Friday, May 22, 2015

Graphic Design Canberra: Gabrielle Carrigy

A wonderful artist and graphic designer, Gabrielle Carrigy's work speaks for itself.

 Currently working in Canberra, check this link out here to see more of her great work



Geometric animals! What a wonderful attention to detail, modern and full of vintage charm



I love the one above, just stunning


All photos owned by Gabrielle Carrigy

Support local artists and endeavours! Canberra is full of mega-talent!

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Sunday, May 17, 2015

Victorian era headless photography


A fun trend for Victorians in the 1800's, with trick photography




Brilliant!
All pics sourced via Tumblr

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La Petomane


A professional flatulist, stranger than fiction!



Pic from Pinterest

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Macarena Madness GIF smash



These two together are a somewhat terrifyingly hilarious combination, no?

Both from GifSoup

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Saturday, May 16, 2015

Mœbius and Marc Chagall


Moebius/ Jean Giraud is the talent behind these wonderful works, and a legendary contributor to film, comics and many great books




And here is the wonderfully colourful emotive work of Marc Chagall, If I were a thousandairre I would fresco my ceilings with these and fall asleep beneath their melancholy warmth





All pics from Pinterest

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Opinion Peace and Moral Absolutism


^ Does anyone else wonder if there will ever be such a thing, particularly on social media, as "opinion peace". The whole point of civil society is we can express different points of view without fear of retribution. Of course this means the right to conflicting opinions, but with the genius/stupidity of the design of the 'share' button, I wonder how many people stop and question the rhetoric or reductionist logic behind things that they sometimes post.

Some of the things I see that people clearly have not even begun to try to understand the 'bigger picture' behind something, results in an un-follow at the least. Some of the memes that get circulated are so simplistic and people seem to believe it's an accurate portrayal of sentiment, or a proper argument, when it is everything but. 

It's difficult: by staying silent are you 'letting them get away with it' or by arguing/ defending a point, are you egging them on and just giving them a power-trip and thus a platform soap box to preach their disdain? Social media is seemingly distorting this line between what is and isn't acceptable to shove in people's faces.



Much of the terribly reductionist nationalistic racist crap that circulates, I wonder if people pick up on the fact that this does come back to them, this safe distance between a post on your computer and actually telling someone to their face you think their religion or lifestyle is not acceptable- any coward can push a button and be a keyboard warrior. Some of the nationalistic rhetoric I see posted, I wonder if people would have the courage to say that to someone's face, if so I would be horrified.

Social Media isn't a great place for Moral Absolutism. Moral absolutism is in itself troubling enough, but to pit vague on-line friendships in the camps of "with me" or "against me" is a good way for no one to care about any of what you have to say.



It's just difficult. Everyone wants to feel like their views matter and that they're important, and informed on the world around them, the difficulty is that not many people question their base assumptions, and let memes do the talking that perhaps should be engaged in face to face, instead of enraged 'viewers' who simultaneously feel connected and disconnected.

When you think abstractedly and question everything naturally, it's hard to ignore the massive world of general ignorance the internet has given us access to, at our angry and dependent fingertips....

All pics from Tumblr

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Sunday, May 10, 2015

Some more Leunigs for you
















The last one is probably my favourite, a glimpse of hope for those who move away from how our world tells us we must be, whilst overlooking all the problems humanity faces in keeping with an unjust system

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All from the appreciation Tumblr

10 for today


A German Danse Macabre from the 18th century. Everyone is taking part in the 'Danse Macabre' (dance of death) from the lowliest peasant to the royal family. No one escapes the dance of death.


A clock from the German town of Augsburg, 1640. The figure is wearing a funerary wreath, and is holding an arrow, the tip of which displays the time.


News from Nowhere. William Morris is pretty kickass


Mihoko Ogaki site here brilliant sculptures releasing starlight from corporeal forms, so beautiful


Michal Trpak sculptures. Truly brilliant! More here at his wonderful website


BRILLIANT!!! See here! Edible delicious Momento Mori's! What more could you want in cake?


In Finnish, Northern lights are called “Lights of the Fox”. It comes from the old beliefs, that says the lights come from the fox tail hitting the snow.

Artist: Linda Piekäinen, Link on artist's page: https://www.facebook.com/artbypiekainen


Read more about the brilliant Beltane here we need more festivals and feast days, they should be brought back! Tom Hodgkinson, editor of the Idler and writer of some of my favourite books, champions the treasuring of old world customs and festivals. If I lived in the UK, I would never stop obscure festival-ing.





The strange tale of the green children of Woolpit, folklore? real? Decide for yourself here


And the dancing plague of 1518! What a brilliant piece of history this is! More here. History that seems to border on the edge of myth and myth that seems to have genuinely been a part of history, is one of my favourite spheres to exist in mentally!

What about you? :)

All pics from Tumblr unless linked to site

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Thursday, May 7, 2015

Crisis of Meaning in the 21st Century: Part Two


 In a time of increased connectivity, how are people who feel disconnected from society meant to play a role in a confused system that they do not wish to participate in.
There is a 'crisis of meaning' that is palatable some days.

Status, social media and the ideas of success and failure prevail in all countries, but in industrialised or 'developed' countries, there is a sharp increase in suicides and social problems. How are we to assign meaning, or bring it back on our own terms, not just as individuals, but collectively so we begin to see a narrative that does not include just ourselves.
I will not pretend to have any answers, who does for such structural and social inequity.






The above chart perfectly demonstrates the onset of the existential crisis. 
What an eye-opener studying politics can be. I recommend it for those who are civic minded, I do not recommend it for people who believe the system is justified, perfectly balanced and working.







How is anyone meant to have a proper think about meaning and meaninglessness when the greats of the 20th century (well, those of prominent cultural influence and acceptance) offer polarised views?






One negative side effect of the industrial revolution was that it displaced many workers. Many people had to be a 'jack of all trades' or specialised in one thing above their other skill sets, which got completely replaced by machines. Automation and increases in technology are growing by the second, there are a series of videos available about robot bartenders. Many jobs will be replaced within a few technological generations, it will be interesting to see how quickly people allow machines to take even more jobs. The idea of working less with machinery around, in terms of the modern work week, is a myth. Poor Adam Smith actually had quite strong humanist views, and his economic papers got cherry-picked by economists and people who push for growth for growth's sake.



How are people meant to find meaning with their lives if they can't find meaningful work. We must define success in our own terms, and remember that comparison is the thief of joy.

If you start to talk to people about how machines are evolving rapidly, they just think you're a fundy whackjob, paranoid about Skynet. When firms adopt technology that decreases human costs to their business, and increases profit over employment, legislators will undoubtedly have an interesting time.

A great pictographic from Lapham's Quarterly, from here

This whole post is mainly a series of fracture thoughts, as I am sure is apparent. It is just demonstrative of the nature of the direction a large part of the world is heading into, the championing of technology and growth for growths sake, whilst ignoring the endemic social problems in their own backyard. We may have great innovation, but we have a growing suicide rate. We may have low funemployment levels, but technology is replacing jobs very quickly.

Confused?


Me too.

All pics via Tumblr

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