Culture

Halloween is coming and I was looking around the web at pumpkin carvings when I found these brilliant pieces of art. Carved by Ray Villafane, they have such incredible detail and expression I thought I’d share them here.

Here is a video of one sculpture Ray has created with remote control eyes.. a very cool idea to add more realism to the work.
It might be a bit unnerving having these eyes follow you around after a few beers at a party!

Some more of Rays pumpkin sculptures.

Carved pumpkin by Ray Villafane

By Ray Villafane

See lots more on Villafane Studios – Ray’s sculpture website.

I was listening to Greg James on BBC Radio 1 earlier and heard a brilliant electronica track called “The Quantum World” by Symphony of Science. While looking for this video I also found another educational and quite funny video explaining Quantum Mechanics and the history of the science.

The Quantum World by Symphony of Science (Melody Sheep)

This video features clips from many leading figures in physics, seen on TV and in the media, inc. Stephen Hawking, Prof. Brian Cox speaking at TED, Doc. Michio Kaku, actor Morgan Freeman presenting Discovery Channel’s Through The Worm Hole, and other auto tuned clips from science programmes seen on BBC4 and Discovery Science.

This song by Melody Sheep may not blaze up the music charts, but its definitely a unique, clever, stylish and educational video & (I think) a well produced track. Its good to hear and see something like this in music, especially when heard on national radio!

Does this make watching BBC4 and Discovery all the time a tiny bit cooler?

Ode to Quantum Mechanics by Casual Entropy

This just made me laugh, its a rapid journey through the history and some of the stranger observations made within the field of Quantum Theory.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been released from prison after nearly 3 months detension

The Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei was released from prison earlier this week after 3 months of captivity. The Chinese media has reported that he confessed to tax evasion and was suffering from a chronic illness.

It is also reported that Ai repeatedly told authorities he was prepared to pay for any outstanding tax payments immediately, despite the fact that those close to the artist claim the allegations have been fabricated as an excuse to hold him.

The treatment that the 54 year old artist has endured over the past year, including his studio being demolished in January, has led to concern about the Chinese government’s actions. As Weiwei is currently released on bail, there remains the possibility that he could be detained again or placed under house arrest in attempts to prevent him from criticising the regime.

Reporters have tried to get statements from Ai, however he has said that he is unable to talk about his detention or release as this has been forbidden. He has mentioned he had to cut his own hair and spoke that “it’s good to be home”.

Sunflower Seeds, Tate Modern Turbine Hall

His wife is said to have revealed in a phone interview that plain clothes police follow him whenever they leave the house.

The artist, who is well known for his Sunflower Seeds installation at Tate Modern, is also banned from leaving China for a year, a condition which will be an annoyance to many galleries and art organisations who would be delighted to welcome him as a guest or exhibitor.

China’s Crackdown

The Chinese have detained many outspoken individuals in their attempts to prevent any kind of uprising like those seen throughout the East this year, inc. Egypt and Syria. Activists and campaigners have been arrested, placed under house arrest or simply disappeared. It is widely believed that, like Ai Weiwei, they have been detained for long periods without ever being formally charged. In addition, Chinese law would usually deal with financial crimes such as tax evasion with a fine.

Before Ai Weiwei’s arrest in April, he would regularly criticise the Chinese government. He used blogging and Twitter to voice his concerns about his home country and the widespread neglect and corruption. It has also been reported that he kept a tally of the people who have “disappeared” into state custody.

His Twitter account has had no updates / tweets since just before his arrest at the beginning of April. Some sources say that he has been banned from tweeting as another condition of his release.

Sources: UK Newspaper i (Independent), CBS News

Artist Ai Weiwei with his "Sunflower Seeds" installation in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall

It would seem that China is a land of mass manufacturing, producing many of the worlds most popular products. Companies task the Chinese to cheaply make lots of their wares to sell for healthy profits throughout the globe. The country’s services are good for business.. we could be paying more for lots of things if the Chinese were not churning them out at a great pace.

China is Good..

China is getting richer by the year after really connecting with the rest of the world in the global economy. Where would the major brands and large manufacturing corporations be without the Chinese? They are now very important in the wider picture of the whole developed world.

Could it be that we totally rely on the Chinese? They were extremely restricted on trade for over a hundred years following the 1800′s Opium Wars (which England and France started so they could continue trading opium in China after the Qing Dynasty banned it!), now they are among the most important countries in the world for mass product manufacturing.. they must be pretty happy about that.

China is bad..

It might be that our reliance on the Chinese has allowed us to seemingly turn a blind eye to the fact that, although many of the worlds luxury and tech goods are made there, the controlling powers are still behaving in rather unpleasant ways.

→ Continue reading China’s Good, Bad & Ugly (the arrest of artist Ai Weiwei)