why do i hate that artist thing that people keep posting on my facebook so much? why am i such a jerk?

Haha so I actually did the vocab quiz, it certainly seems designed to flatter

It's funny I thought Cosmo/buzzfeed style personality quizzes were extremely popular but totally uncool for a while now so it's interesting to see which ones manage to get thru and go viral among the people who would normally be sharing clickhole parodies disdaining this stuff (in this case you don't have to be Shakespeare to figure out what's appealing to these people obv)

I was trying to find out the origin of these sorts of quizzes and found this:

http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/in_search_of_the_ur-quiz.php

(Basically, nobody knows)

https://i.redd.it/iea9soh1eu8x.jpg

Is he meant to look like Bill Maher?

https://pics.onsizzle.com/they-need-to-have-a-workemon-go-game-where-you-3099988.png

otm

too subtle imo

https://scontent.fbos1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13697082_521388598057694_585464514912387228_n.jpg?oh=8b298e5e58468e02d4516ae3ef90638b&oe=57E89024

dangerous candles

>:(

low flow toilet? ciabatta?

domt allow cats

oh! apartments that domt allow cats. gotcha

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/fistful-of-frags-weapon-stats/images/8/83/Fof_dynamite.png/revision/latest?cb=20150303142956

i smell a poll

wouldn't be the first time ilx polled a shit list

clue in plain sight: seizures

Matthew Sweet! that cracked me up...

apartments that Domt allow cats

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13707565_1245128815521117_2464984411580737720_n.jpg?oh=9dde9042b46dff5c8649e60bcfd39bf4&oe=58288680

emphasis on "higher" i guess

Don't be sad
I know you will
But don't give up until
Wear comfy clothes and have a day

Ease up, the guy looks like he was canned at the lumberjack tryouts.

So stay in pajamas all day eating snacks.

this showed up in my FB feed because a relative who I thought was fairly liberal posted it:

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13681054_1052441378171875_1696336495166479521_n.jpg?oh=1183cb72388ea744953b50b09da71046&oe=58369E75

You can imagine the quality of comments on this one...

sorry, should have said a relative liked it, not posted it...

all the victim were old women in disguise

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13659208_1730230557240526_654056775174738989_n.jpg?oh=369ee1567f2c23424a74fc5b7a990368&oe=58106A04

Talent requires hard work to perfect, but natural ability is real and helps get the ball rolling. I don't spend my time learning how to draw because I know I lack the ability to do it well and no amount of hard work will get me there.

Plus having to hold a crayon for 20 years seems inconvenient

i think that altho his point is unnecessarily aggro and hectoring, as is the fashion, it's mostly right

yeah that's totally correct, it's just something that's kind of pointless to be a dick about

like, that person is going to keep on wishing, but probably not even that often, and you're going to keep on drawing so

yeah true

what's the opposite of a humblebrag? a hubrisbrag?

I've also just become kind of attracted as an adult to the exercise of practicing a lot to get better at things I'm "naturally" bad at. Not that I become brilliant at them, but I find the progress I'm able to make at them incredibly satisfying, and it makes me think I probably underestimated my ability to be good at certain things when I was young on account of the overestimation of natural talent in western culture.

process not product!

but yeah i find myself regularly telling kids who want to be games designers or musicians or writers or whatever to always be making stuff, in their free time, not just waiting for the 10 hours a week they spend in a classroom with somebody nagging them

Drawing one kinda takes us full circle to the original 'artist thing' in a way. Like NV I think the point's not totally ill-taken, it just sounds obnoxious because the actual context of comments like this "omg you're so good, I wish I could draw!" is usually a kind of casual friendly compliment. It's underthought because it does diminish the hard work the person has put in, as if their art is some kind of neat party trick they can do and not, like, their career or their passion... but it's kind of a banal nicety and I feel like most artists kinda are willing to let those things slide when they're meant well.

Dr. C and man alive otm.

There does seem to be a period of greater porousness to learning in childhood (which makes sense, biologically). That window closes somewhat in adulthood (for a lot of people) (for a lot of pursuits). I totes respect people who try to learn a language or learn an instrument or begin to paint as adults, but it's a much harder learning curve for them than it would be if they were children, because children tend to be more malleable and adults tend to be set in their ways.

For example, I spoke French pretty well when I was 13 or so, but it's all completely lost from disuse. I very much want to learn Spanish, because it's widely spoken in my neighborhood and in my social circle. But every time I open a book or put on a CD I get discouraged, because I'm just not as porous to language-learning as I was 40 years ago. Ditto for reading music, which I cannot do (though I play lots of instruments and write and record and perform songs). Not for lack of sincere trying, I just think the window of porousness has closed.

One thing I think would be helpful is if people embraced amateurism as a reasonable pathway. Personally, I draw and paint more or less the way I do. I play the guitar like myself. I don't need to compete with professionals in those arenas if I'm allowed to just do them for fun, on the front porch on a lazy Saturday.

But the focus on excellence - if you aren't Olympic-caliber by age 9, you should give up gymnastics - sometimes keeps us away from doing things just for fun.

just assumed that was a scott adams post

Mad puffin, have you tried memrise? Free learning app, do a bit every day and it gives you points. Found it quite good for building up vocabulary and then as for grammar well, we'll see about that but with the steady drip feed of words going into my head I feel less discouraged

As for me, that artist thing I posted just makes me too angry for words - it's the sort of unconscious sales-pitch/giving-a-ted-talk/randian/dawkinsian rhetoric that person is using.

i'll try memrise, thanks

Although ...

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13880409_1120637984659632_66544701805625623_n.jpg?oh=08a2428e28be90a3045364636d1157d1&oe=582BC86F

My tongue has a tongue. That's why I don't need a nose.

thought that was just an advanced case of thrush at first.

this one really irked me somehow

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10101092530811487&set=a.866901146187.2227381

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13880413_10101092530811487_2456312721011320432_n.jpg?oh=555eb1beee3c8e96cf21fce0b2b38eb4&oe=5812ACED

Combination of gross narcissism and two different terrible meme concepts ("leveling up" and "not sorry")