The Biasphere

Tusserte

Posted: Fri May 1, 2009 2:25 am EDT
Classification: Miscellaneous

Time dominates our lives.  The past, the present, and the future are the three most important aspects of anyone's existence.  Although the past, present, and future may seem like three separate entities, it can also be said that the past is present because of its strong influence on our dynamic personalities.  The past is present because of the way it shapes our personality and changes our relations with others.  The past is the most important aspect of our lives because of the way it dictates everything.
        The past has the power to change who we are.  Recently, I watched the DreamWorks classic, Kung Fu Panda, and was surprised to hear the allegedly "wise" character Oogway say "yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the 'present'" (Kung Fu Panda), which he said when the protagonist felt that he was not cut out to be a kung fu warrior.  I consider this to be one of the main flaws of the movie, as a fat, lazy panda is never going to master kung fu in a matter of days judging by his previous lifestyle.  This is a perfect example of why the past can (and in this case, should) set limits on what we can do in the present.
        Human relationships dwell on the past.  We naturally think of people as how we remember them.  This is why any past interactions will shape the way we handle any future reactions with the same people.  Friendships and even hatred are based on how we have interacted with our friends and foes in the past.  It is hard for us to throw away these fragments of the past, which is why many relationships last for so long.
        The past gives us a familiarity that we like to dwell on.  With the past come schedule, routine, and repetition, and even from birth we learn and are most comfortable with this repetition.  From the past we are able to gain an understanding of the present and the future by relating it to something that is familiar to us.  This shows that the past influences how we see the present as we are able to relive the past or choose not to relive it based on our previous experiences.  Because the past has such a strong effect on everything we know, one could easily argue that the past is present.

Tusserte

Posted: Fri May 1, 2009 2:19 am EDT
Classification: Miscellaneous

        I created this piece using Photoshop because I believe that it reflects my interest in digital art.  All of the images used to create this final piece were created by me or taken out of photographs that I had taken myself.  With these few images, I have been able to represent many aspects of my life and most of my main interests using symbolism.
        The image is set in space because I wanted to make the image seem like it reflected my own universe.  To show my family's Japanese heritage, I put my hand drawn version of my family's Mitsukashiwa crest in the center of the image.  It glows like the sun to represent the importance of my family to me.  A huge part of my life revolves around my family, which is large and very close to me.  Everything comes from this glowing crest because of the huge influence my family has been on me throughout my life.
        The different colors of light are meant to represent the different sides of me.  Each of the three sections shows an aspect of my life that is important to me and also makes me unique.  The colors spread out similar diffracting light.
        On the left, streams of code emanate from the center.  The codes depicted are snippets of PHP and SQL taken (and slightly altered for security reasons) straight from my web site.  Programming is my main passion and the hobby I spend most of my time on.  I also used these programming lines to show my passion for computers and technology in general.
        On the right stream, math equations flow from the center.  These equations were inspired by recent multivariable calculus tests.  The top one is about surface area in three-space, the second one is a simple cross product of vectors, the third is the derivative of arcsin(x), and the bottom one is about La Grange multipliers.  These equations show my interest in math as well as my interest in academics/learning in general.
        The flower in the center is meant to show my creative and artistic side.  The picture of the flower was actually from the Chicago Botanic Garden, which gave me a chance to display my digital photography portfolio.  Art is an important aspect of my life because I greatly enjoy web design, graphic design and photography.  Because my experience with web design has also involved a considerable amount of computer programming, I have sandwiched the rose between the programming and math parts of me.  By putting it between them, I show that there is a creative part of me which has spread to my more technical characteristics and is also influenced by them.  I like to mix my creativity into everything I do and have showed it by placing a beautiful rose as a break in the wall of programming and math equations.

A higher quality version of this image can be found by clicking the link on http://tusserte.deviantart.com/