In case you don't already know, Jenny of My Favorite and My Best has opened up a whopper of an excellent discussion about trends you hate. A lot of people had oodles to say on the subject -- it seems most of us are tired of seeing the same stuff endlessly recycled, co opted, and manicured, into cookie cutter rooms that look pretty in pictures. It really got me thinking that I'm super fatigued from seeing the same trends over and over again, but there are very few things that I truly hate, no matter the context. Well, I'm not so fond of this poster:

We've all seen it a zillion times and that certainly adds to my general sense of malaise here. But also, I just don't like art with words on it. Never have. Oh, well, except for Barbara Kruger.

So now I am already a hypocrite, because it seems that I do, on occasion, enjoy art with words on it. To add insult to injury, a few days ago, I saw this:

Yep, those words. On art. By my own logic, I should hate, right? And yet, I have mad respect for Louise Bourgeois, one of the coolest ladies that has ever graced this earth. If I grow up to be even a fraction as awesome as she was, I will consider myself, well... awesome.

So, I suppose what I want to say in my own rambling way is that I am trying to be less reactionary.

Am I implying that we can't ever say we really dislike -- maybe even hate -- something? God no. That would be boring. But I personally am going to take a page from Nietzsche and exercise my will to power. To a large extent, that means living according to one's own instincts. In decor terms, we can be inspired by many things, but just aping trends produces superficiality. In the same way, hating trends just because they're trendy is -- perhaps -- equally superficial. And it closes off a hell of a lot of possibilities.

Pretend you're living in a cave and the rest of the world doesn't exist. Do you honestly love it? Well, then keep it.

To Cranky Girl, the commenter on MFAMB's site who owns an original Keep Calm poster because it has ties to her family and specific value to her, I say: display that ugly poster proudly. If it's meaningful to you, who cares what anyone else thinks?

Even me.