Comments on: Friday Favorites: Despair, Inc.

By: Paul Maurice Martin

Paul Maurice Martin — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:08:02 +0000

Uplifting.

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LOL

By: Liara Covert

Liara Covert — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 02:12:21 +0000

I appreciate this series of posters, plaques and books. The way quotes are positioned, they encourage readers to transcend their own created barriers or limited mindsets to step into the image. We can all learn to redefine an understanding of personal freedom.

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Thanks for commenting, Liara. Um…

By: Felicia

Felicia — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:07:34 +0000

Too funny! Love the “I’m a loser, baby” tune on the video. Keep it up, Almost. Hate it that you lost your job, but love your sense of humor!

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That’s good to hear! Some aren’t so sure I have any…

By: Yep

Yep — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 06:06:12 +0000

The platitudes from ‘great quotes’ could be corrosive. Or, do they give us fuel for positive and productive thought? Lately, I’ve been reading books about great leaders and great icons in business. Nothing I read is really all that surprising. They work hard. They’re smart. They’re a little lucky. They’re diligent.

What do these quotes (the ‘positive’ ones) do for us? Are they enlightening? Do they make us better people? Or, are they in the same industrial category as diet fads, get-rich-quick seminars, and other schemes designed to give us hope?

I don’t know where I’m heading here. All I can say is that I found myself saying, “no shit” to just about every quote that appeared. I do like Thomas Jefferson, though. His quote, “The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave” is very artfully crafted. Carefully created literary brevity is a lost art, I think, even though I’m really not sure what liberty has to do with the sea. And, why does liberty have to have waves? See? It’s making me think.

As a brief aside, I recently heard about some scientists that had created an amazing visual representation of the complexity of the cosmos. It was breath taking and beautiful. It actually sort of seemed to make sense. Of course, Steven Hawking then pointed out that it wasn’t how it actually IS. Yes, but I could understand the way it IS NOT.

So, what I need is to know how to be courageous, thoughtful, diligent and less depressed, dude. Does that mean I focus on things that actually ARE or the cliffs note versions? Need a little help here.

By: Marsquat

Marsquat — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:23:17 +0000

Those are AWESOME!

By: almostgotit

almostgotit — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:53:08 +0000

My goodness, how I love all these comments! Thanks so much for each one of them.

Yep, your observations are so good. One of the best things about good parody (imho) like that of despair.com, is exactly the note of truth it contains. It pokes fun at the right things, and for good reasons. Platitudes so self-assured and unquestioned that they become coercion. Platitudes that even can be (your word was good) “corrosive.” Yes. And disrespectful, even, of the human CONDITION, which is complicated and experienced a little differently by each one of us. And there is no “Cliffs Notes” version… unfortunately.

I don’t know where the hell I’m headed a lot of the time either, Yep, but here’s what I think (today, at any rate): any words that help a person be “courageous, thoughtful, diligent and less depressed,” and which also help focus us on “things that actually ARE” are Good Words. (and I’m not sure even Steven Hawkings is the best and sole authority on that one: art can say something truthful about a thing even if it fails to be strictly representative) All the other words are bad — and bad for you, too. I could live with that rule of thumb, I think.

By: rockyroadoflove

rockyroadoflove — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:01:39 +0000

How very wonderful and funny and true and cynical–all traits I adore. ‘Uplifting’ is a word that should be reserved only for brassieres.

Bravo! It’s so very good to have you back!

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OH! It’s perfect:

“‘Uplifting’ is a word that should be reserved only for brassieres.”

I’m going to cross-stitch THAT on the little plaque every good girl is supposed to hang in her kitchen.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:53:07 +0000

Good luck with the bathrooms
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Thanks, Jimmy! Good luck with the tour!