Several years ago, maybe five, maybe six, I would read Golden Fiddle just about everyday. My cousin Robert had one of Spencer Sloan’s (the site’s creator) paintings on the wall of his East Village apartment. We traded a few emails (this was back when a few friends and I had decided that we were going to publish a magazine- glorious, short lived little caprice that it was) and I was left with the impression that Spencer was really on to something. He and a few other folks (like Ze Frank) were navigating a new internet world where pop-anarchy, very smart humor and proselytizing for a hopeful future made following their work a total pleasure. I never really broke faith with those guys. I never meant to stop following them. But, I guess I got busy with grad school or started following too many news sites. Whatever the reason, Golden Fiddle and its ilk dropped off of my browser favorites bar and where replaced by political sites. I became a slave to the 24 hour news cycle and my life was much poorer for it. But, the poles of my intellectual sphere have shifted again. Sure, I still read the Economist but my idle time is spent reading my friend’s blogs, looking at art, design, music and food sites. That was my New Year’s Resolution: Frank the news addled, current events nut kicked it all and started paying attention to the things he enjoyed. We may all recognize it on some level but the 24 hours news cycle (and the internet is almost as bad as TV) is just there to sell us junk. Nothing changes from minute to minute and rarely from day to day. Further, you have no power to control it anyway. Child abductions, natural disasters, cheating politicians… it is all so much cheap titillation. Don’t get me wrong, I like cheap titillation, I just prefer mine to be of the more honest sort.
Go outside, cook dinner, listen to a record, read a book, learn to draw in charcoal, take a walk, take a picture, take a trip, have a beer. For my part, being happier involved a lot less noise in the form of shrill imperatives from political websites. So, just as soon as I finish posting and looking over Golden Fiddle I am headed to the gym, then the Strand for coffee, then to work to check on the numbers from last night, then who knows, but the face of Anderson Cooper and ads for anti-depressants or toilet paper wont be a part of it.
Spring has sprung.
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