An excellent tweet from Justin Lewis which gets me thinking:
‘Whenever I hear Don’t Stop Me Now these days, which is all the time because oldies radio, I think of @IrkthePurists’ observation that Freddie can’t be having that good a time because he’s bothering to keep telling you this.’
It’s funny, but I do wonder if there is more than an element of truth to it. I know because at one time, when I was far more obsessed with sharing my entire life on social media than I am today; I was that man. Well, I wasn’t Freddie Mercury – imagine making music that bad? – but I was, sometimes at least, smiling outside when inside, not so much.
The best smiles on photographs are those when you are captured smiling and not when someone says ‘smile for the camera’, because in the case of the latter you’re forcing a smile. Do you know what I mean? That’s not to say you weren’t happy at the point of photo, just maybe not as smiley as you might actually have been.
And there’s a fine line between sharing photos of nice things and showing off, a fine line that is probably within eye of the beholder, a subjective interpretation. Less, I have learned by overdoing the photos, is more.
We’re hoping to go on holiday soon and I might share some photos of various things and people, though not me. Looking in the mirror at the barbershop yesterday, I looked, as I always look through my eyes, as if I was suffering from Bell’s Palsy. And it occurred to me that this is exactly what I do look like. In which case, if I cannot bear the sight of myself, why on earth should I inflect it upon others? Less, in my case, will always be more.
i think IrkthePurists’ is definitely onto something, though. If you are having that great a time, how come you are spending so long on your phone rather than having that great time? And Freddie Mercury proves it beyond all reasonable doubt by continuing to insist on his musical turd that we don’t stop him now because he’s having such a good time, he’s having a ball. No, he isn’t. If he was, he’d be having a good time, not telling us about it.
