I don’t get brand loyalty. For instance, you’ll meet folks who love Ford and hate Chevy or vice versa.
I’ve found a lot of inconsistencies in brands. For example, Toyota used to have great cars. Then they went thru a period of cutting corners and their standards dropped. Ford did the opposite. They went from bad to good.
But even those are generalizations. You’ll find good cars mixed in with bad ones and bad ones mixed in with good ones.
Same with guitars. I tried out some Ibanez’s a few years back and was unimpressed. Then I bought a super cheap Schecter and it’s one of my favorite guitars. It just had shitty pickups and I replaced them with better ones, then got a nearly perfect guitar.
Gibson had decades of excellent guitars and recently, a lot of their guitars belong in a trash heap. I had a mid-00s SG that was awful. Absolutely awful. No matter what I did with it, it sounded muddy.
Lately, I’ve been getting into Paul Reed Smith. I hope they can remain good but brands are like sports teams – they go thru good and bad years.
Even paints. I love Sennelier paints but for some odd reason, Winsor and Newton’s burnt sienna is superior to Sennelier’s. Riddle me that, Batman, for I have no idea why that is. So right after I finish this article, we’ll head over to Hobby Lobby to buy another tube of Winsor and Newton’s burnt sienna.
A short model rant
Models have always been easy for me to find. Back when I did nude photography, I simply asked a cute female friend of mine to pose nude for me. She always said yes.
That was the 90s though. Today, it’s more of a challenge.
No, not to get models. But to find someone who’s worth your time.
The standards for American women have fallen significantly. Back in the 80s, the average American woman was somewhat attractive. They even did this thing called “smiling” back then.* Yeah, I know. It must sound odd to you young folks.
In the 80s and 90s, you can even find models who weren’t covered in tattoos and piercings. Good luck nowadays.
I had a lovely model that for some odd reason got her nipples pierced and cut her hair short. Double yuck! She had perfect boobs too.
“But Roman, girls should be able to do anything they want.”
Fuck off simp.
I’m entitled to my taste and I’ll voice it whether you want to hear it or not.
That’s yet another problem with people today. They’re so scared to offend people that they hide their opinions that just may be offensive. If someone doesn’t like me, I could care less. I simply next them.
Like Nirvana for instance. They suck ass and if I see someone with a Nirvana shirt, my respect for their taste immediately drops to nil.
I love Baroque architecture. Gothic architecture. Victorian. Art Deco. Romanesque. Etc.
I hate Post Modernism. It’s called taste. Some folks have it and some folks seriously lack it.
I like slim to shapely women, long hair, smiles, and the only piercings I like are on the ears and possibly the belly.
I hate septum piercings with a passion. They remind me of a cow, which is a stupid animal.
I don’t like short hair nor obesity.
Once again, it’s called taste. Some folks have it. Other folks don’t.
Height is irrelevant, as long as the woman is well proportioned. I’ve photographed or painted women ranging from barely over 5′ tall to almost 6′ tall and as long as she’s well proportioned, it’s all good.
For photography, I don’t want to see tattoos. For painting though, it’s irrelevant as I simply don’t paint them. But they are a distraction if it’s too much.
I don’t mind a few tattoos if they’re tasteful. But lots of tattoos? Or big ass tattoos? Or something awful like a tramp stamp? Forget it.
I’ve been blessed recently
Lately though, I’ve been blessed. I found an awesome model on vacation in Romania last year who I can imagine painting for years. Of course I’m keeping Allie and Roxy as long as they want to remain my models. They’re both absolutely gorgeous! And of course Sophia is great. It’s just a bummer I’m thousands of miles from all my models now.
But the good news – I may have another model later on this month. She’s very cute, seems nice, and has a lovely smile. Great body too. She also seems graceful like a dancer. That’s a huge plus.
So things are definitely going in the right direction for me at least. I can sympathize with other artists though who are struggling to find good models, especially if they’re old enough to remember how easy it was back in the 80s and 90s.
On platonic female friends for straight males
Whereas the previous article was can you have platonic female friends if you’re a heterosexual male, this one asks “should” you have platonic female friends if you’re a heterosexual male?
And like the previous article, I’ll once again answer yes. But once again, with stipulations.
Allie and Roxy are on our inner circle of friends. Especially Roxy because she’s close to the Mrs. My main model before Allie could have been there but she fucked it up and she’s now out.
But alas, this is where it gets complicated.
Put your family first
This is one thing that young men don’t get. Your family comes first. And if it’s dysfunctional as fuck, sometimes you gotta cut them off. Then you gotta focus on the one you build, not the one built for you. Sad to say this is more common than it should be.
Your wife and kids come first above all else.
“But what if I don’t have a wife?”
Then what the fuck are you doing with platonic female friends?
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’m going to explain to you the pecking order.
You meet Sally. She’s great. You love spending time with her. You open up about everything.
You and Sally are platonic friends. You’ve never fucked. You’ve never played with her titties. You’ve never even kissed.
Just platonic. And that’s all it will always be.
Well guess what? Chad comes along and your precedence drops.
Significantly.
On top of that, if Chad doesn’t like you, your friendship with Sally is now officially over. It’s done. Like a boxer who’s still on the mat and the doctors are trying to wake him up.
Just maybe a year from now after Chad and Sally break up, Sally might call you again. But do you really want that? Is your self-worth really that low?
You need to take a good hard look in the mirror and ask yourself that.
Then when is it appropriate?
You’re a player. You meet this really hot girl named Sally. Then Sally starts dating Chad. It seems to be going well.
OK. Then keep Sally’s number just in case things don’t work out with Chad. But Sally becomes priority #8. Because you’ve lined up 7 other girls. As that other guy should have done. Boy, that other guy sure is a dweeb.
You run into Chad and he buys you a beer, then you buy him one. Then he buys you another. Then you buy him another.
Then Chad tells you that if that one guy calls Sally one more time, Chad’s gonna kick his ass.
You’re cool though because Chad thinks you’re off the radar. Plus, you’re just cool. So Chad buys one more beer, then grabs a taxi.
Well, Chad ends up getting a really good job offer, dumps Sally, and moves to Florida.
Sally calls you up but you’re already banging Jill. Sorry Sally.
Well, you find out that Jill is the one. Yes, the one. So you marry Jill and Jill invites Sally to your wedding.
Well guess what? Both you and Jill become good friends with Sally but she is a lower priority. Jill and your future kids come first.
So yes, you can have platonic female friends if…
…you already got someone.
And should you? Yes. We’re humans after all and humans are social creatures. Humans need friends.
Sally ends up marrying Todd, you and Jill go to their wedding in Hawaii, and you all have a blast. Todd’s cool. You end up hunting, fishing, and renting race cars together. The four of you even learn how to snowboard.
But if you’re single, know that you’re a very low priority once she’s not. If you can live with that, then more power to you.
Sorry buddy, but my self worth isn’t that low and I simply can’t relate to you.
—
- We recently moved back to the South and the women here smile. I think it’s just a Left Coast thing where women are miserable by default.
On platonic female friends…
I have very few female friends that can do or follow 65% of what a man can. It isn’t sexism. It is reality and survival. I am relatively tough on folks, expectations mostly.
I may have two that I count as “family”, but I also don’t expect much. (One is a terminal health case. The other has had a myriad of issues, but never hid it from me/others).
I still care about the women I used to hang out with back home but in the long run I knew that it didn’t serve either one of us. (A few thought of me as a psychopathic brother, not exactly a member of their community)
I hear you. Most of the people in my inner circle are men because simply put, men make better friends. Even a lot of women will readily admit that.
I was super close to my main model before Allie and she went off and became an SJW so I broke that off.
Allie and Roxy are the only girls in my inner circle and of course, we became close to their now husbands. I’m happy for both of them that they both knew how to filter, something too many American women don’t know how to do properly.
In my case, brand loyalty is unavoidable. Because the technology field is mostly big, famous companies, we have to pick a side. I prefer to use Android for my phone, GNU/Linux for my main Operating System (fuck you, Microsoft), AMD for my desktop’s CPU, etc. I want to pick electronic products that give me more control over them. (Glaring at you, Apple!)
Heh. I used Linux since Red Hat 5.1 and was exclusively Linux from ’98-2003. But unfortunately, I had to switch to Apple because I got into cartooning in ’03 and more recently music recording, which unfortunately Apple is still the best at.
Hopefully someday soon I’ll get back into Linux. I loved it back in the day.
As for Microsoft, I haven’t touched it since 1998. It’s my least favorite platform.