The Spark

This episode takes a look at that elusive idea of defining what art is.  Where does that spark of creativity come from?  What drives human beings to take an idea from our mind and create something in the physical world?  As a starting point for this conversation we take a look back throughout history to see what people far smarter than all of us have to say about art and the role of art within human society.

At a very basic level, any art (both good and bad) is just the product of a human being expressing something that first occurred in the mind.  In fact,  the majority of art is never put on display in a gallery.  The society in which we live defines the value of art for us and determines what is displayed in a gallery.  However, maybe the 'value' of art should be a personal definition.

We then hear from a working artist on the dilemma between making a living from art, but also being able to artistically develop and explore with that fear in the back of your mind that 'no one will buy this'.  How exactly does tying commerce (capitalism) to art affect the art?  And, on the other end of that question, how does it affect the definition of art in the mind of the consumer of that art?

In previous generations, art was produced and boundaries were pushed due to a societal circumstance that we no longer experience - boredom.  When we have the ability to entertain ourselves 24/7, we are never bored.  Without the presence of boredom, we are never forced to entertain ourselves.  To create something from nothing.  There is current scientific data that shows human creativity is on the decline (specifically in the USA) due to our lack of being bored.  The good news is that the solution is simple and fun.  We all just have to play and explore a lot more. Rhyme intended. [Click to Listen]

Song Credits:
Land of 7 Billion Dances - The Coup
Come and Check Your Head - Blue King Brown
All's Fair in Love and Dubstep - Skrillix
Vitamin C - Can
All That You Paid For - Falling Sickness
Boredom - S.T.U.N.
Brand New Colony - The Postal Service
On the Corner - Miles Davis
$o$ - Die Antwoord
Only Getting Younger - Elliphant

We Are Being Programmed (Part 7): The World We Live In

We are all affected by it...call it advertising, propaganda, programming, social engineering, psychological operations, or whatever other term could be applied.  The act of a force outside of your mind trying to convince you to do something.  In this installment we take a look at the world of propaganda we are currently stuck with.  At this stage, we have to look past political ideologies to the one true underlying factor that guides the programming...money.  Our coverage begins with the good intentions found within the Church Committee.  But, it turned out to just be a bunch of words on pages.  Corporations continued their financial hijacking of democracy.  Now, the CIA has their own Media Liaison Office, the Government of Mexico bought a scene in 007's newest adventure - Spectre, a retired senator is Hollywood's top lobbyist, NPR and CNN are employing active duty Army officers and the First Lady presents Best Picture at the Academy Awards.  Not since late 1930's Germany have the government and the media been so well separated. [Click to Listen]

Affluenza: Adulthood (Part 2)

Our final installment in the Affluenza series.  On this weeks show we finish taking a look at the history of Affluenza [Defined by Wikipedia as "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more"].  We start with the explosion of TV in the post-WWII economy and work our way thru the introduction of credit cards, presidential campaigns that employ advertisers (1952), the philosophy of retail shopping, the hippie movement, Jimmy Carter's stunning anti-consumerism speech, the deregulation of the Reagan era and how Microsoft convinced millions of consumers to install active cameras and microphones in living rooms across the country. [Click to Listen]

Affluenza: Adulthood (Part 1)

So, our part II of this series turned out to run so long that we broke it up into two parts.  On this weeks show we take a look at the history of Affluenza [Defined by Wikipedia as "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more"], starting in 1870 with the appearance of the first luxury department stores and end with the madness of the post-WWII economic boom.  Are we, as human beings, natural consumers or have we just been programmed to be obedient shopping slaves?  Trick question; it's the latter. [Click to Listen]

Affluenza: Children

In part I of a two part series, we take a look at the disease know as "affluenza".  Defined by Wikipedia affluenza is "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more".  On this episode, we take a look at the way affluenza harms the youngest among us - children.  Before they can form a coherent thought or utter a coherent word, advertisers (working with child psychologists) try their hardest to get inside children's heads and make them mindless consumers for life.  [Click to Listen]