What really interested me most about this lecture was part 3 which involved all of the what used to be legal drugs, and are now currently illegal drugs. I think it is very interesting to look at drugs like Cocaine, LSD, and Acid from an artistic point of view instead of from the point of view of an over protective government trying to protect its citizens. There has been an incredible amount of art and music inspired by drugs such as Acid, LSD, and Cocaine, and a lot of the facts about it I learned today really surprised me. The fact that doctors had done research and proved that LSD did in fact help cure alcoholism, and also lowered the crime rate of current felons, is really quite amazing. That mixed with the fact that so much art and music has been inspired by it, its crazy how there hasn't been more testing involved to try and create a similar drug with no negative effects that can be used to music/art/medicinal purposes.

Art inspired by LSD

The Beatles album: SGT Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, which many people believe involved a lot of Acid and LSD in its creation.

I was also very intrigued by the work of Frans Joseph Gall and Ramon y Cajal. I thought that Gall's idea of taking the shape of the head and using that to determine personality was very creative and interesting, and a cool early try at solving the very complicated organ that is the Brain. Ramon y Cajal's work is much more interesting though, its crazy he actually found out that we can read out connections of neurons by looking at their shapes. This itself actually put a lot more interest into what neurons look like which personally is really cool art to me.

RESOURCES:

Beatles, The. The Beatles Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. Digital image. Olsenbloom Wordpress. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://olsenbloom.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-heart-club-band.jpg>.

Coulth, John. LSD Art. Digital image. John Coulth Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/hofmann.jpg>.

Hellerman, Caleb. "Cocaine: The Evolution of the Once 'wonder' Drug." CNN. Cable News Network, 22 July 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/07/22/social.history.cocaine/>.

Neuroplasticity. Digital image. Stroke Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.strokenetwork.org/newsletter/articles/neuroplasticity_files/image005.jpg>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Lecture: Design and Media Arts 9.” University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles. October 2013.