When analyzing some piece of art for merit such as a story or a movie the first inclination is to find order, to dispel entropy and in so doing to organize the data of the piece into a category. People laugh at a stage show and see how the antics of the characters are ridiculous and exaggerated, they call this a comedy. However in the growing complexity of modern days when these categories have been delineated by critics for many decades and in some cases centuries. There appear these subdivisions of categories and inevitably the line begins to blur between genres.
Take the comedy example so if these antics are slapstick that is harmless enough but what if the jokes are organized around a political event? The Three Stooges never meet Hitler but that might have been funny. Can this simply be called comedy? It now has social commentary about relevant historical material that is not funny. OR take the example of Itchy & Scratchy on the Simpsons where the humor comes from violence, a confrontation with mortality. Of course if you can’t laugh at death what’s the point? This is something that society is getting better at. This is the very root of what makes something a dark comedy; that is the subject matter deals with serious issues of life and death.
Taking the dark comedy as a spring board is it not much of a leap to then arrive at drama through the connection between comedy and tragedy? Some say comedy is tragedy plus time but in this ever accelerating world the two quite often appear as one and the same. So if we can create something that is both comedy and tragedy the fundamental elements of catharsis, the two poles on the spectrum of artistic expression then it seems reasonable to assert that genre is a moot term.
What does this do for the artist? Well, with no easy categories with which to place a product, that product can be immediately validated as “art” or it can bdismisseded as “crap” and forsaken into the void of entropy. Here is where the socio-political hand waving is most critical. In the former case of justification of a product as “art” there must not only be discourse but agreement there must be a rhetoric about the piece. This might be a “pitch” to use Hollywood terms. Now this effort of justification will thrive in the hands of a critical community with accredited critics (for whatever that means) but like in modern media, which stories get told is a political and practical decision since every story simply cannot be given such consideration.
Now it is the task of the artist not only to create from the ether, to arrive at some kind of product from the chaos, but also to justify this creation to explain something in terms of overlapping categories without betraying the creation through overly convoluted exegesis. If the product is worth much this convolution will follow and become something other people will do that will make it more than it was through critical and fan (the reason to do it) discourse. This I think is what makes something art and this I think is what makes good stuff dynamic beyond its inception and creation, giving it a longevity of entertainment beyond that of the creator. Hence the immortality thing.

The darkness fades into a grayness as the lights become dim. The man is sitting in the front row looking at the pale canvas screen before him. 24 frames per second a new painting made with light and life so much concentrated endeavor. He gets up from his chair and approaches the screen. It has no response in this dormant state it is the most neutral thing possible. He touches the rough fabric it is strong and durable taught like a sail to travel the minds of escape.
The city is cold at this point an honest cold that clears the sky of all the smog and lets the lights shine stars of industry piercing the sky and reflecting back onto the universe with neon multicolored parody of those same events that made it all.
At home he notices that his finger is white where he touched the screen like a chalky film he rubs his finger but it does not come off, it spreads. He goes to the bathroom and washes his hand but nothing happens he holds his hand to the light by now his entire palm is white it is like a progressive bleaching of his skin. The appendage feels cold and dull.
He can see something in his palm a reflection a projection.

Setting: 2 guys at a table in the morning one has a cup another a tiny ball.
C: (sips) So what are we here for this Wednesday?
B: (rolling ball between palm and the table) Tuesday.
C: What?
B: Today is Tuesday. You’ve gotten ahead of yourself.
C: (looking down at cup) Yea I guess you’re right . . . so what do you want?
B: You promised me something six years ago, do you remember?
C: I think . . . yes it was at my brother’s birthday party something about a car companies stocks, they seemed to have promise. (sips) What about it? Did the stocks pan out?
B: No . . . I lost a lot of money.
C: Oh . . .(sips).
B: I became obsessed with trying to the beat the odds after that my wife left me. I started to believe the world owed me something you have to understand I wasn’t a gambling man be fore this happened.
C: Okay, and the . . .
B: Well . . . gambling worked for awhile but in the end it was just money there wasn’t enough risk. I tried all of the crazy stupid things but always there was something filtered and contrived about these experiences like mini-vacations away from myself.
C: Most people seem to like that.
B: Not me I wanted to feel what it was like to be alive, myself at risk. I started driving fast and living dangerously walking into dark alleys and things like that.
C: And what then?
B: I was mugged, the guy beat the shit out of me and took my wallet.
C: Damn!
B: It didn’t bother me I only had a few bucks. Any way the next night I went back; I wanted to find the guy.
C: And kick the shit out of him?
B: Not really I just craved the idea of conflict.
C: (smiling) Like some kind of bloodlust?
B: . . .Anyway I found the guy or we sort of found each other. He had a knife to my back suddenly I spun around and knocked him flat on his ass. He was drunk and just sort of lay there waiting for me to run.
C: Then what did you take his wallet before you left as a little trophy?
B: No I just kicked him. For all of my confusion and anger about my life that was the first time I felt right so I kept kicking him. I must have done this for an hour my eyes burned with oily sweat and I was out of breath so I went how and slept.
C: What happened to the man?
B: That’s not the point. I found my answer there needed to be victimization and then vindication. It was the amazing power of self actualization. All of my life I had been a passive victim, most people are that way, now I fight back.
C: why are you telling me this? Frankly I don’t think it’s very funny. We hardly know each other are you getting help?
B: Yes I am helping myself by taking care of all those who made me a victim. That’s why I wanted to see you this Tuesday morning because you’re the last one. I hope that coffee tasted good.

You are careful and systematic in your business arrangments.

Uh huh so this one is more of a judgement about my character how is that a fortune?

If you continually give you will continually have.

Well I better continually have otherwise I won’t have anything to give.

I mean what the hell when even the zen phraseology of a fortune cookies is phoned in what a world . . . oh and okay.

Recently in an effort to develop a calmer perspective on life so I don’t die of an MI before I’m 30 I’ve started to just say okay to many things. It’s great because it can be a passive acceptance or a rude dismissal depending on the inflection. Either way it makes life much easier. So when someone tells me something that might be an issue instead of getting involved I just say “okay”. It’s not a good tool for socialization but it is certainly good at eschewing unnecessary interaction and involvement while stubbornly maintaining integrity.

More people should check out eripsa’s Summer Project. It’s something cool in the way of science fiction.

There you go:

http://googlespeaks.blogspot.com/

A few things one [adult swim] is getting pretty awesome on Saturday nights Samurai Champloo is a good one and on the 28th of May they will be all anime (rhyme) back to the solid action which is cool if that’s your thing.

So I just used a piece of paper to pick some turkey from between my teeth I of course ate the piece of turkey is that gross? Seems perfectly okay. And as a counter point is it impolite to wipe the spit off your lips when you’ve been kissed? If the answer to either of those questions is yes then I might be in trouble.

Everybody craves applause . . . except comedians.

It just occurred to me as I embarked on the same sequence of events with the hope of achieving different results that I was being insane. This is the common definition I guess. Yet I’ve found myself doing many things like this and what is to be said? Am I nuts? Sure but not because of these reasonably inane things. I think that the complexities of technology and such that the speed with which this society is moving are driving all of us a bit insane in this way. What’s the best way to get a computer that is inexplicably not working to work? Restart it. Okay sometimes that works sometimes it doesn’t there is a rationale behind this action but it is usually a hully gully approach toward solving a problem that does not have an immediate solution. And what about the principle of persistence? The if first you don’t succeed adage? Perhaps it’s too wordy to say: “try try again but do it differently”. Still, it seems to me that in life there are many scenarios and situations where the results will vary and do vary dependent upon many factors and that we mortals in our infinite ignorance might always miss something.
Perhaps this insanity is a bit inevitable though I suppose it works only in a retroactive sense to attempt something with a priori expectations can only take one sofar. It is insane to do something that you know won’t work but you never really know any results until after the event has occurred and it is at this time that one is insane; not for taking the action or even having the expectation since this expectation is simply a skeptical assertion against previous empirical data. Rather the insanity comes from not understanding the results and not showing due regard toward the further validity of that empirical data to test this data is a human prerogative to dispute the results is simple insanity but to expect the same results for what is seemingly the same situation is in many cases is just as insane since it is not necessarily in our power to eliminate the aspect of uncertainty. Taking a hard line semantic approach, the point is moot since the same actions and circumstances is not seemingly the same, it is the same. On paper, in words, insanity is clear but in the real world I just don’t think that is the case.