Wow, LJ updated their default layout. I can't tell so much on this page because I have an older default set, but my cats' journal changed, so I was exposed to the difference.

It seems like the new design really highlights how you can upgrade your journal! and pay for more services! Which I think is not something that should be a particularly big feature of LJ. Part of the philosophy of LJ is supposed to be that it is free-- it's a service that the LJ folks have promised we will never have to pay to use; it's open source; and I don't know whether it's "free software" in the FSF sense or how cool they are with derivative code, but it's somewhere on that end of the spectrum. Bottom line, it's philosophically not something that people have to pay to use, but rather something that people will generously donate towards because they like it so much, and LJ offers them some nice extra stuff in return (like extra icons, more layout templates, voice posts, scrapbook space, and all the other stuff that paid users get.) Philosophically, LJ is free for users. And this is no small matter.

So why are we being subjected to more and more ads about paid accounts?

I understand that LJ needs donations to survive (I would pay for at least my cats' journal if I weren't a broke college student scraping by on loans. I would love to give them more icons.) And I also understand that people won't think to donate if they're not presented with reminders and opportunities. And I understand that it helps to give people better stuff if they get a paid account; it's incentive for them to donate. That's fine... but, see, LJ users are well aware that paid accounts are better; they don't need "Upgrade now!!" buttons shoved in their face all the time. If people use LJ a lot, they will know about the cool features, and they will cave in to the incentives and upgrade. If they don't, they're not likely to think that upgrading is worth it. I could understand a little advertisement, but it's been getting to be more and more advertisement over time, and it's really just too much.

I get sick of seeing the ads that are all over society, and I get sick of seeing them on the internet as well (yes, even the less-obnoxious text ads.) It would be nice to see fewer of them. Especially for payments to a site that is philosophically free in some regard.

*gets off soapbox complaint box*

This makes me really want to acquire bento boxes (which I ought not spend money on at present) and spend hours creating cute little lunches (which I also ought not spend money to do. I mean, I know bento lunches are small and packing one's lunch is the economical option, but I'm always at home for lunch anyway, and my idea of a midafternoon meal is, like, a piece of cheese.) Maybe someday when I'm more financially solvent and eating lunch away from home, I'll take up bento creation.

I love looking at food design, but I feel conflicted about it: the purpose of food design is to eat your creations, messily destroying them not long after they are made. That always feels wrong to me: destroying beauty is usually wrong, and in the case of something that was handmade, you're destroying an effort of hard work and creativity. Yet food is made to be eaten, and it's even worse to let it sit and rot. When I was little my mother bought me the most beautiful cake for my first communion, from a real bakery, with gorgeous delicate white-and-pink marzipan roses, and I could not bear to eat a slice because I couldn't eat up the flowers (somehow, eating seems worse than other kinds of destruction; it feels selfish, the destruction of something lovely for one's own gourmet satisfaction.) I've tried taking pictures of the food, but they are never as meaningful later on, and no one else really wants to admire them, and so... something's lost. And the worst thing, to me, is to lovingly handcraft a work of art and then not even have somewhere to take it or some chance to share it with others before you tear into it and eat it up.

The wonderful thing about the bento community is that you can share food design with others. This changes it for me. Yes, bento is meant to be eaten, but it won't be gone-- it'll be saved and shown someplace where others can actually appreciate it. So even if it's like a piece of cake that has to be destroyed, it's like a piece of cake at a great party where everyone will see and enjoy it.

( Why the fashion communities on LJ disappoint me (long ramble about what I think regarding fashion.) )

I think the thing that dissatisfies me, in one sentence and without all the ramble, is that no one separates "knowledge about and interest in designer pieces" from "knowledge about and interest in creating a holistic look." As with any art, it's good to have nice materials, but there comes a point where skill and inspiration outweigh the materials you use, and having designer clothes is way beyond that level into the "unnecessary" range.

Likely to be mostly friends-only. Leave a note if you want on. ♥