Andre has a Posse and PHENOMENOLOGY
This will be the last time in a long while that I write about this site � instead of just writing IN this site. My writing�s focus should not be diaryland, but my own land.
Andre the Giant Has a Posse was or is a craze that started off as street art by a local artist here in Rhode Island. It started off as stickers the artist and his friends would post around town and quickly spread around the country.
Why? Because it was challenging what people were used to seeing � it was an image at odds with the status quo.
We�re all used to seeing advertising for the Holiday Inn or Walmart on billboards, but we�re not used to seeing a sign or sticker that just says Andre the Giant (the wrestler� The giant from the princess bride�) has a posse � so we stop and examine it.
Some react positively, other�s do not and call it defacement or vandalism when they see the image posted next to say a Starbucks doorknob.
To quote Shepard Fairey,�The FIRST AIM OF PHENOMENOLOGY is to reawaken a sense of wonder about one's environment. The Giant sticker attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the sticker and their relationship with their surroundings. Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the product or motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters with the sticker provoke thought and possible frustration, nevertheless revitalizing the viewer's perception and attention to detail. The sticker has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker. Because Giant has a Posse has no actual meaning, the various reactions and interpretations of those who view it reflect their personality and the nature of their sensibilities.�
In a way, this is what I am doing with 'my' posse and the Jaded and the Angsty rings.
Does johnpowers has a posse really mean anything? It depends. You can say it means you like what I am doing here, you can say it means you're in on the secret, or you can say it means nothing - nothing but to get people to stop and question "what is this posse thing?".
Hell at the least it may help to piss some people off - judging by the reactions of a few people who can't stand to see anyone have more than a few people listing someone as a favorite. It seems according to them, the readers in diaryland are not allowed to read someone they like if a bunch of people are already reading that diary... which is the same as voting for Ralph Nader instead of Al Gore just because many people will vote for Al Gore and by golly, who cares what either has to say, I'm going to base my opinions purely on what other people think... which is idiocy to the highest degree.
So anyway... Is it really good and normal to admit being a jaded person? To proclaim that I am angst ridden?
You normally don�t see people doing that in every day life and you normally are not encouraged to proclaim yourself anti-social. Think back to how well Sid Vicious was accepted by the main stream in the 70�s.
If you�ve ever seen the banners I�ve done for this site, you�ll see a similar theme. �I�m jaded and angsty, read me.� �I beat unclebob and jon in a fist fight�� �I�m no Bobby��
Now am I really advertising for people to read me? Yes. But the Andre has a posse people are now selling posse merchandise, and I�d be lying if I said I didn�t want to attract people to read what is in this thing, but I�m trying to do it in a way that makes them question the way things are done around here � hence the 250+ rings� hence the scheduled three time a week column format� hence the johnpowers posse.
All I am doing here is writing what I want when I want about what I want � I do not have an audience in mind � besides myself. If others like it, then great. If you want to challenge the norm, and get people to question the norm, then do it in your own writing, do it by joining my posse or one of the rings I run.
Or especially do whatever you want for your own reasons � just try to keep it legal, and if you don�t keep it legal, don�t tell them I sent you.
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Tonight I may go to Worcester to see Jack McCarthy feature at the Worcester Poetry Asylum. We�ll see. I�m a bit unmotivated as it�s 5pm and I still haven�t showered.
Ewww.
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Ok, now I'm clean
more tommorow.
