Here is my original own artistic version of the Runquist murals:

As you see, I generally use a “tree” shape, to provide you a picture to share my point of views. I use different font and color to list different time period of the development of artists’ interpretation of Murals. I put them into the “trunk” and the body of the tree because I think those are basic and important during art’s development. And you also can see the apples in the tree, those apples simply present what art bring us and the influences from art. The sunshine and rain are like necessary nutrient to a tree’s growth, in other words, with art’s development, there must be some famous artist came out to push and become a symbol of that time. At last, the sun, most important thing, without sun, there is no lives, therefore, all artists in the world they must have same ability which called “CREATIVITY.”

Creative

Exclusive

Realistic

Love

Impressive

Dramatic

Positive

Darkside

Flexible

Inner world

According to the speech “Laws That Choke Creativity” which given by Larry Lessig, he summarized the development and commercialization of telecommunications technology, tells three stories to pointed out the problem which is called “Read-only culture.” The RO culture is “one where creativity is consumed but the consumer is not a creator. Before the arrival of the internet, culture creation was owned by those on top, with the proverbial vocal cords of the mass silenced.” However, when internet comes, this problem could be fixed, like Larry said in his speech “its opportunity to revive the read-write culture.” I agree with this opinion very much, it is the fact that before internet comes, many resources were undering a commercial monopoly by some powerful organizations. At that time people be deprived of their creativity and it is negative for develop of human culture. However, when internet created, people can find and use many sources that they want to, and a new idea called “remix” comes out, too. Which doesn’t mean copy or stealing, it is a brand new idea to recreating, using digital technologies to say things differently. The importance of this is like he said “the technique has been democratized.” It is absolutely a huge progress and advantage for people to share ideas, for kids to creating, and for all human’s future development.

During this week, we are talking about technology & art, in Jones’s article, “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins.” I think the author mainly want to discuss about the relationship between technology and art, and with the development of old/origin technology, how does it related to human society and what is the effect of people’s life. As the author states her thesis in his article “reflecting origins and prior practices, these embedded patterns may have existed in art, technology or other aspects of material and symbolic culture.” (51). The author traces the evolution from alphanumeric hardcopy, static and dynamic screen images, through objects and events that are not screen-based, to dynamic, interactive, multisensory output. The effects of origins and prior practices are not only in technology but also in art, and during so many years’ development, computer graphics and new technologies normally been used and influence every people’s life.

Jones provides some examples as an illustration of her thesis. One of them is “The stone columns of ancient Egyptian architecture were based on earlier bound papyrus columns. Early oil paintings were similar in technique to egg tempera…edges.”(51).This is a great example which related to the author’s thesis to let us know the connection between art and technology, both of them were based and rely on each other, they cannot be divided apart. Just like she mentioned in her article “Old cultural patterns do not die.” (51).

In today’s culture, there are so many art work or technology are also based on old patterns and both art and science are perfectly related to each other. There is a very simple and easy understandable example I want to provide is most modern buildings especially high building like (Eiffel tower, Burj Khalifa Tower) always has a shape of triangle or triangle top. As most people know the theory, “Triangle has the stability.” Where is this come from? It is from “Egyptian pyramid.” The Egyptian pyramid has thousands history in human culture, and it is a great art work with a great talent of scientific technology, it perfectly represents the combine of art and technology and influence human’s cultural development till today.

There is a short article I find online is talk about the connection between art and technology, the author pointed out “Both science and art involves the systematic use of a technique or a skill and involves the testing of ideas and theories.” It is true, both artists and scientists are creating new things, and I personally think both art and science often related to each other, as the example given by this article, the author talked about Da Vinci, a world famous real artist, “His amazing scientific drawings are a work of art, and his paintings are the subject of many scientific theories.”

References

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

Unknow. The connection between Art & Technology. Retrieved on March 2, 2014, from http://www.digitalartforall.com/91/the-connection-between-art-technology/

After watching the speech “Gaming can make a better world” given by Jane McGonigal, she mainly discussed about how online games influence people’s lives positively and through playing games people can make better lives of our world. There were a few points she mentioned that impressed me very much. As she said “when we are in game worlds, I believe that many of us become the best version of ourselves…the most likely to stick with a problem as long at it takes, to get up after failure and try again. And in real life, when we face failure…we feel overcome, overwhelmed we feel anxious, maybe depressed, frustrated or cynical.” This part pointed out a reality that the difference when people face failure between virtual world and reality. However, through this part, I think people can actually learn a lot from game world, we should have confidence and learn how to work with other people to solve many problems in our real lives, just like we solve those problems in virtual world. Although I know the fact is the problem in virtual world is totally different from real world, but I mean choose what attitude to face the problem is much more important we should learn. Such as confidence, teamwork, passion, and perseverance.

1. How do you define “spirituality”?

Spirituality is a very abstract word to explain, in my opinion, Spirituality is an awareness of self, nature and the universe beyond physical realism. It is a consciousness, a state of mind. In real life, it can be reflected in many ways, such as a person’s ability to comprehend things and the ability to feel, to observe things around us, a person who has spirituality can find out insight into the nature of things or focus and can quickly respond appropriately or make the right choice, no spiritual person is kind like doing things busy all day panic but has no efficiency and mediocrity.

2. Does spirituality differ from religion?

I personally think yes, spirituality has some common ideas from religion but it is different from religion, I think religion is a part and a developed of spirituality. Spirituality is more general and abstract, it can be specific to one person, but religion is wide and well organized has a very complete system. There’re many kinds of religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). And religion is a spiritual bond, is an organization or hierarchy, a member of the community or country in unity of spirit and spiritual power base, with the value of life orientation function, control the social order, social cohesion forces function etc..

3. How do you define “creativity”?

Personally, creativity can be explains as to generate new ideas, the ability to discover and create new things. It must be something or thoughts originally, According to some purpose, by using people’s existing knowledge and ability to produce some kind of new, unique, social or include personal value of the product. This is the successful completion of certain psychological qualities necessary for creative activity. The “product” we called, can be many things, such as a new concept, a new vision, a new theory, a new technology, a new artwork.

4. What is the source of creativity?

In my opinion, creativity is not something just pops out of your brain without any reason or foundation. I believe no matter people create, it must come from people’s daily life’ experiences or something during their observation to give people inspiration in their mind and then push people to create new things or new thoughts. I do believe that the creativity must has important connection from spirituality we talked. Because without the spirituality, a person has no such ability to comprehend things and observing things well in their lives, thus, they cannot create things without foundation.

This week we are going to learning about the topic “creative spirituality”, according to the book “The Mission of Art”, written by Alex Grey, I’ve heard his name and this book before, This book talked about art’s power to bring about personal catharsis and spiritual awakening. The author’s reflections combine his extensive knowledge of art history and his own life experiences in creating art on the boundaries of consciousness. Included are practical techniques and exercises that can be used to explore the spiritual dimension of art.

From what we read for this week, the chapter 3, which called “Deeply Seeing”. The word “look” and “see” has very close meaning, I like the author’s explanation of the differences between them, “Seeing occurs when our attention is arrested by a person, object, or scene. Our mind stops chattering and pays attention. We see both the shape of the thing and its meaning to us. We are drawn out of our isolated, self- absorbed state.”(p72.) and then he gave us his own experience as an example to show us what is deeply seeing and its impact, which is the object of our contemplation into our heart and mind very directly and the relationship of the egoic boundaries between ourselves and otherness. Why the author wrote a lot about this part called “deeply seeing”? And the reason I chose this part to write as well is because we finally talk about is art. However, like Grey said in his article “Seeing determines every aesthetic decision.”(p71). I have to agree about this opinion, because seeing the subject is the basic and necessary condition for every artist before they create their own art, without seeing the object, how could they develop or put their own thoughts and new ideas on them? On the other hand, for the audiences, is the same. Vision is the most basic but direct way to determine our aesthetic decision.

This week, we are talking about enjoying horror movies. The first article I find is from University of Chicago Press Journals, which talks about why do people love horror movies and gives explanation about it. In this article, the author pointed out an argument “A bedrock assumption in theories that explain and predict human behavior is people’s motivation to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. How can this be reconciled with the decision to engage in experiences known to elicit negative feelings, such as horror movies.” According to this argument, I would like to discuss about this question, yea, if people watch movie is a purpose to pursue pleasure and avoid pain, why do they voluntarily put themselves into fear feelings? Some people may feel very uncomfortable and even cannot go to sleep after watching a horror movie, but why they still want to enjoy horror, still willing to pay for it?

         In this article, the author gave us explanation which was “The first is that the person is not actually afraid, but excited by the movie. The second explanation is that they are willing to endure the terror in order to enjoy a euphoric sense of relief at the end.” I agree with these two reason, so many people like to watch horror movies are not about fear or self-torment, for instance, one of my roommate, Andrew, he is very positive and optimistic during his daily life, you can never think about he is a crazy fan of watching horror movies. I asked him why he likes horror movies, his answer is simple but reasonable. He told me, watching horror movie because he find it’s exciting, and also a kind of way to release pressure from studies or works. In contrast to Carroll’s article “Why Horror?” Carroll gave an opinion of why people attracted by horror movies or horror stories, Carroll said “All narratives might be thought to involve the desire to know- the desire to know 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.” (p281.) I agree with this point because as the audience of a horror film, most people want to discover the things that unknown or unknownable, the curiosity is triggered by the existence of the monster which in part is highly unusual with regards to our schemas. Therefore, we find a deep desire within ourselves to know about them.

         The second article I read was written by Margarita Tartakovsky, which also talks about horror movies. In his article, he not only discussed about why people love horror movies but also pointed out some people hate horror films. The author discussed both side of horror movies in very physiological and scientific ways. For instance, he stated in his article “According to Glenn Sparks, Ph.D, a professor and associate head of the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University, one reason for the appeal is how you feel after the movie. This is called the excitation transfer process. Sparks’s research found that when people watch frightening films, their heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increases.” This is a scientific explanation to let us know when and after people watching a horror movie, the feeling which most people called “exciting” really is. There is another interesting example in this article which I would like to share with you is “Men often like [scary films] as date movies because women are more likely to seek physical closeness when they’re scared, and men can show off their strength and bravery,” Cantor said. (This is aptly called “the cuddle effect.”) this is very interesting opinion and it is the fact. Because men always want to show their brave to girls and enjoy girl’s fear to let girls find protection and rely on men themselves. However, on the other hand, author also talked about the negative impact of horror movies to children. “…college students who watched scary movies or shows before 14 years old had trouble sleeping and felt anxious about typically safe activities or stopped engaging in them altogether…Even if it’s make-believe, she said, it’s still scary for young kids. For older kids, realistic threats, such as kidnappings and child molestation.” These problem are serious and very important for parents to know. Everything has its positive and negative parts, although horror movies can let people release their stress but for kids, parents should pay more attention to take care of their children of what kind of movie they watch. If children watch too many movies with horror, blood, violence, it is unhealthy for their growth, it may cause them crime when they grow up. All in all, different people have different thoughts and tastes of watching horror movies. The only thing we need to pay attention is about our self-control and education children.

References

University of Chicago Press Journals. (2007, July 31). Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 15, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070725152040.htm

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). Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 15, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/10/31/why-some-people-love-horror-movies-while-others-hate-them/

Diegetic sound

The example I choose is the first day after the demons take all people’s voice from the town, one of Buffy’s friend comes to school, when she go through the hall, is so quiet and have no sound, a man comes in with a glass of water and dropped by accident, the sound that glass hit the ground and broken is a great example of diegetic sound. Although it is very short but this detail makes a very good impact to the audience and a horror feeling to people in this movie, to remind them their voice had been taken by demons.

Non-diegetic sound

The example I choose from movie is that when the demon want to steal people’s voice with a small box at first night, when that demon opened up the box, a sound comes with it,(from 13:32-13:36), it sounds like wind but not only this but also another kind of sound. This few seconds is non-diegetic sound, it successfully makes a horror feeling to me, I don’t know what is this box use for at that moment, but it do contribute fear to me, to attract me want to keep going to see what will happen next, and to imagine what is this box made for.

Mise-en-scene

The example I choose is the first night the demon show up, at very beginning, the belfry, the camera from bottom to the top, outside to inside, with horrible sound comes, I don’t know what will happen, then, I saw a pair of withered hands carrying a box, when the demon opened the box, the scene change to the outside of the belfry again, and it was 1:00 am, it’s an information to tell us most people in this town might fall asleep, and then the scene change to view the whole town, then towards to a house, finally into the house and see a bed, which let me know, the demon wants to steal voice at that time, it was great mise-en-scence, which has a very clear and step by step to contribute such horror feelings to the audience, awesome.

My dressing and body adornment presents a clear manifestation of my personal beliefs and values. As a man, I seek to express my manhood, my beliefs, and personality through my dressing and body adornment. Moreover, I express my values, religious beliefs, and ideological perspectives through my dressing. As a conservative person and a student, my dressing and body adornment seeks to promote decency, conservativeness, and formality. My school, gender, and religious orientation motivate me to dress in a manner that does not expose my body, reflects professionalism, and respects my culture. As such, I do not wear tight clothes, revealing clothes, or any clothes that disregards my cultural ethics. Indeed, my cultural beliefs and respect for my traditions defines my dressing and body adornment. My personal beliefs and values forbid me from wearing clothes that will expose my masculinity. Moreover, I dress to satisfy my emotions and to remain fashionable. I also consider my position in the society and the need to respect others while dressing. As I seek to maintain my dignity, I do not envy body adornments like tattoos since they demean personal beliefs and cultural values, which forbid men from body adornments. I believe in time management and hence I wear watches and choose stylish dressing to keep pace with the modern fashions. Assuredly, I dress to please myself and remain ethical in the diverse society.
The main factor that defines my choice of clothing is to express my feelings and represent my personal beliefs and values. Moreover, the need to remain ethical and manifest professionalism influences my dressing decisions and choices. In addition, my cultural values and parental guidance influences my choice of dressing as I seek to respect my parents and tradition through my dressing. Notably, my parents are the custodians of my cultural dressing beliefs. Nevertheless, the need to embrace modernity and remain fashionable forces me to balance between cultures and fashion in my dressing. The weather also influences my dressing choices as I seek to adapt to different climates and remain healthy. Moreover, my sporting needs and decency requirements define my dressing. The need to visit different venues also defines my dressing choices since the workplace and attending lectures will require specific clothing. I also choose my dressing with reference to the respect, ethics, and morality that I seek to present to the society. Ultimately, the need to address my personal experiences that recently taught me how to dress after my dressing exposed me to great embarrassment influences my dressing choices.
I have changed my dressing and body adornment over the years. Notably, my cultures, peers, environment, and personality influenced my dressing and body adornment choices. I have been moving from one location to another, which forces me to change my dressing as I seek to adapt to the dressing needs of specific locations. Ideally, as I moved from one location to another, there were cultural changes that forced me to change my dressing. As I grew up, my personality and religion changed and hence the need to change my dressing to reflect the new religious and personal beliefs. My peers also changed my way of dressing as they kept changing their dressing choices to reflect the new dressing trends. The need to adhere to my parents’ dressing advice and workplace requirements forced me to change my dressing as I sought to keep my job and respect my parents. Moreover, my new responsibilities, personal values, and beliefs that varied with my maturity forced me to keep changing my dressing.
I grew up in a traditional Chinese family, as our cultural background, my parents reserved the core beliefs and values in my family, which included decency, respect, and dignity. My parents communicated these beliefs and values through their dressing and body customization as well as how they advised me to dress on specific occasions. Indeed, their dressing and fashion advice sought to reflect our family’s core beliefs and values. As such, they disregarded tattoos, adorned watches, wore fashionable and decent clothes at all times, and dressed to the occasion. Their dressing manifested decency, dignity, respect, and modernity at all times.
Nevertheless, my peer community has different core beliefs and values as they represent Generation Y, which abhors hipster life. Indeed, my peer community dresses to attract attention, stay stylish, and identify with their colleagues. Most of all, they believe in body adornments and have no respect for decency, dignity, or professionalism. Notably, they derive their fashion from the celebrities in the entertainment scene and hence their dressing changes often.
Ideally, my peer community expresses their core beliefs and values through dressing and body adornments. Notably, they believe in tattoos and sagging shorts. They dye their hair, put on dreadlocks, and maintain uncombed hair. They also put on oversize and V-shaped neck t-shirts that expose their masculinity and haired chests. Some of them put on short ties, cowboy boots, oversized plastic framed glasses, pendants, and skinny jeans that outlined their bodies. As such, their dressing and body adornment expressed their core beliefs and values for hipster and gangster life.