The Creator's Project: Julius von Bismarck

Technology meets art. Creating an out-of-body experience by placing a camera in a balloon approximately ten feet above your head pointed down at your head transmitting what it records in real time to the small screens in a mask you are wearing... Among other interesting ideas.
http://www.juliusvonbismarck.com/

The Assassination of Dr. Tiller

This was difficult to watch, but I think Rachel Maddow did an excellent job with the hour-long investigation.

Susumu Yokota - Fairy Link

The Poetry of Science: Richard Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson

I don't own a television set, so this is how I spend my Saturday evenings. I found this discussion enlightening and very entertaining.

Perfectly Gothic Day

I do love a dark and dreary day. We don't get many of those here in Texas... It's usually either sunny and hot or sunny and cold. Today was a perfectly gothic late October day in Texas, complete with tornado sirens this morning, followed by hours of dark clouds and steady rain... The inner goth in me loves these days.

We'll see if we can come up with a few links to set the mood:

More hippie shit...

I've been interested in the idea of barefoot shoes for a while now... I simply must have a pair of these...
http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/products_KSO_m.cfm

Longhairs

I know from experience that skateboarding with long hair can be hazardous because it gets in the way of your line of vision. I had always tied my hair back when skating, although this guy doesn't seem to have a  problem with it at all... I'm impressed.

Stephen Fry: On Language

Time Lapse Iceland Volcano

Do you remember that volcano in Iceland that was causing havoc for European airlines this summer? This person captured the most beautiful (actually, the only) time lapse film I have ever seen of a volcano in action.


Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

Music by: Jónsi - Kolniður (jonsi.com)

On creativity

This was a really interesting video on the subject of how the left side of the brain (rational) takes over the right side (visual/creative) as we learn language skills and develop symbolic thinking. I'm not exactly sure what's up with the kooky baseball cap turned sideways... He is obviously a really smart guy.


As a left-handed person, I have always been interested in how the different sides of the brain operate. I am terrible at abstract mathematics, I struggle at remembering even the vocabulary of the English language, much less foreign languages, and I simply do not think symbolically. I am an avid reader, but I read at a snail's pace compared to other people I know... But then drawing from memory, drawing a floorplan from memory, or even drawing in perspective from memory is something that I can do lightning fast and is completely natural for me.

Cai Guo-Qiang - I Want to Believe

In my 3D Design classes, one of the things I have the students do is to create a project using the idea of multiples. I give them a list of artists who use multiples in their artwork and Cai Guo-Qiang is always a favorite among the students. I totally agree. This is a very nice video taken from his show at the Guggenheim in New York. No music... No narrator...Just the art...



My own artwork uses the idea of multiples, but I didn't make the connection between his artwork and my own until I saw the visual similarity between the image in the video and the arrows in my header image...