TED Talks: Jonathon Harris

I've been watching the TED Talks videos, a series of fascinating speeches by a variety of professionals in the areas of Technology, Entertainment, and Design. The TED Talks have been going on since the early 1980s, but now they're available to everyone on the web. I like what their website says:

"Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot, and there are many shorter pieces of content, including music, performance and comedy. There are no breakout groups. Everyone shares the same experience. It shouldn't work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected. Every so often it makes sense to emerge from the trenches we dig for a living, and ascend to a 30,000-foot view, where we see, to our astonishment, an intricately interconnected whole."

Jonathon Harris' lecture on his work was particularly interesting: check out his projects, which include WE FEEL FINE and UNIVERSE.

His graphic sense is so engaging, and the recurring themes he points out - feelings of love, special moments among family and friends, milestones in one's life - help to connect the sometimes isolated world of blogs and filesharing sites.

Planet Earth: Birds of Paradise

It's funny - I know there is life beyond my little hovel, but it takes something like a TV show to really make me stop and think about my life in relation to the rest of the world. What the hell am I doing here?

There is something magical about the Planet Earth series, something that gives me an overwhelming feeling of joy - just to see that these rare creatures exist.

Band Snobbery

I just read this post from the onion's AV blog, and I thought it was pretty funny. I'm not a total hater, but I do use "sucky band shorthand" among friends.

Wesley Willis

(via the Art of Wesley Willis website)

The other night I went out to ATA to see a film called "Wesley Willis's Joy Rides." Wesley may be better known for his music (and his claims of rock stardom), but what I really liked was hearing more about his drawings.

Wesley was schizophrenic, but in the film his friends talked about how he wasn't a victim to his disability. He took all that he could out of life, and his interactions with people changed them forever. Someone in the film likened him to a mast, or a person who is so intoxicated with God that he may appear insane. In the film, there were shots of Wesley on the bus and at Kinko's, shouting at the voice in his head. His friends knew he wouldn't hurt anyone, but outsiders shied away, ducked their heads down, and backed up. It made me wonder about all of the people I see on the street: are we in the presence of masts?

Wesley knew what he wanted: he wanted to be an artist and a rock n roll star. The thing is, by introducing himself as those things, he eventually became them. I sometimes roll my eyes at people who tell me they're great artists, but I'm starting to think they might just be following Wesley's lead. Where's the line between arrogance and force of will?