Beautiful

Courage

Emotional

Inspiring

Love

Originality

Relax

Remix

Special

Creativity

After last week we watched TED(Technology, Entertainment, Design) named “Gaming Can Make a Better World”, we watch “Laws that choke creativity”. In this video, Lawrence Lessig illustrates three different stories. They are about the talk machine, the airplane, and Internet. I like the stories about the airplane and Internet. He expresses that the laws we have about copyright need to be changed in terms of remix to encourage creativity. Nowadays, in the age of digital technology, the media creation has been democratized. In the video, he says that everyone could create something with a $1500 computer currently. However, the “create” Lawrence says, in my opinion, means that reproduction. In other words, people create or add something upon other’s products or creations. Then, I ask myself, Does recreation or reproduction count creativity? Is remix good or bad? Personally speaking, remix is good, because many people like to recreate or remix other things, and they are thinking when they are remixing or recreating at least. Creativity is not inborn for everyone.

In the article “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins” by Beverly J. Jones, she discusses the evolution of computer graphics and how the technology used to create these is combined with art. She recognizes that technology is more than just a platform to create art, but it also a platform to share art instantly. For example, I can take a nice picture and post on Facebook, then others will see it. In the article, she states that “The new forms of art and technology are frequently cast in the mode of old forms, just as other aspects of material and symbolic culture have been” (21, Jones). In my opinion, I think she just wants to encourage us that we should use a new way to spread art and technology. Jones uses many examples to support her ideas, one of the three historical examples Jones provides is computers were used to generate the earliest computer graphics and displayed on oscilloscopes in the 1940s. Ben F. Lapofsky and Herbert W. Franke were among the pineers creating there images, and their work continues to promote exploration in similar work (21, Jones). The another point that the author continues to make is that art through technology has a major impact on society.  Especially as the technology becomes more and more advanced.  I think that the Jones views new technology as an outlet to help out what is wrong with cultural.

Personally speaking, Jones’ Idea connects to present day. Because I think that technology such as computers, video game, and internet are kind of art. In video games, for example, the gaming company, such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft Montreal, and etc. When they are making a game, they need their imagination. For instance, they need to create some unique characters, an unparalleled story, the ways to attack, the movements of magic spells, and etc. All of these can be considered as art and technology. The more creative they have, the more enjoyable experiences players have. According to the TED talks “Gaming Can Make a Better World”, the woman in the video says that if people were to play more video games a lot of world problems would be solved. And Jones thinks that the development of technology such as the computer will be able to explain and connect technology to art. Furthermore, this video connects to Jones because they are both using the power of technology to try and explain forms of symbolism and material culture. Nowadays, I don’t know what is others doing everyday, but my friends and I play video games everyday; we talk about games everyday. I don’t think this has negative effect to our future or life, however, I think we just find another wonderful world–electronic world. We can release our pressure in it, and we still can be heroes or bad men in it. I guess this is the combination of art and technology.

Jones, B. J. (1990). Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins. LEONARDO: Digital Image – Digital Cinema Supplemental Issue, pp. 21-30.

Gaming can make a better world: Jane McGonigal on TED.com

1. Describe the term paleoanthropsychobiological. Who coined this term.

The term paleoanthropsychobiological is coined by Ellen Dissanayake. She uses this term to discuss something about the history of Western art. She writes “First is that the idea of art encompasses all of human history; second is that it include all human societies; third is that it accounts for the fact that art is a psychological or emotional need and has psychological or emotional effects” (Dissanayake, 15).

2. What does Dissanayake mean by the phrase “making special”? How does it relate to art and to human survival?

I think Dissanayake means that art can have many different meanings for people with different cultures, different life styles, and etc. For example, a picture can mean something special to an artist, however on the other hand,  to a normal person, it could be just some colors on the paper. “Making special” refers to adding some extra emphasis and meaning to an artwork, although it might not apply to all the viewers; some of them could accept it. The term relates to human survival in the way that people do not have, or are not able to enjoy the arts when they can’t even feed themselves. After all, to a human, the most important thing to do is that he or she should be healthy. Without a healthy body, he or she could not do anything, even talking about enjoying the arts.

3. Dissanayake identifies many different theories/movement/periods of art throughout western european history. Name three different theories of art that Dissanayake mentions in her essay. Identify the time period when each theory developed and was prominent. Provide a brief description of the philosophies and ideas that define each theory/movement/period of art. Support your answer with quotes from the reading.

Medieval times – Dissanayake states that “Plato did not discuss ‘art’, but rather beauty, poetry, and imagemaking.” (Dissanayake, 16) Therefore, During the greek/medieval time the majority of art was poetry.

Modernism – in the 18th century, art was called “aesthetics”. In her article, she states that “a concern with elucidating principles such as taste and beauty that govern all the art and indeed make them simply not paintings or statues”(Dissanayake, 17) However, different people would like different kinds of art, and the differences mostly are different cultures, different religions and etc. Furthermore, art had become an ideology, which needs some educated people to acquire them, and not everyone can get the meaning of this.

Postmodernism – in her article, she states that “artists do not see the world in any singularly privileged way but rather interpret it according to their individual and cultural sensibilities”(Dissanayake 19) Which means that Postmodernism thinks that art is a universal language; it could be used to communicate. All people are born in different countries. However, with the freedom offered by postmodernism, people are allowed to freely express how they feel about a particular piece of art.

According this article “Deeply Seeing” by Grey, I think that it is very interesting about the main concept of deeply seeing. He discusses about the value of seeing. In my opinion at first, seeing, looking, and watching have the exactly same meaning. However, in his essay, there is a huge difference between looking and seeing. For example, we can look at many things during an hour, but it is very superficial and just can be seem as looking not seeing. Grey pointed out that “seeing occurs when our attention is arrested by a person, object, or scene” (Grey, 71). Then, he used an example that people will see the both ways before crossing the road. Yes, I strongly agree with this point of view, you cannot find anything if you just look or glance at it. Yet, when you see the both ways deeply, you may see there is a car is quickly come, and you can see the danger and avoid the dangerous event through seeing.  In the reading, seeing is also the recognition of meaning as an art by Frederick Franck, “No wonder that once the art of… for they do not see what they look at” (Grey, 73). This quote reveals that the art of seeing is important for everyone and the process in which being an artist encounters any subjects are meaningful and full of love and aesthetic pleasure. After reading this essay, I think looking at something is just a picture appears in our mind, on the other hand, seeing something is when we are thinking about the picture that appeared in our mind.

I am so glad we have this topic on this week. Because I love watching movies, and making movies. My dream is to be a director. In every movie, Sound, a kind of expression form, compare to the video part ,sometimes plays a more important role. For example, if we turn off the voice when we watch horror films, then, we will definitely not feel any scares. Since in horror films, the director always put a very scare sound before something fearful is coming out. However, as audiences, we don’t know when is that thing coming out. Then we would be nervous.

After I watched the first episode of Vampire Slayer. I found that there is kind of sound that could make the contribution of horror films. At the beginning of the video, Buffy has a conversation about her dreams under a willow tree. and then, there is a noise like a girl sing a song about the box. After they packed, the noise is still there. This sound build in a movie predict that there will be some horrible things happened, and these diegetic sounds add aesthetic value of horror for this film.

I remember that when Buffy and her friend wake up in the morning, there is a slow and creep background music in this scene. These kinds of non-diegetic sound make viewer feel uneasy and haunted. Also the non-diegetic adds a dramatic effect in the horror movie and had a best use of aesthetic value of horror to appeal the audience’s mood.

In my opinion, the basic reason for horror films make us feel scared is that they make us think. During our thinking, there will be a thousand possibilities. Therefore, the main point is that we make ourselves scared. And what makes us think? It is sound.

I think my style has changed serval times during my life. When I was a little boy in China, I always wore some clothes that like sports style. My favorite brands were adidas, nike, and etc. Because I used to play basketball everyday, so I thought I should be ready every second to go to the playground to play basketball. Furthermore, I loved to discuss the basketball shoes when I was in middle school, since I watched every NBA games. We talked about NBA stars everyday. My favorite one was Tracy McGrady. My friends and I thought if we wore a pair of shoes that our idols wore, we could be one of them. Therefore, we played basketball; we talked about basketball; we wore like basketball players. In that time, basketball was our whole lives.

Then, I grew up to a high school students. Normally, in order to obey the school’s rules, we had to wear the uniforms that made by campus, because high school teachers think that uniforms could make students act uniformly. We were not allowed to wear our own clothes during the school time. However, some of us still wore their own clothes everyday, even I was a part of them. The reason I did  that is that I just wanted to be different to each other. I guess other students who didn’t wear uniforms had the same reason for that.

Nowadays, I am a university students. I could wear whatever I want everyday. At first, I always want to be like a model, since I thought that would be cool. Sometimes, one’s dressing could express his/her attitude of life. For example, some always wear colorful clothes everyday; I think that means they want to be noticed. On the other hand, some would like to wear the clothes that are only black or white color. In my opinion, they don’t want to be noticed, and they don’t talk much to the people they don’t know. However, now I think dressing means nothing, since In America, people’s dressing always depends on what they do. For instance, people wear sports t-shirt when they go to the gym; people wear suit when they go to work. Although this is obviously for some people, however, I just deeply understand this reason. Now, I don’t judge a person by what they wear; I care more about the behaviors. Therefore, personally speaking, behaviors could express a person more correctly than one’ dressing.

Individual 1:

Describe what you see:

The first person I watched was a Chinese student. He was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of red shorts. Moreover, he had many jewelry on his body. He got a gold necklace, a black bracelet, and three earrings on one ear. Furthermore, he also got an attractive sunglasses on his face, which is a two small circle glasses. Nonetheless, he has at least two tattoos on his body. One is on his left arm, which is three ices with a ball of fire around them. I guess it means he needs water or something. The other one is on his right arm, which is just some words; it says, find and seek.

Values/ beliefs demonstrated by how he dresses and body adornment:

believes that he does not care about the clothes on him, what he cares is the small little stuffs, like earrings and necklace.

Assumptions I Made:

He is clearly a fan of Chrome Hearts due to the jewelry on him. And since what he was wearing is not luxurious. I guess he uses the majority of his money on jewelry. Because of his tattoos, I guess he has his own special beliefs. And part of the sunglasses means that he does not want somebody to talk to him.

What my assumptions say about me:

I like the people who have their own styles, and own beliefs. Then when I talk to them, I could get more information that I have never heard before.

Individual 2:

Describe what you see:

The second person I watched was a girl. She was smoking outside of the campus when I saw her. She was wearing a red shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of boots. She has a beautiful long blond hair. Moreover, the way she smoked, is like she is in her own world; and she does not need anybody be with her. After she smoked, she put the cigarette in the trash can.

Values/ beliefs demonstrated by how he dresses and body adornment:

think that she does not think appearance is a big part of her life due to the way she dresses.

Assumptions I Made:

I guess she needs some friends, although from the appearance of her, she acts like she does not need anybody around her, however, since the way she dresses was normally and made people feel comfortable, she wants to make friends with others.

What my assumptions say about me:

Sometimes, I do the same thing, which is when I want to meet some new guys, I always act like I do not care about them, however, deep inside of my heart, I really want to make friends with them.

Individual 3;

Describe what you see:

She was standing in front of the duck store with her friend. She was wearing a pair of New Balance, a basic t-shirt, and a pair of leggings. Under a blue hat, there are two most beautiful eyes that I have ever seen. While I was standing in front of duck store. She just kept talking with her friend, and she kept laughing all the time.

Values/ beliefs demonstrated by how she dresses and body adornment:

Believe she was so happy about the wonderful weather today, and she does not care about others opinions. And she always wants to talk about her opinions to her friends.

Assumptions I made:

I guess she was a super outgoing girl. And everybody knows her must like her. Since she always wants to share her happiness. I can assume that she has many friends, because I want to make friend with her now.

What my assumptions say about me:

I am outgoing I think. But I do not think somebody would think the way I thought about her, which is I think everybody likes her. However, sometimes, I act another person when I am in front of people. When I am alone, I will be a totally different kind of person.