The ten words about art that come into my mind is creativity, passionate, soul, elegant, mysterious, pleasure, unique, relaxed, deep and communication.

In the video “Laws that Choke Creativity”, Lawrence firstly talk three stories to express his argument. He mentions two kinds of culture. One is the read-write culture and “It is a culture where people participate in the creation and the re-creation of their culture” (Lawrence). Another is the read-only culture which is “top-down, owned, where the vocal chords of the millions have been lost” (Lawrence). When we look back twentieth century, the culture are more from read-write culture to read-only culture until the appearance of internet. Lawrence believes that internet is an opportunity to change this situation and revive the read-write culture. Then he talks about digital technologies and shows some examples. People add something new based on the old things and make them different. It seems that this creation bring the hope for the revival of read-write culture. However, the problems arise from this. There is a contraction between the law and the use of digital technology. This use of digital technology violates the copyright and is illegal. Lawrence feels unsatisfied with this because he believes this culture where people produce for the love of what they are doing and not for money should be supported. He believes we cannot count on the change of laws and he provides his own solutions. The first one is that the artists and creators who embrace the idea can make their work more free, but not free for commercial use. The second is that we need the business that build out the read-write culture so that the ecology of free content can grow on a neutral platform. This will create a competition between more-freely and less-freely. Actually I don’t know whether his solution can work. I believe the regulation of use of digital technology like this is reasonable. We should promote the development of this culture, but we are not sure that all purposes for using this technology is good and beneficial. I believe the effects of laws are not completely harmful.

According to the article “Computer Graphics: effects of Origins” by Beverly J.Jones, she states that there is a tension between the scientific and artistic views of imagery and their evaluation during the development of computer graphics. Some people believe that these views and disciplines should be separate. However, Jones believes that these disciplines should be combined and by using artistic concept, the images of science and technology can be more real. In her article, she says “No single academic area such as computer science or graphic art ‘owns’ computer graphics” (p 22).To prove this, she mentions some instances like “Teams from multiple disciplines are working in academic institutions developing scientific visualization and cognitive and perceptual research; in government research for defense and other practical applications; and in advertising and entertainment” (p 22).

To prove her theory that the scientific, technologic and artistic views of imagery should be combined during the development of computer graphics. Jones mentions some historical examples. One is that because of the increase in memory and speed, and the construction of hidden line algorithms, the three-dimensional images began to appear. About this three-dimensional images, Jones mentions an important person. His name is Duane Palyka who worked at technological research site. About this person’s research, Jones mentions “Because his imagery simulated and explored earlier artistic media, Palyka could use it to present concepts from within the mind of the artist, much as if he were drawing or painting them” (p 24). From this sentence, we can find the combination of technological and artistic concepts.

We all know Photoshop and Microsoft series. These two software are very important for our life. Professor use PowerPoint to do slides and show us the main content he want to talk about in the class. Accountant use Excel to do some financial statements and calculations. Photographer use Photoshop to manipulate photos and make them become more artistic. All these are combinations of art and technology.

In the article “Working in the Medium of Science”, the author mentions a famous person whose name is Arthur I. Miller and he is a historian and philosopher. This person argues that “artists and scientists have always had the same mission: to “fathom the reality beyond appearance, the world invisible to our eyes” (para 2). For most people, science are logical and art are emotional. However, they can be combined actually and make our world better.

References:

Hoffman, J. (2014, August 4). Working in the Medium of Science. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/05/science

Jones, B. J. (1990). Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins. Oxford: Pergamon Press

Jane Mcgonigal is a game designer and she believes that playing online games is helpful for us to solve real-world problems. In the video, Jane comes up with four things that what games are making us virtuosos at. The first thing is that gamers always have a hope of success and believes it is always worth trying. The second thing is that in the games people can build stronger social relationships and they can trust each other to cooperate. The third thing is that games can bring them pleasure and make them happier than anything they do like shopping or hanging out. They are willing to work hard in the game. The fourth thing is that “ Gamers love to be attached to awe-inspiring missions” (Jane).From these four things, we can find that online games are beneficial for people. She also mentions a economist whose name is Edward Castronova to states the reason why so many people love to play games. In games, gamers can achieve more. They can build stronger relationships with other gamers; they can get better feedback and feel more rewarded than they do in the real life. I agree with these views. There are a lot of my friends love playing online games. Most of them even spend all nights playing and have no rest because they believe games can help them have more achievements and they are more respected than they are in the real world. However, all these people I knew who are addicted to playing games don’t have any achievements and contributions in the real world. They cannot deal with their own problems and take good care of themselves, not mention to resolve real-world problems. I admit that people can learn more and get more from online games. But if a person devote himself completely into the world of games and use this way to get rid of problems from real world, how can he live better and use what he learned from games to solve real-world problems which he even doesn’t want to face? The conditions for every people is different. If people just treat games as a way which can help them get rid of troubles from reality, I don’t believe they will learn something from games and know how to solve real-world problems.

1.I believe that spirituality is something different and different people has different pursuit of spirituality. Spirituality should be a kind of sensory experiences. It is something that we believe in and we are willing to spend time to find the real meaning of it. We all know that one of the reasons that people is more advanced than animals is that we human have intelligence. For every single thing around us, we can have different understanding of it. However, some people want to explore themselves deeply. They will get in touch in their soul with different ways like praying, yoga etc.

2.Maybe centuries ago, spirituality is religion and there are no differences between them. During that time, religion was very important for people’s life and there were a lot of worship ceremonies that existed. Many people went to church or temple to pray and wanted to get close to God. They spent time to understand the ideas of their religion. However, spirituality  still has close relations with religion nowadays. It doesn’t represent they are the same now. More and more people begin to focus on their own experience and psychological growth. They may have different understanding of something and they want to insist with their own faith or belief. Spirituality becomes something that they believe in.

3.For me, creativity is that you can turn your new ideas into act and create something that is unique or different. During our life, we are learning and understanding many things. The knowledge we get is the basis of creating. On this basis, we can expand them and find hidden patterns. Then we may have some new ideas. We will turn these ideas into reality and produce something that other people never see or don’t have. If we just have some ideas and do nothing, this is not creativity.

4.Different people has different environment, life experience. I believe creativity can come form these sources. When we read a novel, we can find that the character in the story has almost the same background with the writer. Or we all know that Beethoven was deaf in his ears, but he still created many outstanding compositions. These creations are related to his life experience. People’s environment and life experience has very important influence on them. These are the inspiration of creativity for them and then they have some new ideas depend on them. These ideas promote them to create something new.

Every time when I talk to my friend about my one day’s experience, “See” is the more frequent word that I use. I always like to say that I see something or I see someone.However, after reading “Deeply Seeing”, I begin to realize that most things I pass by every day cannot use “see” to express because I cannot remember them deeply. Just like the author says “ As we glance at life, we are often wrapped in a tangle of our own thoughts and judgement” (p 71).I believe that everyone has a isolated world which just belong to himself/herself. This world set boundaries with the world outside us and it has its own consciousness and thoughts. Most people like to judge something depends on this state of ego. If we want to see something deeply, we have to release ourselves from this state.

Seeing is very important to artist because it is related to their every aesthetic decision. About deeply seeing for artist, the author shares Saint Bonaventure’s three eyes of knowing and that is “ the eye of flesh sees the “outer” realm of material object; the eye of reason sees symbolically, drawing distinctions and making conceptual relationships; and the mystic eye of contemplation sees the luminous transcendental realms”(p 73). Therefore, when artist encounter a object which can inspire them to create, he firstly can distinguish this object from others and find its unique beauty. Then he will appreciate its formal pattern and content. After this, he “draws a boundary line around the form of the subject, separating it from the boundless backdrop of space and time” (p 74). Now I can understand why some arts of work are very sophisticated but appreciator believes that they have no values. The appreciator cannot feel the “soul” of their works because they don’t use “deeply seeing” to create.

As viewers, the real appreciation is that they must “ go through a real ego death by placing themselves in the inspired mind of the artists, who themselves are out of their minds and only acting as channels of creative spirit” (p 74).

Reference:

Grey, A. (2001). Art as Spiritual Practice. The Mission of Art (1st ed., pp. 205-233). Boston & London: Shambhala.

1.  The first article I read is “Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They enjoy being scared”. It is the instinct that people want to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. According to this, most people should dislike horror movie because it can bring the feelings of distress, discomfortable and disgusting. However, actually there are a lot of people who enjoy watching horror movies. The author feels so confused about this and begins to do some research. Generally, people use one of two theories to explain the reason why people like horror movies. The first one is that when people watch horror movie, they is not actually scared, they feel excited. The second one is that people can endure the terror in order to enjoy the euphoric sense at the end. Some researchers are against these two theories. Thought their studies, they find people can experience negative and positive emotions at the same time. Therefore, when people watch horror movies, they are happy to be unhappy.

In the article “Why horror?”, the author also want to find the reason why horror genre can attract audiences. He mentions “ Thus,we are attracted to, and many of us seek out, horror fictions of this sort despite the fact that they provoke disgust, because that disgust is required for the pleasure involved in engaging our curiosity in the unknown and drawing it into the processes of revelation, ratiocination, etc” (p 184). According to this, we can find that Carroll not only believe that  people can have positive and negative feelings at the same time, he also find the reason.Horror movies create many monsters that we can never see in reality like zombies, vampires, werewolf etc. These monsters can evoke our curiosity although they can bring the feeling of distress. But this cannot impact our interest to explore them and the disgust is just the price we need to pay when we enjoy watching them.

2.      The second article I read is “Film view; The high art of horror films can cut deep into the psyche” by Caryn James. When James was very young, he would go with her aunt and uncle and a cousin to watch horror movies every week. This experience promote him to think more deeply about horror movies and he believes that horror movies visualize the truly impossible like devil babies, wolfmen. But the most important thing is that horror movies can “touch our deepest fears, evoking the terror of helplessness, betrayal and death” (para 2). To prove this, he mentions a famous horror movie called “Rosemary’s Baby”. In this movie, Rosemary’s husband offered her to the witches’s coven and drugged her. This would allow Satan to impregnate her. Rosemary wants to find out what going wrong with her life and her body. At this time, he meets a new doctor and this doctor pretends to believe her. Actually, he just wants to be her husband. James points out the frightening experience of watching this movie is not related to demon. It is the sense of abandonment and powerlessness you feel from the movie. Therefore, he believes good horror movies can touch people’s deepest fears inside their heart and this is the reason why people want to watch horror movies.

Crroll in his article also states that the monsters in the horror movie is not the main reason that we acquire the pleasure. He says “Thus, it is not the tragic event in itself that imparts pleasure, but rather, the way it is worked in to the plot” (p 277). So  we are not attracted only by the monster itself. We are mainly attracted by horror narratives. This is more like the views James points out in his article. As a person who very loves horror movies, James mentions a lot of horror movies and compares them. He believes that the stories in the horror movie are more important than monster itself because good stories can evoke people’s feelings like helplessness, betray etc. These are the motivations that drive people to sit in the theater.

References:

Carroll, N. (2002). Why Horror?. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 17). New York, NY: Routledge.

James, C. (1990, May 27). FILM VIEW; The High Art Of Horror Films Can Cut Deep Into the Psyche. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/27/movies/

University of Chicago Press Journals. (2007, July 31). Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 9, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070725152040.htm

I believe there must be some people who dislike horror scene. But there are also a lot of people who very enjoy the sense of horror like me. Last week, I watched the horror movie “ Annabelle” with my friend. When the heroine saw the demon in the underground storage and wanted to run away, actually I was scared by that scene. However, I still cannot help myself watching the movie. I believe this kind of complicated feeling which horror brings is its attractive place.

Mise-en-scene, diagetic sound and non-diagetic sound is three common factors in the horror films. Using these factors can help directors create different effects that they want. From the Buffy episode, we can find the camera focuses on the face of Buffy at the beginning. She is in the class and is listening to the lecture carefully. We can see her expression clearly. I believe this is a mise-en-scene because mise-en-scene focuses on what can be seen in the picture. From this scene, we can know that Buffy is a student and she might be one of the main characters. This mise-en-scene I choose cannot contribute to the aesthetic of horror, but it is also important because it can help us to have some understandings about the main characters’ identity, age, surroundings etc. When Burry patrolled in the campus, we can hear the sound of her footstep.Also, we can hear the music which is not visible in the screen. The sound of footstep is the diagetic sound and the music is the non-diagetic music. These two kinds of sound combined can create the sense of horror. When we hear them, we can feel that something bad will happen.

Mise-en-scene, diagetic sound and non-diagetic sound combined in the film not only can make us feel scared, they also can bring back our curiosity. It is interesting that these factors can create the sense of horror.

Before attending college, I couldn’t dress what I want because the school requires us to wear uniform every day. My hair was short and my school uniform was a little loose.I also couldn’t wear any jewelries, not mention to make up my face. According to this week’s reading, the author says “People use appearance to place each other into categories, which aid in the anticipation and interpretation of behavior, and to make decisions about how best to coordinate social activities”(p 1). So at that time, everyone who saw me could know that I’m a student through my appearance. Before college, I needed to dress as requirements and if I violated the rules, I would get punishment. Even though I attended the college and I could get rid of these rules, their impacts still existed. I wore loose clothes for a long time and all of their style were like uniform before. I couldn’t  define myself correctly and I didn’t know which kind of wearing was suited for me. At that time, this problem troubled me and I couldn’t be myself. Then after trying some different kinds of wearing and accepted some advice from friends, I began to realize what I need to wear and how to dress myself. I believe everyone has his/her own temperament. According to my own temperament, I can know what kind of clothes I can wear. At ordinary times, I like to wear some dark colored and a little mature clothes. Because dark color can make me fit, also I hope people can notice my maturation from my manner of dress. I’m not a high school student anymore. I’m a college student near graduation, so my dressing had better show my identity properly. Although I’m still a student now, I’m also a person who will step into the real world. When I have some activities need to take, I will adjust my wearing. For example, when I have presentations, I will wear formal suits and make myself more professional. Or when I will have dinner with some important friends for me, I will try to wear bright  colored dress which can make me look active. After some years’ changing, I become more confident about my wearing. I believe wearing can represent more than we thought. From one person’s wearing, you will know his/her identity, preference and tastes, so decent dressing is very important.

In my family, both my parents are a little strict persons. They very care about their wearing, so they taught me whatever I wear at home, once I go outside, I must wear properly. They believe this is a kind of respect to other people. I have stayed abroad for some years and I notice that most Americans here dress very casually. Most of people like to wear slippers during summer. I have to admit that I like it. This makes me feel very comfortable and cozy. Then I try to do this at home. Obviously, my parents feel very unsatisfied about this behavior. They cannot bear me wearing slippers to meet people. Although sometimes I still wear slippers during summer, their values for wearing actually have an impact on me. No matter how terrible I look like at home, when I need to meet someone, I will choose suitable clothes and make myself decent. I believe I will never forget that my parents told me that proper dressing is a respect to others.

In my peer community, most of my friends know what kind of wearing is suited for them. In the meantime, they pay more attention to the brand. They believe the brand of clothes can represent their tastes. They will choose some brands whose clothes are high quality and fashionable. There is no doubt the main target of these brands they choose are young people. So when you see them, you will know that they are students. However, I don’t believe that brands of clothes are very important and can even show a person’s taste. For me, wearing properly and caring about brands are totally two different things. At the same time,Buddhism is the main religion and most people believe in Buddha in China. So almost all of my friends have a kind of buddha necklace included me. People in Chia believe that this necklace can protect us from something bad. Therefore, for people who need to go abroad or go traveling, wearing this kind of necklace is very necessary. Before leaving, our parents will get this for us from temple. The necklace also represents their best wishes. From these, we can know that wearing is very important for people. It not only can show people’s identity, it also can demonstrate a person’s religion and values. Therefore, when we communicate with other people, it is necessary for us to pay more attention to our wearings.