"One of the most marvelous feats of recent times was performed in August, 1897, at Sondrio, capital of the Valtellina district, in the northern part of Italy, by Signor Edoe, professor in the Institution di Lorenzo, who, on a wager, repeated from memory, and without making a single mistake, the whole of Dante’s immortal poem, ‘Divina Commedia,’ which consists of nearly one hundred cantos, an amount of matter about equal to the number of words contained in the New Testament.
The feat occupied about twenty-four hours in its accomplishment, lasting from 6 p.m. on one day until 2 p.m. the following day. It was achieved in the presence of a committee of associate professors and literary men, who, at about midnight, divided into two parties, alternately sleeping and listening until the recitation was finished, the text being carefully followed by prompters during the whole time, all in order that there might be no question as to the genuineness of the performance.
"The Hyperrealism style focuses much more of its emphasis on details and the subjects. Hyper-real paintings and sculptures are not strict interpretations of photographs, nor are they literal illustrations of a particular scene or subject. Instead, they utilize additional, often subtle, pictorial elements to create the illusion of a reality which in fact either does not exist or cannot be seen by the human eye. Furthermore, they may incorporate emotional, social, cultural and political thematic elements as an extension of the painted visual illusion; a distinct departure from the older and considerably more literal school of Photo-realism." Paul Cadden
"All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume." Noam Chomsky.
"A new technique using microscopic ocean organisms could lead to cheaper, greener methods for producing iridescent cosmetics, paints and holographic plastics.
"The whole industrial process has a low carbon footprint when compared to conventional [methods]," said Andrew Parker, a professor of biology at Green College, at Oxford University in England.
The new method, developed by Parker and his team, enlists the light-altering properties of diatoms — plant-like microorganisms that live in oceans, fresh water and soil.
A diatom's ability to alter light comes from the silica shell encasing it. Each shell is comprised of a complex network of tiny holes — called photonic structures — that allow some colors in the rainbow spectrum of light to pass through, while rejecting others.
We see the rejected wavelengths of light. And when viewed from different angles, the colors seem to shift and become opalescent. Different species of the tiny phytoplankton have differently shaped shells, which in turn reflect light in a unique way.
The idea is to use specific species of diatoms to produce iridescent colors in consumer products.
By immersing a few living diatoms in a nutritious solution that encourages them to divide and multiply, Parker says his team can produce up to a ton of the single-celled organisms per day.
Once enough diatoms are grown, the researchers raise the temperature of the solution or introduce a weak acid to kill off the organic matter, leaving the light-reflecting structures behind.
Those structures can then be added to a transparent paint mixture, for example, to produce anything from iridescent car paint to opalescent cosmetics. The structures could also be added to a polymer solution and used to make holographic security codes on credit cards."
Serena Malyon via Artcyclopedia
"After seeing how tilt-shift photography could make real world scenes appear like miniature models, Serena Malyon, a third-year art student, decided to simulate the effect on Van Gogh's famous paintings. Using Photoshop, she manipulated the light and adjusted the focus to make us see these paintings in ways we could have never imagined.
Amazingly, nothing in these paintings was changed, added or removed. The incredible illusions are all created by the magic of Photoshop."
