I ‘would’, but…

I ‘could’, but …

YOU ‘should’ …

Sound familiar? Do YOU have a personal ‘Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda Creative Oracle’ in your life?

Yea, I know, If I wanted to consult a ‘Fortune Teller’ I ‘would’ just play the odds … read ON, right on?

There’s no room for it. ‘Advice’ is one thing, and ‘constructive criticism’ is another.

At Phantomoshop, a deaf ear WILL be turned to ANY ‘advice’ that starts with:

You should …

You could …

You would …

Blame me if you want, because it is just ONE of the several reasons I started Phantomoshop MKE.

And the ‘deaf ear’ is NOT, let me clarify here, a ‘knee-jerk, half-cocked pride’ that does NOT accept a probable solution, good or better idea or even a suggestion. Quite the contrary, my friends. I save THAT type of idiot for when I play the ‘fool of my own accord’ for a day, for good ol’ ‘humility’ and ‘grace’ can go a LONG way here.

That is, ‘the day’ that I get to step another step, mutter another word, read another stanza, write another page, eat another slice, drink another cup, smoke another … WHATEVER … ‘should not’ be taken in vain. Now THAT is proper usage (to me).

I think by now you might get the picture I’m attempting to faction here. Rant done?

No. The ‘deaf ear’ is an analogy to ‘turning off’ psycho-propaganda that is there to thwart your ‘gut’.

My ‘gut instinct’ is my God-given ‘Spidey-sense’ (thank you Peter Parker … and Stan Lee), the pang in my conscious that says, ‘hey, you are NOT so thick … trust YOURSELF’!

And, I do. Too bad some read that as ‘egotistical’ or ‘elitist’. If it is, call me ‘guilty’ too. I don’t want ‘cable television’ so I don’t wait for ‘FOX NEWS’ to tell ME what ‘the viewers world-view’ is. A ‘world-view’ is a bit skewed when transmitted from a BOX as a commercial, don’t you think? Yes? NO? If so, LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW. You won’t get a ‘shoulda, coulda or a woulda’ here, because YOU are entitled to YOUR OPINION at Phantomoshop Blog, just as I am.

How It All Starts Out

My creative endeavors mostly start out with a dream. A dream-like vision will come into my consciousness and I will usually rough it out with pen and paper, H4n Zoom digital recorder or even my ‘smart phone’.

Whatever it takes to catalog the impetus of the raw idea.

The ‘raw’ form of an idea or concept I find is usually the most potent and intimate of ALL versions of the initial idea. The ‘origin’ of your concept… murky, raw and uncut, is GOOD, even though it seems to be the stage of the idea that you will most likely encounter the highest degree of opposition.

Stick it out, though, because if you meet a MOUNTAIN of opposition, you are usually on the verge an EPIC original idea. Those that do NOT exercise there own ‘idea muscles’ usually will bluff and act like only a small percentage of your idea might be relevant to the task at hand, but may be “too inflated with ‘ego-air’ for it to truly contribute within the construct of the project”. Yea, right.

Only then is the same original idea bounced-off a team of ‘judges’ until the raw concept is whittled away and distilled down into a sterilized mind-fart that rubs everyone else’s accolade resume into fervent accomplishment while you’re left with ‘get back to work if you know what’s good for you’. Been there, done that.

Why do the ‘thumbprints’ on any creative concept always show up during or after post-production has completed? Because the worth of the creative effort starts to glimmer ‘green’ if you know what I mean.

Car and Extra Track

Work for your own ideas, pals. Stick to it and stay disciplined within your OWN creative ideals and learn to watch not only your back, but your front and flanks as well. I’m NOT telling you ‘you should’.

Good ideas were never meant to be limited to a collaborative compromise. That only leads to creative asphyxiation where your idea-mind is suffocated by everyone else’s idea rather than what you sought to express initially. 

And, if personal expression does NOT equate to any worthy variable in the modern definition of ‘art process’ … well then, we have a problem, don’t we ‘Houston’?

I my opinion, when this situation starts to froth-up, it’s nothing BUT a WASH.

‘Art’, ‘the creative process’ and ‘expression’ have NO ROOM for ‘should’, ‘could’ or ‘would’, but don’t take MY word for it. What do I know?! Not too much.

That kind of literal usage is marketplace propaganda and feels like a marketing psy-op spreading complacence as a social disease.

Nothing to ‘wake up’ to anymore,

– John

Phantomoshop