Is a canvas ever blank?

Think about it. If I shine an image on a canvas, is it blank? Does it become blank when we turn the projector off, or when we leave the room? Does extreme skepticism and extreme empiricism ever win out over agnostic rationalism? Highly abstract terms, I know - but I'm using them shake up your thoughts to let seeds take root in your non-belief system.

I was reading in Australian Anthill magazine, a rag for corporate cocksuckers and their aspirant media whore hangers-on (such as myself) to congratulate themselves about the concept of personal branding. Personal branding, like corporate or product branding, uses similar themes and concepts; for example - to gain recognition and sales using a discrete package of repeated symbols to produce predictable outcomes in perception. How does this relate to you, and why are you still reading? I'll tell you.

I use personal branding myself online - the "Crushtor" brand is unique, it's my own. It stands for "maverick" journalism even though you've seen little evidence on it here - yet. My "fake" business cards are shocking and reaction-provoking, and may even attract the odd visitor to this website. The brand perpetuates itself - it is both the means and the end. People also use it unconsciously online via Facebook. A few people in my friends list have begun to "brand" themselves as the ultimate party girl/boy - the "most popular girl/boy in school" motif that many people aspire to be themselves, sort of like the "Paris Hilton effect." How do they do it? It's actually quite simple.

First of all, they insert themselves into as many avatars as possible. Their image in another's avatar elevates them to the status of "everyone's best friend." The non-verbal communication runs two fold and circuitously compliments both strands:

1. The party boy/girl establishes his/her brand by having their image grace as many avatars as possible.
2. The less astute/popular boy/girl ascends to popular status due to the "party boy/girl" being in their avatar.

It could be that Western need for attention and popularity rearing its ugly head again (as most cases are) but it could be used as a powerful tool for success, networking and business opportunities. Being seen on Facebook or MySpace often enough means you expose yourself to more people than you otherwise would. Finish it off with store-bought attractiveness (verbal, not physical) and you're an instant winner.

Keeping up social engagements to be snapped on Facebook seems to be more important than the event itself, at least to some. Like most brands, there's only grains of reality that are buried beneath tons and tons of spin, flashiness and purr words. How can you tell X that Y isn't all that they're cracked up to be in the face of that? Well, it's not that easy to answer. As a journalist, its hard to win a PR war with the truth when the almighty image tells you something else.

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http://twitter.com/crushtor

Resist No Temptation

Some people say that we agree more than we disagree. People compete against one another in corporations, but within the conglomerate itself, more agreement must take place for any one member to succeed. Bateson calls it "schismogenesis." Big words in place for simple concepts or not, the line between "having it" and "not" is so thin, it could almost be measured in mere pixels, strokes of a pen or even the amount of coins at the bottom of your wallet at any given time. I'd like to believe that I've been jilted, trodden over or forgotten for something existentially meaningful. The reality of the situation, at least to my perception, is that I didn't provide that almost insignificant bit of extra comfort that nearly all people try to prolong until they're lowered into their grave.
I lose one person to a beat-up car, another to a well-timed compliment, another to a wayward glance. The war for affection and loyalty continues and the front line shifts almost constantly, almost inevitably. Uncertainty consumes us, and at the end of the day, it's mostly all we can take for granted. It's bullshit, but we humans tend to be full of that anyhow, right?

Five Word Music Reviews:
Motorhead - Motorizer: Lemmy's still got it
Iced Earth - Crucible of Man (Something Wicked, Part II): Ballsy and ambitious yet confusing
Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer?: Self-indulgence, Dresden Dolls style

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http://twitter.com/crushtor

The Slow Trudge of Perseverance

Tom's week, the tl;dr edition:

1. Friday, I worked my new job. It is very white. Like, horribly so. I swear to god I'm working at JLB Credit.

2. This:

3. This conversation:

Aza (to Jade and Louise): Now you've got three choices. [I can call you] Woman, Slut or Whore.
Jade: That's so mean. No one calls girls such things.
Louise: Yeah, Tom never calls girls that, do you Tom?
Me: Well, I just have a better PR manager than Aza does.

That, and making up songs for very specific emotions. "The Ballad of that feeling you get when a fleeting aquaintance who wrote well-known Cookbooks passes away." Fucking hell, all these hippie types say I've got a "negative aura" around me. Some hippie told me this again yesterday because I asked why she and a mate of hers were talking about buttery popcorn. Launching into rants is par for the course with me, not fucking negative. Hippies talk a lot of shit about being "centred" and "loving" and other such bullshit, but they're still stuck in the same Aristotelian world of "is" and "essence" - a Hippie that denies the "is" of identity? That's fucking progressive. Almost everything else seems like they're just pretending. "Yes, you are negative." No, I seem to say negative words. Please get back to me when your junkie logic transforms into actual logic.

Yep, I'm cool.

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http://twitter.com/crushtor