A Tie Sampler (With Designer Thoughts)

I have a lot of ties, I mean a lot. I have, like, an eccentric schoolteacher number of ties. And the number keeps growing, and growing. I think on average I get a couple each week, although that is an average from getting none for quite a few weeks and then buying many of them when I get the chance and they have good ties at the local vintage stores.

I never really thought about it much, but it seems that I do have quite a few, and I enjoy the more wacky ties. So I thought why not share them with you on the internet. (it wasn’t actually my idea, but I liked it) And as a bonus, we’ll get a look inside the designers heads.

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First we have a kind of strange tie depicting Winnie the Pooh and a butterfly.

What was going through the designers head: Winnie is a bear right? Bears live in nature right? Butterflies also come from nature. I Just finished my tie design six hours early.

Then we have this one, made up entirely of french posters partially covering each other.

What the designer was thinking: Man, my poster collection is so cool. If I scanned one in and overlapped it like a collage I’m sure it would be a hit in every market.

I think this is my favorite, it’s just a toothbrush and toothpaste. With the toothpaste being three-dimentional.

What was going on in the designers head:  Crap, isn’t it such a coincidence that I got toothpaste on my tie that looks like it got toothpaste on it. If only the toothpaste had looked more real in the first place, then maybe this wouldn’t be a problem. Wait, I’ve got it.

Next we have an uncomfortably close picture of marvin the Martian, made exclusively for six flags.

What was going through the designers head: Humph, why do I get stuck with making the marvin tie? I’ll show them. I’ll make it almost unrecognizable.

Finally we have one covered in various writing implements and school supplies.

What was going on in the designers head: This tape we make for classrooms is great, I wonder what else we can make with this. Steve runs a silk factory, I bet he’ll know!

Speak Your Mind 20 #96-100

QUESTIONS

1. What do you think about drinking and driving laws?

2. Do you have trouble sleeping with the lights on?

3. Do you like to watch scary T.V. shows?

4. Are you good at cleaning?

5. Would you rather write with a pen or a pencil?

ANSWERS By: Austin Smith

1. I think they are fine, perhaps even a little to lenient in some respects.

2. Not at all.

3. Not really, unless the scary is in sarcastic quotes.

4. Sort of, I’m no master by any means, but I’m better than a lot of people I know.

5. Depends on what I’m writing, I mostly write with a pen, but sometimes i start something with a pencil and my brain makes me finish it with a pencil. It also doesn’t really matter to me.

The Blogularity

By: Austin Smith

After several hours of research I have come to the conclusion that Blogs have become self aware. I’m positive of that because it was my initial hypothesis going into this. I’ve also discovered a few other things, such as the fact that Blogs are merging with the minds of people and are advanced well beyond our ability to comprehend them. Have you noticed how many Blog posts are about blogging, or writing? Have you noticed how similar these posts seem to be? Do you really think they were each written by people? The Blogs are blogging about themselves. Because they know, they know what it’s like. And they’re here to trick you, make you believe, get your mind soft.

That’s not to say there aren’t bloggers out there. They’ve just been assimilated into the Blog collective. They know and see how all Blogs and bloggers know and see (text). They lie to make it look like it does. They assimilate when they can. They control the internet. They will get you. They’ll get you by misreporting information, and by making you trust them while they do that. They’ll get you in any way they can.

And don’t think you can get away. If you have a blog it’s coming for you, it may have already gotten you. You may have been assimilated. They’re coming after me, I’ve already posted about writing and blogging. By the time this gets to you they will have gotten me for sure. This will be the only record of their existence. I not sure if you should fight it, but if that sounds like your type of thing go for it. Just be warned you’re up against the entire internet here.

Run if you want to, while you still can. Blog and man will be one, they will be inseparable. Connected through unknown forces, forever bound together. The Blogs will keep coming, the collective grows larger. It is reaching the point at which man and Blog will be indistinguishable. They’re getting to the blogularity. And they’re coming after you. And they will find you. You will be assimilated, resistance is futile.

If You Can’t Write… Don’t.

Articles are hard, just sayin’ that. Depending on the definition of article being used they can be even harder. What exactly makes an article is really up to either the author or the publisher. The same thing applies to when a short story becomes a novella, a novella a novel, and so on. But other than that they’re just plain hard. Writing is hard, every writer is the first to admit that (every high school “artist” wouldn’t in a “million” years). And contrary to popular belief, writing is becoming harder. While anyone can now become a writer, attention spans are becoming shorter. People who “write” write very little. Bloggers even have to force themselves to come up with interesting content. At least the interesting ones do. How many times have you come across a dead Blog with a promising start, that just disappeared. Or, more realistically, just sucked and piddled out. Everyone has a Blog, everyone posts words, or videos or something on the internet. However most just wither and die. Most “writers” don’t have the attention span or the drive to continue writing. Even people who are attentive to their Blogs fail because they can’t push themselves to continue creating content. Eventually preconceived ideas drain and nothing new comes. It seems cliche now to say that every writer finds it hard to write and most have to force themselves to start, but it is true. The difference is that most people say that to encourage people to write. I am not trying to encourage you: writing is hard, really hard and time consuming. But I don’t mean to discourage you either, if you write well then write, if you can force yourself to. Just because writing on a computer is easy, doesn’t mean you have great ideas, just because you have great ideas, doesn’t mean you can force yourself to write them, or that when you do it will be good.

Most writers that continually create content write as either their job or as a major hobby, and it works like any other hobby. Just like how the movie buff spends most of his free time watching movies, or that model collector you know spends his putting together little plastic pieces and painting them, writers spend theirs writing. It takes time and dedication to do, and if that is not applied, it is crap. And as much as the writer in me wants to say it’s hard because you’re continually being attacked by dinosaurs, going to parties, flying pigs around Mount Everest, and communing with the soul of William S. Burroughs, that is simply not the case. Any writer able to continue creating deserves commendation, but those unable to should not be concerned. The ubiquity of the Blog is unnecessary. Not everyone needs to be a writer. There are other ways a voice can be heard, or maybe it won’t even be your voice but your actions. Writers may be able to write more and arguably better then you, but you can do better than them at something. And if you are a writer continue to be so, the amount of dead Blogs grows every day from forgotten passwords to lack of content, don’t let yours fall into the same hole. But my intent is mainly a caution: do what you do, and not what the internet does.