Planet Iron Blogger SF

People are the most potent drug there is. People are how you exist in the mind of others and how the concept of “you” exists in your own.

You must find your people.

Most elements in life you can buy or borrow, but friends and family aren’t like that. You make friends by being a friend. You don’t rent a family, you learn that We are all family. You must find your people. It is a doing, not an acquiring. It is a quest.

And it is your quest. Being surrounded by unchosen people is wack. You absorb the pathologies of your closest collaborators, so be careful what who you get good at being around. Don't fake it until you make it, just to fit in. Do the work. Embrace the clunk. No one can do this for you.

And you must find your people. A community is where people share love for a sacred idea and create something together. You are in love with (that is, alongside) your people. It is nothing short of that.

The fastest route to radical change is to love deeply. Orient toward heartbreak. Love gives you the courage to reveal yourself, and change can only happen when you understand who you are, and you can only understand who you are when you are witnessed by those who love you.

A life has many ingredients—what you pay attention to, where you live, what you do and how (we don’t ask why). But your choice of who is crucial to the recipe. Before you start to cook, you must find your people.

A few months ago, I wrote about Hit Em’, a novelty musical style inspired by a musician’s dream that went viral on social media.

Following the post’s success, Drew Daniels and MachineDrum announced they were accepting submissions for a compilation of Hit Em’-style tracks.

It’s been a long wait, but that compilation is out now, and it’s fantastic! Find it on Bandcamp, Youtube, and streaming.

The genre started off with an inside-joke, but there really are some inspiring moments hidden within. It’s interesting how self-imposed limitations can push creativity in unexpected directions.

Interestingly, Thank You, Dream Girl isn’t even the first compilation of #HitEm-style tracks—another comp, Disposable Heroes of Hit Em, came out back in August. Both compilations are worth exploring.

The post “Thank You, Dream Girl.” – a new compilation of Hit Em’ style tracks appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

Words from the risograph

After having so much fun working on the The Fediverse Files series, I’m excited that Automattic has asked me to make more of these fun videos for their social media channels. It’s so rewarding to produce fun videos on topics I’m passionate about—like the open web, DIY ethos, and silly puns—that feel right at home on WordPress.com’s social channels. My latest videos dive into the world of cooking blogs: how to create them and why they all seem to follow the same recipe ( hey look, a pun). Check them out below!

If these videos piqued your interest and you’d like to learn more, you should also check out these new articles on WP.com’s blog:

• Why Your Favorite Recipes Come with a Side of Story
• Why a Recipe Plugin is the Secret Ingredient for Your Food Blog’s Success

For anyone curious, I am a contractor with Automattic, not an employee.

The post Cooking Up More Videos for WP.com appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

Recall a moment when you felt hopeless or confused.
There is a chance you felt alone in that scene
Because you are not built for that kind of emptiness.
You are not meant to suffer alone.

Humans evolved over millennia to live in community.
Your ancestors lived in tight-knit groups, dependent on each other for survival
And their nervous systems adapted to this life.
Nature has shaped you for co-operation, collaboration, and trust.

Loneliness is an evolutionary alarm: “Hey, something's wrong.”
A signal that you probably pissed off the tribe
Because social isolation used to be a death sentence.
Imagine how tolerant early humans must have been.

“Sure Gary’s an asshole, but he can build fire.”

Yes, there is power in solitude.
But when you are feeling goopy, you must find your people.
Friends, or family, or even complete strangers
It doesn’t matter too much because we are all family.

We need attunement with other humans to regulate emotions.
We co-construct meaning through shared norms and language.
This is why the deepest wounds come from rejection
Because we need other humans to heal and grow and feel OK.

With apologies to introverts, there’s a reason
That “loner” is slander and “social butterfly” is praise.
Loneliness is a malady.
People are the most potent drug there is.

Everyone you met has once felt alone.
But in the darkness of isolation there is a light
In sharing our stories, we find one another.
We illuminate the void to say, “I am here too.”

I like to keep an eye out for cool shapes during my walks and use them as inspiration for my #SidewalkFriends drawings. It’s like my version of hunting for Pokémon.

This drawing of a spider crawling on a man’s face was inspired by a small section of concrete on a sidewalk in a park.

Today’s #SidewalkFriends sketch, inspired by an interesting section of concrete on a nearby sidewalk.

— Doctor Popular (@docpop) 2024-11-09T21:14:00.901Z

The post #SidewalkFriends: Existential Dread appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

Every single person you know is family.
The people on other side of the restaurant, fence, or country,
They aren’t complete strangers, they are family.
We are family.

This is more than a metaphor,
We are literally cousins.
You and every “complete stranger” share a great-grandparent.
The only mystery is how many “greats.”

In 2004 mathematical modeling by a group of statisticians led by Douglas Rohde, then at MIT, indicated that our most recent common ancestor probably lived no earlier than 1400 BCE and possibly as recently 55 CE. […] Go back a bit further, and you reach a date when our family trees share not just one ancestor in common but every ancestor in common. At this date, called the genetic isopoint, the family trees of any two people on the Earth now, no matter how distantly related they seem, trace back to the same set of individuals.

–Scientific American

This won’t make Thanksgiving any easier, of course.
Could it be easier to share turkey with a random selection of people?
But your immediate family is a random selection of people,
Whom you have learned to love through trial and error.

The notion of family is a choice:
When you tell your friends you love them you are choosing your family.
So too when you choose repair over rejection,
So too when you bring your adversary closer.

The notion of family is also destiny:
If you are thinking of having children or if you just had one1
In a handful of generations a small village exists because of you.
People you will never know, or touch, or see, but they are family.

Family can frustrate you and hurt you and sadden you.
The acute sting of family comes from how much of ourselves we see in them;
When your family cuts themselves, you bleed too.
The disconnection leads to grief precisely because we are family.

So “we are family” is permission to tell anyone to go to hell, the way siblings do.
It’s also a reminder that we need to want the best for each other
The blessing of family comes from how much of ourselves we see in them.
Family can witness you, support you, and heal you in unimaginable ways.

Do not leave out the impossible idea that we are family.
We should treat each other as such.
As heartbreaking as the notion might be,
We are the only family that we’ve got.

It’s Electric!

A couple of months ago, I was at the Bags4Us show when someone asked if I’d like to be interviewed on a podcast. They led me to a big box truck parked in front of the Strike-Slip Gallery that had been converted into a high-end production studio. I ended up chatting with Don P, the host of the Ridin and Smokin show, about yo-yos, my art projects, board games, San Francisco history, and more. It was such a fun experience!

About halfway through the show, I accidentally flipped the format and started interviewing Don about his stuff. I guess that’s what happens when you invite another podcaster onto your podcast. Here’s the teaser for this episode:

The post Talkin’ and Yo-yoin’ on Don P’s Ridin’ and Smokin’ Show appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

You’re never the main character in other people’s stories.
You’re at best a featured player, a walk-on, or an extra.
When someone is acting in a way you don’t understand,
You should know: it’s probably not about you.

All humans lug around a collection of stories.
Some inherited, some ill-gotten, some earned.
Humans are projection machines
Who project stories onto other people.

When folks accept the light of your deepest stories;
This is the basis of connection.
Some folks illuminate the stories you most long to share;
That is the foundation of love.

But you don’t love the person, exactly.
You relish the feelings they give rise to in you.
Similarly, you don’t hate the person, exactly.
You are in resistance to the friction between you.

In full-throated conflagration
With a person you’ve known for 10 years
Who is screaming: “You ruined my life,”
Even at that moment, it’s probably not about you.

So be the one not talking and listen.
The current political crisis is not about you,
The scandal in your community is not about you,
Even your self-titled memoir: it’s probably not about you.

You are part of an anthology:
The cosmos describing itself through infinite narratives.
If you listen carefully you might hear that your story
Is the same as the universe itself.

There’s something nice and spooky about glitched out photos, so each year I like to do a walk through San Francisco while taking photos of Halloween decor on a circuit bent digital camera. You can see my photos from 2020 here, 2022 here, or 2023 here.

Here are some photos I took on my circuit bent Sony CyberShot around the Mission and Bernal Heights:

The post Glitched out Halloween Photos From San Francisco appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

Do it like it’s part of the dance

A classic in the genre of “thanks but no thanks for your feedback.” A pair of letters from the mid-1970s in which a football fan complains, and the team’s lawyers reply. Though not generally known for victory, I’d say the Browns won this exchange.

If it’s letters you seek

An open letter to my Facebook echo chamber

The post quesapizza!!! appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

People keep telling me that a work of art “didn’t age well.” This seems to mean that the work endorses (or contains) ideas that are considered passé. Fine, but I find this form of critique unfair and a little xenophobic. Don’t be so hard on the past. You will be the past someday, too.

William Gibson wrote, “The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.” This is the problem with judging art from different times. There is no neutral. You judge the past with the material of the now, but being alive after other people isn't a moral high ground.

You are welcome to challenge old ideas, but stompeth not on your grandma’s identity. The problem cannot be other people. The artists of yore weren’t evil, even if they formed ideas unthinkable now. They were makers who drew from the material of their available universe. You do the same thing (in the un-special time known as) “today.”

It’s not the point of art to age well, because no one can predict the future. The truth is what you believe for now, and art is a reflection of “what you believe for nows” across the infinite smear of nows we call time. The word “Shaboozey” could be a slur in 2928. It’s not the point of art to age well, because no one can predict the future.

So don’t be so hard on your ancestors. Replace your condemnation with the smallest mote of gratitude for anyone who dared to share an idea ("wrong" ones, "right" ones, or not yet right ones) in stone, on film, upon canvas, or through pixels made of light.

Hi there,

Every then and now, I like to send out a survey to see how y’all are doing. Since starting this thing, I have published 90 posts and you’ve been kind enough to subscribe and skim these posts while pretending to care about your office job. You have my thanks.

Take the survey, change your life

While I’m here, I must also express my deepest gratitude to the folks who pay for writing, journalism, videos, music, and art online. Making is something that takes effort, patience, and thought; soon it will be done by machines owned by ad platforms because they can do “something-like-it” for free. Thank you for helping me preserve a world where making is valued, for as long as we can.

This survey is 10 questions long and I will be asking about your favorite vegetable.

If you are feeling particularly moved to share, you can also hit reply and let me have it.

Yams to you,
    V. Sri

I like to keep an eye out for cool shapes during my walks and use them as inspiration for my #SidewalkFriends drawings. It’s like my version of hunting for Pokémon.

Today’s Sidewalk Friend was inspired by a sheet of paper and puddle of water on the sidewalk.

The post #SidewalkFriends: Float appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

unbothered, moisturized

Following a social media post asking game developers to share their creations, Godot is now getting review-bombed on Steam. After 7 years of glowing reviews, this game engine has received nearly 1,000 negative reviews in the past week.

Some of those assholes even left negative reviews on fantastic indie-games that happened to have been built with the Godot game engine.

As I mentioned earlier, these negative reviews and targeted harassment of Godot employees were all because of one tweet that was deemed “too political”. What could have garnered so much animosity in gamers?

It all started a few weeks ago when a developer shared some footage on X of an upcoming game she was working. She said the game was built using Unreal Engine and some random-ass dude replied, “Woke studios always use pre-built engines to make games because they can’t build their own engines.”

It’s ridiculous to think every game studio needs to roll their own game engine, but this guy calls studios “woke” so he has a bent idea of reality. His dumbass reply quickly became a meme in the gaming community.

Which brings us to this extremely controversial post from Godot:

Riding the “game engines are woke” meme on X, Godot wrote “Apparently game engines are woke now?”. This banger took a negative post about game engines and used it as a way to promote games made with Godot. Nothing political and it’s legit funny. A banger of tweet!

But some dudes get triggered when they see a rainbow emoji ( ), so they dragged Godot into their bullshit culture war. When you watch these anti-Godot videos on youtube, where they talk about this single tweet for 15 minutes without actually showing it, it’s because they know how stupid this whole thing is. Trying to cancel Godot because of this tweet is as stupid as trying to roll your own game engine from scratch. Good luck with that.

The post “Woke Game Engines”: The Reason Some Dudes Are Pretending That Godot is “Too Political” appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

After futzing with a suboptimal situation (a job, relationship, a broken kettle), you may want to chuck the whole thing out. Start anew. Here’s another path. Instead of reject and replace, you can repair and remain.

The path of repair was once quite popular. It used to be unthinkable to toss out a malfunctioning kettle, let alone your career, your spouse, or “the system, man.” You tried to make things work, because you didn’t have much of a choice.

In this post-scarcity world, you can oust anything the moment it falters. A shiny replacement is only a few swipes away. But when you rush to replace, you miss out on the road less travelled by. The journey and practice of repair.

Repair tests resilience because your first attempts will fail. (Murder your first born ideas.) Repair reveals the nuances you don't see when you repeatedly start from scratch. Repair demands curiosity, because what you think is broken may not be what's broken. (Certainty is a feeling not a fact.) Repairs burdens you with the truth that nothing is perfect.

All of these tests train the lost art of mercy.

Why bother? Because repair makes you better too. It widens your aperature to see something broken as having potential and worth. When you undertake repair, you become a conduit that connects the errors of history with infinite possibility.

It is to invoke the spirit of creation long after genesis. Repair is the way home again.

You hear a voice from beyond the hill – you turn to look and no one is there at all

What's so great about speed? When you slow down, so does time because you notice so much more of it. If you are at a loss for experience, move as slow as possible.

Walk slowly to reveal the secrets of a city. Exercise slowly to bring every muscle into your command. Eat slowly to taste in high fidelity and relish the bitter notes. Think slow and you are meditating; gain access to the wordless wisdom of the universe.

Personally, I write better by hand or on a typewriter. My thoughts have time to align before being extruded by hand onto a page. When you write slowly, you coax the living stories from their burrows and into the warmth of your lap.

When you love slowly, you ascend from hunter to naturalist. You swap “point and shoot” with “wait and witness.” You let the garden grow. When you move at the speed of trust, you can can orient toward heartbreak and relish the bitter notes.

When you live slowly, the boundary between pain and pleasure softens. You no longer fall for cheaper, faster, or better. You embrace the waste, you collect mistakes as kindling. The hard wood of friction burns slower, but far hotter, than the soft wood of comfort.

With slowness comes speed. With slowness comes meaning. With slowness comes the revelation that you are enough, because you are the universe. And if you stop trying to move so fast, you might let the universe move you instead.

The city is a tapestry with all the colors of the rainbow

I’ve been seeing a lot of pieces by an artist named Matsu lately and I wanted to share them here. I’m really enjoying this style of slaps, throwies, and collage art and the use of a cute little mushroom as a character. So many mushrooms!

The post Street art by Matsu appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

I’m hosting a yo-yo meetup in San Francisco this Saturday, October 5th. It will be in Yerba Buena Garden from 3-5pm (near the Metreon). This is an outdoor location, with plenty of food nearby and very easy to access via BART/MUNI/Caltrain.

I made the art for this flier during a communal art jam at the Drawing Room in SF.

The post Yo-Yo Meetup This Saturday in San Francisco appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

Should you find a window into the mental states of other people, consider that you barely have access to your own. Everyone must all plod through denial, self-talk, projection, and trauma to excavate even a nugget of personal truth. Yet you blithely read others like tea leaves: “Susan has trust issues.”

You can’t read minds, so don’t even try.

When you start reading minds, you stop listening. You’re scribbling when you might be paying attention (Don't research and write at the same time) and what you don’t know about other people is everything.

You cannot summarize a novel after reading a single random page. Yet we attempt this feat with people. People are more complicated than books, because people never finish writing themselves. The masks humans wear are like press releases on the status of an active tornado.

Instead of reading people, you can hold space; allow them to sound out the unformed words in their psyche, without judgment. Let them explore their interior and share what they find. Be the one not talking. They aren’t just revealing themselves, they’re finding themselves too.

There is no greater gift than the feeling of being heard. This is the universal craving, as common as the need to breathe.

Ask me anything about those things on your bathroom floor.

Tiles are Hard