I held a first edition copy of Newton's Principa today. *Gleeee*!
More information on how i was able to access such a priceless tome will be forthcoming...
(Also: Book Fair time tomorrow! Will hopefuilly get a review and some pictures up by Sunday!)
3/05/2009
2/25/2009
Dulce Et Decorum Est, Pro Patria Mori
This is my second project that I’ve been slaving away on for the past month and a bit.
Along with astronomy, I’ve always liked to read history, specifically (in typical boy fashion) anything to do with war and human conflict.
Along with astronomy, I’ve always liked to read history, specifically (in typical boy fashion) anything to do with war and human conflict.
Like many people, I find the Great War of 1914-18 morbidly fascinating. I remember finding it weird as a young one to find out, whilst reading about the First World War, that tanks were invented back in 1916! That cavalry was still in wide use at the start of the conflict! The early battles of that conflict seemed to me more reminiscent of the Napoleonic wars than that of a 20th century war.
And the casualties, they seemed huge. This wasn’t brought home to me until I considered that on the first day of the Somme in 1916, approximately 58,000 British soldiers lost their lives. The home of Arsenal Football club, the Emirates stadium, can hold 60,000. Can you imagine a stadium’s worth of people dying in a single day? Horrific.
People seem to be more receptive and understanding of scale when you relate large numbers down to more everyday numbers, like above. So with this in mind I set out to illustrate the human cost of the Great War in book format. I stuck with the Western Front, due to time constraints and because I’m based in Europe, people will be more familiar with the likes of the Somme and Ypres, rather than Gallipoli and Tannenberg.
Each book contains dots. Each dot represents a soldier who was either seriously injured, killed or ‘missing’ (missing usually means being blown to unidentifiable pieces) during the battle.
The cover colours progress from the light, fresh, green fields of rural France, to the muddy browns of crater-ridden trenches, documenting the change in the landscape and battlefield and in an abstract sense, the nature of the battles fought (a slow progression from the fluid battles of 1914 to the muddy stalemate of 1917).
In short, it’s a visual history of the Western Front of 1914-18 and a personal memorial to those who gave their lives. I’ll hopefully be showing this at the Leeds International Bookfair next week. Feel free to leave feedback!
2/15/2009
Solar Systems
The deadline for my University work passed without a hitch on Friday, leaving me absolutely knackered but ultimately happy that I’d completed everything on time without compromising on effort or quality too much. Seeing as I now have no deadlines for the immediate future, I might as well showcase what some of my work!
I had a mild interest in Astronomy from a young age, when we covered the planets in Primary School. It complimented my obsession with Star Wars and Warhammer 40,000 quite well I suppose.
It was as I discovered the Skeptical movement and community on the Internet a few years ago that my interest in Astronomy was rekindled (I recommend Bad Astronomy and APOD).
Carl Sagan’s Eulogy on the ‘Pale Blue Dot’ nearly reduced me to tears with its poetry and ideas when I first read it. It got me thinking about how we perceive ourselves in the universe, and how insipid and false it seemed for most religions and people to think that Humanity was the centre of the Universe when we’re all but invisible from within our solar system.
So here is my take on the ‘Pale Blue Dot’. It is a book that hopefully makes the mind-bogglingly huge distances involved with astronomy more tangible to most people.
It is essentially a scale model of the solar system, from the Sun all the way to Pluto, contained within a foldout book. Shrinking down the Sun to about the size of a grapefruit (about 100mm) using this website, gave me a scale of 1mm=13919km. At this scale all the planets are (just about!) visible and give a total length of approximately 328 metres. I had to construct a box to hold the amount of paper used in its creation, it’s a hefty pile!
Each line is a continuous path to each of the planets. Most of the distance within the book is taken up by the outer planets, with all the inner planets squeezed into the first 16 metres of the book. In the picture below, my friend in purple is where Mars is and each clip on the floor next to the paper marks Mercury, Venus and Earth respectively.
Our own beautiful little planet is barely a millimetre dot of blue, the whole of Humanity encapsulated within a millimetre…
I included Pluto, despite its recent re-classification as a ‘Plutoid’, for old time’s sake and because most people are familiar with it as a planet. If I remake and refine this book I’d probably also include other Plutoids within our Solar System (Ceres, the Asteroid belt, etc) for the sake of completeness and education. Also, because of Pluto’s eccentric orbit, I decided to try and figure out it’s near exact distance from the sun as of this year. With the help of a friend who knows Astrophysics, we worked out that it’s currently about half an AU past Neptune. (Is this right? I’m still unsure on this and would welcome any more information on this for future reference!)
Anyway I hope this makes people think about the scale of our vast universe and our place within it.
This whole idea of communicating large numbers by using visual methods seems to be an emergent theme in my latest pieces of work, as you’ll see in the next project I’ll post about.
Any feedback would be much appreciated!
I had a mild interest in Astronomy from a young age, when we covered the planets in Primary School. It complimented my obsession with Star Wars and Warhammer 40,000 quite well I suppose.
It was as I discovered the Skeptical movement and community on the Internet a few years ago that my interest in Astronomy was rekindled (I recommend Bad Astronomy and APOD).
Carl Sagan’s Eulogy on the ‘Pale Blue Dot’ nearly reduced me to tears with its poetry and ideas when I first read it. It got me thinking about how we perceive ourselves in the universe, and how insipid and false it seemed for most religions and people to think that Humanity was the centre of the Universe when we’re all but invisible from within our solar system.
So here is my take on the ‘Pale Blue Dot’. It is a book that hopefully makes the mind-bogglingly huge distances involved with astronomy more tangible to most people.
It is essentially a scale model of the solar system, from the Sun all the way to Pluto, contained within a foldout book. Shrinking down the Sun to about the size of a grapefruit (about 100mm) using this website, gave me a scale of 1mm=13919km. At this scale all the planets are (just about!) visible and give a total length of approximately 328 metres. I had to construct a box to hold the amount of paper used in its creation, it’s a hefty pile!
Each line is a continuous path to each of the planets. Most of the distance within the book is taken up by the outer planets, with all the inner planets squeezed into the first 16 metres of the book. In the picture below, my friend in purple is where Mars is and each clip on the floor next to the paper marks Mercury, Venus and Earth respectively.
Our own beautiful little planet is barely a millimetre dot of blue, the whole of Humanity encapsulated within a millimetre…
I included Pluto, despite its recent re-classification as a ‘Plutoid’, for old time’s sake and because most people are familiar with it as a planet. If I remake and refine this book I’d probably also include other Plutoids within our Solar System (Ceres, the Asteroid belt, etc) for the sake of completeness and education. Also, because of Pluto’s eccentric orbit, I decided to try and figure out it’s near exact distance from the sun as of this year. With the help of a friend who knows Astrophysics, we worked out that it’s currently about half an AU past Neptune. (Is this right? I’m still unsure on this and would welcome any more information on this for future reference!)
Anyway I hope this makes people think about the scale of our vast universe and our place within it.
This whole idea of communicating large numbers by using visual methods seems to be an emergent theme in my latest pieces of work, as you’ll see in the next project I’ll post about.
Any feedback would be much appreciated!
2/12/2009
A Picture Is Worth...
...A thousand words, so the saying goes.
But what about a picture made of words?
This little website I found on Bad Astronomy takes the words from whatever text you paste into it and visually displays the frequency of which words appear the most ( a 'Word Cloud'). The bigger the word, the more common it is.
This one I made using one of my previous posts: (Click to biggify)
I can see this being quite practical as well as pretty. Words that are repeated too much instantly stand out, not to mention mistakes. Without doing this Word Cloud i wouldn't have realized I have used the two variants of 'Skepticism/Scepticism' (I prefer it with a 'K')
Another cool website that demands time be wasted upon it!
2/08/2009
London & Theology
'When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.'
- Samuel Johnson
While I wouldn't go as far as Mr Johnson in his quote above, I agree with it's sentiment; London is awesome!
Whilst I imagine living there for a long period of time would strip away the veneer of excitement that i've applied to London, for an occasional visit it is amazing. So it was with great excitement that I set off for the Capital on Wednesday. Not even the heaviest snowfall in decades could dampen my spirits! My mission; to visit the Imperial War Museum and the Tate Britain. Both were very informative and interesting, some useful research for some of my college work and fulfilling in a personal sense. (I went to the Tate to see two paintings by Whistler, one of my favourite painters. I'll have to post why I like his work another time)
I also saw some of the infamous Atheist bus adverts and Tube cards! A small thing to see, but it made me smile no end! Quite how people find these shocking or offensive i do not know. I'm not the most impartial observer of these adverts but come on! Where's the offensive bit in the ads? they seem so friendly and lighthearted. More so when you compare it to the counter-adverts that have appeared asserting:
'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God -Psalm 53:1'
Questioning the existence of deities and displaying some uplifting quotes is considered offensive (The atheist ads don't even say there is 'definitely' no God, it says 'probably'. It could be true or not, and it leaves room for discussion) but calling non-believers 'fools' is quite ok and not at all offensive. Hypocritical much?
I was annoyed that they put up those rather clunky counter-ad's, but that's what happens in a free society, you hear views contrary to your own. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from offense.
A witty riposte to Psalm 53.1 i've seen elsewhere, and sums up my attitude to Atheism, made me chuckle:
'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God...But the wise man says it out loud'
Overall, quite an interesting and thought provoking trip!
2/01/2009
Trick of the Mind
A quick post because i'm snowed under with project work at the mo, i'll write about them after i've actually finished them! But in the meanwhile i thought i'd post a link to a fascinating Richard Dawkin's interview with Derren Brown, two people I admire immensely.
Comment 18 below the video is pretty much exactly (apart from the religion bit, I'm not from a religious background at all) how I stumbled into skepticism and critical thinking:
'It was Derrens' book, that I assumed would be all about mental tricks and secrets, that actually started me on my trip out of religion. Exactly because it superficially didn't look like a book about scepticism, but about magic.In fact looking at his book now, it seems almost obviously engineered to teach scepticism of religion etc.From this book I read The God Delusion that was recommended in it and here I am now.'
Couldn't have said it better myself! Enjoy :)
Comment 18 below the video is pretty much exactly (apart from the religion bit, I'm not from a religious background at all) how I stumbled into skepticism and critical thinking:
'It was Derrens' book, that I assumed would be all about mental tricks and secrets, that actually started me on my trip out of religion. Exactly because it superficially didn't look like a book about scepticism, but about magic.In fact looking at his book now, it seems almost obviously engineered to teach scepticism of religion etc.From this book I read The God Delusion that was recommended in it and here I am now.'
1/23/2009
No News
I went to check the BBC for the news today. Apparently there isn't any. Ho hum.
(click to embiggen)
(click to embiggen)
1/18/2009
Micro Photography
Are these model people on a tiny beach?
Is this a photo of a model houses or real?They're both photo's of real places i've been, but they've been edited to look as though they were taken with a 'tiltshift' lens, which seems to be the fashionable, quirky photoeffect on the interwebs these days. You can recreate the effect on Photoshop apparently, but this site allows you to make them in a few minutes on library pictures or your own...which is bad, because i'm finding it hideously addictive to do!
If you think the photos are cool, check out this guy's videos using the same technique.
Pure Awesome.
1/13/2009
Instruction Manual
A sweet little animation that matches my own feelings on certain 'Instruction Manuals' that some people (not all, just a very loud minority) like to push on others.
1/09/2009
Xmas Owls
For Xmas this year, me and my family went to an owl sanctuary to fly some of the birds. Here's some of the Pics:
Me and 'Kaln' the Eagle Owl. He weighed about the same as a couple of bags of sugar, so couldn't hold him up for too long.
he had a 5ft wing span, almost as tall as me standing. Quite nervy watching Kaln swoop down to attack your hand!
Those talons on display! We were wearing the wrong sort of gloves for handling the Eagle owl, his beak could go straight through the leather to get at your fingers.
We also flew a Barn Owl called 'Gizmo', but unfortuanately didn't think to take photos due to being distracted by the beautiful birds. It was a really fun and interesting night out and not the usual thing to do at Xmas, beats a boxing day walk anytime!
1/02/2009
New Year's Resolution
To say this Blog has been neglected is a bit of an understatement!
New Year's Resolution: Keep this thing updated more often. Artwork in progress, general musings and stuff that I find entertaining will be coming soon...
New Year's Resolution: Keep this thing updated more often. Artwork in progress, general musings and stuff that I find entertaining will be coming soon...
5/19/2008
Critical Thinking Exercise
A friend sent me a link to a dubious film about 'alternative chronology' not long ago. I was in a skeptical mood and so duly took to task this dodgy theory... Here's my rebuttal:
Crikey, but that was weird! Thanks for the link; it's proved quite a useful exercise! :) Here are my thoughts...
After just reading that short blurb and a bit of research, little red flags were going up all around my brain! Here's a few of ‘em:
1. For a start this is a MATHEMETICIAN who has written a book on HISTORY. This is a variation on the 'Argument from authority'. (i.e.; authority isn't always right) Just because you're clever at maths doesn't mean you're clever at history.
2. Celebrity endorsements! Gary Kasparov (the genius chess player) also endorses this theory, therefore it must be true! Because, after all, being a well known chess champion automatically qualifies you in the field of history and makes your lone opinion way more valid than several hundred years of dedicated research by thousands of professional historians! I’m afraid it’s another massive ‘Argument from authority’! (‘Argument from celebrity endorsement’ perhaps?)
3. You can publish a book on anything. I could publish a book proving that the world is made of pink jelly if I wanted and believed it. Books aren't peer reviewed, and thus aren't picked over by experts and corrected. If Fomenko had a serious hypothesis, peer review would have been the proper and more accurate route to go down. The fact that he seems to have avoided peer review seems to say that he knows it would be shown as dodgy and never published. Creationists, paranormal supporters use this strategy a lot and it's a hallmark of a pseudoscience.
4. From the link you sent me, 2nd para: 'He follows in steps of Sir Isaac Newton' Ah the old 'maverick-going-against-the establishment' fallacy! When people start to bandy around comparisons to people like Newton, or Copernicus (the guy who was imprisoned for saying the earth went around the sun, not vice versa) falsely gives the impression that they have a paradigm shattering theory. Whilst it's true there occasionally is a maverick that goes against the flow and is proven right (these guys did, they did the research and let the evidence speak for itself)
More often than not cries of 'Remember *insert-name-of-outspoken-scientist-here*! Everyone thought he was mad, but he was right!' are a sign of sensationalism, designed to invoke sympathy for the idea and make the reader feel intelligent that they know the ‘real’ truth before everyone else, rather like a…
5. …Conspiracy theory! Conspiracy theories are often posed as the ‘truth’ and ‘earth shattering’ and more often than not ‘suppressed’ by the mainstream because it would shake up the majority view a little too much. More often than not they aren’t suppressed by established experts; they’re exposed as the pile of poo or dodgy research it actually is. But if you really believe something hard enough and someone says it’s rubbish it’s quite easy to start to think that they’re just scared and deliberately being nasty because their job/reputation/research grant is at stake.
We’ve all felt good and performed a victory dance when we’ve said or thought something that nobody else agrees with, and yet we turn out to be right. Woohoo! In your face establishment! Conspiracy theories appeal to that exact part of us, they make us feel intellectually superior and appeal to our capacity for wonder and intrigue. But all conspiracy theories, when examined properly and without hysterics, collapse under their own weight. This book is no exception. Wikipedia shows how implausible ‘New Chronology’ would be.
6. The whole ‘carbon dating is inaccurate’ argument has been around for ages, used most often by dumb-ass creationists who think the world is 6000 years old, despite radio-carbon dating saying it’s millions of years old. The evidence doesn’t fit my beliefs therefore the evidence must be flawed/wrong. Yes, radiometric dating is approximate but there is more than just one method of radio carbon dating! See here for a good list. And when all these different, independent verified methods of dating point towards a similar answer we can conclude that maybe, just maybe, it is accurate?
I could go on, but I’m tired and I imagine you’re bored of this expansive (and probably unexpected) reply! (Life, have one, possibly get one? I hear you say!)
One reason for this exhaustive rebuttal is that I thought I’d show you how a Skeptic behaves when asked to look at something or believe something they are told. Try to never take anything at face value, consider and research into the claim or belief, look at all possibilities; eliminate the unlikely, preposterous or downright fraudulent and draw your own conclusions. In short think for yourself! It’s hard work, time consuming and not always possible to do, but it’s a damn good viewpoint to have.
Crikey, but that was weird! Thanks for the link; it's proved quite a useful exercise! :) Here are my thoughts...
After just reading that short blurb and a bit of research, little red flags were going up all around my brain! Here's a few of ‘em:
1. For a start this is a MATHEMETICIAN who has written a book on HISTORY. This is a variation on the 'Argument from authority'. (i.e.; authority isn't always right) Just because you're clever at maths doesn't mean you're clever at history.
2. Celebrity endorsements! Gary Kasparov (the genius chess player) also endorses this theory, therefore it must be true! Because, after all, being a well known chess champion automatically qualifies you in the field of history and makes your lone opinion way more valid than several hundred years of dedicated research by thousands of professional historians! I’m afraid it’s another massive ‘Argument from authority’! (‘Argument from celebrity endorsement’ perhaps?)
3. You can publish a book on anything. I could publish a book proving that the world is made of pink jelly if I wanted and believed it. Books aren't peer reviewed, and thus aren't picked over by experts and corrected. If Fomenko had a serious hypothesis, peer review would have been the proper and more accurate route to go down. The fact that he seems to have avoided peer review seems to say that he knows it would be shown as dodgy and never published. Creationists, paranormal supporters use this strategy a lot and it's a hallmark of a pseudoscience.
4. From the link you sent me, 2nd para: 'He follows in steps of Sir Isaac Newton' Ah the old 'maverick-going-against-the establishment' fallacy! When people start to bandy around comparisons to people like Newton, or Copernicus (the guy who was imprisoned for saying the earth went around the sun, not vice versa) falsely gives the impression that they have a paradigm shattering theory. Whilst it's true there occasionally is a maverick that goes against the flow and is proven right (these guys did, they did the research and let the evidence speak for itself)
More often than not cries of 'Remember *insert-name-of-outspoken-scientist-here*! Everyone thought he was mad, but he was right!' are a sign of sensationalism, designed to invoke sympathy for the idea and make the reader feel intelligent that they know the ‘real’ truth before everyone else, rather like a…
5. …Conspiracy theory! Conspiracy theories are often posed as the ‘truth’ and ‘earth shattering’ and more often than not ‘suppressed’ by the mainstream because it would shake up the majority view a little too much. More often than not they aren’t suppressed by established experts; they’re exposed as the pile of poo or dodgy research it actually is. But if you really believe something hard enough and someone says it’s rubbish it’s quite easy to start to think that they’re just scared and deliberately being nasty because their job/reputation/research grant is at stake.
We’ve all felt good and performed a victory dance when we’ve said or thought something that nobody else agrees with, and yet we turn out to be right. Woohoo! In your face establishment! Conspiracy theories appeal to that exact part of us, they make us feel intellectually superior and appeal to our capacity for wonder and intrigue. But all conspiracy theories, when examined properly and without hysterics, collapse under their own weight. This book is no exception. Wikipedia shows how implausible ‘New Chronology’ would be.
6. The whole ‘carbon dating is inaccurate’ argument has been around for ages, used most often by dumb-ass creationists who think the world is 6000 years old, despite radio-carbon dating saying it’s millions of years old. The evidence doesn’t fit my beliefs therefore the evidence must be flawed/wrong. Yes, radiometric dating is approximate but there is more than just one method of radio carbon dating! See here for a good list. And when all these different, independent verified methods of dating point towards a similar answer we can conclude that maybe, just maybe, it is accurate?
I could go on, but I’m tired and I imagine you’re bored of this expansive (and probably unexpected) reply! (Life, have one, possibly get one? I hear you say!)
One reason for this exhaustive rebuttal is that I thought I’d show you how a Skeptic behaves when asked to look at something or believe something they are told. Try to never take anything at face value, consider and research into the claim or belief, look at all possibilities; eliminate the unlikely, preposterous or downright fraudulent and draw your own conclusions. In short think for yourself! It’s hard work, time consuming and not always possible to do, but it’s a damn good viewpoint to have.
3/09/2008
Presentations.
We had a presentation to do last week, 'A historical overview of wallpaper over the last 70 years' The nervous energy in the studio on the morning of the dreaded presentations was very tangible! I sometimes think that i'm a bit odd that i actually don't mind doing them, and occasionally enjoy doing them too. I haven't always enjoyed presenting ideas to an audience, absolutely despised it during my A-levels, but something clicked at the start of my Art Foundation course and they haven't bugged me much since then.
An old arty friend asked me a while ago if i had some advice on how to deal with presentations, which got me thinking and writing a long email with my advice. So, having just finished one recently, here's a quick list of my rationalisations on presentations:
1. I suppose it depends on how long it's for, (often not over 15 minutes max) but i always think 'it's 15 minutes long, why get worked up about it for days on end or fret about it constantly? it's FIFTEEN MINUTES OF YOUR LIFE!'
2. What's the worst that could happen if it goes wrong? You look a bit silly and hopefully get a laugh or two...you are NOT going to die! people are not going to mock you! have you ever mocked someone over their presentation? have you ever willed anyone to do terrible in their presentation? no? neither has anyone else! Your audience wants you to do well! :)
3. We're artists and designers, it is our job to communicate an idea! (usually through visual means) i don't know about you, but i like my work more often than not and want to tell people about it! Even if you think you're work is bad, say why you think it is! tell a story why you did this, why you did that...that's good because this, bad because that, etc. Stories are interesting and people relate to them. Mention group activities that you and your peers have done. I.e, 'i did this during our workshop on whatever, remember that?'
In short: it's a few minutes of your life, don't waste more time on it worrying. if it all goes wrong play it for a few cheesy laughs, no one is going to hate you, they want you to do well! tell your story and let your enthusiasm (or lack of it) show through and help explain your ideas/art.
That's my advice :)
An old arty friend asked me a while ago if i had some advice on how to deal with presentations, which got me thinking and writing a long email with my advice. So, having just finished one recently, here's a quick list of my rationalisations on presentations:
1. I suppose it depends on how long it's for, (often not over 15 minutes max) but i always think 'it's 15 minutes long, why get worked up about it for days on end or fret about it constantly? it's FIFTEEN MINUTES OF YOUR LIFE!'
2. What's the worst that could happen if it goes wrong? You look a bit silly and hopefully get a laugh or two...you are NOT going to die! people are not going to mock you! have you ever mocked someone over their presentation? have you ever willed anyone to do terrible in their presentation? no? neither has anyone else! Your audience wants you to do well! :)
3. We're artists and designers, it is our job to communicate an idea! (usually through visual means) i don't know about you, but i like my work more often than not and want to tell people about it! Even if you think you're work is bad, say why you think it is! tell a story why you did this, why you did that...that's good because this, bad because that, etc. Stories are interesting and people relate to them. Mention group activities that you and your peers have done. I.e, 'i did this during our workshop on whatever, remember that?'
In short: it's a few minutes of your life, don't waste more time on it worrying. if it all goes wrong play it for a few cheesy laughs, no one is going to hate you, they want you to do well! tell your story and let your enthusiasm (or lack of it) show through and help explain your ideas/art.
That's my advice :)
2/17/2008
A Recent Musing Involving Kittens and Slayer
A piece of an essay i recently did. It was meant to be more on Pierre Bourdieu's theories but it sort of turned more into my own philosophising:
3. What is Pierre Bourdieu's interpretation of aesthetic dispositions?
From what I’ve read, Bourdieu’s interpretation of aesthetic dispositions is one that is born of class distinction rather than continued experience or tutoring. In short, the different social classes have their own idea of what is aesthetic, and so what we personally choose to consider aesthetically beautiful defines our social class in the eyes of others. So rather than education and tutoring advancing our tastes, it is our social desires that determine what our aesthetic disposition is.
If I am part of ‘group B’ which defines itself by a love for kittens and classical music but want to be part of ‘group A’ which finds puppies and heavy metal music aesthetically superior, I am more likely to change my aesthetic tastes to find puppies and heavy metal music more pleasing because it projects the social image I desire. I haven’t changed my tastes through education or intellectual advancement (as is the current thinking), but social motivation.
To carry on the analogy, I imagine I will not be able to completely erase my old love of small dogs and Slayer and some of it will embed itself within my new ‘group B’ tastes. (Perhaps I’ll like puppies AND kittens?) Thus the societal aesthetic is changed minutely, and over time, with other people, perhaps change the ‘group B’ aesthetic into something completely different. If our social aesthetic tastes never did change or evolve over time, we'd still think cave painting is the aesthetic zenith.
3. What is Pierre Bourdieu's interpretation of aesthetic dispositions?
From what I’ve read, Bourdieu’s interpretation of aesthetic dispositions is one that is born of class distinction rather than continued experience or tutoring. In short, the different social classes have their own idea of what is aesthetic, and so what we personally choose to consider aesthetically beautiful defines our social class in the eyes of others. So rather than education and tutoring advancing our tastes, it is our social desires that determine what our aesthetic disposition is.
If I am part of ‘group B’ which defines itself by a love for kittens and classical music but want to be part of ‘group A’ which finds puppies and heavy metal music aesthetically superior, I am more likely to change my aesthetic tastes to find puppies and heavy metal music more pleasing because it projects the social image I desire. I haven’t changed my tastes through education or intellectual advancement (as is the current thinking), but social motivation.
To carry on the analogy, I imagine I will not be able to completely erase my old love of small dogs and Slayer and some of it will embed itself within my new ‘group B’ tastes. (Perhaps I’ll like puppies AND kittens?) Thus the societal aesthetic is changed minutely, and over time, with other people, perhaps change the ‘group B’ aesthetic into something completely different. If our social aesthetic tastes never did change or evolve over time, we'd still think cave painting is the aesthetic zenith.
2/03/2008
Madness continues...
just when you think they can't stoop any lower, they break their backs and stoop lower than any before.
The stand out passage for me is the whining introduction:
'For misguided reasons you are hiding the body of Heath Ledger, and refusing to divulge the time, date and place of his burial in Perth, Australia, so that we...cannot attend - in respectful proximity - and conduct a religious service.'
There is no distance in the universe that their usual 'Religious service' for funerals could be considered 'respectful'
Hopefully have a more enlightening post up soon, don't want to give too much attention to the crazies.
The stand out passage for me is the whining introduction:
'For misguided reasons you are hiding the body of Heath Ledger, and refusing to divulge the time, date and place of his burial in Perth, Australia, so that we...cannot attend - in respectful proximity - and conduct a religious service.'
There is no distance in the universe that their usual 'Religious service' for funerals could be considered 'respectful'
Hopefully have a more enlightening post up soon, don't want to give too much attention to the crazies.
1/30/2008
Reason 142 i despise hardcore, far right religion...
(from here):
'The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas is planning to protest the funeral of Heath Ledger. The church has caused quite a stir while picketing the funerals of soldiers that have died in Iraq. It is Westboro church's belief that Heath Ledger died and is burning in hell for playing the role of a gay cowboy in the critically acclaimed movie "Brokeback Mountain." The church believes that while Heath Ledger was not gay, he still played a homosexual and promoted the gay lifestyle.'
Ugh. To picket someones funeral is foul, but of course they must undoubtably know that they're doing god's work so it's ok. See, it even says so in the bible 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind' (leviticus 18:22) so of course that gives them permission to pester a grieving family. These people are deluded and dangerous halfwits.
Make no mistake, i'm not bashing all religious views here. Just religious fundamentalsim and in particular this moronic entity known appallingly as a 'church'. These people are too much for even the deeply christian nation that is America, and are considered a hate group by the U.S government (bit of an understatement in my opinion).
This also raises the issue of free speech. As appalling as their speech is, they have a right to air it. To deny anyone there opinion is not a free society. But on the other hand, you can't let such vocal viciousness get out of hand, what about the rights of Ledger's family to a peaceful memorial service? Surely their must be a statute in American law prohibiting hate speech?
The Black/White nature of Fundamental religious morality does nothing but complicate an already complex issue; There is a fine line to balance, with many shades of grey to negotiate. Dogmatic beliefs are fast becoming obsolete in our rapidly changing world, and to a degree holding back progress (The farcical debate over Stem Cell research springs to mind)
There is nothing grey, however, about my opinion of the Westboro baptist church (I.e sub-human, ignorant trolls) I would link to their website, but that would only add to their exposure, Google them yourself to get a flavour of their beliefs.
Or even better, go out and buy a copy of Brokeback Mountain (or any other film with Heath Ledger in) and just pause and remember a talented actor whose life was cut tragically short.
'The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas is planning to protest the funeral of Heath Ledger. The church has caused quite a stir while picketing the funerals of soldiers that have died in Iraq. It is Westboro church's belief that Heath Ledger died and is burning in hell for playing the role of a gay cowboy in the critically acclaimed movie "Brokeback Mountain." The church believes that while Heath Ledger was not gay, he still played a homosexual and promoted the gay lifestyle.'
Ugh. To picket someones funeral is foul, but of course they must undoubtably know that they're doing god's work so it's ok. See, it even says so in the bible 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind' (leviticus 18:22) so of course that gives them permission to pester a grieving family. These people are deluded and dangerous halfwits.
Make no mistake, i'm not bashing all religious views here. Just religious fundamentalsim and in particular this moronic entity known appallingly as a 'church'. These people are too much for even the deeply christian nation that is America, and are considered a hate group by the U.S government (bit of an understatement in my opinion).
This also raises the issue of free speech. As appalling as their speech is, they have a right to air it. To deny anyone there opinion is not a free society. But on the other hand, you can't let such vocal viciousness get out of hand, what about the rights of Ledger's family to a peaceful memorial service? Surely their must be a statute in American law prohibiting hate speech?
The Black/White nature of Fundamental religious morality does nothing but complicate an already complex issue; There is a fine line to balance, with many shades of grey to negotiate. Dogmatic beliefs are fast becoming obsolete in our rapidly changing world, and to a degree holding back progress (The farcical debate over Stem Cell research springs to mind)
There is nothing grey, however, about my opinion of the Westboro baptist church (I.e sub-human, ignorant trolls) I would link to their website, but that would only add to their exposure, Google them yourself to get a flavour of their beliefs.
Or even better, go out and buy a copy of Brokeback Mountain (or any other film with Heath Ledger in) and just pause and remember a talented actor whose life was cut tragically short.
1/20/2008
We Are Here 2
Here's 'Reflections on a mote of dust' as read by the great man himself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M
1/19/2008
We Are Here
A thought provoking photo and text:
The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.' - Carl Sagan (1934-1996)
Reflections on a Mote of Dust
'We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.
The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.' - Carl Sagan (1934-1996)
from http://obs.nineplanets.org/psc/pbd.html
12/02/2007
Alex and Tor's 'Gem of Zen'
A thought struck me and a friend whilst we were working late in the studio.
Whilst we were both complaining, as most people do, that our own respective pieces of work we were working on were 'rubbish' (it's so much easier to see the brilliantness of other peoples work isn't it?) a thought coalesced into being...
'It's not your artwork that is shit, it's the process of making it that can be shit. Ergo; don't mix up the feelings appropriate to the process with the final product'
It sort of made sense at the time...
Whilst we were both complaining, as most people do, that our own respective pieces of work we were working on were 'rubbish' (it's so much easier to see the brilliantness of other peoples work isn't it?) a thought coalesced into being...
'It's not your artwork that is shit, it's the process of making it that can be shit. Ergo; don't mix up the feelings appropriate to the process with the final product'
It sort of made sense at the time...
Agh!
I know this isn't particularly to do with art and creativity, but it wound me up so much i had to vent my anger somewhere.
Here's the source of my anger: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7119399.stm
It is unbelievable. All this international angst, mouth-foaming religious 'offense', and a possible 40 lashes over a teddy bear. A fucking teddy bear. Once again; Unbelievable.
I respect other people's viewpoints/religions, but respect must be earnt in my opinion, not demanded or pandered to. So, to accuse this poor woman of 'inciting religious hatred' when it is obviously a naive cultural faux pas on her part is absurd (And wasn't it the children that named the bear, not Mrs Gibbons?)
What's most disappointing is that it is totally unrepresentative of religious people in general, it is always the few fundamentalists in power that do such negative things. Surely it would pass off better to acknowledge that a foreigner made a mistake and pardon her? Thus showing that religions can be benevolent and understanding? Way to reconcile the Muslim world with the western world Sudan.
Religious Theocracies: are they a bit backward, or are they finest governments of the 14th century?
Here's the source of my anger: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7119399.stm
It is unbelievable. All this international angst, mouth-foaming religious 'offense', and a possible 40 lashes over a teddy bear. A fucking teddy bear. Once again; Unbelievable.
I respect other people's viewpoints/religions, but respect must be earnt in my opinion, not demanded or pandered to. So, to accuse this poor woman of 'inciting religious hatred' when it is obviously a naive cultural faux pas on her part is absurd (And wasn't it the children that named the bear, not Mrs Gibbons?)
What's most disappointing is that it is totally unrepresentative of religious people in general, it is always the few fundamentalists in power that do such negative things. Surely it would pass off better to acknowledge that a foreigner made a mistake and pardon her? Thus showing that religions can be benevolent and understanding? Way to reconcile the Muslim world with the western world Sudan.
Religious Theocracies: are they a bit backward, or are they finest governments of the 14th century?
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