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In this week’s reading, “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins” by Beverly J. Jones, it describes how the technology and art are combined or related to each other. I think the primary thesis of “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins” is “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.” (Jones, Page 21) Throughout this week’s reading, Jones mentions this thesis several times in different sentences, but the same meaning. There are three historical examples that Jones provides.

One of those three historical examples is the earliest computer graphics by Ben F. Lapofsky and Herbert W. Franke. In the reading, Jones says “Ben F. Lapofsky and Herber W. Franke were among the pioneers creating these images. Franke’s graphics were phase forms, presented as events rather than as static imagery. Lapofsky’s Oscillon No. 4 was included in the first edition of Franke’s book, Computer Graphics – Computer Art. His work continues to explore similar forms.” (Jones, Page 22) Although the technology has been developed dramatically, the work of Ben and Herbert continued to be commonly used by others until today.

First thing that comes into my mind when I think about technology and art is Photoshop and Powerpoint. One illustration of Jones’ thesis at work in today’s culture is Cohen’s work. In the reading, the author says, “Cohen has constructed a series of computer programs that direct the activities of a drawing turtle. He attempts to describe the process by which human beings read symbols and images. His programs imitate experts who know aspects of picture making, such as shading, spatial distribution and determination of inside and outside of forms…. Cohen’s work extends earl attempts to produce computer simulation of the step of artists such as Klee, Hartung and Mondrian. Cohen also attempted stylistic simulations of Bach’s musical style.” (Jones, Page 25) Just like Jones’s thesis, Cohen created new form of computer programs based on earlier attempts.

I think “Old Media, Digitized, Make New Forms” by Martin Gayford support Jones’s thesis statement. In the article, Fischer says “”People see I sue computers, so they say I’m making computer art,” he said. “It’s not about making computer art; it’s just using the new thing. Everybody uses it.”” (Martin, 2012) Fischer is definitely working in a new form of making art; however, the new form is “casting in the mode of an old form.” By using computer when making his own art, it might seem like a completely new form, but it is actually staying in the old form but processed in different way.

Old Media, Digitized, Make New Forms. (October 24, 2012). MIT Technology Review. Retrieved November 17, 2014, from http://www.technologyreview.com/review/429643/old-media-digitized-make-new-forms/

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

While watching the video named “Gaming can make a better world: Jane Mcgonigal on TED.com”, I found it really interesting that gaming can solve such problems in real life such as hunger, poverty, climate change, global conflict, and obesity. Jane, the speaker, connects the game life and real life. She mentions that there is epic win that always gives the players positive outcomes and make them more productive. With reasonable amount of work or problems that anyone can overcome with their reasonable amount of efforts, players become can have four core forces: urgent optimism, social fabric, business productivity, and epic meaning. In the game, there are many characters with world saving mission, and the missions are epic and always give positive feedback to the players, which they do not usually get in their real life. With these, people who spend more time in playing games can be successful with the experiences and the feedback that they got from the game. Since the players know that there are always someone who are willing to collaborate and work with them, they can build the faith for co-workers in real life. In addition, players become more willing to work hard by playing game. She mentions that people build a lot of trust by playing games together and that people are happier working hard than people are relaxing or hanging around if they are given a right work.

I love watching or reading horror genre. I enjoy being horrified and scared. While watching horror genre, I always regret watching them, but I love them after watching or reading them. One of the articles that I found is “Why Are We Drawn to Horror Films?” by Lauren Suval. This article talks about the author’s experience about the Horror films and thoughts about why people are drawn to Horror films. The author states that there are various purposes for people to watch horror film. The purposes are that people may want to distract themselves from daily routines of life, that they may want to counter social norms, that they seek adrenalin rush, and they hope to indirectly experience frights from a distance. This article also touches on one’s childhood. With growing up experiencing horror film movies, there are fears and thoughts of the supernatural resided inside of our consciousness. With these experiences (the author expressed these experiences as ‘movie monster’) people are attracted to experience fearful emotions from a safe and secure remove. In addition, the author gives an emphasis on personality factors as well. There are two threat-related types: repressors and sensitizers. Repressors are the one that like to approach or confront the fears, which enjoy watching horror film movies. On the other hand, sensitizers like to escape or deny the attraction from the horror genre. The author concludes the article by saying the pleasure from horror film movies can be embedded in fear and peaks of adrenaline, while offering just enough emotional distance.

In this week’s reading, Carroll, the author, states “[Monsters thus] arouse interest and attention through being putatively inexplicable or highly unusual vis-à-vis our standing cultural categories, thereby instilling a desire to learn and to know about them. And since they are also outside of (justifiably) prevailing definitions of what is they understandably prompt a need for proof (or the fiction of a proof) in the face of skepticism. Monsters are, then, natural subjects for curiosity, and they straightforwardly warrant the ratiocinative energies the plot lavishes upon them.” (Carroll Page 281) This statement is related to one of the purposes that the Lauren talked about: that people may want to distract themselves from daily routines of life. People know that the scary things from movies are not real, but they get scared of the unreal things. Nevertheless, people are curious about how the scary things are come from, and they get out of their daily routines of life by exploring new scary adventures.

Second article that I found is “Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear?” by Allegra Ringo. This article questions ‘what happens in our brains when we’re scared? Is it different when we’re scared “in a fun way” versus being actually afraid?’ The author says that we have to be in a safe spot to really enjoy a scary situation. The author also says “These senses are directly tied to our fear response and activate the physical reaction, but our brain has time to process the fact that these are not “real” threats.” Ringo also says “things that violate the law of nature are terrifying.”

In this week’s reading, Carroll says “All narrative might be thought to involve the desire to know – the desire to now at least the outcome of the interaction of the forces made salient in the plot. However, the horror fiction is a special variation on this general narrative motivation, because it has at the center of it something which is given as in principle unknowable – something which, ex hypothesi, cannot given the structure of our conceptual scheme, exist and that cannot have the properties it has.” (Carroll Page 281)

According to these two opinions from each author, horror genre draws audiences by taking them to unknown objects, which is the ‘movie monsters’ by bringing them to recognize and confront the unknowable things and setting the plots to let the audiences concentrate or mistake the unreal for the real.

Bibliography

Allegra Ringo, (2013), ‘Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear?’, The Atlantic, Retreived November 9^th, 2014, from http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/why-do-some-brains-enjoy-fear/280938/

Lauren Suval, ‘Why Are We Drawn to Horror Films?’, PsychCentral, Retrieved November 9^th, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/01/04/why-are-we-drawn-to-horror-films/

http://technorati.com/ios-8-iphone-6-may-get-leave-android-good/

I think that bigger Iphone (Iphone 6) would lead to a bigger market place for Apple and bring more users from android market. By breaking Apple’s stereotype, which they said that bigger screen had no potential, they would generate greater revenue.