Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Gilmore Girls forever

I have not watched TV for a couple of years. It's great.
Instead I sniff out the best shows and get the DVD. More costly, but a vastly superiour experience in so many ways, especially when you get a whole season at a time.
One of the slam dunks this year for me is Gilmore Girls.
To the untrained eye it may look like just another soap opera slash romantic comedy kinda thing. And surely this is in its geenes somewhere, but this is a whole 'nother story. This show is so intelligent and so witty!
All the characters are wonderfully real and original, and they all manage to somehow be funny, without being laughable.
And the best thing is the warmth of the show, the characters, and the stories. This is something which is really, really rare, especially if you want to combine it with a high level of intelligence and perspective.
I love these people and this show. I have watched three seasons in a few weeks, and I am already starting to get sad that only a bit less than two seasons are still on my shelf!
Oh, I recommend not catching a couple shows on TV, you'll get spoilers. Instead just dive in with the first season on DVD. I'll refund you if you regret it.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Copenhagen habor


Nothing spectacular about this photo, but I find I like it anyway. Pleasant, methinks.

Amazingly all those buildings are brand new. Copenhagen and Denmark has been building like crazy in the past ten years, including a bridge to Sweeden, and a bridge between the two main land masses, which I believe is the longest in the world.

Strange, I have not found anybody who could tell me what this strait of water is called. (Langebro goes across it.) I used to live near it, and I have no clue either. The world is weird, only our minds are weirder.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Exploratorium

I found a very cool institution and web site, the Exploratorium.
I found it while googling for info on how bicycles work. And it has tons of information just on that one topic alone. Way more than any other site I found so far, and easily understood.
The institution is partly financed by memberships, so I bought one.

House and girders

Sunday, April 30, 2006

When pictures are Art

I think I've found an important difference between art and craft. A vase is an object. It can be beautiful. A picture is also an object, but it is not its main identity or function. A picture represents something. Often something real. But if it is art, it also represents something else. Something in the mind or the universe of the artist. A thing, an object, an idea or a scene in the universe of the artist.

This is good to remember, for when you make pictures, it is easy to get lost in the object, and think of the lines and shapes as being the thing you're working with. But if you wanted to make a picture, you probably had an idea in mind, something you wanted to represent. And if you keep your focus on this, the art will work better.

Often the idea does not look or behave like anything in the "real" world, and so some level of abstraction is required.

In case of a photograph, when it represents not only something real, but also an idea, it is Art.

My Neighbor Totoro

Hayao Miyazaki makes the best animated fantasy films in the world, and to my taste, My Neighbor Totoro is still the best of them. Funny, magical, gripping to both children and adults. If you haven't seen it, for shame, and correct this fact now. :)