Expression

Cosma / Communication / Knowledge / Form / Expression

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost. — Martha Graham

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Introduction¹

Anna Jelen (YouTube Channel)
Anna Jelen (Podcasts)

Dictionary

expression : a mode, means, or use of significant representation or symbolism ; especially : felicitous or vivid indication or depiction of mood or sentiment — Merriam-Webster See also OneLook

Art as Expression (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Self-Expression (Mitchell S. Green)

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Exploration

Muses’ Tea Party

This 360° image is a Web World.

Touch objects to explore!

You can also explore this Toy World on Kuula.

Muse’s Playroom

This 360° image is one of an older series of Toy Worlds that serve as a 3D interface to Cosma.

Touch objects to find out about them, too!

You can also explore this Toy World on Kuula.

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Adventures

Explore related posts on Cosma …

360+Fun=Philharmonics - I came across a fun find on my weekly fishing expedition for 360° videos, and I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a fairly unusual publicity stunt. Here’s the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s recent performance of Borodin whilst inside a passenger capsule on the London Eye. Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here! Classic FM … Continue reading 360+Fun=Philharmonics
Art Revisited - Artists have revisited, reinterpreted, and in more recent terminology, “remixed” earlier artist’s work for as long as there has been art. Happily, this trend is alive and well, and new immersive 360°/3D/VR technologies are being used to revisit and add new dimensions, literally, to classic art masterpieces. Here’s a link to an earlier post where … Continue reading Art Revisited
Athena’s Chamber & Muses’ Tea Party - You are cordially invited to explore the two newest additions to the pantheon of Cosma’s Web Worlds. They are both reimaginings of earlier Toy Worlds. Just touch the 360° images to explore them! Athena’s Chamber is a reimagining of Athena’s Office. Muses’ Tea Party is a reimagining of Muses’ Playroom. Enjoy! You can also (re)visit … Continue reading Athena’s Chamber & Muses’ Tea Party
Beach Bum’s Magic Game Room - ‘Tis the season for games! At least it is for me, because I update my “fun” pages every year around this time. Of course, the game page is the most fun to do. While I was doing research for upgrading the history section of the page, I stumbled upon this awesome article published in 1972 … Continue reading Beach Bum’s Magic Game Room
Beach Gazes - You know those “virtual fireplace videos” that you can play to feel all warm and cozy? Yes, there’s even a YouTube Channel for that 🙂 Well, there are some 360° Videos made to serve a similar purpose for a summertime feeling, so you can kick back, relax and imagine some sand between your toes anytime … Continue reading Beach Gazes
Beachy Adventures - Hello, it’s been awhile. You may have noticed that there haven’t been as many posts on Cosma as there used to be. There are a few reasons for this, but a big one is that, with an old project like Cosma, the focus on different parts of it must shift over time. Last year’s focus … Continue reading Beachy Adventures
Best Cat Toy? - This site doesn’t usually deal in silly internet memes (list) like cute cat videos, but it is Friday, and this character on YouTube called FlippyCat went and posted this awesome 360° video. Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here! FlippyCat (YouTube Channel) FlippyCat (Facebook) If the think the dominoes art part is cool, … Continue reading Best Cat Toy?
Bubblephilia - Pretty much everyone loves bubbles when they are kids, but some grown-ups elevate their passion for them to a whole ’nother level. For example, a physicist at Emory University named Justin Burton and his team made news by publishing an article in a scientific journal about the ideal recipe for blowing giant soap bubbles. Here … Continue reading Bubblephilia
Candy for Nerds - This is the time of year when people in northern latitudes head out on vacation and look for fun things to do along the way. How about adding a candy factory tour to the itinerary instead? Yes indeed, this is a fun, geeky thing you can do in many places. In fact, the Food Network … Continue reading Candy for Nerds
Catch Some Waves! - Want a quick mini-vacation? Check out this 360° video of tuberiding. Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here! Waveor Company (YouTube Channel) Waveor Company (Official Website) It’s beautiful, but as you looked around, did you notice that there’s no surfer in the video? I didn’t realize, at first, that it’s a promo for … Continue reading Catch Some Waves!
Chess on Ice - The other day I was grabbing a snack at a local pub when I noticed what struck me as an odd scene on one of the TVs. At first glance it looked like a couple of people encouraging a large, mobile Pet Rock to win a race. Of course, the sport was Curling, and it … Continue reading Chess on Ice
Corn Mazed! - Step into my latest Web World! Touch the 360° image to begin exploring. You can also see it on Kuula. Backstory I’ve made a LOT of Web Worlds over the last few years. You can see them here. They are fun to make and use, but the navigation is fairly simplistic. However, I know better … Continue reading Corn Mazed!
Cosma’s Golden Jubilee! - It’s Cosma’s Birthday! Cosma came into being through an accident of confluence fifty years ago. I happened to be working in a library, and I got deeply enamored with the power of using the Dewey Decimal System to navigate it. Then I was also exposed to the spatial game Empire on the PLATO system. Viola! … Continue reading Cosma’s Golden Jubilee!
Creepy Old Bots - Before there were robots, there were automata. Automata are old-fashioned robot like contraptions, and they tend to make the news from time to time. The latest example is a 360° video featurette from the BBC about The House of Automata. Here’s a link to that video. The Strange Dolls That Come to Life (BBC Global) … Continue reading Creepy Old Bots
Disgusting Food - At the end of my last post, I pointed out that there are a ton of leftover Halloween candy recipes on YouTube, and I singled out this particularly outlandish, unappetizing example. Leftover Halloween Candy Pie (Bite-Size Glam, Inc.) It occurred to me after the fact that a far simpler and quicker solution would be to … Continue reading Disgusting Food
Dive-in-Art - Check out this video from the Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival. FloridaKeysTV (YouTube Channel) FloridaKeysTV (Official Website) There are a ton of YouTube videos about the annual fest, and here’s an article about it. Watch An Underwater Music Festival ‘Make Waves’ for Reef Protection (Florida Keys News Bureau) You might think that this event is … Continue reading Dive-in-Art
Dogs at Museums - Dogs and museums are things that you don’t expect to see in the same sentence very often. However, if you live in the Boston area, then you might have seen them together in the cute story covered by most local media about Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts “hiring” a 12 week old Weimaraner puppy named … Continue reading Dogs at Museums
Enchanted Beach Houses - I live in the Northeast, and I hate January! I know it’s “almost” February, but I’m not a huge fan of that either. This is the view outside my window right now. There’s more winter left than I can take, no matter what the ground hog says this weekend. Look at my weekend forecast from … Continue reading Enchanted Beach Houses
Exoplanet Junket - This week NASA released a new project that they’ve dubbed the Exoplanet Travel Bureau. The core of the project consists of a set of interactive 360° images that show “imagined” surfaces of five exoplanets (TRAPPIST-1e, Kepler-16b, Kepler-186f, PSO J318.5-22 and HD 40307 g). Here are three articles about the experience. This Brilliant Interactive From NASA … Continue reading Exoplanet Junket
Extreme Biking, Artfully! - This week I came across something that I thought was fairly unique. There is a Scottish BMX rider by the name of Kriss Kyle that has elevated his extreme biking into an art. Here’s a video published by Red Bull that starts out with a brief introduction to the young man and then transitions into … Continue reading Extreme Biking, Artfully!
F.L.Wright (De)Tours - It never ceases to amaze me how clicking on an innocent little link to a news story can turn into an unexpected, intriguing adventure. For example, I clicked on a link to this story about a Frank Lloyd Wright house that will be going on the market. A Frank Lloyd Wright Home in N.H. Will … Continue reading F.L.Wright (De)Tours
Fat Bear Award? - I just read this fun story on CNN! Fat Bear Week 2025 is the Distraction Everybody Needs (Lilit Marcus, CNN) I couldn’t help but click on it because I was curious, and I did need some distraction. So, there is a “Fat Bear Award” and it is pretty well known. It even has a Wikipedia … Continue reading Fat Bear Award?
Find YOUR Cool Museum! - It’s officially summer, and baby it’s HOT outside! Stories like this are everywhere. A Potent Heat Dome is Building Over the US, Sending Temperatures into the Triple Digits (Luke Snyder and Mary Gilbert, CNN) Thus there are also many stories like this one about how to stay cool. Here are 7 Fun Ways to Beat … Continue reading Find YOUR Cool Museum!
Furby Hacking - It’s odd how some toy fads come and go as one hit wonders while others seem to stick around and take on a life of their own. Of course, there’s no question that one of the oddest toys with the longest track record is Hasbro’s Furby. Whether you’re a Furby lover or hater, you have … Continue reading Furby Hacking
Go For a Fly! - Want a quick pick-me-up? Why go for a walk or coffee when you go for a fly instead? Here are links to some short 360° videos that will have you soaring like a bird in a jiffy! Paraglide Over Peru In 360 (The New York Times) Paraglide the Pacific Coast in VR (USA TODAY) Relaxing … Continue reading Go For a Fly!
Goat Yoga? - Feeling a little stressed out and need a quick relaxation break? How about a bit of goat yoga? Wait, Goat Yoga? If you haven’t heard of it yet, then it might strike you as a bit strange, but it’s become a real craze over the last year or two. Here’s a link to a short … Continue reading Goat Yoga?
Gone Beaching! - It’s high summer here in North America, and it’s also the time for “official” national holidays, so a lot of people are hanging up their proverbial gone fishing signs. However, I tend to be more the type to hang up a gone beaching sign. Since I live in the Boston area, and I’m also a … Continue reading Gone Beaching!
Happy Holidays! - Happy Holidays & Have a Great New Year! Cosma a.k.a. Mary 🙂 Cosma About | Worlds | Adventures | Contents | Index
Heights! - A Monday morning caffeine fix is nice, but how about a serious adrenaline rush instead? Nothing will get your pulse going like some good old fashioned adventure at extreme heights. Luckily, there are a ton of 360° videos on YouTube designed to do just that, so pick your poison from these five specially selected experiences, … Continue reading Heights!
Hike, Wander & Walk-in the Web! - Welcome to Web Worlds@Cosma! The pages of Cosma have links to many thousands of the best resources on the Web. Immersive 3D and 360° experiences are among the most valuable types of resources, and so there are links to thousands of them distributed across the hundreds of pages on the Web site. The Web Worlds@Cosma … Continue reading Hike, Wander & Walk-in the Web!
Into Van Gogh - It’s not unusual for one artist’s work to serve as the grist for another artist’s mill. However, few artists have their works “reimagined” as frequently or as creatively as Vincent van Gogh. Artists all over the world are still very much into making works based upon his iconic paintings. For example, check out this surreal … Continue reading Into Van Gogh
Jellyfish Therapy - Feeling stressed out and need to relax? How about a nice swim in a swarm of jellyfish? What, that’s not a remedy for stress, you say! You mean by using imaginative thinking, right? Well, no, I do mean it literally. There’s an actual place called Jellyfish Lake on Eil Malk island in Palau where you … Continue reading Jellyfish Therapy
Jigsaw Puzzledom - I got lost in puzzles, and I couldn’t get out! However, unlike most normal people, I didn’t get lost in doing jigsaw puzzles. Nope. Leave it to me. I managed to get lost in finding out about them. The journey began when I saw this video about a color-changing jigsaw puzzle from the MoMA Design … Continue reading Jigsaw Puzzledom
Leonardo Lately - Leonardo da Vinci sure gets press for a gentleman who hasn’t been around for five centuries! That’s not to say that it’s not well deserved. Here’s a brief video that gives just a glimpse of why he was such an amazing guy. Past Vault (YouTube Channel) The Smile Of course, one perennial reason for Leonardo’s … Continue reading Leonardo Lately
Little, Big, Old & Spooky Libraries - I take a lot of walks in the towns along the coast north of Boston, and along the way I take pictures of things that catch my eye. Lately, those things have included Little Free Libraries. They are the sort of thing that, once you’ve noticed them, they seem to be everywhere. One of the … Continue reading Little, Big, Old & Spooky Libraries
Magical Paintings - Two earlier posts on Cosma entitled Walk-in-Art and Art Revisited covered a trend for new immersive 360°/3D/VR technologies to be used to revisit and add new dimensions, literally, to classic art masterpieces. Some examples covered in those posts included three-dimensional reimaginings of van Gogh’s Starry Night, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium explicating … Continue reading Magical Paintings
Méliès Doodled! - You’re almost certainly familiar with Google’s Doodles. They’re an excellent, entertaining way to spend some time learning something new, in passing, every day. They also almost always point to some little known, but interesting backstory. Today’s Doodle is a particularly beautiful example of that. It celebrates Georges Méliès, and it is special for many reasons. … Continue reading Méliès Doodled!
Musical Mischief - Serendipity plays a hand in these posts — more often than not one post leads to another. This is one of those times. The last post about Furby Hacking left me itching to explore another Road Not Taken. It turned out that Sam Battle’s odd creation, Furby Organ, led YouTube to suggest all sorts of … Continue reading Musical Mischief
Nutty Nature News - I’ve been updating the “nature” related pages on this site, so I’ve spent an abnormal amount of time perusing nature related sites for the last few weeks. Along the way I came across more than my fair share of odd nature stories. Many of them were viral, so you may have seen some of them … Continue reading Nutty Nature News
NYC Highs - New York City has a new place with a view. Two weeks ago Hudson Yards opened to cheers from the developers and some jeers from the community. The Escheresque whimsy of The Vessel captured the media’s attention at the opening, but the views from the observation deck called Edge is the big draw. Here’s a … Continue reading NYC Highs
Octopuses from Space! - Did you hear the one about the octopuses from space? It sounds like the title of a cheesy sci-fi movie, doesn’t it? But it isn’t, this time, or at least, yet. Instead, it’s actually an oddball theory that’s been put forth in a recently published “scientific” article that’s getting quite a lot of buzz in … Continue reading Octopuses from Space!
Odd Jobs - Still deciding what you want to be when you grow up? Are you considering a second career? Before you pick up the want ads or head out to the career center to look for your next career opportunity, how about considering something a little off of the beaten path? For example, if you love dogs, … Continue reading Odd Jobs
Palessi Shoes - Payless pulled off quite a stunt! They set up a fake “luxury” store dubbed “Palessi” and filled it with their $20-$40 footwear. Then they invited so called “influencers” to a clever party, and the invitees actually ended up paying up to $600 for the Palessi shoes. Here’s a link to an ABC News YouTube video … Continue reading Palessi Shoes
Panda’s Playtime - There’s nothing cuter watching two pandas playing! Here’s a YouTube video from the Atlanta’s Zoo with a serious “aawwwhhhhh” factor. Zoo Atlanta (YouTube Channel) Zoo Atlanta (Official Website) Adorable! However, it turns out there’s something even cuter. That’s pandas playing in the snow. They love it, apparently. Check out this video from Smithsonian’s National Zoo. … Continue reading Panda’s Playtime
Periodic Party - Hey, it is the Periodic Table’s Birthday! Dmitri Mendeleev sketched his first draft of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements on February 17, 1869. Notice that this year’s a “big one” for the Periodic Table — it’s 150 years old! In fact, it’s such a big deal that the United Nations General Assembly and UNESCO … Continue reading Periodic Party
Polar Party Toy World - About five years ago I created a series of what I called Toy Worlds to be 3D interfaces to Cosma. You can see all of my Toy Worlds on my page on the Kuula service that I use to post them. That was a phase that I thought was over — I moved … Continue reading Polar Party Toy World
Rock n’ roll, Noise Pollution? - Is rock and roll noise pollution? If you are a rock and roll fan, then you probably know that this is a question that AC/DC famously weighed in on in their song Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution (YouTube). If you are a language or communication expert, rock and roll fan or not, you probably … Continue reading Rock n’ roll, Noise Pollution?
Sand Art - The last few weeks have been an odd mix of work and play for me. On the one hand, I’ve been hard at work on a project that I’ll share here in the near future. On the other hand, I’ve also been somewhat obsessed with sand sculptures. This is because one of my favorite ways … Continue reading Sand Art
September is Corny! - Have you ever noticed that most months tend to be associated with certain adjectives. October is spooky, December is festive, and so on … I think of September as corny! One obvious reason for this is because it’s when corn is harvested and readily available. Another reason is because September is usually the month of … Continue reading September is Corny!
Space Art & Junk - In certain circles it is not uncommon to trip across the debate “Is graffiti art?” You can also find scads about it online if you are so inclined (Google). However, the debate doesn’t come up all that often in the context of conversations about satellites or space… until now. In 2018 a company named Rocket … Continue reading Space Art & Junk
Space Rocks! - NASA engineers had quite a New Years celebration in 2019 when New Horizons successfully executed a flyby of a tiny object named 2014 MU69 while moving at 32,000 miles per hour. The planetesimal 2014 MU69 is better known by it’s nickname Ultima Thule, and it’s located way out past Pluto in a region of the … Continue reading Space Rocks!
Strange Stays - I concluded my last post about Sand Art with highlighting how Booking.com offered the chance to stay in a sandcastle as a promotion for Coney Island’s Sand Sculpting Competition. Here’s a link with more on that unusual “opportunity.” Giant Coney Island Sandcastle Offers Sleepovers (Summer Delaney, WPIX) That may have sounded like a one-off type … Continue reading Strange Stays
Super Sexy, Singing Mice - It’s not often that mice sneak into the news, but they do manage it from time to time. One story that gotten a lot of attention is about how researchers created “super mice” by injecting nanoparticles into their eyes to give them “night vision.” Here are links to the stories about that research. A Shot … Continue reading Super Sexy, Singing Mice
Talented Greenery - Note: This post was updated and reposted in honor of Arbor Day 2026! Check out this minute long 360° video from Genesis Visual Studios. Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here! Genesis Visual Studios (YouTube Channel) Peaceful, isn’t it? The bees are busily buzzing about, but the plants aren’t doing much, right? Well, … Continue reading Talented Greenery
The Beach - One long term goal of Cosma is to include an entertaining, interactive and immersive 3D Interface. There are already “demos” of what that might look like, but none of the available technologies are ideal, so there is no full implementation of the vision (yet). The most recent demo is a fun little Toy World that … Continue reading The Beach
The Maya Underworld - Chichén Itzá is a fascinating place, and believe it or not, it’s just gotten even more so! But let’s start from the beginning. In case you aren’t familiar with it, here’s a link to a 360° video that will give you a sense of why it is considered a World Wonder. Seven Wonders of the … Continue reading The Maya Underworld
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Walk-in-Art - New media artists tend to revisit and reinterpret earlier artist’s work, sometimes intentionally and with attribution, and other times not so much. Either way, it’s interesting to compare (re)implementations. For example, here’s a 360° video I just tripped across that experiments with the idea of allowing the viewer to “walk-in” van Gogh’s Starry Night. Watch … Continue reading Walk-in-Art
Walk-in-Art & Museums! - Last week I wrote Enchanted Beach Houses where I explained how I was inspired to create the Wanderlust Magic Travel Villa. It’s a “virtual travel” application with a visual interface to over a hundred 3D and 360° experiences. In case you didn’t see it, here it is again. You can also explore it on Kuula. … Continue reading Walk-in-Art & Museums!
Wingsuit Rush! - Hey, adrenaline junkies, how about a quick fix? Remember all of those action movies where people jump out of airplanes or off of buildings wearing wingsuits? Did you ever think it would be cool to do that for real? Well, now you can get a sense of what it would be like. Here are some … Continue reading Wingsuit Rush!
Yellow Submarines - My last post was about an adventure with seals doing science in Antarctica. This adventure begins where that one left off, but this is a very different, and fun excursion that happened because Boaty McBoatface surfaced in my news feed. In case you never heard of him, Boaty’s a submarine that got his name via … Continue reading Yellow Submarines
Zip the World! - Virtual zipline rides are addictive, and they’re also a neat way to see the world! I found this out by accident. While I was planning a trip to Niagara Falls, I stumbled over a 360° video of a zipline ride. Watch the video below in 360° on YouTube here! Akron Drone Services (YouTube Channel) Akron … Continue reading Zip the World!