Life depends on a beam of light

'I Am Legend' is a 2007 post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Francis Lawrence

In September 2012, after a lethal worldwide epidemic, Robert Neville (Will Smith) is left as the last healthy human in New York City.

Only 12 million people were naturally immune to the virus. The rest degenerated into bald, pale, aggressive beings referred to as 'Darkseekers', who hunted down the immune humans as prey. The 'Darkseekers' are so-called for hiding in buildings and dark places during the day due to a painful intolerance to UV radiation.

In this scene, the protagonist and his dog can escape from the 'Darkseekers' thanks to a beam of light that is like a barrier between them and the others.
But it's the sunset and the beam of light is getting smaller...

Lady in the dark

Our lady of the hospital

"Our lady of the hospital", by Harrison Millard (1830-1895), it's a song from American Civil War music (1861-1865).

The lady sitting in the dark between the hospital tents, is illuminated by the light of a lamp. The dark represents the sad days of the Civil War, the light and the lady simbolize the pity for the soldiers.

  She sits in our long dark ward
  By the light of a shaded lamp,
  No sound but the cry of relieving guard
  And the sentinels’ heavy tramp

  [...]

"Light am I: ah, that I were night!"

"The night song", from "Thus spoke Zarathustra", written by Friedrich Nietzsche (1883-1885), talks about the meaning of life trought the opposition between light and dark, but in this poetry, dark means life and light means death.

"Light am I: ah, that I were night! But it is my lonesomeness to be begirt with light!

Ah, that I were dark and nightly! How would I suck at the breasts of light!

And you yourselves would I bless, ye twinkling starlets and glow-worms aloft!--and would rejoice in the gifts of your light".

Heroes and....antiheroes

Raffaello Sanzio, "Saint Michael tramples Satan"

Louvre, Paris (1518)

Light and dark may be used as metaphors. Heroes and heroines dress in light colors, bad figures are related to dark elements.

Allegory of the Cave

In the seventh book from "The republic" (514 b - 520 a), Plato illustrates "our nature in its education and want of education", trought the Allegory of the Cave. This relates to the idea of forms as people struggle to see the reality beyond illusion.

After "returning from divine contemplations to human evils", a man "is graceless and looks quite ridiculous when – with his sight still dim and before he has gotten sufficiently accustomed to the surrounding darkness – he is compelled in courtrooms or elsewhere to contend about the shadows of justice or the representations of which they are the shadows, and to dispute about the way these things are understood by men who have never seen justice itself?" (517d-e)

"The night is long which never finds the day"

John Singer Sargent, "Ellen Terry in the role of Lady Macbeth" (detail), 1889Tate, London

Metaphors of light and darkness are used in Macbeth by William Shakespeare to illustrate important themes such as evil and dishonest gain.

For example, Shakespeare uses the metaphor of darkness to illustrate Macbeth's slide towards depravity. He cannot face his deeds but needs the dark to hide what he is doing:

  Stars, hide your fires

  Let not light see my black and deep desires

  (i.iv.50-51)

The 'Force' and the dark side

In the epic space opera 'Star wars' (first movie in 1977) light and dark symbolize the contrast between good and evil. 

One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the 'Force', an omnipresent energy that can be harnessed by those with that ability. It is described in the first produced film as 'an energy field created by all living things [that] surrounds us, penetrates us, [and] binds the galaxy together'.

The Force allows users to perform a variety of supernatural feats (such astelekinesis, clairvoyance, precognition, and mind control) and also can amplify certain physical traits, such as speed and reflexes; these abilities vary between characters and can be improved through training.

While the Force can be used for good, it has a dark side that, when pursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression, and malevolence.

Get rid of your bad dreams

Photographers and artists are always looking at light as the key element in any composition, which is certainly extremely important for dark advertisements.

Dark ads are usually used to portray a scary situation, or a serious issue, creating a dramatic impact. Light represents a way to overcome problems and solves negative situations.

Don't curse the darkness: light a candle

In many chinese proverbs, you can find light as...

...a way to overcome problems:

- Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness (Confucius)

- You can only enter half way into the dark forest before you begin to come out the other side

...a time measurement of everyday life:

When the sun rises, I go to work.

When the sun goes down, I take my rest. 

I dig the well from which I drink. 
I farm the soil which yields my food. 
I share creation. 
Kings can do no more.

...a representation of goodness and beauty:

If there is light in the soul,
there will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person,
there will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house,
there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
there will be peace in the world.

Other ways to say...

Light:

http://www.synonym.com/synonyms/light/

Dark:

http://www.synonym.com/synonyms/dark/

Who is light to you??

Nelson Mandela

Adolf Hitler

Speaking about people, the word "light" describes a person with good values, instead the word "dark" stays for bad ideas and actions.

This example (Nelson Mandela versus Adolf Hitler) it's a pun because the two people's skin color is just the contrary of theirs actions.

Living in a dark box

Through their buildings, architects communicate their vision of human life, related to light and space.
The Dark Box Bird Cage by Hiroshi Nakao and the Temporary Urban Installation by Ruan Hao are two very different way to intend the role of light in architecture.

Hiroshi Nakao, Dark Box Bird Cage

Since all surfaces are painted black, the interior is a somewhat dark box. However, daylight entering from the large and small enclosed gardens creates a varying mixture of light and dark areas. [...]
A ‘dark box’ it may appear, but with its innumerable holes, it is much more of a ‘bird cage’.

Ruan Hao, Temporary Urban Installation (Light Festival 2008)

The main idea of the project is to propose a light festival in high-density cities in China by means of temporary urban installations, aiming at lightening and “healing” the dark and shaded sides in the streets in high-density metropolis and therefore recreating inviting atmosphere for street-life encountering.

If the sun rises at midnight

Norway, midnight sun (montage)

The North Pole and the South Pole are two geographic places described by the opposite alternance of light and dark.

At the North Pole, the sun is permanently above the horizon during the summer months (March-September) and permanently below the horizon during the winter months (September-March).
At the South Pole it's just the contrary: during the southern winter (March–September), the South Pole receives no sunlight at all, but in the summer (September–March), the sun is continuously above the horizon.

The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon occurring in summer months at latitudes north and nearby to the south of the Arctic Circle, and south and nearby to the north of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. The opposite phenomenon, polar night, occurs in winter when the sun stays below the horizon throughout the day.

History of lighting

In both historic and economic terms, human civilisation revolves around artificial light. Since its earliest incarnation as firelight to its most recent as electric light, artificial light has been at the core of human civilisation. It has freed us from the temporal and spatial constraints of daylight by allowing us to function equally well night and day, indoors and outdoors.

We can trace the history of lighting since the first primitive lamp, invented around 70,000 BC, passing through Greeks terra cotta lamps around the 7th century BC, arriving at the 18th century, when the central burner was invented, a major improvement in lamp design. In 1879, whit the invention of the light bulb by Thomas Alva Edison, the history of electric lighting begun.

The extract below provides a brief history of lighting as portrayed in the 1888 publication, Municipal Lighting and is direct insight into how it all began:

The history of the electric light is interesting. Notwithstanding the proverbial tendency of mankind to believe that the "olden time" showed many points of superiority to the present, the casual retrospective view will call to mind a list of modern improvements which are now considered indispensable adjuncts of civilization, but which have been introduced within the memory of thousands who are now living.

Lighter or darker?

The incident white light ray separates into its constituent colours upon refraction

Light is measured with two main alternative sets of units: radiometry consists of measurements of light power at all wavelengths, while photometry measures light with wavelength weighted with respect to a standardized model of human brightness perception. There are different SI units for both systems.
The photometry units are different from most systems of physical units in that they take into account how the human eye responds to light. Photometry is useful, for example, to quantify Illumination (lighting) intended for human use.

The light and dark side of Caravaggio

Caravaggio, "The Calling of Saint Matthew" (1599-1600)

Chiaroscuro in art is characterized by weak contrasts between light and dark. This tecnique was practiced long before Caravaggio came on the scene, but he was the one who made the technique definitive, darkening the shadows and transfixing the subject in a blinding shaft of light.


In "The calling of Saint Matthew", the beam of light, which enters the picture from the direction of a real window, expresses in the blink of an eye the conversion of St Matthew.

Chinese Go game 围棋（weí qí）

The Go game:
Chinese ： 围棋（weí qí ）
Japanese: 碁
Korean hangul: 바둑


The explained the history and the rules of the GO game:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)


The meaning of the GO game:
In China it includes the philosophy of life——how to be a good person; Reaction the Taoism thought. It’s emphasis on the natural and harmony. Life likes the chesses, include the advancement and give up. When we gain, we feel nothing; when we lost, we can think it doesn’t matter. The principle of the Go means the philosophy of life. The black and white chesses represent the attitude of the world.

Light can be a problem...!

This spot by Ray-Ban ironically suggests that light could be dangerous: the protagonists are vampires!... If you are a vampire, light do not have positive meanings, because you can live only in the darkness of night. Dark means life and light means death.
But if you wear Ray-Ban sunglasses.. even if you are a vampire, light is no longer a problem!

The implication of "light and dark "



We try to understand the concept of light and dark through events, people, pictures, things that may be related to the good (light) evil (dark).

Concrete wall light

Contrary to Litracon®, in Litracon pXL® there are no optical fibers for light transmission but a specially formed and patented plastic unit.
The light dots appear with regular distribution on the surface of the pXL® panels just like pixels on an LCD screen. Besides, it is easy to create patterns or even coloured logos out of the pixels.


Clic here to view patent images.

Light/dark in the world

italian: luce/ombra, chiaro/scuro

arabian: الضوء / الظلام (aḑ-dwʼ/az̧-zlām)
chinese: 光 / 暗 (guang/àn)
english: light/dark
french: claire/sombre
german: licht/dunkel
greek: φως/σκοτάδι (fo̱s/skotádi)
dutch: licht/donker
romanian: lumina/întuneric
russian: света/темно (sveta/temno)
serbia: светло/мрак (svetlo/mrak)
spanish: claro/oscuro
swedish: ljus/mörk
japanese: 明 / 暗 (mei/kura)
spanish: luz/oscuridad
turkish: açık/koyu
ukrainian: світла/темно (svitla/temno)
hungarian: fény/sötét