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Monday, November 21, 2011

What's Identity Worth

http://www.alexiworth.com/

Alexi Worth is a contemporary painter who occasionally paints pictures that could be interpreted has having to do with identity. This, among other properties in his work, is perhaps what makes his illustrative style tolerable to more metropolitan, avante guarde tastes.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

The Bearable Lightness of Microlattice


Scientists invent lightest material on Earth. What now? - latimes.com

I unfortunately don't have much to add to this story. I just thought it was an attractive image and it reminded me of, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera (who is Czech like '50%' of me for what it's worth). It also got me thinking about the intersection of art and science. It's been on my mind (more) lately since we had the theoretical physicistJanna Levin give a 'lecture' on what she called, "The Third Culture" at Suny NewPaltz recently.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Middle School Musings


Listening to the, "This American Life" broadcasts of their middle school radio series brought back a lot of memories of a time, though formative, easily forgotten. In any recounting of experiences, some points will match up in your memory of events, and some of course will not. For me, it was interesting that much of what I wouldn't have normally thought about if I tried to remember my middle school experiences came back to me in hearing these recordings.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Networked Public



Cultural researcher Danah Boyd explains some of the more subtle motivations of social networking in "Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites". In the essay she expands on the concept of "public" spaces, impressions and attitudes to reveal the effects social networking may be having on today's youth. With social networking sites, youth are able to create a 'profile' for themselves and post 'comments' on each other's profiles. As Boyd puts it,

"Friends are publicly articulated, profiles are publicly viewed, and comments are publicly visible"
She focuses specifically on myspace, but the implications of a "networked public" carry on to other sites. (The above picture is a typical example of a picture posted as a comment on myspace)