A little humor is in order. Here are some short videos if you can use a laugh.
From Blazing saddles:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=hYTQ7__NNDI
How I feel about the world at the moment:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=6pMcuqgSRds
Politicians:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD
Comedian Eddie Izzard on computers. Not much has changed in 20 years:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=TKQzqwn-jIM&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD
If you have any funny clips to share please do
Nostalgic Retro Futurism That Isn't
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| Bladerunner car 1982 |
Nostalgia
A word that has lost its meaning, but one that is forcing emotions on us by people who have none. I don't like having my emotions trampled on, especially when it's trying to sell me a product.
Nostalgia was successful when coca-cola invoked those sweet memories of childhood Christmas with its polar bear commercials. I don't even drink coke. When polar bears became associated with melting glaciers, and consumers disliked it, the company stopped.
2025 and the internet has become the playground of advertisers that do not know how to sell their products, because they lack the emotions to do so. Zuck is one of them. Would I like a robot companion to assist me? Maybe. Would I want an "AI" companion/friend programmed by his company? Absolutely not. I, like most people like my privacy.
As to the antics of Spacey, with his emotional development of a teenager and nothing further. It sounds trite but that's what drug consumption does. I suspect that he watches a lot of science fiction movies and reads a lot of science fiction, particularly the cyberpunk vision of the 90s, which he then sells as his own ideas. There is nothing predictive or futuristic there. The symbol for his AI is the mathematical representation of a black hole in Interstellar. The truck design is from Bladerunner. A few Mars movies and we're going extinct unless we fly there.
As to the neither futuristic nor visionary, Spacey actually wants to bring about the Culture series world of Iain Banks. Among the most intellectual of scifi novels, it describes a society thousands of years in the future. I recommend the books, wikipedia has a fairly decent review at the moment, but am truly frightened that he wants to be the creator father of this type of society.
There is a long history of science fiction inspiring science. The medical tricorder in Startrek inspired the MRI. Many others improved our lives. They weren't prototypes, but finished products.
I need CEOs who have more than the empathy of a rock and are inspired by utopian visions of improving lives, not fear mongering and dystopian visions of horror science fiction.
The irony of it all doesn't escape me; among the many themes in Bladerunner, the most significant one is Ridley Scott's exploration of what makes us human: Empathy.
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| Umberto Eco, who actually used the word imbecile in Italian |
Outrage has turned to a simmering anger. I am not used to this chronically induced emotion. It goes against my nature and personality. Yet every day I am confronted with anger in social media and countless other platforms, which then trickles into real life.
One of the most insignificant examples was someone I was introduced to who has a background in mammalian biology and is a child educator, who also has a blog with lively discussions on science and science fiction. Perfect.
Until Covid, when she took it upon herself to explain it to the rest of us. No background and no understanding of any kind. People were scared and needed answers, which public health should have provided. She claimed that Corona was named after the Christian crown of thorns, trying to impress her readers with the latin word. I corrected that when it was discovered it looked like the three dimensional corona of the sun. (Solar Corona). Significant for research because of all of those spike proteins.
"Oh, I was mistaken" did not occur to her, instead she wanted my qualifications and a reference citation then...insults. I was polite but shocked, six years later this uncivilized behavior is the norm.
Rage bait for clicks and self-promotion. She knew little about science, but knew how to market herself.
There's a video by a lesser known techbro selling AI as "on the cusp of a breakthrough through vibe physics." It's making the rounds in the physics community because it makes no sense, but is how a product is sold to investors; I have a feeling that this will be the next big thing.
Freedom of speech is being suppressed, hate speech is being promoted. It doesn't matter what field or industry I am addressing, all of them are affected: music, art, literature, tech etc
As to advertising; shopping therapy works when people are in a good mood or mildly stressed, not when they're angry.
Came across Amanda Palmers expression of emotions. I'm not a fan of her music. There's also controversy in her personal life, which I'm not referring to. However, she makes an interesting 6-minute point about fear, some of which resonated.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJRq3PvxSmi/?hl=en
Silence is not the answer.
When artists, musicians and modern technology combine, the results can be amazing and innovative.
Producers of Tomorrowland: Mostly EDM themed
Obviously.
We want a symphonic Orchestra.
'Kay
With a harp.
'Kay
Violins, Cellos, well, heck, ALL the strings.
'Kay
Trumpets
'Kay
And a choir.
'Kay
Japanese Drummers
'Kay
And we want Animal from the Muppets, except he's named Trumpet, with a trumpet playing Eminem.
???
Accompanied by DJs with a digital turntable, lightshow, pyrotechnics, giant screens, confetti, and sparkles.
What do we call this musical improbability?
Producers: Symphony of Unity. Obviously.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=tmGoxysWyEg
The message at the end is a simple reminder;
Love, Peace and Unity for us all.
Inspired by a fellow blogger, I thought about the important role music plays in our lives. Music is very individual, influenced by what we are exposed to as children through our parents, peer groups culture cities, movements but ultimately CHOICE.
When it comes to music, more is better.
In the last decade, I frequently hear that the 90s were the best that music had to offer us through sheer variety and access. Digital gave as the mobility to accompany us through life, while analog gave us the quality of sound.
I was fortunate that I grew up at a time when record stores still existed and I could rifle through vinyl records and CDs in huge stores with knowledgable staff where the only limitation was time.
What type of music is brought to our attention is usually driven by big producers and companies. That has always been the case; they choose what is being played on the radio, on TV or streamed. What hasn't been the case is that marketing has gone too far; it's no longer about the music, but psychoanalyzing why we like what we like. So we end up in some algorithmic choice that isn't ours. We are put into groups and demographics, but unlike a DJ who reads the crowd, a thoughtless code is analyzing our views. There is no neuroscientist or program that will ever figure out why I like what I like when it comes to music, which I can only call eclectic.
I used to dance hip hop, therefore influenced by beats. However, when people met me they were surprised that I also like EDM. It didn't fit their perception of me. That I could possibly enjoy techno was inconceivable. That I know the difference between funk, deep house or melodic techno also did not fit people's preconceived notions and since we are modeling software on social behavior neither will a digital program in the foreseeable future.
So here's a music fusion track that never fails to put a smile on my face:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wCDIYvFmgW8
Feel free to share any song that motivates and uplifts.
People who claim that homo sapiens is the worst and most destructive species to have ever lived are incorrect. We are simply the product of this planet. Survivors of a food chain based evolution. To our knowledge the only species that transformed various environments to our needs. We are neither alphas nor apex predators.
And on a much smaller scale animals have done the same. Elephants in the wild migrate great distances, because they overgraze their local habitats. Lions who fight and win their new pride of females, habitually kill the cubs of predecessors and rivals.
They don't have a choice. We do.
Climate change has always existed. This is a somewhat hostile planet. But unless there is a natural disaster, these changes usually took thousands of years. The anthropocene has seen a significant climate change in just two hundred years. Nature will adapt because it always has. But humans cannot, because we need a Goldilocks zone to exist and cannot inhabit much without technology. That's where our focus needs to be.
Just a brief reminder to please not mention any government individuals by name.
I have taken art courses since I was a child. There was an aptitude that many artists have, a passion that non-artists dont understand as it borders on healthy obsession. I went to art school and took many courses and master classes parallel to my science studies.
I knew early on that I did not want to make it my full time job, but also that art was an essential part of my being. I was quite good and creative, but there are artists far more talented than myself. Color theory, art history and other foundational courses gave me the techniques that were invaluable.
I focused on scientific, botanical illustration as well as wildlife. I exhibited, taught, sold commissioned work and basically had the freedom to do so when an opportunity or interesting project presented itself.
Among the many pet peeves of mine is the art market and the constant BS around it. Curators influence collectors, who often do not understand art at all but are looking for investments and a good story. Van Gogh is a perfect example. In an age where everything needs to be 'psychologized' some art historians suggested that he was schizophrenic. It creates attention, raises auction prizes and sounds much better than well, actually he was often drunk on absinthe, and loopy.
Art is a special ability, a gift and superpower. Our brains are as different as the individuals who create it. Some artists fit the typical hippie image others do not. And many conceptual artists create the avantgarde persona that people want to see.
Obviously, we all have different tastes and what is beautiful to one person is not interesting to another.
Recently, someone asked to see my portfolio. I showed it despite being aware that I was dealing with someone without genuine interest. As she flipped through, she saw one of my butterfly paintings, she asked:"what is the symbolism of this painting?" " It means that it's a butterfly", I responded. (I doubt she got the Rohrschach reference)
She continued to flip through it, does the placement mean anything? It's a green sea turtle, for a project I participated in for an endangered species exhibit. "No, just an interesting composition". The misconception that many people have is that all art is abstract expressionism, meaning more than just a faithful representation of the object. As I said, it's a pet peeve of mine of living in a society that needs to psychoanalyze everything, even when that's not their qualification.
When a friend of mine saw my framed 'Puffins on a rock', he liked it, then asked "why do they look depressed?" Huh? Ah. "It's their marking. Like cheetahs, black reflects the sun from their eyes."
Of course there are many paintings that are symbolic, and many that aren't. The age old what if it means something or what if it means nothing applies. In the meantime, let's just appreciate the beauty of art.
I woke up in a good mood as I usually do. Had my coffee. Ready to take on the day. Avoided media because there is no point at the moment. Thought about communication and conversations which have been less than satisfactory of late.
Then noticed that despite my efforts, a midge had made it into the home. Someone in my household reacts and as I learned it's actually a tropical wasp that camouflages as a fruitfly, except that it has orange eyes and warning stripes on closer inspection. It means that I have some hunting, swearing and squishing ahead of me. Welcome to global warming.
I'm an extrovert, I'll smalltalk with anyone, except that phones have turned everyone into experts who at times must share their opinion and convince me of it. Agreeing to disagree is no longer an option, there is a rise in aggression that I have never encountered before and no longer know how to deal with. This is not normal behavior.
Among the many almost daily examples was someone in the caregiving industry (the irony does not escape me), who was helping me with my father, and who had not gone to university. I don't look down on people and never have. I am well aware that life happens and there is little correlation between IQ and University. Many people are autodidactic and can gather enough science information later in life.
He called, we made arrangements and then we chatted. He initiated the topic that Bill Gates was killing African Women by making them infertile through pesticides.
I corrected him and told him that Gates was funding several projects through business philanthropy to make mozzies infertile and that this was mostly through genetic modification, which, if successful, will lead to lucrative patents. It won't affect humans in any way because the propagated myth that we share 98% of DNA with a fruitfly is a persistent myth. My personal opinion is that it won't work. Although I wouldnt mind if mozzies went extinct. Maybe I'm too influenced by Crighton's Jurassic Park in which nature always finds a way.
Rather than the expected civil discussion, he became irrational, belligerent and insulting:"You don't know what you're talking about...you idiot!...He's going to kill us all...". Yikes. One of those. We haven't spoken since and he is no longer working in that field.
People no longer know how to communicate. They no longer listen. They have forgotten how to engage in discourse. It is deeply troubling and concerning as the alternative is to no longer engage in conversation.
I went to the washroom just now. Learned that the tropical visitor, resistant to chlorine and bleach, also uses water in its lifecycle. Instead of saving it, I flushed. Sometimes problems take care of themselves.
Today was another day in this new crazy world that offered the following: a friend canceled plans at the time we were supposed to meet, which meant that I also couldn't run the errand that I had planned to run as an alternative. While sitting at a bistro I overheard two students discussing their recent high-school graduation, the heat, how the sun burned more than usual...I muttered, "I wonder how the ozone layer is doing". They turned toward me, with genuine ignorance and no ridicule; "What's the ozone layer?" Well. F..k.
On my way home, I entered a surplus store that occasionally has surprisingly good stuff. My haul: Stickers.
YES. STICKERS.
Not the stickers of childhood, which one eventually outgrows. These stickers come in 3D from kitsch and kawai to "vintage European ephemera, daily planner, botanical, space dragon mystical grimoirecauldronharrypotteroldticketsletterhead *catches breath* stickers. Mini works of art that make it home into my little art journals that I've prepped with gesso and washes on the days were I just need to create something.
Take that Patisserie...uhm, what?
(Omg. Philistine AI autocorrected Matisse)
While looking up other synonyms for non-intellectual, AI actually couldn't offer "an overview". Croissant and Patisserie is as far as AI got when it comes to French names.
Where was I?
Take that, Monsieur Matisse and your colored paper cut-outs. You too, Rauschenberg and Man Ray and your magazine collage cut outs. In the 21st century we have stickers thanks to the scrap booking industry. They make my life better.
What object or objects used for creativity is improving your life in this century?
Blue Dragon We used to call this music new age ambient or chillout. The millenials have renamed it Lofi; music to relax, study or fall aslee...
