Madness and the muse from the Chronicle of Higher Education. Is there a real connection between mental illness and creativity, or are we focusing on the wrong data? As a writer with depression who knows other writers with depression, I’m predisposed to the positive correlation. As Mr. Science likes to remind me, however, correlation is not scientific proof, and the numbers can be manipulated to say just about anything the person collecting them wants. Keep that in mind when you hear about “the latest study on . . .” whatever. While math is the basis of physics, and therefore the hard sciences, statistics tends to be the basis for many of the so-called soft sciences (psychology, sociology, etc.). Numbers can be manipulated by the clever statistician. I’m not saying they always are, but it’s something to think about.
This has been all over the web in the last week: Emma Watson’s speech at the UN on achieving gender equality. #HeForShe
There are seven kinds of English surnames according to Ancestry.com. Which do you have? Though my surname is Finnish, there’s a town in Finland called Marttila. It means St. Martin. So I have a surname based on a place.
Five supplements that may help with depression. IFLS. Please read the whole post, including the very important caution that you not begin any supplemental regimen without first consulting a medical health professional.
Fifteen thou a litre? Holy horseshoe crab blood, Batman! Mind you, I still feel sorry for the poor wee things. They really need to work on that whole synthetic thing a little harder, don’t you think? IFLS.
Entanglement was originally written “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn,” but the song was rejected by the film makers who thought it was too raunchy for their teenage audience.
Undeterred, Imogen recorded the song for Sparks and filmed what is her most intimate video to date. #sparksfacts
Here’s what Imogen’s boyfriend, director Michael Lebor had to say about it:
“Andy Carne, the art director for the Sparks box set shot some beautiful stills for the front of the Entanglement single and so Imogen and I discussed shooting something that tied in with that.
The picture on the cover looked like a loving embrace, perhaps after a steamy moment and so I wanted to work back from that. The end frame in the video is as close as I could get to the angle and lighting of the still that Andy took.
Imogen has lovely, big floor to ceiling 10ft windows in the house and so I wanted to shoot just using the natural light that flooded in. I had recently been testing a camera (Sony FS700) that had excellent quality slow motion and because we didn’t have a huge amount of time, I thought this would be a great way of shooting a simple video in an emotional and beautiful way. Imogen has great bone structure, great skin and a model like figure so I knew that if we got the right light, the rest would fall into place.
It’s essentially a love story but I wanted it to be unclear as to whether it was imagined or not. The video starts with Imogen on her own and perhaps she is remembering a moment with her lover or waiting for him to arrive, either way, it’s ambiguous as to who this person is, if he is really there or if this happened in the past.
I wanted to build a narrative around the scene but because of time constraints and Imogen’s desire to keep it simple, we stayed within the confines of her bedroom and shot it in a few hours. It is difficult to sustain such a simple music video for five minutes, but that was the length of the song so we had to make it work.
It was a very intimate shoot and I didn’t want anyone else in the room, so it’s just me and Imogen. This of course created a challenge when I was needed for the scene. I used a tripod for those moments but an extra difficulty was that the camera only recorded 10 seconds of ‘super slow motion’ at a time. This meant that after every take I would have to jump up and run across the room to press ‘end record’ on the camera, not wearing very much…
One of my favourite moments in the video is when Imogen looks at the camera and she looks truly in love. It’s something that can’t be captured on a busy set, so it was a magical moment for me.”
And here’s the video (can you tell how much I love Imie?):
ASAP Science explores the science of depression. Love these videos.
ASAP Science mentioned Laurel Braitman in their wee video, so when I saw Laurel’s TED talk on animal madness, I had to share. She’s quite entertaining. I think she might also have a little stage fright.
Of course, the big news of the week was the death of Robin Williams. I loved his work as a comedian and an actor. The circumstances of his death were tragic, but as a friend posted, so was his mental illness, the periodic substance abuse he engaged in throughout his life, and the effect that must have had on his family. The man touched me. He made me laugh. I’ll miss him. I’m just saying.
Shaking my head, not so briefly, to evict the maudlin.
This is verging on the Writerly Goodness, but I decided to put Justine Musk’s post, the art of being a heroine, in my Thoughty Thursday curation because it’s not so much about writing as about the intersection of myth and womanhood. Thoughty indeed.
Imogen Heap has to be my favourite musical artist. Just lurve her to pieces. So when CBC music featured her new release Sparks as a “First Play” selection, I had to tune in. I listened to the whole thing in one night. The video is a great look behind the scenes too. Heaven. Of course, Ima buy it too, but I couldn’t resist the awesome.
A couple of great covers from Walk off the Earth. First, Rude, by Magic!
Next up, Say something, by A Great Big World.
Think I got carried away by music this week. Lindsey Stirling, Master of Tides.
And Beyond the Veil. This one caught me, because Fer spends a bit of time there . . . A candidate for the revision soundtrack?
LEGO for science geeks girls! Sure wish I had this kind of stuff when I was a kid. Barbie and her friends had to make do (I dressed them up in “costumes” and made them popsicle stick “swords”—maybe the LEGO ladies wouldn’t have attracted me, after all).
Feed your brain. It’ll give you ideas for teh stories 🙂
It’s just disturbing to me that all of these organizations are being audited. It continues the trend of cutbacks, suppression, and outright antagonism toward the sciences, and environmental and arts organizations in this country.
That’s all I’m saying about that.
Carmine Gallo explores the science behind TED’s 18 minute presentation rule. My trainer geek emerged. This is the 90-20-10 rule. People can listen with attention for 90 minutes (think about the timing of your breaks and lunch at work). They can listen and understand for about 20 minutes. The trainer or presenter (in-person) should change things up every 10 minutes. Virtual is a whole different ball game 😉
And speaking of TED, here’s Ze Frank’s very brief, Are You Human?
The 100 best sci-fi movies, as chosen by critics and experts. They’re presented in alphabetical groupings and each delivers their top ten. It’s a fair amount of wading, but there are some interesting choices . . .
Balloon art. Seriously. And I can’t even make a poodle. Maybe a snake 😛
And that be it for the thoughty and fun this week.
Always Looking Up 