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Interesting short piece... but I can't help but notice it never addresses F's very normal-seeming life, which would invalidate the title. Perhaps every artist's

Interesting short piece... but I can't help but notice it never addresses F's very normal-seeming life, which would invalidate the title. Perhaps every artist's life is weird? Perhaps weirdness makes for a good artist, but isn't guaranteed.

paulcole 2y ago
> Perhaps every artist's life is weird? Definitely not. People like to believe it because it's an interesting story and people like interesting things. And it's an interesting story to tell – "This artist has a weird life!" But it's no different from the depressed comedian trope. It's boring to talk about the happy and well-adjusted comedian. Artists have weird lives and artists have normal lives – although some people's definition of normal is weird to others and vice versa.
- digging 2y ago
  Take that up with the author!
AnimalMuppet 2y ago
Well, ditching the tech life for med school is, maybe not "weird", but it's at least a bit of a curve from where F seemed to be headed as a sophomore. (Presuming that I correctly interpreted the not-very-explicit statements in the article.)
- digging 2y ago
  One might feel that way but that was known information when the author determined that F's life looked normal.
groby_b 2y ago
The point is that you can't see from the outside. F's life is weird, too, in ways that only F knows and understands. (IDK, maybe he taxidermies mice he catches in his backyard. Point being, we'd never know) The article's not quite reaching that conclusion, but trust me, we're all strange in our own ways. And it's not an artist thing. The "career path" and the "rules and customs" that the article mentions don't actually exist. It's what lives within one or two standard deviations of the average, but... in individual things, we're all far from the average. It just, well, averages out in the long run. To stick with the example: I can name large amounts of FAANG folk who do well, and who never majored in CS, or got that internship, or went to grad school, or started at FAANG. I can name large amounts of folks who followed exactly that path, but either didn't go to FAANG at all, or left quickly. "Normal" is a facade. For all of us. The only thing to keep in mind is that people will complain if you don't keep up the facade (because what does that mean for their choice to keep it, for decades?). But, facade or not, the true average human being has slightly less than two legs. They don't exist.
- digging 2y ago
  >The point is that you can't see from the outside. I didn't get that from this article. The author compared their own life to the lives of historical figures, viewed from the outside.
tomxor 2y ago
> I can't help but notice it never addresses F's very normal-seeming life, which would invalidate the title Perhaps "normal" is merely a facade, better maintained by those able to successfully tread the traditional path adequately enough; Perhaps those who label themselves "weird" aren't fundamentally much different, but have freed themself of that untenable position. </weird armchair philosopher>

paulcole 2y ago

> Perhaps every artist's life is weird? Definitely not. People like to believe it because it's an interesting story and people like interesting things. And it's an interesting story to tell – "This artist has a weird life!" But it's no different from the depressed comedian trope. It's boring to talk about the happy and well-adjusted comedian. Artists have weird lives and artists have normal lives – although some people's definition of normal is weird to others and vice versa.

digging 2y ago
Take that up with the author!

AnimalMuppet 2y ago

Well, ditching the tech life for med school is, maybe not "weird", but it's at least a bit of a curve from where F seemed to be headed as a sophomore. (Presuming that I correctly interpreted the not-very-explicit statements in the article.)

digging 2y ago
One might feel that way but that was known information when the author determined that F's life looked normal.

groby_b 2y ago

The point is that you can't see from the outside. F's life is weird, too, in ways that only F knows and understands. (IDK, maybe he taxidermies mice he catches in his backyard. Point being, we'd never know) The article's not quite reaching that conclusion, but trust me, we're all strange in our own ways. And it's not an artist thing. The "career path" and the "rules and customs" that the article mentions don't actually exist. It's what lives within one or two standard deviations of the average, but... in individual things, we're all far from the average. It just, well, averages out in the long run. To stick with the example: I can name large amounts of FAANG folk who do well, and who never majored in CS, or got that internship, or went to grad school, or started at FAANG. I can name large amounts of folks who followed exactly that path, but either didn't go to FAANG at all, or left quickly. "Normal" is a facade. For all of us. The only thing to keep in mind is that people will complain if you don't keep up the facade (because what does that mean for their choice to keep it, for decades?). But, facade or not, the true average human being has slightly less than two legs. They don't exist.

digging 2y ago
>The point is that you can't see from the outside. I didn't get that from this article. The author compared their own life to the lives of historical figures, viewed from the outside.

tomxor 2y ago

> I can't help but notice it never addresses F's very normal-seeming life, which would invalidate the title Perhaps "normal" is merely a facade, better maintained by those able to successfully tread the traditional path adequately enough; Perhaps those who label themselves "weird" aren't fundamentally much different, but have freed themself of that untenable position. </weird armchair philosopher>