The Notepad Vol. 3 — Virgil Abloh, Creativity, Tattoos
It’s been a while since I’ve written on here. It’s been pretty busy. I haven’t had much time. Holidays, school, work, etc.
Anyways, this is THE NOTEPAD — a series which I talk about certain topics of interest to me in an unedited and unfiltered manner.
VIRGIL ABLOH
It’s really weird to me. I don’t think I’m particularly interested in fashion — no more than the average person. Nor do I think I really cared much for Virgil Abloh’s work.
I mean, I mostly know him because of the work he did with Kanye West — the Yeezuz and Dark Fantasy covers, Life of Pablo merchandising and aesthetic, among other stuff.
He also designed this car which is sick as fuck (from Mercedes-Benz) –
Initially, I didn’t think much of it when he passed. Like, my reaction was “damn” with the usual dreaded existentialism that comes with the natural fear of death.
But the coming days (and weeks) revealed to me how many different artists Abloh touched in various ways — the most notable to me being Kanye West, Tyler, the Creator, and Pharrell.
Anyways, there was something of a sendoff in the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2022 Presentation — and that was that.
But the more time that passes, the more I think about Abloh — maybe less about the person himself and more-so about the creative process and how he was able to inspire those around him to create such unique and influential work.
The idea of being a positive influence to so many people is wild to me. Like I haven’t seen ANYONE say ANYTHING bad about this man — and that’s fucking crazy.
To sort of wrap this up — there’s a quote — and I don’t know who it’s from. And I don’t care to actually look up the exact word-for-word details. But it goes something like this:
“They say you die twice. Once when your life ends. And another time when your name is spoken for the final time.”
And I think people are going to be speaking about Virgil Abloh forever. He’s a legend.
CREATIVE PROCESS / SOCIAL MEDIA VS JOURNALISM
Moving off of the talk about Abloh, I wanted to talk about my own creative process. This isn’t something I’ve really spoken about before — to anyone really.
Now — I think I’m fucking great at social media work. I’m not going to lie there. I think that is one of my biggest strengths as a young professional. If you asked me whether I think I could work in that field at a high level right now, the answer is unequivocally yes.
Is that arrogant? Yes. It definitely is. And I am probably very wrong in assuming I could do so.
BUT.
Doing social media work the past several months has sort of led me down a few lines of thought.
1. I am incapable of enjoying basketball (the sport which I cover) at the same level that I did, even just a year ago.
2. I think I’m probably going to do social media rather than journalism (beat writing).
Ok, ok. I know that sounds contradictory. And it… well it kind of is. But I think journalism is incredibly important. Like, so much more important than social media/marketing. The world would be lost without good journalism.
But I think my relationship as a sports fan is so much better off as a professional in social media. Even in doing light, freelance sports writing, the amount of criticism I deal with on a daily basis is near unbearable.
And I get it. I can’t have it both ways. And I WILL have to 100-percent choose a path in like… just over a year. And I don’t know which I’m going to go with. But I think I have a talent for social media — and I’m going to only further that with upcoming ventures and opportunities.
TATTOOS
I think tattoos are so sick.
Like. If you’ve got a crazy tattoo I will befriend you simply for that fact. I don’t need to know anything else about you.
FOR INSTANCE. I know someone with a ‘Danny Dorito’ tattoo.
Yes. It’s Danny DeVito’s face… on a Dorito. And it’s amazing. (Obligatory shout to ‘It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, the greatest show ever created.)
Ok, so I would never get a tattoo like that. But I also don’t think I could get a tattoo of anything that had some deep symbolic internal meaning or anything. Like, get outta here with these cringy quotes. I just want tattoos that look sick and visually appealing.
While I don’t have any tattoos yet, that is 100% going to change (though I don’t know EXACTLY when I’ll do so). I have lots of ideas about particular tattoos, and I’ll list some here:
DRAGON TATTOO
Okay. I was actually GOING to get a tattoo of a blue/green/aquamarine dragon on my upper-left arm the summer before I got to college. And you know what, I still might. But this is an idea I’ve had for a while. I just think Dragons look cool. And that one would look awesome on my arm.
MUSIC TATTOO
My secondary idea is just to get a concept art of a particular album. I love the yin/yang swimming in circles tattoos I’ve seen (Mac Miller), the Cherry Bomb logo (Tyler), and the graduation bear (Ye). I want to get one of these, at least, but I am not sure when it’ll happen.
STINGRAY / SHARK TATTOO
Okay, if you know me personally, you know that I love sharks. I adore them. They’re great, they’re misunderstood, and people hate them because of the pop culture misinformation. The real enemy, though, are stingrays. Those things are some BITCHES. I’m 1000x more terrified of stingrays than sharks. For me, when I surf, planting my foot down in the water and landing on a stingray is legitimacy the worst possible outcome. Sharks would brush up against me all the time when I surfed, they’re chill. But if I even COME INTO CONTACT with a stingray, my leg is gonna feel pain for weeks. Fuck those guys. Anyways, a tattoo of either would be chill.
Alright. I think that’s enough. I hope you gained something from this. Or that you were entertained. If not… sorry (not really). Love you.