spinning dancer

This animation is an optical illusion, made of 34 frames. Depending on the perception or frame of mind of the viewer, the dancer will spin either in anti-clockwise or clockwise direction, and some people are also able to make her change direction at will. If you cannot do it, go here – before you loose your mind. This animation has been blogged and commented upon widely, it seems to make peoples’ heads spin too. Most reports state that whether you see her turning clockwise or anticlockwise indicates a right or left brain dominace, however this is contested in the New Scientist. The image simply does not provide enough information for the brain, so it just fills in the rest, as with other optical illusions. However, they dont give an answer to why many people seem to have difficulties seeing it one way or the other. As John McCrone states here in this overview of research about brain lateralisation, very little about the brain is ever straightforward.

language and city

(Fellow Austrian) Ludwig Wittgenstein described language as a large town, grown from an ancient city into a large town including what today would be modern suburbs:

Our language can be seen as an ancient city: a maze of little streets and squares, of old and new houses, and of houses with additions from various periods; and this surrounded by a multitude of new boroughs with straight regular streets and uniform houses. Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Investigations

(a metaphor which Clifford Geertz expanded to “culture” in his essay “Common Sense as a Cultural System.“) The metaphor can also be reversed, and cities may be read as text:

This video could be seen as a reversal of the project Delete! (I blogged about it here).

In “Kapitaal” (Capital) not the signs but the city is eliminated, and all but the signs remain. The video was created by Studio Smack (via ‘Cross the Breeze). I do agree with the comment of a viewer, that the animation would be better viewed on a big screen, or may be for the small low res YouTube version it could be a bit shorter.

This video “The Child” created by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet is a brilliant animation, showing an entire short story set in an urban (New York) landscape, created only with words and typography. Cult video for fonts lovers and graphic designers says the YouTube description. One of the best typo motion /animations I found on Youtube. Worth watching indeed.

turn off the interweb

Yesterday the familiar Google interface was black in Austria and Germany, in support of an environmental initiative suggesting to turn off the light for five minutes at 8pm, in order to raise awareness about energy consumption issues.

But why did nobody suggest to turn off the Internet? I found the button here: turnofftheinterweb.com

thoughtless awareness

no_think, by keri

So following up from my last post, when the two parts of the brain are too busy it is maybe better to not to think.

New York illustrator Keri Smith (check out her drawings and collages) writes about her experience with this state or place of pure existence. Not thinking, just being. It has also been described by mystics and ancient yogis, as the state beyond the realm of restless mental activity, the realm non-duality, transcendence, meditation or nirvikalpa samadhi.

 

the conversation in my head

Left Brain/Right Brain. The conversation in your head continues.

Created in New York, March 2003 by Wendy Brian at weebs.iheartguts.com