Pictures of Walls and the Anonymous Masses
Hey there y’all. Not particularly sure what will interest all of you into excited discussion. But there are mandatory posts to be posted, and here is something I stumbled across the other day. It’s not really directly about the city, but more about people as a whole…?
http://www.picturesofwalls.com/
There they are, the announcements of the world; the “anonymous masses”, shouting to the even more anonymous. Check it out, there are some very interesting and thought provoking declarations. I dunno, I think its just cool that you are seeing the thoughts of other people, and those people could be anyone… and you the viewer… could be anyone as well?
Sorry if I sound vague, it’s very difficult to communicate what I am thinking alot of the time…. Oh well, discuss away!
March 11, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I went to picturesofwalls.com, yet I must be at the wrong site because I don’t find anything “interesting” or “thought provoking” about people writing things such as “I wish rufus wainwright would bum me” or “I hate parking tickets” on a wall. When people start writing Emerson or Nietzsche quotes on public walls then I think we’ll have something to discuss. Want to talk about people being anonymous? Let’s try a site like anonymousvoices.com where people confess real pain and things worth reading. I want to kill myself, I love dressing in drag, I once killed a man and struggle daily with guilt and depression as his face haunts my dreams and what is left of my crumbling reality…yes, yes let’s read something with depth and less ignorance.
Love,
Anonymous.
March 12, 2008 at 6:15 am
when i thin of graffiti, i think elaborate tags or pretty pictures….some of the words are pretty hard to read…this on the oher hand is different, it isn’t about art, it is about writing…i think it should have its own subcategory in graffiti.
March 12, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I have files of these types of photographs. I love the street messages.
pratt library window “do acid”
i’ll scan that one.
March 13, 2008 at 12:32 am
Dear anonymous,
I’m not trying to say I am showing the greatest website ever at all. If you read closely, I say “Not particularly sure what will interest all of you into excited discussion.” I don’t guarantee that I will captivate you with my amazing website tastes. I say that this is mandatory. I understand that you have a right to comment, but please do not attack something like an ignorant twat.
What makes what you have to say anymore important than anyone else? Hiding behind anonymity may seem rather inviting when attacking other people’s opinions (plus the irony of being anonymous on a topic like this must be irresistible), but keep in mind hiding your identity only weakens your argument. It shows that you are afraid to express such sadly naïve opinions that would undoubtedly mar your own identity. Does it really matter more if someone says they like dressing in drag? Do you relate to that? Really? Its laughable how you call “Pictures of Walls” ignorant and shallow, but anything depressing and painful is genius, real pain is important, anything less is irrelevant. It seems ignorant that you are willing to disregard anything that doesn’t fit into your extremely limited ideal of what is deep, interesting, and important.
And quoting Emerson and Nietzsche? You think it is more thought provoking to see people spit out the same repetitive clichéd shit over and over again? Sure, they’re genius, whatever, I’ll accept that, but what is not so genius is simple minded people such as yourself simply repeating what others have ALREADY said, as if their greatness might trickle down to you just because you have articulated similar words to what they once said. What meaning is there though? Are you making a statement? Do you live by the quotes you parrot? Do you learn from anything your idols have done? Or do you just claim the title of scholar for rattling off bullshit that has lost meaning?
To be fair, I did browse through your suggested site, I’ll explain it to those who don’t care enough to look, its a site where people say something to “get off their chest” and then it is posted on the website for others to read and rate (out of five stars.) I browsed the “random page” a few times at first. Granted, it is very important for people to get shameful secrets off their conscience, but that site is no different from the one I suggested, except for one thing, people know what they say there will be seen (for Christ’s sake, it gets rated!). People go to the site to get attention. Sure, they won’t be recognized as an individual, but they know that what they “want the world to know” will be read by all those other “deep and intellectual” people. I am more than aware that there are those who do indeed feel suicide is a necessary means of escape, and I’m not going to discuss how I feel about that, but in all likelihood, 99.9% of the people who have posted something there are just attention whores.
Take (for example) the “most popular” page (this consists of the ten top rated statements):
http://anonymousvoices.com/popular.php
One of the posts there is this:
“I used to be very indecisive, but now I’m not sure . . . . . .”
Hmmm… I’m very sure that by now, this is a cliché… Not of much higher importance than “I hate parking tickets” huh?
Going down the page more I count… let’s see… eight sexual “confessions.” Out of these… six are of blatantly incestuous content, and half of those are about “Grandma and her gum-jobs”
I mean seriously, does that sound like sincere pain? Sounds like a joke! To be fair, there are legitimate statements there, I am sure, but the rating system on that website reduces what potential meaning the site could have had to word porn.
Also, it this is the type of site you are into, I’ll suggest to you two more organized and interesting varieties of this website:
The always popular http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ in which people mail their secrets to the owner of the blog via postcard,
And http://www.secretchest.com/ which also works by a rating system, but this is by sincerity and the degree of which it compels the reader.
This site I suggested demonstrates what people say when given a blank wall and a paintbrush. This is the essence of human expression, the essence of art today. I’m sure if these anonymous writers knew their thoughts would be scrutinized by you, they would make sure it would be nicely written and thought provoking “real pain” just to make you happy. Maybe you don’t understand, the pictures were taken after the those responsible for the writing had probably long since departed the scene.
You are just another quotation-vomiting pseudo-intellectual that really needs to be enlightened as to why you are a dumb-ass. And I’d like to take it upon myself to inform you just enough of what it’s like to be an actual clear-thinking individual for a change, it might open your eyes. Think for yourself, for once, please.
In my closing, I would like to take a leaf from your short little book of “good suggestions” and leave you with a quote from every college-level intellectual’s favorite nineteenth century poet- Ralph Waldo Emerson:
“I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
Q.E.D
Yours truly~
~D
March 13, 2008 at 5:23 pm
oh Emerson … that is by far my favorite quote and the perfect conclusion to almost any pretentious argument
March 21, 2008 at 1:20 pm
“the secret of art
copy others”
made me smile.
March 22, 2008 at 5:57 pm
i’m pretty sure i had an entire friday night sucked away by this website. i loved it..and it gave me a ridiculous urge to go and write my thoughts on walls.
and to anonymous: to say that something can only be thought provoking if written by someone famous, is to say that one’s thoughts are merely nothing-consequently making the thoughts of guilty anonymous people nothing as well. why are they anymore interesting?
March 24, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Though I’m not sure how thrilled I am on calling someone an “ignorant twat” based on their opinion, I did check out both picturesofwalls.com and anonymousvoices.com and found BOTH to be thought-provoking. I think there is something to be said for spontaneity not only in an urban setting but in literature and art as well. After all, isn’t it liberating to just let go of inhibitions and free your mind in both senses?
March 24, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Frankly, I think that the idea of being able to say whatever it is that you’ve got inside you is beautiful. Who are we to judge what is interesting or thought-provoking or, dare I say, worthy? I think it’s when we start to fancy ourselves the judges or the ever-right that free expression loses all freedom.
If you’ve got a reason for saying it, say it. And if you’re going to read it… well, take it for what it is or think a little deeper and make your own interpretations. Draw your own conclusions. But don’t judge.
March 24, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I’m sorry if I sounded a little brash, I was quite annoyed about the post, so I wrote my response with that anger… eheh ^.^; Sorry If I came off pretentious, I don’t think that I am usually so snobby… but then again, who knows, who knows…
I personally found this to be an interesting source of time wasting and agree with you guys
“the secret of art
copy others”
Definitely was one of my personal favorites as well
March 26, 2008 at 9:32 am
Usually this sort of thing irritates me, why would anyone want to actually spend time looking at anonymous, more than likely juvenile thoughts? However, I’ll admit that there were several photos on this website that I thought were clever. Everyone wants to be witty, I guess [or, in many cases, CRUDE].
March 26, 2008 at 11:06 am
just because when you think of something that might mean the world to you it doesn’t have to be thought provoking to the rest of the world. We don’t always have to be so serious and intellectual, sometimes it can get boring, and why not have a little fun with clever silly things? I mean I’ve always thought that is better to be street smart (universal language) than book smart, and most people who consider themselves intellectuals are book smart.