Old School Weblog

February 27, 2011 3:59 PM

This Isn't Happiness — what we remember weblogs to be a decade ago, like MeFi, it's all about the links. It features art and photography, music and books, even occasional politics. But it never fails to be beautiful. [occasional nsfw image]
posted by netbros (33 comments total)

A decade ago? No. Now.
posted by user92371 at 4:07 PM on February 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

Well, that certainly is a Tumblr blog?
posted by wreckingball at 4:10 PM on February 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

?
posted by fixedgear at 4:11 PM on February 27, 2011

Random Tumblr blog is random?
posted by Strange Interlude at 4:12 PM on February 27, 2011

This Isn't Happiness is nevver on Tumblr and is one of the best. That said, it's a pretty standard Tumblr ... with a lot of great images.
posted by wemayfreeze at 4:15 PM on February 27, 2011

I followed that for awhile but got bored of it; a lot of the images seem to come from places where I'd seen them already. These days my favourite tumblr is fuck yeah dementia!!1!.

Who knew there'd be so many interesting images on the web? I like the tumblr thing.
posted by Nelson at 4:22 PM on February 27, 2011 [6 favorites]

Put me down as a "This isn't Happiness" fan. I love it. There's an obsession with Batman that I never quite got, but otherwise, it's my favourite place for quirky, strange, beautiful, striking, sad images.
posted by seanyboy at 4:30 PM on February 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

Nice camel toe.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:35 PM on February 27, 2011

I don't remember weblogs like that. I remember lots of text and the occasional image.
posted by Ardiril at 4:39 PM on February 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

Quite simply, this is one of the finest collections of art and photos I've seen on the web, all in one place at one time. Excellent.
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 4:50 PM on February 27, 2011

There are indeed a million of these places. What I hate about tumblr is the way there is often little or no information other than the single main content of the post. Then a bunch of people just reblogging it, barely saying anything. Contact info is nonexistant, or offered through a never answered ask form. Signing up is almost like an actual way to become a zombie. There are some great tumblrs, but more often I feel like it takes something that can link expressive people all over the world into something that lines up mute, thoughtless drones.

I've seen some attempted political discussions and more often than not they just disintegrate because the text is almost deliberately thrown all asunder and it is hard to read. I imagine tumblr to be like getting stuck in a coma, only able to watch images flip by, unable to respond other than to acknowledge the existance of the image. Turning into an image of yourself immobile in a colorful setting, to be reblogged, and reblogged.
posted by cashman at 4:51 PM on February 27, 2011 [15 favorites]

Some of us just like pictures and looking at pictures.
posted by girih knot at 4:58 PM on February 27, 2011 [3 favorites]

I always judge a site by how many photos of cute cats it has...more cats better site.
posted by Postroad at 5:15 PM on February 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

Nice site, but neither the argument nor the grammar of this post make sense.
posted by brightghost at 5:20 PM on February 27, 2011

I find that Awesomesauce tends to align to my interests.
posted by you're a kitty! at 5:30 PM on February 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

We killed it :(
posted by you're a kitty! at 6:24 PM on February 27, 2011

Are you sure it's a tumblr blog? Wouldn't it have to be titled "Fuck Yeah Unhappiness"?
posted by ardgedee at 6:31 PM on February 27, 2011

Thanks a lot Nelson, for linking fuck yeah dementia!!1!. I'll never get those two hours back.
posted by nevercalm at 7:18 PM on February 27, 2011 [5 favorites]

I imagine tumblr to be like getting stuck in a coma, only able to watch images flip by, unable to respond other than to acknowledge the existance of the image. Turning into an image of yourself immobile in a colorful setting, to be reblogged, and reblogged.

I like tumblr, but I think this is spot on, cashman, and it reminds me of Delillo:

We drove 22 miles into the country around Farmington. There were meadows and apple orchards. White fences trailed through the rolling fields. Soon the signs started appearing. THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN AMERICA. We counted five signs before we reached the site. There were 40 cars and a tour bus in the makeshift lot. We walked along a cowpath to the slightly elevated spot set aside for viewing and photographing. All the people had cameras; some had tripods, telephoto lenses, filter kits. A man in a booth sold postcards and slides — pictures of the barn taken from the elevated spot. We stood near a grove of trees and watched the photographers. Murray maintained a prolonged silence, occasionally scrawling some notes in a little book.

“No one sees the barn,” he said finally.

A long silence followed.

“Once you’ve seen the signs about the barn, it becomes impossible to see the barn.”

He fell silent once more. People with cameras left the elevated site, replaced by others.

We’re not here to capture an image, we’re here to maintain one. Every photograph reinforces the aura. Can you feel it, Jack? An accumulation of nameless energies.”

This isn't happiness.
posted by localhuman at 8:16 PM on February 27, 2011 [7 favorites]

Well there are some really mysterious pictures. I rather like it, thanks for sharing it.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 10:04 PM on February 27, 2011

I remember starting to "write" on the web around... 1998? Mostly very personal autobiographic stuff. It didn't seem so out of the ordinary at that point.

13? years later? I still, "write" on the web - on the same journal (fuck the word, "blog") and it's still mostly autobiographical - a little less about my personal love life, but the entries can grow to 6,000+ words. In other words: content. Original content. About living.

It's so strange, to me, to see blogs or tumblrs of fumblrs or Whatever You Kids Call Them become so popular, as they're just a rehash of content, some of the content being 100 years old. Like - a Magritte painting - really? Do you know what the, "This Isn't Happiness" site looks like to me? The calendar of someone who works in a cubicle.

In The Art World (tm), this is framed as the power of a show being taken away from the content produces (the Artist) and put into the hands of the Curator. That's what sites like these are: curatorial spaces. But then again, it's not. Since, it's never ending, the theme is completely open-ended, there's no statement of what the hell they're doing. As someone says, it's just pretty pictures. If you like that, go row your boat.

For someone who like creativity - like LOVES creativity, these types of sites are bereft of interest. I like imagining what the person putting together the site is like. Do they have a job? Do they spend 8+ hours a day on a computer, working that job? Do they then go home and go back onto another computer and do searches on Google Images until they find stuff they think is pretty and just, repost it? Or just report what others' have reposted?

No offense, but I'd be anonymous too.
posted by alex_skazat at 10:13 PM on February 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

The worst part about Tumblr is how hard it is to find new and great people to follow. Here's a few of my favorites. (Some occasionally NSFW)

Arts&Crafts
Throw To Lion (def. NSFW. Not porny tho)
Anney Hall
Peyote Coyote
posted by wemayfreeze at 11:21 PM on February 27, 2011

No offense, but I'd be anonymous too.

Unless this is a pseudonym, the dude that runs this isn't happiness isn't anonymous.

Tumblr is just a medium. The content of what's in a tumblr blog varies depending entirely on the whims of the curators. Some tumblrs host original artwork and are used as personal galleries. Some are artworks in themselves. And even though quite a few seem to be "random" collections of images, there's a value in this itself for people who are interested. Tumblr is like an art walk through an endless length of galleries and museums where you don't have to worry about schmoozing or being sold to, there's no price for admission, you can just look at art. Endless art. Maybe that's bereft of interest for you, but I can promise you that your experience isn't universal of people who love creativity.

Following wemayfreeze's example, here are some of my favorite tumblogs:
femmetje
The Youth
iheartmyart
Comically Vintage
I.♥.Art
dvdp
NOSEX
Glorious Unimportant Nothing
apple arts
art, not art, not.
BurnTumblr
529
some content nsfw.
posted by girih knot at 11:52 PM on February 27, 2011 [7 favorites]

And you know, as an afterthought, it's probably worth mentioning that I've long considered this isn't happiness my favorite tumblr because of the consistently high quality of every posted image and the fact that everything gets sourced, something that's missing from most tumblrs. If you see a captivating image on the site and want to know more about the work or the art, there's usually a way to get there. This here:

Like - a Magritte painting - really? Do you know what the, "This Isn't Happiness" site looks like to me? The calendar of someone who works in a cubicle.

is pretty insulting and pretentious!
posted by girih knot at 1:35 AM on February 28, 2011 [3 favorites]

If we don't, remember me
featured here - movie clips as gifs.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:38 AM on February 28, 2011

Oh, so we're listing our favorite tumblogs here? How about:
mudwerks (sometimes NSFW)
back-kun to back-chan
melissaki (occasionally NSFW)
triangle triangle
And, of course, far too many single-theme tumblogs to list.
posted by The pets.com Mascot at 3:16 AM on February 28, 2011

My feeling exactly girih knot. I guess hipsters gotta hate.

If your main problem with the blog is that their aren't enough cat macros, or it uses a medium you feel is too passe (the simple blog), or it's showing you stuff you've already seen then I guess it's not really for you.

But give me some Magritte over a picture of Frodo wearing badly photoshopped hipster spex any fucking day of the week. It's not the cool new thing™, but it's definitely the best of the web.
posted by seanyboy at 3:58 AM on February 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

I really don't get the OP. this is just a contemporary tumblr photo blog - when I was expecting something more old school? with links. No? or I am just reading it wrong
posted by mary8nne at 6:12 AM on February 28, 2011

I guess hipsters gotta hate.

SwoC
posted by Eideteker at 6:47 AM on February 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

For someone who like creativity - like LOVES creativity, these types of sites are bereft of interest.

No, I'd say it's only bereft of interest for someone too snobbish to appreciate looking at interesting images.
posted by Nelson at 7:21 AM on February 28, 2011

We see things not as they are but as we are
posted by Postroad at 7:27 AM on February 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Some of us just like pictures and looking at pictures.
In that case you'll like TUMBLR MOSAIC VIEWER
A couple of my faves: kagami; antologia; Uncertain Times.
[all potentially NSFW]
posted by unliteral at 5:31 PM on February 28, 2011

shhh...
posted by cashman at 11:09 AM on March 7, 2011