Timeless Advice from Frank Chimero
Our sense of time is all out of whack. When people link to older blog posts and articles, they’ll maybe call it ‘timeless’ or say some other inane thing like, ‘Old, but good!’ Two years old isn’t old! A two-year-old can’t even wipe his own ass.
Let me let you in on a little secret: if you are hearing about something old, it is almost certainly good. Why? Because nobody wants to talk about shitty old stuff, but lots of people still talk about shitty new stuff, because they are still trying to figure out if it is shitty or not. The past wasn’t better, we just forgot about all the shitty shit.”
These thoughts are good. I appreciate the way Frank pulls back the curtain, reminds me what’s behind this movie studio western town set: same old human stuff… fear, greed and the slight possibility of a connection.
Even that word “connection” is a facade: something we can say right now, something with a sense of meaning that won’t feel too cheap, but not something an actual writer would say. And not something we’ll say in anymore in 20 years.
What would Hemingway say as a replacement? Maybe he’d say, “fear, greed and the remote chance of a fuck, maybe even love.” I’m not very well read. I don’t know.
This article is good and you should read it if you’re in a self-important industry like “interactive design” or “design” or “business.” Hopefully it’ll bring a little more “fucking” and less “connecting” into your work.
