Learning the fine art of description

For the first visual observation/attraction I did a bird cage, and the reason I did this was to show that whatever the object is, somehow something is done to them to make them more lively.  The bottom of the cage is beige in color with a removable rectangular tray that is in front of the base so gravel can be put at the bottom of the cage.  Moving up the bars of the cage are analogized or painted in gold.  There are three vertical rectangular doors in the front of the cage, and each of them have a half circle at the peak of the rectangle.  The two outside doors have a spot to house the white food and water dishes, and the middle door has a heart shaped out of the same material as the cage affixed to the middle of the front door. 

The roof looks like it was designed after a old house, because it comes to a V in the middle and extends off the sides of the cage about an inch.  Some of the visual qualities that made this attractive was the color, because it is a warmer color compared to silver, and it is just more inviting.  Also the heart made the entire cage more attractive, because it added something to bring that boring row of bars a little more exciting. 

For the second one I did an array of fake flowers that were engulfed in a capsule.  The main reason I did this was to try and bring these boring flowers a little more exciting.  The entire arrangement rests upon a high gloss brown wooden circular base.  Moving upwards olive green wrinkled leaves with hints of reddish-brown line the tips.  While above these leaves the sky blue petals of a fully matured flower are opened gracefully.  To left is another sky blue flower, but this one is still in its closed form.  Directly above these two flowers is a series of leaves exactly the same as the ones below, however, there are four baby blue flowers with bright yellow centers to contrast the blue.  The last sky blue flower is standing above everything, and it is in full bloom.  While this entire arrangement is covered by a dusty glass capsule.  The flowers themselves made this arrangement attractive, but whoever designed it could have done a better job, because it is very monotonousness.  It needs variety in it and not just more blue flowers either.  Also, the balance is really strange, because the entire arrangement is balanced at the bottom, but the flower at the top is just floating around up there.

The third is of a philadandera that was recently transplanted into a different pot.  The reason it attracted my attention was, because it does not appear that it is going to survive.  Nestled into a dark green rectangular pot made out of clay in which one plant exists that has two leaves.

The first of the two leaves holds the tip of its leave up proudly, and the green stem holds up just as straight.  The white stripe that is in the middle of the leave is at the same angle as the stem.  The second stem is a tannish color that is drooping over the side of the pot, and the tan leave is almost directly lying on the oak table that the pot is sitting on.  I was attracted to this because of the color of the plant and the pot—which was green.  Also this plant reminded me of an L, because one of the leaves and stems are standing straight in the air and the other drooping to the right of it. 

The fourth is of the parrakeet that calls the prison I described earlier home.  I did a description on this bird, because of his colors.  They are mostly warm colors and I wondered if that had an affect on how much energy the bird has, because he can not sit still for anything.  His entire head is covered in yellow with a few spots on the back of his head that are green.  His peach colored bill has two holes in it, and below his bill there are four black round dots.  On both sides of the dots there is a shape of a black triangle. 

The entire belly of this bird is a yellowish-green, and his wings have spots of yellow and black throughout them but their main color is yellowish-green.  Moving towards the tail feathers which are just as long as he is (about five inches), and the color scheme is just about the same as the wings.  All the vivid colors attracted me towards describing this bird, and the curiousness of whether the warmer colors he has for feathers make him more active that a parrakeet with all blue feathers.

The fifth description is of a unique candle holder which I found while cleaning out my closet .  The reason I decided to describe this was because of the geometric shapes that it is made up of.  The base of the holder is just a black circle that has two pieces of metal welded together to form a X which is welded inside the circle.  There are four open circles that are welded to each other, and they stand vertically in the middle of the X.  On the top of the last circle there is a razor sharp circular tray that catches the melded wax, and directly above that is the small circular hole that is used to place the candle.  This object caught my eye, because of the geometric shapes and its open form.    

Wizard of Oz and Ethics: Some Randoms

Just watched the Wizard of Oz and thought that I'd make a post about the ethical significance of the symbolism of the yellow brick road, the ruby slippers, the emerald city, the snow on the poppies, or the idea of good vs. evil.

Big topic, I know. But I think it'll be fun. 

I think that there is some truth in the idea that yellow brick road is a symbol for “the code” or “the rulebook.”  The movie alludes to this very well. 

At the beginning of the film, Dorothy is on a dirt road, and she acts in the manner of a child, roaming and running away from her life to be with Toto. 

My impression is that the dirt road and innocence of childhood can go together, because when one is a child, there is nothing etched in stone, causing one to follow different paths, not following a linear progression and not worrying.  Besides, a dirt road changes every day; it never could be the same from one day to the next.  This seems like the life she leads;

However, it is in a dream that she plays with the idea of the brick road.  The yellow brick road consists of a lasting substance, changing little by little every decade or so.  She is still in her state of purity, however, during her unconscious state, she tries out the idea of the brick road.  The ideas probably came from watching her parents work and follow the same rules and routines. 

I think that it takes a special person to follow down the dirt road, since change and disruption is everywhere, but I don’t think it would be good for most people to follow the dirt road. 

The reason is that everybody would be trying to accomplish something or trying to make a mark--a shot for eternal life after death.  This would probably lead to some sort of chaos, and the special people that travel this road would lose some meaning.  Most people want to live comfortably, not straying from what they are used to--materialistic stuff. 

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The idea that each of us produces the answer to our own problems is interesting, since each of us knows our lives better than anybody.  Finding these answers is a problem because each of us doesn’t have red slippers on our feet--a visible physical or material answer to this idea that we know the answer. 

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This was not mentioned, but I am going to take a shot at it: At the end of the film, Toto is the one that allows the four members to know the wizard is fooling them. 

It kind of suggests that the most primitive nature is more effective than the human’s logic.  This type of primitive nature doesn’t know boundaries, and while the human is thinking the animal acts.

The four members would, perhaps, still to this day--well, maybe not--be oblivious to what was happening behind that curtain.  Nevertheless, I think this goes very well with the question about the dirt road. 

It is the childhood innocence--our primitive nature that is still within us since we know no different when we our children--that would change one’s mind from following down the brick road and to opt for the dirt one.