We All Should Care

Accept the call for a deeper purpose.

ART

Three letters.

And so much to comprehend

Many have tried to theorize about it.

The dictionary tells us :

Art:  The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.

According to the dictionnary, it is about beauty.
However, “Beauty lies in the eye of the Beholder” . Some of those artists, would even go al l the way around and tell you they’re trying to create something not beautiful.
Beauty us everywhere, among us. We’re assaulted with definitions ,and concepts of Beauty every single day. In the flashy perfect smile of a Hollywoodian star, or in the straight columns of an historic building. Everyone has its own idea of what Beauty is.

But what if it is not about beauty.
What if, in fact, it didn’t matter.

I’ve been considering it for a while now.
Comparing paintings, and songs, and books.
What really makes us go speechless, that we would just say it is beautiful.
Even when it is not really beautiful.

I remember that sequence, in the movie American Beauty . (There once again ,the fateful word … ^^). We could see a plastic bag flying around, caught in a twirling wind.
Plastic bags are ugly, that’s a fact. Useful but in matters of aesthetics, we could do much better. And they’re killers too. They kill dolphins. But I disgress.
That sequence was beautiful. Not in an aesthetic way, but truly because of the idea being it.
The guy who had the idea, the sensitivity to just stop a second in his life and comtemplate that bag had a great idea.

And I think that is what art is about.

Make us stop.
Shake our comfortable numbness
And  open the gates for us to think
And maybe, do something.
Whatever it is.

ART is about feelings.
You can’t be numb,  when you’re feeling something.

ART is about passion.
You can’t ignore it, when it shakes your very depths.

ART is about honesty
You can’t cheat, if you want others to feel it too

And if you add all of that, maybe, we will finally find a meaning for beauty, that everyone will agree on.

Artists able to create that are rare. I can think of two or maybe three but no more.
At least for myself. Singers that are able to make me cry, think, laugh, ponder, and tremble with just their voices and their words. I don’t know how. I’ll probably nevere know.
Because I wasn’t blessed with that gift. Or curse. Depends.

All I know is that those guys made me FEEL
They instilled Passion back in my life/

Cause I truy can’t live without ART.
I tried to forget about the colors, the rhymes and the rythms, but that doesn’t work.
Didn’t geet me anywhere.

Thus, tonight, I wanted to share with you that discovery.

ART IS NOT A LUXURY
IT IS A NECESSITY.

WE CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT PASSION

I know it can be hard for Artists.
As I said, if you want to produce art. You’ve got to be truthful.
The best actor would be the one that can even fool himself, and really believe that he is the let’s say bloodsucker? ^_^
The best painter would be the one that would sincerely believe he has drawn what he is seeing in front of him, as if it existed the exact way he drew it.

And the best singer, is the one that make you think
“God, He knows”

So, to al lof you, Artists, thanks

Thanks to bring Passion in our lives, thanks to give us so much.
I hope you get as much in return.

And seeing it is Thanksgiving somewhere in the world, I ‘ll add some personal thanks

Thanks J. Action, for bringing ART back in my life
And

Thanks Spencer Bell , for everything and much more.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written here. It’s not that I’ve been too busy, it’s not that I didn’t want to, it’s just that I’m not as good at this as the rest of the writers on this site.

Todays topic comes from the thoughts that dance in my head just before I drift off to sleep. This one came to me three days ago.

If there was a way to stop time, would you? Would it be wise? What would you stop time for?

I would stop time for two things. Concerts and a lover.

The lover might be more understandable and accepted, so I’ll start there.

Laying in bed with the sunlight streaming in your window on a Sunday morning after a long night of lovemaking… Tell me you don’t want to stop time?

…If it were only so easy to stop time or bottle it… To sell it would be more precious than gold.

The concerts? When I’m at a concert and I look up into the lights (usually when they’re blue) I want to stop time, embrace and memorize the situation and never leave. It’s those moments that make me miss performing so much.

So what would you stop time for? If you could. How long before you would start it back up again? If ever.

[image courtesy google.com/images]

It’s been a while, since I’ve spoken of Spencer Bell here, and perhaps you’re wondering why, since I did, in all honestly promise a post a day for Spencer.

It hasn’t been that I’m being a slacker, it hasn’t been that I’ve lost the passion to show his legacy to the world, it’s that he deserves so much more than a lukewarm, mediocre post daily.

Quality over quantity if you will.

So why now,right? Why today?

Because after finding out that my grandmother is dying of cancer, reading Richard Bach, reflecting on so many things in this life…
I have been hit with something very bittersweet.

Bach believes, as I always have, that once your purpose on this planet is finished, that you leave this world.
Maybe to begin again elsewhere, maybe to look over the ones you love, all of that is left up to your belief system.

My point? If you’re still here, your purpose is unfulfilled.

Spencer not being with us, hurts so many,(His family, and friends that I cannot thank enough for sharing him with the world) and even though I have a harder time grasping someone being taken from this world so young, maybe he had fulfilled his destiny, his purpose.

Maybe it was to enlighten many about art, and how it should be.
Even though he was extremely talented, he was a firm believer, that music, and any art really, comes from the heart, the soul, it doesn’t matter if the rest of the world thinks you’re good at it, so long as you love it, and are impassioned by it.

That alone is inspirational.

His wit, his bravery, his unwavering sense of self that is very clear in his legacy, it is awe inspiring.

I know that nothing can bring those that were close to him comfort, that they miss him EVERY SINGLE DAY, every minute of every day, and that no reasoning in this world is good enough that he isn’t here.
That nothing eases the pain, the void that is abundantly clear every time something happens that makes them think of Spencer.

I also know that my mere words falter, so often, that if people could read solely what is written upon my heart, and embedded in my soul, that this message would come out more eloquently….

Since finding his Legacy, Spencer Bell has touched my life in ways that are hard for me to explain. He picked me up when I didn’t think I could stand, and forced me to persevere when I wanted to quit.
His legacy has introduced me to friends that I know will last a lifetime, his words, his art, his music resonate more loudly, more beautifully than the most professionally composed symphony.

Once again, Jackson Rathbone (FRIEND of Spencer Bell, human being), said it better than I could ever put it: ” my hero was much younger than I when my hero was immortalized… ” and then “…there’s no grave for the soul no vinyl coffin made of gold”

Every Friday, we have deemed “Spencer Bell Day” on Twitter.. but quite honestly, we should celebrate the life that this young man had, every day. When I started using the hashtag #spencerbellislegendary I meant it very literally.

Nothing, not even death, can hold him back from expressing the depth, the intensity, the erring human soul, that was and IS forevermore Spencer Bell.

[[image courtesy of spencerbellmemorial.ning.com]]

So all of you that read this blog, know by now that Damij writes for We All Should Care, but did you know that he’s a musician as well?
If I don’t show my love and support for my friends, and their passions, their talents, then everything I do in my life, all the soap boxing, it’s all in vain.
Supporting my friends is what I do. Although, if you ask Damij, he maaaay just tell you I’m a tad, pushy. *Laugh* Regardless, it’s because I know he houses greatness. It’s true. Don’t believe me?
Check it out! :

Scroll over it, and it will allow you to play the music as well. It’s quite, what’s the word he used? Nifty. Yeah, that’s it.
I love it!
In fact it will find it’s way to my myspace page as well, I’m sure.

We’re all very proud of you Damij, for taking that step off the curb, even though it’s scary. You’re meant for greatness, remember that.

I notice the things that so few do.
I go about my daily life in a plethora of emotions because I can honestly almost feel what others do. I call it extra empathy, in reality, I have no idea if there is a name for it.
I know that there are so many people that are perceived incorrectly by society.
They are thought golden, untouchable, happy, simply because they hide behind a facade. A mask of smiles, though it never truly reaches their eyes. You never see their soul, because it’s dark.
I know that look because I have that look.
That “empty, longing, soul searching, I’m never going to be fixed, but I wish I had someone that could relate, and accept me no matter how many neuroses I may have” look.
Sometimes, it isn’t a matter of being fixed, but merely, of having someone hold your hand in the dark, and walk quietly alongside you, to quiet the shadows, if only a bit.
Sometimes, we just want someone to hear what we aren’t saying, but we’re silently screaming.
I think Charles C. Finn can sum it up better than I can, so I’ll let him:

“Please Hear What I Am Not Saying”

Don’t be fooled by me.
Don’t be fooled by the face I wear
for I wear a mask, a thousand masks,
masks that I’m afraid to take off,
and none of them is me.

Pretending is an art that’s second nature with me,
but don’t be fooled,
for God’s sake don’t be fooled.
I give you the impression that I’m secure,
that all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well
as without,
that confidence is my name and coolness my game,
that the water’s calm and I’m in command
and that I need no one,
but don’t believe me.
My surface may seem smooth but my surface is my mask,
ever-varying and ever-concealing.
Beneath lies no complacence.
Beneath lies confusion, and fear, and aloneness.
But I hide this. I don’t want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness exposed.
That’s why I frantically create a mask to hide behind,
a nonchalant sophisticated facade,
to help me pretend,
to shield me from the glance that knows.

But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my only hope,
and I know it.
That is, if it’s followed by acceptance,
if it’s followed by love.
It’s the only thing that can liberate me from myself,
from my own self-built prison walls,
from the barriers I so painstakingly erect.
It’s the only thing that will assure me
of what I can’t assure myself,
that I’m really worth something.
But I don’t tell you this. I don’t dare to, I’m afraid to.
I’m afraid your glance will not be followed by acceptance,
will not be followed by love.
I’m afraid you’ll think less of me,
that you’ll laugh, and your laugh would kill me.
I’m afraid that deep-down I’m nothing
and that you will see this and reject me.

So I play my game, my desperate pretending game,
with a facade of assurance without
and a trembling child within.
So begins the glittering but empty parade of masks,
and my life becomes a front.
I idly chatter to you in the suave tones of surface talk.
I tell you everything that’s really nothing,
and nothing of what’s everything,
of what’s crying within me.
So when I’m going through my routine
do not be fooled by what I’m saying.
Please listen carefully and try to hear what I’m not saying,
what I’d like to be able to say,
what for survival I need to say,
but what I can’t say.

I don’t like hiding.
I don’t like playing superficial phony games.
I want to stop playing them.
I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me
but you’ve got to help me.
You’ve got to hold out your hand
even when that’s the last thing I seem to want.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes
the blank stare of the breathing dead.
Only you can call me into aliveness.
Each time you’re kind, and gentle, and encouraging,
each time you try to understand because you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings–
very small wings,
very feeble wings,
but wings!

With your power to touch me into feeling
you can breathe life into me.
I want you to know that.
I want you to know how important you are to me,
how you can be a creator–an honest-to-God creator–
of the person that is me
if you choose to.
You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble,
you alone can remove my mask,
you alone can release me from my shadow-world of panic,
from my lonely prison,
if you choose to.
Please choose to.

Do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.
A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach to me
the blinder I may strike back.
It’s irrational, but despite what the books say about man
often I am irrational.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls
and in this lies my hope.
Please try to beat down those walls
with firm hands but with gentle hands
for a child is very sensitive.

Who am I, you may wonder?
I am someone you know very well.
For I am every man you meet
and I am every woman you meet.

Charles C. Finn
September 1966

If you feel this way, even if you never contact me, understand, that when nobody else does, I hear what you’re not saying, and I see YOU, not your mask. I try not to pry, but oftentimes I can’t help what I see without looking.

For everyone else? Please, do everyone a favor, never place anyone on a pedestal. We are merely human, no matter how pretty and golden we are, we are not made of marble, we cannot sit still for an eternity, and we will fall.
The higher the pedestal, the harder the fall.
Remember that the one hurting, may atypically be you, but genuinely wounded will be the one you chose to deify.

Alright, where are my fellow “tweeters” at?
That either sounds dirty, or like we’re druggies. Either way lol
Come join me on Twitter today, as I have declared it Spencer Bell Day!
We are going to get the trending topic to be #spencerbellislegendary, and tweet about how incredible his legacy is, all day.
With bouts of humor, probably dreadful jokes mixed in, and lots of heart felt emotion.
My Spencerian Army thus far?
Add us all.

@SpencerBell

@Willow_Raine

@taylor_blue

@hello_jodie

@Damij

@pconway6

We’d appreciate the help, love,and support for Spencer, and Adrenal Cancer Awareness.

I just recently saw my first 3-D movie and it completely kicked my ass. I remember watching part of the Shining in “3-D” when they remade it for a TV movie featuring Stephen Webber (who I call “that guy from Wings”) and it was so lame. I couldn’t even tell what parts were in 3-D.

When I went to see The Final Destination on it’s weekend release in 3-D I was left speechless. Some of the previews were also in 3-D and I cannot stress enough just how much the entire experience kicked my ass.

My Mama had told me that she saw the first 10 minutes of Harry Potter in 3-D and how it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. She works with 3-D modeling for her job and so if she said it was cool I knew I had to go see it.

Technology these days is just absolutely insane. I cannot believe how well it’s made. How realistic it looks, how you fight the urge to duck and reach out to touch something. It’s incredible.

At the theater they charge an extra $3 per ticket to see the film in 3-D, but trust me people, that’s well worth it. If you have not already seen a film in 3-D I highly recommend the experience for everyone.

Here’s a list of upcoming movies that will be available in 3-D:

Toy Story and Toy Story 2 – October 2, 2009
Night Of The Living Dead (1968) – October 3, 2009
A Christmas Carol – November 6, 2009
James Cameron’s Avatar – December 18, 2009
Beauty and the Beast – February 12, 2010
Alice In Wonderland – March 5, 2010
How To Train Your Dragon – March 26, 2010
Hubble – April 9, 2010
Shrek Forever After – May 21, 2010
Toy Story 3 – June 18, 2010
Tron Legacy – December 17, 2010

Side thought… how badass would it be to have The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn in 3-D?!

[image courtesy google.com/images]