My version of the Runquist murals:

Tree is the symbol of lives and origin. The human’s evolution cannot leave the tree. We can see the evolution through the big tree.

Picture Descriptions

first row(bottom): DNA, cell, monkeys and orangutans

second row: ape, people from the Stone Age and people from the middle ages

third row: people from early modern age and people from contemporary society

top row: people from future(Alien XD)

1. special

2. meaningful

3. creativity

4. freedom

5. unique

6. mindful

7. desire

8. impressive

9. detail

10. unbelievable

The first five words above showed in the picture

After watching Lawrence Lessig’s TED talk, I realized that creativity has been facing difficult problem with laws. He talked about three stories about how laws effected creativity. He thought that if government or laws always limit people’s creativity to protect some companies’ profit, our kids will be hard to get creativity. Lawrence Lessig gave his ideas about how to balance laws and culture. The first idea is that artists and creators embrace the idea and choose that their work be made available more freely. The second idea is that we need the business that are building out this read-write culture to embrace this opportunity expressly, to enable it. However, I have a question about his ideas:”How to persuade government to do so?Even though people watch something illegal, they still easily get what they want through the internet. Why we must promote his ideas ?”

In Beverly Jones’ article “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins”, she gave it a definition. Jones thought that it 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. Only when these new forms become available to the larger population can they affect cultural patterns of maintenance and change.”(Jones 21) It is easy to figure out that computer graphics did not appear suddenly and they are upgraded by old ones. The origins always affect this new forms and make it better for a long time.

Jones provides three historical examples as an illustration of her thesis. One of them is that “Early oil painting were similar in technique to egg tempera paintings and did not take advantage of oil’s mixing properties, slower drying and resultant appearance of softer edges.” (Jones 21) The creators of oil painting did not use oil’s advantage. After that, oil painting had been more and more upgraded by different people from different ages. This example showed by Jones told us that many new things are affected by origin.

I think one of the greatest illustration of Jones’ thesis at work in today’s culture is 3D animation. This modern production can be the best illustration for Jones’ thesis. In modern society, 3D animation is used in many companies all over the world. “3DS Max helps the entertainment industry continue to grow at an excelling rate by providing artists who work on games, film, and motion graphics create beautiful and compelling 3D content in a fraction of the time.”(tkellner21 para 1) We can see that 3D helps technique a lot in recent years. For example, my favorite game is World of Warcraft. This amazing game is so popular for nearly 10 years. Blizzard used 3D technique in its game and made it more real just like real life. The game become more and more funny and enjoyable. Why many films can achieve highest box office? This is because most of they use 3D technique. Just like the author said “Many companies use 3DS for its ease and performance. It has been used in Avatar and 2012 for the CGI animation which contain computer generated graphics from 3DS along with live-action acting.”(tkellner21 para 1) This is all affected by computer graphics. This is what Jones’ thesis at work in today’s culture affect in modern society.

Bibliography:

Tkellner21 (2013, july). 500 Word Essay on 3d animation. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/500-Word-Essay-On-3D-Animation-1815826.html.

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

After watching the TED from Jane McGonigal’s speech”Gaming can make a better world”, I realized that gaming is not just bad things. She suggested that more and more people spent time on gaming. At the same time, she showed a boy’s face who was playing game. The boy looked like different from normal face. The most important things that Jane listed in her show is four reasons she thought why gaming is good to make a better world. She thought that people will be more hard to work because gamers play games more careful and do their best in games. She also said that people will be more friendly in games and trust each other. It is better for society. However, If people are cheated by other gamers, will they be more rude or not trust others in real life? Hence, I have to say, every coin has its two sides. It is too early to think gaming can make a better world.

1. How do you define “spirituality”?

“Spirituality” is the word that both familiar to me. I said it is familiar to people because no matter what kind of color and what kind of cultural background  a person has in the life of their own that they have the same thought about spirituality. The most common and deepest question that human ask could make various interpretation and answer with leaving many works full of wisdom and imagination. Spirituality is different from different people. Sometimes, it could be a feeling on something or someone. This can stimulate people’s idea. At this time, we can call it spirituality.

2. Does spirituality differ from religion?

I think spirituality from different people can be same or different. It seems to be more or less such as what the origin of the universe is, what the essence of life is, and what a kind of ultimate power (such as God, etc.) or value (e.g., truth, love, etc.)does not exist. If so, how can we find him and know him. If he does not exist, then what the meaning of my existence is. This is one of the most common human experience, it is  also how the theme of many literature, film and television works; In addition, any kind of traditional culture in the world, both the east and the west, religious or nonreligious, will be the core which pay most attention to person’s spiritual. I said it is different because many people are affected by religion when they were young. On this point, spirituality can be different.

3. How do you define “creativity”?

Creativity is a kind of comprehensive and unique human skill. Whether a person has the creativity, it can distinguish people how is a first-class talent or third-rate talent. It is optimized by knowledge, intelligence, ability, and excellent personality traits. Creativity can generate new ideas, discovery and it also has the ability to create new things. For example, to create a new concept, new theory and update technology. Inventing new equipment, new methods, new works are a sign of creativity.

4. What is the source of creativity?

One source is knowledge. Absorbing and consolidate knowledge, mastering professional and practical technology, the accumulation of practice experience, the expanded aspect of knowledge and use knowledge to analyze problems, is the foundation of creativity. Intelligence is also important to creativity. The unique observation, highly concentrated attention, efficient and lasting memory and flexible operation are made by high  intelligence. Personality is another source to creativity. It can make people have never satisfied enterprise, strong thirst for knowledge, indomitable will and independent thinking.

During watching the video, I paid more attention on  Shahzia Sikander’s art. This is because she is good at showing her ideas about art on painting and I like it. When she was a child, she started to paint in school. Most students in her school learned painting on the floor and they have whit sheet with bare-feet. It was good for them to paint because the place is simple and clean. In her painting, she said that people need to respect tradition and be patient. She is also used to draw an edge before painting. That is one of her habits. She was born in India and most Indian women do not do painting or be an artist. In her idea, she think time is the key to show art. She never finishes a painting in 1 year. She will do it for 2 or 3 years.

In her painting, she has many amazing idea about art. Her most important spirituality is freedom to painting. “After finishing a painting, I just realized that I was drawing a painting.” Just like what she said. We can see that her creativity depends on her emotion and feeling at that time. Her most paintings include composition, ballet and stylization. And these are from her memory. For example, horses movement come from her experience and reading. It is amazing and visible memory. Sometimes it is hard to say only can be showed in painting.

However, she said people need to respect tradition and she breaks that. I am not sure how she break tradition in her balance. Sometimes, she indeed showed her creativity about painting. But for me, it is hard to understand her meaning. She did not tell us when can we follow tradition and when can we break it. It is possible that she thought different people have different ideas on tradition and searching spirituality.

The first article is called “The Curious Appeal of Horror Movies”. The writer stated her ideas about why so many people like to feel scared and enjoy the horror movie. She thought that curiosity is a powerful emotion for feeling horror and people need to release pressure though horror. Just like the writer said “Curiosity is a powerful emotion. There’s a sense of illicitness to horror that is very seductive, because from a very early age we are taught that watching horror movies, like porn and cigarettes and pinching the underside of your little brother’s arm to make him squeal, is wrong.”(O’Brien, para 5) This is true for me as well. Most people are not meant to see the horror movie. This feeling is effected people no matter how old they are. Sometimes, people just want to survive from the dark and unexpected things to compare with their real life. Just like people love to rollercoasters, they love to feel horror in the same way. Carroll said that“It stimulates our cognitive appetite with the prospect of something previously inconceivable.” (Carroll, page 287) People are always attracted by the horror because of their curiosity. With this curiosity, people start to seek for horror to enjoy. That liberation with dark ride is people want. People can know horror through seeing horror movies just like know violence through from violence movie.

The second article is called “Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them”. The writer stated his idea about the reason why different people have different attitude towards horror movies. He showed that the excitation transfer process, different Wiring, gender and novelty are the reasons to distinguish people who like horror movies or not. Just like Tartakkovsky said “Since danger disrupts routine, curiosity about change is important for survival. Sparks equated the pull of frightening films to stopping at the scene of a gory accident: ‘You don’t see that every day,’ he said.”( Tartakkovsky ) Sometimes people could not see the horrible accident in their daily life and they can feel it in horror movies. This experience is valuable. They can feel it just like it is true.  Carroll said that “we are attracted to, and many of us seek out, horror fictions of this sort despite the fact that they are 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.”(Carroll 284) The horror movies is same as the frictions, both of them need people’s curiosity. Even though horror is disgust, it can give people some unusual experience. People need these kind of horror to support their lives. Perhaps some people think it is sick, but it is necessary to cater people’s curiosity.

Bibliography:

O’Brien, Lucy (September  9, 2013). The Curious Appeal of Horror Movies. Retrieved from http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/09/the-curious-appeal-of-horror-movies

Carroll, N. (2002). Why Horror?. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (Eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., pp. 275-294). New York, NY: Routledge.

Tartakovsky, M. (2012, October 28). Why some people love horror movies while others hate them. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/10/31/why-some-people-love-horror-movies-while-others-hate-them

At the beginning of the video, I heard a women was introducing the main character. She gave us some background about the girl Buffy. I guess what the women said is non-diagetic sound. Because her voice is out of  this plot and she did not introduce herself, I thought it is non-diagetic. This part is very important to the following story. If no one know something about the main character, they will be confused  and do not know who is that girl.

After that, the main character came into the play. She was talking to a man with something.  Suddenly, a girl’s voice came to Buffy and his friend. This little girl was singing a beautiful song. Even though this song is beautiful, it is so scared that people were shocked. When the voice was more and more close to people, there is only a song with nothing. It made the aesthetic of horror be more real and scared. It gave the atmosphere to the plot. It is very normal to use in film. However, it is obvious that the girl’s voice is diagetic.

After opening the box, different people have different reaction. In the town, everything has been burned and people fought with each other. All the thing is a mess. With the intense and nervous song, the main character was running. The sound of footsteps and breathing. Demons’ voice made people get scared. This whole scene is mise-en-scene. We can see that sound and voice is so important to the video. The whole purpose is to made this video be more real.

Family Health Friendship Creativity Enjoyment

Thinking about my day on January 14^th, 2014, I followed what I think that is top 5 important values. When I get up, it is 8 am and it also 12 pm in my hometown, I called my father and told I missed him and my mother. This is my first time to leave home for 2 years. They never allowed me to study so far from them. However, I am a independent man and need to do something by myself. My family is always the first in my whole life. They are my everything. No matter what happen, they always support me. The second important value to me is health. If people have a good health, they can do their best on studying or working. With good health, it is useful to us to enhance our efficiency of studying. If people do not have good health, they will be hard to fight with difficulty. Today, I went to gym and worked out to keep my health good. Friendship and creativity are both third important things to me. People need friends and should work or study with others. We can help friends when they have troubles, and we have troubles they will do the same thing. People need to have creativity. Because creativity is important to product power, most company need people who has high creativity. The fifth important thing is enjoyment. I must be positive to handle everything. Hence, no difficulty can stop and beat me. Even though today’s homework is so hard to finish, I thought no one can do it better than me and I continued.

My family taught me a lot about how to be a man. People living in this earth have to handle different kinds of things. Hence, people need belief to support them. Nowadays, I always keep my father’s words in mind to do anything. Before speaking something, I need to consider whether my words are right to say. Whenever I meet with problems, I will try my best to solve it first. At the same time, my family think I am their hope, I need to do something to prove my value and never make them feel disappointed. Hence, I will continue my goal in my life and keep 5 important values in my mind.