BUN: Connections and Commentaries

While starting yet another semester at college this week, I've already begun some deep enlightenment in a few classes.  One thought is that the people we look up to in artistic professions (Shakespeare, Mozart, Beethoven, Van Gogh, etc.) are really just ordinary people like you and me.  "If Shakespeare were alive today," my professor ponders, "he would be just a television writer.  People would find it difficult putting up with [the arrogance of] Beethoven; he was anti-social, and some people felt he was 'riding' them."  When these names come across our mind, "...we shouldn't put them on a pedestal, and distance ourselves from them.  We are them."  It's true; we tend to exaggerate the amount of credit we give to the sources of our inspirations, in terms of talent or creativity.  When this happens, we create this invisible scale...an invisible ruler, if you will...in our minds.  We end up measuring ourselves against our heroes while we set them high up on the meter.  Self-esteem then becomes impacted, partially due to the imaginary bar that we (ourselves) create, and we make the mistake of comparing our work of inexperience to the works that were (actually) deemed inexperienced in their debut, such as Van Gogh's "Potato Eaters."  Understand that while a lot of the classical artists are praised in this era, most of them were looked down upon in their lifetime, simply because they did not fashion their creations after what was called "popular" or "mainstream."

So what exactly am I trying to say?  Though you may look up to someone, don't set standards too high for yourself that you fall out of your own style and stumble upon something unfamiliar and uncomfortable.  Your personality is yours; the same goes for your vision, your style, and your interpretation.  This thought reminded me of Mackenzie Lifebreeze, a new Blogger who's also an active Diary of a Wizard member, and her active search in finding an interest in a Wizard101 project, such as house decorating, blogging, etc.  She is especially impressed with Paige Moonshade's creations--which are just incredible, I must say--but she was having trouble finding motivation to carry on decorating her own house.  So, I suggested she try every aspect of Wizard101 out, then look into writing about her endeavors, and see what she liked doing best.  That's probably the most important key to have to an environment that can sprout up a wide variety of projects: finding something you can do on your own, whether or not other people like it, as long as no one is harmed, of course.  Once you manage to grasp onto a hobby that you can become lost in for hours on end, you've found your calling.  At that time, comparing your work to others' is more of an educational experience than a competition; everyone has a different style, remember?  Paige's recreation of "Pandora" from Avatar cannot be ranked against a setting from Harry Potter or SpongeBob Squarepants.  True, you can compare talents in terms of how well a player understands the floating bug and decorating tricks, but this type of experience can be gained by anyone.  And thus, anyone can become just as talented as their inspirations, assuming there is passion, dedication, and an open mind.

With that said, I present my current Massive Fantasy Palace in video form, below this paragraph.  Keep in mind that a lot of it was based on accidents and instantaneous brainstorming.  In other words, the decorating came first, and then the stories behind it.

And here is yet another hobby, one that I really enjoy a lot:  PVP Commentaries, done at Fallon Deathslinger's Wizaversary and last night's "Last Minute PVP Party":

*you can click "Watch Ad Now" a couple of times to stack uninterrupted viewing time; otherwise the ads come every 15 minutes*

Fallon Deathslinger's Wizaversary

Last Minute PVP Party (1/22/11)

And last but not least, two more transcripts completed last weekend for Ravenwood Radio:

Episode 1:  Introductions and Mounts

Episode 2:  News and Seamstress Info