cultivating yourself on politics? Politics appears to be more of religion vs. secularism than the civics of our nation.

Then inject the marketing scheme of “Palinism”. If it works, brilliant, and if it fails what a waste of time. You can read my wife’s rants on Palin (here) for an examination of her. For me, this election is only about the marketing of “fear vs. hope” with the right hook of a beauty pageant, PTA, hockey mom and spokes model for the Republican Party (a.k.a. George Bush with girl parts).

For me the gold at the end of rainbow is Tina Fey. God Bless you Tina…you have made all my efforts in this past eight years worth it.

If you want to read a really straightforward (and comical) point of view regarding Palin from a very talented writer, click (here.)

Political Rant...(I just had to)

Fear or hope: a story of Obama living the American dream and a story of McCain living an American nightmare. This is where we are at as a country. We need to choose.

For the last two weeks at 10 pm EST I turn on the TV and watch. The Olympics of speechwriters, this is how I see the conventions. The artist in me gets pumped up for all the writers out there being inspired to spin a new phrase. Politicians, preachers, prophets, pundits, pirates all make their way to the podium to spew their rhetoric to the masses. I love it, the super bowl with spellchecker, grammar pro and limited commercials.

I have to vote democratic, it’s mandatory if I wish to keep my acoustics guitars. I do. It’s true when you purchase an acoustic guitar they actually make you sign a form stating you will be a life-long democrat and mock all republicans with songs entitled “three chords and the truth”. On the flip side I am told when you purchase a gun you have to also sign a life-long republican voter form stating you will oppose all big government interference as long as the big government still enforces pro-gun, anti-choice, and anti-global thinking.

The debates next month should be pay-per-view events: In this corner HOPE weighing in at 175 lbs with 10 knock-outs and two best sellers to his name. In the other corner FEAR weighing in at 155 lbs being knocked down 15 times but getting up from all of them with the patented thumbs up to the crowd.

Enjoy the show…

2 ½ yr Old & Cloning

Cloning – What happened to the idea of cloning humans???

If I had the power to clone, I would clone my 2 ½ year old daughter and keep a cloned version of her with me at all times. Two and half is the age of angels, just old enough to talk but not old enough to ask questions that I can’t answer. Old enough to enjoy running around all day and still young enough to go to bed early. At 2 ½ the biggest horror in her life is that we run out of bananas and the greatest joy is hugging her Daddy. That’s me…Daddy. I am sure hugging mommy is also of great joy but mommy is not writing this so I get to be the greatest joy of my daughter’s life.

I see cloning as a win-win. My daughter, the non-cloned version, gets to grow up and have a fulfilling life packed with all the glory and splendors that life has to offer. I get to keep a 2 ½ year old angel with me at all times for the rest of my life that is left on this planet.

“Get Free Pills”

This is my rant on the state of U.S healthcare. I don’t think many people actually care about their state of health.

The term Universal Healthcare is not a very American slogan in the first place. America does not seem to care about the “Universe”. We Americans place 40% of toxins and pollution into the atmosphere and water. We support slavery with our consumerism-mentality. The amount of oil, coal and natural recourses we waste is an uncountable number. America seems also not to care about “healthcare” itself. We are an obese society with a gluttonous fast food nature. So it’s no wonder why we cannot get on board with the term “Universal Healthcare”.

It’s a marketing problem; we need a name change if we want people to get on board. How does this sound: “Get Free Pills”. That is something that Americans would line up for.

“Free” consumerism-mentality; that will solve our problems without having to place any effort into the solution. Now that seems American.

P.S. I’m just a little angry. See Frontline – Sick Around The World for an educated perspective.

Evolution Has Ended (0000 – 04/01/08)

Evolution has ended – after reviewing the state of humanity, Evolution no longer wishes to take credit for the state of the world. Before bowing out of the world stage, Evolution would like to extend some gratitude and recognition for those caught up along the way.

First, Creationism – even though Evolution has long been considered the bastard child of Creationism: Evolution would like to extend a warm thanks to Creationism for getting life to crawl out of the ocean and coaxing the first flowers to bloom. We do appreciate that…

Second, Consciousness - Evolution would like to give a round of applause to Consciousness for finally waking up. Unfortunately it was a little too late to have any effectiveness on the outcome of humankind. Nonetheless we would like to thank Kurt Vonnegut, Oprah Winfrey, Buddha and Jesus for being such strong charismatic figures that helped sprout the likelihood of people actually being nice to each other. What a novel idea...

Last but not least, without the aid of Evolution - Evolution would like to leave all future advancements to the existing-state-of-humanity to figure it out on their own.

Evolution speculates what is anticipated for the conclusion of humanity - “Civilization’s future holds the outcome of a non-evolved, non-consciousness, non-creative native population returning back to the oceans. For those of you worried about mass chaos, world panic or other such absurdities, there is no need to worry due to the fact that evolved, creative conscious people are needed for that.”

Enjoy the decline,
~Evolution

Three Days Off

Three days off and not much accomplished.  I spent the better part of the last three days waiting on other people to tell me what to do.  One, my wife, whose wishes I must respect.  Two, customer service attendants at Ikea, whose lack of interest in me I must accept (If I whish to purchase a new kitchen table and chairs and I do).  Third, my own self-righteous mindset that I must tolerate.  Too hard to explain, just trust me I can be a wrench of person when I am bored.

Good things from these past three days.  Downloaded the new Stuart Davis CD, “Something Simple”, definitely four stars. Caught baseball with my nephew, that was a lot of fun.

I had an epiphany of an idea while catching baseball.  Conversation while catching baseball could solve the entire world’s problems.  If you want to understand somebody else’s point of view catch baseball with that person.  Stay with me here: imagine watching the next presidential debate between Hillary and Obama, all the while they are catching ball and discussing the future of our country.  People cannot lie when catching baseball.  Not sure if truth-telling applies to all ball tossing or just baseball.  You can definitely lie when kicking a soccer ball or shooting a puck, never trust a hockey player especially if that hockey player is from Australia.

Broke out all the new camera gear.  I had a box full of new equipment sitting in our office for the last two weeks.  Just opened it this past Saturday.   Not sure if that’s a good thing or not that new equipment no longer gets me excited?  I feel more like I am keeping up with the “Digital Jones” than actually buying equipment that will improve the quality of my work.

“Digital Jones”, isn’t that a Stuart Davis song? 

Perfection in the Process

The Gaia hypothesis states that the earth is a self-regulating physiological system. Simply put, “The Earth is alive creating and re-creating itself”. Stephen Jay Gould writes “There is no progress in evolution – we are not marching towards some greater thing”.

Sometimes the universe gives you what you need. Today the universe gave me a bit of optimism. I just watched Jill Bolte Taylor (TED Talk) titled: My Stoke of Insight (I highly recommend). Then followed that up with a new book about optimism titled: What Are You Optimistic About? by John Brockman.

“Perfection in the process” is my mantra of choice; no ending point is needed for the trip to have value.

The writers' strike save my life

Sunday night, 10 pm, opened a bottle of wine, turned on FX network to watch “Dirt”. This show makes me laugh on many different levels. First, I love the idea of art imitating life. Second, how easy it must be for the writers of this show, and third, that the Cox-Arquette’s are making money off the very thing that they grumble about. How great is that?? Serendipity + irony + old tabloid headlines = a hit show.

TV watching at my house has evolved into old-world-thinking. We only turn on the TV when we actually want to watch something. Be entertained. It is no longer an appliance that fills the empty space in our life.

The writers’ strike saved my life. Due to the fact that we loathe reality/game show TV; there was nothing left for us to do but actually turn the TV off in disgust. What came next was something that has only been seen on old black and white TV shows. We had conversation, turned on music, and worked on other activities, spent quality family time, truly “The Twilight Zone” style of living. Friends and family laughed at us, nevertheless we persevered. The TV is only turned on when we actually wanted to watch something. How civilized.

If you think I am bragging…well I am.

P.S. None of the above applies during football season…