Adulthood Is a Myth discussion

Fish wrote: "It seems like my peers are always making comics about how cute and funny they are, and they're usually drawn in this same derp style. Don't college students have better things to do than think about..."

Relatability? Social connection? Possible financial gains to assist with the cost of college? Fun? Experience? Because they want to?

I don't think the goal is to glorify; I think it's more of a "Hey, you're not as weird or as alone as you think you are." type thing.
Like I stated relatability and social connection.
It's like when someone creates a video of all the silly things that their cat does and the viewer is laughing hysterically because their cat does the same thing.

Fish wrote: "It seems like my peers are always making comics about how cute and funny they are, and they're usually drawn in this same derp style. Don't college students have better things to do than think abou..."

LOL.. That is the typical nature of humanity. That's why older politicians make policies that benefit people of their own age group typically and wealthy people make policies who benefit the wealthy. Ernest Hemingway as an older man wrote "The Old Man and the Sea" not "The Young Man and the Sea".

Most people who are writing books are writing books where they are either the gender or age of the person they are writing about. There are not too many young writers who write stories about being older because they haven't been older yet. You can write stories about being younger because you've been there and can remember.

All humanity is self-centered and always has been. Imagining that you are not is delusion. You can work against the tendency, but, it is always there.

Think about your purpose for the post. Your purpose for the post is to draw attention to yourself. You hope to gain favor with the older set by ridiculing your own age group. You are another Millennial who also happens to be a Millennial basher. This sort of behavior always backfires.

For example, I know plenty of women bashers who happen to be female. Pointing out how much other women suck doesn't make people like you any more than they already did; it just encourages people to like other women less which includes you by extension. It doesn't make you better or special.

Your comments didn't go over my head. They are the same comments I'm used to seeing all over the internet as people try to separate themselves from the set they belong to. It hurts the rest of your set and doesn't help you.

Now, onto the work itself, I'm a bit too old to really like this book. However, even so there were a couple gems in this book that I did relate to. Most of it didn't relate to me. BUT, it wasn't FOR me. Ranting about it would be like ranting about a picture book not having a deep enough story for adults.

To simplify my stance a bit, I take issue with the statement "It seems like my peers are always making comics about how cute and funny they are, and they're usually drawn in this same derp style."

No, many of your peers are creating decent fictional works. Eleanor Catton, a millennial, won the Man Booker in 2013 for Luminaries at age 28. Téa Obreht had a hit with "The Tiger's Wife". I remember reading Paolini, 17 years old when his first novel came out.

Now maybe you have a bunch of friends and they all do these little sketches like this. That's fine. This is the only book I've really seen like that, but, I guess it wouldn't surprise me that there were others. It's the absolutes that lose me. Your peers are not ALWAYS creating comic books like this one. Plenty of them are writing real fiction, nonfiction and musicals.

I'm tired of age-ism, sexism, racism and all the other stereotypes that dictate that certain types of people always do certain types of things.

You additionally lose me by including a cultural icon like Calvin and Hobbes as a low bar.. lol "It can't even be compared to a comic strip like Calvin and Hobbes which is at least based in a humble mockery of the characters."

Seriously? You are aware that Watterson won a lifetime achievement award for that comic "at least based in a humble mockery of the characters."

I don't think we read the same Calvin and Hobbes either. lol The one I read wasn't just 'humble mockery' but a wide-ranging social commentary. The 20th anniversary book release managed to make it onto the bestseller list despite being $150. Fans of Calvin and Hobbes include the likes of Stephen King and Spielberg.

Watterson is so true to his work that he refused to license his characters even though he would have made millions doing so.

Oh well, I will leave your posts alone in future. :) Sorry for intruding on your day.

Fish wrote: "I think people often see hatred and bigotry where there is none because it's easy to blame things on, instead of facing there may simply be other ideas about how to achieve good, whether the ideas ..."

When you reference a large group of people and use words like ALWAYS and ALL you tend to get that kind of reaction.

How long do you think it would take for me to get ripped apart if I hopped over to a popular James Patterson book, started a discussion about the book that went something like this: "It seems like these old guys are always making books about how smart they think they are, and they're usually written in this same predictable style. Don't old guys have better things to do than think about themselves all the time? What's so smart about that?"

Ooh, and I leave a 1 star review..

The only reason your discussion lasted so long without a comment is that Millennial bashing is totally acceptable. If you substitute in literally any other group in your original post it turns into a news article.. lol

You probably don't see what I mean, but that's okay.

The book is a bit narcissistic. I never said that it wasn't. Honestly though, most books are, especially comedies and autobiographies.

This book isn't a serious book. It's a comic book which is just trying to convey a bit of situational comedy.

If it was presenting itself as a self-help book or an inspirational text or something like that, I would probably be tearing it apart myself. But, since it's a comic book intended to just entertain, I felt that it met what it was trying to be.

I had no problem with your 1 star rating. People are absolutely allowed to not like something. :)

I've left some 1 star reviews myself. Though, usually I give those out for books which are not what they claimed to be.

I can't really picture this comic book have any sort of impact on someone's life other than a brief/immediate bit of laughter over some of the things they related to. I mean, it really isn't that sort of book.

I used to just love a similar style of book which came out years ago, but, it was darker. Unpleasant Ways to Die

I just LOVED that book. LOVED it. Read it and laughed until I thought my ribs would crack. However, it had no other effect on me other than the momentary pleasure it gave me when I looked through it. Now, years later, I also have the pleasure of remembering how much I enjoyed it. It hit me at just the right time, I laughed so loud the bookstore employees were glaring at me. I left after purchasing the book and me and my new boyfriend at the time made a nuisance of ourselves laughing at it in the mall food court. That fantastically stupid book gave me a couple fun memories.

Not every book has some lofty purpose. There are a multitude of books out there that are just for brief entertainment. I use them as palate cleansers between heavier works.

My complaint from the beginning and consistently throughout this discussion is the implication that this book is an example of all that Millennials produce. That is basically what you stated. However, that is factually not true. I get annoyed when people are painted with a broad brush of inaccuracy.

I don't care at all that you don't like the book. :)

LOL and now I finally see where you are coming from..

You are too close to it. You see it as an insider, not as a consumer.

I took 15 years of classical piano lessons. I fiddle around with composition knowing that no one will ever hear what I write. Then I listen to some repetitive drivel on the radio and sigh to know that's what people like.

When I can separate myself from that, I can turn on the radio and enjoy a song that I know is vapid and dumb and not particularly creative. Most of the time though, you'l find me changing the stations grumbling, "hate hate hate, hate hate hate, loathe entirely."

So, as a cartoonist, you look at this and wonder how in the world it is published and yours is not. It's an uphill battle getting people to notice your work and you know you are creating better but not getting seen.

That I understand.. I think everyone who wants to be a musician or a writer or an artist deals with this to some extent. There are the things which have mass appeal, but, they aren't quite what you do. Your choice is either change to attain mass appeal or be true to yourself and have a smaller audience.

I'm assuming you are a fan of Tove Jansson.. Her work is really something. I need to pick up more of her stuff. Moomin, Mymble and Little My has been on my to-read list for awhile. It's in one of my online shopping carts waiting for me to cross over the free shipping threshold.. lol

A Japanese enigmatic poem, Tomino's Hell, which should be read only in your mind. It is the story of Tomino who descends into darkness.