Monthly Archives: November 2014

Creativity, Inspiration, Passion, Drawing Board, Unique, Concentration

I want to respond the video presentation of TED which presented by Larry Lessig. The main argument of this presentation is that a mass of laws could restrict people’s creativity. There are three examples are quoted by Lessig, which are the talking machine, celestial copyrights, and the ASCAP cartel. In my opinion, I agree with his argument in a certain extent. Indeed, the laws can limit our creativity. For example, someone want to remix two songs together to make a better song but he cannot do that because this behavior violate the copyright of original author. However, although the laws could affect creativity, I still believe that the laws of copyright is important. My question is that how to protect the copyrights without laws? Without the protection of laws for the artworks, who is still willing to create art if anyone can copy the artwork?

The primary thesis of the article “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins” is the relationship between art and the development of technology. As the author Beverly Jones described, “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… I hope to establish the relation of specific image, object event, or environment to conceptual frames. These frames exist within art and technology and are present in other forms of symbolic and material culture” (Jones 21).

There are three historical examples that Jones provided and I want to talk about “Bell Labs” in the period ‘the early years and beyond’. During that period, some individuals or teams “produced work that presaged later and current technologic/scientific and artistic work” (Jones 24). In 1966 at Bell Labs, “Knowlton and Harmon produced gray-scale images from drawings, photographs and real objects by using data from a photodensitometer. This instrument presents the scanned image so prevalent in contemporary work” (Jones 24).

I believe the best example to show Jones’ thesis in today’s culture is movie. Nowadays, the most of great movies need the support of computer graphics, like Transformers, Pacific Rim, etc. The computer technology can help some guiders to achieve their artistic dream. For example, James Cameron already had the idea of Avatar in 1996 but he just started to film it until 2007. The reason is there is no enough technological support in 1996. This example shows that computer graphics can help us create art better. Just as Justin Slick explained in his article ’10 Films that Revolutionized Computer Graphics’, “spectacular computer generated effects sequences are commonplace in everything from big-budget films, to television, games, and even commercial advertising…Blockbusters look better than ever thanks to a talented army of 3D modelers, animators, render technicians, and warehouses full of the computers that do all the math” (Slick). The 3D movies already are very common in the film market and I believe that the 4D even 5D movies will be developed quickly in the future.

Bibliographies:

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

Slick, J. (n.d.). 10 Films that Revolutionized Computer Graphics. Retrieved from http://3d.about.com/od/3d-at-the-Movies/tp/10-Films-That-Revolutionized-Computer-Graphics-Part-1.htm

In the Ted’s video, Jane McGonigal argued that playing online games can help human to resolve the actual issues in the real world, such as hunger, poverty, and climate change. She suggested people spending more time to play online games and the time of playing game should be 21 billion hours per week in next decade. There are four main advantages of playing online games, which are blissful productivity, social fabric, urgent optimism, and epic meaning. After saw this video, my question is: is this possible to set up the exact same situation in the game comparing with the actual world? If it is impossible, how the online games help us to solve the real problems? The real world is really complex so I believe that it is extreme difficult to imitate the exact same situation in the games.

1. How do you define “spirituality”?

I think spirituality is an awareness of self, nature and the universe beyond physical realism. It is a consciousness, a state of mind. It comprises of, but is not limited to belief or religion. It is a kind of personal spiritual power inside of us. In addition, I think spirituality refers to help people to understand the meaning, objectives, and direction of their life. So I believe that people should try to feel own spirituality to get the direction of life.

2. Does spirituality differ from religion?

Of course, I believe that spirituality is different with religion. As I mentioned in the first question, the spirituality could include some parts of religion but it is a bigger concept and it should not be limited by religion. Religion could be limited by countries, region, and cultures. However, spirituality exist in everyone’s mind and it does not be influenced by outside factors. Not everyone have religion but everyone have spirituality. Therefore, spirituality and religion are totally different concepts.

3. How do you define “creativity”?

I think creativity is a kind of ability to generate new idea, finding and creating new thing. Creativity is a special ability for human beings. It combines personal knowledge, intelligence, ability, personality and other various factors. I think the real creativity can make valuable achievements for human society and our current society is the result of our creativity. I believe that the most important differences between creativity and other general ability are its originality and novelty.

4. What is the source of creativity?

I think the creativity could come from curiosity, experiences, and accidental mistakes or things. Everyone could have curiosity and we will feel curious when we face to the unknown things. This kind of curiosity force us to discover the truth so that result in the creativity. Experience also is important for creativity. Some creativity is based on the past successful experiences and this is an easier way for creation. Accidental mistakes always can cause the invention. The creation of Viagra is the best example. Viagra was the pill of heart disease, after the patients took it, it did not work for heart but it made male patients’ erection.

I want to respond to the reading “Art as Spiritual Practice”. This reading mainly discussed the relationship between art and spirituality and how do we think about an object when we see it. Everyone can see various objects in our daily life but you would found that it is difficult to recall those things we saw. In the reading, the author Grey argued that art is a kind of spiritual practice and I think it is similar with the argument that art could be used to express emotion. There is an interesting theory attract me in the reading, which is the theory of three eyes. The three eyes are “the eye of flesh sees the ‘outer’ realm of material objects: the eye of reason sees symbolically, drawing distinctions and making conceptual relationships; and the mystic eye of contemplation sees the luminous transcendental realm” (Grey 73).

For me, I just can feel the eye of flesh and the eye of reason when I look at an object. I can see its appearance and the ‘reason’ that how it different with other objects. I believe most of ordinary people also just can apply these two kinds of eyes in their daily life. However, the artist must have the mystic eye of contemplation. Because as Grey mentioned, “artists need to be able to see on each level in order to bring technical beauty, archetypal beauty, and spiritual beauty to their work” (Grey 73). Artists need to find the deeper content of an object so that their creativity could be inspired. For ordinary people, I think the third eye is not necessary because our goal is not becoming an outstanding artist, however, if we try to apply this third eye I think it will makes our life more interesting.

The first article that I found is ‘Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them’ that was written by Margarita Tartakovsky. In this article, Tartakovsky mainly talked about why some people like watching horror movies but others do not like it. There are four main reasons that be proposed by Tartakovsky, which are the excitation transfer process, different wiring, novelty, and gender socialization.

The excitation transfer process refers to how you feel after the movie. As Tartakovsky stated, “any positive emotions you experience – like having fun with friends – are intensified, Instead of focusing on the fright you felt during the film, you recall having a great time. And you’ll want to come back for more” (Tartakovsky 2012). However, some negative experiences also can make you to avoid horror movies in the future. For the different wiring, some people are wired to enjoy high levels of physiological arousal. According to the research, “about 10 percent of the population enjoys the adrenaline rush” (Tartakovsky 2012). In contrast, some people hate scary films because they would have a hard time when they feel their unwanted stimuli from the horror movies.

For the novelty, it means people like horror movies because of the novelty. The story in horror movies almost will not happened in people’s daily life so they feel curious to these stories. In Carroll’s article, he also have similar argument, “the horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity. It engages its audience by being involved in processes of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation, hypothesis, and confirmation” (Carroll 279). Nevertheless, “Still, the negative emotions can trump novelty” (Tartakovsky 2012).

The fourth reason is gender socialization. According to the research, men is more likely to enjoy horror movies and this “might be because men are socialized to be brave and enjoy threatening things” (Tartakovsky 2012). Carroll also argued, “audiences for horror fictions are often adolescent males, some of whom maybe using the fictions as macho rites of passage” (Carroll 291).

The second article that I found is ‘Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear?’ that was written by Allegra Ringo. This article also discussed the reasons that why people have different feeling to horror movies and Ringo mainly focus on the changes of our brain.

Firstly, Ringo proposed that whether like horror movies are not just about personal choice but our brain chemistry. Dopamine is the one of the main hormones released from our brain during scary. As he stated, “some people’s brains lack what Zald describes as “brakes” on the dopamine release and re-uptake in the brain. This means some people are going to really enjoy thrilling, scary, and risky situations while others, not so much” (Ringo 2013). Another reason that cause people to enjoy scary situation is it give people a sense of confidence after experience the scary situations. For example, “think about the last time you made it through a scary movie, or through a haunted house. You might have thought, ‘yes! I did it! I made it all the way through!’ So it can be a real self-esteem boost” (Ringo 2013). However, this is not for everyone. One important precondition to make people enjoying horror situation is making sure people in a safe environment. Everyone can think about it, if you are sure the environment that you are in is safe so the horror situation will not hurt you.

In conclusion, some people really enjoy horror movies but some people hate it because everyone’s brain is different. Just as Carroll explained, “It obviously attracts consumers; but it seems to do so by means of the expressly repulsive. Furthermore, the horror genre gives every evidence of being pleasurable to its audience, but it does so by means of trafficking in the very sorts of things that cause disquiet, distress, and displeasure” (Carroll 275).

Bibliography:

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.

Ringo, A. (2013, October 31). Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear? Retrieved November 9, 2014, from http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/why-do-some-brains-enjoy-fear/280938/

Tartakovsky, M. (2012, October 31). Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them. Retrieved November 9, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/10/31/why-some-people-love-horror-movies-while-others-hate-them/

I really like this Buffy episode and I believe it is horrific. For the non-diegetic sound, I choose the example which at the beginning around 1:50. The man is kissing Buffy and the light becoming dark and then we can hear the voice of wind which is making me feel strange and afraid because I guess this kind of voice imply something will happen. It accord with the definition of non-diegetic sound which is the sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action. I believe it contribute the aesthetics of horror for the video.

Diegetic sound means the sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film. The example that I chose was happened around 2:15. Buffy suddenly heard someone is singing and she found the sound come from a girl with red skirt. The sound of the girl make me feeling weird and horrific because I do not know who is she and why she appears here. I also believe it contribute to the aesthetics of horror for the video because it increase the sense of mystery.

Mise-en-scene refers to the arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the place where a play or movie is enacted. The example that I chose happened around 22:35. The camera is positioned at the bottom and filming the big bell and the frames moved slowly along with the bell. This mise-en-scene is interesting and also make me feeling fear because it implicitly tell me that there is some scary thing will happen. Also, it contribute to the aesthetics of horror for the video.

This is interesting to connect my dress and body adornment with my personal values and beliefs because I never think about it before.

I always wear simple sport T-shirt with simple pure colors like black or white. I like sports pants with basketball shoes because I really like playing basketball with my friends. For the body adornment, I cannot find some special adornment on my body, like piercing, tattoo, the only adornment that I can see is a bracelet which is made of some kind of wood. On the whole, my dress and adornment are easy and comfortable for myself. In my beliefs, dressing should be comfortable for self. T-shirt, sports pants and shoes are convenient to do sports or exercising in gym and also are convenient in other aspects. I do not have piercing and tattoo because I think a mature man should not pay much attention on those things to attract other’s attention. In my values, the most important feature for man is his strong heart rather than popular appearance. However, there is an adage in China, ‘everyone wants to be beautiful’ as well as me and that is why I have the wood bracelet. I think appearance also is a factor to attract people even though it is not the most important factor. This style of my dress did not change much during these years because I like sports since I was young.

In my family, my father and my mother have the opposite philosophy of dressing. My father’s dress style is really similar with me and I think I was affected by him to form my dress style. He always likes wearing a white t-shirt with a black coat. For the lower part of body, he likes loose jeans and sneakers. In his values and beliefs, life should be easy and comfortable. Of course, when he working he would change dress to business dress like suits and leather shoes. He told me that it is a kind of respect to others so he have to dress formally. My mother likes dress up herself carefully no matter in the free time or working time because she really pursues the beautiful appearance. She believes that woman should be beautiful and there is no ugly woman only lazy ones. She almost makes up every day, and carefully choose necklaces, bracelets, earrings and other adornments.

There are several kinds of dress style in my peer community and they also represent different personal values and beliefs. Some of them also like simple and comfortable dress just like me because they have the similar belief with me which is men should not pay much attention on appearance. However, some of my friends really like to dress up stylish, they always wear bright colorful coat, cropped skinny trousers, and casual shoes. They also love piercings and tattoos. In their values and beliefs, men also have the right to dress up delicately and popular dress is very cool. Some girls like using luxury bags, such as Chanel, LV, and Gucci. In their values, every gorgeous girl should have a delicate handbag and the luxury stuff can show their elegance.

In conclusion, I believe that everyone have the right to choose their favorite dress style and there is no true or false for dress style and it just depends on your values or beliefs. When we judge someone who we do not familiar with him, we should not just judge him base on his dress or adornment because it usually can make a mistake.