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Robert DeNiro college commencement speech: 'You're f******&#33


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Another class of Bartenders, Waiters, and Baristas enter the work force.

They seriously need to start printing Starbucks applications on the back of Liberal arts Degrees.

 

Don't worry; after another ten years of partying and half-assing it at whatever work they find, they can whine about 'income inequality' and paint themselves as victims of those doctors and lawyers they graduated with who busted their ass from high school on to earn a degree of success.

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It's true. I left a job making great money, and will take a shot at building furniture for a living. You don't go into creative arts because it affords a comfy living, you do it because you realize we don't have much time here, it's not address rehersal, creating stuff is !@#$ing cool, and in the end doing somethung you hate for a paycheck sucks really bad sometimes. It's becomes a question of regular direct deposit and perhaps apathy, or irregular pay checks and the thrill,of the hunt.

 

Now, 150k in debt and an art degree is pretty stupid, but a life in pursuit of creative happiness, pretty darn nice.

Another class of Bartenders, Waiters, and Baristas enter the work force.

They seriously need to start printing Starbucks applications on the back of Liberal arts Degrees.

 

Bartenders and Waiters in the right places makes more than a lot of white collar jobs....

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Don't worry; after another ten years of partying and half-assing it at whatever work they find, they can whine about 'income inequality' and paint themselves as victims of those doctors and lawyers they graduated with who busted their ass from high school on to earn a degree of success.

A great personal motivation was undergraduates booing business and law school graduates at commencement.

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It's true. I left a job making great money, and will take a shot at building furniture for a living. You don't go into creative arts because it affords a comfy living, you do it because you realize we don't have much time here, it's not address rehersal, creating stuff is !@#$ing cool, and in the end doing somethung you hate for a paycheck sucks really bad sometimes. It's becomes a question of regular direct deposit and perhaps apathy, or irregular pay checks and the thrill,of the hunt.

 

Now, 150k in debt and an art degree is pretty stupid, but a life in pursuit of creative happiness, pretty darn nice.

 

Bartenders and Waiters in the right places makes more than a lot of white collar jobs....

 

I've done both. What I've found is that the opposite can also be quite fulfilling. I prefer the regular paychecks to art and destitution.

Making money frees you up to do a lot more things. You have options. Time maybe short, but the quality sure has improved since I made the switch.

 

You can either spend all of your time in the basement exploring yourself, or find yourself sitting at the Louvre admiring the masterpieces. I preferred the latter.

 

If you choose to make furniture, you better be sure that's really what you want to do forever, because leaving that job closed all other options. Most people either burn out or lose interest doing "projects". Then they're screwed, and become a burden on the rest of us. (and for the record, having to ask your parents for rent money at +30yrs old sucks worse than going to that crappy job.)

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I've done both. What I've found is that the opposite can also be quite fulfilling. I prefer the regular paychecks to art and destitution.

Making money frees you up to do a lot more things. You have options. Time maybe short, but the quality sure has improved since I made the switch.

 

You can either spend all of your time in the basement exploring yourself, or find yourself sitting at the Louvre admiring the masterpieces. I preferred the latter.

 

If you choose to make furniture, you better be sure that's really what you want to do forever, because leaving that job closed all other options. Most people either burn out or lose interest doing "projects". Then they're screwed, and become a burden on the rest of us. (and for the record, having to ask your parents for rent money at +30yrs old sucks worse than going to that crappy job.)

 

I take issue with the bolded statement. If you were spending your entire time alone in the basement while you were trying to be an artist, you were doing it wrong.

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I've done both. What I've found is that the opposite can also be quite fulfilling. I prefer the regular paychecks to art and destitution.

Making money frees you up to do a lot more things. You have options. Time maybe short, but the quality sure has improved since I made the switch.

 

You can either spend all of your time in the basement exploring yourself, or find yourself sitting at the Louvre admiring the masterpieces. I preferred the latter.

 

If you choose to make furniture, you better be sure that's really what you want to do forever, because leaving that job closed all other options. Most people either burn out or lose interest doing "projects". Then they're screwed, and become a burden on the rest of us. (and for the record, having to ask your parents for rent money at +30yrs old sucks worse than going to that crappy job.)

 

I have an MBA, 12 year experience in hospital administration and a sick network of contacts.... if all else fails I'm pretty sure I can go back and earn a decent living at a desk if needed.

 

I agree with GreggyT, if you weren't out pushing yourself and promoting yourself, of course you were destined to fail. Fear is the single biggest drag on the productivity United States IMHO, people terrified that not sitting at a desk routing e-mails will end them in the poor house... what ever happened to the spirit of being enterprising, not just living on an employers payroll? Sorry, I have seen WAY to many people just mailing it for a paycheck, I just can't be that guy...

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I agree with GreggyT, if you weren't out pushing yourself and promoting yourself, of course you were destined to fail. Fear is the single biggest drag on the productivity United States IMHO, people terrified that not sitting at a desk routing e-mails will end them in the poor house... what ever happened to the spirit of being enterprising, not just living on an employers payroll? Sorry, I have seen WAY to many people just mailing it for a paycheck, I just can't be that guy...

They're spending all your time networking and promoting. Not making Art. You're basically back to doing a crappy job anyway.

 

Of course I liked doing the creative stuff, but hated the business side of deadlines, promotion, presentations, and networking. (and guess which one took up more of my time?)

Turning what you love into a job can be a curse. You end up hating what you used to love.

 

 

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I agree with GreggyT, if you weren't out pushing yourself and promoting yourself, of course you were destined to fail. Fear is the single biggest drag on the productivity United States IMHO, people terrified that not sitting at a desk routing e-mails will end them in the poor house... what ever happened to the spirit of being enterprising, not just living on an employers payroll? Sorry, I have seen WAY to many people just mailing it for a paycheck, I just can't be that guy...

They're spending all your time networking and promoting. Not making Art. You're basically back to doing a crappy job anyway.

 

Of course I liked doing the creative stuff, but hated the business side of deadlines, promotion, presentations, and networking. (and guess which one took up more of my time?)

Turning what you love into a job can be a curse. You end up hating what you used to love.

 

 

 

B-Large is an ok guy. If I remember correctly, he did things in a smart way. He and his wife own more than a few income properties that will allow him to pursue his dream. This is not a starving artist story.

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The school administrators probably winced a time or two, but the advice from DeNiro was spot on.

 

I recall a high school graduation where the valedictorian's speech consisted of him talking to a hand puppet for fifteen minutes. As the high school principal at the time, I fielded many concerns from graduates and their parents about the "whack job" and his speech. That was the last year I permitted the graduation speech w/o reviewing it beforehand w/ the student. It's always the quiet ones....

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The school administrators probably winced a time or two, but the advice from DeNiro was spot on.

 

I recall a high school graduation where the valedictorian's speech consisted of him talking to a hand puppet for fifteen minutes. As the high school principal at the time, I fielded many concerns from graduates and their parents about the "whack job" and his speech. That was the last year I permitted the graduation speech w/o reviewing it beforehand w/ the student. It's always the quiet ones....

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Edited by Azalin
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Hey, instead of fine furniture, B-large could be pursuing his dream to put his identity studies degree to use: and be a community organizer, or an eternal student, or a dude that lives on government grants, whose purpose is to identify the need for more government grants, because, identity. I mean, we can always use another study on why capitalism causes black poverty, or gender pay, right? How about how smoking disproportionately effects minorities? /facepalm Um, one word: menthol.

 

B-large: my brother is doing the same exact thing you are. In fact, he's developed his own process for bending wood, that a guy that's been in wood working for 40 years said is unlike anything he's ever seen . It has resulted in these beautiful(and expensive) tables, designed specifically for a Cuban card game whose name eludes me. When the first guy got one, all his buddies wanted one, and now dude's got a waiting list. He doesn't have to worry too much about the business stuff...because I help him with that.

 

He went to college, did all the right things, but, ultimately he had an idea and ran with it.

 

I have a friend who went to art school, who fell into making custom, wooden sail boats. He knew a guy who knew a guy, etc. He's a painter, so he started doing the detailing, but the owner wanted to retire, and essentially handed the business over to my buddy. He's buying him out over time. These boats are works of art, no doubt about it. The reason he, and not another employee, got the company, is because he's an artist. The owner felt he was the best person for the job.

 

Thus, from my perspective, high end, functional art appears to be a pretty good gig, if you can do it. Like everything, much depends on talent.

Edited by OCinBuffalo
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Agreed (though edited because I think the sentiment can be expanded beyond only functional art).

functional art seems like a rather long and useless description, especially for an individual piece of art work. I suggest shortening it to a more descriptive term for Functional Art Work

 

fart work

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