"Man is incapable of imagining that time could ever stop. For us, even if the earth should cease turning on its axis and revolving around the sun, even if there were no longer days and nights, summers and winters, time would continue to flow on eternally.
It is no easier for us to imagine that somewhere, past the farthest stars in the nocturnal heavens, there is an end to space, a borderline beyond which "nothing" exists. The concept "empty" does have some meaning to us, because we can at least visualize a space that is empty, but "nothing," in the sense of "spaceless," is beyond our capacity to imagine. This is why, since the time when man came to lie, sit, and stand on this earth of ours, to creep and walk on it, to sail, ride, and fly over it (and now fly away from it), we have clung to illusions--to a hereafter, a purgatory, a heaven and a hell, a rebirth or a nirvana, all existing eternally in time and endlessly in space."
- M.C. Escher
dec·i·bel
- noun
1. a unit used to express the intensity of a sound wave, equal to 20 times the common logarithm of the ratio of the pressure produced by the sound wave to a reference pressure, usually 0.0002 microbar.
2. a unit of power ratio, the number of units being equal to a constant times the logarithm to the base 10 of the intensities of two sources.
3. a unit used to compare two voltages or currents, equal to 20 times the common logarithm of the ratio of the voltages or currents measured across equal resistances.
"There is no longer beauty except in the struggle. No more masterpieces without an aggressive character. Poetry must be a violent assault against the unknown forces in order to overcome them and prostrate them before men."
- F.T. Marinetti
- F.T. Marinetti
ges⋅so
- noun
1. gypsum, plaster of Paris or marble dust traditionally mixed with animal glue to use as an absorbent surface for painting.
2. any plasterlike preparation to prepare a surface for painting, gilding, etc.
3. a prepared surface of plaster or plasterlike material for painting, gilding, etc.
ink
- noun
1. a fluid or viscous substance used for writing or printing.
2. a dark, protective fluid ejected by the cuttlefish and other cephalopods.
3. publicity, esp. in print media.
- verb
4. to mark, stain, cover, or smear with ink.
an⋅ti⋅thet⋅ic
- adj.
1. of the nature of or involving antithesis.
2. directly opposed or contrasted; opposite.
an⋅tith⋅e⋅sis
- noun
1. opposition; contrast.
2. the direct opposite.
3. a. the placing of a sentence or one of its parts against another to which it is opposed to form a balanced contrast of ideas.
b. the second sentence or part thus set in opposition.
"Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay."
- Mary Shelley
- Mary Shelley
ca·nis
- noun
1. the chief and type genus of the family Canidae that includes the domestic dog, the wolves and jackals, and sometimes in older classifications the foxes.
can·i·dae
- noun
1. a cosmopolitan family of digitigrade carnivorous mammals thatincludes the wolves, jackals, foxes, coyote, and the domestic dog.
cir⋅cum⋅stance
- noun
1. a condition, detail, part, or attribute, with respect to time, place, manner,agent, etc., that accompanies, determines, or modifies a fact or event; a modifying or influencing factor.
2. the existing conditions or state of affairs surrounding and affecting an agent.
3. an unessential or secondary accompaniment of any fact or event; minor detail.
4. the condition or state of a person.
5. an incident or occurrence.
6. detailed or circuitous narration; specification of particulars.
7. ceremonious accompaniment or display.
- verb
8. to place in particular relations.
"You might have a favorite book or film, but you can only watch or read it so many times before you have to let it sit and then go back and realize it's your favorite still. At some point everything gets a little stale and you have to step away from it."
- Les Claypool
- Les Claypool
"Nothing leads so straight to futility as literary ambitions without systematic knowledge."
- H. G. Wells
- H. G. Wells
"And if thought and emotion can persist in this way so long after the brain that sent them forth has crumpled into dust, how vitally important it must be to control their very birth in the heart, and guard them with the keenest possible restraint."
- Algernon H. Blackwood
- Algernon H. Blackwood
"It is still an open question, however, as to what extent exposure really injures a performer."
- Harry Houdini
- Harry Houdini
"Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness."
- George Orwell
- George Orwell
pol⋅y⋅phon⋅ic
- adj.
1. consisting of many voices or sounds.
2. a. having two or more voices or parts, each with an independent melody, but all harmonizing; contrapuntal.
b. pertaining to music of this kind.
c. capable of producing more than one tone at a time.
3. having more than one phonetic value.
con⋅tra⋅pun⋅tal
- adj.
1. of or pertaining to counterpoint.
2. composed of two or more relatively independent melodies sounded together.
coun⋅ter⋅point
- noun
1. the art of combining melodies.
2. the texture resulting from the combining of individual melodic lines.
3. a melody composed to be combined with another melody.
4. syncopation.
5. any element that is juxtaposed and contrasted with another.
- verb
6. to emphasize or clarify by contrast or juxtaposition.
fugue
- noun
1. a polyphonic composition based upon one, two, or more themes, which are enunciated by several voices or parts in turn, subjected to contrapuntal treatment, and gradually built up into a complex form having somewhat distinct divisions or stages of development and a marked climax at the end.
2. a period during which a person suffers from loss of memory, often begins a new life, and, upon recovery, remembers nothing of the amnesic phase.
vamp
- noun
1. the portion of a shoe or boot upper that covers the instep and toes.
2. something patched up or pieced together.
3. an accompaniment, usually improvised, consisting of a succession of simple chords.
- verb
4. to patch up; repair.
5. to give something a new appearance by adding a patch or piece.
6. to concoct or invent.
7. to improvise an accompaniment, tune, etc.
"The trouble with being a ghostwriter or artist is that you must remain rather anonymously without credit. If one wants the credit, one has to cease being a ghost and become a leader or innovator."
- Bob Kane
- Bob Kane
"A friend is someone who knows the song of your heart and sings it to you when you forget the words"
- Bette Midler
- Bette Midler
"If you are the master be sometimes blind, if you are the servant be sometimes deaf."
- Buckminster Fuller
- Buckminster Fuller
trans⋅par⋅ent
- adj.
1. having the property of transmitting rays of light through its substance so that bodies situated beyond or behind can be distinctly seen.
2. admitting the passage of light through interstices.
3. so sheer as to permit light to pass through; diaphanous.
4. easily seen through, recognized, or detected.
5. manifest; obvious.
6. open; frank; candid.
7. shining through, as light.
trans⋅lu⋅cent
- adj.
1. permitting light to pass through but diffusing it so that persons, objects, etc., on the opposite side are not clearly visible.
2. easily understandable; lucid.
3. clear; transparent.
"All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without benefit of experience."
- Henry Miller
- Henry Miller
"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance."
- Aristotle
- Aristotle
"If men cease to believe that they will one day become gods then they will surely become worms."
- Henry Miller
- Henry Miller
im⋅pli⋅cate
- verb
1. to show to be also involved, usually in an incriminating manner.
2. to imply as a necessary circumstance, or as something to be inferred or understood.
3. to connect or relate to intimately; affect as a consequence.
4. to fold or twist together; intertwine; interlace.
in⋅volve
- verb
1. to include as a necessary circumstance, condition, or consequence; imply; entail.
2. to engage or employ.
3. to affect, as something within the scope of operation.
4. to include, contain, or comprehend within itself or its scope.
5. to bring into an intricate or complicated form or condition.
6. to bring into difficulties.
7. to cause to be troublesomely associated or concerned, as in something embarrassing or unfavorable.
8. to combine inextricably.
9. to implicate, as in guilt or crime, or in any matter or affair.
10. to engage the interests or emotions or commitment of.
11. to preoccupy or absorb fully.
12. to envelop or enfold, as if with a wrapping.
13. to swallow up, engulf, or overwhelm.
14. a. to roll, surround, or shroud, as in a wrapping.
b. to roll up on itself; wind spirally; coil; wreathe.
in⋅sti⋅gate
- verb
1. to cause by incitement; foment.
2. to urge, provoke, or incite to some action or course.
in⋅cite
- verb
1. to stir, encourage, or urge on; stimulate or prompt to action.
in⋅spire
- verb
1. to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence.
2. to produce or arouse.
3. to fill or affect with a specified feeling, thought, etc.
4. to influence or impel.
5. to animate, as an influence, feeling, thought, or the like, does.
6. to communicate or suggest by a divine or supernatural influence.
7. to guide or control by divine influence.
8. to prompt or instigate by influence, without avowal of responsibility.
9. to give rise to, bring about, cause, etc.
10. to take into the lungs in breathing; inhale.
11. a. to infuse by breathing.
b. to breathe into or upon.
"To me style is just the outside of content, and content the inside of style, like the outside and the inside of the human body."
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Jean-Luc Godard
"Man has no Body distinct from his Soul; for that called Body is a portion of Soul discerned by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age."
- William Blake
- William Blake
"There is something immoral about an object whose exact purpose one does not know."
- Jean Baudrillard
- Jean Baudrillard
dem⋅i⋅urge
- noun
1. a. the artificer of the world.
b. a supernatural being imagined as creating or fashioning the world in subordination to the Supreme Being, and sometimes regarded as the originator of evil.
su⋅per⋅nat⋅u⋅ral
- adj.
1. of, pertaining to, or being above or beyond what is natural; unexplainable by natural law or phenomena; abnormal.
2. of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or attributed to God or a deity.
3. of a superlative degree; preternatural.
4. of, pertaining to, or attributed to ghosts, goblins, or other unearthly beings; eerie; occult.
pre⋅ter⋅nat⋅u⋅ral
- adj.
1. out of the ordinary course of nature; exceptional or abnormal.
2. outside of nature; supernatural.
su⋅per⋅fi⋅cial
- adj.
1. being at, on, or near the surface.
2. of or pertaining to the surface.
3. external or outward.
4. concerned with or comprehending only what is on the surface or obvious.
5. shallow; not profound or thorough.
6. apparent rather than real.
7. insubstantial or insignificant.
"What a man does for pay is of little significance. What he is, as a sensitive instrument responsive to the world's beauty, is everything!"
- H.P. Lovecraft
- H.P. Lovecraft
dip⋅tych
- noun
1. a hinged two-leaved tablet used in ancient times for writing on with a stylus.
2. a. a similar tablet of wood or metal containing on one leaf the names of those among the living, and on the other those among the dead, for whom prayers and masses are said.
b. the lists of such persons.
c. the intercession in the course of which these names were introduced.
3. a pair of pictures or carvings on two panels, usually hinged together.
trip⋅tych
- noun
1. a set of three panels or compartments side by side, bearing pictures, carvings, or the like.
2. a hinged, three-leaved tablet, written on, in ancient times, with a stylus.
"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice. There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."
- Frank Zappa
- Frank Zappa
"What can you do against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?"
- George Orwell
- George Orwell
"The art of storytelling is reaching its end because the epic side of truth, wisdom, is dying out."
- Walter Benjamin
- Walter Benjamin
"The artist must be in his work as God is in creation, invisible and all-powerful; one must sense him everywhere but never see him."
- Gustave Flaubert
- Gustave Flaubert
"Influence, people think about it as someone you like but influence is also what you're revolted by. In fact, often it's what you're running away from."
- Marc Ribot
- Marc Ribot
fan⋅ta⋅sy
- noun
1. imagination, esp. when extravagant and unrestrained.
2. the forming of mental images, esp. wondrous or strange fancies; imaginative conceptualizing.
3. a mental image, esp. when unreal or fantastic; vision.
4. an imagined or conjured up sequence fulfilling a psychological need; daydream.
5. a hallucination.
6. a supposition based on no solid foundation; visionary idea; illusion.
7. caprice; whim.
8. an ingenious or fanciful thought, design, or invention.
psy⋅chol⋅o⋅gy
- noun
1. the science of the mind or of mental states and processes.
2. the science of human and animal behavior.
3. the sum or characteristics of the mental states and processes of a person or class of persons, or of the mental states and processes involved in a field of activity.
4. mental ploys or strategy.
phi⋅los⋅o⋅phy
- noun
1. the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct.
2. any of the three branches, namely natural philosophy, moral philosophy, and metaphysical philosophy, that are accepted as composing this study.
3. a system of philosophical doctrine.
4. the critical study of the basic principles and concepts of a particular branch of knowledge, esp. with a view to improving or reconstituting them.
5. a system of principles for guidance in practical affairs.
6. a philosophical attitude, as one of composure and calm in the presence of troubles or annoyances.
"You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you."
- Walt Disney
- Walt Disney
"Language comes first. It's not that language grows out of consciousness, if you haven't got language, you can't be conscious."
- Alan Moore
- Alan Moore
"I try not to think too much about what the audience is thinking and what they think I should do."
- Kim Gordon
- Kim Gordon
"God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind that I will never die."
- Bill Watterson
- Bill Watterson
"Ideas and new connections between ideas lead you away from commonly held perceptions of reality. Ideas lead you out here. Ideas lead you into the darkness."
- Dave Sim
- Dave Sim
"Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion?"
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- Friedrich Nietzsche
cheat
- verb
1. to defraud; swindle.
2. to deceive; influence by fraud.
3. to elude; deprive of something expected.
4. to practice fraud or deceit.
5. to violate rules or regulations.
6. to take an examination or test in a dishonest way, as by improper access to answers.
7. to be sexually unfaithful.
- noun
8. a person who acts dishonestly, deceives, or defrauds.
9. a fraud; swindle; deception.
10. the fraudulent obtaining of another's property by a pretense or trick.
11. an impostor.
"To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off."
- Robert Moog
- Robert Moog
"Deep, deep infinity! Rest, dreaming removed from the nervous tensions of daily life; sailing over a calm sea, on the bow of a ship, towards a horizon that always recedes; staring at the waves that go by and listening to their monotonous, soft murmuring; dreaming away toward unconsciousness..."
- M.C. Escher
- M.C. Escher
var⋅i⋅a⋅tion
- noun
1. the act, process, or accident of varying in condition, character, or degree.
2. an instance of this.
3. amount, rate, extent, or degree of change.
4. a different form of something; variant.
5. a. the transformation of a melody or theme with changes or elaborations in harmony, rhythm, and melody.
b. a varied form of a melody or theme, esp. one of a series of such forms developing the capacities of the subject.
6. a solo dance, esp. one forming a section of a pas de deux.
7. any deviation from the mean orbit of a heavenly body, esp. of a planetary or satellite orbit.
8. the angle between the geographic and the magnetic meridian at a given point, expressed in plus degrees east or minus degrees west of true north.
9. a difference or deviation in structure or character from others of the same species or group.
var⋅i⋅a⋅ble
- adj.
1. apt or liable to vary or change; changeable.
2. capable of being varied or changed; alterable.
3. inconstant; fickle.
4. having much variation or diversity.
5. deviating from the usual type, as a species or a specific character.
6. changing in brightness.
7. tending to change in direction.
- noun
8. something that may or does vary.
9. a quantity or function that may assume any given value or set of values.
10. a symbol for an unspecified member of a class of things or statements.
var⋅i⋅ant
- adj.
1. tending to change or alter; exhibiting variety or diversity; varying.
2. not agreeing or conforming; differing, esp. from something of the same general kind.
3. not definitive, as a version of part of a text; different; alternative.
4. not universally accepted.
- noun
5. a person or thing that varies.
6. a different spelling, pronunciation, or form of the same word.
var⋅y
- verb
1. to change or alter, as in form, appearance, character, or substance.
2. to cause to be different from something else.
3. to avoid or relieve from uniformity or monotony; diversify.
4. to alter a melody or theme by modification or embellishments without changing its identity.
5. to show diversity; be different.
6. to undergo change in appearance, form, substance, character, etc.
7. to change periodically or in succession; differ or alternate.
8. to diverge; depart; deviate.
9. to be subject to change.
ver⋅y
- adv.
1. in a high degree; extremely; exceedingly.
2. used as an intensive emphasizing superlatives or stressing identity or oppositeness.
- adj.
3. precise; particular.
4. mere.
5. sheer; utter.
6. actual.
7. being such in the true or fullest sense of the term; extreme.
8. true; genuine; worthy of being called such.
9. rightful or legitimate.
ver⋅sion
- noun
1. a particular account of some matter, as from one person or source, contrasted with some other account.
2. a particular form or variant of something.
3. a translation.
e⋅di⋅tion
- noun
1. one of a series of printings of the same book, newspaper, etc., each issued at a different time and differing from another by alterations, additions, etc.
2. the format in which a literary work is published.
3. the whole number of impressions or copies of a book, newspaper, etc., printed from one set of type at one time.
4. a version of anything, printed or not, presented to the public.
av⋅a⋅lanche
- noun
1. a large mass of snow, ice, etc., detached from a mountain slope and sliding or falling suddenly.
- verb
2. to overwhelm with an extremely large amount of anything.
bliz⋅zard
- noun
1. a heavy and prolonged storm covering a wide area with driving snow, strong winds, and intense cold.
2. an inordinately large amount all at one time.
ex⋅plode
- verb
1. to expand with force and noise because of rapid chemical change or decomposition, as gunpowder or nitroglycerine.
2. to burst, fly into pieces, or break up violently with a loud report, as a boiler from excessive pressure of steam.
3. to burst forth violently or emotionally, esp. with noise, laughter, violent speech, etc.
rev⋅er⋅ence
- noun
1. a feeling or attitude of deep devotion, respect, and awe; veneration.
2. the outward manifestation of this feeling.
3. a gesture indicative of respect; an obeisance, bow, or curtsy.
4. the state of being revered.
5. a title used in addressing or mentioning a member of the clergy.
re⋅proach
- verb
1. to find fault with; blame; censure.
2. to upbraid.
3. to be a cause of blame or discredit to.
- noun
4. blame or censure conveyed in disapproval.
5. an expression of upbraiding, censure, or reproof.
6. disgrace, discredit, or blame incurred.
7. a cause or occasion of disgrace or discredit.
8. an object of scorn or contempt.
vi⋅sion
- noun
1. the act or power of sensing with the eyes; sight.
2. the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be.
3. an experience in which a personage, thing, or event appears vividly or credibly to the mind, although not actually present, often under the influence of a divine or other agency.
4. something seen or otherwise perceived during such an experience.
5. a vivid, imaginative conception or anticipation.
6. something seen; an object of sight.
7. a scene, person, etc., of extraordinary beauty.
hal⋅lu⋅ci⋅na⋅tion
- noun
1. a sensory experience of something that does not exist outside the mind, caused by various physical and mental disorders, or by reaction to certain toxic substances, and usually manifested as visual or auditory images.
2. the sensation caused by a hallucinatory condition or the object or scene visualized.
3. a false notion, belief, or impression; illusion; delusion.
de⋅lu⋅sion
- noun
1. an act or instance of deluding.
2. the state of being deluded.
3. a false belief or opinion.
4. a fixed false belief that is resistant to reason or confrontation with actual fact.
de⋅lude
- verb
1. to mislead the mind or judgment of; deceive.
2. to mock or frustrate the hopes or aims of.
3. to elude; evade.
di⋅dac⋅tic
- adj.
1. intended for instruction; instructive.
2. inclined to teach or lecture others.
3. teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson.
4. the art or science of teaching.
quote
- verb
1. to repeat a passage, phrase, etc. from a book, speech, or the like, as by way of authority, illustration, etc.
2. to repeat words from a book, author, etc.
3. to use a brief excerpt from.
4. to cite, offer, or bring forward as evidence or support.
5. to enclose words within quotation marks.
6. to make a quotation or quotations, as from a book or author.
- idiom
7. quote unquote, so called; so to speak; as it were.
de⋅fine
- verb
1. to state or set forth the meaning of a word, phrase, etc.
2. to explain or identify the nature or essential qualities of; describe.
3. to fix or lay down definitely; specify distinctly.
4. to determine or fix the boundaries or extent of.
5. to make clear the outline or form of.
6. to set forth the meaning of a word, phrase, etc.; construct a definition.
"While I had often said that I wanted to die in bed, what I really meant was that in my old age I wanted to be stepped on by an elephant while making love."
- Roger Zelazny
- Roger Zelazny
"Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today - but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all."
- Isaac Asimov
- Isaac Asimov
"The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn when teachers themselves are taught to learn."
- Bertolt Brecht
- Bertolt Brecht
pre⋅tend
- verb
1. to cause or attempt to cause what is not so to seem so.
2. to appear falsely, as to deceive; feign.
3. to make believe.
4. to presume; venture.
5. to allege or profess, esp. insincerely or falsely.
6. to lay claim to.
7. to make pretensions.
8. to aspire, as a suitor or candidate.
- adj.
9. make-believe; simulated; counterfeit.
in⋅im⋅i⋅ta⋅ble
- adj.
1. incapable of being imitated or copied; surpassing imitation; matchless.
in⋅dis⋅pen⋅sa⋅ble
- adj.
1. absolutely necessary, essential, or requisite.
2. incapable of being disregarded or neglected.
nec⋅es⋅sar⋅y
- adj.
1. being essential, indispensable, or requisite.
2. happening or existing by necessity.
3. acting or proceeding from compulsion or necessity; not free; involuntary.
4. a. such that a denial of it involves a self-contradiction.
b. such that its conclusion cannot be false if its supporting premises are true.
c. such that it must exist if a given event is to occur or a given thing is to exist.
ne⋅ces⋅si⋅ty
- noun
1. something necessary or indispensable.
2. the fact of being necessary or indispensable; indispensability.
3. an imperative requirement or need for something.
4. the state or fact of being necessary or inevitable.
5. an unavoidable need or compulsion to do something.
6. a state of being in financial need; poverty.
7. the quality of following inevitably from logical, physical, or moral laws.
in⋅ev⋅i⋅ta⋅ble
- adj.
1. unable to be avoided, evaded, or escaped; certain; necessary.
2. sure to occur, happen, or come; unalterable.
- noun
3. that which is unavoidable.
"The thing is, if you believe in the unconscious - and I do - there's room for all kinds of possibilities that I don't know how you prove one way or another."
- Jasper Johns
- Jasper Johns
"Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalize them, understand them thoroughly. After that, it will be possible for you to sublimate them."
- Salvador Dalí
- Salvador Dalí
"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality."
- Edgar Allan Poe
- Edgar Allan Poe
"When we see men of worth, we should think of equalling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inward and examine ourselves."
- Gustave Courbet
- Gustave Courbet
crit⋅i⋅cal
- adj.
1. inclined to find fault or to judge with severity, often too readily.
2. involving skillful judgment as to truth, merit, etc.; judicial.
3. providing textual variants, proposed emendations, etc.
4. pertaining to or of the nature of a crisis.
5. of decisive importance with respect to the outcome; crucial.
6. of essential importance; indispensable.
7. having unstable and abnormal vital signs and other unfavorable indicators.
8. a. pertaining to a state, value, or quantity at which one or more properties of a substance or system undergo a change.
b. having enough mass to sustain a chain reaction.
cyn⋅ic
- noun
1. a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view.
2. one of a sect of philosophers, who advocate the doctrines that virtue is the only good, that the essence of virtue is self-control, and that surrender to any external influence is beneath human dignity.
3. a person who shows or expresses a bitter or sneering attitude.
- adj.
4. resembling the actions of a snarling dog.
cyn⋅i⋅cal
- adj.
1. distrusting or disparaging the motives of others.
2. showing contempt for accepted standards of honesty or morality by one's actions, esp. by actions that exploit the scruples of others.
3. bitterly or sneeringly distrustful, contemptuous, or pessimistic.
what
- pronoun
1. used interrogatively as a request for specific information; to inquire about the character, occupation, etc., of a person or the origin, identity, etc., of something.
2. whatever; anything that.
3. the kind of thing or person that.
4. as much as; as many as.
5. the thing or fact that.
6. that; which; who.
- noun
7. the true nature or identity of something, or the sum of its characteristics.
ex⋅tro⋅vert
- noun
1. an outgoing, gregarious person.
2. a person concerned primarily with the physical and social environment.
- verb
3. to direct the mind, one's interest, etc. outward or to things outside the self.
in⋅tro⋅vert
- noun
1. a shy person.
2. a person concerned primarily with his or her own thoughts and feelings.
- verb
3. to turn inward.
4. to direct the mind, one's interest, etc. partly to things within the self.
"One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives."
- Mark Twain
- Mark Twain
rec⋅luse
- noun
1. a person who lives in seclusion or apart from society, often for religious meditation.
2. a religious voluntary immured in a cave, hut, or the like, or one remaining within a cell for life.
- adj.
3. shut off or apart from the world; living in seclusion, often for religious reasons.
4. characterized by seclusion; solitary.
im⋅mure
- verb
1. to enclose within walls.
2. to shut in; seclude or confine.
3. to imprison.
4. to build into or entomb in a wall.
5. to surround with walls; fortify.
ex⋅trav⋅a⋅gant
- adj.
1. spending much more than is necessary or wise; wasteful.
2. excessively high.
3. exceeding the bounds of reason, as actions, demands, opinions, or passions.
4. going beyond what is deserved or justifiable.
5. wandering beyond bounds.
ex⋅ces⋅sive
- adj.
1. going beyond the usual, necessary, or proper limit or degree.
in⋅dulge
- verb
1. to yield to an inclination or desire; allow oneself to follow one's will.
2. to yield to, satisfy, or gratify desires, feelings, etc.
3. to yield to the wishes or whims of; be lenient or permissive with.
el⋅e⋅gy
- noun
1. a mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem, esp. a funeral song or a lament for the dead.
2. a poem written in elegiac meter.
3. a sad or mournful musical composition.
eu⋅lo⋅gy
- noun
1. a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, esp. a set oration in honor of a deceased person.
2. high praise or commendation.
"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth."
- Umberto Eco
- Umberto Eco
con·duit
– noun
1. a pipe, tube, or the like, for conveying water or other fluid.
2. a similar natural passage.
3. a structure containing one or more ducts.
4. a fountain.
por·tal
– noun
1. a door, gate, or entrance, esp. one of imposing appearance.
2. an iron or steel bent for bracing a framed structure, having curved braces between the vertical members and a horizontal member at the top.
3. an entrance to a tunnel or mine.
4. a Web site that functions as an entry point to the Internet, as by providing useful content and linking to various sites and features on the World Wide Web.
con·vey
– verb
1. to carry, bring, or take from one place to another; transport; bear.
2. to communicate; impart; make known.
3. to lead or conduct, as a channel or medium; transmit.
4. to transfer; pass the title to.
5. steal; purloin.
6. to take away secretly.
con·tem·po·rar·y
– adj.
1. existing, occurring, or living at the same time; belonging to the same time.
2. of about the same age or date.
3. of the present time; modern.
– noun
4. a person belonging to the same time or period with another or others.
5. a person of the same age as another.
mod·ern
– adj.
1. of or pertaining to present and recent time; not ancient or remote.
2. characteristic of present and recent time; contemporary; not antiquated or obsolete.
3. of or pertaining to the historical period following the Middle Ages.
4. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of contemporary styles of art, literature, music, etc., that reject traditionally accepted or sanctioned forms and emphasize individual experimentation and sensibility.
5. new.
6. noting or descriptive of a font of numerals in which the body aligns on the baseline, as 1234567890.
– noun
7. a person of modern times.
8. a person whose views and tastes are modern.
9. a type style differentiated from old style by heavy vertical strokes and straight serifs.
"The true genius shudders at incompleteness, and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be."
- Edgar Allan Poe
- Edgar Allan Poe
"Ultimately a hero is a man who would argue with the gods, and so awakens devils to contest his vision. The more a man can achieve, the more he may be certain that the devil will inhabit a part of his creation."
- Norman Mailer
- Norman Mailer
"If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up."
- Hunter S. Thompson
- Hunter S. Thompson
"Stranded in a life in which your struggle for acceptance is a never-ending chore. Upbraided for your actions, past and present, and rewarded for ideas of the future's bright open door. The henchman is the human analogue of the suffering multitudes who like good dogs sit and lick for their reward. So what good advice have I got for you to insure against your likely metamorphosis into this reprobate? Don't be a henchman! Stand on your laurels! Do what no one else does and praise the good of other men for goodness sake! And when everyone else in the world follows your lead, although a cold day in hell it will surely be, that's when the entire world shall live in harmony."
- Bad Religion
- Bad Religion
God·head
– noun
1. the essential and divine nature of God, regarded abstractly.
2. divinity; godhood.
3. a god or goddess; deity.
cult
– noun
1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers.
3. the object of such devotion.
4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.
5. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.
6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
7. the members of such a religion or sect.
8. any system that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.
or·gone
– noun
1. a vital, primal, nonmaterial element or energy believed to permeate the universe and emanate from all organic material.
"Man's identification with his idea of himself gives him a specious and precarious sense of permanence. For this idea is relatively fixed, being based upon carefully selected memories of his past, memories which have a preserved and fixed character. Social convention encourages the fixity of the idea because the very usefulness of symbols depends on their stability. Convention therefore encourages him to associate his idea of himself with equally abstract and symbolic roles and stereotypes, since these will help him to form an idea of himself which will be definite and intelligible. But to the degree that he identifies himself with the fixed idea, he becomes aware of 'life' as something which flows past him--faster and faster as he grows older, as his idea becomes more rigid, more bolstered with memories. The more he attempts to clutch the world, the more he feels it as a process in motion."
- Alan Watts
- Alan Watts
ten·ta·cle
– noun
1. any of various slender, flexible processes or appendages in animals, esp. invertebrates, that serve as organs of touch, prehension, etc.; feeler.
2. a sensitive filament or process.
ten·dril
– noun
1. a threadlike, leafless organ of climbing plants, often growing in spiral form, which attaches itself to or twines round some other body, so as to support the plant.
“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- J.R.R. Tolkien
“You can't have virtue without sin. What I'm after is having my characters' virtues defined by how they operate in a very sinful environment. That's how you test people.”
- Frank Miller
- Frank Miller
glow·er
- noun
1. a look of sullen dislike, discontent, or anger.
- verb
1. look at with a fixed gaze.
2. look angry or sullen, wrinkle one's forehead, as if to signal disapproval.
glare
– noun
1. a very harsh, bright, dazzling light.
2. a fiercely or angrily piercing stare.
3. dazzling or showy appearance; showiness.
– verb
4. to shine with or reflect a very harsh, bright, dazzling light.
5. to stare with a fiercely or angrily piercing look.
6. to appear conspicuous; stand out obtrusively.
sig·na·ture
– noun
1. a person's name, or a mark representing it, as signed personally or by deputy, as in subscribing a letter or other document.
2. the act of signing a document.
3. a sign or set of signs at the beginning of a staff to indicate the key or the time of a piece.
4. a song, musical arrangement, sound effect, etc.
5. any unique, distinguishing aspect, feature, or mark.
6. that part of a written prescription that specifies directions for use.
7. a distinctive characteristic or set of characteristics by which a biological structure or medical condition is recognized.
8. a printed sheet folded to page size for binding together, with other such sheets, to form a book, magazine, etc.
9. a. a letter or other symbol generally placed by the printer at the foot of the first page of every sheet to guide the binder in folding the sheets and in gathering them in sequence.
b. a sheet so marked.
10. a characteristic trace or sign that indicates the presence of a substance or the occurrence of a physical process or event.
– adj.
11. serving to identify or distinguish a person, group, etc.
"When I get a new idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination, and make improvements and operate the device in my mind. When I have gone so far as to embody everything in my invention, every possible improvement I can think of, and when I see no fault anywhere, I put into concrete form the final product of my brain.”
- Nikola Tesla
- Nikola Tesla
“I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.”
- Marcel Duchamp
- Marcel Duchamp
“The lyricism of marginality may find inspiration in the image of the 'outlaw,' the great social nomad, who prowls on the confines of a docile, frightened order.”
- Michel Foucault
- Michel Foucault
"What I claim is to live to the full the contradiction of my time, which may well make sarcasm the condition of truth."
- Roland Barthes
- Roland Barthes
gamut
- noun
1. the full range or compass of recognized musical notes; by extension, the compass of an instrument or voice.
com·pass
– noun
1. an instrument for determining directions, as by means of a freely rotating magnetized needle that indicates magnetic north.
2. the enclosing line or limits of any area; perimeter.
3. space within limits; area; extent; range; scope.
4. the total range of tones of a voice or of a musical instrument.
5. due or proper limits; moderate bounds.
6. a passing round; circuit.
7. an instrument for drawing or describing circles, measuring distances, etc., consisting generally of two movable, rigid legs hinged to each other at one end.
– adj.
8. curved; forming a curve or arc.
– verb
9. to go or move round; make the circuit of.
11. to extend or stretch around; hem in; surround; encircle.
12. to attain or achieve; accomplish; obtain.
13. to contrive; plot; scheme.
14. to make curved or circular.
15. to comprehend; to grasp, as with the mind.
"The objective is always to pull out the tablecloth without in any way changing the arrangement of the table."
- Jean Baudrillard
- Jean Baudrillard
white
– adj.
1. of the color of pure snow, of the margins of a page, etc.
2. light or comparatively light in color.
3. pallid or pale, as from fear or other strong emotion.
4. silvery, gray, or hoary.
5. snowy.
6. lacking color; transparent.
7. ultraconservative.
8. blank, as an unoccupied space in printed matter.
9. composed entirely of polished steel plates without fabric or other covering; alwite.
10. decent, honorable, or dependable.
11. auspicious or fortunate.
12. morally pure; innocent.
13. without malice; harmless.
– noun
14. a color without hue at one extreme end of the scale of grays, opposite to black.
night
– noun
1. the period of darkness between sunset and sunrise.
2. the beginning of this period.
3. the dark.
4. a condition or time of obscurity, ignorance, sinfulness, misfortune, etc.
5. an evening used or set aside for a particular event, celebration, or other special purpose.
"I can have incredible self-discipline. But see, I think it's obviously a form of stupidity."
- John Malkovich
- John Malkovich
al·ter
– verb
1. to make different in some particular, as size, style, course, or the like; modify.
2. to change; become different or modified.
al·tar
– noun
1. an elevated place or structure, as a mound or platform, at which religious rites are performed or on which sacrifices are offered to gods, ancestors, etc.
2. the constellation Ara.
A·ra
– noun
1. a southern constellation between Triangulum Australe and Scorpius.
2. "The Altar."
per·vert
– verb
1. to affect with perversion.
2. to lead astray morally.
3. to turn away from the right course.
4. to lead into mental error or false judgment.
5. to turn to an improper use; misapply.
6. to misconstrue or misinterpret, esp. deliberately; distort.
7. to bring to a less excellent state; vitiate; debase.
8. to change to what is unnatural or abnormal.
9. to convert or persuade to a religious belief regarded as false or wrong.
– noun
10. a person affected with perversion.
11. a person who has been perverted, esp. to a religious belief regarded as erroneous.
sac·ri·lege
– noun
1. the violation or profanation of anything sacred or held sacred.
2. an instance of this.
3. the stealing of anything consecrated to the service of God.
gen·er·al
– adj.
1. of or pertaining to all persons or things belonging to a group or category.
2. of, pertaining to, or true of such persons or things in the main, with possible exceptions; common to most; prevalent; usual.
3. not limited to one class, field, product, service, etc.; miscellaneous.
4. considering or dealing with overall characteristics, universal aspects, or important elements, esp. without considering all details or specific aspects.
5. not specific or definite.
6. having extended command or superior or chief rank.
– noun
7. the chief official.
- idiom
8. in general,
a. with respect to the whole class referred to; as a whole.
b. as a rule; usually.
spe·cif·ic
– adj.
1. having a special application, bearing, or reference; specifying, explicit, or definite.
2. specified, precise, or particular.
3. peculiar or proper to somebody or something, as qualities, characteristics, effects, etc.
4. of a special or particular kind.
5. concerned specifically with the item or subject named..
6. of or pertaining to a species.
7. a. produced by a special cause or infection.
b. having special effect in the prevention or cure of a certain disease.
8. having a particular effect on only one antibody or antigen or affecting it in only one way.
9. noting customs or duties levied in fixed amounts per unit, as number, weight, or volume.
10. a. designating a physical constant that, for a particular substance, is expressed as the ratio of the quantity in the substance to the quantity in an equal volume of a standard substance, as water or air.
b. designating a physical constant that expresses a property or effect as a quantity per unit length, area, volume, or mass.
– noun
11. something specific, as a statement, quality, detail, etc.
rea·son
– noun
1. a basis or cause, as for some belief, action, fact, event, etc.
2. a statement presented in justification or explanation of a belief or action.
3. the mental powers concerned with forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences.
4. sound judgment; good sense.
5. normal or sound powers of mind; sanity.
6. a premise of an argument.
7. a. the faculty or power of acquiring intellectual knowledge, either by direct understanding of first principles or by argument.
b. the power of intelligent and dispassionate thought, or of conduct influenced by such thought.
c. the faculty by which the ideas of pure reason are created.
– verb
8. to think or argue in a logical manner.
9. to form conclusions, judgments, or inferences from facts or premises.
10. to urge reasons which should determine belief or action.
11. to think through logically, as a problem.
12. to conclude or infer.
13. to convince, persuade, etc.
“The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.”
- Stephen Hawking
- Stephen Hawking
o·pin·ion
– noun
1. a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.
2. a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.
3. the formal expression of a professional judgment.
4. the formal statement by a judge or court of the reasoning and the principles of law used in reaching a decision of a case.
5. a judgment or estimate of a person or thing with respect to character, merit, etc..
6. a favorable estimate; esteem.
es·ti·mate
– verb
1. to form an approximate judgment or opinion regarding the worth, amount, size, weight, etc., of; calculate approximately.
2. to form an opinion of; judge.
3. guess.
–noun
4. an approximate judgment or calculation, as of the value, amount, time, size, or weight of something.
5. a judgment or opinion, as of the qualities of a person or thing.
6. a statement of the approximate charge for work to be done, submitted by a person or business firm ready to undertake the work.
cal·cu·late
– verb
1. to determine or ascertain by mathematical methods; compute.
2. to determine by reasoning, common sense, or practical experience; estimate; evaluate; gauge.
3. to make suitable or fit for a purpose; adapt.
4. a. to think; guess.
b. to intend; plan.
“One's condition on marijuana is always existential. One can feel the importance of each moment and how it is changing one. One feels one's being, one becomes aware of the enormous apparatus of nothingness -- the hum of a hi-fi set, the emptiness of a pointless interruption, one becomes aware of the war between each of us, how the nothingness in each of us seeks to attack the being of others, how our being in turn is attacked by the nothingness in others.”
- Norman Mailer
- Norman Mailer
“I am not one who was born in the custody of wisdom; I am one who is fond of olden times and intense in quest of the sacred knowing of the ancients.”
- Gustave Courbet
- Gustave Courbet
tool
– noun
1. an implement, esp. one held in the hand, as a hammer, saw, or file, for performing or facilitating mechanical operations.
2. any instrument of manual operation.
3. the cutting or machining part of a lathe, planer, drill, or similar machine.
4. the machine itself.
5. anything used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose.
6. a person manipulated by another for the latter's own ends; cat's-paw.
7. the design or ornament impressed upon the cover of a book.
8. a. a pistol or gun.
b. a pickpocket.
code
– noun
1. a system for communication by telegraph, heliograph, etc., in which long and short sounds, light flashes, etc., are used to symbolize the content of a message.
2. a system used for brevity or secrecy of communication, in which arbitrarily chosen words, letters, or symbols are assigned definite meanings.
3. any set of standards set forth and enforced by a local government agency for the protection of public safety, health, etc., as in the structural safety of buildings, health requirements for plumbing, ventilation, etc., and the specifications for fire escapes or exits.
4. a systematically arranged collection or compendium of laws, rules, or regulations.
5. any authoritative, general, systematic, and written statement of the legal rules and principles applicable in a given legal order to one or more broad areas of life.
6. a word, letter, number, or other symbol used in a code system to mark, represent, or identify something.
7. the symbolic arrangement of statements or instructions in a computer program in which letters, digits, etc. are represented as binary numbers; the set of instructions in such a program.
creed
– noun
1. any system, doctrine, or formula of religious belief, as of a denomination.
2. any system or codification of belief or of opinion.
ar·ray
– verb
1. to place in proper or desired order; marshal.
2. to clothe with garments, esp. of an ornamental kind; dress up; deck out.
– noun
3. order or arrangement, as of troops drawn up for battle.
4. military force, esp. a body of troops.
5. a large and impressive grouping or organization of things.
6. regular order or arrangement; series.
7. a large group, number, or quantity of people or things.
8. attire; dress.
9. an arrangement of interrelated objects or items of equipment for accomplishing a particular task.
10. a. an arrangement of a series of terms according to value, as from largest to smallest.
b. an arrangement of a series of terms in some geometric pattern, as in a matrix.
ma·trix
– noun
1. something that constitutes the place or point from which something else originates, takes form, or develops.
2. a formative part.
3. a. the intercellular substance of a tissue.
b. ground substance.
4. the fine-grained portion of a rock in which coarser crystals or rock fragments are embedded.
5. fine material, as cement, in which lumps of coarser material, as of an aggregate, are embedded.
6. gangue.
7. a crystalline phase in an alloy in which other phases are embedded.
8. a mold for casting typefaces.
9. master.
10. a multiple die or perforated block on which the material to be formed is placed.
11. a rectangular array of numbers, algebraic symbols, or mathematical functions, esp. when such arrays are added and multiplied according to certain rules.
12. a rectangular display of features characterizing a set of linguistic items, esp. phonemes, usually presented as a set of columns of plus or minus signs specifying the presence or absence of each feature for each item.
spe·cial
– adj.
1. of a distinct or particular kind or character.
2. being a particular one; particular, individual, or certain.
3. pertaining or peculiar to a particular person, thing, instance, etc.; distinctive; unique.
4. having a specific or particular function, purpose, etc.
5. distinguished or different from what is ordinary or usual.
6. extraordinary; exceptional, as in amount or degree.
7. being such in an exceptional degree; particularly valued.
rare
– adj.
1. coming or occurring far apart in time; unusual; uncommon.
2. thinly distributed over an area; few and widely separated.
3. having the component parts not closely compacted together; not dense.
4. unusually great.
5. unusually excellent; admirable; fine.
u·nique
– adj.
1. existing as the only one or as the sole example; single; solitary in type or characteristics.
2. having no like or equal; unparalleled; incomparable.
3. limited in occurrence to a given class, situation, or area.
4. limited to a single outcome or result; without alternative possibilities.
5. not typical; unusual.
re·volt
– verb
1. to break away from or rise against constituted authority, as by open rebellion; cast off allegiance or subjection to those in authority; rebel; mutiny.
2. to turn away in mental rebellion, utter disgust, or abhorrence.
3. to rebel in feeling.
4. to feel horror or aversion
5. to affect with disgust or abhorrence.
– noun
6. the act of revolting; an insurrection or rebellion.
7. an expression or movement of spirited protest or dissent.
cir·cum·fer·ence
– noun
1. the outer boundary, esp. of a circular area; perimeter.
2. the length of such a boundary.
3. the area within a bounding line.
pe·rim·e·ter
– noun
1. the border or outer boundary of a two-dimensional figure.
2. the length of such a boundary.
3. a line bounding or marking off an area.
4. the outermost limits.
“Secret forces are bringing compatible spirits together. If the man permits himself to be led by this ineffable attraction, good fortune will come his way.”
- I Ching
- I Ching
“A person in danger should not try to escape at one stroke. He should first calmly hold his own, then be satisfied with small gains, which will come by creative adaptations.”
- I Ching
- I Ching
“I always felt that if I had super-power, I wouldn't immediately run out to the store and buy a costume.”
- Stan Lee
- Stan Lee
"Any time you take a chance you better be sure the rewards are worth the risk because they can put you away just as fast for a ten dollar heist as they can for a million dollar job."
- Stanley Kubrick
- Stanley Kubrick
"In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity."
- Hunter S. Thompson
- Hunter S. Thompson
"The criminal and the soldier at least have the virtue of being against something or for something in a world where many people have learned to accept a kind of grey nothingness, to strike an unreal series of poses in order to be considered normal.... It's difficult to say who is engaged in the greater conspiracy--the criminal, the soldier, or us."
- Stanley Kubrick
- Stanley Kubrick
du·al·i·ty
– noun
1. a dual state or quality.
2. a symmetry within a mathematical system such that a theorem remains valid if certain objects, relations, or operations are interchanged, as the interchange of points and lines in a plane in projective geometry.
sym·me·try
– noun
1. the correspondence in size, form, and arrangement of parts on opposite sides of a plane, line, or point; regularity of form or arrangement in terms of like, reciprocal, or corresponding parts.
2. the proper or due proportion of the parts of a body or whole to one another with regard to size and form; excellence of proportion.
3. beauty based on or characterized by such excellence of proportion.
4. a. a geometrical or other regularity that is possessed by a mathematical object and is characterized by the operations that leave the object invariant.
b. a rotation or translation of a plane figure that leaves the figure unchanged although its position may be altered.
5. a property of a physical system that is unaffected by certain mathematical transformations as, for example, the work done by gravity on an object, which is not affected by any change in the position from which the potential energy of the object is measured.
u·ni·ty
– noun
1. the state of being one; oneness.
2. a whole or totality as combining all its parts into one.
3. the state or fact of being united or combined into one, as of the parts of a whole; unification.
4. absence of diversity; unvaried or uniform character.
5. oneness of mind, feeling, etc., as among a number of persons; concord, harmony, or agreement.
6. a. the number one; a quantity regarded as one.
b. identity.
7. a relation of all the parts or elements of a work constituting a harmonious whole and producing a single general effect.
i·den·ti·ty
– noun
1. the state or fact of remaining the same one or ones, as under varying aspects or conditions.
2. the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another.
3. condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is.
4. the state or fact of being the same one as described.
5. the sense of self, providing sameness and continuity in personality over time and sometimes disturbed in mental illnesses, as schizophrenia.
6. exact likeness in nature or qualities.
7. an instance or point of sameness or likeness.
8. an assertion that two terms refer to the same thing.
9. a. an equation that is valid for all values of its variables.
b. an element in a set such that the element operating on any other element of the set leaves the second element unchanged.
c. the property of a function or map such that each element is mapped into itself.
d. the function or map itself.
10. an interesting, famous, or eccentric resident, usually of long standing in a community.
faux
– adj.
1. artificial or imitation; fake.
fake
– verb
1. prepare or make something specious, deceptive, or fraudulent.
2. to conceal the defects of or make appear more attractive, interesting, valuable, etc., usually in order to trick or deceive.
3. to pretend; simulate.
4. to accomplish by trial and error or by improvising.
5. a. to improvise.
b. to play music without reading from a score.
– noun
6. anything made to appear otherwise than it actually is; counterfeit.
7. a person who fakes; faker.
8. a spurious report or story.
9. a simulated play or move intended to deceive an opponent.
– adj.
10. designed to deceive or cheat; not real.
"It's crazy how you can get yourself in a mess sometimes and not even be able to think about it with any sense and yet not be able to think about anything else."
- Stanley Kubrick
- Stanley Kubrick
"I don't think that writers or painters or filmmakers function because they have something they particularly want to say. They have something that they feel. And they like the art form; they like words, or the smell of paint, or celluloid and photographic images and working with actors. I don't think that any genuine artist has ever been oriented by some didactic point of view, even if he thought he was."
- Stanley Kubrick
- Stanley Kubrick
"The greatest productions of art, whether painting, music, sculpture or poetry, have invariably this quality-something approaching the work of God."
- D.T. Suzuki
- D.T. Suzuki
"In the same way that we need statesmen to spare us the abjection of exercising power, we need scholars to spare us the abjection of learning."
- Jean Baudrillard
- Jean Baudrillard
"Conceptual artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach."
- Sol LeWitt
- Sol LeWitt
"Since no form is intrinsically superior to another, the artist may use any form, from an expression of words (written or spoken) to physical reality, equally.
If words are used, and they proceed from ideas about art, then they are art and not literature; numbers are not mathematics.
All ideas are art if they are concerned with art and fall within the conventions of art.
One usually understands the art of the past by applying the convention of the present, thus misunderstanding the art of the past.
The conventions of art are altered by works of art.
Successful art changes our understanding of the conventions by altering our perceptions."
- Sol LeWitt
If words are used, and they proceed from ideas about art, then they are art and not literature; numbers are not mathematics.
All ideas are art if they are concerned with art and fall within the conventions of art.
One usually understands the art of the past by applying the convention of the present, thus misunderstanding the art of the past.
The conventions of art are altered by works of art.
Successful art changes our understanding of the conventions by altering our perceptions."
- Sol LeWitt
ar·ti·fi·cial
– adj.
1. made by human skill; produced by humans.
2. imitation; simulated; sham.
3. lacking naturalness or spontaneity; forced; contrived; feigned.
4. full of affectation; affected; stilted.
5. made without regard to the particular needs of a situation, person, etc.; imposed arbitrarily; unnatural.
6. based on arbitrary, superficial characteristics rather than natural, organic relationships.
ar·ti·fice
– noun
1. a clever trick or stratagem; a cunning, crafty device or expedient; wile.
2. trickery; guile; craftiness.
3. cunning; ingenuity; inventiveness.
4. a skillful or artful contrivance or expedient.
ar·ti·fact
– noun
1. any object made by human beings, esp. with a view to subsequent use.
2. a handmade object, as a tool, or the remains of one, as a shard of pottery, characteristic of an earlier time or cultural stage, esp. such an object found at an archaeological excavation.
3. any mass-produced, usually inexpensive object reflecting contemporary society or popular culture.
4. a substance or structure not naturally present in the matter being observed but formed by artificial means, as during preparation of a microscope slide.
5. a spurious observation or result arising from preparatory or investigative procedures.
6. any feature that is not naturally present but is a product of an extrinsic agent, method, or the like.
art
– noun
1. the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.
2. the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings.
3. the fine arts collectively, often excluding architecture.
4. skill in conducting any human activity.
5. skilled workmanship, execution, or agency, as distinguished from nature.
6. a branch of learning or university study, esp. one of the fine arts or the humanities, as music, philosophy, or literature.
7. trickery; cunning.
8. studied action; artificiality in behavior.
9. an artifice or artful device.
10. science, learning, or scholarship.
"Over there to the north, to the south, to the east, to the west, the birds turn in circles to draw the sun in the wind."
- Francis Picabia
- Francis Picabia
"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves."
- C.G. Jung
- C.G. Jung
dis·course
– noun
1. communication of thought by words; talk; conversation.
2. a formal discussion of a subject in speech or writing, as a dissertation, treatise, sermon, etc.
3. any unit of connected speech or writing longer than a sentence.
– verb
4. to communicate thoughts orally; talk; converse.
5. to treat of a subject formally in speech or writing.
6. to utter or give forth (musical sound).
dis·cur·sive
– adj.
1. passing aimlessly from one subject to another; digressive; rambling.
2. proceeding by reasoning or argument rather than intuition.
"Ideas can be works of art; they are in a chain of development that may eventually find some form. All ideas need not be made physical.
Ideas do not necessarily proceed in logical order. They may set one off in unexpected directions, but an idea must necessarily be completed in the mind before the next one is formed.
For each work of art that becomes physical there are many variations that do not.
A work of art may be understood as a conductor from the artist's mind to the viewer's. But it may never reach the viewer, or it may never leave the artist's mind."
- Sol LeWitt
Ideas do not necessarily proceed in logical order. They may set one off in unexpected directions, but an idea must necessarily be completed in the mind before the next one is formed.
For each work of art that becomes physical there are many variations that do not.
A work of art may be understood as a conductor from the artist's mind to the viewer's. But it may never reach the viewer, or it may never leave the artist's mind."
- Sol LeWitt
"When I am dead let this be said of me: 'He belonged to no school, to no church, to no institution, to no academy, least of all to any régime except the régime of liberty."
- Gustave Courbet
- Gustave Courbet
"Representation starts from the principle that the sign and the real are equivalent (even if this equivalence is Utopian, it is a fundamental axiom). Conversely, simulation starts from the Utopia of this principle of equivalence, from the radical negation of the sign as value, from the sign as reversion and death sentence of every reference. Whereas representation tries to absorb simulation by interpreting it as false representation, simulation envelops the whole edifice of representation as itself a simulacrum.
These would be the successive phases of the image:
1. It is the reflection of a basic reality.
2. It masks and perverts a basic reality.
3. It masks the absence of a basic reality.
4. It bears no relation to any reality whatever: it is its own pure simulacrum.
In the first case, the image is a good appearance: the representation is of the order of sacrament. In the second, it is an evil appearance: of the order of malefice. In the third, it plays at being an appearance: it is of the order of sorcery. In the fourth, it is no longer in the order of appearance at all, but of simulation."
- Jean Baudrillard
These would be the successive phases of the image:
1. It is the reflection of a basic reality.
2. It masks and perverts a basic reality.
3. It masks the absence of a basic reality.
4. It bears no relation to any reality whatever: it is its own pure simulacrum.
In the first case, the image is a good appearance: the representation is of the order of sacrament. In the second, it is an evil appearance: of the order of malefice. In the third, it plays at being an appearance: it is of the order of sorcery. In the fourth, it is no longer in the order of appearance at all, but of simulation."
- Jean Baudrillard
ei·do·lon
- noun
1. phantom; an apparition.
2. an image of an ideal.
3. an image or representation of anything.
4. an image of a divinity; a representation or symbol of a deity or any other being or thing, made or used as an object of worship; a similitude of a false god.
5. that on which the affections are strongly set; an object of passionate devotion; a person or thing greatly loved or adored.
6. a false notion or conception; a fallacy.
ca·thar·sis
– noun
1. the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, esp. through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music.
2. purgation.
3. a. psychotherapy that encourages or permits the discharge of pent-up, socially unacceptable affects.
b. discharge of pent-up emotions so as to result in the alleviation of symptoms or the permanent relief of the condition.
ex·e·ge·sis
– noun
1. a critical explanation or analysis, especially of a text.
pa·thol·o·gy
- noun
1. the study of the essential nature of diseases and especially of the structural and functional changes produced by them.
2. the anatomic and physiological deviations from the normal that constitute disease or characterize a particular disease.
3. a treatise on or compilation of abnormalities.
feign
– verb
1. to represent fictitiously; put on an appearance of.
2. to invent fictitiously or deceptively, as a story or an excuse.
3. to imitate deceptively.
4. to make believe; pretend.
feint
- noun
1. a feigned attack designed to draw defensive action away from an intended target.
2. deceptive action calculated to divert attention from one's real purpose.
id·i·o·syn·cra·sy
– noun
1. a characteristic, habit, mannerism, or the like, that is peculiar to an individual.
2. the physical constitution peculiar to an individual.
3. a peculiarity of the physical or the mental constitution.
Mjol·nir
– noun
1. the hammer of Thor, used as a weapon against the Jotuns, heard as thunder by humans.
lo·cus
– noun
1. a place; locality.
2. a center or source, as of activities or power.
3. the set of all points, lines, or surfaces that satisfy a given requirement.
par·a·ble
– noun
1. a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson.
2. a statement or comment that conveys a meaning indirectly by the use of comparison, analogy, or the like.
al·le·go·ry
– noun
1. a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.
2. a symbolical narrative.
3. emblem.
em·blem
– noun
1. an object or its representation, symbolizing a quality, state, class, etc.; symbol.
2. a sign, design, or figure that identifies or represents something.
3. an allegorical picture, often inscribed with a motto supplemental to the visual image with which it forms a single unit of meaning.
4. an inlaid or tessellated ornament.
ap·o·logue
- noun
1. a moral fable, especially one having animals or inanimate objects as characters.
es·tu·ar·y
– noun
1. that part of the mouth or lower course of a river in which the river's current meets the sea's tide.
2. an arm or inlet of the sea at the lower end of a river.
lit·to·ral
– adj.
1. of or pertaining to the shore of a lake, sea, or ocean.
2. of or pertaining to the biogeographic region between the sublittoral zone and the high-water line and sometimes including the supralittoral zone above the high-water line.
3. of or pertaining to the region of freshwater lake beds from the sublittoral zone up to and including damp areas on shore.
or·tho·dox
– adj.
1. of, pertaining to, or conforming to the approved form of any doctrine, philosophy, ideology, etc.
2. of, pertaining to, or conforming to beliefs, attitudes, or modes of conduct that are generally approved.
3. customary or conventional, as a means or method; established.
4. sound or correct in opinion or doctrine, esp. theological or religious doctrine.
het·er·o·dox
– adj.
1. not in accordance with established or accepted doctrines or opinions, esp. in theology; unorthodox.
de·men·tia
– noun
1. severe impairment or loss of intellectual capacity and personality integration, due to the loss of or damage to neurons in the brain.
de·men·tia prae·cox
- noun
1. any of several psychotic disorders characterized by distortions of reality and disturbances of thought and language and withdrawal from social contact; schizophrenia.
psy·cho·sis
– noun
1. a mental disorder characterized by symptoms, such as delusions or hallucinations, that indicate impaired contact with reality.
2. any severe form of mental disorder, as schizophrenia or paranoia.
neu·ro·sis
– noun
1. a functional disorder in which feelings of anxiety, obsessional thoughts, compulsive acts, and physical complaints without objective evidence of disease, in various degrees and patterns, dominate the personality.
2. a personality disorder typified by excessive anxiety or indecision and a degree of social or interpersonal maladjustment.
schiz·o·phre·ni·a
– noun
1. a severe mental disorder characterized by some, but not necessarily all, of the following features: emotional blunting, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech and behavior, delusions, and hallucinations.
2. a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.
par·a·noi·a
– noun
1. a mental disorder characterized by systematized delusions and the projection of personal conflicts, which are ascribed to the supposed hostility of others, sometimes progressing to disturbances of consciousness and aggressive acts believed to be performed in self-defense or as a mission.
2. baseless or excessive suspicion of the motives of others; extreme, irrational distrust of others.
lu·na·tic
– noun
1. an insane person.
2. a person whose actions and manner are marked by extreme eccentricity or recklessness.
3. a person legally declared to be of unsound mind and who therefore is not held capable or responsible before the law.
– adj.
4. insane; demented; crazy.
5. characteristic or suggestive of lunacy; wildly or recklessly foolish.
6. designated for or used by the insane.
7. mad, frivolous, eccentric, etc.
doom
– noun
1. fate or destiny, esp. adverse fate; unavoidable ill fortune.
2. ruin; death.
3. a judgment, decision, or sentence, esp. an unfavorable one.
4. the Last Judgment, at the end of the world.
5. a statute, enactment, or legal judgment.
– verb
6. to destine, esp. to an adverse fate.
7. to pronounce judgment against; condemn.
8. to ordain or fix as a sentence or fate.
im·pre·cate
– verb
1. to invoke or call down evil or curses, as upon a person.
ap·o·tro·pa·ism
– noun
1. the use of magic and ritualistic ceremony to anticipate and prevent evil.
Moi·rae
- noun
1. any of the three Greek goddesses of fate or destiny.
Clo·tho
– noun
1. the Fate who spins the thread of life.
Lach·e·sis
– noun
1. the Fate who determines the length of the thread of life.
At·ro·pos
- noun
1. the Fate who cuts the thread of destiny.
fu·ry
– noun
1. unrestrained or violent anger, rage, passion, or the like.
2. violence; vehemence; fierceness.
3. a fierce and violent person, esp. a woman.
4. Furies, female divinities: the daughters of Gaea who punished crimes at the instigation of the victims.
E·rin·y·es
- noun
1. the hideous snake-haired monsters (usually three in number) who pursued unpunished criminals.
2. an avenging deity; conscience personified.
3. "the Furies."
Eu·men·i·des
– noun
1. a euphemistic name for the Furies.
2. “the Kindly Ones.”
mag·pie
– noun
1. either of two corvine birds, Pica Pica, of Eurasia and North America, or Pica Nuttalli, of California, having long, graduated tails, black-and-white plumage, and noisy, mischievous habits.
2. any of several related corvine birds.
3. any of several black-and-white birds not related to the true magpies, as Gymnorhina Tibicen, of Australia.
4. an incessantly talkative person; noisy chatterer; chatterbox.
5. a person who collects or hoards things, esp. indiscriminately.
wake
– verb
1. to become roused from sleep; awake; awaken; waken.
2. to become roused from a tranquil or inactive state.
3. to become cognizant or aware of something.
4. to be or continue to be awake.
5. to remain awake for some purpose, duty, etc.
6. to hold a wake over a corpse.
7. to keep watch or vigil.
8. to rouse from sleep.
9. to rouse from lethargy, apathy, ignorance, etc.
10. to hold a wake for or over a dead person.
11. to keep watch or vigil over.
– noun
12. a watching, or a watch kept, esp. for some solemn or ceremonial purpose.
13. a watch or vigil by the body of a dead person before burial, sometimes accompanied by feasting or merrymaking.
14. the track of waves left by a ship or other object moving through the water.
15. the path or course of anything that has passed or preceded.
id·i·om
– noun
1. an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, or from the general grammatical rules of a language, and that is not a constituent of a larger expression of like characteristics.
2. a language, dialect, or style of speaking peculiar to a people.
3. a construction or expression of one language whose parts correspond to elements in another language but whose total structure or meaning is not matched in the same way in the second language.
4. the peculiar character or genius of a language.
5. a distinct style or character, in music, art, etc.
A·nu·bis
– noun
1. the god of tombs and weigher of the hearts of the dead: represented as having the head of a jackal.
tomb
– noun
1. an excavation in earth or rock for the burial of a corpse; grave.
2. a mausoleum, burial chamber, or the like.
3. a monument for housing or commemorating a dead person.
4. any sepulchral structure.
– verb
5. to place in or as if in a tomb; entomb; bury.
grave
– noun
1. an excavation made in the earth in which to bury a dead body.
2. any place of interment; a tomb or sepulcher.
3. any place that becomes the receptacle of what is dead, lost, or past.
4. death.
– adj.
5. serious or solemn; sober.
6. weighty, momentous, or important.
7. threatening a seriously bad outcome or involving serious issues; critical.
8. a. unaccented.
b. spoken on a low or falling pitch.
c. noting or having a particular accent indicating originally a comparatively low pitch, distinct syllabic value, etc.
9. dull; somber.
se·pul·chral
– adj.
1. of, pertaining to, or serving as a tomb.
2. of or pertaining to burial.
3. proper to or suggestive of a tomb; funereal or dismal.
4. hollow and deep.
"What is real is not the external form, but the essence of things. It is impossible for anyone to express anything essentially real by imitating its exterior surface."
- Constantin Brâncuşi
- Constantin Brâncuşi
map
– noun
1. a representation, usually on a flat surface, as of the features of an area of the earth or a portion of the heavens, showing them in their respective forms, sizes, and relationships according to some convention of representation.
2. a delineation, representation, or reflection of anything.
– verb
3. to represent or delineate on.
4. to sketch or plan.
Or·phe·us
– noun
1. a legendary Thracian poet and musician whose music had the power to move even inanimate objects, a son of Calliope, who followed his dead wife, Eurydice, to the underworld. By charming Hades, he obtained permission to lead her away, provided he did not look back at her until they returned to earth. But at the last moment he looked, and she was lost to him forever
Or·phic
– adj.
1. of or pertaining to Orpheus.
2. resembling the music attributed to Orpheus; entrancing.
3. pertaining to a religious or philosophical school maintaining a form of the cult of Dionysus, or Bacchus, ascribed to Orpheus as founder.
4. mystic; oracular.
tel·e·ol·o·gy
– noun
1. the doctrine that final causes exist.
2. the study of the evidences of design or purpose in nature.
3. such design or purpose.
4. the belief that purpose and design are a part of or are apparent in nature.
5. the doctrine that phenomena are guided not only by mechanical forces but that they also move toward certain goals of self-realization.
the·os·o·phy
– noun
1. any of various forms of philosophical or religious thought based on a mystical insight into the divine nature.
ob·so·lete
– adj.
1. no longer in general use; fallen into disuse.
2. of a discarded or outmoded type; out of date.
3. no longer in use, esp., out of use for at least the past century.
4. effaced by wearing down or away.
5. imperfectly developed or rudimentary in comparison with the corresponding character in other individuals, as of the opposite sex or of a related species.
ob·tuse
– adj.
1. not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect; not sensitive or observant; dull.
2. not sharp, acute, or pointed; blunt in form.
3. rounded at the extremity.
4. indistinctly felt or perceived, as pain or sound.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
