Author: descott

For my grid art project, I decided to do a grid portrait of Jimi Hendrix, the most influential contemporary guitarist of our time (IMHO).  I had an idea to create something like stained glass, but use a Plexiglas sheet and fix glass “marbles” to the Plexiglas.

I chose a basic portrait, then posterized it to 10 colors, then pixelated it to the size I wanted to use (40 x 40).  Easy enough, I thought.  I was also able to isolate each color to its own sheet, making the grid easy to follow.  That was the easy part.

The quest to find glass marbles was a bit of a challenge.  I wanted to use similar shades, but there’s really not that much variance out there.  Also, not all marbles are created equal.  While they were generally the same size, the first batch of marbles I measured turned out to be slightly smaller than the average.  Consequently, my grid was ever so slightly smaller than what I needed.  I also wrestled with making the grid 40″ x 40″, which would be difficult to transport, but gave ample room (1 x 1 squares) for the marbles.  But I also thought that 1 x 1 would leave too much space between the marbles and the overall picture would be lost.  Undaunted with my choices, I soldiered on, mixing “mini” marbles with the larger ones where needed.

The above slider shows some in-progress work.  The finished piece was sprayed with 8 coats of polyurethane in an attempt to make the glass beads more stable.  I used Gorilla superglue gel to set the beads, but the slightest “flex” of the Plexiglas (while moving) would pop the glass loose, so I need to go back and re-glue with a different type of glue that has more movement – maybe a rubber/silicone cement of some kind.

I made a video of the finished piece, showing a strip of LEDs I used as a border.  Really cool effect when set to music…

GRID ART UPDATE:  I got my hands on some different glue that’s working out great:  Aleen’s 7800 Adhesive – now it’s just the tedious process of going through and re-gluing the loose stuff…and more keeps coming loose.  I also plan on putting a 1/2 inch Plexiglas “frame” around the back of the plexi to make it more rigid.

We don’t typically think about solar panels being a long-standing technology, but research and historical records show that solar power has been seen as a fundamental resource as early as the 7^th century, B.C. when magnifying glasses were used to start fires (and burn ants).[i]

The technology used to store solar energy in various forms, primarily as heat, has recorded history as early as the 4^th century, B.C. with heating Roman bath houses.

The quest to harness energy from the sun seems to be as old as civilization itself.  For this reason, I believe solar panels are keys to our future technological advances.  Two centuries ago, in 1839 French scientist Edmond Becquerel discovers the photovoltaic effect while experimenting with an electrolytic cell made up of two metal electrodes placed in an electricity-conducting solution—electricity-generation increased when exposed to light.[ii]  From then, technology has advanced to produce more power and gain greater efficiency with different materials and configurations.

Up until recently, solar panels have been viewed as a source of power.  However, I believe their usefulness has a greater capability as communications receivers, as demonstrated by a recent TED Talk, in which Harald Haas demonstrated solar panel reception with a standard LED transmitter.[iii]  Mr. Haas successfully used a solar panel to receive full-motion video that was transmitted from an LED, unperceived by the naked eye.  In that regard, the solar panel became more than an energy conversion medium.  Solar panels can now be used to receive data, and data can be piped through every available light source.  Network infrastructure now simply becomes air itself.

I believe solar panels have the “stigma” of only being thought of as an energy capture device to recharge batteries or provide limited continuous power streams.  However, this demonstration now shows that solar panels can and should be used for reception of data, potentially huge amounts of bandwidth across an entire light spectrum at the same time as energy capture.  Solar panels now have multiplied capability.  Solar panels should be everywhere.  If solar panels are employed everywhere, we will find that they will have a combined effect on the energy we need, can regain from the sun, and can reduce from fossil fuel generators.  I believe this simple experiment shows a possibility to dramatically impacting our ecology for the better.

[i] https://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf

[ii] https://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf

[iii] https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_haas_a_breakthrough_new_kind_of_wireless_internet?language=en

I confess I am not a big fan of Broadway Musicals. I don’t have any specific reason why. Maybe it’s because I’m not moved much by visual performance of song, maybe it’s the boundaries of the stage, maybe the changing scenes in the same space. I’m not sure. I’ve seen maybe three “Broadway” performances. My first real Broadway performance was “Godspell,” in 1983, in New York City. That performance was a school field trip.

I was in our own high school musical “Godspell” in 1983. After much controversy, our school cancelled its performance of “Oklahoma,” the large cast was dismissed, and a quickly-assembled cast was to perform “Godspell.” My sister was part of the new cast, and I happened to be “drafted” onto the cast when I went to pick her up from rehearsals the first evening. The music teacher, Mr. David DeAngelis, thought that if my sister could sing then so could I. So I sang. I was not Pavarotti, but I got the job done.

We took the field trip to give ourselves a jump-start, showing us what the musical “should” look like, when performed by professionals. We only had a few weeks to learn and get ready, so this quick immersion helped. That was my first introduction to live musical performance. We performed “Godspell” in my high school for a week, if I remember right. The house was full each day. I did decide, however, that performance art was really not my thing…I was more of a visual media artist. Further, I didn’t like the “drama” of all the needy performer personalities.

As I mentioned, I’ve seen very few Broadway performances. Recently I’ve seen “Spamalot” and “The Book of Mormon.” I went to those performances because I’m a big fan of Monty Python and Southpark.

I’ve seen several other iconic musicals as movies – “Oklahoma,” “West Side Story,” “Oliver,” “The Music Man,” and others, I’m sure. I enjoyed the movie versions of those musicals. Thinking back, it was probably because they weren’t confined to a stage.

After reading several articles on the Stage Door web site, I was really struck by the PASSION Angel de Quinta had for the stage and all of the performances he wrote about. He also writes with such vibrant color. I enjoyed his writing style. I can’t say I share his unbridled enthusiasm for the stage, but I appreciate the effort he put in to each article I read. I also appreciate the contributions to the genre he has made.

I thought this short animated story was brilliant.  It had many elements that symbolized the deep emotions this story conveyed in just a few short seconds on screen.  Rather than re-hash the story, I intend to highlight some of the symbolism I noticed.  I’m sure there is probably much more that I haven’t discovered.

First, Stop-Motion animation is my most favorite form of animation because I believe the animator(s) must have such a complete, detailed vision of the story before they begin.  I believe stop-motion must be completely scripted before the story is told.  There is no real ad-libbing.  Each frame must be meticulously crafted to tell the story in minute detail.

Some of the early symbolism, during their “sex scene,” Madame started out a porcelain white, but at climax was more skin-toned, either pointing to her loss of innocence or her completely accepting Pinkerton as part of herself.  As Pinkerton ran off, leaving his hat and his phonograph, Madame’s butterfly flies away, in what I believe symbolizes her loss of fragile innocence.

The changing landscape and weather symbolizes her ignorant hope over time; hope that Pinkerton will return to her after their one-time tryst.  She gives birth to a faceless blob, crying, with one distinguishable feature – a mouth, for feeding.  Interestingly, when the child is born, the hat and phonograph disappear from the story.  Pinkerton has been replaced.

More symbolism in the young child saying “momma” and then being flown like a kite, which shows Madame with a purpose other than waiting for Pinkerton’s return.  The child has no physical characteristics from Pinkerton.  She is completely her mother’s child.  The next scene, where the child is flying Madame like a kite, symbolizes Madame’s contentment with her current life.  This is when the ship returns.  Madame once again returns to her past, puts on Pinkerton’s hat and brings out the phonograph.  The child, once with a kite string, now appears to be on a leash.

Pinkerton’s return is not for Madame, but to claim his “property,” the child, to ride along with all the other children from foreign lands, in his big car, carried away in his big fancy ship, with his perfect barbie-doll partner.  Pinkerton carelessly breaks Madame’s connecting string without a backward glance.  Madame is cast aside.

Here is where I find the story-teller’s brilliance, in portraying Madame’s personal sadness, pain and destruction.  Her character is so completely devastated that she removes herself from the very story she is in.  She breaks down the “fourth wall,” runs off the set and proceeds to disassemble herself, quite literally.  She rips her face off, pulls her “skin” and stuffing off, then dismantles her “skeleton,” the very parts that made this stop-motion possible.  In the final scene, her parts all fly away, morphing into the shape of a butterfly, coming to rest on another Madame in another time…

While this was just a short 10-minute animation, I was amazed at how deep and emotional the story was, conveyed through stop-motion.  I really enjoyed this.

I don’t watch much television other than the local news, UFC and Baseball (the Rays).  Oh, and Game of Thrones.  I’ve only made it through one full series recently, and that was “Breaking Bad.”  Another series I began watching but soon became bored with was “The Blacklist.”  I did really enjoy James Spader’s character, in the depth of contrast between good and evil…and doing evil things for “good” outcomes…which may or may not be revealed later as evil, as the story unfolds.  I enjoyed “Breaking Bad” for that same reason…is the “hero” good or bad?  And what’s the definition of good or bad?  Who decides?  That question is left for the audience.

In that regard I was instantly drawn to that same complexity in Mr. Robot.  The social commentary seems to be fairly basic and easy enough to follow.  The use of technical jargon is somewhat accurate, but also somewhat far-fetched.  The script is written to hint at things that are very possible (like taking over webcams in computers and rudimentary password cracking through basic social engineering).  One thing that nags at me – why the use of paper?  Hackers don’t print things…

I bought the first season so I could watch it in HD, but I’m finding the monologue to be a bit dull and predictable…but maybe it’s written that way because Elliot, the hero, is battling addiction.  I’m hoping as his head clears the story becomes deeper.

I enjoy the cinematography.  Having just returned from Manhattan a few days ago, the scenery is familiar.  I also think the settings with “Evil Corp” were done well…in a very Orwellian tone.  It’s interesting to see varied use of point focus.  Whenever there’s interaction with Mr. Robot, everything, to include background and peripherals are in clear focus.  In most other interactions, focus is limited to localized areas, to draw attention to portions of the whole picture.

On to episode three…I do hope it gets deeper.