Thursday, December 16, 2010
Love Sex Fear Death: Inside The Process Church of the Final Judgment
I just got done reading a most interesting book on the Process Church cult of the 70's. I read the whole book in one day, which is saying a lot for me! If you have time and are so inclined I suggest reading Love, Sex, Fear, Death by Timothy Wyllie. Wyllie was one of the original founders and the art director for their striking magazine publications which must be seen to be believed!! Here's an interview with him...
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
I dont know who wrote this but I like it!
When I was young, I stayed at my neighbor's house. They had a grandfather clock. Between the tick and the tock of the pendulum, I lay awake thinking about the perverse nature of time. Mr. O'Donnell is gone now. His wife Barbara, now in her nineties, greets me with her cane when I go back to visit.
We watch our loved ones age and die, and we assume that an external entity called time is responsible for the crime. But experiments increasingly cast doubt on the existence of time as we know it. In fact, the reality of time has long been questioned by philosophers and physicists. When we speak of time, we're usually referring to change. But change isn't the same thing as time.
To measure anything's position precisely is to "lock in" on one static frame of its motion, as in a film. Conversely, as soon as you observe movement, you can't isolate a frame, because motion is the summation of many frames. Sharpness in one parameter induces blurriness in the other. Consider a film of a flying arrow that stops on a single frame. The pause enables you to know the position of the arrow with great accuracy: it's 20 feet above the grandstand. But you've lost all information about its momentum. It's going nowhere; its path is uncertain.
Numerous experiments confirm that such uncertainty is built into the fabric of reality. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is a fundamental concept of quantum physics. However, it only makes sense from a biocentric perspective. According to biocentrism, time is the inner sense that animates the still frames of the spatial world. Remember, you can't see through the bone surrounding your brain; everything you experience is woven together in your mind. So what's real? If the next image is different from the last, then it's different, period. We can award change with the word "time," but that doesn't mean that there's an invisible matrix in which changes occur.
At each moment we're at the edge of a paradox described by the Greek philosopher Zeno. Because an object can't occupy two places simultaneously, he contended that an arrow is only at one place during any given instant of its flight. To be in one place, however, is to be at rest. The arrow must therefore be at rest at every instant of its flight. Thus, motion is impossible. But is this really a paradox? Or rather, is it proof that time (motion) isn't a feature of the outer, spatial world, but rather a conception of thought?
At each moment we're at the edge of a paradox described by the Greek philosopher Zeno. Because an object can't occupy two places simultaneously, he contended that an arrow is only at one place during any given instant of its flight. To be in one place, however, is to be at rest. The arrow must therefore be at rest at every instant of its flight. Thus, motion is impossible. But is this really a paradox? Or rather, is it proof that time (motion) isn't a feature of the outer, spatial world, but rather a conception of thought?
An experiment published in 1990 suggests that Zeno was right. In this experiment, scientists demonstrated the quantum equivalent of the adage that "a watched pot doesn't boil." This behavior, the "quantum Zeno effect," turns out to be a function of observation. "It seems,"said physicist Peter Coveney, "that the act of looking at an atom prevents it from changing". Theoretically, if a nuclear bomb were watched intently enough -- that is, if you could check its atoms every million trillionth of a second -- it wouldn't explode. Bizarre? The problem lies not in the experiments but in our way of thinking about time. Biocentrism is the only comprehensible way to explain these results, which are only "weird" in the context of the existing paradigm.
In biocentrism, space and time are forms of animal intuition. They're tools of the mind and thus don't exist as external objects independent of life. When we feel poignantly that time has elapsed, as when loved ones die, it constitutes the human perceptions of the passage and existence of time. Our babies turn into adults. We age. That, to us, is time. It belongs with us.
In biocentrism, space and time are forms of animal intuition. They're tools of the mind and thus don't exist as external objects independent of life. When we feel poignantly that time has elapsed, as when loved ones die, it constitutes the human perceptions of the passage and existence of time. Our babies turn into adults. We age. That, to us, is time. It belongs with us.
New experiments confirm this concept. In 2002, scientists carried out an amazing experiment that showed that within pairs of particles, each particle anticipated what its twin would do in the future. Somehow, the particles "knew" what the researcher would do before it happened, as if there were no space or time between them. In a 2007 study published in Science, scientists shot particles into an apparatus and showed that they could retroactively change whether the particles behaved as photons or waves. The particles had to "decide" what to do when they passed a fork in the apparatus. Later on, the experimenter could flip a switch. It turns out what the observer decided at that point determined how the particle had behaved at the fork in the past. Thus the knowledge in our mind can determine how particles behave.
Of course, we live in the same world. Critics claim that this behavior is limited to the quantum world. But this "two-world" view (that is, the view that there is one set of laws for quantum objects and another for the rest of the universe, including us) has no basis in reason and is being challenged in labs around the world. Last year, researchers published a study in Nature suggesting that quantum behavior extends into the everyday realm. Pairs of ions were coaxed to entangle, and then their properties remained bound together when separated by large distances ("spooky action at a distance," as Einstein put it) as if there were no time or space. And in 2005, KHCO3 crystals exhibited entanglement ridges half an inch high, demonstrating that quantum behavior could nudge into the ordinary world of human-scale objects.
In the Oct. 2010 issue of Discover, theoretical physicists Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow state, "There is no way to remove the observer -- us -- from our perceptions of the world ... In classical physics, the past is assumed to exist as a definite series of events, but according to quantum physics, the past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities."
That night, while lying awake at my neighbor's house, I had found the answer -- that the missing piece is with us. As I see it, immortality doesn't mean perpetual (linear) existence in time but resides outside of time altogether. Life is a journey that transcends our classical way of thinking. Experiment after experiment continues to suggest that we create time, not the other way around. Without consciousness, space and time are nothing. At death, there's a break in the continuity of space and time; you can take any time -- past or future -- as your new frame of reference and estimate all potentialities relative to it. In the end, even Einstein acknowledged that "the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." Life is just one fragment of time, one brushstroke in a picture larger than ourselves, eternal even when we die. This is the indispensable prelude to immortality.
That night, while lying awake at my neighbor's house, I had found the answer -- that the missing piece is with us. As I see it, immortality doesn't mean perpetual (linear) existence in time but resides outside of time altogether. Life is a journey that transcends our classical way of thinking. Experiment after experiment continues to suggest that we create time, not the other way around. Without consciousness, space and time are nothing. At death, there's a break in the continuity of space and time; you can take any time -- past or future -- as your new frame of reference and estimate all potentialities relative to it. In the end, even Einstein acknowledged that "the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." Life is just one fragment of time, one brushstroke in a picture larger than ourselves, eternal even when we die. This is the indispensable prelude to immortality.
"Time and space are but the physiological colors which the eye maketh," said Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay "Self-Reliance." "But the soul is light; where it is, is day; where it was, is night."
"Biocentrism" (co-authored with astronomer Bob Berman) lays out Lanza's theory of everything.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Great book!
Over the past two centuries researchers have found bones and artifacts showing that people like ourselves existed on earth millions of years ago. But the scientific establishment has ignored these remarkable facts because they contradict the dominant views of human origins and antiquity. Cremo and Thompson challenge us to rethink our understanding of human origins, identity, and destiny. Forbidden Archeology takes on one of the most fundamental components of the modern scientific world view, and invites us to take a courageous first step towards a new perspective.
Breaking down the theoretical barriers.
New Evidence Challenges Darwin’s Theory
Best-selling Author Further Defies Evolutionists
September 2003), the highly anticipated sequel to the controversial bestseller Forbidden Archeology,
continues the literary drama with the same astute attention to detail and ground breaking revelations
as its predecessor.
Forbidden Archeology documented a massive amount of evidence showing that humans have existed on
earth for hundreds of millions of years. Such anomalous evidence, contradicting Darwinian evolution,
catalyzed a global inquiry, "If we did not evolve from apes, then where did we come from?" Human
Devolution is author Michael A. Cremo's definitive answer to this question.
"We did not evolve up from matter; instead we devolved, or came down, from the realm of pure
consciousness, spirit," says Cremo. He bases his response on modern science and the world's
great wisdom traditions, including the Vedic philosophy of ancient India. Cremo proposes that
before we ask the question, "Where did human beings come from? we should first contemplate,
"What is a human being?" Cremo asserts that humans are a combination of matter, mind, and
consciousness (or spirit).
Human Devolution contains solid scientific evidence showing how a subtle mind element and a
conscious self that can exist apart from the body have been systematically eliminated from
mainstream science by a process of knowledge filtration. "Any time knowledge filtration takes
place you can expect a great deal of resistance, criticism, and ridicule when it is exposed and
challenged," says Cremo.
Michael Cremo is no stranger to resistance. In 1993 when Forbidden Archeology was released
there was a vast array of response. From anthropologist Richard Leakey calling it "...pure humbug"
to Fingerprints of the Gods author Graham Hancock referring to it as "One of the landmark
intellectual achievements of the late 20th century," it has received both positive and negative
international attention. In addition, in 1996 when NBC aired its special The Mysterious Origins
of Man, hosted by Charlton Heston, and featured the book, establishment scientists felt so
threatened by this program that they lobbied the Federal Communications Commission to
censure and fine NBC for airing it (read the complete story in Forbidden Archeology's Impact).
Despite the criticism surrounding it, Forbidden Archeology is a huge success. Both it and Human
Devolution present human origins in a new perspective. The two books are the culmination of
eighteen years of research. The result, unlike the early creationist perspective, offers a new
scientifically based take on human origins. Forbidden Archeology gave us the cover-up and now
Human Devolution brings us the true story.
Monday, November 15, 2010
This is for LEN
One of the best Cindytalk tracks ever IMHO. I still have yet to hear anything so raw and powerful (with exception of a few Virgin Prunes tracks). I wish Gordon would sing again....when the bass kicks in, it kills me...recorded on two tracks which is so fucking cool.
BRAST BURN Debon
I found this really cool video on Youtube to accompany the always hypnotic music of Brast Burn. Brast Burn was the Japanese equivalent of Kraut Rock in 1975. The catch is, Kraut Rock music is and was considered a German music phenomenon, hence the moniker "Kraut"rock. The band's one and only album, Debon, was released on Voice Records. Original vinyl copies (being very scarce) go for $500 to $1000, so I found a reissue on CD. It's really an amazing listen. Anyway, enjoy the video I found on YouTube.
"The fantastic heads of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt"
In 1781, German author Friedrich Nicolai visited Messerschmidt at his studio in Pressburg and subsequently published a transcript of their conversation. Nicolai's account of the meeting is a valuable resource, as it is the only contemporary document that details Messerschmidt's reasoning behind the execution of his character heads. It appears that for many years Messerschmidt had been suffering from an undiagnosed digestive complaint, now believed to be Crohn's disease, which caused him considerable discomfort. In order to focus his thoughts away from his condition, Messerschmidt devised a series of pinches he administered to his right lower rib. Observing the resulting facial expressions in a mirror, Messerschmidt then set about recording them in marble and bronze. His intention, he told Nicolai, was to represent the 64 "canonical grimaces" of the human face using himself as a template.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
COIL & John Balance
Those of you familiar with the band Coil might like this. Me, being a geek, I used to correspond with the singer (John Balance/Otto Avery) in the 80's through the mail!!! ....ugh I'm old....
Anyway - this is a link to the first two letters he sent me while I was in high school in Alaska: http://equ.in/ox/music/coil/ryan/. Their AMAZING album, Horse Rotovator had just been released.
I find the most interesting part of the letters is in the Coil Fanzine he included with the letter. The article is called Circles of Mania and tells the bizarre story of the performance artist, John Fare. Check it out....
Unfortunately John passed away in 2004 and the band's legacy lives on through the large discography they left behind.
Anyway - this is a link to the first two letters he sent me while I was in high school in Alaska: http://equ.in/ox/music/coil/ryan/. Their AMAZING album, Horse Rotovator had just been released.
I find the most interesting part of the letters is in the Coil Fanzine he included with the letter. The article is called Circles of Mania and tells the bizarre story of the performance artist, John Fare. Check it out....
Unfortunately John passed away in 2004 and the band's legacy lives on through the large discography they left behind.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Just for kicks.
Visual Artists Who Committed Suicide
Alexander, Henry (ca. 1860-1894)
American painter
Drank carbolic acid.
Arbus, Diane (1923-1971)
American photographer
Took a lethal dose of barbiturates and slashed her wrists.
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian (1868-1926)
English architectural historian
Overdosed on sleeping pills in Baghdad.
Bonvin, Léon (1834-1866)
French watercolorist
Hanged himself from a tree in the forest of Meudon, after a Parisian dealer rejected his paintings.
Borromini, Francesco (1599-1667)
Italian architect
Threw himself on a ceremonial sword, then lingered for another 24 hours.
Bugatti, Rembrandt (1884-1916)
Italian sculptor and draftsman
Put on one of his finest suits and gassed himself.
Adolf Hitler.
Bupalos and Athenis (active ca. 540-ca. 537 BC)
Greek sculptors
Rumored to have been driven to suicide by the nasty, albeit poetic, written attacks of Hipponax (who apparently didn't like their sculpture of him).
Carrington, Dora (1893-1932)
English painter and decorative artist
Shot herself a few weeks after the death of her companion, Lytton Strachey.
Cassandre, Adolphe Mouron (1901-1968)
French painter, designer and typographer
Crevel, René (1900-1935)
French Dada and Surrealist poet
Gassed himself the day before the Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture met in Paris.
Czigány, Dezsö (1883-1937)
Hungarian painter
Committed suicide in a psychotic fit, but not before killing his family.
Daswanth (active ca. 1560; d 1584)
Indian miniature painter
Stabbed himself with a dagger.
Dayes, Edward (1763-1804)
English painter, draftsman and printmaker
Domínguez, Oscar (1906-1957)
Spanish painter and sculptor
Doort, Abraham van der (1575/80-1640)
Dutch wax-modeler, drawing-master and administrator
Left this world despondent over the thought that he might have misplaced one of Charles I's favorite miniatures.
Erhard, Johann Chirstoph (1795-1822)
German painter and printmaker
Fagan, Robert (1761-1816)
English painter, archaeologist and dealer
Jumped out of a window in Rome.
Frank, Jean-Michel (1895-1941)
French designer
Leapt to his death in New York City after having been there for one week. Purely coincidental.
Fries, Ernst (1801-1833)
German draftsman, painter and lithographer
Slit his wrist.
Gagneraux, Bénigne (1756-1795)
French painter and engraver
"Fell" out of a window in Florence.
Gerstl, Richard (1883-1908)
Austrian painter and draftsman
Disemboweled himself with a butcher knife after a brief romantic fling with the wife of the composer Arnold Schoenberg.
Gertler, Mark (1891-1939)
English painter
Tightly sealed up a room and turned on the gas ring.
Gorky, Arshile (1904-1948)
Armenian-born American painter
His studio had burned, his wife had left him, his health was bad and he had no money. He hanged himself.
Greco, Alberto (1915-1965)
Argentine painter, sculptor and performance artist
Overdosed on barbiturates, and left notes about how it felt (for as long as he could, anyway).
Gros, Baron Jean-Antoine (1771-1835)
French painter
Drowned himself in the Seine
Haydon, Benjamin Robert (1786-1846)
English painter, teacher and writer
Shot himself, then cut his throat.
Hébuterne, Jeanne (1898-1920)
French painter
Pregnant with their second child, she leapt from a third-story window two days after her partner, Amedeo Modigliani, died of tuberculosis.
Johnson, Ray (1927-1995)
American painter, collagist and performance artist
Committed "Rayocide" one Friday the 13th by jumping off a Sag Harbor bridge and backstroking away.
Kahlo, Frida (1907-1954)
Mexican painter
We're fairly certain she overdosed on painkillers, though the coroner's report read, "pulmonary embolism."
Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig (1880-1938)
German painter, printmaker and sculptor
Shot himself after the combination of illness and the termination of his career by the National Socialist Party proved too much.
Kricke, Norbert (1922-1984)
German sculptor
Kruyder, Herman (1881-1935)
Dutch painter and draftsman
Committed suicide in a psychiatric hospital.
Kurzweil, Max (1867-1916)
Austrian painter and printmaker
On leave from his position as war artist in Istria, he did it in Vienna.
Lefèvre, Robert-Jacques-François (1755-1830)
French painter
Lehmbruck, Wilhelm (1881-1919)
German sculptor, painter and printmaker
Lemoyne, François (1688-1737)
French painter and draftsman
Lo Savio, Francesco (1935-1963)
Italian painter and sculptor
Lombardi, Mark (1951-2000)
American draftsman
Hanged himself in his Williamsburg, New York studio.
Malaval, Robert (1937-1980)
French painter and sculptor
Shot himself in the head.
Maurer, Alfred (1868-1932)
American painter
Hanged himself in the doorway of his father's bedroom.
Mayakovsky, Vladimir (1893-1930)
Russian poet, playwright and artist
Shot himself.
Mayer, Constance (1775-1821)
French painter
Cut her throat with the razor of painter Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, who'd been her teacher and then her lover but was not, apparently, going to be her husband.
Min Yŏng-hwan (1861-1905)
Korean calligrapher and painter
Was so strongly opposed to living under the Protection Treaty being enforced by Japan, that he decided not to.
Minton, John (1917-1957)
English painter and illustrator
Took an overdose of Tuinal.
Nero (AD 37-68)
Roman art patron and, yes, emperor
Decided stabbing himself in the neck was preferable to being flogged to death.
Pascin, Jules (1885-1930)
American painter, draftsman and printmaker
Hanged himself in his Paris studio, possibly depressed over the reviews of his current show.
Pellizza da Volpedo, Giuseppe (1868-1907)
Italian painter
Hanged himself after the deaths of his wife and son.
Réquichot, Bernard (1929-1961)
French painter, collagist and writer
Robert, Louis-Léopold (1794-1835)
Swiss painter
Killed himself in Venice, in front of his easel, on the 10th anniversary of his brother's suicide.
Rothko, Mark (1903-1970)
American painter
Slit his wrists in his New York studio.
Sage, Kay (1898-1963)
American painter and poet
Seymour, Robert (1800-1836)
English printmaker and painter
Shot himself in the garden at his home in Islington.
Soares dos Reis, António (1847-1889)
Portuguese sculptor, engraver and teacher
Soroka, Grigory (1823-1864)
Russian painter and draftsman
Staël, Nicolas de (1914-1955)
French painter
Jumped out of his studio window in Antibes.
Stauffer-Bern, Karl (1857-1891)
Swiss printmaker, painter, sculptor and poet
Tilson, Henry (?1659-1695)
English painter and draftsman
Shot himself through the heart with a pistol over the unrequited love of a wealthy patroness.
van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890)
Dutch painter
Died, two days afterwards, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
Vaughan, Keith (1912-1977)
English painter
Chose to overdose, rather than live with bowel cancer, kidney disease and depression.
Watanabe Kazan (1793-1841)
Japanese painter
Committed an honorable suicide after a run in with the Tokugawa shogunate (over its isolationist policies) led to his being under house arrest.
Witkiewicz, Stanislaw Ignacy (1895-1939)
Polish writer, art theorist, painter and photographer
When the Second Army invaded Poland, he tied himself to his lover, fed her poison and slit his wrists. She regained consciousness. Him - no.
Witte, Emanuel de (1617-1693)
Dutch painter
Said to have drowned himself, after his body was discovered in a frozen canal.
Wood, Christopher (1901-1930)
English painter
Stepped in front of a train.
Xue Ji (AD 649-713)
Chinese calligrapher and scholar-official
Forced to commit suicide after somehow becoming embroiled in a plot to poison the new emperor.
Alexander, Henry (ca. 1860-1894)
American painter
Drank carbolic acid.
Arbus, Diane (1923-1971)
American photographer
Took a lethal dose of barbiturates and slashed her wrists.
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian (1868-1926)
English architectural historian
Overdosed on sleeping pills in Baghdad.
Bonvin, Léon (1834-1866)
French watercolorist
Hanged himself from a tree in the forest of Meudon, after a Parisian dealer rejected his paintings.
Borromini, Francesco (1599-1667)
Italian architect
Threw himself on a ceremonial sword, then lingered for another 24 hours.
Bugatti, Rembrandt (1884-1916)
Italian sculptor and draftsman
Put on one of his finest suits and gassed himself.
Adolf Hitler.
Bupalos and Athenis (active ca. 540-ca. 537 BC)
Greek sculptors
Rumored to have been driven to suicide by the nasty, albeit poetic, written attacks of Hipponax (who apparently didn't like their sculpture of him).
Carrington, Dora (1893-1932)
English painter and decorative artist
Shot herself a few weeks after the death of her companion, Lytton Strachey.
Cassandre, Adolphe Mouron (1901-1968)
French painter, designer and typographer
Crevel, René (1900-1935)
French Dada and Surrealist poet
Gassed himself the day before the Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture met in Paris.
Czigány, Dezsö (1883-1937)
Hungarian painter
Committed suicide in a psychotic fit, but not before killing his family.
Daswanth (active ca. 1560; d 1584)
Indian miniature painter
Stabbed himself with a dagger.
Dayes, Edward (1763-1804)
English painter, draftsman and printmaker
Domínguez, Oscar (1906-1957)
Spanish painter and sculptor
Doort, Abraham van der (1575/80-1640)
Dutch wax-modeler, drawing-master and administrator
Left this world despondent over the thought that he might have misplaced one of Charles I's favorite miniatures.
Erhard, Johann Chirstoph (1795-1822)
German painter and printmaker
Fagan, Robert (1761-1816)
English painter, archaeologist and dealer
Jumped out of a window in Rome.
Frank, Jean-Michel (1895-1941)
French designer
Leapt to his death in New York City after having been there for one week. Purely coincidental.
Fries, Ernst (1801-1833)
German draftsman, painter and lithographer
Slit his wrist.
Gagneraux, Bénigne (1756-1795)
French painter and engraver
"Fell" out of a window in Florence.
Gerstl, Richard (1883-1908)
Austrian painter and draftsman
Disemboweled himself with a butcher knife after a brief romantic fling with the wife of the composer Arnold Schoenberg.
Gertler, Mark (1891-1939)
English painter
Tightly sealed up a room and turned on the gas ring.
Gorky, Arshile (1904-1948)
Armenian-born American painter
His studio had burned, his wife had left him, his health was bad and he had no money. He hanged himself.
Greco, Alberto (1915-1965)
Argentine painter, sculptor and performance artist
Overdosed on barbiturates, and left notes about how it felt (for as long as he could, anyway).
Gros, Baron Jean-Antoine (1771-1835)
French painter
Drowned himself in the Seine
Haydon, Benjamin Robert (1786-1846)
English painter, teacher and writer
Shot himself, then cut his throat.
Hébuterne, Jeanne (1898-1920)
French painter
Pregnant with their second child, she leapt from a third-story window two days after her partner, Amedeo Modigliani, died of tuberculosis.
Johnson, Ray (1927-1995)
American painter, collagist and performance artist
Committed "Rayocide" one Friday the 13th by jumping off a Sag Harbor bridge and backstroking away.
Kahlo, Frida (1907-1954)
Mexican painter
We're fairly certain she overdosed on painkillers, though the coroner's report read, "pulmonary embolism."
Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig (1880-1938)
German painter, printmaker and sculptor
Shot himself after the combination of illness and the termination of his career by the National Socialist Party proved too much.
Kricke, Norbert (1922-1984)
German sculptor
Kruyder, Herman (1881-1935)
Dutch painter and draftsman
Committed suicide in a psychiatric hospital.
Kurzweil, Max (1867-1916)
Austrian painter and printmaker
On leave from his position as war artist in Istria, he did it in Vienna.
Lefèvre, Robert-Jacques-François (1755-1830)
French painter
Lehmbruck, Wilhelm (1881-1919)
German sculptor, painter and printmaker
Lemoyne, François (1688-1737)
French painter and draftsman
Lo Savio, Francesco (1935-1963)
Italian painter and sculptor
Lombardi, Mark (1951-2000)
American draftsman
Hanged himself in his Williamsburg, New York studio.
Malaval, Robert (1937-1980)
French painter and sculptor
Shot himself in the head.
Maurer, Alfred (1868-1932)
American painter
Hanged himself in the doorway of his father's bedroom.
Mayakovsky, Vladimir (1893-1930)
Russian poet, playwright and artist
Shot himself.
Mayer, Constance (1775-1821)
French painter
Cut her throat with the razor of painter Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, who'd been her teacher and then her lover but was not, apparently, going to be her husband.
Min Yŏng-hwan (1861-1905)
Korean calligrapher and painter
Was so strongly opposed to living under the Protection Treaty being enforced by Japan, that he decided not to.
Minton, John (1917-1957)
English painter and illustrator
Took an overdose of Tuinal.
Nero (AD 37-68)
Roman art patron and, yes, emperor
Decided stabbing himself in the neck was preferable to being flogged to death.
Pascin, Jules (1885-1930)
American painter, draftsman and printmaker
Hanged himself in his Paris studio, possibly depressed over the reviews of his current show.
Pellizza da Volpedo, Giuseppe (1868-1907)
Italian painter
Hanged himself after the deaths of his wife and son.
Réquichot, Bernard (1929-1961)
French painter, collagist and writer
Robert, Louis-Léopold (1794-1835)
Swiss painter
Killed himself in Venice, in front of his easel, on the 10th anniversary of his brother's suicide.
Rothko, Mark (1903-1970)
American painter
Slit his wrists in his New York studio.
Sage, Kay (1898-1963)
American painter and poet
Seymour, Robert (1800-1836)
English printmaker and painter
Shot himself in the garden at his home in Islington.
Soares dos Reis, António (1847-1889)
Portuguese sculptor, engraver and teacher
Soroka, Grigory (1823-1864)
Russian painter and draftsman
Staël, Nicolas de (1914-1955)
French painter
Jumped out of his studio window in Antibes.
Stauffer-Bern, Karl (1857-1891)
Swiss printmaker, painter, sculptor and poet
Tilson, Henry (?1659-1695)
English painter and draftsman
Shot himself through the heart with a pistol over the unrequited love of a wealthy patroness.
van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890)
Dutch painter
Died, two days afterwards, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
Vaughan, Keith (1912-1977)
English painter
Chose to overdose, rather than live with bowel cancer, kidney disease and depression.
Watanabe Kazan (1793-1841)
Japanese painter
Committed an honorable suicide after a run in with the Tokugawa shogunate (over its isolationist policies) led to his being under house arrest.
Witkiewicz, Stanislaw Ignacy (1895-1939)
Polish writer, art theorist, painter and photographer
When the Second Army invaded Poland, he tied himself to his lover, fed her poison and slit his wrists. She regained consciousness. Him - no.
Witte, Emanuel de (1617-1693)
Dutch painter
Said to have drowned himself, after his body was discovered in a frozen canal.
Wood, Christopher (1901-1930)
English painter
Stepped in front of a train.
Xue Ji (AD 649-713)
Chinese calligrapher and scholar-official
Forced to commit suicide after somehow becoming embroiled in a plot to poison the new emperor.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Efterklang "Modern Drift" 4AD
Being a lover of the label 4AD almost since it's inception in the late 70's and early early 80's, I used to collect everything they put out on vinyl. I was a HUGE fan of the in-house graphic designer Vaughan Oliver, so much so I used to kind of stalk him and eventually corresponded with him briefly. My interest in the label waned in the 90's and though I still like the label, I think it's lost it's way and the bands they sign are not nearly as powerful as they were in the good ol' days. They've gone soft.
Now and again they put out something beautiful and I especially like this song:
Roman Kachanov (1921-1993). Russian stop-motion director.
The first time I saw this I was sitting at my desk at work and I was blown away. It's so friggin cute and amazingly done, from it's character design, story and the smoking mom. Check it out, I hope you like it as much as I do. Turns out Roman was part of Soyuzmultfilm which was a really cool animation studio in Russia.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
AURORA MONSTERS Documentary - a must see!!
I was too young to buy one of these models when I was a kid, but my brother had a couple and I LOVED THEM.
He had Frankenstein and Dracula. God I wish he still had them....
In the spirit of Halloween, there's a new documentary on DVD called AURORA MONSTERS - THE MODEL CRAZE THAT GRIPPED THE THE WORLD.
Below is some copy I stole from another site that explains some of it:
Those great models from the 1960s and 1970s that stole the hearts of a Monster Boom Generation! TV horror host Zacherly hosts. Artist James Bama and much more! Many make-up artists, illustrators, actors and film makers are included. Among the guests - Aurora cover artist, James Bama, actor and model sculptor Jeff Yagher, illustrator and model maker, Daniel Horne, from "Sideshow Collectibles" - Tom Gilliland, with Mat Falls, giving a wax sculpture demo, the artists of "Mad Geppetto", actor and collector, Daniel Roebuck, Frank Winspur - president of "Moebius Models", master model builder and painter Mike Rutherford, and a lot more. Visual and colorful.
Geek in the City's review of The Serial Killer Trivia Game
I'm posting them all! Geek in the City reviewed it as Game of the Month. Sorry if it seems redundant, but this game is like a deformed 6 year old kid to me. It was a lot of work and the reviews are coming back positive (click on the picture to read the whole review):
RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE'S review of THE SERIAL KILLER TRIVIA GAME
The Higgs Boson.
Physicists at CERN – the European Organization for Nuclear Research – think that data from the as-yet-undiscovered Higgs particle could lead to understanding the origin and amount of dark matter. Although it emits no light, dark matter might account for the observed speed at which distant galaxies in our universe are seen to move.
Large Hadron Collider
Today, Celia Viermann,a student from Halberg Germany asks the scientists, “What exactly is the Higgs particle?”
EarthSky spoke to Dr. Leon Lederman, a Nobel laureate in physics. Dr. Lederman said the Higgs boson, as it’s called, is a hypothetical particle that physicists hope might one day help them explain the structure of the universe.
Leon Lederman: There may not be such a thing. But the speculation has a certain amount of scientific beauty, if you like, and interest.
If the Higgs particle does exist, Dr. Lederman said, it could contribute to scientific understanding of why all known particles – things like atoms – exist with a mass, as physical matter.
Leon Lederman: In other words, everything we want to understand about the world requires the model of the basic particles, and the laws of physics by which these particles carry out their task.
Scientists are searching for evidence of the Higgs’ existence with the help of extremely powerful particle accelerators.
Leon Lederman: Many things about the world we do know, and the Higgs would fit smoothly into that world. That’s why the probability is that the Higgs will be found. But it’s certainly not a certainty.
EarthSky asked Dr. Lederman why it’s so important to find the Higgs particle.
Leon Lederman: Our job is to understand how the world works in its most primitive fashion. When we have a hypothesis that everything is made of atoms, and atoms are made of quarks and leptons, that’s the basic structure from which we will obtain our knowledge of the universe: Its origins, how it evolved, and particularly how it will age. A good theory of the universe will predict how the universe will evolve. It was the evolution of the universe that called into question our picture of gravity. There’s something called the theory of relativity, which is an accounting for how gravity tugs on different parts of the universe and gives rise to, for example, our solar system. In other words, everything we want to understand about the world has to do with a model of the basic particles and the laws of physics by which these particles carry out their tasks. The Higgs idea, if it were proven correct by experiment, would simplify our picture of how the world works. That’s our job, to make a picture of the universe that is so simple, that it could be inscribed on t-shirt of average size.
Dr. Lederman described the current picture of particle physics.
Leon Lederman: We know that all of matter – everything we have around us, chairs, trees, skies, moon, planets – all of this matter everywhere is embedded in an assumed field. Let’s call it the Higgs field. In the presence of that field, the matter we talked about can always be broken into molecules are made of atoms. The atoms are made of nuclei and surrounded by electrons in orbital fields, which create the atom. We can say deeper in the nucleus, we have explored its structure, and its structure is made of things called quarks. This whole picture we have is very complicated. When we try to draw a plan of how the world is composed and we start from the bottom up, we start by listing 6 different kinds of quarks. There are another set sort of particle called leptons. We’re getting the idea that everything in the world is made up of these fundamental particles.
Dr. Lederman said the presence of the Higgs field helps these particles fit together like pieces of a puzzle, and explains why they have split apart, with different masses.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Ryans blast from the past.
Besides being a top notch illustrator, Ryan Hobson is a fine art painter! Check out these works from the mid 90's.
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Geek Bible
I just have to brag some more. I can't help it. I was honored to be asked to create some illustrations for the new Star Wars book "The Jedi Path". Not being a huge Star Wars fan, I didn't realize the hype that this project was getting. It was designed by my pal Rosanna Brockley and it came out really nice! Lucas Films and becker&mayer! are selling it exclusively through Amazon.com. So if you're a fan, pick one up before they run out.....seems like they're going quick.
TOTALLY AMAZING!
Culture Heroes' partner, Len Burge just happens to be one hell of a sculptor...Check out some of his new work. Totally incredible!!! We hope to create a sculpting kit in the near future, so you can at least dream of being as talented as him. We can all dream, can't we?
Another Review!
Here's another article from Serial Killer Magazine put out by the folks at Serial Killer Calendar also available at your local Barnes & Noble.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Our First Review!!
Culture Heroes' controversial new board game, Serial Killer Trivia Game, had it's first review on Geek In The City.
It's also being reviewed in the new Double Feature Halloween Edition of Rue Morgue Magazine. The more I read about that magazine, the more I find that people LOVE it and they have a great distribution. You can pick up a copy at your local Barnes & Noble. It's an honor that they came to us to review it. That's all for this post. I'll be writing more on our other upcoming projects soon!
-r
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