A couple of days ago I made a status update on Facebook in opposition to the group “Making Drug Tests Required to Get Welfare” which started a debate over whether or not the idea is (as the ACLU puts it) scientifically, fiscally, and constitutionally sound.
I’m sure my conservative friends and family see my viewpoints as naive, sinful and heathenistic while I see theirs as cold, exclusionary and based on a sense of moral superiority. Sometimes I have a really hard time finding any common ground and it feels like the chasm is too great to ever agree on solutions.
The whole thing just reminded me of an interesting chart I saw awhile back on one of my favorite sites, Information is Beautiful. It’s called Left vs Right: A View of the Political Spectrum by David McCandless and information artist Stefanie Posavec, taken from my book The Visual Miscellaneum.
Click on the image to enlarge. And FYI, counter to what you’d expect, Left is in red and Right is in blue.
Cyberoptix is a tie “lab” created and ran by Detroit artist, Bethany Shorb. I love the delicious colors and fun graphics. If you’ve gotta wear a piece of useless fabric around your neck, might as well make it art! You can purchase one of her ties on her site or at her Etsy shop for around $30-$40. She also maintains a really cool blog, Toybreaker, where she showcases new designs.
Its ironic but I think there are few things that can make us humans feel as alive as a well-executed fantasy. When I first heard that Avatar goers were reporting depression I was totally in the “you’ve got to be kidding me” camp but I think I’ve moved a little to the “I get it” side. It’s like waking up from a night of flying dreams. I’m always bummed that I’m awake and try to fall back into the same dream, but it never works.
I think Brooklyn artist, Travis Louie, probably gets it too. He specializes in what I’d call Victorian monster portraiture. His mythical beings appear to be upper-class elites, each possessing a personality and unique story. I spent a good hour looking through his paintings and reading the little blurbs that tell their tales. It’s a little like digging up a photograph-filled time capsule on an alien planet. He does a fantastic job of creating mysterious little worlds that leave you wanting to know more.
You can purchase his work at a number of fine art galleries, including Roq La Rue.
Check out this little guy! His name is Elysia chloroticaand he looks like a sea slug but processes energy like a plant. After feeding on algae for the first two weeks of his life, he stores the chloroplasts in the cells of his gut. After that he can survive without ever eating again! Read the entire story here.
I love living in Salt Lake during the Sundance Film Festival! Not only do we have access to fantastic indie films before the rest of the world, but we can enjoy them without going to Park City and fighting the crowds.
We were able to secure tickets for the first three below and can hopefully waitlist our ways into the last three.
My heart is really hurting for the people of Haiti. Imagine that you are pulled from the rubble that was once your home only to find that you have no access to medical care, food, water or shelter and that a quarter of your friends and family are either dead or missing. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around.
Photo by Pan-African News
Donate what you can, even if it’s only $10. Remember that everything counts in large amounts. Small donations from millions of people make all of the difference.
I’m kind of in love with the owl and hawk designs below from 1 A E O N. You can find the full line here on Etsy. They also run a blog which they update on a fairly regular basis with new designs and happenings.
Cuttlefish are hands down my favorite animal. These strange little creatures have three hearts, blue-green blood, can alter their skin to match an enormous range of colors and textures even though they can only see in shades of green and are intelligent enough to change their defensive strategies based on the type of predator they are facing.
Below is fascinating hour-long Nova special which does a great job explaining how their skin functions as well as exploring their intelligence and odd mating behaviors.
I’m sure my conservative friends and family see my viewpoints as naive, sinful and heathenistic while I see theirs as cold, exclusionary and based on a sense of moral superiority. Sometimes I have a really hard time finding any common ground and it feels like the chasm is too great to ever agree on solutions.
