Advertising is everywhere, and it keeps our media afloat. Without ads there would be no money to support cultural centers like news organizations and sports teams as we’ve come to know them. But are the ads that fill our lives effective at selling the products – or, indeed, worth anywhere near the money spent on them?
Monthly Archives: August 2010
Sinking In?
Is the Depression becoming internalized? It may just be a feeling or it may be the people I know, but I’ve been seeing a lot more symptoms of depression in the world around me. Friends and acquaintances have detached themselves gradually from the hyper-connected world and pushed back on anything not right in front of them. Some are clearly having trouble coping with even simple things that they used to enjoy. Calls and e-mails are rarely answered with any kind of consistency or speed.
I wanted to discuss this because if this is true the only way out is old fashioned talking about it. If it’s not true, I may need a new circle of friends.
Improv
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.”
– William Shakespeare (As You Like It)
It’s a trite phrase, a fairly obvious cliché more than 400 years old. Yet like so many of these little sayings it has only stuck around this long because it holds a certain truth. We each have defined roles we play out, hoping that they both fit into the bigger production even as we standout as the star in our own monologues. Where the saying fails, however, is the lack of a written script implied by the credit given to the Bard. A play has to seem true and make sense – but life is rarely just as we like it. Life is more of an improv act.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 