Essay The Wonders of the Ouija Board - 1040 Words

In a dim, candlelit room, a group of curious teenage girls gather around a small wooden board, with their eyes wide open as a small, upside-down heart-shaped object slowly travels along the dark black printed letters. Their fingers lightly make contact with the object, yet it still moves as if another force is pushing it. With pounding hearts, the group watches messages sent across the board and a sense of mystery and amazement unfolds. They are bubbling with many questions. What’s making this mysterious board spell out words and phrases- the spirit world, or your subconscious mind? The ideomotor phenomenon holds well-developed history and studies, uses similar to the Ouija board, and many professional sources behind it. Overall, the†¦show more content†¦Since then, many experiments and studies on the effect have been completed. It has a well-supported history, and one significant study would be one recently done, during October of 2012, by Dr. Chris French, a psychol ogist at the University of London. The study was completed with an Ouija-playing robot and a blindfolded player. The robot’s purpose was to simply act as another player, so that the real person would assume that another person was moving the planchette with them. The study showed that when asked factual questions (such as, â€Å"What is the capital of Brazil?†), people would answer correctly 50% of the time on their own, but 65% of the time with the aid of the board (with techniques above in place). This proves that the ideomotor effect has a strong amount of valid support and that the board can delve into the secrets stowed in your subconscious mind. The ideomotor effect works with a very large number of historical applications, some of which include dowsing rods and the Chevreul’s pendulum effect. Dowsing rods are Y-shaped sticks that are said to lead to ghosts and sources of water. The user holds the two side-by-side prongs of the stick, and, as if a force is acting upon it, the rod will â€Å"magically† point to the desired direction. It’s the ideomotor effect, as UK news source DailyMail states, the results of dowsing or Ouija boards are caused by tiny movements the personShow MoreRelatedIt s Only A Game - Isn t It?1635 Words   |  7 PagesIt’s Only a Game - Isn’t It? A small group of people sat around a ouija board expecting nothing to happen. A few nervous giggles were exchanged amongst each other. The laughter quickly stopped when the planchette stopped moving and the room became cold; the air turned thick and heavy. Something entered the space, a feeling of distress surrounded the group. They became paranoid, and felt like there was something looking at them from the dark corners. After what felt like hours trying to end the sessionRead MoreShort Story : Creative Writing1550 Words   |  7 Pagesthere were in fact ghosts in the area. They rejoiced, for this was the first time that their equipment had actually worked, and they were all starting to wonder if it was a waste of one hundred dollars. You guys know what this means right? Cassie asked, they all nodded as she pulled the board out of her bag. It means its time for the Ouija board! They initiated the game, and all put their hands on the planchette, the started to ask it questions. Is there any one here? The planchette startedRead MoreLiving in the World of Spirits Essay1933 Words   |  8 Pagescould make a lot of people second guess the existing proof of spirits. There are ways that humans can communicate with spirits intentionally. â€Å"Portals are openings from this world to the spirit world. Ouija boards and sà ©ances, etc., will open these up† (Spiritual Compass). The ouija board is â€Å"a flat board with the letters of the alphabet arrayed in two semi-circles above the numbers 0 through 9; the words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in the uppermost corners, ‘goodbye’ at the bottom; accompanied by a ‘planchette’†Read MorePhotography: Its Evolution and Effects on the World Essay1953 Words   |  8 Pagesnewspaper photographer, who pursued sensationalist news stories with a large press camera, approached scenes of everyday life --- and of violence and death --- with uncommon feeling and wit† (Rosenblum). He was nicknamed â€Å"Weegee†, a play on the Ouija board, because of how he seemed to always be at the scene of murders and other important events even before the police and press showed up. Soon, every event was being covered by photographers, bringing the events to readers of the newspaper and makingRead MoreHow Technology Has Caused The Democratization Of The Music Industry1913 Words   |  8 Pagesaccess to music, as well as furtherance in music instruction. (Kirk, Hunt). Technology is not only responsible for a change in how we receive music, but also for a change in the music itself. With the growing popularity of digital music, it is no wonder that everyone suddenly wants to be a musician , and now anyone can educate themselves to do so. We ve all witnessed the rock star life of a musician in the movies, although their real life is often less than glamorous. Aspiring artists now have

Milton s Views On Morality - 1281 Words

Many of John Milton’s works quite often bring into question Milton’s stance and beliefs on morality. However there are two pieces in particular that heavily express Milton’s views on morality. Those two pieces are Areopagetica, and The Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle, otherwise known as Comus. However these two pieces represent a very specific stance that Milton has on morality. Areopagetica and Comus both express Milton’s belief that in order for society to remain pure and good, they must be properly exposed to temptation and that which is impure. This is very evident in Areopagetica when Milton argues that parliament should not restrict literature that they deem as bad or impure, because it will not allow the people to become aware of†¦show more content†¦Milton believes that it is necessary to have books and literature that is considered bad or impure. He feels that exposure to such impure thoughts, beliefs, and temptations are how society le arns and grows. At one point Milton states that â€Å"but herein the difference is of bad books, that they to a discreet and judicious reader serve in many respects to discover, to confute, to forewarn, and to illustrate† (Milton). Here Milton is expressing his belief that bad books don’t have to always have a negative effect on those who read them. In fact, these bad readings can be a way for the reader to learn and become more informed of these bad and impure things, and therefore be able to avoid them. Milton believes that parliament should not repress these pieces of literature that they deem bad, because in order for society to become morally healthy and avoid these impure thoughts and temptations, they must be exposed to them and learn from them. This belief in exposure to impurity and temptation as a necessity is further expressed by Milton in The Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle, more simply known as Comus. The story of Comus is the story of a brute, fiendish character known as Comus, who lures the Lady into the woods and binds her to a chair and tries to convince her to drink his special elixir. However, the lady is able to resist Comus advances by claiming that â€Å"But such as are good men can give

Nam June Paik was born in Seoul, Korea on July 20, 1932 Essay Example For Students

Nam June Paik was born in Seoul, Korea on July 20, 1932 Essay Nam June Paik was born in Seoul, Korea on July 20, 1932. He was the fifth and youngest child of a textile merchant. In 1947, at the age of 14, he studied piano and composition with two of Koreas foremost composers. The family moved to Tokyo, Japan in 1950 to avoid the havoc of the Korean War. Paik studied music, history, art history, and philosophy at the University of Tokyo from 1953 to 1956. He did his graduate dissertation on Schoenberg. In 1956, he moved to Germany to pursue his interest in avant-garde music. He studied music history under Thrasybulos Georgiades at the University of Munich and composition under Wolfgang Fortner at the Hochschule fur Musik. He also attended classes under Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luigi Nono, David Tudor, and John Cage. Paik lived in Cologne for the next five years and then returned to Japan for a short time to conduct experiments with electromagnets and color TV sets. In 1964, Paik moved to New York and still resides there today. While he lived in Korea, Paik had become familiar with the work of Schoenberg. Paik was interested in Schoenberg above all others because of his radical compositions. They reflected the social atmosphere of Seoul at the time. In 1947, Paik had only one piece of Schoenbergs work. It took Paik two years to convince a record shop owner to let him listen to what was probably the only Schoenberg record in Korea. Paik had only two compositions by which to judge his guru. Then one day in Japan, in 1951, Paik heard a third piece on NHK Radio. Another of Paiks great influences was John Cage, whom he met in Germany. Meeting Cage, a student of Schoenberg, was a turning point in Paiks life. Paiks piece Zen for Film was definitely influenced by Cages 4 33, the silent piece. Cage was devoted to sounds, but Paik was devoted to objects, yet Cages influence is evident in all of Paiks work. Joseph Beuys, like Cage, played an important role in influencing the direction of Paiks video work. Paiks portraits of Beuys constitute a significant body of work. They are more than a homage to Beuys, they are an affirmation of video as a new sensorium that expands the fleeting image on the television. As Paiks education was furthered, he became a key in Fluxus art. In 1961, he met Fluxus founder George Maciunas, which began his participation in Fluxus concerts. The visual characteristics of Paiks concerts gained significance equal to that of the music with his one man show Exposition of Musicà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ Electronic Television in 1963. It included the skull of an ox, 13 pianos, 13 television sets, a mannequin, and several sound producing objects. Upon his return to Japan in 1963, he found that he could manipulate the television screens with magnets. He began to conduct experiments with the help of an electronics engineer, Shuya Abe. These experiments were the groundwork for Participation TV, an active viewer piece. Abe also assisted Paik in the production of Robot K-456. In 1965, Paik bought one of the first Sony video recorders sold and began to create video art. Works such as Zen for Film and Global Groove were the results of Paiks newfound medium. In 1970, Paik and Abe invented a video synthesizer, which made it possible to manipulate colors, shapes, and movement sequences on videotapes and television programs. Paik has been given the title of Father of Video Art, as he was the first to use video and television as a viable medium. The Opera Sextronique was one of Paiks happenings with Charlotte Moorman, the cellist. It included Moorman wearing a battery powered bra with televisions covering her nipples, and the Young Penis Symphony, consisting ten young men sticking their penises through a paper curtain in time to the music. Opera Sextronique was one of Paiks attempts to integrate sex into his work. Beyonce Knowles - Most Influential Artist EssayHe has transformed television into a form of artistic expression particularly suited to our times. Paiks last public performance in 1997 at the Anthology Film Archive in New York City was his piece Coyote 3. The performance starts with Paik seated at a piano with singer, Dina Emerson, and dancer, Simone Forti, standing beside him. Emerson steps up to the microphone and begins to imitate the sound of alarms and sirens, while a video projection of Beuys growling and speaking is played. Paik accompanies the video on the piano, playing broken melodies, sometimes singing along. These fragments of music are as diverse as Paiks influences. All the while Simone Forti is dancing and singing. At the end Paik turns the piano over until it breaks apart. The lights go out and a laser beam flashed across the stage while the three performers smoke cigarettes. There is a lot happening on stage and yet very little, normal motions take on other significance, time has become fleeting and geologic. The irrational is given as much importance as the rational, says Jonathan Huffman, Paik continues to push for new territories, continuing to redefine situations and new technologies. Paik has made the world of television and video art his own. His broad array of work encompasses several disciplines from composing to satellite art. Paiks varied interests have helped make his art the first of its kind. Paik said of his work, My experimental TV is not always interesting, but not always uninteresting, like nature, which is beautiful, not because it changes beautifully, but because it changes. Paik is a visionary artist, he doesnt confine himself to the standards of the art world, but goes outside of them to find new applications of art to technology. Television has become a humanistic tool in the hands of this artist. His works are always about the sensual aspects of visual response and the joys of watching an image that will disappear. Paiks realization of the limitless potential that lay within the average television set and his sense of what he could do with it has gained him the distinction as the Father of Video Art.