{"id":27,"date":"2025-10-06T16:50:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/?page_id=27"},"modified":"2025-10-06T17:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T17:04:10","slug":"the-smooth-earth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/?page_id=27","title":{"rendered":"The Smooth Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/The-Smooth-Earth-768x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29\" style=\"width:391px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/The-Smooth-Earth-768x1024.png 768w, https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/The-Smooth-Earth-225x300.png 225w, https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/The-Smooth-Earth-1152x1536.png 1152w, https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/The-Smooth-Earth-1536x2048.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/The-Smooth-Earth.png 1728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I picked the phrase \u201cThe Smooth Earth\u201d from Lara Chapman\u2019s <em>Springtime Everywhere<\/em> because it just <em>sounded<\/em> like a movie. It feels clean and chill, but the more you think about it, it\u2019s kind of creepy. The whole essay talks about how Google Earth edits out all the messy, uncomfortable stuff, clouds, disasters, the \u201cunsmooth\u201d parts of reality, and replaces it with this perfect, filtered planet. It\u2019s basically Earth with an Instagram filter slapped on it. So yeah, \u201cThe Smooth Earth\u201d felt like the perfect title for a film that exposes how tech companies make everything look beautiful to distract us from what\u2019s actually happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the poster, I wanted to play with that contradiction. I used an image of Earth that looks hyper-polished, bright greens, deep blues, but then layered in faint cracks and glitch textures. It\u2019s subtle, but once you notice it, you can\u2019t unsee it. That\u2019s the whole point: what looks \u201creal\u201d might actually be a curated illusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I used a super clean and modern font, kind of like the typography in Apple ads. It gives off that tech aesthetic, smooth, confident, a little cold. Then I added a reflective gradient so the title almost looks metallic. It\u2019s supposed to feel satisfying but sterile, just like the kind of digital \u201csmoothness\u201d Chapman critiques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My tagline is: <em>\u201cWhat we see isn\u2019t what\u2019s real.\u201d<\/em> It\u2019s short, dramatic, and exactly what Chapman is getting at, that clarity can be deceptive when someone else is controlling what you see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overall, I wanted the poster to feel <em>too perfect<\/em>, almost suspiciously so. Chapman\u2019s essay really stuck with me because it\u2019s not just about maps, it\u2019s about how comfort and convenience can dull our awareness. \u201cThe Smooth Earth\u201d is what happens when we let aesthetics replace truth. I think the poster captures that tension: it\u2019s pretty, but it\u2019s also lying to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I picked the phrase \u201cThe Smooth Earth\u201d from Lara Chapman\u2019s Springtime Everywhere because it just sounded like a movie. It feels clean and chill, but the more you think about it, it\u2019s kind of creepy. The whole essay talks about how Google Earth edits out all the messy, uncomfortable stuff, clouds, disasters, the \u201cunsmooth\u201d parts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-27","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31,"href":"https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27\/revisions\/31"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waysofseeing.samschwartz8.bergbuilds.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}