To+Motivate

** I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. **  Pablo Picasso

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 * A blank piece of paper has been the starting point for countless ideas and creative expressions. From black books to sketchbooks, all ideas begin with this medium, which provides a foundation from which ideas are conceptualized and created. One medium, many ideas. **

Thoughts and ideas to ponder...
**If one God exists he must surely be a surrealist! **

 How else do we explain the fact that several species of turtle can breathe through their butts? That butterflies taste with their feet? That the planets all rotate anti-clockwise except venus, which spins the other way? That a snail can sleep for three years? That a duck's quack doesn't echo in landscapes where every other noise does? That one in every 5000 North Atlantic lobsters is born a dazzling psychedelic bright blue colour? That dolphins sleep with one half of their brain at a time, with one eye open and the other closed? That the bloodsucking leech has 32 brains? That cats don't meow at each other & reserve it for 'speaking' to humans? That whale songs 'rhyme'. That ants never sleep? ...

**Celebrities as the New Gods / Icons**
Not only are some of the biggest cultural icons of the modern age dead now, but a huge number have never been alive in the first place. Bart Simpson, Kermit, Barbie, Mickey Mouse, E.T, Zorro, Batman, Spock, Wonder Women, Superman, King Kong. These are signature characters in pop culture. These larger-than-life figures add colour to our lives, reflect various strange and fascinating aspects of our culture back to us and give us a shared symbolic language. Most genuine celebrity icons of our time are pretty poor subjects for worship really. Evocative, sure. A distraction from the more humdrum aspects of everyday life, certainly. But the problem for many it seems to be that they can't just let icons be icons. No matter how deeply David Bowie's early songs might touch you, no matter how transcendentally beautiful Beckhams footwork might be, no matter how unspeakably gorgeous Naomi Campbell appears, these gifts in one area should not imply they have anything at all to teach us in others.

POP CULTURE Popular culture is about choice and freedom to be one's own individual, so we have gods to suit our own personal circumstances. We have icons, deities and gods for all occasions, to suit all types. Sub-cultures have their own idols - art had Andy Warhol, skaters have Tony Hawk, cinema-philes have Tarantino and rockers have the White Stripes to adore. "Cultural icon" A thing or person regarded as a representative symbol, especially of a culture or movement. A very famous person or institution considered worthy of admiration or respect. A true icon can be identified not just by the scale but also by the longevity of their fame - Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Madonna, Marilyn...