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Saturday, June 30, 2012

!!!! The Wachowskis & Tom Tykwer's 'Cloud Atlas' Now Arrives On October 26th; Susan Sarandon Plays An Indian Man | The Playlist

From indiewire... (I am so excited!)

"So just how messed up and bonkers will The Wachowskis' and Tom Tykwer's adaptation of David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" be? Well, Hugh Grant will apparently be doing a lot of "killing and raping," and as for Susan Sarandon? She tells Postmedia that her small role finds her playing "an Indian man." Huh? We're getting ahead ourselves a bit, because the good news is you'll be seeing this sooner than expected.
While initially tagged for a December release, Warner Bros. has officially announced today that "Cloud Atlas" will hit theaters on October 26th, where the starry cast that also includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Zhou Xun and Keith David should trounce the competition that weekend that includes the Lionsgate comedy "The Big Wedding" with Robert De Niro, Robin Williams and Katherine Heigl, the tween thingy "Fun Size," Curtis Hanson's surfing drama "Of Men And Mavericks" and "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D."......

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

Brian Newman on the Art of Getting Paid

Friday, June 29, 2012

Infographic Exposes A Little Mystery About Twitter Behavior Around The World | Co.Design: business + innovation + design

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Must read:

"Twitter’s internal analytics team has published a new paper (PDF) that, while brief, reveals a bit of insight as to the challenges of having so much information at your fingertips--namely, making some semblance of sense of it."

original post here:

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670133/infographic-exposes-a-little-mystery-abou...

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What A Toaster Teaches You About The Future Of User Interfaces | Co.Design: business + innovation + design

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Excerpt:

WRITTEN BY: Michael Meyer

MICHAEL MEYER’S TOASTER MAY NOT HAVE A TOUCH-SCREEN INTERFACE OR RETINA DISPLAY, BUT IT’S GOT THE RIGHT PERSONALITY AND SET OF BEHAVIORS--A LESSON WORTH LEARNING FOR ALL PRODUCTS.

"The current model of good interaction design has run its course. Users have come to expect the rich, fluid, high-bitrate presentation and the direct manipulation and gestural interface control, as enabled by the latest generation of smartphones and tablets. For devices whose economics can support the internal parts cost required to deliver it, this style of interaction is simply table stakes. But while all product interactions need to be thoughtfully designed, rich screen-based interactions may not be the best direction. In fact, they are often just plain wrong...."

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

Don Cheadle’s “Envision” Keynote Address on Sustainability and Activist Filmmaking | IFP

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Actor Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda, Crash) delivers the closing keynote address from Envision 2012: Stories for a Sustainable Future.

Here, he discusses his career, issues of sustainability, and the merits of social issue filmmaking.

Envision 2012 was presented by IFP, the United Nations Department of Public Information, and the Ford Foundation on 4/17/12.

Original post here:

http://www.ifp.org/resources/don-cheadles-envision-keynote-address-on-sustain...

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Here it is! Civic Spectacle: Public Journal 45. Thrilled my "Nuit Blanche & Transformational Publics" is out

Edited by Jim Drobnick and Jennifer Fisher /

This issue of PUBLIC considers how large-scale events have challenged conventional understandings of audience, spectacle, and what it means to “view” art. The recent success of Nuit Blanche, for instance, breeds a paradox: in one night, the number of visitors often surpasses the attendance at major art institutions for an entire year. Despite such numbers, this popular exhibition format has so far yielded limited scholarship, which PUBLIC 45 seeks to engage. This issue on Civic Spectacle analyzes the greater context of performances that includes the time-honoured cultural forms of festivals and parades along with more spontaneous and oppositional events, such as flash mobs and activist interventions. Indeed, beyond Nuit Blanche, these types of civic spectacles respond to a situation of urban crisis: the loss of sustainable jobs as tourism and service industries replace manufacturing, the weakened political clout of cities as suburbs and exurbs become wealthier and more populous, and the challenges to retain a sense of community in the stressed circumstances of the downtown core.

Table of Contents

Editors’ Introduction
NUIT BLANCHE

‘Sleepless Nights: Contemporary Art and the Culture of Performance’, Heather Diack
‘Nuit Blanche and Transformational Publics’, Siobhan O’Flynn

PROJECT: ‘NIGHTSENSE,’ Jennifer Fisher and Jim Drobnick
‘City of Night: Parisian Explorations’, Catherine Howell
‘Halifax’s Nocturne versus(?) the Spectacle of Neoliberal Civics’, Max Haiven....

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Vintage suitcases up-cycled as unique boomboxes

Gorgeous....

"Some models are complete and ready to ship as they are, but others can be custom-configured to include buyer-specified inputs, amp sizes, power sources and personal detailing. The designers say that they use tried and tested classic electronic components that were built to last rather than throwing in the very latest that technology has to offer (and perhaps falling foul of early bird faults and foibles). The Cimino-Hurt brothers also state that where vintage electronics are no longer available, newly-made substitutes will be used but for the most part, vintage is best...."

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How to send balloons into space (Wired UK)

This article was taken from the July 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.

Canadian teenagers Asad Muhammad and Mathew Ho sent a Lego minifig 24,384 metres up (near-space) using a balloon. Ho explains how.

Keep it simple
"We used a box fixed to a parachute attached to a giant weather balloon," says Ho. Order the parachute from spherachutes.com and the balloon from kaymontballoons.com. The 350g model should be fine, but a bigger balloon will last longer in the air.

Be prepared...

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Mysterious Fairy Circles Are 'Alive' | Wired Science

by Rachel Nuwer, ScienceNOW

"Walter Tschinkel may not have solved the mystery of the fairy circles, but he can tell you that they’re alive. Tens of thousands of the formations — bare patches of soil, 2 to 12 meters in diameter — freckle grasslands from southern Angola to northern South Africa, their perimeters often marked by a tall fringe of grass. Locals say they’re the footprints of the gods. Scientists have thrown their hands up in the air. But now Tschinkel, a biologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee, has discovered something no one else has...."

read more here:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/06/fairy-circles-grass/?utm_source=twi...

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Designer develops cocktail dress that actually makes cocktails (Wired UK)

This article was taken from the September 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.

What does fashion lack? "Microcontrollers", according to Anouk Wipprecht, a 27-year-old designer from the Netherlands. Once you add them, wearable technology can go beyond just colourful LED displays. Wipprecht's DareDroid 2.0, a cocktail-making dress (pictured), is a case in point.

The dress, created with programmer Marius Kintel and artist Jane Tingley, is equipped with infrared sensors in the neck area that detect people at three stages of proximity: when there is a general crowd, when somebody enters the "personal space of the design" (between 46 and 122 centimetres) and when someone is within "intimate distance" -- closer than 46 centimetres. As they approach, the system will serve up a non-alcoholic shot....

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Spot on Dog. My new tumblr... 1 Spot. 2 Dogs. Daily Drama (or not).

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Dead Inside: a zombie novel told in the form of found notes - Boing Boing

Excerpt:

"Last month I found myself in Palo Alto in need of an espresso. Yelp directed me to a place called ZombieRunner, which turned out to be a running shoe store with a zombie-themed espresso bar. The espresso turned out to be excellent, as did the selection of books, all of which were about zombies. One book caught my eye: Dead Inside: Do Not Enter: Notes from the Zombie Apocalypse...."

read more here:

http://boingboing.net/2012/06/23/dead-inside-a-zombie-novel-to.html#

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Mysterious Game Lures Viewers to Tom Hanks Show

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Excerpt from Mashable.com:

"In preparation for the debut of its new post-apocalyptic web series in mid-July, Yahoo offered a preview via a covert online alternate reality game. The Electric City series is written by actor Tom Hanks, who also supplies the voice of the title character. The game, created by Pereira and O’Dell, is called Tap Joint, and served as an interactive version of a traditional movie trailer, The game was unbranded and only by playing it and blogging about it could users learn about the new web series.

Visitors to the game’s site get a first-person view of someone in front of a device similar to an old Morse code transmitter, with a written code key alongside. They can click on the device, or “tap kit,” to write coded phrases that unlock messages and video to figure out the story. Players share clues with each other through social media. For instance, by following #tapjoint on Twitter, users learned about a mobile workaround that allows them to enter typewritten commands using their smartphones.

Launched in March, the Tap Joint game created an almost instant community..."

read more here:

http://mashable.com/2012/06/25/tap-joint-tom-hanks-game/

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Inconspicuous Consumption: Rob Salkowitz on the Business of Pop Culture < PopMatters

Excerpt:

By shathley Q 27 June 2012

PopMatters Comics Editor

One of the very worst things about grunge in its nascency, Dear Reader, has always been its unpluggedness. Commercialism is soul-destroying we were always reminded. And that, as Bryant Simon reminds us in his profound Everything But the Coffee, consumerism was just waiting to be redeemed by ethically pure brands. In the ‘90s we banked on Starbucks, because of the sound ethical stance of sourcing practices. We also, given its sheer size, banked on Microsoft becoming a more open, more ethically-pure company. But what underpinned these hopes was the idea that the very practice of consumerism could some how be redeemed from crass commercialization. That the industrial complex as it exists, need not be exploitative of third world production-oriented economies, and of ourselves. But for the most part, for your Targets and your WalMarts and your thousands of other brands, we simply needed to unplug.

If anything, media and business analyst Rob Salkowitz, addresses this concern head on in his new book, Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture. The issue at stake—why did we choose to “unplug” and how have be built an entirely new kind of world as a result. Salkowitz does this in a prodigiously novel way. Comic-Con leverages his almost unique position as business analyst and longtime comics fan. The book itself is a kind of travel diary of his and his wife Eunice’s trip to the globally recognized San Diego ComicCon in 2011....

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How to approach digital engagement for museums | MuseumNext - Europe's big conference on social media and digital media for the museums

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"The Digital Engagement Framework was developed by Jasper Visser and myself as a simple to use roadmap to help the sector to approach digital media in a more strategic manner. Over the past six months we’ve used it with our clients and run workshops which have shared the methodology with more then 100 people from a broad range of institutions...."

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Linda Hutcheon's A Theory of Adaptation: 2nd Edition, Afterword by Siobhan O'Flynn (so very pleased)

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I'm just so pleased - the cover looks terrific & it will be out on July 24th! For all those interested in adaptation, transmedia, and fan culture studies.

"A Theory of Adaptation explores the continuous development of creative adaptation, and argues that the practice of adapting is central to the story-telling imagination. Linda Hutcheon develops a theory of adaptation through a range of media, from film and opera, to video games, pop music and theme parks, analysing the breadth, scope and creative possibilities within each.

This new edition is supplemented by a new preface from the author, discussing both new adaptive forms/platforms and recent critical developments in the study of adaptation. It also features an illuminating new epilogue from Siobhan O’Flynn, focusing on adaptation in the context of digital media. She considers the impact of transmedia practices and properties on the form and practice of adaptation, as well as studying the extension of game narrative across media platforms, fan-based adaptation (from Twitter and Facebook to home movies), and the adaptation of books to digital formats.

A Theory of Adaptation is the ideal guide to this ever evolving field of study and is essential reading for anyone interested in adaptation in the context of literary and media studies."

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

Interesting. Gamers? Thoughts? Investment [Engagement Hierarchy] - What Games Are

Excerpt from a very interesting post:

"(Last December I started to write a series of posts about a concept called ‘the engagement hierarchy’. My thesis is that players engage with games in five distinctive manners, and that while all games get users who engage at all levels, there are clear clusters around one rung or another on the hierarchy that define largely what that game can be.)

Investment is what happens when players fantasize. Characters come to life, music is hummed-along-to, and the possibilities of the game world feel as though they extend beyond the boundaries of what the player sees on screen. Players imagine scenarios, moments, what-ifs, winning strategies, infer qualities of the game that the developers never actually included, and otherwise find the game magical in a way that they can’t quite express.

More than enjoying the experience, invested players participate in it. They resonate with it, become the influencers who connect other players and want to know its creators. An invested game is one that is important, and invested players feel as though they are a part of something.

The Art Brain
The play brain wants to learn, extend and master a game. It sees the frame of the game and comprehends the levers that permit it to take simple, fair and empowering action, and it wants to win. It is purely action driven. However a play brain is not the sum total of who a player is. Not by a long shot..."

full post here:

http://www.whatgamesare.com/2011/06/investment-engagement-hierarchy.html

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

DR4WARD: Are People Sharing Too Much On Social Media? #infographic

DR4WARD: What Is In The Social Media Bubble? #infographic

Very Cool! Thanks Internet: 4 i-Docs you may have missed | i-docs

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Excerpt from a handy post from i-docs.org:

"...Recently launched at Sheffield Documentary Festival’s Crossover Summit, From the Sea to the Land Beyond is a beautifully put together interactive documentary from director Penny Woolcock about the British coast. Featuring a soundtrack from British Sea Power (apt), the documentary is hosted by the on‐demand digital arts service The Space – which you should also check out if you haven’t already – and is made from 100 years of film heritage stored in the British Film Institute collection...."

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Digital television complaint line » James Milward, Gavin McGarry, David Purdy... Weigh in

by Val Maloney

Let’s face it, the digital experience of watching TV shows through traditional Canadian broadcasters could be improved. You go to catch up on your favourite show via the network’s online players and are faced with only a few episodes, two ads that repeat every 90 seconds and various other problems. So, strategy opened up the phone lines, asking digital experts like James Milward, founder and executive producer, Secret Location, Gavin McGarry, president at Jumpwire Media and Lianne Stewart, digital consultant and content strategist, For Your Reading Pleasure to voice some issues with digital and on demand content from Canadian broadcasters. We then asked the broadcasters what they’re doing about it.

Read more: http://strategyonline.ca/2012/06/25/digital-television-complaint-line/#ixzz1y...

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Monday, June 25, 2012

Must Watch: WGAW Writers Education presents "Check Out My Package: Making Your Film Project Irresistible" - YouTube

The WGAW Writers Education Committee presents "Check Out My Package: Making Your Film Project Irresistible."

WEC Chairman: Jeff Melvoin.
Panel Co-Chairs: Ari B. Rubin and Michael Tabb.
Moderator: Billy Ray (co-writer, "The Hunger Games").
Panelists Erik Feig (President of Production, Lionsgate/Summit Entertainment),
David Greenblatt (Greenlit Creative)
Randi Hiller (Vice President of Casting, Walt Disney Studios)
Kevin McCormick (President, Langley Park Pictures) and Graham Taylor (head of Global Finance and Distribution Group, WME)

...discuss how to be in the driver's seat when packaging your film project.

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Secret Cinema London 2012 review - a warehouse becomes a spaceship (Wired UK)

Excerpt from WiredUK:

'You don't see Secret Cinema advertised anywhere. You don't know what film will be screened. You don't even know where it's going to be held. You just have to meet at a secret location and tell no-one what you've seen.

Yet its latest production took over half a million pounds in ticket pre-order sales before it even opened on 1 June. So what makes it so special?...'

read more here:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-06/06/secret-cinema

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Why it's So Hard to Legally Stream New Movies Online: a Chat with MUBI Founder Efe Çakarel

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Excerpt from thenextweb.com:

"....How to solve a problem like Mubi

Even with all this data in hand, the problem of creating a video on demand service is complex. “I realised how difficult this business is,” admits Çakarel. “It’s not just launching an app, it’s content. The film rights business is very conservative, maybe five years behind music.”

There is hope though. Companies like Netflix and Lovefilm have made headway in changing user behaviour. Today rather than having to go out and buy or rent a film or television series, viewers are demanding access at home or on the move, direct to their devices. Çakarel feels that this shift is one of the ways in which doors can open to innovation around content on demand.

Although there is an argument that services like this have negative effects on the film industry, especially when it comes to movie theatres, Çakarel feels that there is a difference in the choices people make when they decide to consume film.

“I really believe in watching movies on the big screen,” he says...."

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Infographic: words waiting to be added to the Oxford English Dictionary (Wired UK)

DR4WARD: What Are The Top 5 Trends From 2012 #CannesLions? #infographic

Pirate Bay mirror is proxy-friendly, bypasses UK ban (Wired UK)

Excerpt from Wired.co.uk

"Torrenting behemoth The Pirate Bay has launched a parallel version of its website, which is specifically designed to circumvent its controversial block in the UK, as well as in countries like the Netherlands and Italy.

In April 2012, the British High Court forced five major internet providers to block access to the torrent site. Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media all had to stop their users from accessing the infamous file-sharing hub.

When The Pirate Bay first commented on the block, it provided users in the UK with numerous ways to circumvent the filter -- including VPN servers, DNS tweaks, and the Tor Browser Bundle. Now, it has launched a new website to help bypass the block by itself...."

read more here:
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-05/24/the-proxy-bay

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

ARG? Email scam? FBI? Quite the scenario & well written too...

From: fbi-investigation@philadelphia.com

 

Subject: FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (F.B.I)

 Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2012 00:34:44 +0300

 To: 

 

 Federal Bureau Of Investigation

 Intelligence Field Unit

 William J. Green, Jr. Building

 600 Arch Street, 8th Floor

 Philadelphia, PA 19106

 Phone: (215) 550-4646

 E-mail: philadelphia_fbi_investigation@e-mail.ua

 

 

 Attn Beneficiary

 

 I am a special filed Agent Michael Joe Haskell from the Federal Bureau of

 Investigation (FBI) intelligence unit; we have intercepted two consignments on

 transit to you, we are legally in charge of monitoring every movement of

 consignments from one country to another, we monitor both bank to bank wire

 transaction including parcels shipped through courier companies. We initiated

 secret monitoring and checkmating of consignments after the killing of

 Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden because we seized some vital confidential

 information’s recovered from Osama Bin Laden apartment concerning how their

 Al-Qaeda organization are sponsored by mass donations, many people are

 virtually involved in sponsorship of terrorism knowingly or unknowingly since

 they participate in an unsolicited and security unchecked transactions which

 sometimes the aftermath effect of unclaimed funds becomes wheel power for

 terrorist funding.

 

 We scanned those consignment boxes and discovered the value is $10.5 Million

 Dollars, the backup documents has your initials as the receiver of the sum 

 contained in those boxes, your email address is used as delivery claim

 identification on the manifest booklet, your email was placed convincible on

 the consignments, investigations and interrogation carried out on the diplomat

 conveying the consignments confirmed you as the custodian which the delivery

 was rooted to you as payment presumed to be for unpaid lottery, contracts and

 inheritance .Our priorities are tactically stated below. Our inception has

 corrected worst crime situations all over the world, protecting terrorist

 attacks. Our agents are dully equipped and positioned in every airport all

 over the world, to checkmate and monitor movement of funds especially

 consignment delivery by diplomats. Al-Qaeda, an international terrorist

 network, is considered the top terrorist threat to the world, is an

 international terrorist network founded by Osama bin Laden in the late 1980s.

 They have sponsors all over the world, this is the reason why we monitor

 unsolicited monetary transactions and to ensure we enforce the wrath of law to

 any body implicated through our investigation.

 

 We checked all the legal documents contained in the consignments, we wanted to release the consignments to the diplomat but later find out that the

 consignments does not have two approved important documents ,1, Legal

 Authorization Clearance Certificate and Fund Acquired Ownership Certificate.

 The boxes were kept under security vault so that you will provide those

 required compulsory demanded due process documents According to section 229 subsection 31 of the 1991 joint security constitution enacted by world powers, your consignment lacks proof of ownership acquired certificate and legal

 authorization clearance certificate, you must contact us for direction and

 advise on how to secure those two essential certificates, this is the only

 remedy that will relieved you of charges of unsolicited transactions and

 consignment abandonment which is a punishable offense under section 12

 subsection 441 of constitution guiding movement funds from one country to another.

 

 You have 48hours to secure those mentioned certificates or face legal

 consequences defined for delivery infringement, to avoid interrogation and

 prosecution in court of law for money laundry and sponsorship of terrorism. We

 have investigative jurisdiction over every crime in the world. Also, you must

 not contact any order agency outside us, because your payment is presently

 under our custody, Please don’t respond to any FBI message without this

 security code (FBI/ MON/ COUNTER TERRORISM UNIT). We will direct you on the process of who to contact after investigation.

 

 NB—always be mindful of this security oppression code (FBI/ MON/ COUNTER

 TERRORISM UNIT). 

 Don’t respond to any FBI filed message without the code. Is important you note it.

 

 Yours in service

 

 Agent Michael Joe Haskell,

 Regional Director

 Federal Bureau Of Investigation

 Intelligence Field Unit

 William J. Green, Jr. Building

 600 Arch Street, 8th Floor

 Philadelphia, PA 19106

 Phone: (215) 550-4646

 E-mail: philadelphia_fbi_investigation@e-mail.ua

 Cc: Mr Robert Mueller ( Director FBI)

 Cc: CIA

 Cc: HSC  

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Short Documentary on the LEGO Turing Machine

'This is a short documentary about the LEGO Turing Machine built by Jeroen van den Bos and Davy Landman at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), Amsterdam (Netherlands). They built it for CWI's exposition "Turings Erfenis" in honor of the centenary of Alan Turing's birth on 23 June 1912.'

More on the LEGO Turing Machine here: legoturingmachine.org/

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I Like this Blog: Tolstoy, Art, Divided Brains and Roleplaying Games - What Games Are

Excerpt:

"I had the pleasure of attending a talk by the founders of Bioware at BAFTA. It was about whether games are an art and if so, how. Starting with a definition from Tolstoy, they explained that the ability to create key choices and moments within games to evoke emotion is what they consider art. They then invited members of the audience to share their own emotional play experiences.

However something bothered me about the definition and its application. Both speakers and audience were equating art with player emotion, beauty and experience and that’s not really what Tolstoy meant. It can’t be denied that many players of roleplaying games feel that their play experience should be regarded as art, but is it? Or are they actually searching for validation?

This is a post about definitions of art, emotional validation, the duality of play, Iain McGilchrist and whether roleplaying really is what its proponents think it is.

Tolstoy Said…
Here is the key Tolstoy quote that Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk (of Bioware) used, from the book ‘What is Art?’:

To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then, by means of movements, lines, colours, sounds, or forms expressed in words, so to transmit that feeling that others may experience the same feeling - this is the activity of art.

Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also experience them.

The phrase that many game makers (and the BAFTA speakers and audience) hone in on here is the evoking of feelings. Often times games are thought of as a way for players to self-express and create their own stories, and so in a sense the game designer is the provider of possibility. By creating a world such as the universe of Mass Effect, he nudges the player toward interesting moments and emotional attachments. And since this is evoked emotion, it’s art.

At least that’s the idea, and one that I have previously discussed and largely dismissed. It hinges on the idea that a player is telling a story to himself, is the hero of his own tale and so forth, but it’s just not true.

The player is in the world, but as herself. She acts, but as herself. She frequently plays in an optimal fashion, and roleplaying games are full of functional asides like shops and looting and character optimisation for that purpose. She also tends to treat dialogue sections like a permutation exercise. In short, a lot of play is really about winning and being an agent of change, and while the game may be beautiful and the joy of winning is exuberant, that’s not what art is...."

read more here:

http://www.whatgamesare.com/2011/11/tolstoy-art-divided-brains-and-roleplayin...

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Smart Post & Discussion on: When Narrative Turns Creepy [Tomb Raider] - What Games Are

Really interesting post on whatgamesare.com & read the discussion thread:

Excerpt:

"...So the setup for the new game is that of a prequel. You play a young, more realistically proportioned, Lara trapped on an island fighting for your survival. You're caught in a very tough predicament, with a variety of bad guys chasing you and many other hazards to overcome. So far it sounds like a straightforward action adventure game.

My problem with it started at E3 2011, where the original presentation for the game showed a young girl beaten, bloody and terrified, yelping, screaming and otherwise really very afraid. All while being relayed thoroughly dispassionately by the hosts. I thought to myself that perhaps this was within context, that conferences tends to be bloodless, and the game could be much like some movies or survival horror games Though it made me feel uncomfortable maybe that was a part of the art of games. Maybe it was a challenge to me, the player, to think differently.

Fast forward to this year and it's more of the same (limping, bleeding, crying etc) and the threat or inferrence of rape. What really pushed it over the edge for me was some interviews that I read with the game's makers talking about how this was all intentional, that the idea is to bring some reality into games, to really make the player want to protect this young girl, and so on.

Depending on who you are this sounds either highly avant garde or the subject of appallingly crass male fantasies. It also sounds highly equivalent. In a few debates on the subject this week, for example, I have encountered many opinions that state that the level of violence is no different than many movies. This is true. Similarly that if the character was actually male I would have no issue. This is false. Male injured characters in games are rarely portrayed as actually terrified or threatened with sexual violence. ...."

read the original post & discussion here:

http://www.whatgamesare.com/2012/06/when-narrative-turns-creepy-tomb-raider.html

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

Saturday, June 23, 2012

J.K. Rowling's Wonderbook: Book of Spells to have new wizarding world poetry, history

Excerpt from snitchseeker.com:

'Russell Harding, director of the upcoming release of Sony's Wonderbook: Book of Spells, written by J.K. Rowling and exclusively sold for Playstation 3, revealed new tidbits about the interactive book, including the fact that the Harry Potter author wrote five extra poems related to the wizarding world in the book itself. Details of the wizarding world, including a history of spells, reveal themselves as the owner of the book and PS3, who have the Playstation Move addition that acts as a magic wand to cast spells, apparently against magical foes featured in the book.

Wonderbook: Book of Spells is set to be released this December in North America, and in November throughout Europe; it can be pre-ordered here on Amazon.com....'

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

Wired Catches Up With Caine's Arcade | GeekDad

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Excerpt:

In April of this year, Caine’s Arcade became a viral phenomenon; Nirvan Mullick’s short film has so far gathered almost 3 million views on YouTube and more than that on Vimeo. It seemed that everyone was fascinated by the story of the inventive 9-year-old and his cardboard arcade. I got Mullick on the phone for a short conversation to follow up on what’s happened with Caine and his arcade since the story broke.

Jim MacQuarrie: I thought we should do a follow-up since I know there have been a lot of appearances and awards; can you tell me about some of those?

Nirvan Mullick: Caine spoke at the USC Marshall School of Business; the youngest entrepreneur ever to speak there, a lot of well-known entrepreneurs have preceded him. He went up to Sacramento and got the Latino Spirit Award. His arcade was taken up to the Exploratorium in San Francisco; he also went up to the Maker Faire and led a workshop with kids, teaching kids how to make their own cardboard games. And we’ve started a foundation, the Caine’s Arcade Imagination Foundation....

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

!!!. Rumours abound that the Higgs Boson has finally been found (Wired UK)

Excerpt from WiredUK:

'One of the biggest debuts in the science world could happen in a matter of weeks: The Higgs boson may finally, really have been discovered.

Ever since tantalising hints of the Higgs turned up in December at the Large Hadron Collider, scientists there have been busily analysing the results of their energetic particle collisions to further refine their search.

"The bottom line though is now clear: There's something there which looks like a Higgs is supposed to look," wrote mathematician Peter Woit on his blog, Not Even Wrong. According to Woit, there are rumours of new data that would be the most compelling evidence yet for the long-sought Higgs....'

read more here:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-06/21/higgs-boson-possibly-finally-f...

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Video: Full look at Wingardium Leviosa, Incendio for J.K. Rowling's Book of Spells - SnitchSeeker.com

PlayStation's Harry Potter game 'Book of Spells' director interview - Story - Entertainment - 3 News

Book of Spells game director Russell Harding

Excerpt from 3news.co.nz:

By Daniel Rutledge

One announcement at this year’s E3 event hoping to excite Harry Potter fans was PlayStation’s upcoming title Wonderbook: Book of Spells.

Developed by the SCEE London Studios in collaboration with JK Rowling, Book of Spells is an augmented reality game that aims to turn players into Hogwarts students learning to cast spells.

I caught up with Book of Spells game director Russell Harding at E3 to find out more about the game.

3 News: We have a lot of Harry Potter fans in New Zealand who are sad the books and movies have come to an end. Is Book of Spells the next step for them?

Harding: Well I think the Book of Spells explores the wizarding world further. It’s full of unique spell descriptions written by JK Rowling herself, so giving some of the background behind some of the famous spells, she’s created some really fun stories around how those spells were discovered....'

Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/PlayStations-Harry-Potter-game-Book-of-Spells-director...

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'To honor Alan Turing, we built a simple LEGO Turing Machine...'

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Built by

Jeroen van den Bos (CWI/NFI)
Davy Landman (CWI)

"To honor Alan Turing, we built a simple LEGO Turing Machine, to show everyone how simple a computer actually is. Primary goals were to make every operation as visible as possible and to make it using just a single LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT set. The LEGO Turing Machine is part of the exhibition Turing's Erfenis at CWI...."

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Like. ‘…it’s better to burn out than to fade away’ – has higher education reached a punk moment? | Peter Bryant

Great post by Peter Bryant:

Making connections, keeping connections, growing connections; all of these processes are fundamental to human interaction and social co-operation. In music, connections are the small pieces of scaffold that inspire and encourage people to create, share and perform art and songs that mean something to them and to their audiences. Some call it rock family trees, some call lineage. Whatever you choose to call it, the Beatles were inspired by the music coming out of the US in the late 50s and early 60s. Punk rebelled against the music of the time and took their inspirations from the blues, the sounds of Detroit or simply from each other...

read more here:

http://peterbryant.smegradio.com/?p=206

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Friday, June 22, 2012

Can video games save Europe?

A leading Greek economist has joined a game company, hoping virtual economies can shed light on real world woes....

http://www.salon.com/2012/06/19/can_video_games_save_europe/singleton/

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Tablet Users Skew Older and Towards Upper Income Households

Fascinating: Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2012-2016 « Transmedia Newswire

Cool: Announcing Our New Collaboration With Comic Book Legend Alan Moore | The Creators Project

Can't WAIT!

"We’re excited to announce that Alan Moore, known the world over for shattering the conventions of comics with classics like Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell, is collaborating with director Mitch Jenkins on a series of short films produced by Lex in association with The Creators Project. The occult, noir-flecked film pieces are Moore’s first work written specifically for the screen...."

read more here:

http://thecreatorsproject.com/blog/announcing-our-new-collaboration-with-comi...

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The Mad Men Guide to Changing the World with Words | Copyblogger

by Jonathan Morrow - Excerpt:

"Mad Men made writers sexy again.

Donald Draper is dark and moody and mysterious in all the right ways. He’s powerful, able to send staff scurrying from his office with a scowl.

And he’s a creative genius too, lounging on his office couch, sipping whisky, and crafting the perfect slogan to capture the minds of America.

He makes it all look so freaking cool.

All of them do. Peggy, Don, even Roger, who does nothing these days but loaf around and spit out hilarious one-liners.

It’s not just them. It’s their work...."

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Love | What The Rise Of Depeche Mode Teaches You About The Rise Of Digital Design

Media_httpwwwfastcode_hdfsz

Excerpt from an original post on: Co.Design: business + innovation + design

"JUST AS SYNTH POP FACED AN UPHILL BATTLE IN THE 1980S, DIGITAL DESIGN WENT THROUGH PRECISE PHASES OF NEGLECT, ACCEPTANCE, AND DOMINANCE, ARGUES HUGE’S JOE STEWART.

As a designer, your whole life is better when you’re inspired. I’m in a constant battle to stay inspired, and one of the ways I do this is to watch a lot of documentaries. I keep a collection of films on my laptop and watch them whenever I’m flying for work. I’ve seen Helvetica about 50 times. One of my new favorites is Synth Britannia, a BBC production about the origin and development of synth pop in the ’70s and ’80s. A musician recommended it to me, but the immediate thing I noticed was the parallels between this era of music and the current state of design. I have been inspired by the stories of these pioneers, and I think the design community can find value in them, too.

The story of British synth pop is essentially the story of a rebellion against the status quo fueled by the accessibility of new technology. Early groups like Depeche Mode, Human League, Gary Numan, and OMD all had to invent their own genre and even their instruments as they went along. They set out to do..."

read more here:

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669974/what-the-rise-of-depeche-mode-teaches-you...

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Interview with “DARK HORSE” WRITER/DIRECTOR TODD SOLONDZ | Filmmaker Magazine

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By Livia Bloom in Web Exclusives on Thursday, June 7th, 2012

“I want to want you,” says the cripplingly depressed Miranda (Selma Blair) to her suitor with excruciating honesty. The coddled, overweight Abe (Jordan Gelber), a compulsive collector who still lives at home with his parents (Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken), will take what he can get. “That’s enough for me,” he breathes. In Todd Solondz’s Dark Horse, the queasy tale of a 35-year-old man-child who decides to add a wife to his possessions, the writer-director’s dialogue is as sharp as ever, each line an arrow poisoned with sincerity.

Known for colorful, stylized, cynical films including Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995), Happiness (1998), Storytelling (2001), Palindromes (2004) and the masterful Life During Wartime (2009), Solondz makes movies populated by anti-heroes and -heroines that include bullies, pedophiles, and housewives. He has the ability to zero in on the insecurities, weaknesses and existential loneliness of a Robert Altman-like stable of characters with merciless X-ray vision. Like the stories of John Cheever taken to an uncomfortable extreme, Solondz’s “storytelling” gives the lie to the American dream — and suburban paradise, in particular — exposing the underlying tragedy, comedy, and absurdity at its center.

In this conversation, Solondz discusses the Japanese fan-boy culture that gave rise to Dark Horse, the unlikely filmmaker who inspired his career (you’ll never guess!) and his own unhappy bar mitzvah.

Filmmaker: What first drew you to filmmaking?

Todd Solondz: I went to film school at NYU. The shorts and the films I made there gave me the confidence to think that I could actually make a career at this. When things go well and you have that kind of history, you really latch on to it. I have a weak character in the sense that I need encouragement. I need a sense that people appreciate what I’m doing. I’m not someone who is indifferent to what others think and goes about his business regardless of public opinion.

When I made some of these shorts, I could see that my audience was genuinely responding to the work. I recognized that things clicked; I was not going to let go of that. There was something there. That’s really where I found myself...."

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Do QR Codes Work Best in Magazines and Newspapers?

Whoa. Moneyball 2.0: How Missile Tracking Cameras Are Remaking The NBA | Co.Design: business + innovation + design

Media_httpwwwfastcode_jiucg

Excerpt from a fascinating article:

"A NEW CAMERA SYSTEM IS ADDING A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF ANALYTICS TO BASKETBALL. WE [Fast Company!] TALK TO INSIDERS USING IT.

The technology was originally developed to track missiles. Now, SportVU systems hang from the catwalks of 10 NBA arenas, tiny webcams that silently track each player as they shoot, pass, and run across the court, recording each and every move 25 times a second. SportVU can tell you not just Kevin Durant’s shooting average, but his shooting average after dribbling one vs. two times, or his shooting average with a defender three feet away vs. five feet away. SportVU can actually consider both factors at once, plus take into account who passed him the ball, how many minutes he’d been on the court, and how many miles he’d run that game already.

THEIR SYSTEM CAPTURES THE X/Y COORDINATES OF ALL THE PLAYERS 72,000 TIMES A GAME...."

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

Madefire Reinvents Comics For The iPad, Signs Up True Ventures And Watchmen Artist Dave Gibbons | TechCrunch

Excerpt:

Original post by Anthony Ha:

"Comic books have made a pretty smooth transition onto the iPad — in fact, the Comixology app has become my preferred method of reading new issues. But the founders of a startup called Madefire are trying to push things further. They want to create comics designed specifically for tablets, rather than simply converting content that was created for print.

You can get a taste of the Madefire experience in the video below. To me, using the app feels like someone took a regular comic, then jazzed it up with animation, music, and sound effects — yet you can still see the comic book at the heart of the experience. The company calls the titles “motion books”, a name that’s reminiscent of motion comics, another attempt to bring comics into the digital world. However, founder Ben Wolstenholme says there’s a big difference:

“Motion comics are a passive experience, a watching experience that is tantamount to bad animation – it’s like watching a movie. Motion Books is a reading experience, actively controlled by the reader – it’s like reading a book. Our goal is to be the best reading experience developed for the iPad.”

When I first heard about Madefire, what really caught my attention wasn’t the technology, but rather the writers and artists involved. There’s Dave Gibbons, most famous for drawing Watchmen. (One of the biggest fanboy moments in my life was getting Gibbons to sign my Watchmen pin. And yes, he’s done a bunch of other work, but Watchmen is one of those huge achievements that tends to overshadow everything else.) Also on the roster are Bill Sienkiewicz (Elektra: Assassin), Robbie Morrison (The Adventures of Nikolai Dante), and Mike Carey (The Unwritten), among others...."

read more here:

http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/21/madefire-launch-dave-gibbons/?grcc=d6f69848e...

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Indiewire Will Host a Free Screening of the 'Margaret' Extended Cut With Kenneth Lonergan and Cast | Filmmakers, Film Industry, Film Festivals, Awards & Movie Reviews | Indiewire

JUNE 21, 2012 | BY NIGEL M SMITH

Excerpt:

"Box office be damned: After its long-delayed theatrical release, Kenneth Lonergan's "Margaret," has found a loyal, if not rabid, fanbase. That's why the Blu-ray package includes a DVD that features an 186-minute extended cut, which is due for release July 10. Thanks to Indiewire and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, New York "Margaret" fans can see it on the big screen the day before it hits shelves. The best part? The screening's free...."

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

Digital Lifescapes: Multi-Screen Video Consumers are the Most Engaged

By David H. Deans, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Excerpt:

"Multi-Screen Video Consumers are the Most Engaged

comScore and the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) released the results of their latest market study, revealing several new findings about the viewing habits of consumers who engage with media brands across multiple touch-points.

“While TV remains the leading media channel, once TV-centric media brands now engage with their consumers across a variety of digital touch-points. While this enhances the quality of brand engagement, it also increases the complexity of media planning and analysis by orders of magnitude,” said Joan FitzGerald, comScore VP of TV & Cross-Media Solutions...

Key insights from the market study include: Consumers are Engaging with Brands Across Platforms -- A study of 10 broadcast network & cable brands covering a five-week period showed that an average of 90 percent of consumers engaging with a given brand did so on TV, while 25 percent did so online and 12 percent via online video. Online Video & Multi-Screen Consumers are Most Engaged and Loyal Brand Consumers --...."

read more here:

http://blog.geoactivegroup.com/2012/06/multi-screen-video-consumers-are-most....

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

Thursday, June 21, 2012

POV @ 25: JENNIFER FOX AND CRISTINA IBARRA ON DOC FILMMAKING AS AN ACT OF FAITH | Filmmaker Magazine

Media_httpwwwfilmmake_ibgtc

Excerpt:

By Nick Dawson in Web Exclusives on Wednesday, June 20th, 2012

"In celebration of the 25th season of PBS’ groundbreaking documentary series POV, Filmmaker is this week running a four-part conversation series between two non-fiction directors with close ties to the show. A few weeks ago, acclaimed documentarian Jennifer Fox — whose 20-year project, My Reincarnation, kicks off the 2012 POV season this Thursday — and The Last Conquistador director Cristina Ibarra, a relative newcomer to the non-fiction scene, sat down to talk about a variety of issues that arise from their work. Despite radically different backgrounds and, at the time of the conversation, being literally continents apart — NYC resident Fox was in Amsterdam, talking to Ibarra over Skype — the two found much common ground and dug in deep in their discussion of the documentary craft.

In this penultimate part, the two directors discuss the extent to which making a non-fiction film is, by necessity, an act of faith...."

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

When worlds collide: an interview with Nuno Bernardo | Goji

Excerpt from original post:

"CEO of multinational production company beActive, Nuno Bernardo is an award-winning and Emmy-nominated writer/producer/publisher with several years of experience in transmedia production. He’s just launched his latest project, Collider World, an epic sci-fi story told across a range of media platforms. Goji editor Ally Millar recently caught up with Nuno to get the low-down on what’s shaping up to be a major event

Sum up Collider World in ten words or less
Nuno: A sci-fi transmedia series about six characters who jump to a post-apocalyptic future.

Tell us about Collider World

NB: Collider World is a sci-fi multi-platform project that combines TV and web series, exclusive access to pre-series storylines, mobile games and online graphic novels available on the App Store and Google Play. It focuses on the stories of six people who were mysteriously transported to a post-apocalyptic future, and their mission to get back to the present time and save mankind, and their own lives.

Why the multi-broadcast approach?

NB: Our approach to storytelling is to create a universe (or ‘storyworld’) and then divide that big story into different – but self-contained – pieces and distribute them in different media. The reason for this approach is to connect with the audience and fans on all the different medias they use during the day. The story can follow the audience and be there with the audience, whatever media they are on, be it the internet, a mobile phone or just reading a book...."

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

Coca-Cola Joins the Revolution in a World Where the Mob Rules | Adweek

Excerpt from Tim Nudd's Original Post on Adweek.com:

"CANNES, France—Invoking the spirit and language of modern revolution—everything from the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement—Coca-Cola's top marketer on Tuesday explained how the company is adapting to a world of change led by the "mob" of consumers who are relentlessly sharing media across their large and growing digital networks.

In a session here at the Cannes Lions festival, Joe Tripodi, chief marketing and commercial officer at Coke, said the digital tools that are revolutionizing how people communicate require a parallel revolution from marketers trying to engage them. Mostly, he said, this means developing strongly sharable pieces of communication that generate huge numbers of impressions online—and then, crucially, lead to expressions from consumers, who join the story and extend it, and then finally to transactions, in Coke's case all under the theme of happiness and optimism.

Tripodi showed several videos of Coke content from around the world that has gone viral and created "shared value" for the company, its customers and its shareholders. They included Coke's Hug Me vending machine at a university in Singapore that dispensed cans of Coke when people put their arms around it and hugged it. The video generated more than 112 million impressions in the first seven days—high-impact results with low-cost delivery. Tripodi also highlighted the Project Connect initiative in Australia, in which Coke personalized bottles by putting common first names on them...."

read more here:

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/coca-cola-joins-revolution-wo...)

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales