Abstraction is a process by which higher concepts are derived from the usage and classification of literal ("real" or "concrete") concepts, first principles, or other methods. "An abstraction" is the product of this process – a concept that acts as a super-categorical noun for all subordinate concepts, and connects any related concepts as a group, field, or category.
Abstractions may be formed by reducing the information content of a concept or an observable phenomenon, typically to retain only information which is relevant for a particular purpose. For example, abstracting a leather soccer ball to the more general idea of a ball retains only the information on general ball attributes and behavior, eliminating the other characteristics of that particular ball.
Thinking in abstractions is considered to be one of the key traits in modern human behaviour, which is believed to have developed between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago, probably before the modern human exodus from Africa. Its development is likely to have been closely connected with the development of human language, which (whether spoken or written) appears to both involve and facilitate abstract thinking.
Matthew Collings (born 1955) is a British art critic, writer and broadcaster.
In one of his books on art, Collings states that, in his early teenage years, he ran away to Canada. This act was preceded by a period of hanging around in a house in Oakley Street, Chelsea, whose residents included members of various rock bands including Mighty Baby and Family. For many weeks Collings was the object of an internationally coordinated police search.
Collings trained at Byam Shaw School of Art, and Goldsmith's College, and still practises as an artist. He edited Artscribe 1983-7. Collings was a producer and presenter on the BBC The Late Show 1989-95. In the early 1990s, he brought Martin Kippenberger into the BBC studios to create an installation, and he interviewed Georg Herold while this Cologne-based conceptual artist painted a large canvas with beluga caviar.
Collings also wrote and presented documentary films for the BBC on individual artists, such as Donald Judd, Georgia O'Keeffe and Willem de Kooning, as well as broader historical subjects such as Hitler's "Degenerate art" exhibition, art looted in the Second World War by Germany and Russia, Situationism, Spain's post-Franco art world and the rise of the Cologne art scene.
Matthew Jeffrey "Matty" Collins (born 31 March 1986) is a Welsh footballer who plays for Welsh Premier League side Neath. He has represented Wales at Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21 levels, and plays as a central midfielder and also as a right back.
Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Collins started his career at Swindon Town but Fulham scouts were impressed by him and he signed for the club in the summer of 2001 for a fee in excess of £200,000. During a pre season tour to Germany in the 2005–06 season, Collins sustained a hamstring injury, this was a start of a nightmare season as he had recurring hamstring tears which kept him out for an 18-month period. He did not break into the first team at Fulham and signed for Swansea City on a free transfer in May 2007 on a two year deal. He joined League Two side Wrexham on a one-month loan deal in November 2007. He made his debut against Shrewsbury Town, playing a full 90 minutes. He returned to Swansea after playing three times for the Dragons. He is set to appear more in the Swansea City first team this year after a lot of grooming and nurturing as a right-back by Roberto Martínez. This also coincides with the short injury of designated right-back Angel Rangel. Collins started Swansea's first Championship match of the 2008–2009 campaign and the following two matches. Collins was rewarded for his good performances by John Toshack as the Welsh manager put the 22 year old on the bench for the international friendly against Georgia. On 11 August 2010, Collins left Swansea City by mutual consent in a search for regular football.
Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with King of the Gypsies (1978), earning a Golden Globe nomination for best actor debut. He starred as the protagonist in the 1980 dramatisation of Willa Cather's 1905 short story, Paul's Case. He earned both a Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in Runaway Train (1985). Through the 1990s and 2000s he maintained dramatic film and TV-movie roles while appearing in TV series. His television work includes three seasons with the sitcom Less than Perfect and a recurring role on the NBC drama Heroes. His sisters Julia Roberts and Lisa Roberts Gillan, and daughter Emma Roberts, are also actors.
Eric got his start on the now-defunct NBC daytime soap opera Another World originating the role of Ted Bancroft from February 14, 1977, to June 17, 1977.
Roberts received Golden Globe nominations for his early starring roles in King of the Gypsies (1978) and Star 80 (1983). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1985 for his role as the escaped convict Buck in the film Runaway Train. In 1987, he won the Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut performance in Burn This.
Kenneth "Ken" Davitian (born June 19, 1953) is an American actor who is best known for his role as Borat's producer (Azamat Bagatov) in the 2006 comedy film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, in which he speaks the Eastern dialect of Armenian throughout the film.
Davitian, who is of Armenian descent, was born in Los Angeles, California. A graduate of Garfield High School, he briefly attended East Los Angeles Community College.
Early in his career, he appeared in the movies American Raspberry, Bikini Summer, Maximum Force, Frogtown II, and Sexual Intent. In 1994, he appeared in the movie The Silence of the Hams, a spoof of The Silence of the Lambs. Davitian has also appeared in television series such as Chuck, Ghost Whisperer, Becker, ER, Arli$$, The Shield, Gilmore Girls, Six Feet Under, Boston Legal, The Closer, and Mind of Mencia. He has also made appearances in music videos, such as The Smashing Pumpkins' "Stand Inside Your Love". He appeared in the film Meet the Spartans as Xerxes, with the movie's narrator playing on his previous role as "that fat guy from Borat". He also starred in the 2008 film, Stone & Ed, in which he portrays a drug lord named Señor Gordo. Davitian was also an extra in a background scene of the show According to Jim. Upcoming films with Davitian include the family-friendly film The Prankster, Melvin Smarty, and You May Not Kiss The Bride. Davitian also had a cameo in the 2011 film The Artist.
The girl looks out from the window of the airplane
20,000 feet up in the sky
she picks a rooftop in the middle of the town
and wonders what is happening inside
the tv in the kitchen flashes faces
the woman slowly pushes in the chairs
her neighbors son is fighting in the army
she's concentrating to remember where
who can know the pain the joy the regret the satisfaction/passion
who can know the love of one life, one heart, one soul
at two you're at abstraction
The man is waiting for the bus into the city
He's grabs a drink slowly reads the Times
His heart is captured by a story of a child
Around the world/ miles away but always on his mind
a million this a million that
a mass sum of individuals
a million come/here a million go/there
Help me!
I am watching atomic warfare from the safety of the moon
I am dancing sacrilegiously to sound of infectious tunes
There is no sunset, is no sunrise, things on Earth don't seem as they are
The opal planet I once called home is revolving a dying star
Strange!
Awakening from crionic sleep I vacate my homely hemesphere
My soul travels on turbulent thoughts whilst my innards remain here
I feel pity for the ignorant one who leaves the egg but the shell remains
The severence of umbilical ties multiplys his deepest pains
Thought the eyes in my head I hear the purple flower's scent
Casting shadows in the shade
Lusting for the gates of jade
Though hallucinative wealth I can not comprehend myself
Sterility, fertility - the life that dwells inside of me
I often stop to wonder whilst gazing to the sky
Is there life beyond the quasars, will I find out when I die?
Is there a beeing out there who gaze into the night
And see our burning sun as a tiny spark of flight?
Deathly hatred of life
Life with a hatred of death
Ritualistic slaughter of good
Unrelenting torture
BRIDGE
Condemnation, a raging fire
Eternal damnation of the soul
Effected by a carnal existence
REFRAIN
Hideous laughter, mockery of faith
Demonic powers, spell of hate
Judgement to come, imminent danger
Life without God, perpetual stranger
Building on the evil
Established by the sin
Constant infernal practise
Misery sets in
You suffer a spiritual blind deception
But God awaits a response
To the sacrificial death
Of the Lamb of God
BRIDGE
God's redemption rescinds the fire
Eternal salvation of the soul
My life, living in this sweet denial
Every movement being watched
All the time I live around you
Time is slipping through my hands
Me every breath surrendered
I’m sitting in my room
Just waiting for the call
Of best laid plans
I live in the thought of you being here
Sitting next to me
I wanted you to go away
And now I wish for another day
With you
My call has not been answered
I'm in this thing alone
Your footsteps were my guidance
But you led me to my doom
Conclusions have been rendered
You left without a trace
The fear replaced with hatred
And it’s targeted at you
I live in the thought of you being here
Sitting next to me
I wanted you to go away
And now I wish for another day
I’m picking up these pieces that I have left around,
I’m only still here cos my world is up side down,
This way of life is not for the likes of me,
So just be honest, and tell me, who the hell is he?
Cos I feel life taking over,
And it’s taken me down way too far,
I have no energy to go through this world anymore.
Cos I feel like taking over,
And begin to run all by myself,
Cos I have no energy to go through this world anymore.
I don’t see myself as the same I used to be,
I’m not the same person that could stand up on his feet,
Which is why I feel so guilty using you as my support,
So I’m on a battlefield, waiting for a battle to be fought.
Cos I feel life taking over,
And it’s taken me down way too far,
I have no energy to go through this world anymore.
Cos I feel like taking over,
And begin to run all by myself,
Cos I have no energy to go through this world anymore.
Cos I feel life taking over,
And it’s taken me down way too far,
I have no energy to go through this world anymore.
Cos I feel like taking over,
And begin to run all by myself,