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There’s this thing I’m dealing with… this fantastic understanding of finally getting my preferred writing medium/ mode out into reality and accessible. I *need* creativity to exist online (done). I *need* people to understand that the medium doesn’t define the work (undone? Oldguardpreventingdone?). To go down a parallel path about a different subject…

How does one convince EVERYBODY that reality is a construct created by the self?

I believe in God. It’s my belief. It’s my construct. That doesn’t mean that God *isn’t* there. It means I’m exercising the Free Will given to me by Something that I cannot grasp in any meaningful/ tangible way.

I believe in writing. It’s my belief that it exists. It’s my construct. Because you are reading this, you exist in my construct. You exist in my existence construct; reading my words, reading my language, hopefully developing a comprehension of what I’m putting to digital ink.

I cannot grasp God, but I believe He is real. I can grasp you (gasp!), but I’ve already established that I don’t require touch to prove something is real.

(Touch, of course, is fantastic evidence and certainly one aspect of what I need to define my reality, but that doesn’t mean you have to accept a single one of my beliefs.)

(I promise this isn’t a tangent.)

So, this leaves me at this place where I live in relative peace: because I cannot control how people perceive reality, I simply have to accept that I live in a place where I control my reality. I will not relinquish that control because who deserves to have control over my existence? If God said that I get control over my own existence, who or what has any authority to tell me otherwise?

(Also, sorry about the repetition… I’ve been drowning in Hemingway-water… which is delicious and is bottled in Michigan, USA USA… and I promise that because of the draft stage this is in, my pronouns should still be easy to follow)

Living in that (current) place of peace, I have to accept this: whenever faced with something radically new, human instinct is to avoid it until an adventurous mind gives a top-notch example to the masses. As they are top-notch, that means they are also ingest-ible by the masses. Narrow examples: Socrates, the King James Bible, early America OnLine, Gone With The Wind, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Charles Dickens. Note that I’m not comparing any of these to each other or saying they have equal value; I’m simply stating each one (relative to their time) broke some new change in life to the masses.

Where does that leave online creativity?

Blogs are regularly attacked as being a low form of writing. A web series posted on YouTube is seen as low level entertainment. Having your own webpage is considered “niche” or “expected… but designed by a webmaster.” Photographs and manipulated images are seen as sophomoric. Critical writing is worthless until seen in an Academic Journal. Musicians are considered Not Good Enough to be signed by a record label.

I cannot change these things. I can do my best to create high quality versions of the above listed, as can everyone else with access to any computer and (at least, but God forbid) dial up.

Laissez-Faire Art.

(In my Libertarian mindset, the single greatest thing that could ever happen to art or Art.)

Can I call it LA-FA? Lafa?

Radiohead released _In Rainbows_ online and refuse to let us know how much money they made in solely that format. That number is unnecessary. The fact that it happened is what we’re concerned with; it was another line being pushed, another example of what individual artists can do on the webberinternetzweb. Crank That (Soulja Boy) is musical success online from a different angle. Widespread bloggers were given prime access back during the 2004 __________ Convention. Sports bloggers regularly appear on sports shows. TV shows are now put online by their respective networks with online supplements. And yet there is still a disconnect between what is accepted as quality online and what is consumed by the masses. Name brand websites carry a gravitas that is almost viewed as separate from facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and a plethora of other online sites and forums. CNN.com has credibility, while mentioning any far more efficient news reporting engines lacks that je ne sais quoi that appeals to the masses.

Unless, of course, we are finally hitting that tidal wave of internet understanding, that cresting online force that will push people out of those safe zones and into new realms of understanding.

Mindless surfing is a huge issue in corporate America. Every week I’m at work, I’m deluged by e-mails, alerts, studies, etc that discuss how much of an issue casual browsing has become. Standing alone from the studies of how e-mail is now so far past any point of diminishing returns that “No E-mail Friday” is considered both revolutionary and work beneficial (and this is with many employees who could even figure out an inbox before 2000 AD), this mindless and undirected surfing has caused lockdowns on so many URLs in my place of business that I’m forced to choose between name brand websites and all of the ones that are too small to be blocked.

And, lo and behold, people are starting to spend more time on the smaller unknown sites that ever before. Forget the social networking corner of our online communities: I’m talking about Other Important Part of Online… Information Accessibility with the Knowhow To Find It. I’m being directed to independent URLs with under reported news by supervisors with hair grayer than depression. I’m privileged to discuss the importance of the free exchange of ideas and information by willing parties with individuals hounded by corporate demons of upward mobility. The Olympics… man. Everything about that blew my mind (the coverage/ consumption is my reference here, tho the feats were only slightly less impressive). But the one that stands out the most:

I was told about viral websites produced by WB for The Dark Knight in a work meeting before my nerd(y)(ier) had a chance to pass down information.

This is bringing me back to the beginning (and I apologize for any wasted time/ infuriating writing)(if it helps, I’m totally sober… haven’t eaten today, which is probably a bad thing and). With The Dark Knight, I finally believe that the tipping point has been reached. Besides the fact that the new Batman movie didn’t feature the word in the title or even most of its marketing campaign (to be fair, the symbol itself has become as identifiable as Prince when he didn’t need a name), is there a person on the planet with access to the internet who didn’t know about “the new Batman movie”? Even when the ads that inundated them with a plethora of information that didn’t include the word “Batman”?

Maybe I’m grasping at straws or so excited that I’m seeing things that aren’t there. I will fully allow for the possibility that I don’t understand what is going on, that my base hypothesis is wrong, that my anecdotal and factual evidence reeks of everything from personal bias to unlisted sources (really, if you want them, I’ll get them). I allow for all of those possibilities in your reality.

But not in mine.

In my reality construct, this summer was the time that the internet wave finally started to foam white and I canNOT wait for the shore crash.

Since I’m pretending like a great deal of stuff and internet meme phenomena is already known by people in the class, this link to Weezer’s “Pork and Beans” song should help as a crash course in learning some of the more expansive internet videos. Between this and the South Park episode on the same subject, readers should be well-versed if they do some short research.