Of art, artisitic concept and its expression

As I glanced through the Art-Works at Esplanade today, a thought struck me. As most would agree, the essence of an art-work lies in its two aspects - the concept aka idea and the technique aka execution. Have you ever wondered which one, if at all, is more significant that the other? I believe without either, an art-work would not be as valuable and worse - it would not exist at all.
An idea in a thinker’s mind is intangible and shapeless. An idea that is not communicated is almost as if it did not exist at all. It’s like a soul without body. It needs to be conveyed to be appreciated as an artistic expression. On the other hand, a technique without an idea is direction-less. One cannot demonstrate a technique without an idea or at least an imitation of an idea. In my opinion, it is the fusion of concept and technique that defines an artistic expression.
Further to this discussion, how easy it is to for an artist to be equally adept at both conceptualisation and actualisation? Consider the case where the artist is both the idea-man and the delivery-man. In order to be fair to the art-work, the artist must be proficient in both of these skills. To conceive an idea as novel as it could be and to execute it with an equal precision may be difficult. In that case, will it be a better idea to separate these two task and let them be performed by a pair of specialist as opposed to a single generalist?
Specialisation of task may solve the problem when an artist is not equally talented at both idea and delivery. For the purpose of an example, let us examine the case of a theatre production. While the director who conceptualises the act, it is the actor who executes it. While the director decides what emotions must be incited in the audience, it is the actor who invokes them through his acting. Both specialise in their own domain. In this case, the channel between the idea and the delivery becomes critical. It is important for the actor to be at the same page with regards to the understanding of the concept. Similarly its important that the director is successful in communicating the exact concept to the actor. If not, they will not be doing justice to the art-form.

The food connoisseur in me!

Some of my readers might have assumed that I am on a major dieting program, desperately trying to shed kilos. The truth – I don’t believe in starvation and I am least likely to be an anorexic or bulimic. In fact, I am an epicurean and I adore most of the cuisines. My principle is to have a nutritious meal – not more but not less (to lose weight or whatever) either. I love to indulge and pamper my taste buds with the most palatable of delicacies. Just for instance, yesterday I had dinner at an awesome Italian restaurant– Menotti. We ordered:

Starters:
Crab and spinach soup
Bruchette with bell pepper, zucchini and eggplant
Main Course:
Fettucini with grilled chicken breast cubes
Ravioli in cream and saffron sauce
Dessert:
Souffle with icecream
Drink:
No wine, just some fine coffee

My review:
Food – The food at Menotti was more authentic than all most of the other Italian restaurants I have tried so far. All the dishes we ordered, were simply mindblowing. The aroma and richness of the food was tantalising. Chefs at Menotti undoubtedly/visibly pay a lot of attention to details in preparation and presentation of the food.
Ambience – The ambience was classy an yet informal. The dim-lighting and candle lit tables make it ideal for a romantic rendezvous.
Service – The waiters were knowledgeable and made excellent recommendations. They served the food the right time and were attentive throughout.
Overall rating **** (4 stars out of 5)

Anyways, not digressing from the main point, being healthy/fit (and 'thin') is important but not at the cost of depriving yourself of great food like this.

Green Tea

I declared my commitment to health and fitness in my previous post. Well, one of the steps I took towards it was bringing myself to drink 8-10 glasses of water each day. Some of you may not agree, but for me drinking a lot of ‘tasteless’ water when one isn’t thirsty is a difficult task. Therefore, I searched for an alternative and found a great one – Japanese Green Tea. In terms of health benefits, its one of the better choices over other beverages.
1. Firstly, the caffeine content of a prepared cup of tea is significantly lower than the caffeine content of a prepared cup of coffee. Furthermore, as compared to oolong tea and black tea, green tea contains only 60% and 50% (respectively) of caffeine. Low amount of caffeine also means that’s it’s an excellent thirst quencher.
2. Secondly, green tea (tea bag in hot water) does not contain any sugar – zero calories.
3. The icing of the cake is the anti-oxidants found in green tea. Besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, anti-oxidants kill cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. It’s also effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels.
4. After seeing a variety of cosmetic products containing green tea extracts, I am also keen to believe that it surely enhances complexion etc. Which is not something undesirable at all.
So far so good! I am enjoying my green tea cups everyday. Hope you enjoy yours too. :)

Writer's Block

After spending four years in engineering school, my writing skills have vanished like dinosaurs did from the surface of earth thousands of years ago. The very thought of writing doesn’t excite me anymore (<---understatement, the truth is it petrifies me in fact!!). I would definitely fare much better at jotting down ‘Leaky-Bucket algorithm’ or ‘Lyapunov energy principle’ in mathematical form, rather than discussing ‘Katharine McPhee’s hairstyle’ and ‘Virginia Shootings’ in ‘full’ sentences. The bottomline is this – I need to write more to hone my writing skills.

Back to fitness basics ...

For those who know me well, already know that I am a health-conscious person bordering health freak. Health matters to me. A lot. While looking good is just (and important) aspect of it, staying fit with that healthy glow on the face is also equally (if not more) dear to me. As such, I love sports – tennis, walking, gyming and swimming. Also, I have acquired the taste for healthy food – trust me I love spinach, lettuce, tofu, papaya!

Recently my health-consciousness went for a spin when I graduated and joined work-life. Sitting all day in the air-conditioned office with eyes glued to the laptop-screen, feasting on calorie-loaded snacks without exercising for days together, I started ‘feeling fat'. (Mind you, ‘feeling fat’ is a perfectly meaningful and acceptable term to describe that state of mind.) 'Feeling fat/unhealthy' was still okay until I actually started ‘looking fat’ as well. On a fateful day I mustered the courage to step on the weighing machine and it showed me a less flattering number – 3 Kgs ‘above and beyond’ my previous weight. Silverline – my BMI was still within the ‘healthy’ range.

I knew what to do but gearing myself to action was tough. I, however, started. After having lost the 2 out of those horrendous 3 kilos, I am still on my way to better nutrition and fitness levels. This is also because right now, I have the time to, given less load at work. I aim to make this blog my companion in my journey to fitness to share my goals/milestones as well as ‘tips and techniques’ with my readers (if any). I must add here though that I don't view health/weight/fitness as a destination but an ongoing effort ...

Funny

In Life You Either need Inspiration or Desperation...

Ways of thinking - which one is yours?

You sure that's a compliment?

Well, it's been ages since I posted an entry... so let it be a funny one:

Here is a short list of the weirdest compliments I ever received:

1. You look good when you are crying!
Time - stress time before final exams
Person - a 'good' friend

2. Waaah.. you working ah? You look so young! Never go university one? [Translation: Wow, you look so young for someone who is working. Its almost as if you didnt attend university]
Time - Morning leaving for office
Person - My building watchman

Hmm.. still wondering if those are 'compliments' *confused*