Thursday 30 December 2010

The 2010 Mash Up.

So Christmas is over for another year, leaving a trail of hangovers, paper hats and empty bank accounts. I hope everyone got everything their hearts desired and you're all looking forward to 2011. If you're not then here; have a little slice of 2010!
This guy (DJ Earworm)...(yeah I don't know either) takes the cream of the Top 40 crop from one year (he does this annually) and bungs them all together into one epic song. And when they call it a mash up, it actually is mashed line by line. Take a listen.

I also respect the fact that this was a very lazy blog post.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Monday 13 December 2010

A Blog From Years Ago That I Forgot to Post or Something About Cartesian Doubt


My most recent lecture involved a myriad of rhetorical questions. Why do we so willingly accept paying off debts such as mortgages and student loans? Why do we continue to go to a job which is hated by the majority?
Those who refuse to conform to this restricted style of living have two sides of the board to fall on. They are either brandished mad people; or are lucky enough to be admired. If you are willing to play this mental lottery of sanity, you could end up somebody like Sophie Calle. Or, a safer version of this liberated form of person comes in the form of Mary Blair.
Both artists in their own right (French and American respectively), Calle in particular rails against society. Calle, in an artistic creation of Cartesian Doubt, questions everything in life. Studies it and could ultimately baffle anyone who tried to challenge her way of thinking. Calle's more famous studies involve finding a lost address book, and by interviewing everybody inside, built up a suitable mental image of the man in question.
Not restricted to just one place, Calle once flew to Italy, following a man who had no idea he was an intricate part of her new interest. Calle's life is liberated, and in no way restricted by places, people or even time.
This form of living has been a goal of society's for centuries. The romantic revolution during the 1800's, held the belief system that people should be free; and not restricted by cities and industry.
Mary Blair (an artist that designed and heavily influenced Walt Disney's 1951 version of Alice in Wonderland) creates scenes, animals and people that appear to have no sense of physical being. The tree's are the color they want to be, the people are any shape and size, regardless of how people want them to appear. Her sense of style and idealism brings to light the apparent rigidity of normal life. Blair's world is freeing, shape shifting and exciting; (The perfect choice for Lewis Carroll's Wonderland) but also a life that most of us, symbolically, would desire.
So why aren't we all as creatively free as we'd like?
To bring the example into popular culture, Lady Gaga, a well known figure in the music industry is often noted for her insane sense of style and belief system. Yet she is rarely if ever criticized; since her extraordinary amount of talent over rides this.
So do we need to have something going for us? A streak that enables society to overlook the non conformity because we make up for it in other areas? Maybe if you're extraordinarily talented you just can't fit in by rule of thumb. So does that make the rest of us-the crowds and the general public, undeniably average?
Probably. In fact most definitely. But why is this depressing? Everybody has the chance to achieve what they want in life.
And besides, without us, the talented would have no one to shine for.