Where is 'art' going?

I enjoy art. I think it's a wonderful expression and representation of humanity. But then sometimes I think it goes just a little to far. Both in the realms of things that are just way to far out there, and things that just shouldn't have been done.

I was reading about some artists in the former Soviet Union, and how they were trying to express themselves. One such endeavor was a guy that buried himself under a mound of dung and had just a straw sticking out the top so that he could breath. What is that supposed to mean, or even prove? That's the kinda "art" that's just way to out there. How do you classify it as art? I just feel it's meaning less. It doesn't express anything, or show anything that a normal person would understand. I know it probably is a symbol for the oppression that artists at that time were going through, but that just doesn't really stick. How does it have a lasting effect? Like say for instance the Sistine Chapel. Now that is an amazing work of art that speaks to people. How does a man under a pile of poo, move anyone?

On the other side of things, where "art" shouldn't even have gone. I was reading the other day about how this spanish guy (Guillermo Habacuc Vargas) got this dog, chained it up, starved it to death, and called it art. Why? What is the point of that? It's cruel, and worthless. You say it's art because it goes against the norm, and because you are expressing the darker side of man. Art can show both the good and the bad, but you shouldn't have to create the darker side of "art" by causing more cruelty. I just don't see the point of it. There are far better ways to achieve your goal, and I think you did it because you have some morbid fascination with cruelty.

What will be next, stabbing a person, and calling it art? Burning down a house and calling it art? Just because you can doesn't always mean you should.

The World Will Come To An End...But Not Anytime Soon

I find it fascinating that the human condition has an underlying fear of being wiped out. Or not even being wiped out but being sent into another dark age. It's been portrayed in countless movies, and it seems like fairly recently the media has just had a band-wagon of dooms day type stuff. My three favorites and the ones that I see as fairly likely are: global warming, plague, and oil scarcity.

Global warming, where do I begin. I guess I would have to say that I don't really believe that it'll get so hot as to destroy all life. But I do believe that pollution among other things is having an adverse effect on our planets ecosystem. Climates are changing, it's getting hot, and it's getting hot all over. Polar icecaps are disappearing at an increased rate. Whole species and areas of wildlife are being destroyed. You can see it happening. Humanity is on a road that could leave the Earth barren and inhospitable for life. I don't think we are anywhere near that extreme, or even to a point that would cause irreparable damage.

The plague. It just sounds bad, and brings up images of death and destruction. Now there are two lines of thought that I put in with this. That eventually a super virus will be "bred" into existence, or a horrible bio weapon will be. Diseases are a living entity that adept just like everything else. But the theory now is that they will be pushed to a super variety with the help of humans. There are the anti-biotic strains that are now coming to light, or the government engineered killing machines. Both are out there. Do I think that they will kill everyone on Earth? Again that's a big fat no. The human immune system is a wonderful thing. It is vastly complex, and can adept almost as good or even better then diseases. So with like 6 billion people on the planet, there's bound to be more then a few that are immune.

Oil Scarcity just might be knocking at our door. Oil isn't a renewable resource and will eventually run out. And what are we doing but, using it up faster then ever before. Oil is at a record high $110 a barrel. Now either OPEC (curse them) is either trying to scam us, and take our money, or the oil is harder to get at. It leads to a whole list of problems. We could go to war and take the oil (wouldn't argue against that) or use every last drop and watch as civilization comes to a screeching halt. The only real solution is for someone to invent some new and cool energy source that we could use instead of oil.

Why be afraid of something you can't control anyway? It'll just get you upset.

Carpe Diem

Seize the day. I find myself in a bit of a quandary. I want to grab life by the horns, and to live everyday as if it were my last. Yet for some odd reason I'm increasingly falling into a straight boring habit and I'm more then ever concerned about the future. When did this all happen?

It seems like I do the same things day in and day out. Nothing is changing, nothing is exciting. Gone are the days, where on the spur of the moment I would be off having some crazy adventure. Gone are the days that I could drop everything and go party. Part of the that is my own fault. I've just gotten lazy, and put myself in a place where I would worry to much if I did. You might call that responsibility, but why do I need that? I don't have kids, I don't have a house payment. All I got to worry about is myself. And it's not only that I don't go do anything different, it's that everything I do is planned out, and if it's not planned I don't do it. It's like all of a sudden I've become a slave to scheduling. And I don't know how, or why it's gotten to that point.

I've also become obsessive about budgeting money. I have to know where every dollar is going, why it's going there, and what I can do to make sure less is being spent. Why is that? I really don't make all that much money, but I make enough to pay the bills, and have a little left over. What's the point of being so anal about it and being scarred about some future happening? Especially since I'm not making enough right now to be a huge factor in that future event.

I don't know. Maybe living on my own is making me see things in a different light. I know saving and budgeting is important and I accept that. I just want to break the habitual nature and get life to be one thrill after the next. But then doesn't everyone want that?