Immortality and the art of conversation.

Have you ever thought about the fact that you could already be immortal?
In a way most of us who use modern technology are, if you have ever been on television or the radio, ever used a mobile phone or a computer then the odds are that your image or voice will be floating through space forever.
Ok, it will get fainter and weaker the further it goes, but it will go on forever, until one day an alien race picks it up, now at first they may not understand exactly what it means, but eventually either they, or another race, will translate your image or voice in an intelligible piece of data.

What then will they think? Think about the inconsequential drivel most of us churn out in the average phone conversation, all that is drifting through the universe, million upon millions of words saying nothing, nothing at all. The communication mediums that we all have at our fingertips are really wasted on nonsense 99% of the time. Even at work, how much of our time on the phone is spent talking about work? Not a much as you think.

Before radio communication writing letters was the only viable way of getting information information between any people separated by large distances, in those, most of the time, they had to be thought out very carefully as you could not correct a mistake for some time, if you got it wrong it could be weeks before you received a reply and realised your mistake.
With the internet people feel they can put down their thoughts without thinking too much about what they have written or even the effect it might have on others. I have been guilty of this myself once or twice, normally after a few beers.

Now our words are passing out through the outer reaches of space, my first CB transmission is just passing Delta Eridani 29.5 light years away, I wonder just what anyone there would make of my rambling chat about BSA motorbikes?

Every little piece of chat, every bit of gossip, even singing happy birthday down your mobile will be winging its way across space in all directions. One day someone or something may be listening to what you said, or seeing your image on a tv screen, what do you think they will make of it?

Art, a personal view.

Wandered around a couple of exhibitions the other day, art is a very personal thing, but sometimes I wonder if what we are sometimes 'told' is art, really is.
This is not meant as a proper review of any of the works here, this is a just my personal opnion of two very different works and a look at my own quirky view of art.
The first exhibition was by Norman Cornish, a very narrow view of his life in Spennymoor, I wont go into the details of his life as they are irrelevant, this is just my view of his work.
I had a problem at first with his distorted perspective, probably because of my engineering and technical background, then once I got past that, I found a wonderful series of studies of life in a mining village. His facial studies show he was a man who knew faces, there is a warm depth to his work that you feel, the street scenes have a sense of fun, I felt none of the bleakness that other artists of that ilk convey.

From Norman cornish I went into an exhibition by a gentleman called William Tucker, I had never heard of him, I hope not to bother again, I could not make head nor tail of his pieces at all, when I first view a piece, I always avoid reading any signs nearby, so as to form my own impression; of what the artist is trying to do, from the works at Kingsplace in York way, I can only assume he was constipated. The works were formless and made no sense to me. I got no feeling of, well, anything from them, they reminded me vaguely of an animated claymation series called 'Red and Blue' other than that, they did nothing for me whatsoever.

I have no problem with modern art, I love Rothko where as most of my friends dont get him, but the works of William Tucker did nothing for me, art should have an effect of some kind,
be it disgust, admiration or amusement etc, but to have no effect at all is wrong. Maybe its me?
Perhaps I no longer see art as I used to, I did have to 'learn' about art many years ago, I had a very good teacher in one of my ex-girlfriends, she helped me to 'see' art, whereas before that I would have dismissed most as rubbish.
Maybe I need to get out more, we do not get many chances to visit galleries these days, although that will change very soon. Personal perference can be a volatile thing, it can change from the smallest of influences, as I get older, I find myself drawn towards more traditional art over the modern, yet I suppose it comes down to what pleases my eye, our preference in art should be no more than that really, I always remember being told, if you are going to buy art, dont buy for investment, buy it because it pleases you. Very wise words.