{"id":278,"date":"2019-07-27T15:33:50","date_gmt":"2019-07-27T15:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/visakanv.com\/?p=278"},"modified":"2023-05-08T18:11:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T18:11:21","slug":"aesthetics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/2019\/07\/27\/aesthetics\/","title":{"rendered":"aesthetics (junkyard of notes, links)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I want to persuade people that it&#8217;s worth their time and effort to experiment with their aesthetics. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why? I can start by talking about my personal experience. Simplistically, I can divide my life into &#8220;life before embracing my aesthetics&#8221; and &#8220;life after embracing my aesthetics&#8221; \u2013 and life after embracing my aesthetics has been a lot more enjoyable, a lot more satisfying. People like me more, even flirt with me more. I&#8217;m a happier, more relaxed, more comfortable person. I feel cooler, more interesting, higher-status. I believe that you can actually see it in my face, and people are more warm and open towards me because of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Found this old picture on my Uber account (must have uploaded it around&#8230; 2013? 2014?) I\u2019m a totally different person now! I\u2019m gonna age so well, I can feel it. My sexiest days are still decades away \ud83e\udd70 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zLE4TpM1za\">pic.twitter.com\/zLE4TpM1za<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Visakan Veerasamy (@visakanv) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1127062277612400640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 11, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve always been someone who&#8217;s somewhat sensitive to aesthetics in general. I&#8217;ve always cared a strange amount about things like font choices, color choices, typography and so on. But for most of my life, I wasn&#8217;t very deliberate about &#8220;living&#8221; my aesthetics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I did experiment with a bit of it <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1017619480212471808\">when I was a teenage musician<\/a>, which I enjoyed. But when I got married and became a working adult, I allowed my aesthetics to decay into a sort of &#8220;neutral, vague, bland&#8221; state that I think most guys live with. (Yes, guys \u2013 this is a gendered phenomenon; I believe that women are more sensitive to aesthetics in general.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Worrying about my aesthetics then seemed like a luxury I couldn&#8217;t afford. I always had this vague fantasy that one day I would save up enough money to buy a new wardrobe. One day I would find the time to work out and get fit, so that a nice shirt would look really good on my frame. One day, one day, one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What I&#8217;ve learned since is that it&#8217;s actually much more sensible to just start embodying your aesthetic(s), right now! You can start with something really small, like a ring or a pendant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Okay, wait. Hold up a minute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are aesthetics, even?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lexico.com\/en\/definition\/aesthetics\">According to the Oxford dictionary<\/a>, aesthetics are &#8220;a set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty.&#8221; I can roll with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What are some important things to note about this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>There is no universal, all-encompassing aesthetic.<\/strong> Some aesthetics are more widespread than others, more popular, more common. Sometimes an entire aesthetic is almost universally agreed to be more elevated than another. I&#8217;m seldom interested in those arguments. I&#8217;m mostly interested in <em>appreciating each set of aesthetics according to its own internal rules.<\/em> <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Every aesthetic is its own infinite game, with its own set of rules, meant to be toyed with artfully.<\/strong> People will argue and debate about this, of course.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Aesthetics is not just about looking pretty.<\/strong> &#8220;Pretty&#8221; as a goal is just one type of aesthetic. Consider, for instance, how there are many different types of attractive, even amongst the widely-acknowledged types of conventional attractiveness. There&#8217;s &#8220;cutesy&#8221;, &#8220;raunchy&#8221;, &#8220;sophisticated&#8221; and so on. You could have a gritty aesthetic. You could have something deliberately messy, or<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Aesthetics are neither objective nor subjective \u2013 they&#8217;re intersubjective.<\/strong> <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(notes to self \u2013 look through more questions, more discussions, keep refining, share with more people)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s an example of a random tweet I did \u2013 I said that <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1100037533117739009\">a Hot Wheels car had amazing aesthetics<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/visakanv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hotwheels-aesthetics-768x1024.jpeg?resize=400%2C532\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-291\" width=\"400\" height=\"532\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why use that phrase? Why not just say &#8220;what a beautiful car&#8221;? Technically, &#8220;it&#8217;s a beautiful car&#8221; is correct. But I say that it has great aesthetics because I want to imply something beyond that. I want to imply, specifically, that you could build an entire &#8220;cinematic universe&#8221; around this car. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that&#8217;s a lot of what I do<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014 trapped \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think being trapped by one\u2019s inherited aesthetics can be a source of frustration, kind of like <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=from%3Avisakanv+pain+of+being+inarticulate\">the pain of being inarticulate<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Khruangbin&#8217;s The Recital That Never Happened reminds me of palm ave float club (sensory deprivation tank place), where I first heard it, and it&#8217;s just got this really serene, chill vibe. just listening to the song always mellows me out<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An interesting model to play with is thinking of everything as mood modifiers. Everything you read, listen to, touch, have around you \u2013 all of it is part of creating an aesthetic, a vibe, a mood for yourself. I personally think it&#8217;s good and cool to have a diverse mood collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">IMO, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1068925632627728384\">playing with moods, aesthetics and vibes<\/a> is a sort of proxy or precursor to playing with ideas and worldviews, identities, self-concept. Depending on how you frame it, you could even say it\u2019s fundamentally the same thing, or deeply intertwined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rather than try to model existing status\/class signifiers, which is tiresome, it&#8217;s far more fun, interesting and exciting to develop + elevate your <em>own<\/em> aesthetics. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1128245036510879744\">Bowie, Prince, Hendrix, Manson, etc appreciated this<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">every experiment with aesthetics tantalizingly hints at an entirely different mode of being<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">the smallest aesthetic bits can help you get started on reimagining and reconceptualizing your entire identity, and by extension, your entire reality<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014 <strong>Talismans<\/strong> \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"1024\" width=\"768\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/visakanv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/talisman-768x1024.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-293\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve been thinking about talismans recently \u2013 everything sacred becomes sacred because people deem it such. You can decide to give objects meaning. It&#8217;s not *entirely* arbitrary \u2013 there&#8217;s an art to it, the stories you tell with and about your objects should resonate with you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Further reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1155145888253136896\">aesthetics are not frivolous, they are a manifestation of your identity \u2013 full-stack living<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1148321348810182657\">Playing with frames and aesthetics is less about adding a new Instagram filter to make your life prettier (though that\u2019s fun too!) and more about learning to see how everything you call life is already filtered and framed to a degree you likely do not perceive or appreciate<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1141550971681562624\">the worst sin is bad aesthetics<\/a> \u2013 this was a bit of a joke, but I think there is truth in there. &#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1141944474714570752\">&#8220;if it enhances your aesthetics, do it&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1158243785253376001\">being fully in tune with yourself goes all the way through you, including through your aesthetics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1117457333280395264\">how japanese subcultures borrow and play with aesthetics from other cultures<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1128245036510879744\">develop + elevate your own aesthetics, like bowie \/ prince \/ hendrix \/ manson<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1128245879800877056\">every experiment with aesthetics tantalizingly hints at an entirely different mode of being<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1153269660113965056\">finding surprising, pleasing aesthetics via free-association on pinterest<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1035793336081178624\">my personal fashion thread \u2013 where I chart the development of my personal aesthetics over time<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1130113102903513089\">egs of my past aesthetics<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1127062277612400640\">before\/after <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1151761590787534849\">porn is boring because of stale aesthetics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1134455558075895808\">moodboards for friends<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1114856533521604608\">alfred dunhill helped to fashion a new aesthetic around the glamor of motoring<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1101892734653161472\">don&#8217;t be tacky (unless you know why you&#8217;re doing it)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1148605645706473473\">jesus aesthetics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1155026220297248768\">gandhi&#8217;s aesthetics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1121955914133594113\">modern colosseum aesthetics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1138498330835554304\">yoga pants aesthetics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1094989238028779520\">arab calligraphy aesthetics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1155318169130524674\">how youtube aesthetics have changed over the years<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1130505619000008704\">the batman cartoon in the 90s had ludicrously good aesthetics<\/a>, better than all of the movies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1131066271707963397\">video game idea: FPS or RPG heavily inspired by hippie &#8216;Strawberry Fields Forever&#8217; aesthetics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1145033028499955713\">2019 aesthetics thread<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2731 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aesthetics<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why do I keep wanting to write about aesthetics? The sense I get is that a lot of people haven\u2019t thought very deeply about it\u2026 that sounds like a fake reason. The truer reason is that I went through a journey myself from caring to not-caring to caring again, and that\u2019s the interesting stuff I think. I cared when I used to play in a band and self-expression was important to me, and I cared about how I presented in public&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Death rally <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1500515120891691011\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1500515120891691011<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jen kesteloot dress <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1558594882880430080\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1558594882880430080<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Horizon tribes <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1474975303243993092\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1474975303243993092<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Materials and Documents of Architecture and Sculpture, published 1915 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1459506594861883393\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1459506594861883393<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brock lesnar vibes <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1546784179819462656\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1546784179819462656<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tattoo artist vibes\u2026 also talismans? Everything is a meaningful object <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1451500118713122825\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1451500118713122825<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lemmy <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1390991625099243523\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/visakanv\/status\/1390991625099243523<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Arden salon <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1Oc4g3Rx7JTAzN3mdvTPJFcFZU4DdAp22gRfcUEg14Ys\/edit?usp=sharing\">https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1Oc4g3Rx7JTAzN3mdvTPJFcFZU4DdAp22gRfcUEg14Ys\/edit?usp=sharing<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Highexistence transcript<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1qhhsWkzY4EoP0yvUPlaPhaLhxY-aDqi1E4Xv8diy_g8\/edit?usp=sharing\">https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1qhhsWkzY4EoP0yvUPlaPhaLhxY-aDqi1E4Xv8diy_g8\/edit?usp=sharing<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/wittgenstein-aesthetics\/\">plato wittgenstein<\/a><a href=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8216;Perhaps the most important thing in connection with aesthetics\u201cwittgenstein on \u201daesthetic reactions\u201c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cairn.info\/revue-internationale-de-philosophie-2002-1-page-49.htm\">https:\/\/www.cairn.info\/revue-internationale-de-philosophie-2002-1-page-49.htm<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Goodreads quotes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/quotes\/tag\/aesthetics\">https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/quotes\/tag\/aesthetics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">carpet carved into wood <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StreetArtDream\/status\/1509236534431604736\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/StreetArtDream\/status\/1509236534431604736<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I want to persuade people that it&#8217;s worth their time and effort to experiment with their aesthetics. Why? I can start by talking about my personal experience. Simplistically, I can divide my life into &#8220;life before embracing my aesthetics&#8221; and &#8220;life after embracing my aesthetics&#8221; \u2013 and life after embracing&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[727],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drafts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5gxNz-4u","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13695,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions\/13695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visakanv.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}