Personal Blog 16

So many people miss the fact that the part that makes art subjective is whether you liked it or not. I LOVE the game Sea of Thieves. But I am well aware of the fact that it is nowhere even close to being the best game ever. Because there are parts of it that objectively run or play poorly. Parts of art being objective are integral to interpretation being subjective. Oscar Wilde had a very good quote on this, he said, "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all." What you take away from a piece of art is entirely up to you. It's up to your interpretation. But what it actually is cannot be up to interpretation. 

Hollow Knight is an OBJECTIVELY amazingly put together game with OBJECTIVELY well made visuals, music, and story at different levels. Do you enjoy Hollow Knight? That's up to you. A Minecraft Movie was an OBJECTIVELY bad movie with OBJECTIVELY bad line deliveries, CGI, lighting, and visuals at different levels. But did you enjoy it? That is up to you. I sure did. I loved every second of it because it was so bad. And that was the point. Little Nightmares is an OBJECTIVELY ugly game, and that is the point. If you don't enjoy playing a game that looks ugly, you probably won't enjoy Little Nightmares. 

If I am at my friend's house and I punch his window hoping that it will break, and it doesn't, then me and my friend have just discovered that this is a very well made window. I hate the window because I wanted it to break, and my friends is very thankful for the window because he paid for it with the express purpose of having a window that would not break. Neither of us can change the fact that this window was well made. I may call it a pain while he calls it a lifesaver, but we both know it's actually a window. 

I love Van Gogh's artwork. But it's objectively unrealistic and has rough brush strokes that require less skill than the most beautiful and detailed renaissance painting. But I don't care much for renaissance paintings. Why? I just liked Van Gogh's colors and the story behind his paintings more. Michelangelo was objectively more skilled than Van Gogh, but I still like Van Gogh's work more. If my little cousin made a drawing of me with complete lack of composition and skill and beauty, I would love it more than any Van Gogh painting. But still I know that Van Gogh's artwork was objectively more skillful, well composed, and beautiful (visually). Because that part is objective. How I feel about it is subjective.

It's been a while since I've posted,

- Basil

Personal Blog 15

 I always feel so useless whenever I get sick, especially during the school year. I don't have any motivation to do any school work and I can't see any of my friends and I feel physically miserable. I can't go to the first football game and marching performance of the year. I hate it and it makes me feel like laying in my bed and crying for the whole day, but when I do that I can't even cry.

It doesn't help that I always feel like I'm everyone's last priority. 

It all makes me feel very pathetic and useless.

- Basil 

Personal Blog 14

I did my audition for Importance of being earnest today but maaaan I got sick.

Longer posts to come. 

- Basil 

Personal Blog 13

 It's Friday night of the second  week of school. I meant to post last week but I didn't. It's going well so far, I'm excited for this year.

- Basil 

Personal Blog 12

A lot happened today. I'm so happy I have the friends that I do. There's no one I'd rather be than me. No matter what you do the end is always the same, we all will die. That's why your choices matter so much. What's happening now and what you do with your now is all that will ever matter. It makes no difference if you are remembered or make a difference. You did something only you could ever do, you lived as you.

You can't control what has been or what will be, but you can control what is, because when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. You are the most wonderful, unique thing to ever exist because you are YOU. You define your reality. Nobody else. Release your inhibitions. Turn your head and change your point of view. Every moment is a choice. Everything you do is you deciding. It would be easy if we really had no choice but to keep chugging along, or if our worst moments didn't define us, but we do have a choice to give up, and our worst moments do define us, but so does every other waking living breathing moment! I despise the notion of perfection, I refuse to believe that Life Sucks and then You Die, I refuse to believe in a wicked God. There is something wonderfully beautiful about imperfection. About flaws. And everyone is just like you, but will never be anything like you. Life is so beautiful. Even in war and injustice, people fight and live and are beautiful and raise flags with a straw hat or an s on them and choose to hope and believe, not because of any special magical power in hope, but because they chose to.

Don't waste time regretting the choices you made, they're the only ones you could have made. It never could have gone differently because then it wouldn't have been YOU. Please choose to love life. It's your last chance, anyhow. Heaven is found right here on the earth.

Tonight I am hopeful.

- Basil

Personal Blog 11

V + K watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower without me. I had read that book at the end of the school year in my AP Lit class and the three of us were waiting to watch it with V when they finished the book. They finished the book at camp. The two of them watched Wallflower without me. I found out through them both putting their notes on Instagram as "at that moment, I felt infinite" and "we are infinite." I asked V if they watched it without me. Apparently they both assumed I had already watched it. They never even asked. V didn't even apologize when I said I hadn't seen it. It made me feel like shit.

I don't think I ever want to watch Wallflower now.

- Basil

Personal Blog 10

Thinking about the national anthem. The lyrics are good, the music writing is terrible, it is a genuinely boring composition. But the reason I'm thinking about it is because the last line of the song is a question.

"Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

Do we still live in the land of the free and the home of the brave? I know the original question is asking if the flag is still flying high after a battle, but in the context of the country we live in now, are we living up to that? I wanted to try changing around the lyrics of the national anthem, to make the entire song a question.

"
Oh, say, could you see
by the dawn's burning light,
in which proudly I hoped,
at my childhood's beginning-
whose red stripes and pale stars,
in the blinding dim night,
through the ceiling we watched;
were they gallantly streaming?

Did the rockets' red glare,
the bombs bursting in air,
give proof through the night
that our flag was still fair?
Oh, say, did that
star-spangled banner ever wave
o'er the land of the free
and the home of the brave?
"

That was probably very cringe but I don't really care. Anyway band camp was really fun. I spent a lot of time with Gavin making a gross blue concoction meant to mimic blue juice valve oil.

Next time.

- Basil