My Poetry, My Art

My Poetry: One of my collections is The Song Poems. The concept is simple enough: I watch a YouTube video of a song I like, then let it carry me wherever and however it may. "Kiss the Rain" is inspired by the lovely piano piece from the South Korean musician, Yiruma.

The Art of Kim Kwang Min

Musical Arts: "Time in a Bottle" is a classic love song by Jim Croce, and became a #1 hit in 1973 three months after he died. Here, Kim Kwang Min plays a lovely piano rendition of it. The art is how he gives it a personal touch. It may be an emotion, a memory, or an image, which he expresses through the music of this song. Whatever it is that is within him, he has now delicately woven into the song, which inspired whatever that was within him. This is art.

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day
'Til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then,
Again, I would spend them with you

[Chorus]
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go
Through time with

If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you

The Art of Alanis Morrisette

Like anyone would be
I am flattered by your fascination with me
Like any hot-blooded woman
I have simply wanted an object to crave
But you, you're not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight

Must be strangely exciting
To watch the stoic squirm
Must be somewhat heartening
To watch shepherd need shepherd
But you you're not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight

Like any uncharted territory
I must seem greatly intriguing
You speak of my love like
You have experienced love like mine before
But this is not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight

I don't think you unworthy
I need a moment to deliberate

Reference: Uninvited, by Alanis Morrisette.

Musical Arts: This song is from the romantic fantasy City of Angels. Alanis Morrissette offers a very disquieting, profound read of the love in this film. Meg Ryan is the object of fascination for Nicholas Cage, and is perplexed yet charmed by it. Ryan is superb in the role, as she conveys complex emotions with her eyes, lips and inflections. An artist of an altogether different genre, Morissette works this same complexity from a darker view. Yes, in the song, the lady admits to really liking Cage's fascination with her, but this is laced with cynicism, even anger. Morrissette characterizes this lady as fiercely independent and intelligent and also as a lady who is not entirely hardhearted and who is willing to reconsider how genuine his attraction really is. All in all, a tour de force effort by both Ryan and Morrissette.

By the way, the lyrics to this song is probably easier to recite. It seems rather difficult to sing. An unfortunate slight and Like any uncharted territory are like tongue twisters. At a number of points, Morrissette has to strain to sing the dysrhythmic music of the song. In a way, though, this mirrors perfectly the disquieting theme of its lyrics. And, above all, Morrissette sings it superbly!
 

Improvements in Algorithms > Improvements in Hardware

Improvements in algorithms by far outperformed all improvements in hardware. And the improvements in hardware were quite dramatic over the last 50, 60 years.

Olga Holtz makes common sense of mathematical ideas and processes (i.e. algorithms).

Origami is a Crossroad between Science and Art

Einstein worked several years on the Theory of General Relativity, which redefined Newtonian notions of gravity: that is, as a function of curved spacetime. I imagine that origami would have fascinated Einstein to no end, and it probably would've helped him formulate many more theories about the universe.
 

Light as a Feather = Heavy as a Bowling Ball

Most of you know that any two objects dropped in a vacuum will fall at the same rate. Some of you have probably even seen it demonstrated in person. Even so this video is pretty amazing!

Physicist Brian Cox visited NASA’s Space Power Facility in Ohio to check out the Agency's Space Simulation Chamber. At 30.5 meters across and 37.2 meters tall, the colossal aluminum construction has a volume of 22,653 cubic meters (or about ~800,000 cubic feet), making it the biggest vacuum chamber in the world.

Corina Marinescu posted the foregoing in the Physics community on Google+, and I commented thus:

The endurance of Newtonian physics is that there is still quite a bit of wonder in it: That something literally as light as a feather and something as heavy as a bowling ball do fall at the same rate. It is also amazing that Sir Isaac surmised this in the absence of modern day instrumentation.

Enter, Einstein: I'm super-intrigued by his notions of gravity (i.e. as curved spacetime à la Theories of Relativity). To consider, for example, that neither feather nor ball is actually falling is quite a heady thing indeed!

It is interesting to note that Einstein's 1921 Nobel Prize was not for general or special relativity (even though it came at the heels of a breathtaking proof of his Theory of General Relativity). A hundred years since, physicists and laypeople alike are still trying to get their heads around around Herr Professor's head!

I did say it was a heady thing, didn't I. 
 

Science (3) Gathering with Art

(image credit)

I love this image.  While it speaks only to two points of the Tripartite Model, I do believe that precious wonder lies in the gathering room where the scientist allows himself or herself to think imaginatively and where at the same time the artist allows himself or herself to create methodically.