Henry Botts

I showed my friend Henry Botts my last soIgoogledit blog and he told me it felt contrived. I agreed with him since I had actually shot and edited all the video I had supposedly googled, including the last piece of video, which I posted on a blog I had created expressly for that purpose, to post a video that would then appear on my soigoogledit blog. So yes, utterly contrived.

Henry Botts was reacting to my contrivance in a negative way. And I wondered about that contrivance thing. So I googled it.



First it was the monument. Then it was the snowman. Then the girl of course, mimicing the snowman. Then the camera itself. What a graceful bit of contrivance however. Its celebration is contagious.

To think a snowman could be excited? Well of course a snowman is excited. Some winters he doesn't even get a chance to play. And he really has to show off how much fun he is in a short time slot. If he didn't play it up, we might not ask him around the next time. And what's worse, unlike the rest of us basking in all forms of light, his time in the sun is his most feared.

Would we understand though how excited he is without the girl in the background mimicing in that contrived manner? Would the snowman seem celebratory if not for the comparison to what a human looks like, in this case a human celebrating? Thanks...It would have just been a snowman otherwise.

The contrivance here allows us to understand the feeling or intentions of the people expressing. Contrivance is the bearer of meaning across a medium. We can contrive how we will, but it is always to be a part of any form of expression. Some contrivances are blatant and offensive, some are blatant, yet real. Some are subtle and offensive. Some are subtle and beautiful. All contrivances however are contrived. (REDUNDANCY ALERT=COMPLEX THOUGHT ALERT)

I must admit Henry Botts is a fictional character I used to enter into a conversation about contrivance, but I wondered about the real Henry Botts. So I googled it.


Everything real is contrived. Such is creation.

~contributer