“Applying for college is like dating. You do not want to go on a date with the guy in the corner with the crazy eyes.”
— Hayley on why not to show you love a particular college too much (via solaceinsole)
(Source: firehosebox)
Sometimes I know things
but most of the time it's DIDDLY SHIT.
This is a blog for ToK musings.
→ Come at me bro
→ Submit
but most of the time it's DIDDLY SHIT.
This is a blog for ToK musings.
→ Come at me bro
→ Submit
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
(Music not that relevant to post. I just like this cover.)
I can be a bit of a music snob often judging stores by the music that they are playing. Just recently I went to Chick-Fil-A which is a really nice establishment because of its ties with Christianity but the the idea of listening to such blatant religious music while I ate felt sacrilegious of sorts. As I was stuffing my face it felt odd and uncomfortable as well as a bit off-putting to hear about “Jesus, our Redeemer.”
Music is such an integral part to the shopper’s experience. You can go to the mall and each shop has it’s own distinguished music. Hot Topic - Screamo. Hollister - Alt. Pop/Rock. Urban Outfitters - “Indie” music. The music honestly effects the way I shop because it can so easily define my mood. If I hear Eminem, I feel tense and angry and I think that really affects the way I shop. If I hear country music in a store I will steer clear of it because not only does is play the music but it suggests that the people who shop there share that musical interest and I don’t want to be associated with liking country music. The emotions from the music I hear in a store plays a large role in where I purchase from and if I purchase at all. (Take note of this when you next visit a mall and see if this theory affects the way you shop)
The God Gene
I thought the article was infuriating. Conceptually it was a good idea. Maybe there’s something in our genetics that makes us more spiritual but then it made me think about the opposite, would someone lacking that genetic make-up be able to deny the existence of some sort of transcendental feeling based on the idea that they are just lacking int that department. It’s a sad thought that maybe people are so faith filled just because their genetic make-up does not allow them too. Then as I kept reading the article it just started to make less sense. It was forcing an argument that a specific endorphin was causing a rise in spirituality. I think the two are unrelated. There was one comment in particular where I new I couldn’t give in to anything this article was saying and it dealt with the relation of happiness to the supposed “God gene.” It was basically saying that people with this endorphin released would be happier but I don’t think that the case with belief in a thing bigger than ourselves. An easy way to counter this approach would just be the fact that so many people who experience a loss or a tragedy of some sort often turn to God figure (as well as the opposite) to lean on for support at the time. Someone entirely filled with sadness can still very much feel a connection spiritually and someone with complete and utter happiness does not need to have spirituality in their life either. Many people live perfectly content lives just focusing on the reality and nothing into the “Ultimate Reality.” I don’t think there’s any defining factor genetically that can gauge anybody’s spirituality and there doesn’t need to be. I think the greatest influence of spirituality are environmental and situational factors and whether they have a willingness to open themselves up to any sort of thing of the sort.
Art is the widest category in the Areas of Knowing opening itself up to not just paintings, drawings, film, theatre, but also literature and any form of expression that is communicated through a medium rather than directly as our guest speaker said.
A little about this painting. This was an art assignment done by someone I have been following on Tumblr for a while who has an affinity for 1) Zombies 2) Glee 3) Dianna Agron. So naturally it depicts a zombie-esque Dianna. If not given that description I don’t think I would ever have noticed that it was Dianna or zombie related. For me it was just a very beautiful painting of a lady with many secrets. The tones give me a sense of mystery and allure and that’s the thing about art, it’s so subjective to the degree that how can it be ever measured on a grading scale?
By Mr. Lindabury’s definition of art, it was just about communicating and I think that if you can meet that goal than how can someone ever be critiqued on how well they expressed whatever they were trying to convey through the art. How can someone say, “I’m going to have to take off 5 points because it didn’t make me feel sad and you intended on conveying sadness.” My interpretation of art is that if the artist believes that they communicated what they wanted then that’s that. It shouldn’t be graded on someone’s own interpretation. The mind can be a very manic place in which the audience may never know the emotion that led to a piece but they should take it for what they think it is but a piece should never be dismissed for a lack of making someone feel a certain way because maybe it’s the audience that should be graded down for not be able to interpret it correctly.
(Source: marziiporn)
Logic
We didn’t really discuss much about logic in class because we went over it so extensively in philosophy last year but I think logic is one of the most reliable Ways of Knowing however it is the most difficult for me to explain based solely on the fact that logical processing is so different for each person. My brain may interpret a rational for a specific action one way while another person may reason the opposite, so how does one meet the middle ground of where both logical conclusions meet? I think that even though using logic typically creates for valid arguments it is under the influence of other ways of knowing which causes the discrepancies. Some people rely more heavily on the emotional implications of a solution and conclude a different logical approach whilst others may use a literal interpretation and justify a different approach and that is what causes the most difficulty in using logic to produce a conclusion. Perspectives on morality, emotion, etc.
Have an irrelevant cute GIF. or is it relevant because my logic says so?
Language
Language is supposed to be a means of communicating ideas, however one of the biggest issues when it comes to language is how we can ever begin to convey our every thought by our limited vocabulary. Each words hinders the full magnitude of a thought. Language allows us to express but does more so to lessen what was once an original idea. The English language has one of the most diverse amount of words yet it is still not enough. There are words constantly being created at an attempt to come closer to what we really mean to say in truth. I think that though language is one of the simplest tools of communication, it is also the most difficult to encompass the entire capacity and spectrum of though that a human being can hold.
“Emotion has the advantage of being open to all, the weak and the lowly, the illiterate and the scholar. It is seen to be efficacious as any other method and is sometimes said to be stronger than the others since it is its own fruition.”
—
Bhagavad Gita
I think in the most simplest terms that this statement is true. Sadness is sadness. Joy is joy. However I think it becomes more complex than a smile indicating joy. People fake smiles all the time but it doesn’t mean they’re happy. Faking emotions that are known worldwide as symbols ie. tears=sadness, smiling=happiness are where there are common denominators for emotions and because of that they can be faked. If someone were to pretend to be angry they would not smile, they would maybe grow red. People identify specific physical traits with emotions and I think that is universal when it comes to emotions and not the emotion itself.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Tenacious DJ - Hustlin’ Down Sesame Street (Lupe Fiasco vs. B.o.B vs. Lil Mama vs. Jackson 5 vs. Timbaland vs. Iyaz vs. Kanye West)
I really love mashups. It keep my brain on its toes and I don’t have to worry about changing the song halfway through when I get bored because it does it for me. I have a friend who hates them and gets irritated when i play one in the car because it confuses him when all of a sudden the song changes from the original or it’s been mixed with a different type of music style altogether so why do I have the ability to listen to them and not be bothered with the sudden shifts? Why do I enjoy a well mixed set of songs especially when it crosses styles, like a classical music piece and hip-hop?
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
3P1L3PT1C F1T - A Million Nightmares (Lil Wayne vs A Nightmare Before Christmas theme)
In the spirit of Halloween, I’m posting a mashup of Weezy and the theme to A Nightmare Before Christmas in response to Mr. Calvo’s talk.
Music is something I absolutely adore and lean on but he brought up the point of having to hear it and see it performed to fully experience music and I agree to an extent that seeing a musician play live can hold so much more impactive emotion but I’ll never go to a Weezy concert. I’m too scared to go, so does that mean I’ll never get a full emotional experience from listening to his music. I don’t think so. Yes recordings are over commercialized and manufactured to sound “cleaner” but I think you can still feel a full spectrum of emotions from just listening and not watching a performance by listening to the lyrics and imagining what inspired them to write and I can attack my own memories to a song and still feel as attached to a song that I hear live vs. a song I hear all the time on my iPod.
Earlier, our class talked about sense perception as a way of knowing but when watching this film I made for my IB film genre assignment, sense perception as well as emotion must be taken into account in order to understand the full capacity of the horror genre film. Aside from just the visual of a doll attacking audio adds greatly to the mood and suspense of the film. As a score from The Beginners plays, the light piano parallels with the lightness of just waking up on a sunny morning and having breakfast but as the story begins to pick up with the doll appearing with a knife in its hands, the score of Nightmare on Elm Street is used to generate feelings of eeriness. Generally the audience is unaware of the shift in music but the brain is conscious of the increase in tempo increasing their heart rate and notifying the brain that something terrifying is about to happen on screen.
The senses generate conscious and subconscious feelings which leaves a large gray area into what causes initial responses. The main issue talked about in class when it came to emotions was whether we perceive an event/stimulus, physically react, and then analyze the emotion. Do we know we’re nervous because our heart rate has increased and palms have become sweaty? I think that initially stimuli is received, and then analyzed by the brain to give a specific physical response. However there are circumstances where it’s more difficult to differentiate. Suppose someone sneaks up behind you and you jump, it’s hard to tell if you were scared before the reaction of the jump or perhaps it happened simultaneously. Maybe for specific emotions the analysis and response occur at the same time or the analysis occurs quicker. Under circumstances of shock (an emotion with an instinctual reaction), I think the brain analyzes quicker and therefore a physiological response occurs very suddenly but the set sequence is stimuli>analysis>physical response however response my be delayed depending on how complex the situation is to analyze.
What is fear?
Fear is an emotion brought about by a scenario that is either unexpected or unwanted.
A daunting task can cause fear in failing. Being chased by a murderer instills fear. Fear can govern a life, but choosing to face fears can help you gain knowledge of things previously unknown.
(Source: moonbounce)
we love our mama Zolgy and miss her greatly <3
She taught us how to survive IB and we are eternally greatful.
Now I pose the question: How do we know this arrangement of letters is/isn’t equatable with the actual person? How do we learn and come to know a person by their name?
