On the tolerance of critics

 

Critics of clerkmanifesto might say that the reason we show experimental art versions of my photographs here is because it gives me an excuse to show you my favorite pictures twice!

Fortunately I don't have any critics so we don't have to find out if they really do say that.

As Jeff Bezos once said:

"If you can't tolerate critics, don't do anything new or interesting."

Which is why I am showing you my same pictures again.

Wait, that can't be right, can it?

And who is this Jeff Bezos anyway? Here, I have a quote for him:

"If you can tolerate critics even when you have several million of them, you might be a sociopath."

 

The year in pictures, 2023

 

Last year on clerkmanifesto I showed hundreds, possibly even thousands of pictures. In reviewing them for today's retrospective I ran across the usual feelings I encounter when I look over my creations:

1. Horror at how awful some of them were.

2. Delight in the good ones.

3. A conviction that if I just left it at the good ones, the impact would have been ten times greater.

4. Total and abject confusion as to what constitutes "A good one".

In the end, I have no idea about any of it, or my idea fluctuates like a compass at the magnetic north pole. So I decided I'd better come up with some rules to get this walk down memory lane under control.

1. It's a review, so each month must be sequentially represented.

2. A full representation of styles should be prioritized over my inclination to just show 250 fox and skunk pictures.

3. A strict diet of two pictures a month maximum must be stuck to, or today's post will be overwhelmed.

4. The pictures can speak for themselves. I've already talked enough about them through the year.

5. I am allowed to cheat one time to get a good picture in or save a bad month.

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

Cat shrines of Saint Minneapolis

 

Here is my vision for the year to come. 

I don't know how to explain it.

It might even just be a vision for cats for the year to come.

But who's to say cats don't read clerkmanifesto?

No, I'm just kitten. 

I know purrfectly well that cats don't read clerkmanifesto!

Cats don't read anything other than the warmth of the sun.

They have come across the void and out of the darkness and silence of eternity, all in order to sleep.

Cats said:

"Let me just do two things, but do them well. 

And in doing them well, deserve nearly endless time off."

This is why we have placed shrines to cats all over our city.

And if, for the New Year, we are to have a resolution, let's let it be this:

Cats.