I believed those lies
Such a construct to downplay
Any greatness that’s inside
These triple standards
Stunting the self-esteem’s growth
Of people like myself
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Tag Archives: Poetry
Culture Chronos
Identities were excavated
Bringing a new sense of purpose
To those who were born lost
The originators smile on
As these roots were now found
Untitled Lanterne
Space
To soar
Under watch
From jealous eyes
Glared
Since when did appreciating originality make me the bad guy?
Before I begin my little opinion piece, I set aside some time as I deal with this gigantic cold front all over the Midwest. At the time of this article, the high where I’m from is -18 Fahrenheit which is insane. This coldness is more on par with Siberia, Antarctica, and the top of Mt. Everest than the part of America where I’m from. If you’re dealing with this, then please stay warm and take care of yourselves.
Okay, now onto the subject at hand.
I’ve been wanting to make an article like this for a long time now. The thing is I appreciate whenever people create some truly unique things. Whether it’s music, film, art, literature, or other subjects, I really like it whenever people craft things that no one else has thought of before. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against adaptations on principle, building off other works while acknowledging inspiration, or even parodies/satires when done right.
What does grind my gears is whenever I hear people say things such as “Oh, everybody rips off things”.
In my opinions, I find that to be intellectually insulting and just lazy thinking.
At the risk of sounding arrogant, I do try to be as original as I can be with my various works such as my spoken word projects, poems, reviews, music, books, and other things I create. One of the biggest compliments you could give me is telling me that no one else sounds like me, writes like me, or that I’m an innovator in whatever I try. Yes, I’m certainly influenced by others, so I’m not going to lie to you, but I want to be unique in my creative endeavors. There’s one quote from Oscar Wilde that I like a bit too much: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” I truly believe that some people aren’t even trying and just follow the leader in music, film, books, etc which I find to be quite slothful.
So why does this make me the bad guy for wanting originality to still be a quality worth desiring?
Seriously, I’ve been made fun of for mentioning how I like more original content as others dismiss my tastes for whatever reason. Possibly it’s insecurity on their part, but I could be wrong.
Over the years, I’ve been realizing how many things have been stolen whether it’s movies, art, video games, or something as extreme as cultural appropriation. You have artwork from Benin and Senegal that’s in European museums without those country’s permission. There’s an obelisk in Ethiopia known as the Obelisk of Axum which was stolen by Italy and a certain leaning tower bears similarities to it. For those who’ve checked out some of my film and anime reviews, I’ve mentioned a few examples. Yes, one of them involves this nefarious lion named Claw from Kimba the White Lion as seen in the featured image who predates a certain other villain let alone other characters in some popular movie by 44 years (or 29 if you only count the anime), yet Tezuka Productions never got credited to this day for that series. If you got triggered by that picture, well…that says more about you than it does about me. Besides that, I get tired of people even resorting to scripture by saying “There’s nothing new under the sun”. I know it’s in Ecclesiastes, but did those same people miss “Thou shall not steal”? Sorry to mention theology in this post, but I needed to use that example to prove a point.
With all these rampant remakes, clones, and frauds going on, it’s really tough for me to cling on to a bunch of media. It’s no wonder I try to make my own stories, music, blogs, and other things. Does me appreciating the innovative make me pretentious? Do I see others as peons for only liking whatever the mainstream spoon-feeds them? I hope it’s not the case for the former, and I certainly don’t want to think that way about the latter.
The image of Claw is from The New Adventures of Kimba the White Lion and is property of Tezuka Productions.
Looming Panic
Hey, I’m a poet. I’ve been negligent in this matter for a long time on this blog.
Nerves grab onto the controls
Getting a rise out of ascending phobias
The constant visions of what might or could happen become Stygian
The more plausible the outcomes are
Hobbies and other activities I otherwise enjoy
Become tantamount to pacification
Against dark realities around me
I couldn’t just lie to myself each time
The past becomes a habit
I desperately want to halt
Was it a desire to change time
Or was it me wanting every ounce of control possible?
2 year anniversary of Ospreyshire’s Realm
I just got this notification and my blog has been around for two years already.
Wow, time has certainly flown by. I originally made this blog as a platform for my current spoken word/Avant-garde project. Funny how I’ve expanded my repertoire with multiple blogs, doing the Katauta 52 challenge, and talking about important events on here.
I’d like to thank anyone who’s bothered to follow my works and support me.
One year later…I still miss you, Gloria Bland AKA Grammy.
This didn’t even feel like one whole year already and I still feel wistful.
For those that didn’t know, I made a post last year commemorating Gloria Bland who is my grandmother. She passed away this time last year and it rattled me for a long time. This was someone who I was close to and it came out of nowhere. She died peacefully, but I wished it didn’t happen. After that, I had no more living grandparents. If you’re curious, that’s also my grandfather James Bland who died when I was only twelve years old. As sappy as it sounds, I know Granddaddy was ecstatic seeing his bride once again in the afterlife. I couldn’t stop crying at her funeral and I’m man enough to admit it. During this time, I was in the middle of my big Katauta 52 project and I was devastated. It did force me to honor her. That clock in the video used to belong to her, so that’s why I had it as the main image.
New Milestone! 2000 views!
I didn’t expect this to happen today.
There are now over 2000 views on the Ospreyshire blog. Thank you to anyone who actually viewed my content on there. It’s been an almost two year journey once I got into recording and writing poems. I really appreciate your support.
Ospreyshire Interview w/ The Antidote!
http://www.theantidoteradio.com/interview/interview-with-ospreyshire
For those of you that missed the broadcast, Dave Hawkins from The Antidote archived the audio from that podcast!
In this interview, I talk about how I got the name Ospreyshire, my music, creativity, some spiritual stuff, blogging, anime, and even a HUGE announcement for future projects.
Thanks, Dave!
Katauta #52 (The final Katauta!)
One year later, and I finally beat my own self-constrained challenge. I can’t believe I did this thing for 52 weeks straight on this blog.
It feels invigorating to complete a challenge. I ended it with my soprano ukulele.
