Perhaps it is because I am tired and in pain, thanks to the slowly worsening pleurisy I have been dealing with for the last two months. Perhaps it is because I am sick and tired of inane political commentary and commercials as we head into the mid-term elections. And perhaps it is because I fought the good fight in owning an art gallery for 8 years, and tried to promote sometimes non-traditional artwork.
For whatever reason, I found this comment to be *really* grating:
This is art??? I sure hope the Federal Government didn’t for this through the NEA budget, but it sure has the feel of Obama “stimulus” about it.
Fuck me to tears.
Yes, it is art.
And no, the Federal Government didn’t pay for this. Because the goddam installation was created by a Chinese artist, and is on display at the Tate Modern – you know, the one in London. Which isn’t in the US, you idiot.
Now, I realize that the NPR article about Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds where I came across this comment doesn’t give the location of the Tate Modern. But both of the links in the article are to UK newspapers, one of which says the exhibit is in London in the opening paragraph. And I would fully expect anyone reading the NPR site (or hearing the news on NPR this morning) concerning such an exhibition would know this, as the Tate Modern is famous world-wide.
And yet we get this:
This is art??? I sure hope the Federal Government didn’t for this through the NEA budget, but it sure has the feel of Obama “stimulus” about it.
That’s not just ignorance. It’s proud ignorance. With a side dish of blind partisanship. It is the mindset that says that anything the writer doesn’t understand must obviously be not worth knowing, and besides, the fault of the damned liberals to boot.
Like the exhibit or not, that’s fine. Think that art is only pretty pictures on a wall, and that’s OK too. But pull your head out of your ass and be at least marginally informed about the matter before you decide to expound on it. Ignorance is nothing to be proud of.
Good lord.
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to Daily Kos.)
Filed under: Art, Blade Runner, movies, Predictions, Science Fiction, Society, tech
I’ll often re-watch a favorite movie. But seldom will I do so in the span of a couple of days.
However, this weekend I watched something which was so visually compelling, and which had me pondering a number of different issues, that I held onto the NetFlix envelop for an extra day so that I could watch the movie again after I had time to digest the first viewing of it. That movie is Renaissance.
OK, there are a lot of things to like about this movie. But first, let me say a couple of things about its weaknesses. The plot has minor problems. The dialog is uneven in places. Some of the characters are cartoonish.
Yet overall the movie is a success. As noted, most of the visuals are incredibly compelling – which is quite a nice accomplishment in using black & white (and grey tone) animation. When I re-watched the movie last night, I found myself pausing it just to take in some scenes more completely, and a bunch of the movie I watched at half-speed, just so I could appreciate how the artists did what they did.
I was also intrigued to see the vision of the near-term future the movie is based on. It’s set in 2054, just two years later than my novel Communion of Dreams is set. And a lot of the tech they foresee is the same sort of thing I do, at least that’s implied by what shows up on the screen. I found myself wanting to know a *lot* more about that world and how things worked – a good sign, and part of the reason I wanted to think about the movie for a couple of days before watching it again.
Another good thing about Renaissance are the references it makes to other highly regarded science fiction stories, as well as some of the less well-known ‘arthouse’ movies. But it doesn’t beat you over the head with those, or drop them in gratuitously – they serve a purpose, and are part of the overall look and story of the movie.
If you like good science fiction, if you like film noir, if you like animation not intended for children, then track down and watch Renaissance.
Jim Downey
Here, have some fun with this toy: Sistene Chapel.
But watch out for the vertigo. You might fall out of your chair.
Jim Downey
Never underestimate the power of art to distract.
I just sat down to have a drink and relax from working on those Russian maps this afternoon, having just gotten back to that. When I hear the front door slam shut, and Martha hollering at someone.
Hmm.
I set my drink down, got up, and went to investigate. There was a white car in the driveway, going around the front circle in the reverse manner from which most people do it. Martha was on the far side of the car, looking down, shouting instructions to the driver.
I went out, down the steps, and joined her. It was obvious in a glance what had happened: the driver had gotten off the gravel driveway, and into the grass in the center of the circle, in the process driving over one of the large (about 14″ on a side cube) limestone blocks and snagging his car. He was quite stuck.
“I’m *so* sorry!” he said as he got out of the car. “I was looking at the house . . . ”
‘. . . and wasn’t paying attention to your driving.’ I thought to myself.
Well, these things happen. I got down on my knees and investigated the details of the situation. The rock was wedged under what passes for a frame on a modern car.
“It’ll have to be jacked up,” said Martha. She understands these things. Just one of the reasons I love my wife.
“Have you got a real jack?” I asked the guy, as he started to open the trunk.
“Um, no, just the little one for changing tires.”
“OK, let me go get mine.” I went and grabbed my hydraulic floor jack and a thick piece of plywood to stop the jack from just sinking into the ground. I came back, positioned the plywood, then slid the jack into place. In just a couple of moments I had the car high enough to clear the rock. We got it out of the way.
“Gosh, I’m sorry for the damage to the grass.”
“It’ll grow back, no worries,” I replied.
“I was wanting to get a picture,” said the guy, pulling out a nice photo of a stairwell out of the back of his car to show us. “This is what I do.”
“Nice,” said Martha and I.
“Sorry about the grass.”
“Don’t worry about it. But you might want to pay attention to how your car handles for a bit,” I said.
“I’ve got insurance. But I’m not sure they’d believe this.”
‘I am,’ I thought as he drove away.
Jim Downey
to this post from Thursday. Saw the doc yesterday afternoon. The gold-plated antibiotics *seem* to be working, but we’ll see how the weekend goes. If I feel good by Monday, then all’s well. If not, then, well, it’s complicated. So hope for good. Besides, I have a new round of ballistics testing to do next week.
Take some time this weekend and browse these amazing photographs: Earth from Above.
Oh, and I’m a bit concerned what Communion of Dreams might inspire: For Creative Inspiration, Tech Geeks Turn To Sci-Fi.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Blade Runner, movies, Ridley Scott, Science Fiction, tech
Via BoingBoing, an interesting artistic project: BLADE RUNNER revisited >3.6 gigapixels. From the description of the project:
An experimental film in tribute to Ridley Scott’s legendary film “Blade Runner” (1982)
This film was made as a unique picture with a resolution of 60.000 x 60.000 pixels (3.6 gigapixels)
It was made with 167,819 frames from ‘Blade Runner’.1>first step : the “picture” of the film
I extracted the 167,819 frames from ‘Blade Runner’ (final cut version,1h51mn52s19i)
then I assembled all these images to obtain one gigantic image of colossal dimensions : a square of approximately 60,000 pixels on one side alone, 3.5 gigapixels (3500 million pixels)2> second step : an illusion
I placed a virtual camera above this big picture. So what you see is like an illusion, because contrary to appearances there is only one image. It is in fact the relative movement of the virtual camera flying over this massive image which creates the animated film, like a film in front of a projector.
It’s less than 5 minutes long, and you’ll want to watch it in ‘full screen’ mode to get the best effect. I find it a fascinating reaction/interpretation of one of my favorite movies.
Jim Downey
A friend who knows I’m not feeling well, and also knows that I don’t generally go to see movies in the theater (antisocial bastard that I am), sent me a link that he figured I probably hadn’t seen. It’s Presto, a short film from Pixar which ran as a special before WALL-E when it was out. Just in case you didn’t get to see it either . . .
Thanks, Jerry!
Jim Downey
I’d heard about this. But seeing it is . . . well . . .
No, really, I’m sober and everything.
Jim Downey
(Via TR.)
So, how many nuclear tests do you think there have been, since the Trinity test 65 years ago?
Go on, take a guess.
A few dozen?
A hundred?
A couple hundred?
Try over two thousand.
And via Phil Plait, here’s an absolutely stunning presentation of that number, as a video showing each individual test, by each individual nation, each one with a specific musical tone as it was done. Call it a music video of the nuclear age. It is really quite captivating.
And more than a little sobering.
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 