The 70 Most Influential Visual Effects Films of All Time
/From the Visual Effects Society.
Wabi Sabi: A short film by Cristóbal Vila
/Wabi Sabi:
• In traditional Japanese aesthetics, Wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection.
• A short film by Cristóbal Vila
Consumed by anxiety? Give it a day or two
/Oliver Burkeman puts anxiety in perspective in his The Guardian column:
The next time you’re consumed by anxiety – which, given the headlines, is probably this minute – you might borrow a tip from the philosopher Massimo Pigliucci, author of the excellent new book How To Be A Stoic. In a recent podcast, Pigliucci described how he used Google Street View and Google Earth to create a slideshow that starts with an image of his own home, then zooms out, out and out, until it shows the whole planet. He consults it when feeling overwrought. You couldn’t hope for a more vivid illustration of the Stoic “dichotomy of control”, which urges us to restrict our attempts to change things to those actually in our power, instead of making ourselves miserable railing against those that aren’t. (See also the “serenity prayer”, popularised by Alcoholics Anonymous.) You are – not to be rude – a tiny part of the cosmos. That doesn’t make you powerless. But it does mean you’re almost certainly stressing about things that will, without doubt, remain majestically unaffected by your stress.
What Can Musicians Teach Us about Imagination?
/Scientific American Beautiful Minds blog:
What is the nature of music? What is imagination in music? What's the role of intuition in music? What motivates musicians? What makes a great musical performance? What creates transcendence in music? What is the role of the audience? What are some recommended approaches for increasing creativity in music teachers and music students? These are some of the fascinating questions that we discussed at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The participants included: Paul Bryan, Dean of Faculty and Students at the Curtis Institute; conductor; trombonist Dan Lerner, Faculty at New York University Gloria dePasquale, Cellist in the Philadelphia Orchestra Yumi Kendall, Cellist in the Philadelphia Orchestra Georgia Shreve, Composer and writer Gene Scheer, Opera librettist Ashley Robillard, Opera Student at Curtis Institute Elizabeth Hyde, Research Specialist for the Imagination Institute Scott Barry Kaufman, Scientific Director of the Imagination Institute Martin Seligman, Executive Director of the Imagination Institute, Director of the Positive Psychology Center, and Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.