art monad - アート: marzo 2009

martes, marzo 31, 2009

BOLT - THE MOVIE

Bolt is a 2008 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, and is the 48th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animation Studios canon.

The film stars the voices of John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Malcolm McDowell, Claire Holt, Diedrich Bader, Nick Swardson, Greg Germann, Susie Essman and Mark Walton. The film's plot centers around a small white dog named Bolt who, having spent his entire life on the set of a television series, thinks that he has super powers. When he believes that his human, Penny, has been kidnapped, he sets out on a cross-country journey to "rescue" her. The film is directed by Chris Williams, who previously worked on Mulan and The Emperor's New Groove.

Bolt was released on November 21, 2008, and received an 85% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and was rated PG by the MPAA for some mild action and peril, and is Walt Disney Animation Studios' first computer-animated film to be rated PG since 2000's Dinosaur. As with earlier CGI Disney films, such as Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons, Bolt was also distributed in Disney Digital 3-D in the theaters equipped for it.

The film was released in the UK on February 6, 2009 in 3D format on approximately 100 screens, and was widely released in 2D the following week.

Plot

A girl named Penny and a dog named Bolt star on a hit television series called Bolt in which the titular character has various superpowers and must constantly thwart the evil plans of the nefarious Doctor Calico. To gain a more realistic performance, the TV show's producers have deceived Bolt his entire life, arranging the filming in such a way that Bolt believes the television show is real and he really has superpowers. After filming completes for the latest episode, Bolt escapes from his on-set trailer mistakenly believing Penny has been kidnapped by the television villain. He attempts to break through a window, knocking himself unconscious as he falls into a box of styrofoam. With no one aware Bolt is in the box, it is shipped from Hollywood to New York City. In New York, he meets Mittens, a female alley cat who bullies pigeons out of their food. Bolt, convinced this is another adventure, forces Mittens to help him get back to Hollywood, and the two start their journey westward. Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Penny is deeply saddened over Bolt's disappearance but is forced by the studio to continue filming with a Bolt lookalike. As their adevnture proceeds, Bolt starts to notice that his superpowers aren't working, and rationalizes this is the effect that styrofoam has on his body.

Surprised at his first feelings of both pain and hunger, Bolt is shown by Mittens how to act like a cute but needy dog, and is rewarded by food. They meet Rhino, a fearless, TV-obsessed hamster and huge Bolt fan who joins their team. Mittens tries to convince Bolt that his superpowers aren't real, but their discussion is cut short by the arrival of Animal Control, who captures them both and transports them to an animal shelter. After being freed en route by Rhino, Bolt finally realizes that he is just a normal dog, but regains his confidence after Rhino (oblivious to this revelation) gives him a pep talk. They rescue Mittens from the shelter and escape, allowing them to continue their journey. Along the way, Bolt learns to enjoy typical dog activities (such as hanging his head out the window), but Mittens refuses to go farther than Las Vegas. She tells Bolt that his Hollywood life is fake and there is no real love for him there. Her emotional rant reveals that she was once a house cat, but was abandoned by her previous owner and left to brave the harsh streets alone and declawed. Bolt refuses to believe that Penny doesn't love him, and continues on alone, wishing Mittens the best. Rhino convinces Mittens that they must help him, and the two set off to find Bolt once again.

Bolt reaches the studio, finding Penny embracing his lookalike. Unaware that Penny still misses him and that her affection for the lookalike was only a part of a rehearsal for the show, he leaves, brokenhearted. Mittens, on a gantry in the studio, sees what Bolt does not - Penny telling her mother how much she misses Bolt. Realizing that Penny truly does love Bolt, Mittens follows Bolt and explains. At the same time, the Bolt-lookalike panics during filming and accidentally knocks over some torches, setting the sound stage on fire and trapping Penny. Bolt arrives and reunites with Penny inside the burning studio, being rescued as they succumb to smoke asphyxiation.

Penny and her mother subsequently quit the show when their agent attempts to exploit the incident for publicity purposes. Penny herself adopts Mittens and Rhino, and moves to a rural home to enjoy a simpler, happy lifestyle with Bolt and her new pets. The show continues, but with a replacement "Bolt" and "Penny", and adopting an alien abduction storyline suggested by a character they met on the way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolt_(2008_film)

lunes, marzo 30, 2009

BARBOLETA - BUTTERFLY

Borboleta, originalmente cargada por BetoDiniz.

A butterfly is an insect of the order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form. Most species are day-flying so they regularly attract attention. The diverse patterns formed by their brightly coloured wings and their erratic yet graceful flight have made butterfly watching a hobby.

Butterflies comprise the true butterflies (superfamily Papilionoidea), the skippers (superfamily Hesperioidea) and the moth-butterflies (superfamily Hedyloidea). Butterflies exhibit polymorphism, mimicry and aposematism. Some migrate over long distances. Some butterflies have evolved symbiotic and parasitic relationships with social insects such as ants. Butterflies are important economically as agents of pollination. In addition, a few species are pests, because they can damage domestic crops and trees in their larval stage.

Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts.

Wing development

Detail of a butterfly wing

Wings or wing pads are not visible on the outside of the larva, but when larvae are dissected, tiny developing wing disks can be found on the second and third thoracic segments, in place of the spiracles that are apparent on abdominal segments. Wing disks develop in association with a trachea that runs along the base of the wing, and are surrounded by a thin peripodial membrane, which is linked to the outer epidermis of the larva by a tiny duct.

Wing disks are very small until the last larval instar, when they increase dramatically in size, are invaded by branching tracheae from the wing base that precede the formation of the wing veins, and begin to develop patterns associated with several landmarks of the wing.

Near pupation, the wings are forced outside the epidermis under pressure from the hemolymph, and although they are initially quite flexible and fragile, by the time the pupa breaks free of the larval cuticle they have adhered tightly to the outer cuticle of the pupa (in obtect pupae). Within hours, the wings form a cuticle so hard and well-joined to the body that pupae can be picked up and handled without damage to the wings.

Scales

Butterflies are characterized by their scale-covered wings. The coloration of butterfly wings is created by minute scales. These scales are pigmented with melanins that give them blacks and browns, but blues, greens, reds and iridescence are usually created not by pigments but the microstructure of the scales. This structural coloration is the result of coherent scattering of light by the photonic crystal nature of the scales. The scales cling somewhat loosely to the wing and come off easily without harming the butterfly.

Scales on the wing give the colours

Closeup of the scales of the Inachis io

A Monarch butterfly with the scales rubbed off a section of the wing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly

jueves, marzo 26, 2009

AZTEKIUM

The genus Aztekium, of the family Cactaceae, is endemic to the state of Nuevo León, Mexico. Aztekium ritteri was discovered by F. Ritter in 1929 near the town of Rayones. For over 72 years this cryptic genus was regarded as monotypic until the discovery of A. hintonii by George S. Hinton, growing in a gypsum canyon less than 40 km away.

Aztekium ritteri is restricted to a valley in Rayones between 700 and 1000 meters above sea level; it grows on vertical conglomerate or gypsum walls. It grows solitary or in clusters, with stems up to 5 cm in diameter, with up to 12 grooved aerole-bearing ribs and smaller secondary ribs in between them. The flowers are white to pink, 8 mm in diameter, arising from the center. Though much sought after for decades its numbers in the wild remain in the millions.

Aztekium hintonii grows on vertical gypsum walls in the municipalities of Galeana and Iturbide, from 1100 to 1900 meters above sea level. It is solitary, to 10 cm in diameter and 15 cm high, with 9 to 12(15) finely grooved ribs, rarely with secondary ribs as those of A. ritteri. The flowers are magenta 1-3 cm in diameter. Although much sought after, its habitat remains mostly undisturbed and its numbers in the wild estimated at 40 million. It shares part of its habitat with Geohintonia mexicana, another genus endemic to the state of Nuevo León.

Pictures by George S. Hinton

lunes, marzo 23, 2009

LOUIS WAIN

louis wain, originalmente cargada por shawna-bo-bonna.

Louis Wain (5 August 1860 – July 4, 1939) was an English artist best known for his drawings, which consistently featured anthropomorphised large-eyed cats and kittens. In his later years he suffered from schizophrenia, which, according to some psychologists, can be seen in his works.

From this point, Wain's popularity began to decline. He returned from New York broke, and his mother had died of Spanish influenza while he was abroad. His mental instability also began around this time, and increased gradually over the years. He had always been considered quite charming but odd, and often had difficulty in distinguishing between fact and fantasy. Others frequently found him incomprehensible, due to his way of speaking tangentially. His behavior and personality changed, and he began to suffer from delusions, with the onset of schizophrenia. Whereas he had been a mild-mannered and trusting man, he became hostile and suspicious, particularly towards his sisters. He claimed that the flickering of the cinema screen had robbed the electricity from their brains. He began wandering the streets at night, rearranging furniture within the house, and spent long periods locked in his room writing incoherently.

This cat, like many painted during this period, is shown with abstract patterns behind it. Psychologists have cited this increased abstraction as symptomatic of Wain's schizophrenia, but others have argued that his "wallpaper cats" simply recall the patterns in his mother's fabrics.

Some speculate that the onset of Wain's schizophrenia was precipitated by toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can be contracted from cats. The theory that toxoplasmosis can trigger schizophrenia is the subject of ongoing research, though the origins of the theory can be traced back as early as 1953.

When his sisters could no longer cope with his erratic and occasionally violent behavior, he was finally committed in 1924 to a pauper ward of Springfield Mental Hospital in Tooting. A year later, he was discovered there and his circumstances were widely publicized, leading to appeals from such figures as H. G. Wells and the personal intervention of the Prime Minister. Wain was transferred to the Bethlem Royal Hospital in Southwark, and again in 1930 to Napsbury Hospital near St Albans in Hertfordshire, north of London. This hospital was relatively pleasant, with a garden and colony of cats, and he spent his final 15 years there in peace. While he became increasingly deluded, his erratic mood swings subsided, and he continued drawing for pleasure. His work from this period is marked by bright colors, flowers, and intricate and abstract patterns, though his primary subject remained the same.

One of many pieces Wain produced at the Bethlem Royal Hospital. This piece is not broadly representative of his work there.

Dr. Michael Fitzgerald disputes the claim of schizophrenia, indicating Wain more than likely suffered from Asperger's syndrome. Of particular note, Fitzgerald indicates that while Wain's art takes on a more abstract nature as he grew older, his technique and skill as a painter did not diminish as one would expect from a schizophrenic. Moreover, elements of visual agnosia are demonstrated in his painting, a key element in cases of Asperger's. If Wain had a visual agnosia, it may have manifested itself merely as an extreme attention to detail.

A series of five of his paintings is commonly used as an example in psychology textbooks to putatively show the change in his style as his psychological condition deteriorated. However, it is not known if these works were created in the order usually presented, as Wain did not date them. Rodney Dale, author of Louis Wain: The Man Who Drew Cats, has criticised the belief that the five paintings can be used as an example of Wain's deteriorating mental health, writing: "Wain experimented with patterns and cats, and even quite late in life was still producing conventional cat pictures, perhaps 10 years after his [supposedly] 'later' productions which are patterns rather than cats."

H. G. Wells said of him, "He has made the cat his own. He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world. English cats that do not look and live like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves."

His work is now highly collectable but care is needed as forgeries are common.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Wain

"I'M A BIT GONE ON MYSELF"

"I'm a bit gone on myself"..., originalmente cargada por Jane Diamond.

A sketch by Louis Wain done during the time he became mentally ill with schizophrenia.

typically people are usually diagnosed with schizophrenia between their teen years and into their 20's. Louis wasn't diagnosed until he was 54 years old

Louis was first hospitalized in a paupers ward. however, when the public found out - appeals, broadcasts, and even an intervention of the Prime Minister were made
on Louis' behalf to have him transferred to a better hospital.

Louis was originally transferred to Bethlem Royal Hospital until that hospital closed. He was then transferred to Napsbury Hospital, north of London.

At Napsbury, the hospital was much more pleasant with beautiful gardens and even a cat colony. It is said that Louis was the only patient allowed to keep cats in the hospital!

Louis contuined to paint even while hospitalized, and his last gallery shows were actually in the hospital. Louis remained a patient of Napsbury hospital until his death in 1939.

Bethlem Royal Hospital, where Louis was once a patient, has a gallery of art work from mentally ill patients, and some of Louis' original art works are on display to the public there