Ok, I’m going to start this series of annoyance blog posts without much backup, aka, straight from the hip annoyances. Yes, this is a departure from my normal problem+solution blog posts, purely intended to rile things up and get some ideas off my chest. I will gladly fall on my sword and flip-flop my ideas at any point depending upon mood, situation and conflict of interest, of which I’m surely conflicting with some interest some where (that is disclaimer that these are *my* fleeting ideas only):
<flameon>
Ok, I have three annoyances: #1 is Pixar Movies. What is this bag of toys that Pixar is promoting and who is paying to watch these movies? I’m going to hold the line about Pixar: The top supercomputers computing the dumbest/simplest stories. What is this ratatouille B.S. Also, yes, good for kids — wrong! Pixar films are about merchandising and turning little kids into shoppers! Blue light special!
The #2 annoyance is spammer activist sites like MoveOn.org. Oh yes, sign-onto their service saying you support anti-monkey welding by republicans and then you are continuously re-looped into their torrential spam-pour (like downpour) and then what seemed like paying a sintax (ala, terrapass), becomes a daily hate of good causes. This also links tangentially to another annoyance which is the wont for pseudo-activist sites wanting near-dead-people onto their spam fundraising lists as a measure of money they might get.
The #3 is the death of performance as being witnessed by laptop musicians. Yes, it is time to get over the death of the author. How can one sit through any live event now without being given the courtesy of group participation. If you are performing behind a laptop, you better allow for people to hook in somehow, or you risk defeat by the audience taking the event into their own hand, or rather Palm, or rather blackberry. Is what you are doing behind your laptop more interesting than any email inbox? Does your performance provide something that my email inbox doesn’t?
</flameon>
Ok, and I will end this segment by saying: Trackback and comment freely!
I’m not sure how you watch Pixar’s movies to get it all distrorted like that. Pixar movies are fun for the kids while they keep the parents amused even after the 100th viewing.
I haven’t seen Ratatouille yet, but I just can’t get enough of Finding Nemo and the Incredibles. Incredibly funny, the dialogs are perfect, brilliant animation, wonderful sets, pure eye candy. Yes the stories are meant for kids, but try to survive any other disney crap three times in a row.
Even something I thought they can never pull off and keep me amused watching a story I’ve seen 10 times, with a car as a main character, worked. Cars was great.
Pixar keeps being cool even if they’re as mainstream as one can get.
No real disagreement about the ethics of merch-for-kids, but Pixar’s films are widely acknowledged as being consistently well-written and well-made, rather than simply being a merchandising vehicle. It’s worth asking yourself whether you’re evaluating their workmanship objectively.
Moral outrage is good when it motivates us to do constructive things, but not so good when it blinds us to the good in the people or things we’re criticizing.
Amen to #2 and #3, though.
Mental, this is why I put the disclaimer before I flame-on’d
Yes, I’ve been to Pixar’s offices a couple of times and it gives me the willies a little bit like with several other companies that provide toys for employees and scooters and big comfy work stations so employees never want to leave.
While I agree that Pixar has high craftmanship, I wonder what the value is to the whole of trajectory of society and beyond regurgitating standard archetypes.
Their work has value as art? If it achieved only a by-the-numbers restatement of standard archetypes, I wouldn’t call that craftsmanship.
I also have to disagree with your characterization of Pixar too. They’re doing a *much* better job implementing the Disney formula than anyone else has in years. There’s a tremendous amount of talent and skill showing in their films. Like most real art it works on multiple levels and multiple viewings.
I wish they’d evolve the formula a bit though. The only-one-female-character thing is getting old. Even Shrek didn’t critique that.
That so much of the art of our time is commercial art doesn’t affect its power, any more than the religious context of past ages of affects those works, but I do think it might affect the appeal of our art to future periods.
Anyway, interesting that their office gave you the willies. Was it the toys and creature features, or only their function as aspects of control? Do you feel the same way at Google?