What with it being #WorldMentalHealthDay, I thought I'd share this interesting TED talk. Having myself battled with mental health problems in recent months, I found Joshua Walters' notion of channelling your 'crazy' into creativity. He's definitely one to google.
"At TED's Full Spectrum Auditions, comedian Joshua Walters, who's bipolar, walks the line between mental illness and mental "skillness." In this funny, thought-provoking talk, he asks: What's the right balance between medicating craziness away and riding the manic edge of creativity and drive?"
This also reminded me of Mitchell Davis (aka vlogging sensation LiveLavaLive), his battles with OCD and panic attacks and how he channelled this creatively into his YouTube career. His attention to detail and symmetry is beautiful. See here and here for some examples of his work, and here for his website.
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Blind For A Day
I'm going blind for a day for charity!
BLIND FOR A DAY (BFAD) - SATURDAY 13TH OCTOBER 2012
Join the Facebook event page here.
I'm trying to raise money for the Royal National Institute of Blind People and spread awareness about issues surrounding sight loss.
1 in 30 people in the UK suffer from sight loss. The good people at RNIB offer information, support and advice to them and their loved ones. They also support essential research to find out more about and promote their needs, and spread awareness to the general public about the importance of regular eye tests.
Check out their website for much more info: rnib.org.uk
To those people like myself who do not suffer from any severe sight loss, the idea of being blind can be extremely difficult to imagine. To find out more about these issues and in order to gain sponsors, I am challenging myself to wear a blindfold for a whole 24 hours. I will be documenting the experience on camera, and then uploading it to YouTube at the end of the weekend as a 3-part video series!
Any donations large or small would be greatly appreciated! To sponsor me, visit justgiving.com/bfad
Interview I did with a lovely lady called Alba about living with blindness:
Join the Facebook event page here.
I'm trying to raise money for the Royal National Institute of Blind People and spread awareness about issues surrounding sight loss.
1 in 30 people in the UK suffer from sight loss. The good people at RNIB offer information, support and advice to them and their loved ones. They also support essential research to find out more about and promote their needs, and spread awareness to the general public about the importance of regular eye tests.
Check out their website for much more info: rnib.org.uk
To those people like myself who do not suffer from any severe sight loss, the idea of being blind can be extremely difficult to imagine. To find out more about these issues and in order to gain sponsors, I am challenging myself to wear a blindfold for a whole 24 hours. I will be documenting the experience on camera, and then uploading it to YouTube at the end of the weekend as a 3-part video series!
Any donations large or small would be greatly appreciated! To sponsor me, visit justgiving.com/bfad
Interview I did with a lovely lady called Alba about living with blindness:
Do Schools Kill Creativity?
Author, speaker and international advisor on education Sir Ken Robinson gives an enlightening TED talk about creativity in schools and universities, bolstered with biting wit. Very topical.
Alex Serra
Been keeping an eye on this YouTube musician for a long while now, and he's very talented. Sassy and jazzy, with an incredible voice and impeccable taste (he's covered a lot of the big names in jazz/blues/motown as well as some Bon Iver renditions). And interesting style of videos too. Check him out!
He also has four separate channels where he uploads different content. Explore:
Alex Serra (main channel)
Live Sessions
Car Sessions
Backpack Sessions
And his website: AlexSerraMusic.com
Abortion
In Values We Live By (one of my Philosophy modules at university where we debate about and analyse moral and ethical issues) we've been discussing abortion, and the liberal, conservative and religious standpoints standpoints around it.
It got me thinking - what constitutes a 'life', a 'human being', or a 'person'? Is it down to choosing an appropriate cutoff point, a certain stage during its development when a foetus can or cannot be aborted? Or is the very potential for life from the moment of conception arguably a reason to criminalise abortion altogether? Where do you stand?
My friend and I were discussing this and he linked me to some incredible photographs of babies at various different stages of development in the womb. To see all the pictures and the Telegraph article, click here.
8 weeks
16 weeks
18 weeks
Photographs by Lennart Nilsson
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Knife Painting by Francoise Nielly
Here're some vibrant, dramatic oil paintings by artist Francoise Nielly, sculpted entirely using knives. Find more of her work on her website here.
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