I LIKE TO THINK ABOUT...IF I WAS FROM PARIS (WOULD I SAY OOH LA LA LA LA LA LA LAA?)

I never do music posts. This is mainly because I have the musical talent of Mumble from Happy Feet. Yet, I'm glad to inform you that I know really good music when I hear it (sometimes). Grace Potter and the Nocturnals were guests on David Letterman the other night and I was blown away that the performance was live. Once you see the video you'll know what I mean; Grace's voice is flawless. It's incredible. To my untrained ear even more so...hum- I don't really know what I'm saying. Can you see why I stuck to art and science posts?

I LIKE TO THINK ABOUT...MY GALACTIC ROAD TRIP

You know, any kind of vacation is sweet, but intergalactic road trips beat New York flat. Not like I know from experience, Bigelow Aerospace wont launch its first space guests until 2015 (the company plans to build a "fleet of space taxis, space-hotels-even a private moon base." (The Year in Science- Discovery- 100 Top Stories of 2010, article written by David Kushner)) Yet until that happens and I'm one hundred and fifty years old, I get to sit back and watch sci-fi movies and wear nebula prints.

I LIKE TO THINK ABOUT...IDEAS WORTH SPREADING

Even on Christmas Eve I can't resist a good blog post! I've been watching tons of TED talks these past few days and I wanted to assimilate all of these ideas that I've thought up out of my head and into yours...are your minds ready for this tsunami of knowledge? Don't worry, this is the kind of messed up stuff that I think about around two in the morning...

While I think this is very interesting...and creative, who is this fool to decide the origins of beauty? Who is this man to say that because of my ancestors, I like teardrop shapes? Oh-right. He got a degree in philosophy or art history thirty years ago...it's interesting how once you receive your degree, you always have it. It's not like a drivers license that has to be renewed ever so often, no. Once your an expert in the complex art of Asian-American studies, you will always be an expert of Asian-American studies years after you forget the names of your professors let alone the principles of the useless study that you are a so called master in. It'd be interesting if they could take away that plaque on graduates bedroom walls when they forget the Pythagorean theorem or causes of WWI. We'd probably a much more educated society.

Now this is crazy. I wonder how many non-deciding decisions I make in a day...this is going to haunt me the next time I go to the DMV.
I'd also like to mention how funny this guy is- I really want to read his cookbook!

This last one speaks for itself. Funny, useful, scientific, charming, and nerdy- this is the best TED talk ever.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

I LIKE TO THINK ABOUT...THINKING AS AN INTROVERT

This is an extroverted world. Mainly because extravert's are loud attention seekers...but it also just seems to be the way society is designed. That people say what they're thinking and yell to be heard, repeat what they say over and over again, while introverts like me are gradually convinced that there is something wrong with us not liking parties and wanting alone time. Seriously world, wake up. Half of all people are introverts trying to live in an extroverted world. We're thinkers and dreamers, but it seems like that's not enough. We have to be aggressive and pushy and loud and annoying to be thought of as normal..hmmm- sorry extrovert friends, I'm bashing all of your bad qualities, but I know there are some good qualities too. None of which I will mention in this post/rant. Sorry.
Psychology Today had an article called 'Revenge of the Introvert' in one of their past issues. It began with an anecdote from a psychiatrist wondering why she was so tired after seeing her patients for the day. She was so worn out that she, a therapist, had to go see a another therapist. Why? She's an introvert who found the constant interaction with people tiring.
That's just case sample #1- here's the rest of the article. REVENGE OF THE INTROVERT
I have also experienced this phenomenon...I grew up with an extroverted parent and two extroverted friends who thought it was so odd how I liked to be alone all the time. In middle school I was emo (okay, so that was partially because of my My Chemical Romance-esq military jacket and no smile policy), in high school things started to even out. I came into my own and realized that I didn't have to like what other people did. I didn't need to go to dance parties and those stupid teen clubs where girls do that grinding stuff...this could go off on a completely different tangent about how stupid that makes girls look, but I'll try and stay on topic- I could like reading and drawing and staying home on Friday nights. Screw other people.
With love to my introverted friends, I'm putting up some links to their blogs and fan fiction accounts. One of the awesome parts about being introverts is our incredible ability to have so much web presence!
Emily- This Is What I Did Today, CoolStudyGuide's
Amanda- angel-unknown
There are also amazing studies done on the effects of introversion on religious belief and politics. In an article by Neuropolitics.org in March 2006 (I write this to be wary of how old the document in question is and take its findings with a grain of salt...what a strange idiom.)
"Extroverts are usually more religious, more likely to literally interpret religious doctrine, more likely to believe in their political party's platforms, more likely to organize themselves into social groups, and more
likely to align their beliefs to what other people believe in those same social groups."
"On the other hand, introverts are typically less religious, less likely to participate in organized groups, less likely to believe in their political party's platforms, and less likely to give as much weight to what other people believe, inside or outside of their social groups."
I just thought that this was particularly interesting and I'll probably do another post on it later!

I LIKE TO THINK ABOUT...THE AMERICAN OBSESSION

Tis the season to go watch The Nutcracker Ballet! I just saw the NCDT performance last night and loved it so much more than usual...the dancers were amazing. Absolutely amazing. I was a dancer a long time ago and performed in the ballet twice as a rat and babushka, which gives me a very exciting view of the performance. A good dancer is a good dancer, but it's interesting to focus on why they're a good dancer. The main "point" being that the dance must look effortless. Absolutely effortless.
My question though is, why is The Nutcracker so popular in America? It isn't this popular anywhere else in the world. As you may have guessed, and or heard, NPR asked this question on their show On Point.
Here's an essay that I wrote to describe my experience as an aspiring ballerina.

Where We Danced

The majority of my young life was spent in a tutu; it was pink with glitter and rhinestones that left tornadoes of sparkles behind me when I twirled. And I twirled often; I trained for ten years at the School of the North Carolina Dance Theater with a dream to become a professional, nine-to-five dancer. My first ballet was The Nutcracker, which my parents and I went to see when I was at the tender age of two. According to my mom, at the end of the performance I yelled, clapped, and waved my stuffed animals in the air with glee; the next day I was signed up for a dance class. After ten years of ballet, I sit in the studio and watch the professional perform- but now I know that dancing isn’t all gum drops and sugar plum fairies.
I began my training at the age of three with Ms. Sabrina, a young modern dancer with a large tolerance for children. At three you don’t so much as dance, but run amuck in wild circles of twinkles, and spin so fast that your hair pins fly out. Ms. Sabrina would put on a song and tell us to be amoebas wriggling on the floor; then she would say, “Be tigers!” We’d growl at each other and put our tutus around our faces because we were kids and that’s what kids do.
After class, my classmates and I would walk out into the lobby and eat our dinner where we could watch the trained dancers in the main studio. They would leap and twirl effortlessly with grace and precision before landing on the box of their point shoes, which struck the mat with a dull thud. The music would reverberate through the studios grey walls and grey floor, over the hum of the air conditioning and motherly chitchat. Our minds were off in a cloud of lollipops and candy-canes, where we were prima ballerinas and playing lead in The Nutcracker. Just like professionals, our point shoes would drum to Tchaikovsky and we would leap into the air in the white tutu of the sugar plum fairy.
As you rise threw the ranks of a ballet school, the list of restrictions and regulations grows longer and longer. Our pretty pink tutus were no longer allowed and all of our leotards, tights, hair, and shoes were the same. We’d sit in the lobby watching the professional dancers as our mothers made our buns- a complex routine involving hair nets and a massive amount of bobby pins. They’d mist halos of hair spray above our heads that would cover the room in a sticky fog. By the end of the ritual, our hair was pulled back so tightly that we couldn’t move our eyebrows from a state of perpetual surprise. Suddenly, ballet was no longer fun and games, but a lot of work. Facing the mirror in a group of blue clad dancers, we mimicked each other as the music played on. Like little blue robots, we’d wined up and do our dance to the beat of the song and the insistent clapping of our instructor’s hands.
This rigorous schedule followed us into Ballet two and our new red leotards, but now we were at the studio ten hours a week. We wound up, repeating the dances over and over and over again. The buns, that we worked so hard to perfect, ejected bobby pins from our hair during pirouettes. Our legs bent and our slippers scampered to keep up with the music; after every exercise we would lean against the beams in exhaustion. Yet with all of our suffering, we still repeated the routines and suffered the pain because it would be worth it when we could dance like the professionals.
We thought this until our point shoes came in; those shimmering rectangular shoes became the symbol of our pain and misery. To wear a point shoe you have to prepare your feet by clipping your toe-nails, covering them in wool, using band aids, or gel pads- anything to keep the pain away. It was the pain of watching a girl drilling her toes into the floor, and the sound of bullets that it made as she scurried across the mat. And it was a searing pain on the top of your toe as if you’d stayed by the fire too long, but also a pinching pain that cramped your feet and sent spasms threw your legs.
We ended class in the lobby among the toddlers and professionals removing our musty shoes and sweat soaked wrapping to care for our feet. By the end of the first month, I’d lost both of my little toe-nails to large blue bruises that dotted the tips of my toes on both feet. Blisters had formed and popped; some of them large and bulbuls with puss and others heated and red. Being a nine-to-five dancer was no longer appealing, and the last thing I could imagine was jamming my feet into those satin traps every day.
Sitting in the studio now, among the grey walls, the smog of hair spray, and the fumes of tortured feet, I don’t regret quitting. Still, there is a tug in my gut every year when we go to see The Nutcracker. I watch the ballerinas in white tutus twirl on their point shoes; they effortlessly jump into the air and gallop across the stage at the beat of the conductors wand. I clap and yell and cheer for the dancers at curtain call, the same as when I was young. And sometimes I think that maybe, just maybe, I could be a ballerina too.

I LIKE TO THINK ABOUT...A SIXTH SENSE- NO SHAMALAN. I PROMISE

This video is incredible. Period.

I LIKE TO THINK ABOUT...WHAT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR

So...Christmas is just around the corner and to get ready for the holiday cheer, I'm posting my list for Santa to see this year. It's a pretty short list and I bet you can guess number one!

M.O.N.E.Y- the most important thing in the whole wide universe. Yes, it will buy me happiness. Not really, but I like going out to eat and shopping and stuff. If this post doesn't sound particularly like me try voicing it as Eric Cartman- I'm watching all of the South Park Christmas Episodes currently so he's sort of stuck in my head. Isn't that coool you guys?

Okay, number two is How we Decide by Jonah Lehrer. He's that cool dude from a previous post in the sweater and philosopher glasses. I'm currently enjoying his book Proust was a Neuroscientist and he's so brilliant that I'm annotating it for fun. I can't wait to read another of his books...it's kind of a shame I have to wait till Christmas.

Number three is Steve Martin's new book An Object of Beauty. Not only is Steve likable, funny, talented, and successful, he also has an art collection. It's a book about art to go with my book about science! It's totally awweesome. Right Keeneey?

Other things include a new purse, some mittens, anything related to Star Trek, a magazine- actually lots of Magazines, and maybe, I don't know, some money?

I LIKE TO THINK ABOUT...TAKING PICTURES OF MY HOME GALAXY- SAY CHEESE MILKY WAY

To satisfy all of my geeky needs, I joyfully joined the Science Olympiad team. Participating in the two fields of Astronomy and Anatomy- My brain is having a field day. More than any other part of my brain, the occipital lobe is particularly excited because of the amazing images that I've been looking at of quasars, black holes, massive blackholes, supermassive blackholes (which are different things...scientists are just as good at naming things as musicians- seriously, who names their child Moon Unit, Pixie, Apple, Peaches (I'm especially baffled by the plural of peaches), who names there child a tangible noun? Period. Answer: Musicians), globular clusters, supernovas, and eclipsing binaries! The best site for star gazing within ones own home is Chandra- The X-ray Observatory. Go check out the gallery of amazing objects. I'm particularly smitten with our own milky way... Ain't she pretty...y'all. Here's a couple more that I liked.

Centaurus A- About 1 million light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. It's the fifth brightest galaxy and one of the closest to Earth. It's called a radio galaxy because it's believed that there is a relativistic jet which extracts energy from the vicinity of a possible supermassive blackhole at the center of the galaxy that is responsible for the emission of radio wavelengths.
Epsilon Aurigae- An eclipsing binary system that is approximately 2000 light years from earth. It is unusually dim for a star of its size and is suspected to be surrounded by a massive cloud of dust which obscures its light. It's the subject of a nation wide observing campaign for 2010 and 2011.
Perseus A (NGC 1275) - Located around 273 million light years away, Perseus A is situated around the large Perseus cluster of galaxies. Long gaseous filaments made up of threads of gas stretch out beyond the galaxy, into the multimillion-degree, X-ray–emitting gas that fills the cluster. The amount of gas contained in a typical thread is approximately one million times the mass of our own Sun. Thanks to Wikipedia for making me sound smarter than I actually am :) When I make sense of the gaseous filaments of Perseus A, I'll let you know.

I LIKE TO THINK ABOUT...WHEN GALAXIES COLLIDE

Here's a video...I love Felicia Day! And colliding galaxies, but that's pretty well stated in the title.

I LIKE TO THINK ABOUT...BAD PUNS LIKE 'OP' ART

Recently, I was invited to a private tour of the Bechtler Museum in downtown Charlotte. It's a modern art museum consisting of the many pieces from post world war two and a couple of Warhol's and Lichtenstein's. We had a very knowledgeable curator who told us countless facts on the works, and my favorite tid bit of information was that the abstract art created from optical allusions was nick named 'op' art- like pop art without the first 'p'.
I'm a sucker for optical illusions, and not just because they're so fun to look at. I think it's interesting that our brain takes so much of the burden in processing sight; the eyes capture photons, but that's it. The rest of the mental processing puts the blurred images right side up, makes them neat and tidy, and then gives us depth perception and the like. It even processes the visual information so that we know immediately what we're looking at. Here's a couple of examples of op art that I particularly like- it's by an artist named Andy Gilmore (This is his site)

EVER WONDER...ABOUT THE MENTAL POWER IT TAKES TO CHOOSE A CEREAL

I'm currently reading a book by this great author (Jonah Lehrer) called Proust was a Neuroscientist. It's about how artists discovered principles of the brain far before science- giving examples of chefs, writers (Proust, of course), and artists. It's so interesting that I'm annotating it for fun- don't look so surprised; for one, no one can see you when you stare at your computer, and it says I'm a nerd in my personal blurb on the left, you should have seen this coming.
I figured that Jonah was a cool dude- no surprise their...he's into neuroscience so we're automatically best buds. He also wears sweaters and those clear, smart person glasses that make geeky boys look like philosophers. You can watch all of this in a you-tube video- big surprise right? That last post was super long, so this one is going to be super easy on me- video. There. Done.

Don't you just want to hugs him!!!

EVER WONDER...THE DIFFERENE BETWEEN CONSTRUCTION AND CREATION

A city starts as nothing but land, just a flat surface that stretches onward. Then buildings are built and they are small at first, but gradually turn into massive complexes and skyscrapers; yet, this isn’t what truly makes up a city. New York isn’t just a bunch of buildings, but a gathering of people and personalities; it is a network of relationships interwoven between buildings. The city may have been constructed from blueprints and steel beams, but the people create the city and give it life.

To create and to construct are both processes of building, but one fulfills an organized need and the other fulfills an innate desire for expression. We construct to fill a specific purpose, such as a lack of housing or bumpy roads. It’s to fix something that is broken or to make something that is needed; a bridge is constructed so that it is easier to go from point A to point B, and road signs are constructed to create order.

Creating, dissimilar to construction, does not have a concrete purpose. Instead, it is a form of communication and expression; an architect, for example, may have an idea to build a housing complex, but not just any housing complex. The architect is an artist, and therefore would use his or her creativity to not only make the building functional but also visually stunning. The need for the building to be beautiful comes from the architect’s desire for expression and the ability to influence the culture of the community. Unlike the rationale of construction, things aren’t created only to be useful; creation happens to make connections between people, things, and ideas.

The architects blue print, and its connection to society and culture, helps to define the line between creation and construction. While the buildings preliminary form is created out of the mind of the architect, the actual building is constructed, and this is because construction is a process of assembly. The building is put together piece-by-piece using the diagrams and measurements given. There is one way to complete the tasks set forth and that is the way it’s written in the manual. This is the downfall of construction, that it is confined to the original design.

Creativity, on the other hand, flourishes with improvisation and development. The nuances of buildings come from flashes of creative genius that dare to go beyond the bounds of normal structures. When the designer decides that a building will have a unique attribute, he or she is subjecting it to creativity. Often, creative genius is an experiment and may not work out the way that the designer had planned, so he or she would have to remove it from the concept.

While a mistake in creativity is a learning process, construction is more concrete and a mistake could be devastating; a screw out of place could ruin the whole structure. This stress around construction makes the end result doubly satisfactory. Few people are enamored by the process of a building being erected, and the cranes that sprout up over the skyline aren’t aesthetically pleasing. It’s hard to appreciate the rough steel beams, but the final glistening building is truly a sight to behold. We have rituals for the completion of construction projects like the ribbon cutting ceremony. Once everything is completed and the construction is done, the ribbon is cut, and the world moves on.

These buildings that are constructed to form the backbone of a city give room for the creation of neighborhoods and communities. These neighborhoods develop on there own, and gain recognition for having flower shops, galleries, or particularly good pastries. These specialties grow from the citizen’s freedom of expression; they create a neighborhood atmosphere by deciding to share their passions. Chelsea, the gallery center of Manhattan, didn’t become famous over night. As rent skyrocketed in Greenwich Village, the poor artists and gallery owners moved lower on the island. Now Chelsea is almost completely galleries and art installations, which reflects the people that moved into the area so many years before. This is the benefit of creation; there is hardly an ugly moment in the process, and some would argue that it never truly ends. As long as the creation is still conveying the original message, its story continues.

Charles Dickens once wrote that “The whole difference between construction and creation is this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.” In a concrete world, construction is supreme. It follows patterns and guidelines, which make it predictable and unimaginative. Creativity happens because the world is not concrete, but fluid. We have emotions and fickle whims that cannot be met by order and structure. Instead, we change, our lives change, and our cities change with us.

EVER WONDER...WHY A CRAPPY CAT DRAWING IS IN THE OBSERVER

The Charlotte Observer has this kids holiday card contest where children submit entries and have them featured in the paper. I submitted a picture of my cat Beau Rose and it won the pre-teen category. Go thirteen year old me!

In today's paper it was featured...again. I'm not proud of this. In fact, I'm a little ashamed. Don't judge thirteen year old me- here's The Charlotte Observer page today. If anyone is interested in entering...

Oh! and happy Thanksgiving y'all! (I'm extra southern this time of year)

EVER WONDER...HOW TO TAKE OVER A DIGITAL WORLD

Yes, I have realised that I post far to many videos...this is the effect of the holiday season- having no time to write and all the time to look for expensive gifts to ask 'Santa' for. What's at the top of the list? Well, I'm glad I asked myself. Civilization 4 was one of the greatest gifts I ever received; it was one of those that when opened, I immediately download it onto my computer. The best part was that my parents couldn't really complain, it's a history and strategy game after all.
It had three great things going for it: the graphics were one of the best parts because they were so life like for '05. It was a beautiful game and one of the best parts of playing it was building the world wonders and going into the funky mirage and watch it be built in like- ten seconds. A ten second pyramid. Another was the fighting, which was just to much fun. You'd build your little warriors and archers and cavalry and if you made it into the twenty-first century you'd get these super cool tanks. I'd stack twenty Calvary on top of one another and a war elephant for good measure before going on to siege the great cities of Boston or Cairo. I'm proud to say that I totally destroyed both Genghis Khan and George Washington. Take that world leaders! I beat your digital dust! Third, but probably my favorite- after you discovered a new technology, Lenard Nimoy would read a famous quote and then there'd be a ding noise. It was so cool- like he was in the room giving me Vulcan logic.
Yep...good times. Now that I'm no longer ten years old I'm ready for the big leagues. Civ5 was just released and I'm too excited not to watch countless hours of YouTube coverage of sloppy recordings of nerds first Civ5 games on their Mac books. Did that make sense? I don't know.
Here's on of the better reviews- kinda long, and if you don't want to watch then skip to the very end to see the incredible graphics. In '05 someone could have mistaken that for a fraking photo.

Video Games Civilization V Review HD

XBox 360 Playstation 3 Nintendo Wii

EVER WONDER...ABOUT THAT HEEEEEEE MAN

Best movie of the...ever? The Fifth Element; it stares the ever so gorgeous Bruis Willis and the ever so lovely Milla Jovovich. They are a lovely pair of ex army officer and supreme being (with a multipass of course)
The plot is basically to stop the world from dying due to evil space aliens, but all that aside it's a very funny and well made romantic sci/fi action drama. I will no doubt post more about this in the future, but for now- how about some Ruby Rhod?

EVER WONDER...ABOUT THE APPEAL OF CRUDE HUMOR

I like humor- I'm sure that's not a surprise. The surprise is that I like the crude stuff that most people cringe at- surprised now? This is a post on crude humor...uh, bitch. My first specimen is Blake Wright. He's an artist with a dirty soul...I like his clever- I thought of this and you didn't, loser- stuff, which is funny because, like the d + g hybrid, it's usually terrible ideas. As much as I love consolidation, letters are difficult to morph with lasting results as shown by this nifty diagram. He also draws shoes and writes thing under them like, five shoes from Payless that are in my budget and in my nightmares. Also, a Halloween post wear a girl is dressed as butter and saying- I'm a stick of butter, but slutty. You get it? Because girls always dress like slutty things on Halloween, most of which are childhood TV characters and blue collar workers...Really, someone should tell them that they look like desperate hookers, and not the classy ones for ceo's and senators.

EVER WONDER...ABOUT THE TEN PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

It seems so obvious to me now, but I'd never realized how much design and ergonomics goes into everyday things; just walking down an aisle in Home Depo everything passed by an industrial designers hands. A movie called Objectified focused on the design of everyday objects- I was blown away by not only the subject, but the quality of the movie itself. It's so wonderful to see something done well! In any normal circumstance I find documentaries dull and unwatchable, but this one draws you in and makes you desperate for more when it's over.
This is one of my favorite parts from the movie for two reasons. 1) It focuses on simplicity 2)This mans voice is spectacular. I want a German/Swedish/Norwegian man with a lovely rough voice such as this...

EVER WONDER...ABOUT THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING

This is from the Moth Grandslam...true stories told live without notes. I've been sort of fascinated with teenage/ high school stories lately. It's so cliché, but there is such a wide array of conflict in our teenage years that its the perfect age for a good story. Here's another about finding love in odd places...and you've never heard this one before.

EVER WONDER...IF TODAYS TECHNOLOGY IS YESTERDAY'S SCIENCE FICTION

With the rapid on slot of new technology it often seems to come out of no where- cell phones and the Internet as just some brain magic that an engineer cranked out in his spare time. This is wrong on many levels- the first being that things don't develop that quickly, and in fact the Internet was a brain baby in someones mind many years before it became reality. Second- technology evolves from these embryonic brain babies into week prototypes, and it takes quite a while for it to mature into a standard adult technological interface.
Sometimes these embryonic brain babies don't come out of the minds of scientists and engineers, but instead the creative brains of science fiction writers.
Neal Stephenson in his book Diamond Age (a novel based around an electronic book) influenced the creation of the Amazons Kindle e-book. He also wrote another book called Snowcrash, which inspired the 3D online worlds like WoW and Secondlife.
A film called Metropolis made in 1927, which is about a deadly machine monster, pre-dates the first Artificial Intelligence Center by thirty-nine years.
Invisibility has been a topic of discussion for a very long time, even going back as far as Greek mythology and Plato's The Republic. Being one of Science- Fictions favorite non- existing inventions it has also been used in an array of popular books and series like Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings,The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Artemis Fowl. Stealth technology began to develop in the 1930's for ships, planes, and missiles. More recently in 2006, a team in Britain developed the first stages of an invisibility cloak.
Last but not least (actually, we'll call them the best :D) are all of the inventions predicted by Star Trek. The first being flip phones, which were inspired by Starfleet communicators. Next the interactive computer, the one that you can talk to and it will answer back. Last being the iPhone, which I would relate to the tricorder devise; I feel like it could do just about anything; now, we don't need our phones to do everything, but if it doesn't do it- than there is probably an app for it!

Of course, Science-Fiction doesn't try and predict the future, but with all of the crazy ideas floating around in the fiction-verse, some of them have to make it in the tech world. And thank goodness too- I would be so lost without my GPS App!

EVER WONDER...IF YOUR ON ACID

David Ellis is a North Carolina native, who grew up with a love of hip-hop from listening to the hippest New York "beats". Yeah...he's one of those music/art/film people who combine everything and make super amazing stuff like kinetic installations, which is just a fun way of saying performance visual art...he makes his art while people watch- that's what I'm trying to say.
Yeah, so here's a video of one of those kinetic installations! :D

GUESS WHAT...TELEVISION MOMENTS INSPIRE US TO CREATE

Ninety-nine percent of American homes have a television that the average person watches four hours a day. Television is reaching viewers like no other medium has done before; it captures our ears, our eyes, and often our hearts to the characters and news stories that pour out of the speakers. Before his death in 1987, Andy Warhol began a portfolio focused on important TV moments, which spoke to the idea that some the most memorable times of our lives are staring at TV screens. In the late eighties there were plenty of popular TV moments to fill the portfolio, but the only one he completed was of Buzz Aldrin’s moonwalk in 1969. It’s a theme throughout Andy’s work that the best art reflects on the happenings in society.
My original love of all Warhol art was the simplicity of it. It’s not extremely difficult to make a screen print compared to one of the massive realist paintings in the Louvre. Yet, I still preferred Warhol’s pieces to anything I’d seen before; this was in complete contradiction with what I thought art was at the time. I believed it was the effort and skill that was the basis of art, and the ability to be patient and persistent with your medium. Andy flipped my world around because suddenly this simple art that could be pumped out of a printer was more eye-catching and meaningful than a tirelessly worked Manet. It wasn’t just the process that intrigued be either, but the banal subjects he used. They were of soup cans, bananas, shoes, cats, and then the pictures that we’ve all seen hundreds of times like Marilyn, Mickey, and Mona Lisa. The images weren’t just pretty, but they gave me feelings and memories that I had not associated with art until that point in my life.
The moonwalk affected me in a very peculiar way. First I looked at the piece and realized it was on the moon, and then noticed the pinks and blues. I glanced over the white blur in the flag and artistically placed lines in the drawings. The significance of a piece never seems to hit me right on, but I slowly ease into meaning and deeper context of the work. The moon landing is an important period in our history- a time of patriotism and national unity. It represents the conspiracy theories and how television can blur the lines between fact and fiction. It’s the mystery of space and a fear of the unknown. There is so much conveyed with a single image that we’ve all seen many times before, but when its colored and blurred and hung in a museum it’s no longer just a picture. It’s social commentary.

GUESS WHAT...IS THE DRIVING FORCE OF INNOVATION

I think we are all interested in this subject of how to be creative and come up with new ideas. I like Stephens ideas a lot and I think it's very refreshing to find someone NOT bashing the Internet and fast passed life style of today. I'm very glad to live in the technological age, and while I'm not much of a fan of face book, I do enjoy blogs and forums. More good things come out of our interconnectedness than bad, and I'm sick of all those middle-aged haters (sorry mom)! Bravo to Stephen! It's a lovely presentation, and much more refreshing than a boring old power-point. God- I hate those things.

GUESS WHAT...CAN MAKE YOU MORE SUCCESSFUL

This isn't the answer that you want to hear. According to a study done by a Columbia Business professor, people who are sad and/or depressed are more innovative, creative, and successful. I know! You thought those rainy days were getting you down, but really they're just making you more artistically inclined.
The study had a group of people go into a room with a desk and audience where they would speak about their goals and dreams. There was a group that had a positive reaction from the audience (smiling, nodding), a group that was given negative reactions (frowning), and a group that had no reaction (the control group). After their speech, the participants were asked to make a collage, which was graded by professional artists for creativity. Surprise, surprise- the negative group performed better than the positive group.
I guess it is perquisite for an artist to have a troubled past... and thank goodness for teen angst. Wow- I never thought I'd say that.
Kudos to Jonah Lehrer for posting about this phenomenon on his blog- Frontal Cortex

GUESS WHAT...IS SITTING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEAFLOOR

Jason de Caires Taylor is a sculptor, who explores the lines between art and environment by making art and turning it into a part of nature. The sculptures he creates of normal human life are put at the bottom of the ocean and left to coexist with marine species. Over time, they turn into artificial reefs that house fish and are essential to the oceans ecosystem.

If you go look at his site you'll notice how much more beautiful everything looks with a little bit of coral on it! The colors are fantastic and the shapes are bizarre...but it's the kind of bizarre that makes something interesting. Here's a link to Taylors gallery.

GUESS WHAT...OLIVER AND CHUCK CAN'T SEE IN A MIRROR

My absolute favorite scientist- for no other reason than his bashful personality, lovely oxford accent, and wonderful stories- Oliver Sacks, and the famous portrait painter Chuck Close are both face blind. They can't remember faces- even their own. Radiolab did an amazing short on these two men that I think you should listen to. It has a lot of deep commentary, with a little humor and wit on the side. My favorite part is when Oliver says, "There are other things besides human beings..." that was great; Chuck is also hysterical- he talks a lot about the humor in his neurological condition, which makes his take on the disease very appealing
It's also interesting seeing the artist and the scientist talk about the different ways that they deal with the condition. I've always thought that scientists and artists are wildly similar- we're obsessive people. Chuck and Oliver are obviously both deep thinkers, who have analysed themselves and how they deal with there conditions.
Anyway, you'll hear when you listen...

GUESS WHAT...MAKES UP AN OMNITRIANGULATED SURFACE

Triangles! Yes, how anti-climactic.
This whole post is dedicated to the beauty and genius of the Geodesic dome, which was designed in the 1940's by a man with a wonderful name- Buckminster Fuller.
Buckminster was a cool guy. Funny thing is that he wasn't a very good student, and struggled to grasp concepts in geometry when drawn out on a chalkboard. This is a tad ironic considering his genius in geometry is how he became famous. Kinda reminds me of my bestie Madelyn's blog post on failure..., but back to Mr. Buckminster.
After studying at Milton Academy in Mass., Fuller upgraded to the Harvard experience, which apparently didn't suit him so well. He was expelled from the institution twice: he said himself that he was a nonconforming misfit in the fraternity environment. Only years later did he go back and finish his education. (and receive a total of 47 honorary doctorate degrees)
Fuller created his Geodesic dome while teaching at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. He wasn't the first to think of the concept, that had been done by a Dr. Walther Bauersfeld thirty years earlier. Fuller improved and patented the dome, which is why he receives the recognition.
Beyond beauty, the geodesic dome's design is what made it so practical. It was made out of straight slabs of glass of whatnot and put together in the shape of a circle- the circle is important because it is the shape with the least amount of surface area and most volume. This allows for the most enclosed space with in the least amount of materials making it economically and environmentally friendly.
Buckminster also engineered the term "spaceship earth"...he was a cool dude.

GUESS WHAT...MAKES ALL THE HOT GUYS DO DRUGS

My friend Emily is a YouTube phenom who wrote and performed a new song called 'How Come All the Hot Guys are Potheads?' on her channel. It is wonderful, true, and thought provoking. The lyric 'My dream boat is sinking- it OD'd on your new meds' truly spoke to me.
Why do all the hot guys do drugs!!! I've got a theory. First we need to assume that drug use is caused by biological, psychological, and social factors- Biological factors being the most important since looks are also hereditary. So if someone has two good looking parents who do drugs they are also likely to be good looking and do drugs.
Then we have to make a bit of a leap and assume that good looking people are more popular. This isn't too far off considering social people respond positively to good looking people (anti-social people respond more strongly and negatively to poor looking people). Social factors in drug use are mainly peer pressure, and assuming that pretty people have a lot of peers than they are more likely to have pressure.
Psychological is the hardest. The psychological factors include psychological disorders and a lack of purpose. This could be passed on like the good looking traits due to poor parenting, but this is most likely unrelated to looks and instead influences the subculture drug use.
Okay, I'm done. Here's the video- it's a tad bit hard to understand, but if you go to the YouTube version there are lyrics. Beautiful, funny, and insightful lyrics.

GUESS WHAT...YOU CAN DO WITH A WEATHER BALLOON, IPHONE, CAMERA, AND A LITTLE IMAGINATION

Check this out! While I was doing some research for a future post I found this awesome, homemade (well, as homemade as a professional director/ producer can make) video of the earths atmosphere. It looks exactly like you think it does, but the cool part is that the camera was made by little Max Geissbühler and big Luke Geissühler (who directed Helvetica and Objectified). This is so cute and cool- I want to be a director/father/science enthusiast/sort of inventor/cool person when I grow up!

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

GUESS WHAT...I FOUND IN THE ARCHIVES

Since I'm not watching the shows this season and loath the collections from last fall, I've been finding a bunch of insperation from the past. One of my favorite collections ever came from a B-class desginer named Catherine Holstein. I don't believe that she's still designing her own line, but her first collection in fall '08 has inspired my 'look'. Here are a couple favorites.
Here's the rest of the collection on Elle.com- CATHRINE HOSTLEIN

GUESS WHAT...HAPPENS WHEN YOU GOOGLE THIS!!!

It's October, bitches! And in this episode of Zoé 2.0 we're going to use a search engine to make fun of the masses!

As you know, intelligent reader, google is set up so that the things that are googled and linked the most, are shown first on the results page. Simple enough. But also, the more popular your site is, the more power your links have on the search engine.

Here's an example. Mark starts a site called...marktalk.com. He gets a whole bunch of hits over a period of time and a whole lot of links to his site. Slowly but surely, he creeps his way up the google results page for 'Mark'. Marks friend Tim decides to start a site too named Timspeaks.com, and Mark decides that he's going to put a link to Tims site on his own. While it took Mark a long time to reach the top five of the google results page, with that one link Tim is already on the first page and creeps his way up from there.

This is why people spam popular sites like YouTube and various blogs. When someone comments on a popular site with their http:// it's like Mark putting another link on his site.

Okay, now that that this is over with, i dare you to type stuff into google like...What is-; How do-; Why does-; The biggest-; the best-; twilight fans- and so on just for the fun of it. Don't even press enter, just let google do its fancy guess work.

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD...SWEDEN WINS WORLD CUP 2014!!!

So maybe Sweden doesn't have a world cup trophy in their future *cough cough* no chance! *cough*, but check out what we could have! Sure, our constant bombardment with media is arguably not a good thing, but the sharing of personal media makes these gadgets awesome (check out the last clip)! And it looks cool, which is way more important than anything else. :D

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD...ABOUT THE FUNNY WOMEN TAKING OVER AMERICA?

The greatest people in the world are the people who can make the world laugh. If that isn't on quotes.com than it should be copyright ME. I'll upload it on Wiki as one of the greatest contribution to society thus far; it'll be right above Kate Goslins hair cut and just under Lost.
Anyway, Tina Fey- that lady is amazing. Every time I see her I just want to go insult someone in a funny way and see if I can get away with it like she does.


And here's another funny one that I couldn't embed... TINA FEY: DECIPHERS TRACY MORGAN

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD...WHERE TO FIND A GEEK ON LABOR DAY?

Having an unyielding passion for all things a part of geeky culture, my Labor Day weekend was spent proving my devotion by going to Dragon*Con, the largest gaming and pop culture con in the universe. My friends Madelyn, Amanda, and I arrived at Dragon*Con on Sunday and immidiatly paid for our badges into forums and the dealers room. This was essential, because part of the excitement of the con was that I'd seen a tribble booth on the website and I wanted that damn tribble!

On our way to the Marriot, which housed my potential tribble, we took some photos with cool people at the con! This is Amanda in her Tamari costume with a giant fan that she made. A mass of Naruto fans crowded around and snapped photos...

In this picture, you can see me and a fellow trekker! Go Star Trek: TOS!

I don't have any pics of the dealers room, but trust me when I say it was down right amazing. Comics, corsets, cleavage, oh my! That's how I would describe it. Madelyn bought a piece of pottery, I found my glorious tribble which squeals and vibrates when you hit it (LOL), and Amanda bought some steampunk goggles.

I supose that was the new theme this year, steampunk. It's this odd combination of sci-fi and victorian england, but visually it looks spectacular. Maybe the newest example would be the new Sherlock Holmes, but on Andromeda 5 instead of in London.

Next we wanted to catch a forum. The soonest was, guess what, The Guild! Remember the song Do You Want to Date My Avatar? That's them. We waited in line for a small period of time before heading into the hall and taking our seats, pottery, goggles, and tribble in hand.

First we were shown the past couple episodes of season four, but then we saw the never before seen episode eight! I felt so special. Then the next thirty minutes the crowd Q&A'd with the director and actors who play Zaboo and Vork. It was cool to see how different they were from their characters...

All in all, it was a great Con experience and I look forward to returning next year (to start a tribble collection! LOL :b)

I was looking for coverage of the con and found some videos on CNN. They don't paint the geek subculture in a very good light, darn biased reporters, I thought you were all on Fox and Friends!

And heres an interview with The Guild Panel!

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD...GEEK AND GAMER GIRLS ARE LIKE UNICORNS

You know that song by Katy Perry, California Gurls? Well, my Internet loving friends, along with every other you-tube parody of the song, there is one for Geeks and Gamer Girls too...you're not surprised? Of course not.
This has a little bit of geek for everybody, so whatever your vice is you can find a connection with this video. I found mine in the line 'trekkers represent now put your phasers up' and a short clip of a spastic dancing Spock...
Anyway- geek and gamer girls RULE!

Here's the lyrics! Don't I think of everything?

And just a heads up, before the end of the month I'll post an extensive piece on my awesome time at Dragon*Con! Be on the look out.

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD...THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM

I love a good fashion week. For the past few years I hunker up in my room and watch the shows on Style.com, while making a checklist and separating the collections into good, bad, and ugly. I've become very opinionated about these collections, so much so that the fall collections were all in the bad and ugly column. When everything starts to look like crap you know you've crossed over to the deep end. This year I'm taking some time off...New York and London have passed by but with Milan and Paris on there way I'm not sure I'll make it!

Even though Fall 2010 bombed, there are still a few gems...here's a couple of looks I liked from the Burberry, Prada, and Proenza Schouler shows!

LOL. The Schouler Boys are so cute...

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD...THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GEEK AND A NERD

This question came up frequently at Dragon Con- What is the difference between Geeks and Nerds? And more importantly, which am I? You see, the whole fan and gaming culture is about fitting in. As a Star Trek fan for example I need to know basic helm jargon such as 'warp factor', 'dilithium crystals', 'M5 planet', and the correct response to 'live long and prosper'. Knowing these random facts help you have an intimate conversation with other fans over the things you know and others don't. This same connection can be made on a broader scale by self proclaimed nerds and geeks. This sect of people can bond over the fact that they have bizarre knowledge and interests, and it doesn't matter if it's the same interest. Hence the creation of Cons.
From that long spiel you can deduce that what both geeks and nerds have in common is a vast repertoire of knowledge and obsessions. With this similarity, what is the difference? The most obvious difference is that geeks have a fandom and nerds have a field of study. For example, a nerd may have some down time and decide to read a medical dictionary or practice surgical knots. A geek on the other hand would use his or her spare time to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy and buy a membership pass to ComicCon.
In an interview for DragonCon, Sandeep Parikh (who plays Zaboo in 'The Guild' webseries) said this little bit of wisdom-

"If you're a nerd, it's because you know something. You're a nerd about that. But if you're a geek about it, that means you just love it." CNN

Sure this quote is a bit biased against nerds, but it speaks to the general point that nerds are knowledge seekers and geeks are pleasure hunters (which sounds more sexual than I intended).
Of course, there is the general tendency for geeks and nerds to overlap because people who are into technology and fandom usually also have a periodic table shower curtain and possibly multiple photos of scientists around their home. It tends to be that most nerds are geeks and dorks and dweebs (if you want to get all 1950's). Here is a nifty ven diagram to explain the phenomenon. As you see, nerd is in the middle encompassing all three components of obsession, intelligence, and social ineptitude. I don't mean to seem nerdist with the socially inept comment, but really, who can have that level of dedication to academic knowledge, fandom, and a social life? True?

If you're not sure where you fall in this diagram, how about taking a quick test? Nerd?Geek?Dork? I'm a cool nerd :D

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD...YOU KNOW HOW AWKWARD I GET WHEN THINGS GET AWKWARD

Modern Family is my new favorite show. I enjoy this just as much as The Big Bang Theory; it's just that funny. The second season airs on ABC wednesday, September 22, so you know what I'm going to be watching this fall (and therefore bloging about).
I've just finished rewatching the first season and here are some of my favorite moments...if you'll notice, there all Cameron and Mitchel!

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD...ABOUT THE LIFE EXPECTANCY OF A RED SHIRT

This weekend my friends Amanda, Madelyn, and I took a drive down to Atlanta for the annual DRAGON CON!!! Dragon con is the biggest geek convention in the galaxy (so says they're website). We all dressed up as one of our favorite characters. Amanda was Tamari from Naruto, Madelyn was Alice from Wonderland, and I was a doomed red shirt from Star Trek. It's a dangerous thing to wear a red shirt to a convention, but I was brave! I walked past three Klingon's without flinching! GO ME!

The survival rate of red shirts is very sad. About 13.7 % of the Enterprise crew died during the show's three seasons, and 73% of the deaths were red shirts!

Here's a video dedicated the the death and remembrance of Red Shirts.

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD...WHAT HAPPENS TO KINGS DURING A WILD RUMPUS?

I'm a fan of a good piece of fiction. The type that takes the creative conscience into a new world where the concepts of reality are skewed ever so slightly, so that we may better understand the real world.
Dave Egger's masterpiece The Wild Things, blew my mind. No no...it sent my mind to a far off island where it was eaten by beasts. It's loosely based on Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, but takes us further into Max's crazy wolf world.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that this is a children's book. Although this book is full of whimsy it is also a stunningly powerful read about the true nature of the creative mind. The characters are the stories best feature; they make the beasts more than hulking masses of fur. They turn into these round characters, who have feelings, emotions, and opinions like a human being. Of course, they do have the occasional conversation about eating each other, but really, who doesn't?

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD...GRAVITY-THOU ART A HEARTLESS BITCH

BIG BANG THEORY! BIG BANG THEORY! BIG BANG THEORY!
Oh yes, my friends, it is time for the fourth season of THE BIG BANG THEORY to be broadcast on CBS Thursday nights-WOOOOOO! Tune in September 23rd at 8:00 to watch Sheldon go on his first date ever in first episode of season four called The Robotic Manipulation. Here's the episode discription from the show's site.

"Penny finds herself along for the ride on Sheldon's first date ever; while Wolowitz finds a new use for a robotic arm."

I'm intrigued! More good news from the site are guest appearances from some nerd idols such as Steve Wozniak (co-creator of Apple), Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica), and Geroge Takei (Sulu on Star Trek:TOS), and maybe we'll get to see Wil Wheaton again!
Sounds like an amazing season!

IT MIGHT BE NICE TO KNOW...ABOUT THE POWER OF WORDS

One of my first blog posts in July was on the incredible podcast Radiolab. Radiolab is a science podcast that ranges on topics from laughter to the universe and everywhere in between; this in between includes words and there power to communicate with our society. It's a rare occurrence, but on occasion Radiolab and friends make a video to accompany their show. They did this with the topic of words and created this amazing piece of work that I encourage you to watch. You know how some movies you watch and you feel like your better for it, but not sure why? This is one of those.

IT MIGHT BE NICE TO KNOW...I AM SO SICK OF THESE EXTROVERTED PSEUDO-BOHEMIAN LOSERS

There's this AMAZING graphic novel, comic, thing written by the GOD Daniel Clowes. It's called Ghost World. The book is about an outsider named Enid, who has a crazy personality and no care for other peoples well being. This nutty lady becomes infatuated with Seymour, a middle aged record collector and self proclaimed loser. Yes, there are a bunch of crazy characters. This book has so many crazy things to talk about, but you should just read it. I don't want to spoil all your fun :b Oh, and there's a movie too. GHOST WORLD TRAILER!!!

IT MIGHT BE NICE TO KNOW...ROCK PAPER SCISSORS BIZNATCH

Rock Paper Scissors is the greatest game ever. Period. It's a way to pass time, conquer enemies, defeat friends, and solve conflict. The world would be a more interesting place if the presidential election was decided by a best out of three RPS match. Wars fought with RPS...sometimes they'd throw in random shit like Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock. That's my personal favorite, but I'm just a Spock fan in general. If you don't know how to play just watch the classic Big Bang Theory episode!
Paper disproves Spock! I really want to meet Spock so he can tell me how unlikely that is in a very specific percentage.
The lovely Demetri Martin also has some RPS commentary on his Comedy Central Special: Person. Here's another video for you.

PAPER COVERS ROCK BITCH!
If you're thinking that RPS is a wussy game than you can upgrade to the RPS-101 version. Yes, there are 101 playing options. Not all of them make sense, which sort of upsets me. How does Beer beat death? The grim reaper isn't going to spare you for a bud light. Rainbow destroys Nuke. It'd be great if this was possible, but I'm afraid that a mushroom cloud would block the rainbow. Dragon beats school. This is totally possible.