Taking the Damn Pills

There's a wonderful film (and even more wonderful book) called One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest... Jack Nicholson plays a newly admitted patient at a mental institution in the 1960's.

He's insubordinate, witty, and very much an individual...

The head nurse and his character get into a bit of an ongoing quarrel because he doesn't want to take his medicine.

With a bunch of bad noise and some Oscar winning drama, he ends up getting lobotomized.

Despite all the other messages the film has to communicate, the one that I'm relating to is the idea that if you don't take the pill prescribed, there will be consequences...

That "blogathon" begins now, and hopefully a couple spoon fulls of sugar will help this medicine go down.

h.

[ . Sustainable design. . ]

It's really amazing at how much the human race is trying to get back to the roots of nature and incorporate it into modern design and technology. It's been evident for some time with small things popping up every now and then, such a velcro, invented in 1941, and self-healing plastic in 2001, but very recently there's been a surge in biomimicry and sustainable design. Architecture is one of the most dominant areas that this is affected with. There are several buildings, both large and small, that have begun to incorporate sustainable design as a means to improve efficiency and leave a smaller footprint on the world around them. One such building would be the Phare Tower, due to be completed by the Morphosis Design firm in 2012 near Paris, France, pictured below. The entire building has nothing but smooth lines and a very unusual design, altogether. It is 68 stories of double-skinned, clear-glazed facade to not only improve efficiency, but also provide more natural light to cut down on energy costs. Beneath, the building possesses a wind generator farm, which then goes to provide what energy is needed for the building, instead of drawing on the local power grid. All in all, it is an unusual design, but it makes sense. The more efficiency achieved with modern architecture means we need to draw less and less on power grids and artificially generated energy. That can only mean for the better for this planet, itself.



http://www.fengshuichat.com/sitearm/sustainable_design_images.htm

Check this out! Angela.

Colored light in three dimensions, think about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWekIcZaKns


There's the link... because the video wouldn't work.

and the (Turner Prize) winner is...

Susan Philipsz is winner of this year's Turner Prize, an annual award normally held at the Tate Museum in London to celebrate new developments in contemporary art.
This year's winner, the 4th woman to receive the award, and an artist whose work centers around recordings of her voice singing folk songs over public address systems, caused yet another art world stir...
Here's a link to UK Telegraph article on the 2010 Turner Prize contestants....


Susan Philipsz  Lowlands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWeKzTDi-OA


Pros and cons- the art world (and elsewhere) weigh in...
An article from the BBC
Article on Lowlands from Nouse.com, the UNY
You be the judge.

Your turn tomorrow...

End of the world (class) as we know it...

REM End of the World video Courtesy EMI

(apologies for the ad..)

OK everyone- here we go on the final stretch...

Post all of your blog assignments...
Bring your Process Journals and Lab Books to class tomorrow to turn in for grading...
Come prepared with a 1 page  Artistic Merit Award paper (typewritten with 3 cited sources...)
Bring a treat to share...

We will watch presentations, vote for the most worthy, and celebrate a semester of good work and interesting conversations about art....

Oh, and don't forget to post your favorite art/music videos to the blog for our distinguished panel of judges...(appropriate for general viewing, please!)

And speaking of art censorship... here is a link to a NY Times article about the latest arts/censhorship controversy: the removal of an excerpt from the artist David Wojnarowicz’s video “A Fire in My Belly” from an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian.  (remember our 'Difficult (challenging) Art' discussion?)
Food for thought...agree, disagree, indifferent?

Stay warm and see you all tomorrow!

Notice: I am breaking the rules! Love, Meg

I know we were supposed to post just one video, but I came across this today and remembered how great it is...and possibly delirious with sleep deprivation, I thought I absolutely had to share it with you all. Enjoy!

I Cut Like a Buffalo by The Dead Weather.