Yesterday, I was in the Cinema Department's editing room, capturing footage for "Wet Cotton." While I was there, a couple other folks were editing as well - and as I messed around with the video deck, I would occasionally hear their video projects on their computers. To the right, a girl was doing a video about... from what I could gather... a lesbian couple that was breaking up. And to the left, a guy was doing a video about... from what I could surmise... a pizza boy with an over-demanding boss.

And, of course, as any person is prone to do, I started analyzing and critiquing their videos in my mind. And, of course, as I'm prone to do, I got a little pissy in my judgments. At one point, in one of the videos, I heard a character say something, then laugh uncomfortably. And then another character joined in, laughing uncomfortably as well. And when I heard this, I thought to myself, "Oh, this is somebody trying to be clever with an "observation on daily life" by doing one of those hackneyed "characters laughing uncomfortably" routines."

Pat yourself on the back, Paul. You are so dead-on in your critique. This person's video is obviously not as good as yours.

And then I stop.

And then I realize...

It was my footage playing on that guy's computer. Apparently, I patched the cables wrong and my sound was coming out of his speakers.

So... I got that rare opportunity an artist always craves: the ability to experience your own work with no notion of your own hand in it.

And guess what? I mocked it.

This either means: A) If I was a passerby and saw my own work, I would hate it OR: 2) I'm too quick to put down other people's art.

Either way... it makes me feel like a quality individual!