inkbluesky

peru cinema

the desire to recreate reality in accurate detail has been an underlying goal of much of art, not since the invention of the first camera obscura, but since the day an artist discovered that the projections from the camera could be used as a guide to recreating the projection. many people are not aware of it, but they have a tendency to prefer photorealism over images, photographed or paintings that have less accurate depictions of reality - in painting we’ll still more likely to see prints of the impressionists hanging in people’s homes then cubists. impressionism is not a photo in paint, but depicts its subjects in a way that resembles our eye’s vision more so then does cubism. the public is even more demanding of cinema. one of the reasons that some the impressionists or the american regionalists (grant wood, thomas hart benton etc) do not have a film equivalent. except that we do have animation. since art and society have this long history, literally moving from cave paintings to modern slr cameras how did animation and video games become so popular. the theory goes, and its not my theory, that once a person starts watching the animation it, like the impressionists, it gives one a plausible illusion of a reality similar to ours, but enhanced. a little more on whether video games should move toward more photorealism here.

strive

Think globally, drink locally - Brewing Trouble: How to Drink Beer and Save the World

Another widely discussed topic in Fermenting Revolution is the influence beer has always had on politics. Some interesting passages in the book describe early American history when rebels encouraged boycotts against English beer, using the phrase, “Homebrewed is best.” Shortly after the founding of the nation, it was common for politicians to reward their constituencies with beer at the polling stations. Often there was only one polling place per county, so after traveling such a distance to vote, the citizen wanted to be rewarded with a drink. Here O’Brien argues that “Given the dismal voter turnout levels in contemporary American elections, perhaps this strategy might be readopted? One ballot, one beer.”

Modern polling statutes would probably prevent the cast your vote and get a free beer movement. Still a curious sidelong look at history from beer’s early days in Mesopotamia to modern corporate brewers that control 80% of the beer market.