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Aesthetics

2007-06-09 16:33:15

Understanding the nature and meaning of one of the key themes in the philosophical discipline known as aesthetics. The composer and critic Robert Schumann distinguished between two kinds of beauty, natural and poetic. The former is found in the contemplation of nature, whereas the latter lies in man's conscious, creative intervention into nature. Schumann indicated that in music, or other art, both kinds of beauty appear, but natural beauty is merely sensual delight. Poetic beauty begins where the natural beauty leaves off.

A nymph with morning glory flowers by Lefebvre. The image of the young woman is a symbol of human beauty in the West, and a dominant theme in western art. A common idea suggests that beauty exists in the appearance of things and people that are good. A good apple will be perceived as more beautiful than a bruised one. Also, most people judge physically attractive human beings to be good, both physically and on a deeper level. Specifically, they are believed to possess a variety of positive traits and personality characteristics.^[3] The stereotype, "beauty is good" has many significant counter examples. These include such things as a glacier, or a ruggedly dry desert mountain range. Many people find beauty in hostile nature, but this can be bad, or at least unrelated to any sense of goodness. Another type of counterexample are comic or sarcastic works of art, which can be good, but are rarely beautiful. Additionally, people may be good and not beautiful, or beautiful but not good. Further, people's skills can develop and change their sense of beauty. Carpenters may view an out-of-true building as ugly, and many master carpenters can see out-of-true angles as small as half a degree.^{[citation needed]} Many musicians can likewise hear as dissonant a tone that's high or low by as little as two percent of the distance to the next note.^{[citation needed]} Most people have similar aesthetics about the work or hobbies they've mastered.

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Awards

2007-06-09 15:47:20

An award is something given to a person or group of people to recognize excellence in a certain field. Awards are often signified by trophies, titles, certificates, commemorative plaques, medals, badges, pins or ribbons. An award can carry a monetary prize given to the recipient, for instance, the Nobel Prize for contributions to society, or the Pulitzer Prize for literary achievements. An award can also simply be a public acknowledgment of excellence, without a tangible token or a prize. Awards can be given by any person or institution, although the prestige of an award may depend on the status of the awarder. Usually, awards are given by an organization of some sort, or by the office of an official within an organization or government. For instance, a special presidential citation (as given by the President of the United States) is a public announcement giving an official place of honor (e.g. President Ronald Reagan gave a special presidential citation in 1984 to the Disney Channel for its excellent children's television programming). People who have won certain prestigious awards, such as the Nobel Prize, a champion title in a sport, or an Academy Award (Oscar) can have the award become their identity, becoming primarily known for winning the award than for any other achievement or occupation. Mock awards, which typically recognize failures or atypical achievements, are also popular and are usually given by people and organizations of lower or average prestige, such as comical organizations and individual writers. Popular mock awards include the Razzies, a satirical counterpart to the Academy Award which recognizes the worst movies. One common type of award in the United States is the employee of the month award, in which typically the recipients' names are listed in a prominent place in the business for that month. Some awards are given after a fee is paid by the recipient, such as the German Design Award.
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Automata in popular culture

2007-06-09 15:43:32

An Automaton from Final Fantasy XI Online Automata crop up in numerous fictional works, including:

The Crooked Hinge (1938) by detective novelist John Dickson Carr. It combines a seemingly impossible throat-slashing with elements of witchcraft, an automaton (locked in a bookcloset in the attic) modelled on Maelzel's Chess Player, and the story of the Tichborne Claimant.
L. Frank Baum's Tik-Tok, the "Mechanical Man of Oz", is a sentient man made of clockwork.
K. W. Jeter's 1987 Infernal Devices features an intelligent automaton called the Paganinicon.
In August Eschenburg, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Steven Millhauser, writes the story of a clockmaker's son who spent his life building fantastical automata in 1870s Germany.
In the 1993 role-playing game Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle, automata were used by the local inhabitants. It was possible to create an automata via the create automata spell, which could then join your party.
In 2000 video role-playing game Grandia II, the automata were soulless battle machines invented during the war between Granas and Valmar (good and evil god, respectively) about 10,000 years prior to the events of the game. One of them, Tio, joins the player's party at a certain point.
In 2002 adventure game Syberia and its sequel, Syberia II, the automata were a key plot device crucial to completing the main quest.
In the 2003 PC strategy game Age of Mythology: The Titans, the automata are Atlantean myth units that can repair one another.
In 2006, Square Enix introduced the Automaton into the world of Final Fantasy XI Online as a new gameplay feature in the Treasures of Aht Urhgan Expansion Pack.
In the PC game Arcanum you can uppgrade your mechanical spider into a steam-powered automaton
Automata feature as a higher level enemy in the videogame Morrowind.
Popular children's and young adult author Philip Pullman has written a book entitled Clockwork, which deals with automata.
The 2006 Doctor Who episode The Girl in the Fireplace featured dangerous space-age automata from the 51st Century running rampant in the 18th century.
The Vinci nation from the 2006 real time strategy game Rise of Legends use automata such as the Clockwork Man and Clockwork Spider to supplement their army.
In the Anime Love Hina, there is an automaton called Mo� that looks like a 1900-styled doll and is capable of autonomous movement. The doll was obtained in 1900 at the World's Fair in Paris, France by the great-grandfather of Keitaro (the main character of the series). It is seen in Episode 20, where Kaolla Su identifies it as an automaton.
In the 1972 movie Sleuth, Andrew Wyke's manor house contains many antique automata.
In the 1982 futuristic science fiction movie Blade Runner, geneticist J.F. Sebastian lives in an abandoned and crumbling but palatial apartment which he stocks full of robots, but also clockwork automata and cuckoo clocks.
In the Mortal Kombat series, 3 characters (Smoke, Cyrax and Sektor) are automata.
In Neuromancer, William Gibson describes an elaborately and elegantly constructed talking head employing mechanical synthesis.
Automatons feature heavily in the fantasy card game Magic: The Gathering. The game features an entire sub-class of animate artificial creations, called artifact creatures; these range from clockwork automata to traditional clay golems. The game also deals with an expanse of parallel dimensions, including two worlds (Mirrodin and Phyrexia) inhabited by sentient machines.
In The Invention of Hugo Cabret, the plot revolves around a child's attempt to fix an automaton.
The comic series Girl Genius features automata called "clanks" very heavily.

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Alternative

2007-06-09 14:12:19

Alternative can refer to:

Abstract or real objects, or actions, which can be chosen.
The element of logical disjunction in logic and mathematics
Alternative rock, a music genre
Alternative dance, a music genre
Alternative metal, a music genre
Alternative hip-hop, a music genre
Alternative country, a music genre
Alternative algebra, an abstract algebra with alternative multiplication
Alternative comics, a genre of comic strips and books
Alternative comedy, a range of styles used by comedians and writers in the 1980s
Alternative culture, a variety of subcultures on the fringes of mainstream culture
Alternative dispute resolution, processes and techniques outside the traditional mainstream of jurisprudence
Alternative lifestyle, a lifestyle that it is not within the cultural norm
Alternative media, media practices falling outside the mainstreams of corporate communication
Alternative medicine, methods and practices used in place of, or in addition to, conventional medical treatments
Alternative society, different models for society and social change
Alternative education, non-traditional education
Alternative school, a school geared towards students whose needs cannot be met in a traditional school
Alternative (Kamen Rider), a character in the Japanese TV series, Kamen Rider Ryuki
Alternative Records, a record label
Futakoi Alternative, a 13 episodes anime series

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