Further Ideation on Project #1

I want to explore the sanctity of scents from different cultures. While I ultimately would like to document several different cultures, for this project I will pick three I am more intimately familiar with: European (Medieval), Native American, and Indian.

I will create circular wooden structures that can hold the different scents particular and sacred to each culture. These circular structures will function as halos, markers of divinity, that are a constant feature in various cultures. I will use the router in the wood shop to create these pieces.

When people go to smell these pieces, to others in the room they will appear to be "haloed" by the pieces and in smelling the divine become divine themselves.

Medieval European: Gold leaf, red & blue felt to capture the scent

-lilies

-roses

-violets

-balsamic

-(ketosis, acetone)

Native American: Cotton balls, cedar, jerky, cloth

-sage

-sweetgrass

-patchouli

-buffalo (jerky)

-cedar

pieces of bone

Indian: Incense sticks, gold leaf, & embossed felt

-jasmine

-frankincense

-sandalwood

-incense

Food/Smell Project Photos Storage

Dailey thinking, like a tumbleweed underwater

I was trying to go to sleep and I came up with an idea for this class and when I woke up, I realized it was a modification of my idea for another class, so because this class is more important, that class is left to hang and I'm modifying its idea, my stupid brain, AAAAARGH.

This idea came in part from an artist I looked at for another class, Lu Yang and her DIY series; I plan on using a similar presentation, a large graphic, paired with images that I've made, on DIY lux transformation, or maybe something easier to understand, DIY luminescent biomasses!

So in early 2010 a lab published on their auto(self)luminescent(light) tobacco- unlike previous glowing specimens, this one didn't need to be drenched in eco-unfriendly chemicals continuously to produce light, but did it all on its own. I've read their paper, their patent application and a teacher's manual on transformation, and I'm taking autoluminescent plants to the next logical step, and presenting a DIY infographic, and hopefully a brochure, with accompanying illustrations demonstrating some of the possibilities of this technology. These illustrations will be greyscale photocollages produced by yours truly in organic textures; the black and white and consistent night settings will emphasize the light emanating from the plants.

These are GM plants; the genes used are from a bacteria that lives in a fish. The idea that I'm getting at: It hearkens back to some earlier stuff, questioning how pervasive technology is, questioning whether we should use every technology available to us, extremifying and thus raising the issue of how much humans have modified the natural world. This is also non-exclusive, highly accessible technology, raising the question of individual responsibility. So I haven't ironed it out 100%, it's a discussion piece at this point, but I WILL, with the illustrations.

Some possible uses:

Could line roads to make them more safe

Could mark hazardous sites

Could act as a no-trespassing sign or way to see trespassers at night

Could be purely ornamentational

Could add a new level of festive cheer to the common Christmas tree

Could help illuminate city streets

Could mark airfields

Could scare off night time foragers on farms

I don't know what exactly to present, but I think a nice mix of the logical (glowing road sides) with the improbable (really bright trees in a city) with the irrational (why would you make crops glow? I don't know either) would be the best food for thought. Ha hahaha.

patent for autoluminescent plants

Krichevsky's original paper on the plants published in PLos ONE

glowing bacteria transformation kit for purchase

transformation kit teacher's manual

YEAH I KNOW HOW TO MAKE MY TEXT LINKS, COUGH COUGH EMILY COUGH

Notes to myself from the project requirements: Nice presentation, use materials appropriate to concept, was supposed to experiment with food :( , "cultivate a DIY approach to digital art making (what can I make from what is around me and easily available)," research food technologies, "invites us to think about food and food systems in a different way"

:(

How to be Jewish

I've been struggling from quite some time to incorporate my heritage and Judaism into my artwork. I've always approached it from a religious or a political standpoint, and it honestly is not very accessible to those who are not Jewish (Approximately 99.8% of the world's population). However, if I had to sum up Judaism in one thing, it would be food.

Every Jewish holiday seems to boil down to, "They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat."

All of the Jewish holidays seem to have a focus on eating specific foods (or abstaining from certain ones or food altogether). Here is a list I've compiled of every Jewish holiday in order and the foods (and drinks) that are customary to each:

Rosh Hashanah
Apples
Honey
Round Challah (w/ raisins)
Honey Cake
Pomegranate
Fish

Yom Kippur
Nothing (fast day)

Sukkot
Baked grains
(eat in the sukkah)

Simchat Torah
Sweets
Hard liquor

Chanukkah
Latkes
Sufganiyot
Gelt

Tu B'Shevat
Olives
Dates
Grapes
Figs
Pomegranates
Wheat
Barley
Wine

Fast of Esther
Purim
Hamentashen
Wine, lots of it

Passover
Matzah
Charoset (Mortar)
Salt water
Parsley
Horseradish
Lamb shankbone
Hard-boiled egg
Wine (4 cups)

Shavuot
Cheesecake
Cheese blintzes

Tisha B'Av
Nothing (fast day)

Shabbat
Challah
Wine
Spices (for Havdallah)


Perhaps it would be prudent to try and educate people about Judaism through an edible calendar. When we strip away all of the rituals and prayer, what happens? Can the story of my people be told expressly through food? Every holiday has a theme, and the foods we eat help to tell the narrative of what happened during that particular event.

My plan is to gather/cook all of the foods/drinks listed above and display them in one continuous line along a table. In order, everyone will be able to experience a year's worth of being Jewish through abbreviated progressive taste-testing.

Are people able to tell where one holiday ends and the next starts? Is there an overall taste theme for each holiday? I like the idea of a clean, minimalist, stripped-down display using a series of small dishes filled with bits of foods, and empty dishes signifying fast days. I would ideally like to use a round table, but it may be easier to use the long one, with people going down both sides. I want people to interact with each other and talk about the food and how it makes them feel.

The complete Jewish experience for me revolves around food and social interaction. If I can convey both of these experiences in tandem, then I have successfully relayed to people the joys of being Jewish. Every year, someone who isn't Jewish gets really excited about joining me and my roommate for the Passover Seder at Chabad, and they seem absolutely mystified about the experience.

Upon doing research, I've even learned a few new things about the customs that I've been doing for all or most of my life. For instance, Hannukah gelt is a recent addition to the holiday, invented by a chocolatier in the 1900s. The concept of giving gelt or charity had already existed, but it was felt that chocolate was more appropriate for younger children. Another fun fact, People tend to binge drink on both Simchat Torah and Purim, however, Nowhere in the Torah does it explicitly state that we should binge drink on Simchat Torah, where on Purim, we are told to drink so much that we cannot distinguish between Haman's and Mordechai's names.

It has occurred to me that displaying only food in itself could be confusing, and perhaps there can be some sort of textual or visual aid to accompany the foods. For example, there are certain actions that are carried out while eating, such as leaning to the left while drinking wine on Passover. Perhaps verbal prompts could be added, and may end up making the customs seem more absurd. Again, what happens when we strip away the religious and storytelling aspects to the holidays and leave just the food and actions? It's extremely hard for me to envision, since I've been exposed all of my life, but how would everyone else respond to the rituals out of context?

Project Idea.

I've decided to go with the coffee plan, and I have two ideas. One of my ideas is to create something similar to a time laspe, but with different types of coffee.



With this idea, I want to photograph various presentations of coffee and compile the images together in order to create a bigger picture. They will be photographed with a 35mm film camera, scanned, and printed. In a nutshell, I'd like to express how much coffee has impacted many people's lives and how much it evolved through culture.

My other idea was to photograph various coffee in many places as a way to express how the aesthetics and presentation of coffee may reflect the way the coffee may taste. For instance, Starbucks may appear to have a nice atmosphere, yet many may argue that their coffee isn't as great as it seems. Some favor local coffee shops, while some favor corporate coffee.

I'm still undecided on which direction to go, but I like the time lapse idea.. I dunno. :/

Our Daily Bread Thoughts and Reflections:

Watching the film left me personally will a couple of knots in my stomach. This was heightened by the graphic ending of the film. The cow falling over and the struggling was a bit sickening. The processing and large scale of these factories, made me wonder as to why is it on such a large scale. Thinking more about it, the scale makes perfect sense when I consider how often I personally, and the people around me consume these foods. However, it is shown and overall assumed that these locations were in Germany. The greenhouses seemed interesting to note the very large amount of plastic being used. Repetitive, manual labor and not at times in production contrasts greatly to the idealized version or depiction rather of agricultural production.

About More of the Idea Forming

As per usual, looking up definitions and understanding terms helps me improve my ideas. Wikipedia's article on community was quite interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community. It is worth checking out.

I think I will serve a sit down meal of rice. I think rice because it does not have a particularly authentic flavor, and people eat and cultivate it worldwide.

I am also considering this: have one room where the class will sit at a table with food in community, and then have each person individually take turns going into another room and sit at a table alone with a video projection of people eating in front of them. They would have food in there to eat.

The reason I am considering this, is to give people the straight-forward comparison of immediate community versus digital community. More on that as I progress...

Project Research

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=26777&page=1

Are Oreos Addictive?

http://www.bantransfats.com/theoreocase.html

Ban Trans Fats

http://books.google.com/books?id=588QpAtpIiUC&pg=PA147&lpg=PA147&dq=Oreo+heart+attack&source=bl&ots=jP3zzTkY1z&sig=3nJjqzTxCmqMjiuoEjcN9c7VRss&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UcshT77qIoHYtwf99IGiCw&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q&f=false

Every Heart Attack is Preventable

http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_150/152_eating_well.html

7 Desserts You Shouldn't Be Eating

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naloxone

Naloxone

http://ww10.1800baskets.com/product.do?baseCode=94551&conversionTag=true

Heart Shaped Oreos

New Idea: Make Conversation Human Hearts sparking conversation on Trans Fats, opiate-addictive substances, Heart Attack

ReBranding Oreos?

The primary health risk identified for trans fat consumption is an elevated risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).^[45] A comprehensive review of studies of trans fats was published in 2006 in the New England Journal of Medicine reports a strong and reliable connection between trans fat consumption and CHD, concluding that "On a per-calorie basis, trans fats appear to increase the risk of CHD more than any other macronutrient, conferring a substantially increased risk at low levels of consumption (1 to 3% of total energy intake)".^[4] This study estimates that between 30,000 and 100,000 cardiac deaths per year in the United States are attributable to the consumption of trans fats.^[46]

The major evidence for the effect of trans fat on CHD comes from the Nurses' Health Study — a cohort study that has been following 120,000 female nurses since its inception in 1976. In this study, Hu and colleagues analyzed data from 900 coronary events from the study's population during 14 years of followup. He determined that a nurse's CHD risk roughly doubled (relative risk of 1.94, CI: 1.43 to 2.61) for each 2% increase in trans fat calories consumed (instead of carbohydrate calories). By contrast, it takes more than a 15% increase in saturated fat calories (instead of carbohydrate calories) to produce a similar increase in risk. "The replacement of saturated fat or trans unsaturated fat by cis (unhydrogenated) unsaturated fats was associated with larger reductions in risk than an isocaloric replacement by carbohydrates."^[47] Hu also reports on the benefits of reducing trans fat consumption. Replacing 2% of food energy from trans fat with non-trans unsaturated fats more than halves the risk of CHD (53%). By comparison, replacing a larger 5% of food energy from saturated fat with non-trans unsaturated fats reduces the risk of CHD by 43%.^[47]

Another study considered deaths due to CHD, with consumption of trans fats being linked to an increase in mortality, and consumption of polyunsaturated fats being linked to a decrease in mortality.^[45][48]

There are two accepted tests that measure an individual's risk for coronary heart disease, both blood tests. The first considers ratios of two types of cholesterol, the other the amount of a cell-signalling cytokine called C-reactive protein. The ratio test is more accepted, while the cytokine test may be more powerful but is still being studied.^[45] The effect of trans fat consumption has been documented on each as follows:

• Cholesterol ratio: This ratio compares the levels of LDL (so-called "bad" cholesterol) to HDL (so-called "good" cholesterol). Trans fat behaves like saturated fat by raising the level of LDL, but, unlike saturated fat, it has the additional effect of decreasing levels of HDL. The net increase in LDL/HDL ratio with trans fat is approximately double that due to saturated fat.^[49] (Higher ratios are worse.) One randomized crossover study published in 2003 comparing the effect of eating a mealon blood lipids of (relatively) cis and trans fat rich meals showed that cholesteryl ester transfer (CET) was 28% higher after the trans meal than after the cis meal and that lipoprotein concentrations were enriched in apolipoprotein(a) after the trans meals.^[50]
• C-reactive protein (CRP): A study of over 700 nurses showed that those in the highest quartile of trans fat consumption had blood levels of CRP that were 73% higher than those in the lowest quartile.^[51]

Perfume movie response, make up for 1/11

Had this printed out and typed but haven't been able to post it to the blog yet.

In the film Perfume, a young boy named Jean-Baptist Grenouille has a keen sense of smell and then becomes obsessed with murdering women just to capture their scents. I have seen this movie before, and watching it the second time I thought about it in a different light. Considering all the artists we've been researching that incorporate scent into their work, I didn't necessarily think this movie could be considered a work of art or that perfume making could be, either.

Overall, though most people would find this film disturbing and it certainly was at times, I was very intrigued by the murderer and his determination to find this perfect scent. In a way, it seemed like a labor for love the way he would kill these women in search for this smell. While the invidial murders and Grenouille's overall demeanor were definitely disturbing, it made me curious as to why he was so dedicated to smell. Being so devoted to one of the five senses could be considered strange or abnormal, especially smell. But then again, this takes the realm of smell into the same as sight or vision. Smell can be a theme within art almost as commonplace as visuals.

I found this movie to potentialy be a piece of art in that it touches upon ideals of sexuality, beauty, and sensuality. It really takes into the considered the idea of a sense of smell to truly be a gift or a beautiful thing, which is something that we take for granted every day. There were times where I found the film disturbing and didn't want to watch, but I feel that this is what an artwork has the ability to do. It makes you question certain things and consider new ways of thinking.

Reading questions

So do you like the smell of skunks?

I've never smelled a skunk before but from the descriptions of it I imagine it wouldn't smell very good. I can have a very sensitive sense of smell especially when that scent is really discomforting to me.

Reflect upon the Rachael Hertz article on Understanding Odor Preferences. Discuss amongst yourselves odors and tastes that you did not like as a child, but now do like and how you think that transition may have come about thinking about the idea that meaning is attached to odor.

As a child I really didn't like the taste of tomatoes or cucumbers. I honestly didn't really like all that much to begin with. I wouldn't eat anything that was fishy or spicy or had a strong odor. Now that I'm older, my food choices are very broad and I like to eat and try almost anything. I think this transition is honestly due to being exposed to more scents as you grow and the idea of having freshly prepared fish versus the fish sticks at school.

What is the problematic of odor that is akin to art?
I think a major problem with odor in relation to art is how temporary it can be. We smell something once and after a few minutes it's gone, whereas a visual can remain pictured in our heads for quite some time. The idea of odor in art is very new to me and I think that is a problem for a lot of people. You wouldn't expect that kind of sense to be artistic or anything really.

Read the Clare Ursitti poem aloud. Pick two of the compounds from the list that form the Clare Ursitti poem and write what they are in layperson’s terms on the blog.
acetones: they are miscible with water and serve as an important solvent, typically as the solvent of choice for cleaning purposes.

butyric acid: it is a fatty acid occurring in the form of esters in animal fats and plant oils used in certain foods such as parmesan cheese and butter.

Go online and investigate the world of scratch and sniff stickers. What are the two strangest scents that you find after about 4-5 minutes of research? Please post the URLs and scents that you found intriguing.
http://www.perpetualkid.com/stinky-scratch-and-sniff-stickers.aspx

Gasoline and pipe smoke or skunk

What is Smell-o-Vision? Please describe a situation if one exists in your personal experience where smell or odor was part of an experience of pastime or pleasure and/or commerce and shopping? Does odor impact your buying decisions? Please give examples?
Smell-O-Vision releases odors during a film so that the viewers can smell the experience. At Disney's Epcot they have the Soarin' ride where you go through all of these different simulated places and they project smells such as an orange grove or ocean. Definitely when going shopping I hate the smell of Hollister. I don't know why they have such a distinct smell but overall, it gives me, personally, a negative experience and I choose not to shop there.

Think about the products you buy like detergent, air freshener, personal hygiene products and the fragrances attached to them. How do you choose?

I usually choose products that are more rich smelling like vanilla or flowers. I don't really like too fruity of smells because they seem artificial. And when it comes to tooth paste, all I'll buy is a mint flavor. I absolutely hate cinnamon or any other kind.

Can odor be political? Controlling? Oppressive? Manipulating? Give examples not just from the readings, but from your own personal experience?
Odor can definitely be controlling or manipulating. Throughout popular culture we choose to use perfumes or fragrances to make ourselves feel more beautiful or desirable and this can definitely be deceiving. We become obsessed with this culture of how we should or shouldn't smell and it's oppressive. And when I think of an odor being political I just think of the smell of gasolines or smell bombs used to control a crowd.

How does odor validate or inform judgments (positive or negative) that we may have about people or places or even situations? Give some examples.
Odor can definitely change someone's judgement or opinion about someone. For example, people who wear nice smelling perfume or shampoos always seem cleanly or like they have good hygiene. Sometimes when a place smells bad we definitely get a sense of negative judgement or are concerned that a place is dirty, or if a food smells bad we think it is rotten. When a place smells nostalgic or we are reminded of something when we smell it, we get positives judgements because it was a good memory.

About an Idea Forming

As I watched Our Daily Bread, I was particularly intrigued by the shots where the people were lunching in the middle of their workday. It was especially interesting because I was eating at the same time. I begin to postulate about what it means for people to eat together. Is the community in a meal important? What would the interactions look like between strangers vs. friends? Is this even an are worth considering? I think so.

The idea is this: I am considering a video installation where there is a table and people come in and share a meal with people on film eating simultaneously. Perhaps I can find some individuals interested in Skyping in as part of it.

There are some questions to solve:
1. Skype and video?
2. One place for sitting or enough for the whole class?
3. What type of food to serve?
4. Silence or background noise (this will probably be determined once I figure out the number of people who experience at a given time)?

Our Daily Bread

http://vimeo.com/35084450

This was really difficult to watch and was really sad. The sounds of the pigs squealing and the poor living conditions are terrible. Seeing the faces are really sad, and the sounds of all the little chicks distraught and then watching them be manhandled that way was really sad. I'm not sure if the movie maker's views are that we should be vegan or that we should just be more informed as to how our food is being processed or if the animals and the salt mine workers should be pitied. I had far fewer problems with the tomato and pepper picking then with the cramped quarters and slaughter. Though I understood that the message was more powerful when silent, I would certainly want to know if those people ate the same meats that they saw how it was slaughtered. I already don't eat pigs or cows but I know plenty of people who have seen videos like this and it doesn't alter their diet at all. As long as it's socially acceptable, being informed doesn't really change much. Maybe if they were forced to watch it every hour it would be more impactful, but eventually it fades from memory. My aunt runs a small farm in North Carolina and would never mechanize the farm or not allow the animals to roam free, but even still in the end they are commodities to be sold, not pets to be loved. There really isn't an easy answer because we have to eat and eating animals provides lots of nutrients like protein. I guess we should try designing foods like nuts to satiate humans in the same ways that meats do since they are the best replacement proteins.

Reading Responses

No I do not like the smell of skunks. I was raised to find it repulsive but have hardly ever been exposed in my life.

I used to hate tomatoes and mushrooms as a child, but now love them both. I think good memories became attached to them throughout the years as they are part of my mom’s recipe for spaghetti, which I associate fond memories of warmth and home with.

What is problematic of odor that is akin to art? Different people will like different things based on personal life experiences. In art you have to accept that not everyone is going to like what you produce, and there are going to be some people that actually hate it.

Clare Ursitti Poem: “ heptatonic acid” - an oil liquid with an unpleasant, rancid odor. The smell of rotten fat. It is one of the many additives in cigarettes. “putrescine” - foul smelling component in putrefying flesh, also found in bad breath, vaginosis, and also small doses in semen and some microalgae.

2 strangest scratch & sniff stickers:

• Marijuana: http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2010/11/weird-weed-news-dutch-plan-scr.html
• Motor oil, gasoline, rope, bandaids, crabs, etc! http://smurfwreck.libsyn.com/webpage/peel-here-16-smells-like-weird-in-here-

Smell-O-Vision: I had my first experience with Smell-O-Vision at Animal Kingdom in Disney World. It was a show called “Bug’s Life” and they tried doing a full sensory emersion with mist, vibrating seats, and I’m pretty sure there was a “stink bug” odor that the audience got doused with. An obvious shopping/consumer example is when I was younger and would go into stores like Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch. They would practically douse everything in the store with their perfume, and the models were required to “spritz” the place every hour. My friend, who was obsessed with the store, would swear the clothing would smell like that perfume through the first couple of washes. It made her always want to buy the clothes, whereas I would choke on the fragrance because it was so strong!

I always chose by smelling them when I can! If I can’t open the package, then I read the description until I find one that I think I would like the smell of. Normally lavenders, vanillas, or tropical fruits are a safe bet!

Political Motives: The examples in the reading definitely point to the potential use of odor in the near future to control crowds. I think manipulation is the best way to describe it, especially since odor is often overlooked by the general population. Political campaigns could easily start incorporating scent as a way to identify their party favorably. The trick is that as the article also stated, it is still very difficult to find a scent that is either universally appealing or universally offensive due to the nature of individual experience in aversion/appeal formation.

Odors can play a big role in the formation of opinions in all sorts of situations. There was this boy who really wanted to take me on a date in high school, and even though he was a great guy and always a very nice person...his personal odor, I don’t know whether to classify it as B.O. or if it was a type of cologne he used, was SO offensive that I always had to fight this very strong aversion to crinkle my nose in distaste when he was around. I felt so bad because there was really nothing wrong with him otherwise! But my goodness - that smell. Needless to say, the whole dating thing never worked out.

Questions for the Readings.

What is the problematic of odor that is akin to art?
Odor is temporary, and each individual reacts differently to odor. Some odor can be pleasant while others can be unpleasant. In art, it may be difficult to please an entire audience.

Read the Clare Ursitti poem aloud. Pick two of the compounds from the list that form the Clare Ursitti poem and write what they are in layperson’s terms on the blog.
iso-eugenol: A product of eugenol, which is used to manufacture vanillin -- a primary component of the extract of vanilla bean. Isoeugenol is found in essential oils of plants like ylang ylang (a.k.a. perfume tree).
carbon disulphite: A colorless volatile liquid that has an "ether"-like odor. Small amounts of carbon disulphite is emitted by volcanic eruptions and marshes.

Go online and investigate the world of scratch and sniff stickers. What are the two strangest scents that you find after about 4-5 minutes of research? Please post the URLs and scents that you found intriguing.
Dollars: http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/3m.html
MR. T Body Odor: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-MR-T-Scratch-Sniff-Stickers-BODY-ODOR-/330590698178?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf8bdbac2

What is Smell-o-Vision? Please describe a situation if one exists in your personal experience where smell or odor was part of an experience of pastime or pleasure and/or commerce and shopping? Does odor impact your buying decisions? Please give examples?
Smell-O-Vision is a system that released odors during a projected film so that the viewers could smell the experience. Each time I go to the mall, I tend to avoid stores that give off intense odors like Abercrombie and Hollister. The odor from these stores definitely keeps me away from buying their merchandise, which helps me fight the recession.

Think about the products you buy like detergent, air freshener, personal hygiene products and the fragrances attached to them. How do you choose?
I tend to buy these sort of items due to memories I have with certain smells. For instance, I'd buy a certain body wash because it reminds me of Japan, and certain fragrances because it reminds me of a gift that my mom gave me on Christmas when I was in the 8th grade.

Can odor be political? Controlling? Oppressive? Manipulating? Give examples not just from the readings, but from your own personal experience?
Odor could be political, controlling, oppressive, and manipulating -- especially when it comes to personal shopping. From the Ursitti interview, the perfume industry prevents human beings from smelling like human. Humans utilize perfume/fragrance to replace their smell with the "sexuality of animals, plants and chemicals that stimulate this." In this sense, odor can be a controlling factor to alter natural smell. Moreover, odor can manipulate the individual to buy certain products because they prefer the particular smell. Oppressive odor reminds me of mustard gas and other weapons used in war that releases dangerous odor.

How does odor validate or inform judgments (positive or negative) that we may have about people or places or even situations? Give some examples.
Odor can play a role in judging the cleanliness of a place. Entering another person's home can give someone an idea of how this person lives. It's not necessarily good or bad -- it's just a new smell, new encounter of the smell. If you walk into someone's home and walk pass a kitty litter box, then the smell is drastically different. It could be a good or bad thing depending on the situation. Some homes smell decent while others don't... at least that's my experience.

Taste Experiments

Dailey and I paired up for this activity

Temperature and Flavor:
I felt the warmer punch was a lot better flavor-wise while Dailey really preferred the very cold punch over the "fake-tasting" warm one.

Salt:
The both of us had similar opinions on the salt. The iodized salt was perceived as the saltiest and the most distinctly "salty", while the Mediterranean to me was 'flavorful' and 'sharp but sweet' for Dailey. The Scandinavian salt was weak for me and a lingering sweet and sour for Dailey.

Sweet and sour:
I thought the lemon juice and sugar syrup itself were too bitter and too bland, respectively. I preferred the addition of syrup to the lemon juice rather than the other way around. Dailey had the same opinions of the lemon juice and sugar syrup, but the lemon added to the syrup elicited a more resonating sour taste while the sugar added to the lemon was sugary.

Bittersweet:
Better chocolate: smoky, chalky, suprisingly bitter
90%: Sweet at first but bitter aftertaste, but edible
70%: perfect balance of sweet and bitter for me, Still a bit too bitter for Dailey
60%: Dailey's perfect balance, slightly too sweet for me
Milk: Hurts my teeth, way too sweet for me, Dailey liked it but can taste the sugar
With caramel sauce: For me, very distinct flavors, didn't really add anything for me. Overall though, Dailey preferred the caramel with the chocolate.

Salty and Sour:
The plain avocado had a nice creamy feel. Both of us preferred the avocado with just salt over the avocado with lemon and with lemon and salt. The lemon itself gave it a rotten-like taste.

Sweet and Salty:
The tomato sauce itself was very biting and like salty dirt. The caramel addition gave it a sweet aftertaste. The caramel by itself is very sweet, but with the addition of salt, it stimulated our taste buds more and produced a tingly feeling

Texture and flavor:
We were surprised at how the texture of a carrot influenced its flavor. The carrot juice itself was very sweet and intensely carroty. In chunks and diced, it was recognizably carrot, but more bitter. Shredded and minced carrot didn't really taste like much of anything.

Fat and Mouthfeel:
Non-fat milk: very watery, a bit sour
1%: had some body, decent balance between water and milk
Whole: Thicker, more bitter, heavier, noticeable milk taste
Heavy cream: Very close to cheese, lingers in the mouth, like a solid liquid, weird aftertaste

Balancing Fat and Acid:

Olive Oil: unflavorful, dull, didn't really notice it
2 Oil/ 1 Vinegar: pleasant, but still dull, slimy, tingly in mouth
1 Oil/ 1 Vinegar: perfect balance, tingly, noticed the lettuce more
2 Vinegar/ 1 Oil: sharp but pleasant, lettuce was overpowered
Vinegar: very sharp feeling, sour

Answers to Katerie's Questions

So do you like the smell of skunks?

I've never smelled a skunk up close and personal, but I imagine I hate it. The smell of sulfurous well water though is by far my worst smell memory.

Reflect upon the Rachael Hertz article on Understanding Odor Preferences. Discuss amongst yourselves odors and tastes that you did not like as a child, but now do like and how you think that transition may have come about thinking about the idea that meaning is attached to odor.

This hasn't changed but I think it's an interesting side observation related to this. When my mom was pregnant with me, the only thing that she didn't throw up was grape popsicles. She still loves grape popsicles and grape flavored things. However, for as long as I can remember, I absolutely hate the smell and taste of anything artificially flavored grape. Despite the fact that it was the only thing to NOT make my mom sick, I think my body has always connected it with vomit. I guess the smell of the beach and fish I used to really not like, but now I love the smell of seafood and the salty air of the beach because now that I've tasted freshly caught seafood, I know how good it is and good memories are attached. Also for the opposite, I used to like hot dogs, the taste and the smell, but once I vomited after eating a hot dog that had processed cheese in the middle and now I hate the smell and taste of any hot dog and I no longer like Kraft American cheese like I used to when I was a kid.

What is the problem of odor that is akin to art?

I think a big problem with odor art that was mentioned was the temporality. When we're first introduced to a smell we may lock it in and identify it, but over time our noses adjust and we no longer smell anything. There is also the problem that there is just not enough critical context to allow people to understand how or why it's art. Another problem is that it's difficult to discuss odors. We can discuss what causes the odor, or what it smells like, but we have zero vocabulary truly fitted to explain a smell, especially due to the multiplicity of most smells.

Read the Clare Ursitti poem aloud. Pick two of the compounds from the list that form the Clare Ursitti poem and write what they are in layperson’s terms on the blog.

heptane thiol is a sulfurous flavoring agent.

Skatole occurs naturally in feces and coal tar, and has a strong fecal odor. In low concentrations, it has a flowery smell and is found in several flowers and essential oils, including those of orange blossoms, jasmine, and Ziziphus mauritiana. It is used as a fragrance and fixative in many perfumes and as an aroma compound.

Go online and investigate the world of scratch and sniff stickers. What are the two strangest scents that you find after about 4-5 minutes of research? Please post the URLs and scents that you found intriguing.

http://www.promobrands.com/scratchandsniffscents.htm

Two strangest = Gunfire and Vinyl

What is Smell-o-Vision? Please describe a situation if one exists in your personal experience where smell or odor was part of an experience of pastime or pleasure and/or commerce and shopping? Does odor impact your buying decisions? Please give examples?

Smell-o-vision is when you associate smells with vision, usually a movie, like Spy Kids 4D. The smell of my grandmother's kitchen as we make pizelles with my grandpa are a pretty strong association because we always make them with anise. The Food court at the mall always bombards me with smells, but the most specific one I can remember that impacts my buying decisions is Auntie Anne's pretzels. The smell of fresh dough and the memory of knowing how much I like them always draws me in.

Think about the products you buy like detergent, air freshener, personal hygiene products and the fragrances attached to them. How do you choose?

When I'm buying detergent, air freshener, etc. I like to ask the opinions of the people I'm living with, but I also think I choose based on the color they associate with the scent. For instance, I know I like fruit and vanilla sugar smells, so anything that is colored yellow, orange, lime green, white, cream, or light brown are usually good, but I hate the smell of lavender, grape, cherry, woods, etc. so I avoid anything with deeper colors like purple, red, blue, etc.

Can odor be political? Controlling? Oppressive? Manipulating? Give examples not just from the readings, but from your own personal experience?

The video we watched showed that the government is trying to create an odor weapon to control crowds, which seems pretty relevant in today's Occupy movements. If these crowds can be oppressed by a smell, than the gov't has too much power over its people and it won't take long for the politicians and those in power to take full advantage of their new power. I can only think in personal experiences of odors being manipulating as discussed earlier in terms of making me as the consumer want to buy something.

How does odor validate or inform judgments (positive or negative) that we may have about people or places or even situations? Give some examples.

There was one student in my high school who was notorious for having a particularly noxious body odor. The student had no friends and the student's peers bought deodorant as a cruel Christmas present. If someone smells bad, we don't want to be near them.

Questions

What is the problematic of odor that is akin to art?
The most apparent problem of working with odor is that everybody interprets odors differently, based on their upbringing, culture, and other learned experiences. When thinking about this, olfactory art seems like a very personalized art form and may have a difficult time appealing to the masses. Another issue with odor is that we are able to notice a change in odors, say, entering a house and noticing its specific odor. However, when we are inhabiting the space for a period of time, we can no longer notice the odor as much, making it potentially difficult to really experience a piece for any prolonged period of time.

Putrescine: A toxic compound that occurs in living things. It is responsible for the putrid odors of things like vaginosis, bad breath, and rotting flesh.

Skatole: An organic compound that is found in coal tar and more notably, feces. It is found in many flowers in low concentrations as well.

Scratch and Sniff Stickers:
Onion: http://smellstickers.com/scratch-and-sniff-sticker.php/onion-Scratch-and-Sniff-Stickers/10235

Gasoline: http://smurfwreck.libsyn.com/webpage/peel-here-16-smells-like-weird-in-here-

Smell-O-Vision
Smell-o-vision was a practice that some theaters used to release scents into the room while a film or live production was occurring to coincide with the action or subject matter. However, this was not terribly successful and more problematic since smells would become muddled and linger for days after a viewing.

I recently had an experience where I took my sister to the mall, and like many 12-year old girls, she is heavily into brand names like Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch. In Hollister, the heavy perfume smell is bearable and I actually find it somewhat pleasant. We did most of our shopping there as opposed to Abercrombie. I almost bought something, and it was very uncharacteristic of me to buy into brand names. However, later on in our shopping trip, my sister insisted that we enter Abercrombie. Every time I walk by this store, the scent is absolutely terrible. It is slightly reminiscent of urine to me and I can never quite understand why so many people do like it. After being in the store for 10 minutes, I was having trouble breathing and the odor was really killing my sinuses. As we were leaving, the vapid-looking cashier casually asked me if I wanted to work there, based solely on my looks, never mind my retail experience. Logistics aside, my first thought was "I could not stand to be in this store for any prolonged period of time. It just smells too bad." We didn't buy anything there. If it wasn't for my sister, I would have left in a matter of 30 seconds.

When I buy personal products that have a fragrance, I look for scents that are more mild and fresh. I don't like heavy, fruity smells or musky ones. I imagine that those heavy scents, while good at first, get gross when they warm up throughout use of the product.

I don't feel that odor can really be controlling or manipulative in a direct sense. An odor cannot MAKE you do something, only influence your decision. Its just like odor experimentation for use in crowd control. The foul odor created hopes to persuade people to leave a space, but it is not physically forcing them. Also, there is no universally repulsive smell. Odor does, however, influence value judgement extremely. The best example for this is in pheromones. When you are close to somebody, you notice their scent, and it can either be repelling or attractive and can give insight to their personality. Another odor judgment example would be walking into somebody's house. The scent of their home can directly affect how you feel about the people living there, and ultimately whether or not you want to stick around. I've been in homes that smelled funky and really deterred me from ever visiting again. I've also been places that have a strong odor, but it feels positive and it doesn't exactly correlate to whether it is a 'good' or a 'bad' smell.

Taste Experiments

I'm a picky eater and, I suspect, a supertaster. Pairing up with Ryan was good because he seemed willing to try everything.

Temperature and Flavor:

The warmer drink tasted sweeter but also more artificial. Somehow when it was cooler it took the edge off of how sweet it was but it also tasted "crisper" and more natural.

Salt:

I could not taste the difference between any of the salts when dissolved in salt water which I assume was due to the lack of difference in texture. After all, they were all NaCl.

The only distinctions I could make which I'm sure don't make any sense was that the regular salt tasted "cooler" then the iodized, Mediterranean or Scandinavian salts.

I really detest raw tomatoes, so I passed on the tomato slices experiment

Sweet and sour:

For this, I made up a kind of flow chart

Lemon=harsh > Lemon+ a little sugar = still really sour > Lemon with a little bit more sugar = perfect

Only sugar= coats the tongue and far too sweet > Mostly sugar and a little lemon > still way too sweet despite the little kick of sour > Half and Half> agreeable to Ryan but still a little too sugary, sticky, not enough good flow across the tongue

Bittersweet:

Unsweetened= unbearable

90% = too bitter

70% = delicious!

60% = wasn't as good, no flavor or kick

milk chocolate = creamy, soft, ok

Unsweetened w/ caramel = still pretty bad but glad to have the caramel

90% with caramel= still bitter

70% dark chocolate w/ caramel = AMAZING!!

60% + caramel = sweeter, still not good

milk chocolate + caramel = way too sweet to eat, stuck to the tongue

Salty and Sour:

Notes: Salt overpowers avocado

Lemon makes avocado sweeter

Salt is less pronounced w/ lemon

salt does not make lemon flavor more pronounced

After really salty, lemon does not diminish salty

Sweet and Salty:

Salt makes caramel too salty and did not enhance the flavor for me (Maybe I put in too much salt)

Ryan tested the sugar water in the tomato sauce ( the face he made made me glad that I didn't try it ;)

Texture and flavor:

Have to wait for Ryan (Carrots are by biggest downfall)

Fat and Mouthfeel:

fat free - not thick at all doesn't linger

1% milk- a bit creamier, doesn't linger, a little more flavor

whole milk - much creamier, doesn't linger

heavy whipping cream- almost tasted saltier - lingers on the tongue

whole milk was the most pleasant

whipping cream was the least pleasant

Balancing Fat and Acid:

Just oil on lettuce = bland

2 oil + 1 vinegar = mostly bland, just a little flavor

half and half = best

1 oil + 2 vinegar = nasty

vinegar only = actually better than oil and 2 vinegar

Smell Tour, a bit late

We took Ryan and Dailey on our tour

About Ursitti and Hertz Question and Answers

What is the problematic of odor that is akin to art?
It is subjective.

Read the Clare Ursitti poem aloud. Pick two of the compounds from the list that form the Clare Ursitti poem and write what they are in layperson’s terms on the blog.
Trimethylamine= organic compound that is a product of plant and animal decomposition, smells like rotting fish or bad breath
Skatole = fragrance fixative in perfumes, slightly flowery in low doses, occurs naturally in feces and in large doses smealls like feces

Go online and investigate the world of scratch and sniff stickers. What are the two strangest scents that you find after about 4-5 minutes of research? Please post the URLs and scents that you found intriguing.
Baby powder scented farm animal stickers. http://www.everythingsmells.com/bafaanscnsns.html
Taco stickers. http://www.everythingsmells.com/mesmtastsh.html

What is Smell-o-Vision? Please describe a situation if one exists in your personal experience where smell or odor was part of an experience of pastime or pleasure and/or commerce and shopping? Does odor impact your buying decisions? Please give examples?
Smell-O-Vision is a system that releases smells during a movie to enhance the movie going experience. As far as buying decisions, I think to a small degree if I am comparing two versions of a book, I will pick the one that has the more musty/library smell to it. The more obvious scent and shopping choices I have made are for hand soap, shampoo, and deodorant.

Think about the products you buy like detergent, air freshener, personal hygiene products and the fragrances attached to them. How do you choose?
Detergent I buy from habit because its what I grew up with when my mom still did the laundry. For the personal hygiene items I usually choose by price first and then by smell, but if the price difference is marginal, I will sometimes compromise and choose the smell over the price.

Can odor be political? Controlling? Oppressive? Manipulating? Give examples not just from the readings, but from your own personal experience?
It can. It can bias you in shopping decisions which can be remarkably political. It can turn you away from something or it can draw you to something. In Ursitti’s interview she talks about volunteering for a lab and how in a way, the manipulation of scent became political because it attempted to control the social and psychological thought in response to the experimental scents. I, personally, have never thought of scents politically, but instead commercially. The only time I have perhaps even considered politics in relation to scent is the organic vs. mass produced items in a food store, or the local vs. corporate scents (Starbucks coffee vs. Coffee Culture coffee). Tastes and smells are tricked so that a consumer feels familiar and safer going with the corporate location.

How does odor validate or inform judgments (positive or negative) that we may have about people or places or even situations? Give some examples.
I think if you were to meet someone for the first time and they smelled of poort hygiene it would have an initial questionable reaction. People wearing too much perfume also give an impression of trying too hard or covering up an unwanted scent. It changes the initial honest opinion of a person before you relationally connect or get to know them.

Taste Experiments.

001. Temperature and Flavor
Room: sweet, lots of taste.
Cold: less sweet, dramatically less taste.

002. Salt
Regular Salt: Has more taste than Scandinavian Salt. Its taste became less salty than Scandinavian and Iodized salt when eaten with tomato.
Iodized Salt: Really salty out of all the salts, and extremely salty with tomato.
Scandinavian Salt: Tasted like sea salt. Saltiest tomato.
Mediterranean Salt: Similar to regular salt, but had a hint of sweetness. Sweet tomato.

003. Sweet and Sour
Syrup: It sure tasted super sweet, had a smooth texture.
Syrup & Lemon: Tasted more like lemonade, not too sweet. This mixture was the best.
Lemon: Incredibly sour, like how lemons would taste.
Lemon & Syrup: Had a really sour taste still, but the syrup eased the sourness.

004. Bittersweet
Unsweetened: Bitter -- really gross.
90%: Slightly sweeter, but still bitter. Tasted a lot better with caramel.
70%: Tastes like dark chocolate.
60%: Good balance of bitter and sweet. I preferred this chocolate, but the extra addition of caramel adding sweetness to this chocolate was overkill.
Milk: Too sweet, it-almost-isn't-chocolate kind of sweet, tasted like caramel at that point.

005. Salty and Sour
Avocado [itself]: Bitter, not really a flavor -- tasted like leaf/dirt.
Avocado [w/ salt]: Salty, doesn't taste better with salt.
Avocado [+ lemon]: Sour with salt, less pronounced taste.
---
Avocado [w/ lemon & salt]: Salt overpowers the lemon --> less pronounced.
---
Avocado [3rd round]: Horrible. Lemon didn't make it less salty.

006. Sweet and Salty
Sugar enhanced the tomato sauce taste --> like ketchup! O:
Salt intensified the flavor of the tomato sauce, more salty than sweet.

007. Texture and Flavor
Shredded: Less flavor.
Minced: Not a lot of flavor.
Diced: Tastes more like a carrot --> the bigger the piece, the more taste.
Chunk: Carrot. --> The finer the carrot size, the less flavorful.
Juice: Doesn't taste as flavorful as actual carrots.

008. Fat and Mouthfeel
0%: Water, doesn't linger. Most pleasant taste.
1%: Feels thicker.
Whole: Thicker taste, lingers longer.
Heavy Whipping Cream: Thick -- like milkshake. Lingers long. Most unpleasant.

009. Balancing Fat and Acid
Oil: Smooth taste, has a coating element to taste.
Oil [w/ vinegar]: The added vinegar adds a clashing taste with the oil. Tastes like salad dressing.
Oil & Vinegar [balanced]: Really good flavor -- good balance.
Vinegar [w/ oil]: Tastes really foul. Too much flavor.
Vinegar: BAD.