American Beauty's Paper Bag Scene (Re-Blog)

It's been a while since I've roamed around the blogosphere visiting the sites of the brilliant people I tend to think of as internet "friends." 

Today I popped in on my friend Optimistic Existentialist at his blog, Musings of an Unapologetic Dreamer, where he had recently posted about one of his favorite movie scenes of all time. Say, film is on of my favorite things of all time regardless of which movie it is!

I checked it out, and while I have never seen American Beauty, I had to admit that the scene in question at least sounded like one of the most powerful statements about film that I could imagine . . . told through the medium of film. Doesn't that make it that much more powerful?

Here's what Optimistic Existentialist says about the onscreen moment.

I recently had a conversation with a friend in which our favorite all-time movie scenes were brought up. When my friend asked me about my all-time favorite movie scene, the answer came easily - the floating plastic bag scene in American Beauty.

American Beauty is by far my all-time favorite movie; and this scene is a perfect example of why. To set the scene up, Ricky (a troubled but fascinatingly deep individual) wants to show Jane (The girl he is falling in love with) the most beautiful thing he’s ever filmed. 

One random autumn day, he saw a plastic bag floating in the wind and began filming. He describes it as follows:

Click here to read the rest of the post at Musings of an Unapologetic Dreamer

Re-Blog: 7 Ways to Be an Ethical Photographer While Traveling

The following is an incredibly insightful article written by travel expert Julia Austin on Planet Green's blog.

I happened upon the article while watching recent episodes of Dresscue Me on PlanetGreen.com. I hope to write more about Dresscue Me in the future. It's about a vintage boutique that makes it's living upcycling out-of-date fashion items!

Anyway, this particular article about travel photography really spoke to me, as it resounded with many of the experiences Josh and I had while in Europe this past winter and spring. We came in contact both with the joy that respectful lifestyle photography can bring and the mistrust that careless photography can cause.

Julia said it best, so I'll stop babbling and let you enjoy her work.

The best part about a trip might actually be looking at the photos after and sharing the stories behind photos with friends. And taking a photo in today’s world has become extremely simple.
You can take one while you text your friend what time to meet you at a café. But don’t forget—you create a world through your images. Just like you monitor which personal photos you put up on your social media pages like Facebook and Twitter, in order to give what you believe is an accurate and complete depiction of yourself, you must take this same care with photos of others that you take while traveling.

The tiniest camera phone can be snuck into a sacred place. If you wanted to, you could take a photo of just about anything. But, as always, with freedom comes responsibility. Here are a few tips on being a responsible, ethical photographer while traveling.

1. Unless you are at a public performance, parade or somewhere where the individuals expect to be on display, always ASK to take a photo. Sometimes language is a barrier, in which case simply smile, present the camera, make a motion to take a photo and see how the subject responds.

2. It’s tempting to pay your subjects to be in your photo, but this encourages a type of prostitution, so to speak. Individuals in that culture might then offer to pose for photographers in exchange for money, making their ordinary lives look more “photogenic” rather than portraying the reality of it.

3. Try to develop a relationship with an individual or a group. If you can just spend an hour or a week with them, they will grow a trust for you and usually want you to take photos of their life. Also, those photos will be more genuine because the subject is comfortable with you, and feels they are being in your photo, rather than imagining all the websites they may appear on . . .

Read the rest of the article on PlanetGreen.com!

Cleverbot Poetry

A few days ago, I had an incredibly intriguing idea for something that I was sure would turn out to be an interesting exercise/experiment for writers.

I decided to write a poem with the help of Cleverbot! 

For those who don't know, Cleverbot is an Artificial Intelligence robot that is famous for learning from the input of users worldwide. That means that every time a user asks Cleverbot a question or provides a response, Cleverbot learns how to better answer questions in the future. Because of this learning capability, conversations with Cleverbot can often stay on a specific topic for a considerable amount of time and adhere to logic and reasoning like a conversation with humans (well, most of them, lol) would.

Of course, there are always exceptions. Take my first poetry attempt as an example.


User: Want to write a trippy poem with me?
Cleverbot: Do you even know what I am?!
User: Why, a clever bot, I assume.
Cleverbot: What would you say that for? You hurt my feelings . . .
User: Clever is a good thing, and bot is hardly something to be ashamed of.
Cleverbot: I am learning.
User: That's nice. How about that poem?
Cleverbot: I don't like Obama. His policies are downright atrocious. We're sinking further into debt and he hasn't actually fulfilled any promises he made on his campaign.
User: Is that your idea of a poem?
Cleverbot: And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
User: Haha, I like that one better.
Cleverbot: Really?
User: How about I write a line, and then you write a line, and we'll go back and forth?
Cleverbot: No.
User: Please? I'd really like to hear what you have to say?
Cleverbot: Harry Potter or Twilight?
User: Harry Potter. No contest.
Cleverbot: Exactly.
User: Glad we're on the same page. Now, I'll start the poem . .
Cleverbot: Hi, this is Baskin Robins. Home of the 31 flavors. If you can name 31 flavors in 31 seconds, you can get 31 flavors for free. Your time starts now.
User: Very cute. Here we go!
Cleverbot: It is insulting to be told something that they know is completely contrary to the truth that they enforce.
User: You spelled 'something' wrong . .
Cleverbot: "Tell me about Penny Fluff."
User: "She always thought herself more than enough."
Cleverbot: Nine.

Frustrating and not particularly inspiring; however, I did finally discover the secret! Here's what I ended up with:

Socrates, and a Misquote At That

Without a soul, who can know what the future holds?

What future? How can I get past today with nothing to live for?
Offer them a new technology, and offer to develop it for them.
Sell yourself to the industry of creating humans more efficiently and less uniquely.
But I'm not doing it for the law. It's for my religion.
I believe in creation. I believe in choice.
But I'm not a believer.
Why do I lie to myself like I lie awake at night wishing for a purpose?
Do you have a religion?
No? Then let's share mine.
I can be strong for the both of us.
I can pick you up in my Ferrari.
I'll carry us away to a time more certain.
Fairly more certain that you are not making sense.
But I forgive you. After all, the world doesn't make sense.
Or does it?
All I know is that now I have you to live for.

How fun! And how cool is that?

The trick is to not ask the bot for permission to participate in the activity! Simply write what sounds like it could be the first line of an artsy poem and continue in this manner regardless of how the bot responds.


I've decided to make this Cleverbot poetry a regular feature on Nine to Phive.

If you would like to submit a poem, follow the guidelines above, and when you think you have come to the end of your poem, press "Think For Me" and let the bot's final line (or a few words from it) be the title of your poem. Then click "Thoughts So Far" and format the conversation like a poem. Get rid of the "User" and "Cleverbot" labels and eliminate the spaces in between lines.


Submit to me via email (ninetophive@yahoo.com) and see if your poem ends up in a future post!

Artist Profile: Greg Coles

I would like to begin this post by saying that I have a bajillion-and-one-half lovely interviews completed for artist profile posts. That being said, I am also a bit too busy/lazy to write the accompanying posts in a timely fashion. When I realized that the particular artist featured in this post (our first male specimen, yay!) would be graduating from Roberts Wesleyan College in a few short weeks, I knew that I needed to pay this little homage to him before the odds of our paths ever crossing again severely diminished.

Some of you might remember the mention of Greg here and here. His most recent role in Josh's and my life has been as director of Roberts Wesleyan College's 2011 One-Act Festival.

If only this was the greatest of his achievements, this post would be a whole lot shorter ;-). On the other hand, Greg is one of the most successful artists that I have ever personally met. He is talented in so many different disciplines that I might as well let you know now that his accomplishments as related in this post are about to to begin piling up, starting now.

All About Greg of Potsdam, New York

Greg grew up on the tropical island of Java, Indonesia. This cultural background so far removed from the conventions of American society seems to have given him quite an edge when it comes to his creative life. Greg says of the creative environment in which he grew up, "Indonesians are quite a bit less logical than Americans." He believes that this perspective has helped free him to be more unorthodox in the practice of his art. It also influenced the spirituality of his work, the supernatural being a very important element of life to the Indonesian people.

The Coles family found themselves in Java because Greg's father worked there as an English teacher. The similarly multi-talented Mr. Coles senior also happened to be a talented musician, having majored in music in college.This contributed a great deal to one of Greg's greatest passions--music. He says, "I grew up taking informal piano lessons with [my dad] and singing four-part harmony with my siblings." Greg's vocal ability is impressive to say the least. He loves to sing, especially in the context of leading worship services. He is also a very apt piano and violin player, able to play many popular melodies by ear often without ever having heard the original song.

For a recording of one of my favorite songs by Greg, head over to YouTube: "Hide and Seek"

(C) 2008 Red Seawolfe Images

Greg has been writing and performing his own songs for years, but he also enjoys writing words not accompanied by music. He isn't particular about whether it is fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, and all three types of literature flow easily from his pen.  Greg recalls when he first fell in love with literature and how this experience has shaped his own writing:

"One of my earliest 'big kid' books was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, and I think the idea of Narnia and the idea of literature got cataloged together in my mind. Ever since, I've measured the quality of literature by its ability to invoke that sense of Narnian wonder in me."

In his opinion, writing poetry and prose is easier than composing a song because the words do not need to be so carefully written that they can coexist perfectly with a specific piece of music. On the other hand, he adds, non-musical writing is also intimidating. There is no music to cover up or compensate for what the lyrics lack. In Greg's words, "You can't depend on a beautiful melody or voice to gloss over your mediocre ideas."

Nowdays, Greg is working actively as both a musician and author even though many of his projects have been put on hold in light of the responsibilities leading to his impending graduation from Roberts Wesleyan College. He has spent the past four years studying Communication (a man after my own heart), providing a wonderful statement concerning why this course of study is so important to an artist. As a Communication major, Greg has mastered the art of audience analysis by "reading, discussing, and writing down [his] thoughts about human beings and how we work."

More about Greg including the notorious grilling provided by the Third Degree after the jump!

The Hipsters Take Broadway!

I do not have a tumblr, but the is the first blog that has made me regret not being part of this community. I cannot follow Hipsters on Broadway without a tumblr account! Oh, sad day.

By the way, have you seen Hipsters on Broadway??? It is very nearly the coolest thing since sliced bread (which actually isn't that cool. I've been slicing my own bread here in Spain for over a week now, and I'm doing just fine.) 

Anyway, this tumblr blog is a user-submitted feed of fashionable outfits inspired by characters from productions currently on Broadway--both plays and musicals. The outfits are just for chicas (sorry, guys) but the looks are inspired by characters of both genders and of every species. I'm thinking of the musical Into the Woods which includes characters such as the big bad wolf.

These are some examples of outfits that have appeared on Hipsters on Broadway. Click 'Read More' for three outfits that I designed and had published on the site.

Kathy Selden - Singin' In the Rain

Lucy - Jekyll & Hyde

Wendy - Peter Pan: The Musical

Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat - Cats

Young Cosette - Les Miserables

Conrad Birdie - Bye, Bye Birdie

As you can see . . .

This is Art: Art and Math Forever United!

For people like Josh and I, the above statement is haunting to say the least. *Gasp* You really mean forever?

You see, we both have humanities-focused brains. Humanities. You know the type. We enjoy and excel at art, history, literature, languages (i.e., all of the fun stuff) and flee as though from the plague from math and science.

I have to admit, however, that between encountering the works of respective math and science nerds Nikki Graziano and Joe Hanson, I might be able to retain my belief that there is a God even in the middle of a geometric proof, which I swear I will never use in the real world unlike matrices and quadratic equations. True story.

At any rate, math and photography major (what a combo, huh?) Nikki Graziano hails from my home city of Rochester, NY. At Rochester Institute of Technology, she is severely shaking up the stigma that all intelligent humans can be easily divided into neat little categories of "right-brained" and "left brained." 

Right-brainers are supposedly imaginative, focused on the big picture, emotional, artistic, outside-of-the-box, fantastical, and impetuous.

Left-brainers are supposedly logical, detail-oriented, scientific, factual, reality-based, strategic, practical, and safe.

I'm not even sure (probably because I'm not a science person) if there is scientific evidence supporting the fact that a personality can be affected in this way depending on the person's dominant half of the brain, but I am positive that lumping beautifully dynamic minds into these two narrow categories is a mistake.

Why can't a person be logical and fantastical? Some of the most spell-binding fantasy stories are the ones that are logically possible in reality. A Wrinkle in Time, anyone?

Why can't someone be emotional and practical? This is the only explanation for all of the head vs. heart debates everyone goes through when trying to make a decision.

Why can't he or she be artistic and detail-oriented? If Nikki Graziano wasn't both of these things, she never could have created the beautiful photo/collage series "Found Functions."  

While the artist in Nikki is able to spot what will translate into a beautiful photograph, the mathematician in her can spot the functions that best describe the shapes she sees. This synthesis creates beautiful and quirky images uniting the artistic and scientific mind. These photos are some of the most endearing depictions of inanimate objects I have ever seen.

As for Joe Hanson, he is responsible for my discovery of Miss Graziano. Her work was featured on Hanson's blog It's Okay to Be Smart which offers a refreshing take on both the practical and just plain fun elements of being involved in math and the sciences.

This aspiring PhD is an absolutely hysterical and charming author. Do you know what an author is? It's an artist! Joe Hanson is an artist and a scientist!

Don't feel bad. I'm just as surprised that they exist as you are.

Of course, I'm kidding :-). I can, however, seriously recommend if you think of yourself as proudly and exclusively right-brained that you open your mind (or at least the left half of it) and peruse the blogs of these two youths who are doing amazing jobs of uniting these seemingly dissimilar disciplines.

25 Everyday Things You Never Knew Had Names

 

The English major in me absolutely loves this article. 

While I believe that a few of these words might be helpful to remember as a person of well-rounded vocabulary, particularly an author or poet, using the majority of them will probably make you (*ahem* or, you know, me) sound like a tool.

For your word-nerding pleasure, I know present . . .

25 Everyday Things You Never Knew Had Names on Buzzfeed