Society Now!

Welcome to Society Now.

The advent of technology continues to revolutionize our world, but at what price? I believe what has been the greatest benefit, comes with unrealized consequences.

But thats what happens when society is built on a mentality of now, instead of later: fast food, emails, video streaming. The generation of waiting is slowly disappearing; patience along with it. I find it frustrating sometimes when I have to wait for my computer to start up. Imagine that...an entire minute or two and I am complaining how long its taking.

During a talk by Carl Honore, on slowing down he made an interesting point. The way we look at time reflects how we spend it. Now breaking this thought down, we get two beliefs: either time is cyclical, or time is linear. The thought of time being cyclical gives us a sense of death and rebirth. A sense of renewal in the day, in the body and the mind. There seems to be something organic about this idea. Now, the linear time line is filled with limitations. The arrow of time moves through past, present and future; unfortunately there is no way of going back to the past. Concentrating on this belief, we start to compress as many activities as possible into our days.

Once we start compressing our days, we see chores in things that shouldn't be chores: a family dinner without the tv being on, a walk through the park with a dog, a phone call with a long-distance friend, reading a bedtime story to your child, etc. Now looking at our lifestyle....is this healthy? What's in store for us in the future? When fast food becomes faster? When emails just take too long? When teleportation is delayed by a millisecond?

How do you view time? Most of Western ideology lives in a linear time line. Unfortunately for us, the Delorean is not able to go back to the future, nor the past for that matter. We live in a world without a Delorean, and for good reason we will continue to do so. Instead we live with quotes that tell us to make the most out of our day. Making the most out of your day doesn't mean you need to fill it with every imaginable activity.

Its interesting to see countries in Europe trying something new. There are businesses that operate on 25 - 30 hour a week days. They are finding that their employees are more productive then then most 40+ hour businesses and their employees are much happier.

Fortunately for us, our future is in our hands. Bring the speed dial down once in while. We end this post with a quote from Ferris Bueller: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once a while, you could miss it."

Time for the a cup of the ol' green,

Serg

Rest Time

No vlog tonight....yes yes I know, sad face. Hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. I went hiking today and it was amazing. I might have to make it a repeat event.

Have a great week everyone,
Serg

Symmetrical Visions

We take a break from the traditional TED videos to go into a discussion of symmetry and how you can apply it to some of your snapshots to create images that will blow your friend's and family's mind. Seriously, be careful who you show this to...this isn't your grandma's sewing circle kind of stuff, unless grandma's sewing circle drops LSD while crocheting to Tool.

Now the basic theory of symmetry is represented will with Da Vinci's naked man, or more appropriately known as Vitruvian Man. The Vitruvian Man was supposed to symbolize perfection, and in a way the symmetrical figure does. I don't care how much acid your grandma shares with me, while she is playing Spores, but if I see a creature with a head for its arm, an arm sticking out of the middle chest and three right feet, I know its time to quit her sewing circle. Something as chaotic as that should stay locked up in my subconscious and does not need to manifest into reality.

In some way, the idea of symmetry puts the mind at ease. Humans are born to find patterns in chaos and so, we can apply this concept to transform boring snapshots into some unique forms of art. Now, remember we are adding a dash of creativity here. If your photo....whats the politically correct word I'm looking for...sucks, then now matter how much post processing you apply to it, it might be better that you let it drift into the photographic underworld.

When I first read up on applying this concept to my photographs, I won't lie to you, I went a little overboard. So much so, that I didn'tbother with this technique for close to four years.

Original and the LSD Version

That last one used to be cloud.....

So how does one create such monstrosities? Well with any simple piece of photo editing software, you take part of the image and copy it. You can copy exactly half of the image, or get creative and maybe take a third of the image. Once you copy your selection, paste it and flip it horizontally or vertically...depending on your selection. Then align it so that two pieces form a symmetrical fit. You can then chose to repeat this or retry it, if for some reason it doesn't seem right.

But once you start playing with you, you can actually start creating some pretty interesting photos.

Link to my Symmetrical Visions Portfolio: LINK

Have Fun and dna nuF evaH

Sunday Vlog Episode #10

Split the video into two files....when I went off on a rant, I had no idea that I put this vlog into the 18 minute mark.

TED Tuesday - Eric Mead

A magician tackles the interesting theory of the placebo effect. The placebo effect is interesting because it shows a unique role the brain can play on a person's health. The power of thinking that something is real can be strong enough to have direct physiological change on your body. Blood is involved with the magic trick that he presents, so if you get uneasy turn away or don't watch the video all the way through.

http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_mead_the_magic_of_the_placebo.html


IN OTHER NEWS:

I hope to develop the film from the disposable cameras today. I will write up more about how the project originated and what the results are. Its still a little early to gauge this as successful or not. Back to the rainy day, the office work and a cup of green tea.

Cheers,
Serg

Sunday Vlog Episode #9

Sunday Vlog Episode #8