Boredom, Curiosity and You Tube as an Art Medium

First we must discuss the photographic image, which is of Los Banos de Dona Maria de Padilla, or the "Baths of Lady María de Padilla" -- rainwater tanks beneath the Patio del Crucero in Seville. Of course there is a story-- and it's not one I like very much, especially compared to the architecture itself. Let's face it. Architecture is much more reliable in many ways than are the vagaries of human life.

Pedro the Cruel fell for María de Padilla and had her husband killed. That's how the story goes. María resisted Pedro's advances and poured boiling oil over her face to disfigure herself to stop Pedro's pursuit. She became a nun and moved to a convent afterwards. Meanwhile, in some way whose logic is hard to trace, this gorgeous rainwater collecting place was created and given her name. Sigh. Such sad lives. Such marvelous architecture.

Moving on, I read an article in the San Francisco paper recently that reported how being bored could be bad for your health. Duh. The more bored you are, the more likely you are to die early, it stated. Bored people tend to cultivate unhealthy habits like smoking, drinking or eating too much and not exercising. One researcher noted that boredom is linked to anger suppression. And that reminded me of a quote from theologian Paul Tillich, "Boredom is rage spread thin." Hmmm.

There's another quote about boredom that is attributed to someone named Ellen Parr, a person one cannot find any information on whatsoever. To me this quote sounds like something Dorothy Parker would say, though there's no evidence she ever said it. But who cares anyway? The quote is, "The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." I have to agree with that.

According to Wikpedia, "Boredom is an emotional state experienced during periods lacking activity or when individuals are uninterested in the opportunities surrounding them." Which sounds depressing. I've had my bouts with boredom over the years, as many of us have. These days though, curiosity has the upper hand. Where are you on the spectrum at the moment?

I am curious about many things, even though they sometimes scare me. I mean, things I never did before? I have a reaction to that sometimes. Not always, but well-- fairly often. I wish I could assert that I just slide into new experiences with ease and spontaneous bliss, but it doesn't always happen that way. Like You Tube. I thought, oh shuckydarn. Another learning curve. Can I do it? And you know this type of stuff is basically silly especially compared to being lost in the midst of vast space without a clue or a track of breadcrumbs in sight. So I forged ahead and made a couple of You Tube clips, destined to be a whole series of clips which will hopefully be varied and fun.

Maybe not fun in the same way as those extreme shepherds who put LED lights on their sheep and did various patterns with them out on the hills (check out Baa Studs) but fun--and extreme--in ways yet to be defined. So what I can say is this: it is good to begin. It is good to get familiar with the new artistic medium called You Tube. And it is good to imagine really relaxing and letting loose with it. That's one thing I'm doing right now. Stay tuned for further adventures. Meanwhile here are the first two clips.

#1 includes a fragment of Barbie the Doll singing Passing for Young
Clip #1

#2 includes a fragment of Baba Yaga's Raga
Clip #2

YaY! Hope you are enjoying the natural creativity of what is.

Photo by Kamil Porembinski