{"id":254,"date":"2007-12-03T12:19:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-03T16:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=254"},"modified":"2007-12-03T12:19:00","modified_gmt":"2007-12-03T16:19:00","slug":"test-tube-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=254","title":{"rendered":"Test-Tube Art"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ambaka.com\/blog\/17\/inkblot09.png?w=545\"><br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/ambaka.com\/blog\/17\/inkblot09.ink\">Inkblot Kaos parameter file<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Back to fractals.  I think I did something to the other machine.  It&#8217;s leaking oil, or something.  I smell something &#8220;electrical&#8221;, too.<\/p>\n<p>My seven year-old daughter was recently invited to a birthday party.  While we were looking around in the Barbie Doll aisle of a department store for a suitable present, me and my nine year-old son came across a misplaced item &#8211;TEST-TUBE ALIENS.<\/p>\n<p>I can&#8217;t imagine who would put down a kit for &#8220;making&#8221; aliens in a test-tube and choose a Barbie doll instead because my daughter soon shared our interest in this hand-held Easy Bake oven for mutants.  Some poor girl must have gotten a Barbie doll after her mother intervened and told her she&#8217;d probably have a lot more fun with a glamour pageant Barbie doll than the TEST-TUBE ALIENS that she picked up on the other aisle (where all the exciting, boy&#8217;s stuff is).<\/p>\n<p>My interest in the TEST-TUBE ALIENS subsided somewhat after reading on the back that there were three or four different kinds, and they all had pre-detremined names &#8212; and predetermined shapes too, it seemed.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s no fun.  I was expecting something more along the lines of a genetic experiment with such scrambled genes that the back of the box would only speculate on what they might look like and offer a guarantee that what crawled out of the test-tube wouldn&#8217;t threaten the human race with extinction.  Ideally, it would also have come with a small handgun for terminating the experiment should things get out of hand&#8230; chains break, radio-activity be detected.<\/p>\n<p>Guys like me won&#8217;t be designing children&#8217;s toys anytime soon.<\/p>\n<p><center><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ambaka.com\/blog\/17\/inkblot08.png?w=545\"><br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/ambaka.com\/blog\/17\/inkblot08.ink\">Inkblot Kaos parameter file<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Fortunately fractal programs are also test-tubes &#8212; digital ones &#8212; and have very few restrictions on them, which makes for hours and hours of frightening recreation.  The results aren&#8217;t always pretty, but for the mad scientist in the family, they are rarely boring.<\/p>\n<p>Now if you&#8217;d prefer to take a look at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fractalforum.com\/fc\/index.html\">Barbie doll aisle<\/a> instead&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>What?  Did I go too far again?<\/p>\n<p>Well, it does seem to be a popular calendar, and even if it isn&#8217;t, what&#8217;s wrong with people liking a type of artwork that&#8217;s different from yours?<\/p>\n<p>Alright, sure, folks Christmas shopping in the mall might &#8220;like&#8221; that sort of thing, or at least buy it, which isn&#8217;t really the same thing as saying they think it&#8217;s great artwork&#8230; but it&#8217;s incredibly cliche isn&#8217;t it?  It makes fractal art look like it&#8217;s nothing more than a children&#8217;s pin-wheel display.  That&#8217;s not &#8220;arty&#8221; artwork. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Arty artwork&#8221;?  Sounds like some new animal species.  I think you&#8217;ve become a test-tube experiment yourself, man.  Maybe you should have a warning label.<\/p>\n<p>Hey!  You&#8217;re just my conscience.  You&#8217;re not suppose to <i>insult<\/i> me.  You&#8217;re supposed to act like Jiminy Cricket and give gentle advice and reminders, like when I&#8217;m totally wrong and steadily slipping into a muck hole of depravity.<\/p>\n<p>Alright.  Sorry &#8212; sorry for having a sense of humour!  But back to your impolite comments about the Fractal Universe Calendar;  I&#8217;ll try to be more Jiminy Cricket-like.  I find the calendar&#8217;s choice of artwork to be a profound statement of time and very appropriate for what really is the current state of fractal art.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re joking again, right?<\/p>\n<p>No, I&#8217;m serious.  Every year, the same old stuff, reworked by a few people and slapped with a new label: 2005; 2006; 2007&#8230; In the words of Samuel Becket, I think, &#8220;Nothing ever happens&#8221;.  You see?  That really is the current state of fractal art:  a handful of people doing the same old thing every year.<\/p>\n<p>Hmmnn.  That&#8217;s quite interesting.  I didn&#8217;t think my conscience would ever come up with anything so <i>cynical!<\/i><\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re having a bad influence on me.  I&#8217;m going to ask to be reassigned.<\/p>\n<p><b>technorati tags:<\/b>  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/fractal%20art\" rel=\"tag\" >fractal art<\/a> |  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/digital%20art\" rel=\"tag\" >digital art<\/a> |  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/fractals\" rel=\"tag\" >fractals<\/a> |  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/algorithmic%20art\" rel=\"tag\" >algorithmic art<\/a> |  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/cheap%20shots\" rel=\"tag\" >cheap shots<\/a> |  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/Christmas%20shopping\" rel=\"tag\" >Christmas shopping<\/a> |  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/Fractal%20Universe%20Calendar\" rel=\"tag\" >Fractal Universe Calendar<\/a> |  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/Fractal%20Calendar\" rel=\"tag\" >Fractal Calendar<\/a> |  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/Jiminy%20Cricket\" rel=\"tag\" >Jiminy Cricket<\/a> |  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technorati.com\/tag\/gone%20too%20far\" rel=\"tag\" >gone too far<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inkblot Kaos parameter file Back to fractals. I think I did something to the other machine. It&#8217;s leaking oil, or something. I smell something &#8220;electrical&#8221;, too. My seven year-old daughter was recently invited to a birthday party. While we were looking around in the Barbie Doll aisle of a department store for a suitable present, &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=254\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":390,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=390","url_meta":{"origin":254,"position":0},"title":"Beyond the Valley of the Fractal Dolls","author":"cruelanimal","date":"23 June, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Does this fractal make me look infinitely fat? Detail of Fractal Nude Study by clifftoppler. Link contains nudity: here. I am doll eyes, doll mouth, doll legs... --Hole, \"Doll Parts\" I want a doll! I want a doll!--Neely O'Hara, Valley of the Dolls I know this blog usually wrestles with\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/coffeebreak_detail_alyah.jpg?fit=281%2C326&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4414,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=4414","url_meta":{"origin":254,"position":1},"title":"More Microscopy","author":"cruelanimal","date":"3 January, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Mosquito eyes. Microscopy courtesy of Oliver Meckes. \u00a0 I first wrote about microscopy on OT back in September of 2009 when discussing Luke Jerram's glass sculptures. 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It's like a little orchestra or ensemble.\u00a0 Each piece adds something.\u00a0 The mouse cursor is the conductor, but these musicians never make a mistake.\u00a0 I like\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2817,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2817","url_meta":{"origin":254,"position":3},"title":"BMFAC Announces Its Judging Panel","author":"cruelanimal","date":"27 July, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 A symbolic representation of the BMFAC judging panel. [Photograph seen here.] The 2011 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest (BMFAC) finally got around to releasing the names of its judges. They are: Honorary Presidents: Michael Barnsley Aliette Mandelbrot Panel Members: Don Archer Javier Barrallo Cory Ench Damien Jones David Makin\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BMFAC Judges","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/bmfac-judges.jpg?fit=450%2C348&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2683,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2683","url_meta":{"origin":254,"position":4},"title":"Name! That! Comment!","author":"cruelanimal","date":"13 June, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome back, readers, to the home edition of the Fractalbook Network's much loved game show: Name! That! Comment! 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