Tufte read

I have to say That I agree with Tufte on the subject of teaching powerpoint to children. I had to write reports as a child and I benefitted from the task. Question one is why in this day and age of children having more and more less satisfactory testing scores do we feel the need to dumb down the lessons. When did it become more beneficial to substitute powerpoint for the tried and true test of research that is the report? Secondly how can we justify the use of such unreliable methods of analysis (powerpoint) in billion dollar government institutions that are funded by taxpayers dollars? I mean, I am not a rocket scientist yet I could have presented an equally informative PP. Who is setting the standards here? Microsoft?

Powerpoint Reading

1) Tufte is very negative towards Powerpoint, and i don't understand why. i love Powerpoint. but anyway, i had some issues with a few things he said. first, he was very against students being taught powerpoint in school. why? i think it is beneficial in that it organizes thoughts, they will need to use it when they are older, and it teaches to paraphrase. i understand that writing papers are better, but i think that powerpoint is a useful tool to know. so i guess my question is, why is teaching powerpoint to children so bad?

2) one part in the book where i didn't underatnd what Tufte was explaining was when he was talking about showing multiple slides on page 6 in the 3rd papragraph. i don't understand what he is saying and how this is beneficial.

right brain vs. left brain

this is a really cool link that i found.
try this and see what side of your brain you use more!

click here!

brennans art and age

in film whould you consider the director the soal artistof the film,

in photography why is the first print worth more thatn the rest if they are identical? couldent you switch them?

Two Questions

Is the act of captioning a photograph the same detraction from the original functionality of art the way photography itself as another way to simply gian the aura of reality in the pursuit of the real thing?

Does the lack of the actor's connection with the audience force us to only watch the most universal actors, that is ones whose performance can translate beyond the limited scope of the film?

Mechanical Reproduction

First of all... let me just say that this reading was thoroughly exhausting!

My questions came straight out of the reading:

1. What does this mean or what is it referring to: "In the case of the art object, a most sensitive nucleus - namely, its authenticity - is interfered with whereas no natural object is vulnerable on that score."

2. What specifically are they referring to when they say the "cult of beauty"?

first things first &the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction.

two questions;
1. why did the 22 visual designers feel the need to write &sign the 2000 design manifesto when the work an artist does is truly the individual artist's choice? designers are not being forced to put their talents toward certain areas. artists who feel their expertise &help is needed in the areas of cultural interventions, social marketing campaigns, books, magazines, exhibitions, educational tools, television programs, films, charitable causes, etc., should focus their work toward these areas. artists who believe their skills are more useful in advertising, marketing, and brand development should not be made to feel guilty if that is the work they choose to utilize their talents in. artists should create what they want to &what they feel is important, not what other designers tell them to. who decides what is "worthwhile use?"
2. in reading the paragraph that introduces the idea of the surgeon &the magician in "the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction," the preceding material in the essay gave me the idea that benjamin was referring to the painter as the surgeon &the cameraman as the magician. did anyone else feel this way, that benjamin would consider the painter a surgeon, diminishing the distance between himself and his work, and the cameraman a magician, creating in hiding "multiple fragments which are assembled under a new law?" i was confused &surprised when his opinions were clarified in the following paragraph ("the painter maintains in his work a natural distance from reality, the cameraman penetrates deeply into its web") because i was originally so intrigued by the comparison.