Saturday, October 16, 2010

People are PISSED

silver and coral again

about an etsy blog about the horrors of coral. Personally, I think that the article should have run with a disclaimer that this is just one random person's opinion and not the opinion of etsy, but I don't think that this blog post will actually affect sales of coral jewelry much.(full disclosure- I am quite sure that I probably have some pieces with coral beads.) It is well known that diamonds fuel conflicts, that gold and silver mining aren't exactly environmentally friendly, and that mother of pearl is made from oyster shells, but sales of these items continue because they are lovely items and people want them.

I attempt to be more sustainable, but as a maker of things, the real way to be sustainable is not to make things, as we have enough items for everyone on earth to fill their abodes with them. This is the sort of moral issue that everyone needs to put on their waders and wrestle with themselves. Whether you want all your items to be sustainbly sourced, or you don't care, or any thing in between- for example, I like to use reuse old jewelry items in my designs and reuse packaging, but new items are used much of the time as well- there's something for you in this wide world.

I think the brou ha ha is not so much that someone said "CORAL IS BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT" it's that sellers aren't feeling the love, so to speak. Many sellers hunger for one of their own to be given a spotlight. Competition is fierce, and anyone who gets an advantage from etsy appears to be taking advantages away from others. This goes doubly for those who are not from etsy, and also, appear to be designers instead of makers.{The distinction is that there's a huge difference from designing a piece and sending it off to be made and making the pieces themselves.] The promotional tone of the piece may have also offended some, as it moves the piece from the realm of information to marketing. So lesson learned for etsy[or not]: don't let outsiders write promotional pieces on your blog.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Four in the Queue!

This edition has two in the queue and two at home:

In the queue:



Season 2 of Mad Men : I finally watched the first season of Mad Men.

Kiki's Delivery Service- the classic Miyazaki film. One of the first I had ever seen when they were first released in America. I need to see it again.

At home:

Ponyo: I saw this in the theater, in the company of two old women and a very well behaved little girl. It was beautiful, but I want to see the subtitled version.

Howl's Moving Castle- a Miyazaki film I haven't seen yet? I'm working my way through the classics.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Why I like twitter more than facebook explained

Facebook is sort of awkward. It doesn't aggregate information like I like. When online, I want floods of information and opinion. I can look at facebook for a few minutes. "Yes, that's a cute baby. Yes, that's a bible quote." If I wanted that, I'd go outside and talk to people. Relationships are more suited to the slower flow of real life. On twitter, I can see conversations about manga, etsy, the state of black America, tv shows...ALL AT ONCE. Updated constantly. Sometimes I get licensing information IN REAL TIME! Real life and facebook are more of a mixed bag. You're thrown in together with people you don't really choose- former church members, old coworkers, schoolmates, family members, and what they talk about may or may not be interesting.

I like the choice of twitter. If I end up with a religious fundamentalist on my twitter, I can merely click unfollow. On facebook, I end up with a lot of folks like that on there as not to offend.