Friday, February 18, 2011
Visual Framing Re-Imagined
Today I'll be comparing a small slice of a painting with the whole, demonstrating why the whole painting is there.
To the left is the full image for "The Temptation of Saint Anthony".
This piece, by the great Salvador Dali himself, is...interesting. It shows a man (presumably Saint Anthony) in the lower left corner, holding a cross against a parade of spindle-legged...things, such as a horse and a house. The rather normal anatomy and structure of Anthony creates an enormous contrast with the exaggerated, stretched form of the parade of figures coming at him. Also contrasted is their size- Anthony is very small and the other figures appear to be behemoths. The lines of the legs of the creatures draw the viewer's eye down the line of creatures and into the background. The viewer's eye is not drawn to Anthony whatsoever- possibly to emphasize how insignifigant he is next to the giant creatures.
To the right is a cut version of the painting:
This bit of the painting emphasizes Anthony more, but it cuts out a lot of the creatures coming at him. Here, the lines of the horse's legs draw the eye to Anthony and the ground, rather than deep into the painting. In this small piece it seems like Anthony is standing against a single beast, rather than being attacked by a parade of monsters, making him seem stronger. Overall, this small bit of the painting makes Anthony seem less helpless and weak, which is probably why Dali painted the whole instead of this small bit.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Brainwashed
You can find "Brainwashed at this website.
In this article, Godin makes 7 suggestions to help readers reinvent themselves. I'll be taking a closer look at two of them.
Acknowledge the Lizard
The "lizard" is the part of the brain that holds our base worries- safety, acceptance, anger. It's the part of the brain that tries to hold back creativity and push obedience for fear of being mocked. It's the part of the brain that tries to make you average, boring, to make you fade into the background because you're safer that way. But for those who create, this just isn't possible. We need to stand out to be heard.
Obviously, as a creative person, it has some effect here in my blog- it's a constant thought in the back of my head: "don't put that out there!" "what will people think if you write that?". This resistance to creativity needs to be repressed to truly create, and that's just what Acknowledging the Lizard is: hearing it, knowing what it sounds like, then completely ignoring it.
Shipping
Things that are rare are usually valuable, it's basic supply and demand. Godin proposes that instead of a physical thing being rare, the rarest thing is the ability to put that physical object out into the world. If your rivals are afraid to do something and you go ahead and do it before them, you come out ahead and with a lot of recognition. However, the Lizard doesn't like to ship- why put yourself out there? Then everyone will just pay attention to you and you might fail!
This kind of thinking is why Acknowledging the Lizard is important- if you can quash that little voice, you can Ship things that your competitors do not.
Shipping is important to a blog- there are so many these days, you need some way to break out of the pack of news feeds and complaining. By putting out unique ideas and ideas that others fear to put out in the open, I can make myself rise above the tide of blandness and lizarditude and get noticed.
In this article, Godin makes 7 suggestions to help readers reinvent themselves. I'll be taking a closer look at two of them.
Acknowledge the Lizard
The "lizard" is the part of the brain that holds our base worries- safety, acceptance, anger. It's the part of the brain that tries to hold back creativity and push obedience for fear of being mocked. It's the part of the brain that tries to make you average, boring, to make you fade into the background because you're safer that way. But for those who create, this just isn't possible. We need to stand out to be heard.
Obviously, as a creative person, it has some effect here in my blog- it's a constant thought in the back of my head: "don't put that out there!" "what will people think if you write that?". This resistance to creativity needs to be repressed to truly create, and that's just what Acknowledging the Lizard is: hearing it, knowing what it sounds like, then completely ignoring it.
Shipping
Things that are rare are usually valuable, it's basic supply and demand. Godin proposes that instead of a physical thing being rare, the rarest thing is the ability to put that physical object out into the world. If your rivals are afraid to do something and you go ahead and do it before them, you come out ahead and with a lot of recognition. However, the Lizard doesn't like to ship- why put yourself out there? Then everyone will just pay attention to you and you might fail!
This kind of thinking is why Acknowledging the Lizard is important- if you can quash that little voice, you can Ship things that your competitors do not.
Shipping is important to a blog- there are so many these days, you need some way to break out of the pack of news feeds and complaining. By putting out unique ideas and ideas that others fear to put out in the open, I can make myself rise above the tide of blandness and lizarditude and get noticed.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Covered Up
Covers are a great opportunity for a band to pay tribute to someone who inspired them or who they respect, and it's also a great way to put a new twist on an old classic. Sometimes the new version is a little...odd, but experimentation is an important thing.
The song I'll be examining in this post is "Head Like a Hole", originally by Nine Inch Nails and covered by a band that's quite different...Devo?
Yes, Devo, the new-wave nerds from the 80s covered Head Like A Hole. It's a bizarre loop of Devo influencing Trent Reznor then covering his music. Obviously, since Reznor makes rather serious music on the whole and the band covering him is Devo, there's going to be a lot of contrast.
Before I begin...
"Head Like a Hole", Nine Inch Nails
"Head Like a Hole", Devo
The songs both start differently: The NIN version builds up from a very bare-bones drum machine track while the Devo version jumps straight into the drum beat. However, both songs then go into the main riff with heavy bass guitar/keyboard. The songs (obviously) have the same lyrics, but the rhythm of the lyrics during the verses is quite different. Reznor delivers his lyrics at an irregular speed without elongating any words or syllables. Mark Mothersbaugh (the lead singer of Devo) uses a more consistent speed of singing and elongates a few words, making his version seem more relaxed.
The choruses of the song are much heavier than the verses, Reznor going into full shouting, verging on screaming, and Mark shouting as well, possibly being the heaviest section of a song Devo has ever played. The intensity of both songs changes, but to a different level. Reznor's song becomes full of distorted, amplified guitar and shouting. Devo's song introduces a heavier, tom-filled drum line and some distorted guitar, but it's mostly the vocals that get heavier.
The similar instrumentation in both songs (drum machines, vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards) gives them an affinity, but there are noticable differences. The most noticeable is the vocal line: besides having a different singer, it's just...sillier. The trademark altered voices are there, shouting "More MONEY!" during the verses and "No!" during the pre-chorus. During the post-chorus, they sing "Bow down!". Reznor is the only singer (aside from some background notes and cackling) in his version, but Mark is not alone in his. This gives the songs a very contrasted timbre- the Devo version feels a bit fuller, a bit more chaotic. Aside from the vocals, Devo uses some guitar during the verses, where Reznor does not. The voices they use during their intro and breaks are also very different, being general higher and less serious.
Overall I have to say I'm a bigger fan of Devo's version, simply because I'm a big Devo version. The NIN version isn't bad, in fact I enjoy it, but I've never been a huge fan of theirs. I like Mark's voice, and I like Devo's instruments.
The song I'll be examining in this post is "Head Like a Hole", originally by Nine Inch Nails and covered by a band that's quite different...Devo?
Yes, Devo, the new-wave nerds from the 80s covered Head Like A Hole. It's a bizarre loop of Devo influencing Trent Reznor then covering his music. Obviously, since Reznor makes rather serious music on the whole and the band covering him is Devo, there's going to be a lot of contrast.
Before I begin...
"Head Like a Hole", Nine Inch Nails
"Head Like a Hole", Devo
The songs both start differently: The NIN version builds up from a very bare-bones drum machine track while the Devo version jumps straight into the drum beat. However, both songs then go into the main riff with heavy bass guitar/keyboard. The songs (obviously) have the same lyrics, but the rhythm of the lyrics during the verses is quite different. Reznor delivers his lyrics at an irregular speed without elongating any words or syllables. Mark Mothersbaugh (the lead singer of Devo) uses a more consistent speed of singing and elongates a few words, making his version seem more relaxed.
The choruses of the song are much heavier than the verses, Reznor going into full shouting, verging on screaming, and Mark shouting as well, possibly being the heaviest section of a song Devo has ever played. The intensity of both songs changes, but to a different level. Reznor's song becomes full of distorted, amplified guitar and shouting. Devo's song introduces a heavier, tom-filled drum line and some distorted guitar, but it's mostly the vocals that get heavier.
The similar instrumentation in both songs (drum machines, vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards) gives them an affinity, but there are noticable differences. The most noticeable is the vocal line: besides having a different singer, it's just...sillier. The trademark altered voices are there, shouting "More MONEY!" during the verses and "No!" during the pre-chorus. During the post-chorus, they sing "Bow down!". Reznor is the only singer (aside from some background notes and cackling) in his version, but Mark is not alone in his. This gives the songs a very contrasted timbre- the Devo version feels a bit fuller, a bit more chaotic. Aside from the vocals, Devo uses some guitar during the verses, where Reznor does not. The voices they use during their intro and breaks are also very different, being general higher and less serious.
Overall I have to say I'm a bigger fan of Devo's version, simply because I'm a big Devo version. The NIN version isn't bad, in fact I enjoy it, but I've never been a huge fan of theirs. I like Mark's voice, and I like Devo's instruments.
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