History is dotted with conflicts. Freedom, territory, religion, Men always find reasons to fight against each other. Some of those fights have been going on for so many years, it seems like there is no solution.

But life goes on, no matter what. People have to find ways to live, even during troubled times. They have to deal with the problem. And sometimes the problem is between two communities.

So they build a wall. Which quickly become a new enemy to fight. And the loop is looped.

It is one of the most delicate and complex subjects in History: The conflict between Israel and Palestine. Tensions, attacks, and regular fighting have led to the creation of the Occupied Territories, gated lands separating Israeli from Palestinians.
Face 2 Face  is a project from street artist JR. By not taking side, he reminds us that human people live on both sides of any wall, and that yes, it is possible for them to communicate. Today, through image, maybe tomorrow with words. Including in Israel and Palestine…

… And everywhere else.

(Inside Out project)

One of the longest walls is the Mexican / Us border, running from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Guarded by the army to prevent Mexican immigration and drug traffic, and documented by many artists through times.
Smogranch  grew up near the border on the US side, and has been photographing it for years. Here is an example of what he witnessed, and how he felt about it:

Being held hostage by their own banks is not the only thing Cyprus people have to deal with. They already have the Green Line, separating Turkish Cypriots from Greek Cypriots, and making Nicosia the last divided capital in Europe since the dismantling of Berlin’s wall. So, why is it here? And why does it still stand?

(The Border, by Joan C. Roca Sans)

Separating North Korea from South Korea is the (in)famous DMZ . Astrophotographer Kwon O Chul realized some shootings of this wall and the timelapse gives us a new perspective on the ironically most militarized demilitarized zone of the planet. When even time and elements move on, but a conflict stagnates…

In Belfast, the oddly named Peace walls were built to separate Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods. Walls, supposed to bring peace between representatives of two different religions. By separating them so they can’t communicate. So many wrong things in so few words.
Sound artist David Drury managed to capture the place’s atmosphere, by listening, not only to people, but to life itself.

It is Europe’s most famous wall. It was destroyed on Nov. 9 1989, after 28 years splitting Berlin in two. There is no more wall, but there are memories. The East Side Gallery is one of their most famous supports. In 1990, 105 international artists came and painted this remaining piece of the wall. They documented History this way, and while it reminds us that it’s always important to remember our past, it also sends a message of hope for every other part of the world going through the same kind of alienation.

Sadly, some still don’t get the importance of memories, and would rather make money:

East Side Gallery demolition blocked (Berlin) from Albert N. Romero

All around the world, walls. Built for different reasons, held by different people, they still have something in common: they inspire artists, and raise some pretty simple questions.
Are they a solution, or just a way to blind ourselves?

Do they separate people, or make them care more about each other?

CUT- 7 dividing lines from Vital Space Projects

(featured image: La Frontera, project by Stefan Falke

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It could be anticipation, or even science fiction. It could be an episode from The Twilight Zone.

If it were, it would probably be entertaining and lead to an interesting reflection.

But it’s reality. It’s happening, right now, next to us. Just like that, entertainment is out, and reflection matters more than ever.

The less we know about something, the more fascinating it becomes. But what happens when “something” is a whole country?

Art has often been seen as a liberator, a way to convey important messages through History.

There is a very revealing image about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. It was taken by NASA’s Satellite, and it is actually a brilliant metaphor of the situation. This image represents Both Korea, South and North. The North people are, literally, in the dark. The capital, Pyongyang, is merely lighted. The rest isn’t, at all.

Recently, Google’s frontman Eric Schmidt went to North Korea to meet its leaders and discuss new technologies. He brought along his daughter, who, in her blog, explained what the trip was like.
In one of the pictures she published, we can see one of the forms which travellers have to complete before entering the country.
Along with the options “killing devices” and “drugs”, people are asked if they carry with them “historical and cultural wealth, artistic work”, and “publishing of all kinds”.

The government authorizes artistic expression only if it celebrates the country, its Great Leader, its Dear Leader, or its Supreme Leader.

When reality is sometimes distorted for artistic purposes, DPRK takes this notion on a whole new level. The distorted reality (or complete fiction) is served as Truth for the citizens. It is only truth they will ever be allowed to learn and believe.

So, what’s Art like in North Korea? The Arirang Festival gives us a glimpse. The gymnastic and artistic festival held in Pyongyang is very careful to present a perfect image of the country. Citizens are chosen based on their skills, to tell a story where mythology and reality become inseparable.
The spectacle we get to see is technically perfect, visually impressive and beautiful. Presented by the North Korean government itself, it sounds great. If only it wasn’t so disturbing.

Daniel Gordon and Nicholas Bonner obtained the right to follow a few of those performers for their documentary A state of mind, as they are rehearsing the performance of a lifetime for their Leader.

While the world gets music and dance, citizens of North Korea are also told a tale, since childhood.

These images are an example of what Art North Korean people are exposed to. The symbols here are simple:
- People are happy and working hard.
- They are happy because for three generations now, they’ve had a Leader (represented by the color red and the flame) to protect them.
- They have to be protected because the country is under constant threat, the worst enemies being the Americans, The Japanese and the South Koreans.

And no matter how huge is the gap between those images of happiness and their own persecuted and starving life, they believe them. It’s not like they have a choice.

[Show as slideshow]

But you don’t leave North Korea when you’re a simple citizen. Showing any sign of rebellion will only lead you to prison. As in camps.

On the silver lining, deep inside all the propaganda, is also a slight (SLIGHT) allusion to the fact that change and innovation can be a good thing.
After the Korean War and the following self-confinement of the country, economics started to decline and led to a devastating famine, still happening nowadays. A country needs to evolve to be able to reconstruct and rise from ashes. Even a self-absorbed dictator can see that. And the mere idea that change is good, might also be a window slightly opening on the future. Then, on the outside world.

Like Norway, for example.

Director Morten Traavik sees no problem with working with the North Korean government to get what he wants because, in his own words “there are many people inside North Korea who are genuinely open to friendlier relations with the outside world, and who are genuinely curious to what is happening outside their own country and who are friendly people“.

This is how he managed to bring North Korean musicians and artists to the Barents Spektakel festival in Norway, and that’s how he managed to get in return a Norwegian festival in Pyongyang. Photos from the artist, Norwegian music and various performances were on the program. It’s one of the rare occasions DPRK citizens were in contact with foreign culture. And their response was enthusiastic, to say the least.

There is something fascinating when looking at a satellite view of Pongyang, the capital city. Although the city is presented as a modern place, and its architecture is trying to live up to this image, something becomes odd when one zooms in. Something unlike any modern capital of this world: it looks empty. There are few cars driving on giant boulevards, a few more walkers. And that’s it.

Fascination is also what attracted a few artists who got to visit the country (at least, the parts they were allowed to visit) and bring back a testimony which, if it is not exhaustive, is still an interesting glimpse of true life in the secluded country.

David Guttenfelder, Christopher Morris and Thomas van Houtryve are among the photographers who had this odd privilege, and their work speaks for itself: beyond the satellite view, there are real people.

[Show as slideshow]

Have you ever tried to make a phone ring just by looking at it? To make time go faster by watching the clock hands (but very, very intensively)?

Carrie could throw a hell of a party with only her mind. Samantha just had to touch her nose to do magic. And any Jedi could do very cool things using the Force.

Unfortunately, most of us are still unable to do all of those things just with our minds (or noses). Hopefully, we can always use what technology has invented for us, and move towards this place.

What was at first a very exciting perspective in fiction has finally become real. Examples are multiple: remember Tom Cruise doing funny things on touchscreens in Minority report? Well, that’s now a reality.

Excellent anticipation mini series Black Mirror also used a similar principle in one episode, depicting a possible scary future for Humanity, allowing you to do a lot without even moving from your bed… but also making you more of a slave (little spoilers ahead):

Kinect was launched in November 2010. The concept of capturing movement and image was at first designed for video console Xbox, but the doors opened by this new technology were so large that it was only a matter of time before developers and artists used it for their own purposes.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is litterally putting technology at the service of Art. His installation Tape Recorders, exposed in Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, uses a kinect sensor to measure the time one spends in front of a piece of art. The results are then recorded and everyone can know how long the piece has really been contemplated.

Patricio Gonzalez Vivo uses (among other things) a kinect sensor in his installation Efecto Mariposa, a reflection on the butterfly effect. With ashes coming from a volcano eruption, he creates the illusion of an ecosystem and shows its ability to adapt to natural disasters and adversity.

James Alliban has given us a real-life Peter Blaskovic’s game. His installation Traces encourages visitors to move in front of it, and the interaction between the human and the machine creates a beautiful new form of ballet. No need to know how to dance to do something beautiful.

Still on the interactive side, Pablo Gnecco‘s Transient is an installation made of tulle bands suspended in the air, that becomes a surface in which visitor’s movement are translated into light. Or how a scientific design can transform into a simple moment of grace.

Ethno Tekh is the result of the collaboration between two artists, Brad Hammond and Chris Vik, who create performances based on the interaction between the artistic and the digital worlds.
Those multi-creators got to perform recently at the Enigmatik Vibrations‘s show in Australia, and gave us a very good electro set where the kinect is used to create loops and sound effects, thanks to the software they developed (and give for free), Kinectar.
And of course, they also showed us what is probably the most creative way to use a beer…

Art is in constant evolution, thanks to artist’s imagination and use of any material at their disposal. For once, a major company authorized the hacking of its product, and when we see the creative results, we can’t wait for the rest of it. It’s not Carrie yet, but we’re getting there.

(featured image: Transient ~ Pablo Gnecco)

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For an artist, sources of inspiration are countless. Nature, dreams, nightmares, even a genetic condition can feed the imagination.

Science is also a great tool for creativity. Modern technology, new inventions are often used in the creative process.

But sometimes, it’s the other way round. Sometimes it is Art that helps Science progress, or is just ahead of its time.

Ciro Najle is an Argentine architect and artist who could be part of a huge step forward for humanity. His project Cummulus revolves around the idea of retrieving the water contained in clouds and fog. Surrounded by a team of scientists, he has built a complex piece representing the water captured from a cloud, and the simple artistic beauty of the result has been exposed all around the world.

(Cummulus ~ Ciro Najle ~ source: Le Laboratoire)

A bit beyond the clouds, there is the moon. Belgian comic artist Hergé, whose most famous work is the Tintin series, has always been known for his interest in scientific matters. Various new technologies of his days are often featured in his stories, from aircraft to oceanography. And of course, astronomy, with the famous trip on the moon in Objectif Lune and On a marché sur la Lune, 15 years before Apollo 11. Hergé made a lot of researches on the subject, leading him to design a very likely space rocket, and also to predict the existence of ice on the moon… 34 years before NASA confirmed it.

(Moi, Tintin – part 4 – English&French subtitles ~ quiestce88)

Was Diego Velázquez even further ahead of his time? Las Meniñas is said to be the most commented painting after Mona Lisa, and it’s easy to understand why.
Las Meniñas is a family portrait of Infant Marguerite, her minions and, in the background, represented only as a reflect in the mirror, the royal couple. Velázquez himself appears in the painting, as the painter of the King and Queen.
The technique used by the artist is called a mise en abyme, which is the representation of an image inside another image. It also happens to fit the mathematical concept of fractals.
Velázquez painted Las Meniñas in 1656. Benoît Mandelbrot discovered the concept of fractals in 1975. The story doesn’t say if the mathematician was just back from a visit at the museum…

(Las Meniñas ~ Diego RodrÌguez de Silva y Velázquez)

When director / explorer James Cameron wants something, he gets it, no matter what.
While working on his movie The Abyss, he and his brother built a new kind of camera to be able to shoot under water. For Avatar, he created a special 3d “Swing camera“.
Recently, he decided to plunge seven miles down to reach the deepest part of the ocean’s floor in a 24-foot “vertical torpedo” allowing him to descend faster. A new experience whose results we’ll probably get to see in some upcoming movie, but who will also provide the scientific community with new ways to explore the deepest waters.

Science-fiction is a word that summarize perfectly the mix between Art and Science. And it just happens that the most famous series of movies in the galaxy ended up inspiring reality, and not only for cosplay.
Roland Lehoucq must be one of the coolest astrophysicists on the planet. After making hypothesis about gravitation based on Godzilla, he concentrated his thoughts on… the Force. Not enough to levitate, but enough to build a theory about antimatter.

“When I calculate the size of the Death Star that destroys Alderaan planet in the first episode of Star Wars in 1977, it’s to be able to talk about antimatter, about black holes. What power does it need? The power of a million of suns? Is this number consistent with the size of the Death Star? How should energy be stocked? And this, only with the informations given in the movie. My goal is to make the movie talk about more than what it actually talks about, and also more than what the authors put in it. Rebuild a consistence that wasn’t necessarily wanted. The result, however, shows that the evil scientists are really good, since the only solution – given our current knowledge – to give the Death Star such a fire power is that they captured a mini black hole rotating with a one meter radius! Nice job!”

(source: http://sciencesetavenir.nouvelobs.com/decryptage/20121031.OBS7595/quand-star-wars-inspire-la-science.html)

Not only can Art inspire scientific theories, but it can also lead to major breakthroughs. That’s what happened to cell biologist Don Ingber. When he saw the Needle Tower sculpture by Kenneth Snelson, he realized that the structure of the art piece could be the same as the structure of a cell.

The Needle Tower is made of aluminium tubes standing, smaller as they get higher, held together by steel wires pressing on nodal points of the struts so that they don’t touch each other and yet, stay still.

(The Needle Tower, by Yvonne Becker)

The scientist uses the term tensegrity, and believes that the same mechanical structure holds cells together, “giving them the ability to change shape, and move, and grow“.

There have been many ways for Art to inspire Science, and there will probably be a lot more in the future. Who knows which ones of the wonderful inventions we think about today will actually exist tomorrow?

It’s definitely time to start dreaming because, who knows… it could become reality.

(featured image: Discovery before launch ~ Larry Tanner, NASA)

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They built roads, they built boats, they built bridges, and they managed to fly.

Then they painted what they saw, they wrote about it, they photographed it.

What was at first a necessity for survival has now become a need of another kind: Man want to see what’s beyond, come to understand it and to appreciate it.

And of course, to share it with all the others.

Japanese painter Andô Hiroshige‘s life already sounds like an adventure. Born in a family of Samurai, he chose to become an artist after the death of his parents. During an official mission with the Shogun, he saw for the first time the road that would become the inspiration for one of his most celebrated art works: The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido.
Profundly impressed by the landscapes, the artist will produce dozens of prints, multiplying the angles and the lights, creating images coming from both his memories and imagination.

Exploration is about discovering a new world. And what better than the American West fits this description? Photographer Timothy O’Sullivan, while working with the U.S. government, travelled to the then-wild lands along with scientists, soldiers and other artists, and brought back a priceless testimony of a life that has now long disappeared.

Members of Clarence King’s Fortieth Parallel Survey team, near Oreana, Nevada, in 1867 ~Timothy O’Sullivan/Library of Congress

Wesley Skiles also did explore a new world, but mostly an underwater one. He spent his life exploring caves for scientific and artistic purposes, and finding new ways of shedding light into the abysses so that everyone could admire their beauty. The photographer and cinematographer is considered by many as a reference in his field. A few months after his tragic death in a diving accident, National Geographic posthumously awarded him Explorer of the year in 2011.

A lot of kids want to be an astronaut. Then, they realise that it might be a little more complicated than expected to get up there and have fun floating around. Thankfully, Douglas H. Wheelock completed his studies and didn’t forget to bring his camera with him when he finally took command of a mission on the Space Station. He now uses his Twitter account to share with us the wonders of our planet, from a unique point of view.

A view of Europe from above, and an Aurora Borealis ~ Douglas H. Wheelock

Exploration doesn’t always mean incredible locations and out of this world landscapes. Sometimes, fascination lies in the places we see every day, and beauty can be found in ruins, if one knows how to look. This underground, sometimes illegal, and often dangerous activity can also help us understanding the world we live in, and how we live in it:

Since the beginning of times, exploration has been the path to evolution. Going further and being curious helps us explain the past, enjoy the present, and prepare the future.
That’s why we should never stop trying to open the doors shutting us out. And just look at what’s beyond.

(featured image: Deep waters photographed by Wesley Skiles)

~

But what about novels, poems, movies? Don’t we need words, sometimes? Not always.

We still don’t know exactly where language comes from. But one thing is for sure, it doesn’t always need a tongue and a verb to be effective.

Mark Twain was born in Florida, in a long established American family. During his young years, he’s travelled across the United States. New York, California, (obviously) Mississippi. And then, Europe. That’s where he discovered the German language, which not only left him completely distraught, but also inspired him a very humorous essay:

“Surely there is not another language that is so slipshod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp. One is washed about in it, hither and thither, in the most helpless way; and when at last he thinks he has captured a rule which offers firm ground to take a rest on amid the general rage and turmoil of the ten parts of speech, he turns over the page and reads, “Let the pupil make careful note of the following exceptions.” He runs his eye down and finds that there are more exceptions to the rule than instances of it.”

“An average sentence, in a German newspaper, is a sublime and impressive curiosity; it occupies a quarter of a column; it contains all the ten parts of speech — not in regular order, but mixed; it is built mainly of compound words constructed by the writer on the spot, and not to be found in any dictionary — six or seven words compacted into one, without joint or seam — that is, without hyphens; it treats of fourteen or fifteen different subjects, each inclosed in a parenthesis of its own, with here and there extra parentheses which reinclose three or four of the minor parentheses, making pens within pens: finally, all the parentheses and reparentheses are massed together between a couple of king-parentheses, one of which is placed in the first line of the majestic sentence and the other in the middle of the last line of it – after which comes the VERB, and you find out for the first time what the man has been talking about; and after the verb — merely by way of ornament, as far as I can make out — the writer shovels in “haben sind gewesen gehabt haben geworden sein,” or words to that effect, and the monument is finished. I suppose that this closing hurrah is in the nature of the flourish to a man’s signature — not necessary, but pretty. German books are easy enough to read when you hold them before the looking-glass or stand on your head — so as to reverse the construction — but I think that to learn to read and understand a German newspaper is a thing which must always remain an impossibility to a foreigner.”

The Color of Pomegranates tells the life of Armenian poet Sayat-Nova. But instead of a typical biography, director Sergei Parajanov chose to use a visual and acoustic language that projects us inside the mind of the poet, and let us feel life through his senses. The result is an incredibly beautiful and unforgettable movie, celebrated all over the world as a turning point in cinema.

Sound poetry is a pretty name for an artistic experience using phonetic instead of semantic. It’s all in the title: the sounds we produce can tell a story, and it doesn’t matter if they don’t form intelligible words. This is how German artist Kurt Schwitters composed his poem Ursonate:

Years later, English musician Brian Eno sampled parts of Schwitter’s performance for his song Kurt’s Rejoinder, adding his own words to the sound poetry:

Not far from sound poetry, come the experiments of multi-talented artist Meredith Monk. In art pieces such as Magic frequencies or the amazing Dolmen Music, she creates an atmosphere based on the chemistry between sounds and voices, and needs no actual word to get a beautiful story out of it.

Four American Composers ~ Peter Greenaway

Body language is sometimes the best way to say something, even unconsciously. Polish artist Paulina Olowska used this idea to create the performance “Alphabet”, where the body meets the letters, and then the words of several poets. Body poetry?

It is said that languages were invented as a punishment. But what if, instead, it was one of the greatest gifts humanity has ever received?

Different ways of expression, combined with human creativity, has given us a lot of artistic roads to explore.

And it even works for seduction games. Just ask Bret and Jemaine.

(featured image: The tower of Babel ~ Pieter Bruegel the Elder)

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Because we need to know what’s happening – so we can learn and help – there are those who go. Journalists, photographers, writers. Through reporting and the lens of an artistic vision, they share what they see. And then they deal with danger, guilt, and moral consequences.

Then the world gets to know, but at which price?

In this must-read article, photographers describe precise moments where they have been confronted with violence… and didn’t help. Instead, they took a shot.
Most of them are saying the same: if they help one person, at one given moment, only this person will be saved. If they shoot and show the world, more people will benefit from it in the end.

“I am stung by guilt whenever I think of Eritrea. This is a story about my friends; friends who have been locked up, exiled and tortured. My only weapon to try and help them is publicity, yet I have failed spectacularly in using this to assist them.”

In his very interesting website, Greg Marinovich questions his own responsability and guilt regarding his work, and the fact that sometimes, pictures are not enough to raise awareness about a catastrophic situation.

(Eritrea ~ Greg Marinovich)

João Silva says that what made him one of the best photographers is ignoring the impulse to help.
“When he worked in Afghanistan for the first time, he arrived at the site of an explosion, dust still hang in the air as a man with a bleeding child in his arm stepped out of the cloud. A great photo. But Silva let go of his camera and drove them both to hospital. There he made a photo of the child. The photo turned out bad. The child died.”
(source: Der Spiegel)

The acclaimed portuguese photographer stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan in 2010 and lost both legs. He then had to stop his activity and focus on recovering.

Marinovich and Silva’s friend and fellow “Bang Bang club” member, Kevin Carter, took one of the most haunting photos ever made. The vulture watching a starving child has shocked many and brought into question the difference between testimony and humanity. The photographer won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for this picture. A few weeks later, he committed suicide.

Not everyone is able to switch off their emotions to take a picture. But sometimes it is already taken.
We’ve all seen her. The little girl in pain running towards us, her brother crying for help. Nick Ut took the shot, and when seeing how badly wounded Phan Thị Kim Phúc was, he left his camera and took her to the hospital.

“The world needs to know.” For every conflict, every situation, past or present, that happened on this planet of ours, it has been the lesson. The world needs to know and remember, so that it won’t happen again. Artists played their part. writers, photographers, they gave their testimony, risking their own lives, their own mental health.

And yet, it is still happening. But it doesn’t mean that it was all for nothing. It just means that there is still plenty of work to do, and things to show. And that more than ever, art is useful to the world. We need it to learn, to help, and sometimes,  to just relieve the tension. Because we are only humans.

(David Simon‘s Generation kill, based on the book by Evan Wright)

(featured image: a man walks in Beirut after an attack ~ João Silva)

(Thanks to Collin for his help)

~

The four hours long opening ceremony has proven it: English people are not afraid of light, music, sparkles, fire, crowds, the Beatles, or Mary Poppins.
Then why not extend those ideas to the disciplines represented in competition?

Technical constraints are no longer an excuse. People can ski in Dubai, remember?

With no constraint, there’s no limit. And jumping has never looked so good.

(Experience Freedom ~ The Infinity List)

London has no moutain and no ocean, true. But it has creative people. It will just take a little digging under the Thames to get this guy around (and maybe bring Cthulhu back):

(Guillaume Nery base jumping at Dean’s Blue Hole ~ Julie Gautier)

No waves available, either? If all those who participated in the opening ceremony were given a fan, they could probably do something about it.

(Uncommon Ideals ~ Chris McClean & Mark Waters ~ Poem ‘Uncommon Ideals’ by Daniel Crockett read by Jeff Hordley)

Cycling. It could something else than pedaling in a velodrome really, really fast. One can also jump…

(Pi ~ Thomas Blanchard)

… and still sweat a bit.

(Push Pull ~ Landis Fields)

Like we said, they can ski in Dubai. So, there is no valid excuse not to see this in London:

(The Art of Skiing ~ Extreme Sports)

English people, you can make this happen. We’re counting on you. Remember, you were the ones who started with silly ideas…

~

And what’s better to do during a warm summer night than watching movies outdoors? With champagne?

(Well. There are a few other cool things to do, but we can’t help with everything.)

Now, about the program. What about some early, funny, or experimental work from great directors?

We bring the movies, you bring the champagne. And the laptop. And the outdoor.

Let the lights shut down, and the curtains open…

What would the world be without british humour? Not much. The lucky ones who had the chance to see the mythic Life of Brian on-screen were also spoiled with this short movie about the beauties of this world, such as gondolas, leprechauns… and more bloody gondolas.

“When I arrived at Dali’s, in Figueras, invited to spend a few days, I told him that I had recently dreamed about a slender cloud cutting the moon and a razor blade cutting an eye. Then, he told me that he had just seen, in a dream the night before, a hand full of ants. He added ‘Why not make a movie from this?’”.
And “this” is what happens when you put together two major surrealist artists, Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali: Un chien Andalou.

Vincent, first movie of famous director Tim Burton with Rick Heinrichs, already contains the main themes and aesthetics the world will come to celebrate a few years later. Having Vincent Price, his hero, on board didn’t hurt, either.

In more recent times and a totally different kind of animation, Pixar has offered us not only innovative and fun moments, but also brilliance and pure emotion through their movies. The company is also famous for the short films often screened before the long ones.
And just like the latters, they often are little pearls of joy. Just ask John Lasseter:

C’était un rendez-vous, directed by Claude Lelouch, follows a car driving through Paris during the early hours of the morning. Fast. As if noone else was there. Because some things can’t wait…
It’s also interesting to know that the movie was shot in a single take. But don’t try this at home.

For more than a hundred years now, cinema has brought us some of the purest emotions. And some pleasures never get old.

Mr Chaplin surely wouldn’t disagree.

(featured image: Hotshot Eastbound ~ Ogle Winston Link)

~

Of course, we all know what the Higgs boson is, what it does, and how this confirmation could change the course of all things, don’t we?

…

Don’t we?

Ok.

There. Now we do. Sort of.
And what is the first thing that comes to mind? Exactly. This year, once again, the  Nobel Prize in Physics will not be ours. Of course, one who doesn’t receive the Nobel Prize deserves a little entertainment, to cheer up. This is where the evil and magical Internet makes its big entrance.

Nowadays, the most practiced skill in the world is probably procrastination (except maybe at CERN).

But that doesn’t mean it can’t be creative in some way.

Peter Blaskovic thought about those of us who like to draw cool things without really knowing how.

Whether it is with fire,

Water,

Or sparkles…

…there is only one thing to say: Thank you, Peter Blaskovic, for having us play like children.

Leonardo Solaas Dreamlines is for the laziest of the lazy ones. You just type a word or an expression, and the system draws some complex forms based on related images found on the web. Whether it is about butterflies, unicorns, bloody murders, or skin complications.

But there are not only colors and shape in life. There is sound, also. And then there is Audiotool . You don’t know anything about creating music? Doesn’t matter. Just click, and make magic happen.

Because one can be lazy AND want to be famous, The Wall of fame will let you show the world how talented you are, by letting you draw with, or against other’s creations.

Sometimes, one needs to not think too much, and yet has hours to spend. Hopefully, there is always something cool happening on the big network.

And when relaxed enough, we’ll go back to our daily routine. And its basic concepts.

(Source for the cool links: Postmodern Lily
(featured image: representation of a proton-proton collision ~ CERN)

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