Tag: digging

August 1, Writerhead – Why I Write

Post author By ashseth
Post date August 2, 2012
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Why I Write. Here’s why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmerFuzRNZ4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This scene is one of Will Smith’s highest achievements. It was all improvised. And he has a great relationship with his father. I think about that and it marvels me. How does someone give a performance like this without having gone through something like that? How is this just improvised? Some art is magical in how it mimics life. I saw this scene when I was very little. Fresh Prince had a lot of scenes that were very formative for me. This one felt like real life. This is the most powerful scene I’ve ever watched. Nothing has ever really come close. This scene reminds me of what the essence is of what I’m trying to do with my writing. It may all seem dark. It may all seem twisted and creepy and messed up. It may all seem like it’s a plot unfolding. But I’m honestly trying to get to the underlying humanity of why people are the way they are. That has always been my aim. Like Will Smith in this scene, the goal has always been to reach a cathartic depth that transcends the fact that you’re reading a book, a depth that all people can connect with even if they can’t, and to do so all with a crazy handful of nothing.

By Ashish Seth

If you can’t win her heart, win your’s back.

Tags art, catharsis, character, depth, digging, escape, fresh prince of bel air, Human nature, humanity, keep going, Love, meaning, peace, Photography, Plot, purpose, reason, technique, television, transcend, will smith, writing, YouTube

Photography Quotes Writing

July 18, Three Stooges, Music, Credibility and Obscurity

Post author By ashseth
Post date July 24, 2012
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July 18, Three Stooges, Ashish Seth

Music, Credibility and Obscurity
By Ashish Seth

Often times famous musicians will make put out DJ mixes or advertise their current playlist. Are these mixes an attempt to demonstrate a highly unique musical taste, an attempt to bolster a reputation and gain respect? Is good musical taste simply having a playlist that doesn’t look like anyone else’s? Is good taste in music simply having a playlist no one can recognize? Why is musical credibility found in how deep you dig the crates of musical obscurity?

It’s an assumption that when we pick up a DJ mix from a celebrated musician, we’re expecting songs by artists that very few people know. Apparently the skill in crafting unique mixes is supposed to show the listener that the artist’s taste in music is far superior, that they are on the frontier of music and so you should listen to them. A DJ mix becomes a badge of street cred, a ritual demonstration, a routine check up at the credibility doctor, a document to the genre that says “I know my shit!”

But however pretentious the listeners are in their conception of the producer’s intent on creating such mixes, I think DJ mixes are attempts at documenting the musical psyche, the mental space where all the inspiration and creativity takes place. A DJ mix or playlist is the sound of the artist’s head: if these are the songs that inspire the artist to create, we know where his head’s at when he’s walking the streets, doing his groceries, picking up kids from work, etc and so forth. I implore all listeners to stop buying into the illusion of bestowing indie cred or making bold statements about a musician’s musical taste based on the uniqueness of the mix. Some of the greatest songs may have been inspired from the most obvious places. Instead, a DJ mix or playlist is a document of the artist’s personality: the songs chosen are just how deep the artist had to dig the crates in the musical wilderness to find himself. If anything, it says something about his persistence to be himself.

By Ashish Seth