Anna Bananna

Christian the Lion Reunited

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 01:32:00 +0000

Do schools today kill creativity? (Ken Robinson, TEDTalks)

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:31:00 +0000

Weezer- In the Garage

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:14:00 +0000

R.E.M. Nightswimming Video

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:22:00 +0000

Here's a little present.

A Disease That Allowed Torrents of Creativity

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:07:00 +0000

New York Times

By SANDRA BLAKESLEE

Published: April 8, 2008

If Rod Serling were alive and writing episodes for “The Twilight Zone,” odds are he would have leaped on the true story of Anne Adams, a Canadian scientist turned artist who died of a rare brain disease last year.

Trained in mathematics, chemistry and biology, Dr. Adams left her career as a teacher and bench scientist in 1986 to take care of a son who had been seriously injured in a car accident and was not expected to live. But the young man made a miraculous recovery. After seven weeks, he threw away his crutches and went back to school.

According her husband, Robert, Dr. Adams then decided to abandon science and take up art. She had dabbled with drawing when young, he said in a recent telephone interview, but now she had an intense all-or-nothing drive to paint.

“Anne spent every day from 9 to 5 in her art studio,” said Robert Adams, a retired mathematician. Early on, she painted architectural portraits of houses in the West Vancouver, British Columbia, neighborhood where they lived.

In 1994, Dr. Adams became fascinated with the music of the composer Maurice Ravel, her husband recalled. At age 53, she painted “Unravelling Bolero” a work that translated the famous musical score into visual form.

Unbeknown to her, Ravel also suffered from a brain disease whose symptoms were identical to those observed in Dr. Adams, said Dr. Bruce Miller, a neurologist and the director of the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco. Ravel composed “Bolero” in 1928, when he was 53 and began showing signs of his illness with spelling errors in musical scores and letters.

“Bolero” alternates between two main melodic themes, repeating the pair eight times over 340 bars with increasing volume and layers of instruments. At the same time, the score holds methodically to two simple, alternating staccato bass lines.

“ ‘Bolero’ is an exercise in compulsivity, structure and perseveration,” Dr. Miller said. It builds without a key change until the 326th bar. Then it accelerates into a collapsing finale.

Dr. Adams, who was also drawn to themes of repetition, painted one upright rectangular figure for each bar of “Bolero.” The figures are arranged in an orderly manner like the music, countered by a zigzag winding scheme, Dr. Miller said. The transformation of sound to visual form is clear and structured. Height corresponds to volume, shape to note quality and color to pitch. The colors remain unified until the surprise key change in bar 326 that is marked with a run of orange and pink figures that herald the conclusion.

Ravel and Dr. Adams were in the early stages of a rare disease called FTD, or frontotemporal dementia, when they were working, Ravel on “Bolero” and Dr. Adams on her painting of “Bolero,” Dr. Miller said. The disease apparently altered circuits in their brains, changing the connections between the front and back parts and resulting in a torrent of creativity.

“We used to think dementias hit the brain diffusely,” Dr. Miller said. “Nothing was anatomically specific. That is wrong. We now realize that when specific, dominant circuits are injured or disintegrate, they may release or disinhibit activity in other areas. In other words, if one part of the brain is compromised, another part can remodel and become stronger.”

Thus some patients with FTD develop artistic abilities when frontal brain areas decline and posterior regions take over, Dr. Miller said.

An article by Dr. Miller and colleagues describing how FTD can release new artistic talents was published online in December 2007 by the journal Brain. FTD refers to a group of diseases often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease, in that patients become increasingly demented, Dr. Miller said. But the course and behavioral manifestations of FTD are different.

In the most common variant, patients undergo gradual personality changes. They grow apathetic, become slovenly and typically gain 20 pounds. They behave like 3-year-olds in public, asking embarrassing questions in a loud voice. All along, they deny anything is wrong.

Two other variants of FTD involve loss of language. In one, patients have trouble finding words, Dr. Miller said. When someone says to the patients, “Pass the broccoli,” they might reply, “What is broccoli?”

In another, PPA or primary progressive aphasia, the spoken-language network disintegrates. Patients lose the ability to speak.

All three variants share the same underlying pathology. The disease, which has no cure, can progress quickly or, as in the case of Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, who announced his retirement last fall because of an FTD diagnosis, over many years.

Dr. Adams and Ravel had the PPA variant, Dr. Miller said.

From 1997 until her death 10 years later, Dr. Adams underwent periodic brain scans that gave her physicians remarkable insights to the changes in her brain.

“In 2000, she suddenly had a little trouble finding words,” her husband said. “Although she was gifted in mathematics, she could no longer add single digit numbers. She was aware of what was happening to her. She would stamp her foot in frustration.”

By then, the circuits in Dr. Adams’s brain had reorganized. Her left frontal language areas showed atrophy. Meanwhile, areas in the back of her brain on the right side, devoted to visual and spatial processing, appeared to have thickened.

When artists suffer damage to the right posterior brain, they lose the ability to be creative, Dr. Miller said. Dr. Adams’s story is the opposite. Her case and others suggest that artists in general exhibit more right posterior brain dominance. In a healthy brain, these areas help integrate multisensory perception. Colors, sounds, touch and space are intertwined in novel ways. But these posterior regions are usually inhibited by the dominant frontal cortex, he said. When they are released, creativity emerges.

Dr. Miller has witnessed FTD patients become gifted in landscape design, piano playing, painting and other creative arts as their disease progressed.

Dr. Adams continued to paint until 2004, when she could no longer hold a brush. Her art, including “An ABC Book of Invertebrates,” a rendering of the mathematical ratio pi, an image of a migraine aura and other works, is at two Web sites: members.shaw.ca/adms and memory.ucsf.edu/Art/gallery.htm.

The Original Human TETRIS Performance by Guillaume Reymond

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:03:00 +0000

This one is for Tetris lovers :-)

Space Invaders

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:27:00 +0000

Walking around some cities in Europe last winter made me realize that some of the streets had mosaics with little space invaders. If you look for them, you find them, and if you do not, you find them too. They are in the Raval in Barcelona, in Le Marais in Paris, in Australia, in Africa, in the US... they do not speak, but they are so funny and clever!
Here's the official web page: www.space-invaders.com

Len Chandler - Beans in my Ears

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:44:00 +0000

Angryalien.com

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 10:50:00 +0000

In this webpage you can find a summary of movies in 30 seconds. Pretty funny.
www.angryalien.com/

The story of Stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:45:00 +0000

It is only 20 minutes, it is worth watching!
http://www.storyofstuff.com

Feel like cooking?

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:44:00 +0000

Check out this web page: http://www.cookingforengineers.com

Fun Fun Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:37:00 +0000

Check out this web page! Fun Fun Fun

http://demo.fb.se/e/ikea/dreamkitchen/site/default.html

Almost 30 and do not know what to do yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:01:00 +0000

DREAM IT. DO IT. DREAM CAREER QUIZ IN 20 QUESTIONS
http://www.dreamit-doit.com/content/toolkit/quiz.aspx
This is what I got:

Creative
A creative job is most likely to be your dream career, so you probably shouldn't bother with formulas and bar graphs. You usually like the challenge of creative something out of nothing – it's a skill not everyone has. Maybe you'll design the world's fastest production car. Maybe you'll be a staff writer for a stereo manufacturer or create the first full-body airbag. Either way, your creativity will be the key. Making things, big ideas, new ways to do stuff – it's what you’re best at. We'd tell you exactly what you should do, but something tells us you've invented some pretty good ideas already.
What did you get?

Really funny

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 12:59:00 +0000

I still think this is one of the funniest things I have ever seen! Poor guy!

Little People

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 11:39:00 +0000

Some of you might have seen his artwork near the cathedral in Barcelona, here you have his blog. Enjoy! http://little-people.blogspot.com/

Who killed the cockroach?

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 20:15:00 +0000

11:30am Sunday Maria (my roommate) sends me a text message "Anna, are you awake? There is a giant cockroack smashed on the floor". She is right, there is a 6cm winged red cockroach smashed in our bathroom floor. I clean it and the animal's juices are stuck on the floor, who killed it did a great job. The strange thing is that we were the only ones in the appartment, so... WHO KILLED THE COCKROACH?

This is how the events went:
10:30pm Saturday, Maria leaves the appartment for a bbq while I am in the bathroom fixing my hair. No cockroach has been seen so far.
10:45pm Saturday, Mike leaves the appartment for a party while I am in my room getting dressed. He doesn't enter to the bathroom.
11:15pm Saturday, I leave the appartment after spending the last 30 min in the bathroom. No cockroach has been seen.
3:15am Sunday, I am the first one to get home. I go to the bathroom and I do not see any cockroach
3:30am Sunday, Maria gets home. Goes to the bathroom. No cockroach yet.
9am Sunday, I go to the bathroom wearing sandals, I am really sleep. I do not see any cockroach.
11:30am Sunday, Maria goes to the bathroom and sees the smashed cockroach on the floor.

None of our shoes had any evidence.
Other people with keys: Gerard (the neighbour with a sleepwalking disorder), Aleix (a friend who likes to get drunk, flirt and dance, lives about 15min far), Solange (cleaning lady), Mike (roommate that got home at 4pm on Sunday and swears that the last time he was home was saturday at 10:45pm).

WHO DO YOU THINK KILLED THE COCKROACH?

Unnecessary Facts

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:14:00 +0000

FOOD EXPERIMENT in Barcelona

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:11:00 +0000

Alternativas a Pandora

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 10:18:00 +0000

Ya que no podemos escuchar Pandora desde Europa hace días que necesito una alternativa. Aunque ninguna de las alternativas ni tan siquiera se acerca a Pandora, con la que estoy más contenta en cuanto a variedad es Musicovery.

Mario: Game Over

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:10:00 +0000

¡Qué cosas más raras me pasan últimamente!

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:11:00 +0000

Strange things are happening to me:
-I get stunk by a bee
-I see an ambulance upsidedown in the middle of the street
-I see the most beautiful clouds ever while flying
-I see whales

Pep Bou. Clar de Llunes

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 21:02:00 +0000

The most delicious thing I have ever seen.

Avui he retrobat en Pep Bou. No és que mai m'he n'hagués obligat, ja que per sort l'he pogut seguir gràcies al treball amb la Marta Carrasco. Segurament vosaltres també el recordareu perquè us deixava bocabadats davant la televisió de petits. Sí, és aquell senyor que fa bombolles.
Bé, aparentement només fa bombolles però el que fa s'apropa molt més al sublim que a una barreja química, tot i que no deixa de ser mai quelcom físic. Les paraules no sonen bé.
Tot el teatre amb la boca oberta. Tots. I ell amb els peus ben arrelats a terra sense deixar de flotar.
El d'avui i les balenes al mig del mar són els moments més poètics que he percebut mai. No em creia als que deien que l'home podia conseguir aquests nivells de sublimitat.
Per un moment tot semblava que tenia sentit i armonia i de cop "pluf" la bombolla explota. Que real, quant de sentit i armonia en l'explosió.
Fins hi tot les parts desembombollades, les projeccions, els entremitjos, els somriures, LA MÚSICA, ... fantàstic tot! Sí, fantàstic!
Estic plena de paraules buides així que millor que calli i us digui que estan al Tívoli fins el dia 22 de juliol. Aneu-hi, és el millor regal que us podeu fer. Ja m'ho explicareu!

La Revolucion de los Medios // English with Spanish subtitles

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 18:48:00 +0000

Although it only talks about the north part of the planet it is interesting.

Talento

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 21:20:00 +0000

Hoy hemos ido al Teatro Llantiol a ver una obra llena de talento. Si el próximo viernes quieres que te sorprendan durante una hora ve a verlos:
Cia Guantazo
Reserva tu entrada a Micromental World solo 6€ruillos

Feu-vos un favor i aneu-hi

noreply@blogger.com (Anna Bananna) — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 20:03:00 +0000

Sols, acompanyats, enfadats, il.lusionats, adormits, amb ganes o sense, us recomano moltíssim que aneu al Versus Teatre a veure WOLFENSTEIN i Tetris.perquè surto plena, però segur que no us deixaran indiferents.

Del 6 al 24 de Juny "WOLFENSTEIN" DIMECRES / DIUMENGE 19:30 H.
Del 7 al 24 de Juny "TETRIS" DIMECRES / DIUMENGE 21:30 H.

Reserva aquí amb la teva entrada per 8€