How To: Interpret Creativity

        This music video, for the song Ready, Able by Grizzly Bear, immediately caught my attention because of the artistic talent required to make a clay-mation with such fast changing frames for the entire four and a half minutes. Admittedly the storyline is difficult to follow, and I'm as close to figuring it out as I'll ever be, but that's mostly what intrigues me about it.
        While trying to avoid over-analyzing it for the purpose of this blogpost, it's still interesting to think about whether the director, Allison Schulnik, had an actual storyline drawn out for this video when the idea was born. The first time I watched it, I was waiting for the moment of clarity to come at the end. A lot of movies now a days intentionally confuse the viewers at the beginning, and then let the events unfold before them that provide the necessary explanation, like Inception for example.
        Although I have no way of knowing, I doubt this is the case for Schulnik's video. Not only because watching it all the way through provides little (if any) additional explanation as to what exactly is going on, but because the point may be that you're not going to understand everything you see.
        What do you think this video is about? Also, feel free to link to your favorite music videos below, I'm always looking for more.



Here are some more of my favorites: Call It What You Want- Foster the People
                                                            Harvest Moon- Pepper Rabbit
                                                            Wraith Pinned to the Mist- Of Montreal
                                                            Colours- Grouplove

How To: Confuse the Public

        New York Times journalist Rod Nordland says that, "the Obama administration faces... pressure to keep to a timetable that envisions most forces leaving [Afghanistan] in 2014," in an article regarding a recent suicide bombing outside of Kabul.
        Yet Ryan C. Crocker, the United States ambassador to Afgnanistan, says that, "[The suicide bombing is] a shock, but we will not let these guys win." John Allen, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan says, "Well, the plan is to win... to be successful. And so, while some folks might hear that we're departing in 2014... we're actually going to be here for a long time."
        If it seems to you like there is a lack of consistency amongst our own government officials about what's going on overseas, you're right.  64% of Americans think that the amount of U.S. troops in Afghanistan should be decreased, according to a CBS poll.

        When 2014 rolls around, will we have made any progress?

How To: Not Total Your Car

     Winter is coming along, and in Chicago that means bringing the snow-thrower and hefty coats up from the basement. What people tend forget about is their car. Because most cars on the road today have automatic transmissions, as opposed to manuals (otherwise known as stick-shift), they require little thought and talent to drive.
     With my generation so used to everything being computerized and pre-programmed, in addition to us being new at driving, a majority of drivers neglect to prepare their vehicles properly for the oncoming seasonal shift. Just yesterday, I saw two confused teenagers broken down on the sides of roads due to a lack of preparedness for the drop in temperatures, and it hasn't even snowed yet. As it gets gradually colder, you should be periodically checking these things on your car:

• Tires: When the air in your tires gets colder, it becomes more compact and the pressure in your tires decreases. Depending on the type of tires you've got, this may not be very dramatic, however you will get the best mileage out of your car if the tires are at the right pressure. Also, your chances of sliding on ice and slush are lower if your tires are properly pressurized, because the treads will be able to make the most contact with the road. Don't forget to check the spare.

• Antifreeze: This stuff goes in your car's radiator, and should be a 50/50 mix of antifreeze solution (which can be bought almost anywhere) and water. Make sure you don't buy the pre-mixed solution, because it's the same price as a full bottle of antifreeze, but it's half water. Antifreeze prevents your radiator from freezing in the winter, and from boiling in the summer. 

• Wipers: If you're driving along and snow, slush, freezing rain, or other various goops begin to fall from the sky, you're going to hope that your wiper blades are nice and sharp. They generally need to be replaced every six to twelve months. Dull wiper blades will leave streaks on your windshield.

• Windshield Washer Fluid: The salt used to melt ice on roads will get kicked up by cars driving in front of you and end up on your windshield. If you fill your washer fluid reservoir with water, it's not going to be as effective at getting rid of these vision impairments, plus if it's below freezing outside it's likely to freeze inside of the reservoir. 

     If you have don't understand what any of the above information means, have someone who does take a glance at your car every couple of weeks. No matter how luxurious or well safety-rated your car is, it must be properly maintained in order to function correctly.

How To: Read a Map

       What image comes to mind when you picture the world? Is it a standard map such as the one below? This is the sort of generic world map that might be found in an elementary classroom, and is what most people tend to associate with the layout of the Earth.

        Pay attention to the difference in spacing of the latitude lines. Towards the top and bottom of the map, they are more spaced out. This causes the land farther away from the equator to appear stretched out and larger than it actually is.

      
       The map below is a Land Area Map, which shows each body of land on the same scale throughout. Look at the difference between the size of Greenland on this map and the one above.

          Stuart McArthur, a native Australian, devised the map below when he was 12 years old. It was later published after years of being told he was wrong, because this map is not "correctly drawn". This map, unlike most others, points out to the viewer that North is not necessarily synonymous with up.

       Cartographers have an unrecognized influence over our perception of the globe. Who's to say there is a correct way that the world should be depicted?

[In addition to the land area map above, different maps can be found at this link, such as a population map, an adult literacy map, a life expectancy map, etc.]

How To: Get To Know Someone

 Do people ever show their true colors? It most certainly isn't socially acceptable to. Why you may ask? Why do people refuse to let their guards down, why do we tell people what they want to hear, why are most people constantly working to keep everyone in the dark about who they actually are?

 

For those of you who don't follow The Office, Ms. Kelly Kapoor is demonstrating for us how it has become so unusual for a person to openly speak their mind that anyone who does draws attention to themselves. My next question is this: when did it go out of style to tell people what you really think? If we filter almost everything we say and do, what's left?

The sad reality is that the more similar we are, the better we get along. If across the world, everyone had the same political, religious, social, and economic beliefs, we would all be the best of friends. On a smaller scale, if you and the guy sitting next to you in class are both wearing differently crazy clothes, you would each look at the other and think, "Wow, that guy's insane." Instead, if you and your classmate were both wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, you'd think, "Hmm... this kid's got good taste." You're more likely to enjoy the company of people that you're similar to. Since everyone is unique, we dull ourselves down in order to be able to connect with a wider range of people. 

Is this a conscious decision? Do we choose to censor ourselves for the sake of human interaction? And as for the people that make the decision to be 100% true to themselves, such as Timothy Treadwell, do they sacrifice their ability to have relationships with others for the sake of following their dreams? 

Is it possible to genuinely get to know someone?

How To: Recreate Creationism

Belgian artist Wim Delvoye worked with a team of professionals for eight years to create this piece, Cloaca. This machine was originally in Antwerp, Belgium at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MuHKA) in 2000. When my sculpture teacher first showed this image to our class, none of us knew for certain what Delvoye's creation produces; most of us guessed it makes something like cookies or alternative fuel.

What does it actually do? This machine performs the exact same function as the human digestive system. Food is imputed at the far end, and travels through a series of tanks, hoses, and pressurizers, and eventually comes out onto a conveyor belt as human feces that was once sold for $1000 daily.


It could easily be argued that this is more of a scientific experiment than a work of art. Either way, Delvoye forces his audience to think about the complexities of the human body we take for granted constantly.

More information about Cloaca and other works by Delvoye can be found here.

How To: Manipulate Children

My teacher read The Story of Babar, by Jean de Brunhoff, to us in Modern World History last year. This was a little unexpected, considering the other books we had read were a little more in-depth than this 1930s children's story. Brunhoff writes about Babar, the little elephant, who moves from the jungle to Paris, and becomes polished and sophisticated. Babar later returns to the jungle, gets married, and together the couple rules over all the other elephants as king and queen. A more detailed summary can be found here.

In the context of my history class, The Story of Babar's soul purpose was to plant ideas about how urbanization is good in the minds of children growing up in the 1930s. Looking back now, I'm realizing how, although the ideas are still present, there is more to this story than the destruction of small villages in the effort to create giant powerhouse nations. Still, the idea of secret messages is ever-present.

If secret messages are present in what is supposed to be innocent children's books, it makes sense to assume that they are also common in the media, pop culture, and just about anything else you might come across. The result of this realization is more of a constant paranoia that I'm being forced and manipulated into believing certain things, rather than a skeptical eye searching for credibility. Hopefully over time, I will be able to see through empty ads and implicit news articles, but for now I'm alright with being paranoid.