makes me so happy
Dairy cows join effort to corral greenhouse gases [east oregonian]
part of broader trend of kind of this retro form of modernization. not retro but like this back-looking moving forward.
eg, poor people been utilizing cow manure in india since forever
marriage of modern science which lends precision and efficiency
with "ancient" or somehow "natural" human practices
funny how when humans really started using science for practical things liek commerce etc it was such a perverse technology-obsessed usage. thinking like from the industrial revolution through to the 60's ... when a technology was introduced it totally replaced the traditional or folk practice. now i think we are finally seeing mroe and more instances of these two things working together.
Showing posts with label big-questions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label big-questions. Show all posts
Friday, December 29, 2006
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
abstract visual art vs. abstract audible art
from the Big Question Dept.
This is one that's been floating around in my head for years now. So, big prize for anyone who can answer it. Actually, I remember first thinking of this when in Europe in 1998. jeez that's a long time.
ok, so, Why is it that "abstract" visual art is so much more widely accepted and appealing than abstract audible art?
For ex, circa the 1900's Picasso et all started departing from literal representations of their world ... but it wasn't until 60s/70s (? thinking like John Cage, etc) that music departed from what is naturally beautiful to the human ear, and it has been much less popular.
Or actually, maybe the question is reversed and it is audible art that was always abstract in the sense that it was generated to appeal to human notions of beauty and not reproducing the natural world, while visual art only much later departed from natural world representations and began focussing on pure visual stimulus.
Or is this question just completely malformed?
This is one that's been floating around in my head for years now. So, big prize for anyone who can answer it. Actually, I remember first thinking of this when in Europe in 1998. jeez that's a long time.
ok, so, Why is it that "abstract" visual art is so much more widely accepted and appealing than abstract audible art?
For ex, circa the 1900's Picasso et all started departing from literal representations of their world ... but it wasn't until 60s/70s (? thinking like John Cage, etc) that music departed from what is naturally beautiful to the human ear, and it has been much less popular.
Or actually, maybe the question is reversed and it is audible art that was always abstract in the sense that it was generated to appeal to human notions of beauty and not reproducing the natural world, while visual art only much later departed from natural world representations and began focussing on pure visual stimulus.
Or is this question just completely malformed?
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
improvisation and "black" music
from the Big Question Dept.
ok, this is kind of a difficult question/subject to broach/discuss, but here goes ...
Why is it that improvisation has been such a key element in all black music movements throughout American history? (Thinking of blues, jazz, funk, hiphop, and now crunk [and now hyphy. -ed])
I suppose it could simply be the case that improvisation was introduced early (ie, jazz/blues) and all the other movements have built upon each other so that motif was repeated. But I think there must be some other reason that this particular element has repeatedly carried through, and has always been so central to each movement.
I'm just going to go out on a limb and say there is something extremely liberating about improvisation. Its like saying, perparations, money, lessons, anything, I can stand here and express my identity/ideas/relevence/intelligence (things that have all been denied of black people in many and varried ways throughout history) as good or better than any other person who is standing here improvising with me. Its like it makes the past and future irrelevent.
Of course this is not all entirely true since it requires immense amounts of time and preparation to have the abilities to improvise in a meaningful way. But I think its the feeling more than the actuality.
Anyway, thats just my random theory. Would be interested to hear anything anyone else has to say.
ok, this is kind of a difficult question/subject to broach/discuss, but here goes ...
Why is it that improvisation has been such a key element in all black music movements throughout American history? (Thinking of blues, jazz, funk, hiphop, and now crunk [and now hyphy. -ed])
I suppose it could simply be the case that improvisation was introduced early (ie, jazz/blues) and all the other movements have built upon each other so that motif was repeated. But I think there must be some other reason that this particular element has repeatedly carried through, and has always been so central to each movement.
I'm just going to go out on a limb and say there is something extremely liberating about improvisation. Its like saying, perparations, money, lessons, anything, I can stand here and express my identity/ideas/relevence/intelligence (things that have all been denied of black people in many and varried ways throughout history) as good or better than any other person who is standing here improvising with me. Its like it makes the past and future irrelevent.
Of course this is not all entirely true since it requires immense amounts of time and preparation to have the abilities to improvise in a meaningful way. But I think its the feeling more than the actuality.
Anyway, thats just my random theory. Would be interested to hear anything anyone else has to say.
Monday, November 21, 2005
69 != 96
from the Big Question Dept.
Why is this decade different from the 60's in terms of our political apathy vs. their political motivation? Certainly it is not due to any lack of unjust wars, secretive administrations, or corrupt/criminal politicians passing through the oval office. So what is it? Perhaps just intense cultural saturation? The powers that be have truly established a hegemonic control over the lazy complacent bourgeois? Where are the fucking students?
Is this question even well-formed?
Why is this decade different from the 60's in terms of our political apathy vs. their political motivation? Certainly it is not due to any lack of unjust wars, secretive administrations, or corrupt/criminal politicians passing through the oval office. So what is it? Perhaps just intense cultural saturation? The powers that be have truly established a hegemonic control over the lazy complacent bourgeois? Where are the fucking students?
Is this question even well-formed?
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