I Wish I Were a Kid Today
Can we get this? Please, it's ALL I want for Christmas...
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Can we get this? Please, it's ALL I want for Christmas...
I'm probably the last among this crowd to find this little link.
It is a site that was once dedicated to the visual hoax of the tourist atop the World Trade Center as a plane was headed towards it. Now it holds a few other major visual hoaxes, but I find the parodies of The Tourist of Death most interesting. I think it's wonderful how humor(and Photoshop) can diffuse a powerful image so quickly.
Okay. So I thought about deleting the previous post, but that seemed a little...uhm... odd considering the subject matter. So instead, I'm going to add to it.
I think I went a little TOO personal in the posting, alluding to some specific events that, quite honestly, didn't have to do with me and were events I only heard about. However, hearing these events raised an issue that I would like to discuss further: What is blogging?
Maybe this is as tangled as the question "what is art?", but for me - a long-time and very old-school bbser - it is a very important question. And the fact that I am required to post here for various classes is unnerving to me since I haven't answered that question for myself. And I really don't like doing things just because I have to. (Fine, I said it. I have issues with authority.) Which is not to say I WON'T do it, I just have to justify it for myself first.
Maybe I should raise this question next wednesday during dinner? I would really like to hear what the students of many different backgrounds think about this whole blog thing.
But in the meantime, maybe somebody could give me some helpful links?
I am writing this blog in response to the issue of censorship on this, our USC Interactive Media Department blog.
Since last fall there have been incidents of disappearing entries, pressure on students to erase certain postings, and comments on word choice that might be deemed "inappropriate."
This is all very unsettling to me.
Which brings me to a series of questions that keep reoccuring for me:
1. What is the purpose of this blog?
2. Who is our audience?
3. What should be/should not be deemed appropriate for this blog?
I understand that this is space given to us BY the department and so it should be used in the best interest FOR the department, but I don't operate well in ambiguitites. I think it would be very helpful if we could have some sort of Rules of the Blog or contract sent out to all of us so we could understand this better.
But maybe I am alone here - I just erased some more specific issues on the matter, but I think I will leave it general and see what the response is like. What do you think?
Helpful page for anyone who wasn't paying attention in class:
Erin just posted recently on one of his first credits on a game (congratulations!), and by coincidence I found out that for the first time something has been released on which I worked during my days this summer at House of Moves. (make sense?) Most of the stuff I worked on was mocap for games which I assume are going to be holiday releases (Goldeneye, LOTR:Battle for Middle Earth). But I did get to work on a couple of pieces for the new MTV2 show, "Video Mods."
The show recreates music videos using quasi-popular video game characters. Check out some clips at the link above. Is this interesting? Is it worth pursuing this avenue of expression? Or is this s stepping stone to some greater end?
For those who have heard or seen the documentary film about Hell House, here is a very brief overview:
Hell House is a haunted house that takes the audience through a Location-Based play that tries to scare them and warn them against various acts that a certain sect of Christians believe to be "evil."
In Hollywood, the script for Hell House (which I assume is public so that anyone could set up their own Hell House) is followed by the book, but with more of a humurous take on the proceedings.
Either way, it's been a long time since I've been to a haunted house, and even longer since I performed "The Haunted Crack House" in Richmond, Va, which was an LBE intended to scare kids away from doing drugs.
I'm going this Saturday (9/18). Anyone who wants to join should email or call me to meet there and get spooked together!
People for the American Way and Salon.com are sponsoring Flash the Court, a showcase of Flash artists creating pieces that parody the government.
From PFAW:
"Show off your creativity! Get some recognition for your Flash-making talent, while joining the fight to defend American values at the same time! Over the next month People For the American Way and Salon.com are accepting entries for "Flash the Court," our online competition to find the best Flash animation that illustrates the dangers of Right Wing control of the Supreme Court:
Four more years, or 40 more years? Your vote in November is not just a vote for President, but a new Supreme Court."
The Wooster Group, an incredible avant garde performance group (that Perry mentioned in class Thursday night) are performing in LA Sept 22-26. Student tickets are $30 - who wants to go?
I am currently reading The New Games Book:Play Hard, Play Fair, Nobody Hurt. It is a collection of philosophy and games created by The New Games Movement, Stewart Brand being the initiator. (Scroll halfway down to read about it involvement with the movement).
For those of you who don't know (Scott....) The New Game Movement, in short, was started by Vietnam War vet Stewart Brand who saw a more peaceful world created through the games we play. The games of the movement stress cooperation and fun, as oppossed to scoring and competition. He organized meetings in open fields, also seeing these games as a way for us to interact with our environment in an enjoyable way.
Well, I am just in love with this book.
I propose to coordinate a big Field Day for Interactive Media students and fellow local gamers to test out the New Games as well as any physical games you might be concocting. As all of our schedules are crazy, let's try and schedule it now! Since the weather here is so great, I'm willing to do it on any Saturday or Sunday through the rest of the semester. We could schedule earlier (like in October) or push it off until the end of the semester when we might not have SO many projects on our plates (although we will have finals....). What does everyone think?
A friend of mine digitized one of the news reports on the play I've been working on -