Vastly extended human lifespans might sound like a great idea, but the death of art is only one.
Tag Archives | art
Professor Quippy: Writers beware, those rejection notes have a cost
New research at the University of California, Los Angeles, shows that social rejection may increase your risk of developing arthritis.
This explains all the unpublished (or barely published) writers hobbling around with bad knees, out-of-work actors with permanent back-aches, and painters with gnarled knuckles. The cost of all those rejections has caused arthritis. (And a certain amount of existential crisis.)
Actually, I’m just inferring this — the study only looked at social rejection in the context of in-person rejection. (Which would STILL apply to the actors.) According to the New Scientist:
Psychologist George Slavich and colleagues asked 124 volunteers to give speeches and perform mental arithmetic in front of a panel of dismissive observers. Saliva analysis showed they exhibited elevated levels of two inflammation markers. … Functional MRI scans showed this triggered increased activity in two brain regions associated with rejection. Participants with the highest inflammatory responses showed the greatest increases in brain activity.
The research hopes to help understand the brain’s role in conditions related to inflammation (including asthma, arthritis, cardiovascular disease and depression).
Also, it is actively trying to discourage people from going into the arts, because apparently, low pay, parental ridicule and extensive existential crisis aren’t enough.
Alltop thinks you should get a real job. New Scientist: Harsh words may hurt your knees.
Famous Paintings with SF Titles — The Gallery
Alltop doesn’t know art, but it knows what it likes.
Van Gogh’s Close Encounters with the Slorg-Men of Auculus VI
Kidding! It’s Van Gogh’s Starry Night, painted while staying at an Asylum in Saint-Remy (1889).
I know, now you’re itching to hear the theme song, right?
Close Encounters of the Third Kind duet scene.
Alltop does a great humor impression. Meme begun by Archer and Lawyerworldland. Read the comments to see the explanation of what the hell is going on by Asbestos Dust.
Selected Media Fads Through the Ages
24,000-22,000 BC: chunky fertility goddess statues (pictured at right: notice the prominent and large brains.)
10,000 BC: cave painting
4,000 BC: ziggurat construction
3,000-1,250 BC: pyramid raising (later revived by Mesoamericans and I.M. Pei)
1480-1700: Witch burning
1500s: homoerotic sonnet writing
1600s: pirate singing
1700s: pamphleteering
1760-1762: spreading syphilis
1790s: opera
1800s: novel-writing
1900-1914: being optimistic about the future
1919-1922: cutting up pieces of paper and pulling them out of a hat, also, painting
1925: jazz music
1927: soap-based radio
1933: burning books (mostly in Germany)
1951: find-the-commie (kind of like peek-a-boo, but with Senators)
1964: screaming (usually Beatle-related)
1966: TV
1976: disco
1977: DIY pet rocks
1982-1988: taking odds on Reagan-related nuclear holocaust
1987-1997: making answering machine messages (see below)
1998: web sites about your cat
1999: cappuccino drinking (related to dot-com bubble)
2000: looking forward to the future (this didn’t last as long as the previous fad in this genre)
2003: Friendster
2004-2005: blogging
2006: MySpace
2007: Facebook
April 2008: Twitter
2009 (Jan.-Aug): talking/writing/broadcasting about Twitter in MSM.
2009, Sep. 15: Blogging (again, briefly, but only about Dan Brown’s latest “masterstroke of storytelling”
2010 (Jan.-Feb.):getting really excited about the release of the iPad.
2010 (Mar.-May): trying to remember what all the fuss about the iPad was all about.
Answering machine messages: the most important creative outlet of the nineties!
Video here if it doesn’t beep. (via)
Alltop and enjoys their Bebo. Originally published September, 2009.
I always wondered why the Vitruvian Man looked so grumpy
Most of these are good except for Manet’s barmaid. Be warned though, it is one of those corporate ads, trying to be viral. (Hey, at least I warned you.)
You can find the Samsung ad here too.