Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

[cielo market]

What unique (strange? lol) things do you find beautiful?

I have realized that floating dust caught in a sunlight ray inside a house has a odd appeal to me. And the trapped air bubbles in hair gel.

[The Rose]

individual snowflakes close-up, the fall foliage, rocks and mountains, stone houses, rolling green fields and hills, babbling brooks and streams, waterfalls, birds, gems, the clouds when the setting sun makes them look like cotton candy

[Nomad]

All of it.

-Nomad

[qwerty]

beauty?
The intricacies of the patterns on a leaf, to look and see the randomness of life?
Ants crawling up the wall, a miniature society that sustains a population through simplicity in nature?
The stars at night, reaching out through time across enormous distances for a brief moment of attention?

[bucolic_]

I love eyes, pretty much everyone's eyes I think are pretty if you look close enough, sometimes I just stare at my eyes in the mirror, because if you get really close and look at the iris, it's really beautiful. Then again I don't really look into anyones eyes, so maybe it's just my eyes that are beautiful ;D

There's a lot of things in nature that are beautiful, but since that's already been covered, I'll talk about something else I love, which is machined metal, brushed aluminum, things like that.
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Hawt hawt

[bucolic_]

And of course, if you're asking this question, you might be interested in "American Beauty." Probably just about everyone's seen it, but I only saw it fairly recently.

[OneBadMother]

Ah, American Beauty's a good movie. :D

I find little things beautiful. Little as in delicate miniature things. Also, certain minerals. I once found an almost-perfect, if small biotite crystal and it made my day. It's one of those things only a geologist would appreciate, though. :P

[aelan]

I used to hate spiders, but a couple weeks ago I saw a little white one in my room. It was spinning a web by the window, and I found it fascinating just watching it. It was really beautiful.

About a week ago, I noticed that there were a bunch of fruit flies scattered about the glass of my window. I hate killing, so I didn't want to squash them and while I was hesitating, I looked at them. And noticed details such as how delicate their wings are and the tiny barely-noticable stripes on their bodies. I realized that that was the first time I'd really looked at a fruit fly long enough to even see those things which I had never even realized were there.

[cielo market]

Oh! I almost forgot the thin swirl of smoke after blowing out a candle :)

[thegnat]

What I find really beautiful about nature is that it is so seemingly simple from viewing it as you are, but once you look closer it is so incredibly complex. I love natural patterns, fall colors, just about any natural landscape really.

[chocky]

Pink mushroom gills, acorn hats.... I love acorn hats!

[Rohsiph]

I disagree re: "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder"--such that some people work from principles along which they can never appreciate some meaningful aesthetic forms based on a number of factors. If we attribute beauty in a relative way--you have your beauty, I have my beauty, Charlie Sheen has his beauty--then important art loses almost all of its potency.

this is actually a pretty wide problem in modern first-world societies.

Granted, it is arguably impossible to assert, beyond any doubt, what "current" art is actually "best." However, it is a dangerous position to claim, for example, that all modern playwrights are equal to Aristophanes.

[The Many]

I disagree re: "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder"--such that some people work from principles along which they can never appreciate some meaningful aesthetic forms based on a number of factors. If we attribute beauty in a relative way--you have your beauty, I have my beauty, Charlie Sheen has his beauty--then important art loses almost all of its potency.

this is actually a pretty wide problem in modern first-world societies.

Granted, it is arguably impossible to assert, beyond any doubt, what "current" art is actually "best." However, it is a dangerous position to claim, for example, that all modern playwrights are equal to Aristophanes.

Ah. Nice. Gotta love a good argument on the nature of art, since I have quite an objection to this - the objection being that your main problem with this subjectivity of art is that is "dangerous". What is dangerous or what is safe is quite far from as important as what is the truth. Now with this said, though, I do get your point. It is quite dangerous to make such a statement. But, in the end, we only have our very own, subjective, judgments to go by. The problem discussed here is more a question of the tastes (of the majority, even) - so what we instead need to look at are the ideas behind the art; the depth on the inside rather than the shallowness of the outside. In the end, cold, hard facts prevail over art, even though the art in itself is a very good way of presenting them.

Thus Spake Za... sorry, an INTJ.

As to the actual thread, though - apart from the ordinary ideas of beauty (something I see everywhere, particularly in the sea though - I love the sea), I quite enjoy the looks of corporate logos. They tend to look serious and still aesthetic at at the same time.

[Bossy Mom]

When I lived in Minnesota, I used to love to walk down the lane in the evening while it was lightly snowing. The light of the lampposts on the snowflakes was so beautiful! It made me feel serene and at peace with the world.

Of course the next day when I had to drive in it, was a different story!

[Xenolar]

Personally, any location that is cold, dark, snowy, and devoid of human life is quite beautiful. There is something about things and places that carry a gloomy or melancholy atmosphere to be rather spectacular (I do, in fact, recall reading something that stated that most INxx types often tend to be attracted to dark, gloomy, and melancholy things).

As far as anything particularly unusual, I find that one of the most beautiful things in life is the sight of smoke or steam. In fact, I have often spent a long amount of time staring at the steam emitted from my hot meal during lunch or dinner--mesmerized by mysterious and erratic ways in which the steam will rise into the air and slowly dissolve into nothing. The reason why I find this so fascinating? 'Tis this: A flow of smoke or steam has no predictable pattern to it, thus making it a mathematical microcosm of all the chaos that exists in the universe, most notably, the concept of quantum chaos within the field of quantum mechanics (As you may have guessed, I have a strong interest in mathematics). There is something that I find very spectacular about chaos.
Similarly, there are many other things displaying mathematical significance that I find beautiful, such as anything representing infinity, the golden ratio, etc. Some examples of these said things that I find beautiful are fractals (see avatar), satellite images hurricanes, the nautilus shell, galaxies, patterns of leaves on trees, among other things.

[HarleyQuinn]

I think I :lovestruck: you, Xenolar... that or you're my long lost twin.

Anything gloomy/melancholy and touched by snow has me awestruck. Snow in general just makes my day to see/watch fall but when it's night out or in a cemetery, it becomes more spectacular. Also echoing the smoke/steam. I love blowing when it's cold just to see my breath in the air. I remember watching my parents cook just to see the steam rise.

As for other things...

My dog. Especially when he arches as he's getting up from a nap because you can just physically see him doing the human "groan" that comes with stretching and working out any kinks. That and it "looks" cool... reminds me of the transformation a werewolf would go under without the terror and carnage.

A full moon. I can stare at it for hours.

The planet Saturn.

Black clothing in general, especially leather, but even general is fine. There's something about the color of black that I'm naturally drawn to and find myself almost gravitating towards anything black depending on the situation (i.e. visiting a museum I'd be more likely to hit the planetarium because it's dark instead of the dinosaur exhibit.)

[cielo market]

Black clothing in general, especially leather, but even general is fine. There's something about the color of black that I'm naturally drawn to and find myself almost gravitating towards anything black depending on the situation (i.e. visiting a museum I'd be more likely to hit the planetarium because it's dark instead of the dinosaur exhibit.)

I agree. To me, I think it's the idea that other colors look "flat" when compared to black. We associate black with (empty?) space, so it has a nice depth to it.

[BloozeGit]

Some guitars have wood grain I could stare at for hours, and they're not necessarily the most expensive ones.

+1 on machined metal! It's just the mechanical geek in me...

[Rei]

I'm obsessed with very geometric and minimalistic buildings...
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the way water moves over a surface, make reflections on the ground, in all 3 states...
fresh snow... no human footprints, no tire marks...

little tiny patterns in leaves, flowers, petals etc

[thegnat]

I'll expand on this...I was talking about this earlier today...

I like simple things. But this also applies to my classes/chemistry. Like a molecule I made (this can apply to any molecule/process I learn about even if I don't directly do it). It appears so simple. It's a red-orange beautiful color. Then you look closer and you realize it's a powder. Even closer and you get down to the molecule which is beautiful in itself. You see patterns in the molecule, perhaps because of the way it was synthesized. Perhaps otherwise. You start realizing the complexity of it. Then you look at the atoms, and go down to lower and lower levels that you know and realize...that this pattern is unique to it, but one part of the universe - that these properties are there because of the way the universe is....and yet you realize it's such a small part of the universe. But yet it is a part of the universe...and you're connected with it. And able to have been able to make this molecule. And it's just so beautiful.

Or like the vaporization of water. Simple right? no. and yes. It happens so easily but it really has quite a few factors to it.

And I'm kind of that way with ecosystems, too. Which is why I love nature. To be outdoors. Observing the interactions between everything.

[NeonTetra]

I like the violets, indigos, and reds when there's an iridescent film floating on water or bubbles.

I like graffiti and urban blight. That's not what most people would think is attractive but I there's something appealing about how stark and blunt it is. Perfectly manicured lawns and tree lined streets look good and all, but they're a little scary too.

[xtremegeek]

Personally, any location that is cold, dark, snowy, and devoid of human life is quite beautiful. There is something about things and places that carry a gloomy or melancholy atmosphere to be rather spectacular

So basically, you like Cleveland, OH in the winter. During WWII, the military established the Ravena Arsenal (near Cleveland.) The reason they chose to build such a huge arsenal in that location - the lack of sunlight was a natural defense. The arsenal is no longer processing weapons, and there are no troops stationed there. But the military can't get rid of the property because it is one of the most polluted pieces of land in the U.S. (a little military secret they failed to tell the rural people living around there.) You might like to tour that stretch of land. It's pretty remote now.

[AresX9]

Personally, any location that is cold, dark, snowy, and devoid of human life is quite beautiful. There is something about things and places that carry a gloomy or melancholy atmosphere to be rather spectacular (I do, in fact, recall reading something that stated that most INxx types often tend to be attracted to dark, gloomy, and melancholy things).

....



+1 to this. I find my breath drawn away whenever I see large wastelands, deserts, basically just endless strands of land. For those PC gamers here, yes, that means I was in awe a lot during STALKER.

[Charlie Mc.]

Oh! I almost forgot the thin swirl of smoke after blowing out a candle :)

The smoke from my pipe. And the color of a good single malt scotch.

[niffer]

The more things I realize are beautiful, the more fulfilled my life becomes.

[Tarrick]

I don't find things "beautiful" so much as "impressive" or even "surreal". Like yesterday when I was leaving work and I noticed the setting sun. It was very odd, what with the dark sky of winter and the clouds that were posted on either side of the horizon. It wasn't beautiful, or even "breath taking" but it was rather impressive.

[Puffi]

Bunnies. Fluffy bunnies. Preferably white, small, Japanese bunnies with big eyes that they breed to be extra cute. Gotta love the Japanese.

Also some girls/women of ANY age and some types of clothing on them. Not underwear or anything like that, but I'm sure there's a component of sexuality in all my appreciation for females. Though I argue that beauty and sexuality go hand in hand. You can get aroused from watching a sunset too, you just wont associate it with sexuality in the same way.

I think femininity in general is beautiful.

Bodies of water are impressive to me and in that way beautiful. Watching the movement of the waves is hypnotic.

To comment on gloomy melancholy things: I live in Finland, and I hate gloomy melancholy things because every day in the winter is gloomy and melancholy. It gets old really fast. I like sunny, tropic places.

[niffer]

Bunnies. Fluffy bunnies. Preferably white, small, Japanese bunnies with big eyes that they breed to be extra cute. Gotta love the Japanese.

MOEEEE!!!~

Esp. @ your avatar.;D;D;D

[blckprljinju]

the blue sky devoid of any clouds does it for me, primarily because S. Korea (where I'm originally from) is highly polluted and the entire country is covered with thick grey clouds all the time.

When I landed in America, the sky was so blue, and the blue was endless, and that just did it for me. There is nothing more beautiful than an unpolluted sky.