Archive for the 'Art'

I’m impressed — I had no idea how CGI artists do their work, so it was enlightening to see this video of the creation of a Computer Generated Evil Octopus In A Cage. Except, well, I don’t see what makes it evil. It just looks thirsty, to me.

Archaeologists are digging up a Tuscan convent and have found some skeletons that might include the remains of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, also known as Mona Lisa. She’s still lovely after all this time. One investigator has been going through the bones, trying to identify the dead woman, so they can apply forensic reconstruction to her skull. Wait…why? I mean, we already know what she looked like. I can understand general historical research on Renaissance remains, but pawing through the graveyard to find one famous person simply to reconstruct a face we’re already familiar with seems peculiarly ghoulish — nothing but a sensationalistic game. What question does this answer, what do we learn from this pointless exercise? Fortunately, I’m not the only one who wonders about that. But not all experts are convinced by the claims of Dr Vinceti and his team. Dr Kristina Killgrove, an anthropologist at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the US, said on her blog: "Although the excavation is being carried out in a professional manner, Vinceti’s quest to dig up the ‘real’ Mona Lisa is not grounded in scientific research methodology." She added: "The news media’s breathless coverage of it threatens to signal to the public that archaeologists are frivolous with their time, energy, and research money." Maybe, once they identify the skull, they can send it off to the Louvre and mount it on the wall next to the painting. <sarcasm>That’ll be informative.</sarcasm>

I wish I could be there. The Humanist Film Festival is happening on 26-28 October, and they’re looking for submissions. If you’ve got anything that fits their categories, send them in soon. They’re looking for films that speak to humanist themes, including: Reason, Critical Thinking and Skepticism (such as claims of the paranormal, critical thinking education, rational living, etc.) Ethics and Human Wellbeing (including human rights, women’s rights, gay rights, rational ethics, challenging scriptural ethics, sex education and attitudes about sex, etc.) Science and the Natural World (e.g. science appreciation, science education, evolution, global warming, pseudo-science and pseudo-medicine etc.) Freedom of Thought, Speech and Critical Inquiry Challenging the Claims and Value of Religion (e.g. anti-apologetics, education about atheism and atheists, uncovering problems with religion, etc.) Separation of Church and State Joie de vivre and human thriving (art and aesthetics, living the good life, human progress etc.) And here’s their mission: The Portland Humanist Film Festival is an outreach event designed to broaden the understanding and acceptance of a secular, humanist world view. It specifically addresses audiences who are friendly to our views but who are not necessarily familiar with atheism or humanistic ethics, or why we value reason and scientific thinking. The Film Festival presents these themes through an accessible, entertaining medium. Got any suggestions? If you’re a godless filmmaker, think about sending them something!

The Digital Cuttlefish wants his logo for his car; EvolveFish responded and said they’d do it. You know, Digital Cuttlefish is protecting his own anonymity, so for this to work we all must buy that sticker and put it on all of our cars. I’m up for it. Besides, it looks good!

Unbelievable. They don’t just reject science, they don’t just despise women, they don’t just want to silence labor, Republicans hate art. Over the weekend, the governor, Nikki Haley, destroyed the South Carolina Commission for the Arts — the cut was such that the 20 people who work there cannot show up to work today, can’t even go into their building, because of liability issues. The arts in South Carolina brings in $9.2 billion and creates 78,000 jobs at a cost of 1.9 million to the Arts Commission. It’s a phenomenally stupid cut — our state has one of the two best arts in education programs in the country! We don’t do a lot well in South Carolina, but this is one of the few we really do. And now we’re about to be the only state in the country without a public arts agency. Read the whole thing. There’s a contact form there, you can contact the responsible idiots and tell ‘em off; you should do that especially if you’re from South Carolina, but I think a world-wide show of solidarity would also be good. Tell the philistines what you think.