Pick Your Cult Wisely

IconImageOverall, I can’t say I agree with the idea of the “Cult of the Amateur” by Andrew Keen, a book with the humble subtitle “How Internet Is Killing Our culture.”  I don’t think the internet is killing our culture (we were doing fine on our own).  I don’t feel a read-write culture is necessarily bad, though he does.  I’m not worried over remixes. He did cleverly hit on the idea that some undermining of jobs could have vast economic impact.  But in the end, his concern that amateurs of one stripe or another are unfairly lionized and squeeze out/exploit/ignore “real” talent was an important point, but also one he missed at the same time.

So I think he’s right and wrong. Let me clarify.

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Encounter The Costume College

There’s serious about something and then there’s SERIOUS.  When I encountered the Costume College run by Costumer’s Guild West, it was time to go all caps.  This is a costuming event that earns it’s capital letters for SERIOUS, and one that I profiled.  Fortunately the Dean, Natalie, was kind enough to let me interview her.

Frankly, the convention is a case study in taking an interest and treating it in a very serious, organized manner.

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