Vote Petition Tags: Vote Petition Campaign: none   20 Reviews Added: 12/20/2006 3:54 PM PT Last Modified: 2/7/2007 7:51 AM PT
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I want to see what kind of support we can drum up to end frivolous vote exchanges. The best way I can think of to start up a petition is in blog-form. This way, people can leave reviews as their "signature", rather than simply a chain letter that loses names and faces.

What and why:

I've been looking around at the work of some of my friends and some other random submissions around Brickfish. I really like Brickfish as an opportunity for us young-stars to show our potential and recieve real feedback. But while I was looking around, I noticed that at least half of the reviews and comments were useless and simply pleas to get the person's attention onto their own work. It seems like Brickfish is almost a political war to see who can get the most friends and then influence them to vote for their work, regardless of its quality.

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand repeated voting for contest submissions that you genuinely like, but I don't see tons of that going on. Instead, I get messages that say "Vote for me and I'll vote back!". Brickfish is about art and expression, not political achievement. If you agree, I'd like to see you review this, even if all you say is "agree" or "sign" or maybe even "STFU". Either way, I want word to get out that talent and creativity is more important than popularity.

Thanks everyone, I'd also appreciate it if you let others know about this petition. Maybe if it gets enough support, some changes can be made that would benefit the Brickfish community. I think the way Brickfish functions now is perfect, when I say 'changes' I mean changes in the way people conduct themselves in OUR environment.

Thanks again,

-John

To each his/her own... Tags: Campaign: What's Hot or Not   16 Reviews Added: 12/20/2006 2:11 PM PT Last Modified: 2/7/2007 7:51 AM PT	Auto Post to Websites
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To each his/her own.

Fashion? I don't know anything about fashion: I'm a hetero white male. I don't know fashion but I know what I like and I'll tell you what I like.

The "hot or not" of the fashion world depends on the wearer. The clothing-ee, if you will. I have my own tastes, and therefore I have my own rules when I go shopping. We can't all agree on taste because we all taste differently (I'm orange flavored). However, being that I'm obligated to force my opinion onto you, prepare to receive.

For the advertisers out there, advertising certain 'looks' is useless for me and my style. In fact, advertising clothing at all seems useless. When I want to get a new shirt, I go to a local Target, Wal-Mart, Mall, or whatever suits me at the time and find a shirt or pair of pants or underpants that suits me at the time. Come to think of it, everything depends on how I feel at the time... Timing may, as a matter of fact, be everything. Advertising means little to me because when I'm watching TV, I'm generally not in a store. When I'm not in a store, I'm not buying anything and thus I don't particularly care. Sure, advertising a store can slightly influence where we end up when we visit a mall, but generally once you know what's in a store, you know whether you'd like to visit or avoid that store. That being said, I'll give an example of what is typically in a store that I (as an independant consumer) am attracted to.

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Stores I like (and why):

Store: J.C. Penney
Why: This store is likely to have decent looking/fitting jeans and shorts that are EXCEPTIONALLY cheap. For instance, it's not uncommon to find a pair of regular run-of-the-mill guy jeans for less than $20.00 and sometimes $10.00 if you go to the clearance rack. It's also likely that J.C. Penney will have a selection of comedic or cool t-shirts that have been out for a while and are therefore on sale for $5.00-$10.00. J.C. Penney is a great place for guys to shop for recreational clothing without killing your wallet. Occasionally you can also find some really snazzy suits on sale. I got a 3-piece slacks/vest/coat combo in black for about $80.00. Dressing sharp is good for any occasion and the ladies usually love vests (whether they tell you or not). My style sense says wear a vest to every formal occasion.

Store: Hot Topic
Why: All you nay-sayers shut your yap! Hot Topic may look scary on the outside to some of you folks and the music they play may not be your cup of tea but they've always got shirts that are up-to-date as far as pop-culture is concerned. Every now and then, I find myself longing to sport my love for a recent movie or game that I've seen or played. If you enter Hot Topic and look around, you'll see a variety of shirts reflecting your love of movies and perhaps games. Some good examples of this would have to be shirts for Pirates of the Caribbean, Nacho Libre, World of Warcraft, or whatever else happens to be hot. By the way, not every shirt in the store is black. Shirts in Hot Topic could run you around $15.00-$25.00 depending on the type and the 'topic' but it's definitely worth it if you know what you want.

Store: Kohl's
Why: Kohl's is a great place to dress nearly any clothing-ee you know. They have all of the hip styles as well as some less-hip ones for those of us who'd rather not stick with the times. I am a college student and have recently moved into the early corporate world. Because of this change in my life, I needed some good-looking collared ("Polo") shirts that I could wear on a daily basis and I needed a lot of them so as not to wear the same shirt every other day. The solution to this conundrum was Kohl's. I found in Kohl's a large variety of clothing and a large clearance rack (yay) to rummage through. Why spend $200.00 on 1 shirt when you can get 20 or 40 shirts with the same cashflow?

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Styles and stores that I don't like are a little particular to my own taste, but I've found that the majority of people tend to agree. Don't worry, I'll give explanations.

What I don't like (and why):

Brand: Sean John
Why: Now I don't want to make the wrong impression because I KNOW that Sean John makes some very impressive and stylish looking suits and other clothing, but I mostly relate the name to the pathetic full-body-pajama look that I see all too often. The reason I relate the name Sean John to this ignorant style is because the brand's name is stamped across the entire outfit at least 5 times and much larger than necessary. If you're going to wear a full-body sweatsuit, it had better be cold and you had better be jogging.

Style: Big Sunglasses
Why: Ugly and completely media-driven. (Short answer but I feel that it's effective.)

Style: Furry-Snowshoes-Outside-Your-Pants
Why: It didn't work for Napoleon Dynamite and it doesn't work for you. It's an entirely media-driven style and it looks as stupid as it sounds. (Not much else to say.)

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Golden rule of fashion: Wear what reflects you independently, not what reflects someone else. You don't HAVE to be unique, but don't rely on music videos to tell you how to dress. I suggest that you listen to what people say about how you dress and take it into consideration when shopping for new clothes. Everyone looks different and consequently everyone will look best in different clothing. Allow the clothing you buy to revolve around yourself and you will look great, even if you look best in a cowboy hat and purple chaps. After all, as a clothing-ee, you have the right to choose your apparel yourself, rather than letting someone else choose it for you...

Unless of course your grandma bought you a sweater for your birthday, then you don't really have a choice of what to wear...

And you had better wear that sweater in public.

-John