Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Hyper-real Robots

Hyper Real Robots are developing at a rapid pace which is unnerving considering all of the implications. They are apparently able to replace receptionists, workers, and even sex dolls. It's creepy to imagine that a person would ever have sexual relations with a robot, I feel like that promotes awful vices. Even more, it's already an issue that unemployment is on the rise and adding robots that will replace working people. 

Skirllex - First of the Year
Under the music section, this song was listed as a link to check out. Dubstep has taken over the radio and has made the top 100 consistently lately. Whether it's skrillex, Steve Aoki, etc., it is making waves on the radio. Dubstep has a wonderful way of engaging the listener and it is great pump up music. Usually, I listen to dubstep to work out because of the positive, fun, upbeat nature of the music.
This is incredibly interesting because the March Madness Tournament did this exact same thing. I was watching the tournament and before the players came out, the court was used as a platform to play a projected video. The designers took advantage of this extremely interesting opportunity and created a projection that made the wooden floor look like it was crumbling. It was so realistic that I wasn't sure if it was a video imposed on the floor via the television programming or if it was actually a projected image directly on the court.
This is the 3D mapping dance performance Porsche Maan. The entire video was visually engaging. The use of lights of and bright colors captures the audiences attention and truly keeps the viewer engaged throughout the video. It's easy to get side tracked while watching a video, but this video art doesn't suffer from this problem.

Jim Campbell

Jim Campbell is listed as an artist under video art. I clicked the link and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the artwork. He has a consistent theme of 'futuristic' similar to the Andy Warhol art piece of the floppy disk. However, he accomplishes this task by using silvers, blurry images, and bright colors. It gives off a futuristic theme and ensures a consistent theme.

Before we were assigned our performance art video, we were shown this in order to deter us from falling into this same trap. This is an extremely uncomfortable video and I'm not sure what the woman was thinking. I don't understand how dancing on butter can be considered performance art, but to each their own. I made sure to steer clear of doing something similar to this to avoid becoming a viral video on youtube that everyone made fun of.

Marina Abramovic Performance Art

Marina Abramovic is a well known performance artist and her video of her sitting in a chair silently while allowing any viewers to sit across from her. It is a powerful performance considering her husband that she hadn't seen in years. They were confined to silence, but they were expressing all of their intense emotions on their faces and it was a magical moment. The onlookers could see that something magnificent was taking place before them even though they had no idea what the circumstances were. 


Banksy - Exit Through The Gift Shop

I had previously watched this document and was blown away by the underground world of graffiti art. Banksy is completely anonymous and does his artwork at night in order to conceal his identity. He has traveled across the world and each of his artworks are a talking point for mass amounts of people. He is able to draw attention to unique and hard hitting issues that he believes are social injustices. It's incredible to see a graffiti artist actually make changes on a large scale.

Pop Art
Richard Hamilton was considered the father of pop art. He was known for his iconic creation of these collage based images. These unique images combined allow for a completely new direction in art. This style innovated a new area of art. It's interesting to see an entire scene created by individual images!

Dada Art


Dadaism is the movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century. The height of the movement began in New York in 1916. I wasn't familiar with many art movements, but this one was particularly interesting and sparked my attention. The textures allow for a detailed and appealing look while also maintaining the viewers interest by layering many unique patterns.

Andy Warhol's Forgotten Floppy Disk Art
I'm not familiar with much of Andy Warhol's artwork. However, the article that covered this rediscovered piece of art described this as a 'futuristic theme'. It's funny to see a group of completely outdated technologic items that were once considered 'futuristic' when it looks like a low end garage sale. This was created in 1985, which is interesting to reflect on the rapid development of technology as well as artwork.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

www.unity3d.com

On the Computer Tab of the website, there is this website listed as a gaming site that allows you to program and create your own video game. I checked out the website and googled this website to learn about what is offered. It is a powerful cross-platform 3D engine that is user friendly. Beginners are welcome on this site to learn how to begin programming. It allows you to create 3D games and applications for your desktop, web, mobile device, and consoles. It's shocking that a beginner can utilize this program and actually create an entire world and characters by programming. I couldn't imagine being able to single handedly create something without having extensive knowledge and courses on the subject.
Dial Up Sound
Dial up internet first debuted to the public in 1989. The World was the first provider of internet that used dial up, a computer system that remotely accessed the internet through a telephone line. This sound is a sound anyone born later than the mid 90s will definitely remember. I was very young when we got our first desktop computer. When we turned on the internet it would make this noise, which is engrained in everyone's mind. This is the start of the internet.
My mom is a huge I Love Lucy fan, so I grew up watching reruns of this show. This scene can bring anyone to laughter because it appeals to any age group. Lucy is comical and continuously brings a light hearted feel to any scene. I found it hilarious at the end after Lucy and her friend were eating, hiding, and throwing chocolates in order to keep up with the exponentially increasing conveyer-belt that the boss shouted, "Speed it up!" It's interesting to see how far television shows have changed in the past few decades. The live audience alone adds a unique feel to the show. You can actually hear genuine laughter from viewers seeing the scene for the first time. The black and white isn't an edit, which is hard to wrap my head around that tv was just in black and white.

Invention of the Telephone

Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish immigrant who taught deaf students. He was keen on experimenting and trying new things, lucky for us this experimenting led to the creation of the telephone. It's hard to imagine a time where cell phones didn't exist. I remember when I was much younger, my mom had a brick cell phone that had limited capabilities. It was simply to call and send texts, although texting wasn't popular. The extent of app-like features was the option to play the most basic game, 'Snake'. The first phone consumer was Mark Twain because he was able to afford the luxury of a phone. He was credited saying, "The human voice carries entirely too far as it is." That was interesting to imagine someone seeing the creation of the phone and thinking it wasn't the most ground breaking invention. How would people communicate or get anything done if they weren't able to speak to each other without being in person or mailing a letter?
History of the Battery
After reading through the timeline that details the creation and constant updates to the battery, I've learned numerous things that would have slipped by. A battery is an electric cell that actually contains negative and positive electrode and two conductors. Each of these parts work together to produce a chemical reaction that allows the battery to 'work'. Benjamin Franklin is coined with the name 'battery', but the actual creator of the battery is credited to Alessandro Volta. Advancements of this nature are mind blowing. It's hard to imagine someone being able to actually discover and create something. Some minds are able to imagine and then put their ideas to practice. I would've never learned about the history of batteries if it wasn't taught in this section of class. 

Thursday, April 14, 2016

The Very First Amateur Photography Was Surprisingly Beautiful


Buzzed documented the incredible beginning timeline of photography, which really took off in 1888 due to Kodak's release of the first commercial camera. The article listed numerous photographs that were taken simply to document what was going on around them. However, it is apparent that many of these photographs look as if they were taken by skilled photographs even though they were amateurs. It's incredible to be able to have a way to look back in time and see how drastically different it was. The photograph's antique looking aesthetic, although it is natural, appears to give off an edited look which falls in line with many modern day photographer's goals. 

Photographing Time


I read through the timeline of photography and it was incredibly interesting. Something that specifically caught my eye was the first self portrait. The first self portrait was taken by Cornelius in 1839. It was interesting to imagine that there was a beginning to something that is currently known as a 'selfie'. People are constantly snapping selfies, or self portraits, and it was interesting to look back at the very first 'selfie' taken. 



Emile Cohl Fantasmagorie 1908

This is an extremely old video that was put together by Emile Cohl. The images run together smoothly without any choppiness. This animation is well put together, however the tone is unsettling. The creator was endlessly springing new scenes while marinating one focus. It was interesting to watch how the video would unfold second to second. This is incredibly creative and truly takes skill to create something this that at this time, I'm sure wasn't an easy task.