Creativity - it's the Law Part II

[gurdymonkey]

O My Readers who think you can giri me into doing something I find distasteful, you clearly do not know me personally, or you came in late to this journal, or you simply have not been paying attention. Or you're deliberately trying to make me foam at the mouth, which is messy and unattractive. Flattery will get you nowhere.

http://gurdymonkey.livejournal.com/213461.html in case you blew by it.

So, do you want to take responsibility for the neurotic monster I will become? I do, you know. I have very, VERY good reasons for not becoming involved in competitions in the SCA - and that goes for judging too, allergicone, so please don't get any ideas. I have formed those reasons after a lifetime of experiences and a great deal of thought.

Was not the whining and obsessing over a plywood box not amusing enough that you feel the need to watch me have a meltdown trying to complete anywhere from one to five* projects poorly executed hack jobs in a month?  (*No. Monkey. Armor. No how.) Go watch Project Runway or something.

Have I not been enough of a pain in the ass this year?

I'll spell it out again for the latecomers:

Art is not a horse race. Certain things cannot and should not be reduced to a numerical point system. Certain things cannot and should not be compared to each other either.

If you're scribbling notes and numbers, you cannot react subjectively to the work of a performance artist because you have just built in your own distraction.

Reaction to art should be subjective. It's OK for one not to like something.

There is no such thing as objective judging - anyone who claims differently is at best, deluding themselves; at worst, lying. Even in the SCA, where all judges are fair and knowledgeable and no one ever goes home crying - or at the very least, kicking themselves for not having a crystal ball and including the answers to every judges' question in the documentation.

Now here's a question to all you do-gooders:

What is the outcome of accepting said challenge after politely saying no to quite a few people over the years who have asked me to enter (bardic) competitions or judge something in the past? Will they not be insulted? Will they think I am inconsistent? Will they lose respect for me?

 What is the outcome of accepting said challenge and submitting whatever I might decide to do as "For Display Only?"
Am I going back upon my personal code by doing so? (See link posted above.)
Am I insulting the Crown because they want to see bodies strewn around the arena a competition?
Am I insulting other entrants?
Am I cutting off my own nose to spite my face?
Am I showing off?

You bet your ass I think about these things.

Comments

[kproche.livejournal.com]

The evil little voices want to know if you couldn't submit a 5-fold entry entitled 'Zen' which comprises an empty stand.

In totality.

Please don't hurt me; just because I'm an Evil Genius doesn't mean I don't know better than to listen to the Evil Little Voices. They just wanted me to ask. politely. So I did. It gives me an advantage the next time they suggest something stoopid[sic].

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

I know. Evil - not stupid.

[firehauke.livejournal.com]

I bow to thee oh Curmudgeonly One.

Thank you for spelling it out so forthrightly.

*bow*
Miriel Crawford
Sacred Stone
Atlantia

[kareina.livejournal.com]

I think that in my case what I hear when someone says "contest" is "organized activity". People who go to the effort to arrange organized activities for people to participate in are pleased when people actually participate. They tend to do it because they think the activity will be fun, both for the participants and for the observers. The list of suggested activities this time around happen to include quite a number where you could participate with only the research you've done hitherto, so no extra effort above and beyond what you do for yourself is really required. Therefore, I make encouraging noises at you.

I don't happen to care if you participate in the "contest" aspect of it or not. I *know* that you do good work and that if it is "judged" will likely get a fair number of "points" because you do good work based upon solid research.

If you did enter and happend to get a judge who has an eye for the manner in which an item could be improved, this is not necessarily a bad thing. It isn't terribly likely that they'd notice something that you aren't already aware of, but if they do, and they are correct in their assessment, then it is useful information (and one hopes that they manage to communicate the information in a polite, encouraing manner).

I don't think that anyone who has asked or encouraged you to enter things in the past will lose respect for you if you accept this challenge. Some will not remember that you said "no" because they suggest it of *everyone*. Some will remember that they were disappointed when you said "no" before, and will be pleased that this time you said "yes". Some might even dare to hope that the next time they ask you might say "yes", but those who know your opinions on the matter won't hold their breath.

My opinions don't matter, but if you do decide to take up the challenge, I think you can find ways to make it a positive experiance all the way around, and I know that there will be people who would be pleased to see you participate.

Besides, the best way to change things is from the inside. If you were to actually fully participate and become the Arts and Sciences Champion to the Crown, it would give you stronger position from which to preach the advantages of "activities" and "displays" over "competitions"...

[xrian.livejournal.com]

What is the outcome of accepting said challenge after politely saying no to quite a few people over the years who have asked me to enter (bardic) competitions or judge something in the past? Will they not be insulted? Will they think I am inconsistent? Will they lose respect for me?

None of their beeswax why you chose not to enter those other times. The moon may have been in the wrong phase, you may have had Life going on, work was too stressful, you just didn't feel like it, etc. etc.

They have no business expecting you to enter to please *them*, so they have no basis for feeling insulted. Inconsistent is the way people are. If they somehow lose respect for you, you are perfectly free to lose respect for them for trying to ride roughshod over you.

What is the outcome of accepting said challenge and submitting whatever I might decide to do as "For Display Only?"

Mild annoyance on the part of the judges if that wasn't presented as one of the contest parameters, but no worse. And they might indeed think it's a Good Thing and display it.

Am I going back upon my personal code by doing so? (See link posted above.)

Dunno, only you can answer that one.

Am I insulting the Crown because they want to see bodies strewn around the arena a competition?

No. They want to see people *participate.* Just because they like whacking people with sticks doesn't mean they enjoy seeing others suffer.

Am I insulting other entrants?

No.

Am I cutting off my own nose to spite my face?

Another one only you can answer. If it feels like that, don't do it.

Am I showing off?

Are you trying to puff yourself up and make yourself look more important than you are? No.

Are you showing what you can do instead of hiding your light under a bushel? Yes.

As I've been saying in my posts, a lot of perfectly nice people simply don't enjoy competing. I don't. I think there should be more opportunities for display. And I think you're doing Good Stuff and it would be nice if more people could have their attention called to it.

[masahide.livejournal.com]

Will you lose respect for yourself?
Does it really matter if other people loose respect for you? Are you doing this (SCA) for them or for you?

Bushido says that one can always protest the orders of one's lord, and that the ultimate protest is death.