The Great Compromise

You know, I don't think that the toilet seat issue is really that big of an issue for most men. However, it seems to be a major issue to you girls.

I think the problem is that women don't look before they sit. Seriously, how hard is that? It's not that I mind having to put the seat down, but I have to lift it up too. I don't stomp and scream, "Hey you left the seat DOWN again!" No I just lift it up and do my business. If I put it back down then that is a courtesy. I'm not responsible if you sit in the toilet water because you didn't look look first. Why should the job of lifting of the seat and the lowering of the seat both be on me?

I propose that we remove the responsibility for the lowering of the seat from the men. It's only fair. We lift the seat to prevent the splattering of the topside of it. Ladies, if you find the seat up, you have a courteous man who went out of his way make sure it stayed clean for you. Just lower it and do your business. And the best part? We promise not to expect you to put it back up! You put it down and we'll put it up.

Girls, it won't take you long to get used to this change. Looking before you sit will become a matter of habit in no time. This point of conflict in so many relationships will just go away!

What is it about art?

One of those things that my brain keeps running back to when I don't have anything else to occupy it with is, what makes good art? What is it about a song or a movie or a photo that makes us respond to it?

I was leaning towards the "element of surprise" for a long time. My theory was that we like to be surprised and we are naturally atracted to things that catch us off-guard. Plot twists in books or movies are a good example. Who wants to read a novel where everything that happens is absolutely predictable? Music is the same way. A song with big swings in dynamic range really gets our attention. Even an unexpected change in key can take a song we were already enjoying to a completely new level. Musicians tend to build patterns of notes but what engages us is the variations they take away from the pattern. Even a preacher can surprise us with a bit of insight that never occurred to us before and we walk out the church saying, "wow, that was a good sermon!"

Well, that's the way it seems to work for me anyway. Maybe I'm oversimplifying it a bit.

I've been thinking more about the role of imagination lately. Specifically, the part of a work of art that lives in the mind of the viewer. To read a book is a completely different experience from watching a movie. To some extent a black and white photo works the same way. The colors are left to the mind of the viewer. Photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson was known for his attempts to capture the "decisive moment" in his photos. By doing so he left the outcome of the moment to... your imagination.

Sometimes the artist's imagination creates the element of surprise. A good example may be when Robin Williams lands in heaven depicted as a Monet-like painting in "What Dreams May Come." It's so incredibly beautiful that for a moment you are taken aback.

So art surprises us, and it challenges our imagination. But what is the source of our emotional connection to it? Sometimes it transcends entertainment and touches us in a we actually feel.

I guess I may have accidentally stumbled on another thing I like about art, it defies you to define it.

Getting your online life in order...

OK, maybe your life isn't spread out all over the internet but mine is. I haven't blogged in... a long time. Since that last post I've moved my blog and broke a lot of things. In that last few days I've been trying to bring everything back together again. I've done ok, I've located all the missing pictures in the page layout put them back online. I've fixed all the broken links (I think) and I've updated all the pages that I could find that were pointing here so they have the new URL. I've even started twittering and added that here too.

How does everyone else manage Blogger, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and everything else out there? I think I know the answer. Most of you just don't. Anyway, I'm trying to get things in order. If anyone is reading this, look for new blog posts soon.