Final Project

FSP presents

PHLUFI

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B01FiachuJH-c1BKRGtCNS1IN00/edit?usp=sharing

Download to see Slide 8 in color.

Museum of Jurassic Technology

Based off of their website design from the early days of the internet, I wasn't expecting the Museum of Jurassic Technology very grand entrance to an elaborate building.

I rang the doorbell even though there was an Open sign.
People looked at me funny when I walked in.

After you enter and realize you're in the giftshop, what's beyond are very dark hallways. No maps to be given out or exhibit/area lists - just several paths to move towards. Kind of poetic in a way, but it just freaked me out because I knew I'd be bumping into people (yes, it was actually pretty packed).

There was no picture-taking allowed to preserve the eerie darkness of the museum, so I'll be using sources off of the ancient website to provide images.

The aviary on the roof was my temporary respite from the overwhelming darkness.
And even then, there was no exit from there besides going through the whole museum again.

I have just realized that the exhibit of The Life and Works of Athanasius Kircher, a "master of a hundred arts," are all some other artists' recreations or models of Kirchers original etchings and ideas. I chose to look at the collection because they were represented through encased dioramas with no apparent subject besides scenery until one would look through a viewing apparatus that projected people into the scene as per Kircher's works. 

Why the Tower Could Not Reach the Moon
A very scientific explanation of how impossible this would be.
As opposed to someone actually believing it was possible.http://www.mjt.org/exhibits/babel.html

The World is Bound with Secret Knots
Very simply: everything is connected. Ancient "butterfly effect" principle.http://www.mjt.org/exhibits/magnes.html

The Conversion of St. Eustace at Mentorella
He saw Jesus. He didn't make pagan sacrifices. He was burned alive inside a bull.
Standard stuff.
http://www.mjt.org/exhibits/eustace.html

The Pyramids of Memphis and a Tomb
A memento of Kircher's fascination with Egyptian culture.
http://www.mjt.org/exhibits/hieroglyphs.html

A Magnetic Oracle - spelling out messages with magnetic hydromancy.
http://www.runningwolfpack.com/potw2006.html

Hagop Sandaldjian's The Eye of the Needle microminiature sculptures were examples of well-appreciated attempts at manipulating every aspect of our world.

Not at the nanoscopic level, yet a very low-tech attempt.
http://www.mjt.org/exhibits/hagop/hagop2.html

A set of microscopes rivaling the collection of a college learning laboratory displayed Henry Dalton's work with micrography and micromosaics.

A show of vectography, an early form of 3D presentation that reminded me of the collectible holographic trading cards from 90's days' past, utilized a set of lenses to project select parts of manipulated images at a viewer for vision diagnostic purposes; the technology was headed by the Polaroid company and Edwin H. Land.

Not nearly as exciting as Pokemon in motion, and definitely not as cheap - vectographs failed because their film was too expensive.
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dickbolt/Vectograph.html

Albert G. Richard's Floral Stereoradiographs of multiple-angled x-ray images reminded me of our lectures on CAT scanning of our own brains and bodies and how our progression to that point was clearly spurred on by our appreciation of images like these.

You're not seeing the insides of the flower, but you're seeing it differently. This ability is a privilege that can only be expected to be abused to the point where everything you see is so different from what's normally possible, it's almost unrecognizable - and yet you know that it is the true representation of that object.
http://www.mjt.org/exhibits/alRichards/richards2.html

An exhibit wall was labeled No One May Ever Have The Same Knowledge Again and contained letters from a Dr. Hale he left for an observatory, and even though I didn't read the mass of text or see the diagrams on display, the title itself had a level of profoundness all on it's own. Once a fact is known or an opinion put forward, all previous knowledge has either become reinforced or subject to a paradigm shift - the context for the knowledge has been rendered different and in a new light.

Another hallway depicted Giacomo Torelli's intermezzi, mechanisms and methods of scenery and scene changes on theatrical stages. It was an interesting to see his goal as an artist to show not just one image to an audience but multiple images to accurately portray plays needed to apply simple technology to become efficient and enhance the theater experience.

http://italianrenaissancetheatre.weebly.com/giacomo-torelli.html

Although this sequence is all digitally rendered, it's obviously based off of the on-stage mechanisms that transition from scene to scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsQE3FRoLE

Geoffrey Sonnabend's representation of short and long-term memory using geometric shapes intrigued me because it was not a conventional depiction - one is used to memory being explained abstractly as a form/indicator of consciousness by higher organisms or chemically by sense-neuronal interaction, but the Model of Obliscence is mentally engaging for assigning a physical explanation for memory.

This is how you forget things.
Really.
http://www.mjt.org/exhibits/delson/oblisci.html

One section of the museum was dedicated to the works of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and his contributions to the Russian space race and rocket technology. Not only is he greatly revered in Russia for his professional works, but he has worldwide recognition.

His name may not be as recognizable as Einstein's, but he is another respected scientist all the same.
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/tsiolkovsky_kaluga.html

Tsiolkovsky was quoted by the museum to have said ""All the universe is full of the lives of perfect creatures." Based off of the accompanying exhibit of animals that participated in cosmic exploration, I took it to mean that their survival in the space missions was proof of the greatness of not just our own species, but of all organisms - we may desire to find another place for ourselves in the universe, but animals - maybe not even the ones that we have come to know - will be there right beside us.

Similarly, this project by the same name shows through superposition and facial expression-tracking mimicry how we can be represented by any one of these creatures.
http://www.gravitytrap.com/artwork/perfect-creatures

I would think that the section of the museum of traditional medical/superstitious cures such as the glass rod of health, fasting spittle, mouse diets, infant nails, and dog-rose gall was my favorite because it shows how much our medical knowledge and technology has progressed from relying on old-wives tales to save lives. Although they provide a chuckle here and there, it's kind of depressing how they were actually the methods and hopes of some generations to survival.
The Museum of Jurassic Technology was a very different experience from your publicly-funded large-scale museums and art exhibits and definitely deserves a visit if you're in the area.

NACHO TIME

TEA AND COOKIES TIME

GETTING OUT AND GETTING MY MCDONALD'S ICED TEA TIME

It wasn't disappointing, I knew there wouldn't be any.

The lovely lady pictured above asked if I'd like some tea, but she was so sweet I couldn't bear bothering her.

So I got my own sweet thing. For a dollar.

I made this. No need for a link for copyright.
Well, I didn't make The Simpsons.

Getty Center

My trip to the Getty Center on July 27th was like going to Disneyland. 

I got robbed for parking.

I overpaid for mediocre food.

There were lines everywhere, and bodies obstructing everything.

You get in the way of a lot of pictures.

But there were definitely sights to behold.

Continuing the Disneyland parallel, this entertainment attraction promises that even after you get a free ride, you need to walk the rest of the way to have fun.

I really wonder if someone has/would compile a digital view of LA from this very same spot without the limitation of smog by getting closer and closer towards Downtown and replacing the obstructed areas.

Forget your paper map, bring this 3D model for easy navigation.
Just kidding, it's a bolted display that probably weighs quite a bit.
You can use an iTouch though.
Not as fun.

This area for recreation of individual interpretation of art pieces was definitely an appreciated component of the museum - I just wish they had a station in every room. Everyone just drew the tigers or fruit basket from these pictures.

The Getty's exhibits were a little bit tougher for me to relate to our studies. Here are a couple of pieces I'll try to connect them to.

Scientists aren't the only stereotyped peoples.
This painting is of a scholar studying Euclid's diagrams but is clearly disheveled and unkempt.
Which is a good thing because he, like most students today, represents hard work and dedication.

This painting happens to transcend the scholar stereotype and comment on all of humanity by comparing the study of the space between the stars i.e. seemingly infinite to a burning candle and an hourglass - an act rested on futility.

An alchemist here embodies all of these concepts: a stereotypically cluttered work-manner, respectability of profession, and futility in a practice that yields little results.

Modern depictions of alchemic practices are stories of worlds-that-could-have-been if it was achieved instead of technology.
Like magic and the world of Harry Potter, but science-based.
http://www.fondos10.net/fondos-de-pantalla-de-anime/full-metal-alchemist-5-wallpapers-7870

This painting shows an attempted subversion of the natural environment by the man-made structure of a bridge, asking which has the right to dominance in the picture and whether a battle ensued.

The cornucopia holds symbols of knowledge and learning that the painter wanted to show was being obstructed from the world by closed-minded, raging-bull leaders, not only ignorant of the benefits society would stand to gain from education but also fearful of the consequences.

The Book of Eli is a post-apocalyptic version of that same notion where the last Bible is protected by one man on the mission of bringing it to a place for replication and safekeeping while another seeks to destroy it to keep man from remembering the lessons behind its words.
http://www.thebookofelimovie.net/

This view between multiple halls and posts would be very confusing if one didn't understand perspective..
Much like other paintings that uses it and vanishing points accurately, you can recreate the scene in your mind and walk through it because of the logical, realistic creation. 

The caption for this read that the doctor was using a sample of the woman's urine to determine that she was pregnant.
Medical technology has had any benefits, including reducing these distressing moments to parties of one.

This mainly audio presentation made the visuals an accompaniment to the music that visitors could sit and consider.
It made me think of the virtual reality therapy for chronic pain in taking aesthetically appreciable things for the express purpose of healing.


Intent listening may also help you channel the Green Goblin's ability to channel his Sherlocke Holmes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO5lXSIrxSk

This observation of the night sky follows the fascination with the consistent inconsistence of colors due to the vastness of celestial bodies and our natural and unnatural earth. 

You will find this fascination EVERYWHERE.
You may have even seen a DESMA friend of mine's personal rendition on her laptop.
Literally PAINTED on her laptop.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21578012@N03/2383301345/in/photostream/

The Garden seemed to be a popular study/picnic spot for frequent visitors.
I can understand how a little hill in the middle of LA can be a nice, free getaway.
The Getty is definitely a place to try and make sense of the world, be it just yourself or larger things, should you feel that the ceiling of a lecture hall isn't enough.

Me with a local celebrity, apparently.
Also, she requested additional recognition via this UCLA blog.

 

NACHO TIME

http://xkcd.com/140/

The Getty has a multi-cultural cafe that prides itself on classy dishes, so there were no "nachos". The closest thing we could get was a Taco Salad with chips, rice, carne asada, some cheese, guacamole, sour cream, cabbage, and salsa.

It was delicious. And it wins.

My wallet loses.

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum, visited on July 20th, was entirely thrilling. A mixture of live and replica specimens, it was definitely a treat for a biological science-major such as myself. One building, several floors of exploring a world we have come to know only through textbooks, the Discovery Channel, and internet posts of things in nature only a select have the time to experience.

Unfair. I have to find out secondhandedly that ladybugs are "poisonous, fungus-Infested, carnivorous death tanks."

http://www.cracked.com/article_20539_6-horrifying-dark-sides-creatures-you-think-are-adorable.html

The battle between the tyrannosaurus and the triceratops represents the museum's entirety quite well - you may see something artificially created/posed, but you can bet it actually did/does happen

And you're missing out on it.

Get to making that time machine, kiddies. Counting on you because I know I can't help myself out.

I thoroughly appreciated being able to say both "I TOTALLY KNEW THAT ABOUT THAT ANIMAL" and "WHATTT THAT'S AWESOME, DEFINITELY GONNA TELL EVERYONE THAT." Interesting to think that we enjoy having this transmission and acceptance of information/true and verified facts as if we derive pleasure from better understanding the world and helping others to feel the same - maybe it's a basic/residual survival technique.

Along the lines of this information-gathering, there was an entryway that quoted Marcel Proust saying, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." This was much like the tale of Flatland and imparting the human realization that the world, or even all of reality, needs a transcendence of normal human imagination for full comprehension.

The exhibits of continental resident animals were in this format of detailed and scaled dioramas. It really made one wonder if their individual environments have actually remained untouched by our societies, considering that the point of the museum is to show animals that we rarely see.

However, the experience wasn't immersive enough for one to ride the back of a wolverine or climb a tree with a loris.

This art of displaying life in an isolated box for appreciative purposes reminded me of a favorited episode of How I Met Your Mother where one character's past self is a display so she can introspectively evaluate whether their personalities and ambitions are still compatible.

It's embarassing enough to read letters to yourself from the past or reviewing childhood photos, but imagine a live interaction with your past self...
http://www.buddytv.com/articles/how-i-met-your-mother/how-i-met-your-mother-review-38596.aspx

In some of the newer areas that aren't darkened for the sake of directing your attention to only things you can see, there are exhibits meant to connect you to everything in the natural world.

This flowchart enables you to align your interests with projects around LA to become a part of the world that the museum preserves.  

Flowcharts have surpassed being representations of experimental hypotheses and have been developed to be simple, flexible informing tools that can be harnessed and received by many.
http://www.geekosystem.com/hobbit-dwarf-flowchart/

This history of the environment around LA is not the format you experience in a textbook,
and it is probably not a good representation of what your teacher would put on a blackboard -
thus, drawing your interest in learning the information.

Many other presentations stood out to me as relatable to our learnings from class. Here are a few examples.

The diverse collection of butterflies from the Los Angeles area made me remember the Bioengineering lecture regarding an artist's manipulation of butterfly DNA to create artificial wing designs and several students' concern with the necessity of modifying naturally beautiful products of nature.

Some of these were caught by LA residents from their own backyard or neighborhood - I don't imagine too many of them thinking "Aw, what's with these wings? I can definitely make this thing look better."

Somebody did, however, decide to apply the metamorphic process and its beauty-generating results to represent the intact humanity of vampires zombies.
http://www.craiglotter.co.za/2008/06/06/legendary-butterflies/

Another thermal camera to show passersby that our technology can represent natural abilities and how some animals can actually see you like this.
And that they may or may not appreciate that one's yellow lower region makes it seem like you pee'd yourself.

This rock seems like it was a solidified chunk of vessels from some large being's microscopic internal anatomy.

The similarity doesn't end with just the pinkness.
http://www.deltapix.dk/biomedical-gallery.html

Here, the vitruvian man attempts to represent the bird he will never become; even with proportionate wings, man's anatomy and biology cannot physically allow for flight and is thus trapped in fantasizing being like birds but never attaining their abilities.
Or maybe he can through biotechnology.

Not entirely an optical illusions, but these mirrored images manipulate human vision so that they can collectively be perceived as motion.

Effective enough to educate even the most primitive of minds.
http://youtu.be/zc3MnoSS5Hw?t=58s

Putting scientists on display reflects the culture of scientists no longer being undesirably nerdy professionals, but respectable artists of the natural world that should be appreciated.

Cool, like this guy.

http://www.theproducersperspective.com/my_weblog/2013/02/why-writers-are-like-indiana-jones.html/indy

This exhibit is about space management; one can't dedicate thousands of dollars worth of public and privately-funded floorspace to full animal bodies, so show off the part that everyone cares about the most as much as you horrifyingly can.

Artistic depictions of monsters are sometimes not too far off from actual organisms that have inhabited the earth or continue to do so. 

Obviously, I don't need to provide a description of a scene of many, many cartoon/cultural depictions of birds like Donald Duck and Woody the Woodpecker seeming invading our world as a symbol for our inherent, appreciation for natural phenomenon constantly reformed to be our creations.

I appreciated that the museum has shows with animatronic dinosaurs that are representative of new findings regarding the bird-ancestors being feathery instead of having reptilian scales, being an effective art form of educating audiences that might be incredulous to the information presented elsewhere.

Hopefully, this is the version of dinosaurs that these kids will grow up with so that they don't suffer like previous, greatly disappointed generations.

The picture below is of a statue of humans holding up the world, which is an interesting statement considering that throughout the span of the earth's million years of existence, we are a relatively new development; and yet, we have had a significantly impact on its natural infrastructure and will continue to do so as long as we are here.

 

NACHO TIME

http://nachosonastick.4inchninja.com/?p=74

After waiting for a fire alarm incurred by an actual fire, the nachos my girlfriend and I had were extremely reminiscent of the ones at the Griffith Observatory, except that it had chili and shredded cheese and was missing guacamole and sour cream and had avocados instead and we had the jalapeños withheld. 

So they were nothing like alike.

And that made them better.

My facial expression is specifically in reaction to the sour cream.