I'm not sure what's real anymore. I know I'm not alone in that; so many people complain that with CGI, Photoshop, and now AI - there's no telling what's real and what's not.
I have enough trouble with being basically a cynical person without be lied to all the time. There was a post on FB yesterday (which seemed like it was written by a human) who said that they missed the simple pleasure of seeing cute animal videos that people would post - say, that was caught on their Ring camera. "Cute baby skunks!" your mind says, and you smile. And that's it - just a little spark in the day. Now - they feel like they have to look closely - are the shadows not keeping up with the movements? Are little skunks somehow blinking in and out of existence? Is something off? I like how they put it - "I didn't want to do homework. I just wanted to watch the baby skunks."
I know that doing Photoshop, CGI, and now AI does require a skill set, and is an art form on its own. But why can't people honestly just say "AI generated" and then the viewer can relax and enjoy it. Some do - there's a page called "Club Cranium" which has strangely bizarre things on it, and I admire the artist.
And, of course, you get a message or a text from someone, and hope that your Spidey sense is working because it may or may not be from that person (hint - if you're going to send a scam message, see if the name you're using is from someone who is still alive).
I've been fuming about this for the past couple of days. There's a Renaissance Faire in town in about three weeks. I want to go, and take my dragon puppet, and I sort of want a new costume. I have my medieval kirtle, but I want something a little fancier, like a swamp witch. So I start looking for inspiration and type "Swamp Witch" into Pinterest. This skirt came up.
Oh, my. This skirt has "me" written all over it. I love the layers. The curved hem. The way the colors flow autumnal from the yellows and oranges to the greens. I really want it. There's a site: The skirt is $32.
So there's the part of me that looks at it, finger hovering over the "Buy" button, ready to put in my PayPal. Then there is the me looking over my shoulder, saying "that skirt doesn't physically exist anywhere." If I order it, what I'll get (if I get anything) would be a plain skirt - possibly cotton, likely polyester - with a ruffle design printed on it.
But I keep coming back to it, because it annoys the ever-loving hell out of me. Someone is telling me it's there, for a ridiculously low price, and they're lying to me.
I'm saving the picture, and who knows? Someday I might make something like it. It would be $100 or so of fabric, and I'd have to do the dyeing and distressing, and I don't think I'l do it in three weeks before the Ren Faire. It will live in my idea stash - where I'll both admire it, and be pissed off by it.
But that's our current world. You can't trust the news, because everyone puts their own bias on it (just stating facts doesn't get ratings). You can't trust any photographs or videos. If you read a post, and it's more than a couple of paragraphs long, likely it was AI written or at least assisted (there's a cadence to AI writing that's pretty obvious).
I still want that skirt.
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