Monday, April 14, 2008

Arthur C Clarke






Some linkage in response to the passing of Arthur C Clarke (a nice article I found on seedmagazine.com). Most people that know me, know that I've been a big fan of his work because he's one of the handful of people that brought science to the mainstream. His was one of the great minds of the 20th century whose ideas changed the way we experience life.

Above are some photos from my trip to Sri Lanka, where I tried to meet him by knocking on his door. He was already in hospital at the time (January) but his business partner and best friend Hector Ekanayake kindly showed us his office and home.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Chanel Mobile Art



A new exhibition will begin in Hong Kong, 'Chanel Mobile Art,' a contemporary art container designed by the Pritzker award winning Zaha Hadid. This temporary structure will house exhibits by 20 artists, which include Yoko Ono, Nobuyoshi Araki, among others and all the pieces will be inspired the classic quilted chanel bag. After Hong Kong the exhibition will tour through Tokyo, New York, London , Moscow and Paris over the next 2 years.

The Zaha Hadid Blog

Intelligent Design

When I first heard the term intelligent design, I thought it referred to some new Sony robot toy. Instead I found that it's an updated term for 'creationism'. There have been heated debates particularly in the political arena on this subject. The main issue being, whether or not it should be taught in school as part of a science curriculum. As a recall, I was taught that people believed in creationism prior to Darwin, and I was also taught about Lamarckism. It is fine to teach the fact that people have different believes when it comes to evolution, but don't teach it as a science. Fundamentally, they cannot be compared.

I have also read that creationists have launched their own 'peer-reviewed' scientific research journal, Answers Research Journal. The website looks great, possibly intentionally reminiscent of Nature and articles include, 'Microbes and the days of creation' and 'Catastrophic granite formation'. Again, I don't understand the need to present beliefs and religious views as scientific fact. It is completely illogical to put them in two columns for comparison, let alone for competition.

Manon de Boer



A friend of mine gave me the tip to look up Sylvia Kristel before I came to Holland. After being here for 2 weeks I was pleasantly surprised to see that Rotterdam's Witte de With gallery had an exhibition by Manon de Boer featuring a documentary about the 70's "Emmanuelle" celebrity. The documentary is 40 minutes, with Sylvie Kristel speaking of her experiences in Paris during the rise of her stardom. She repeats the same story 2 times, revealing inconsistencies in her recall.