Synesthesia

I had never heard of synesthesia or cymatics before reading and watching this material. I was really surprised to read that synesthesia isn’t being actively studied anymore. I would have thought that something as fascinating as this would have a lot of people interested in finding answers about how a person gets it and how it manifests in those people. In my opinion, chromesthesia sounds the most interesting out of all the different types. I would enjoy being able to see sounds because that sounds like such a beautiful thing, especially when you listen to music. This music video is sort of how I imagine chromesthesia synesthesia to be.

My favorite part is at :40 when the strings come in and the red color blends with the blue. I think it is very beautiful and when I was reading the Wikipedia article I immediately thought of this video.

The video where Evan Grant discusses cymatics was very fascinating and the examples that he showed were all really cool. The ways that sounds can be seen and shown are so interesting and it’s a really beautiful thing to see. I particularly enjoyed this video of someone using colored sands to make different shapes with sounds.

Overall, these readings and videos were so exciting and cool to watch and I learned a lot about things that I had no idea existed before!

Media Fast Response

I knew as soon as I heard about the media fast it was going to be an awful and difficult experience for me. I’ve always been a self-confessed Internet addict but I never truly knew how addicted I was until I did this. After only a few hours into the fast I was twitching like a crack addict in need of a fix. I honestly had no idea what to do with myself. There were many times when I pulled out my phone and was already browsing Tumblr and Twitter before I even consciously knew what I was doing and remembered that I wasn’t supposed to be doing that. I was stunned by how much of a natural response reaching for my phone is and how often I do it. I felt really anxious and disconnected for the past three days and I’m not exactly happy that that is how I feel when cut off from the Internet. I definitely think I’m too reliant on social media to pass the time but I also got a lot of reading done in the past 72 hours so I guess this media fast wasn’t all bad.

First Response

I thought at first it was just random how the bursts of color, patterns, and objects appeared on screen but I quickly realized that it was actually all timed perfectly to music. All of the things shown were supposed to represent/mimic what we were hearing. I also thought that it was a little trippy with all the bright colors and that it wouldn't be good for someone with epilepsy to watch. I liked the slow interlude in the middle that had the straight white lines against the black background. I thought that was a really nice part of the video. The whole thing was a little too fast and bright and at first I felt kind of overwhelmed by what I was seeing. I didn't really like it but I did think it was cool how what was on screen really went along with the music I was hearing so well.