The web is what you make of it

For an artist, inspiration can come from a whole lot of different places. Sometimes, when I feel the need to write or create, I will try to make ideas come to me by looking at different websites, old pictures, reading old journals. I have been reading Dooce for about as long as she has been writing it. At first, I found her posts to be really funny, as she chronicled life in Los Angeles rubbing elbows with Angelina and being a hilarious single girl. It started out as a distraction. Her site was 1. visually appealing, and 2. incredibly well-written. Her style made me wish I was right there with her, eating Doritos and watching the Grammys and laughing at Kanye together. As the years have gone by, she's established herself as one of the most successful bloggers ever, and we've all invested in her life and rejoiced along with her when she got married, had two gorgeous daughters, moved, renovated, redecorated, and precariously perched a multitude of items on her dog Chuck's head. I visit her website almost daily, and it's one of the places that really helps bring out creative ideas. Her writing is beautiful, her stories are real, and her youngest daughter has cheeks out of which you just wanna take a big ol' bite.

If you're lucky, inspiration will come when you're willing it to come - but most of the time, it comes out of the blue, when you're drinking coffee on a Sunday morning surfing the channels for Will and Grace reruns. This morning, I happened to be so lucky. Even though I've only worked briefly in advertising (I'll admit I'm no Don Draper,) I notice commercials and print ads a lot more now than I did before. The following tv spot for Google Chrome did everything right. It told a story, reeling me in and making me believe this story was 100% real. Then, it got to the point. "The web is what you make of it." Although the Internet is great for looking up enchilada recipes, finding music, and emailing your cousin to say Happy Birthday, there's SO MUCH MORE you can do with it. This commercial made me want to pick up the computer and immediately start editing a video (using Google Chrome of course.) It inspired me to be creative. Well done, Google.

If you don't want to a) make your own video, b) try and win back your ex-lover using said video, or c) ride a roller coaster, you should probably call 911 because you are DEAD INSIDE.