Clubberjack's Unfocused Ramblings

A New Home for Clubberjack

2007-02-28T23:47:00.000-05:00

This blog is now located at www.clubberjack.net. Enjoy!

Art I would like to collect

2007-02-02T12:25:00.000-05:00

I have a small collection of artwork, some pieces made by artist friends, some bought at various street fairs or shows (and some of my own work as well). I would like to expand my collection, and there are a few artists whose work I've seen online that I would love to purchase from. Here's a few of my favorites:

Mike Libby's Insects
I like the spiders, cicadas, and beetles.
Lockwasher Design
Beautiful retro robots and rayguns made of recycled parts.
Audrey Kawasaki's Paintings
I really like the one with the octopus arms.
El Rey
I've bought work from El Rey before, but never for myself. His krylographs are pretty cool.
James Jean
I came to Jean through his work on the covers for the Fables series. His Recess prints are quite striking.

Getting it Wrong (the price of security)

2007-02-01T17:50:00.000-05:00

Perhaps you've heard about the brouhaha surrounding the bomb scare in Boston. You know, the one set off by magnetic LED graffiti that was part of a marketing campaign (and so on...).

What I think is lost in all of the rush to assign blame (on all sides) is that this is the cost of having a bomb squad. Bomb squads get called in on false alarms all the time (like this). Sometimes you get it wrong. What happened in Boston was simply a false alarm; someone mistook an object for a bomb. Everyone clamoring for lawsuits against Cartoon Network or decrying the overreaction of Boston officials needs to step back and remember that there's no point in having a bomb squad if they're afraid to get it wrong some of the time.

Of course, that assumes that you believe in the relative merits of having a bomb squad...

... and that the security response is timely...

... which, in this case, it wasn't (the "bombs" had been up for 2 weeks prior to this incident).

Then, of course, there's the two actual fake bombs that were found the same day (with no arrests made yet).

[UPDATE] Here are a few more interesting comments on the situation:

Guitar Hero: What exactly are you doing?

2007-02-01T17:38:00.000-05:00

Jesper Juul made a smart little post about Guitar Hero over at the Ludologist. He makes the distinction between playing music and performing, and identifies GH as the later (as opposed to Singstar for example). This seems like a pretty good way of thinking about games like GH, they let you feel what it's like to perform, which is what the fantasy of being a guitar god is all about anyway. GH isn't about the skill of actually playing guitar. Singstar on the other hand is about the skill of singing.

On the flip side, completing a difficult section of GH does feel a lot like some of my memories from Middle School band, struggling through difficult measures of music on my trumpet. The elation of getting to the end without screwing up (much) is the much the same.

Game Design Link Dump

2007-01-31T00:32:00.000-05:00

Not quite done with the link dumps for today (I guess this is what happens when I let them build up over time). Here are some lovely links to interesting game design tidbits:

Danc's overview of one Project Horseshoe workshop
Jane McGonigal's thoughts on the opportunities of the Wii control scheme (we agree on a lot; she puts it a little more eloquently)

The next few are all from Raph Koster's blog. I've been reading a lot of his posts lately and finding his writing to be very insightful. Or maybe he and I have a similar set of interests... In any event, in the future, I'll try to post links to Raph's writing only when I have a full reaction to log (and not just a "wow, cool"). This should keep me from posting a link to everything.

Creative Process

2007-01-31T00:29:00.000-05:00

As an artist, I enjoy looking into the processes and spaces that other artists work out for themselves. Here are a couple of articles in that vein that I've enjoyed recently:

Inside Bungie
Guillermo del Toro on Pan's Labyrinth (highly recommended)

Update: Here's another one from EDGE...

Why Oddworld's Lorne Lanning gave up games for movies...

Link Dump

2007-01-30T23:57:00.000-05:00

Here's some links with minimal commentary:

Draw a stick figure and then see it dance!
Billboards address Mini owners... by name
A comic that explains my relationship to the internet
Our need for useless information... (but it always seems so important)
Cyberpunk here we come (data cable made of nerve cells)
The link between Children of Men and Half-Life 2
Brilliant musical ode to the bugs in Saints Row ("...at least from down here I can shoot at that guy...")
Get a first life
Sweet shoes (moebius strips)
Jeff Han's awesome multi-touch screen (be sure to check out the video too)
Some guy's personal annual report (well designed and humorous)
Bruce Schneier explains when security theater is good
Tyra helps some guy "quit WoW" (Damion at Zen of Design says "The guy’s look in the second video, as Tyra is shredding his WoW disks, is priceless. It says, 'These idiots don’t realize that I don’t need the disks anymore after install.' ")

Process Intensity

2007-01-30T23:25:00.000-05:00

A concept that I've been trying to understand lately is process intensity. Here's a few links (mostly for my own reference):

Chris Crawford's original article on Process Intensity
Greg Costikyan's updated thoughts on the matter
Noah Wardrip-Fruin: Introducing Process Intensity and Media Machines

I should have something intelligent to say about this soon.

The Importance of Movement

2007-01-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

Recently, a couple of articles reminded me of one key part of virtual character development: movement. Whether it's the creator of the furby miming the movement of a dinosaur or Savion Glover dancing in a mo-cap suit, the motions that are injected into each character serve to create those moments that we, as viewers (or players or interactors) recognize as true.

Clockwork

2007-01-04T23:51:00.000-05:00

These are too cool!

Insect Lab (particularly the beetles)
Really cool watch

Creative Link Dump

2007-01-04T23:46:00.000-05:00

Here's some more links relating to creating great experiences:

Link Dump

2007-01-04T23:29:00.000-05:00

Here's a pile of random links from the last few weeks.

September 12th

2006-09-11T12:38:00.000-04:00

It seems like today is a good day to remember.

Here's a game.

Net Neutrality: Save the Internet

2006-05-23T22:39:00.000-04:00

This video explains the concept of Net Neutrality better than I could (and this ninja does too).

After you watch the video, do something.

Link Dump

2006-05-23T22:32:00.000-04:00

I've got links building up that need to be linked... No time for deep commentary, just links, links everywhere:

Battlestar Galactica characters drawn like Simpsons
The Metaverse Roadmap Project
Pics of the $100 laptop (project site here)
Half-Life 2 Ass-kicking Machine
Oblivion Domino Day
Clint Hocking on the Wii and PS3 (Wii good; PS3 bad)
The Myth of Superman (he's like a modern god)

Enjoy.

Animations Galore!

2006-05-22T19:39:00.000-04:00

...or two animations anyway. Nina Paley is posting clips from her feature length piece "Sita Sings the Blues," which is a rendition of the Ramayana set to old blues songs. In her FAQs, Paley talks about the combination of Indian myth and the Blues:

These songs - Mean to Me, Am I Blue, Daddy Won't You Please Come Home, Moanin' Low - tell the same story I found in the Ramayana. Woman loves man, man does her wrong, woman loves man anyway and suffers horribly. They're the Blues; they're Sita's story, and mine. It seemed a natural fit.

Brilliant.

Another interesting project, Elephants Dream is an "open source movie." I haven't watched the whole product yet, but it looks very strange. Conceptually, this fascinates me in the same way as the Swarm of Angels project. Grassroots cinema.

Privacy

2006-05-19T14:12:00.000-04:00

Bruce Schneier has a nice piece over on Wired.com talking about why privacy is important... even if you have nothing to hide.

Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance.

We do nothing wrong when we make love or go to the bathroom. We are not deliberately hiding anything when we seek out private places for reflection or conversation. We keep private journals, sing in the privacy of the shower, and write letters to secret lovers and then burn them. Privacy is a basic human need.

A future in which privacy would face constant assault was so alien to the framers of the Constitution that it never occurred to them to call out privacy as an explicit right. Privacy was inherent to the nobility of their being and their cause. Of course being watched in your own home was unreasonable. Watching at all was an act so unseemly as to be inconceivable among gentlemen in their day. You watched convicted criminals, not free citizens. You ruled your own home. It's intrinsic to the concept of liberty.

For if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that -- either now or in the uncertain future -- patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable.

Super Mario Galaxy

2006-05-17T17:33:00.000-04:00

This snip from Penny Arcade has my mouth watering for a Wii and a copy of Super Mario Galaxy:

Visually bold and reminiscent of The Little Prince, you will find yourself sailing from world to world, with and controls that actively reinforce that your hands themselves are floating in space as well. Mario is controlled with the analog attachment, and the pointing device in your other hand essentially "helps" him in various ways by manipulating the environment. A platform game where tiny worlds are the platforms while boundless space fills in the cracks essentially feels amazing.

Just lovely.

E3 Games

2006-05-11T01:20:00.000-04:00

I'm not actually at E3, but that's not going to stop me from commenting on a few games that have piqued my interest...

Nintendo's Wii offered quite a bit of excitment with the new controller taking center stage. I'm particularly eager to get my hands on Super Mario Galaxy. Seeing Mario walk around the tiny planets reminded me pleasantly of the Little Prince. Of course, the Twilight Princess on Wii looks pretty sweet too.

From Microsoft, I was deeply excited by Halo 3. However, the news that GTA IV was going to include episodic content delivered over Live warmed my episodic-content-loving heart. Alan Wake looked interesting as a potential breakthrough into more literary genres. I'm no longer caught up in Molyneux hype, but if Fable 2 can begin to live up to the hype of Fable, then it's worth keeping an eye on. As someone who briefly played the paper RPG, Shadowrun was pretty exciting to see in game form. Finally, it's not a game, but the demo of Live Anywhere was quite heartening. It was bound to happen, and I'm happy that it's happening around games. Oh yeah, that Gears of War game doesn't look too shabby either.

For some reason, I was less than excited by Sony's showing. There were a number of crowd pleasers, but to me, they mostly looked like current-gen gameplay. Notable exceptions include the dragon-flight sim Lair, which looks pretty bad-ass, and what I can only guess is a safari game, Afrika. Finally, the Eye Toy demo, Eye of Judgement made me smile as the augmented reality concept is one I've actually worked on in the past. It's certainly nice to see that Sony has embraced a concept that is so near and dear to my heart.

Wow, I sound like some kind of Microsoft fanboy... maybe I am... hm.

E3 Press Conferences... Impressions

2006-05-10T10:25:00.000-04:00

I've finally absorbed all 5 or 6 hours of the big pre-E3 press conferences (via GameSpot's streams). I've come away feeling most excited by Ninendo. While I saw very little in terms of what I would consider to be next-gen gameplay from anybody, I did get the sense that Nintendo is most focused on broadening the market in a serious way. They also seemed to be enjoying themselves the most. Microsoft seemed to be focusing very much on what they are doing for gamers. And Sony, inexplicably, seemed to be presenting themselves as computer science gearheads. They showed tech demos and trumpeted the PS3's specs and widgets. It is for this reason that I think they will lose market share in this round.

What Microsoft and Nintendo seem to understand is that it's now all about what you do for people. Technology is only a means to an end. Sony seems to be stuck on the shiny newness of the Cell processor. And then there's the issue of price...

Of course, given the developer support for PS3 and Sony's own track record for putting out amazing games (witness Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and God of War), I'm sure PS3 will still be a huge success. I just don't think that Sony can maintain its market dominance in the face of competition that is so clearly focused on making the consumer happy.

All in all, I think this is going to be a great generation for gamers. There will be a widening of the market that will only spur demand for innovation. At any price point, there will be a quality experience to be had, from the Wii at about $200 to the PS3 topping out at $600. Between Nintendo's indie-friendly stance and Xbox Live Arcade (not to mention PC), there will be plenty of opportunity for studios with something new and different to bring to the table, and the big boys (I'm looking at you EA) will continue to bring big budget sweetness to the hard-core masses.

I can't wait.

Bush's Reaction to the Helen Thomas Video

2006-05-06T13:54:00.000-04:00

Click here to watch the president's reactions during Colbert's "Press Secretary Audition" video.

Totally Sweet NASA/ESA Video

2006-05-05T00:34:00.000-04:00

What a wonderfully information rich video... Imagine if you could see this sort of thing in real time...

A Sense of Wonder (and a Large Mechanical Elephant)

2006-05-05T00:28:00.000-04:00

A theatre company is staging a massive piece of street theatre in London this weekend. Already, a mysterious spacecraft has crash landed near Waterloo Place and sits, smoking, causing passersby to stare.

Said the leader of the theatre company, "One of the main things in art in general is to create sights and images that remain printed in people's minds."

I agree.

More pictures on Flickr.

Speaking Truthiness to Power: More on Colbert

2006-05-04T23:55:00.000-04:00

Sadly, "Speaking Truthiness to Power" isn't my line. I saw this lovely image on Boing Boing.

Apparently, the video that was posted on YouTube isn't there anymore, thanks to copyright holders C-SPAN complaining. The video is probably available on their website (if you can deal with streaming clips), but you can also get a copy at Crooks and Liars or via BitTorrent.

Predictably, it sounds like the routine didn't go over so well with Bush and his aides. Shouldn't they learn to take criticism?

Finally, a couple stories at Salon elucidate the beauty of Colbert's routine and skewer the tepid or non-existant media coverage afterwards.

The City of Galvez

2006-05-03T10:17:00.000-04:00

[via Clive Thompson] I haven't had a chance to digest this entire gallery, but these images by Oscar Guzmán are quite haunting.

Truthiness, Justice, and the American Way (ie Satire)

2006-05-02T21:03:00.000-04:00

This weekend, Stephen Colbert roasted the president at the AP White House Correspondents' Dinner. And what a roast it was. Colbert pulled no punches in his satirical attack. It made me very happy to see that the Daily Show's spawn continue to carry on the tradition of (humorously) taking our culture to task. On his show, Colbert frequently talks about the size of his balls; well, this weekend he proved it, sticking it to the man... right to his face.

The absurd video at the end starring Helen Thomas is priceless. I laugh everytime I think of the administration officials (including the president himself) having to sit through such a strange piece of comedy.

Video is online here:

Or "en BitTorrent" sil vous preferrez.

Update: And now you can thank him.

More updates: The NYTimes has picked up the story only a few days late. And Jon Stewart congratulated Stephen on Monday's Daily Show.

Guitar Heroics

2006-04-28T10:10:00.000-04:00

It really does make you feel like a rock star.

Embodiment

2006-04-27T11:55:00.000-04:00

In a recent BusinessWeek interview, Edward Castronova expressed the potential loss and joy represented in virtual worlds:

I like the body. I was watching a ballet recently. I was crying because I was thinking the bodies are so beautiful, and we're losing the body. I'm just afraid of losing the body.

At the same time, I love playing these games. Also, I have a kid. I also think, well, I should introduce him to these worlds at an early age so it's very natural for us when I'm older to go hang out together no matter where he lives.

All Squid! All the Time!

2006-04-27T11:04:00.000-04:00

...or at least in this post. Two links:

And just for good measure, here's a link to a story about the Kraken.

Gotta Catch 'Em All!

2006-04-25T19:48:00.000-04:00

[via BoingBoing] Simon Willson and Tom Coates define "Pokemonetise" as "to make money by appealing to the stupid human instinct to collect dumb things."

Orwell vs. Huxley: FIGHT!

2006-03-09T20:48:00.000-05:00

Actually, I just came across this quote from the forward to Neil Postman's book Amusing Ourselves to Death, talking about media effects [the full forward is online here]:

Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy...

The quote was posted to the Serious Games mailing list in response to a solicitation for citations of research against using games to teach. I thought it was an interesting counterpoint to my general optimism towards the educational power of games. Of course, the linchpin of Postman's point is the idea that media technologies (TV, videogames, etc) undermine our ability to think critically. I happen to believe that videogames (at least, the better ones) engage our critical thinking skills, giving them a much needed workout.

Blog-Tag? Uh ok.

2006-02-16T17:55:00.000-05:00

Saralah has "tagged" me. So I guess I'm "it".

Four jobs I've had:

1. Serious games designer
2. Project manager for R & D
3. Gallery assistant/antique salesman/art framer/UPS shipping clerk/fudge server (all one job)
4. Unsupervised underage bartender (sketchy)

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. The Long Kiss Goodnight
2. The Mummy
3. So I Married an Axe Murderer
4. Varsity Blues

Four places I've lived:

1. Pittsburgh (Lawrenceville), PA
2. Pittsburgh (Squirrel Hill), PA
3. Philadelphia, PA
4. Maine

Four TV shows I love:

1. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report
2. The IT Crowd
3. Sopranos
4. Battlestar Gallactica (the new one)

Four places I've vacationed:

1. Amsterdam
2. Seattle
3. Chicago
4. Maine

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. Hangover Cure (breakfast burrito-type thing) from Kiva Han
2. Mussels (usually with a garlic wine sauce)
3. Anything from Morimoto
4. My dad's pizza

Four sites I visit daily:

1. BoingBoing
2. Wonderland
3. Penny Arcade
4. Wired

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Asleep
2. Maine (Snow!)
3. On a beach, somewhere warm
4. With my babe

Four bloggers I am tagging:

Hm. I think all the bloggers I know have been tagged. So if you haven't been tagged yet, you're it.

The Terrible Sea

2006-02-06T18:22:00.000-05:00

The Steelers won the SuperBowl! Here's a pic of the sea of Terrible Towels on Carson Street after the game:

Mind-Controlling Wasps

2006-02-06T13:50:00.000-05:00

[via BoingBoing] Here's a cool article about a wasp that takes control of cockroaches, leading them back to the nest to use as living fodder for larvae. I love nature. Here a great quote:

The wasp slips her stinger through the roach's exoskeleton and directly into its brain. She apparently use ssensors along the sides of the stinger to guide it through the brain, a bit like a surgeon snaking his way to an appendix with a laparoscope. She continues to probe the roach's brain until she reaches one particular spot that appears to control the escape reflex. She injects a second venom that influences these neurons in such a way that the escape reflex disappears.

From the outside, the effect is surreal. The wasp does not paralyze the cockroach. In fact, the roach is able to lift up its front legs again and walk. But now it cannot move of its own accord. The wasp takes hold of one of the roach's antennae and leads it--in the words of Israeli scientists who study Ampulex--like a dog on a leash.

The zombie roach crawls where its master leads, which turns out to be the wasp's burrow. The roach creeps obediently into the burrow and sits there quietly, while the wasp plugs up the burrow with pebbles. Now the wasp turns to the roach once more and lays an egg on its underside. The roach does not resist. The egg hatches, and the larva chews a hole in the side of the roach. In it goes.

The larva grows inside the roach, devouring the organs of its host, for about eight days. It is then ready to weave itself a cocoon--which it makes within the roach as well. After four more weeks, the wasp grows to an adult. It breaks out of its cocoon, and out of the roach as well. Seeing a full-grown wasp crawl out of a roach suddenly makes those Alien movies look pretty derivative.

OGLE: Virtual World Mashups

2006-01-24T15:18:00.000-05:00

OGLE (OpenGL Extractor) is a cool new tool from Eyebeam's OpenLab. It basically allows users to grab 3D geometry from an application. At first, this may sound ho-hum, but the examples given on the project page point to some pretty interesting uses:

Making physical models of game characters
Mashing up virtual worlds like Second Life and Google Earth
Extracting and modifying Google Earth data sets

Clearly, OGLE shows off the potential for blurring the boundaries of the many virtual worlds (not to mention the boundary between virtual and real). This makes me happy. They've already released their tools, but I can't wait for them to release their plug-in for converting models to Google Earth's KML format.

Thanks to BoingBoing for the pointer.

Steelers in the Superbowl!

2006-01-24T15:05:00.000-05:00

A short digression from my usual ponderings... Living in Pittsburgh, I'm rather excited about the Steelers' recent victory over Denver, securing Pittsburgh a place in the Superbowl. Plus, the city is going nuts, which is pretty fun.

From Sunday night's spontaneous street party on Carson St.

Art for Catching Criminals?

2006-01-19T18:03:00.000-05:00

BoingBoing pointed to this story about a caracaturist helping capture a burglar with his drawing and recall abilities. It makes me wonder if the perceptual tricks of caracature made the drawing easier to use when identifying the burglar. I notice a lot of police sketches look sort-of like they're supposed to, whereas a lot of caracatures are spot-on. Does the simplification of features in a caracature make it easier to use as an identifier? See Scott McCloud.

Dick Hardt's Powerpoint Fu is Strong

2006-01-19T13:13:00.000-05:00

This video of Dick Hardt's Identity 2.0 presentation has been sitting on my desktop for some time. During a flurry of clean-up recently (gotta make room for those World of Warcraft patches), I came across it and watched it. The subject is interesting, but I found the style and format of the presentation even more impressive. Go check it out and get schooled in ppt fu.

The Year 2005 in Cities

2006-01-18T00:45:00.000-05:00

Following folks such as Jason Della Rocca and Jason Kotke, here's my list of cities for 2005:

Pittsburgh, PA*
Mountain View, CA
San Francisco, CA*
Philadelphia, PA*
Chicago, IL*
Houston, TX
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Deer Isle, ME*
Hallowell, ME*
Rochester, NY*
Minneapolis, MN
Boston, MA
Seattle, WA

Rules (from Kotke): "One or more nights spent in each place. Those cities marked with an * were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days."

Game Parody (including Asterix!!!)

2006-01-12T15:34:00.000-05:00

Joystiq points to an article on MTV.com about a recent Asterix & Obelix game that parodies many other videogames. The game sounds fun and funny. Plus, I have such a fond memory of Asterix & Obelix comics from my youth (I even still have my collection). It's too bad this will probably be a Europe-only release.

New Year's Resolution: Create More

2006-01-06T16:33:00.000-05:00

Though I'm not really into New Year's resolutions, I did pause to reflect on my life as the year turned from 2005 to 2006. For an artist, I really don't create as much as I should. I spend large amounts of time consuming the creations of others: movies, games, websites, music, etc. I enjoy partaking in the creations of others, but I haven't been responding with enough creations of my own. I'm a bit imbalanced in that regard.

Following from that, my New Year's resolution is to create more. That means more sculpting, more writing, more designing, more implementing, more drawing, more building, more game-making, and so on.

To remind myself of this, I've make some new desktop images for my laptop:

Hopefully, this will remind me to periodically live up to my resolution.

Game Ratings: A Lesson from A. O. Scott

2005-12-19T00:07:00.000-05:00

I was looking at the NYTimes the other day and ran across a piece by A. O. Scott on movies for kids. Scott made some nice observations and drew some common sense conclusions about the movie rating system when it comes to judging whether a movie is appropriate for a specific child.

These are complicated questions, and it is not surprising that the ratings by the Motion Picture Association of America, which vaguely suggest guidance and offer strong caution, are not much help. They can give some clues about language, violence, sexual themes and on-screen drug use, but the ratings cannot possibly predict how words, scenes and images will interact with the tastes and sensitivities of young viewers.

Scott grasps the core of the problem inherent on being over reliant on ratings when picking entertainment for your child. Ratings are vague and don't take into account each child's maturity or a given parent's willingness to help the child process the harder parts of the film.

And of course the ratings contain no warnings about stupidity, cynicism or reliance on cliché, attributes that many parents - this one, at least - find as offensive as naughty words, "intense action sequences" or "thematic elements," whatever those are.

Scott's ultimate solution is to be an active participant in your child's life (and sometimes even in the lives of other people's children). Discuss the movies with them. Help them appreciate the finer moments, and talk them through the scary or confusing parts. Basically, be involved in your child's life and be involved in their consumption of entertainment (and even Art).

Why can't people be this sensible about videogames?

Beliefs

2005-11-22T17:02:00.000-05:00

Penn Jillette has a nice piece over on NPR about his belief that there is no God. He explains why that's different than being an atheist, and, although he doesn't use the word spirituality, he lays out a spiritual worldview that sounds pretty cool:

Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.

Music in the Sopranos

2005-11-15T03:39:00.000-05:00

I just finished watching season 5 of the Sopranos. It's a brilliant show. It features a group of pretty insane people who are absolutely facinating to watch. It occurred to me that one of the things I love about the Sopranos is the music. To my mind, the music is one of the things that really helps humanize the characters. So often, the music paints a picture of the characters' internal states. Sadness, joy, relief, all of these emotions are often carried in the music, and they give us a view of the characters that we can empathize with. Even though I've never killed someone or had the pressure of running an organized crime operation, I can connect with Tony Soprano through the emotional window of the music. Plus, the music stands on its own as good stuff.

Blind Man at the Visualization Conference

2005-10-27T01:14:00.000-04:00

... and I thought I was an outsider! Actually, he's probably not an outsider at all. I imagine that a blind man must have some fantastic insights into a field that is defined by vision. He also might not have been 100% blind.

A Very Good Sandwich

2005-10-27T01:07:00.000-04:00

I was going to title this post "Best. Sandwich. Ever." but that seemed like a bit much. For lunch today, I had a Monte Cristo with lingonberry dipping sauce. The words "Thanksgiving between two piece of French toast" came to mind.

I've had a Monte Cristo before but with maple syrup instead of the lingonberry. I love breakfast foods, but I have to say, the lingonberry added a certain something that the maple syrup didn't quite bring. Anyway... I thought it was good.

VIS 2005: Professional Community Redux

2005-10-26T10:48:00.000-04:00

I'm at another conference. This week finds me at the VIS conference (that's IEEE Visualization 2005 for those not "in the know"). Once again, I don't feel at home in the same way that I feel at home at the Game Developers Conference. Re-reading my earlier reflections on this thought, however, I have to say that I disagree with one point.

I have a greater sense of contribution. Although, as an artist, I feel like an outsider here, I feel like that is a strength rather than a liability. I bring a valuable perspective that is practically unrepresented at this gathering of engineers, though this conference is certainly more artist friendly than other engineering cons. This is a field in which an artistic eye can make an impact.

I still prefer GDC. Hm.

The Luddite

2005-10-13T13:04:00.000-04:00

I'm a pretty tech-positive guy. Not just in the "I-have-a-lot-of-gadgets" sense, but in the sense that I believe that technology does good things for humanity. That said, it's good to think of tech in terms of its costs as well.

Tony Long, the copy chief for Wired News, has started a column at that site called The Luddite, which serves as a nice reminder that we shouldn't blindly leap forward into technologies without thinking about the prices we pay.

Long hits a few particularly apt points:

For one thing, human beings are not meant to go as fast as modern technology compels them to go. Technology might make it possible to work at warp speed, yes, but that doesn't make it healthy. And just because the latest software makes it feasible to double your workload (or "productivity," to you middle-management types), that shouldn't give the boss the right to expect you will.
...
With cell phones, IM and all the personal-this and personal-that, we're connected all the time, or "24/7" as the unfortunate jargon has it. Is being connected 24/7 a good thing? Isn't it healthy to be "off the grid" now and then? If you can't answer "yes" to that question, you may be a tech dynamo, my friend, but please stay the hell out of my cafe.

These issues are on my mind a lot as I have embraced many of the technologies and associated lifestyles that Long mentions. Do I make myself "too" available to my colleagues and supervisors by answering my cellphone anytime that someone calls? Is my standard of living suffering from my ability (and willingness) to work from anywhere, at anytime? Is my lifestyle hurting the environment and/or other people?

Being Poor

2005-09-03T17:02:00.000-04:00

"Being poor is relying on people who don't give a damn about you." - John Scalzi [via Clive Thompson]

Please give.

Retouch

2005-08-23T16:05:00.000-04:00

No wonder we have inhuman expectations of beauty. Are we using digital retouching to create an ideal that is physically unattainable?

The big question is "What happens as surgical technology catches up?" Cosmetic surgery is the beginning, but where will it end?

Xbox 360 and Next-Gen Pricing

2005-08-17T16:35:00.000-04:00

GameDaily has a nice comprehensive overview of the pricing for the upcoming Xbox 360. The editor's opinion nicely expresses my feeling on the pricing issue:

While early adopters, including this editor [And me. --CJ], may plunk down the cash for a premium edition 360, it's becoming increasingly clear that things are getting out of hand. $400 for a console? $60 for a game? When will it stop? If the industry is to reach a billion consumers as Microsoft suggests, then prices on hardware and software need to start coming down, not going up.

If the industry continues in the direction of ultra-sophisticated, high-tech and mega expensive hardware along with software that costs upwards of $30 million to develop and market, we could soon be facing a crisis. A radical change to the fundamental economy of this industry and the way games are created and sold will become a necessity, if that isn't the case already.

With the PS3 also slated to be expensive, perhaps Nintendo's real "revolution" will be an inexpensive console. Wouldn't that be mind-blowing... especially if they are true to their word about supporting indie developers.

UPDATE: Here's an interesting breakdown of why these prices aren't so bad.

Games Matter, But How?

2005-08-17T11:20:00.000-04:00

Clive Thompson has a short post up about Islamic videogames (which seem to be popping up in the news a lot lately). Thomas Friedman recently noted that "Video games matter," referring to Islamic games designed to spread a jihadist message. However, Clive points out that action games quickly become abstracted from their narratives, and therefore they aren't so great for getting across something complex like ideology.

This is, more precisely, the real point about why point-and-shoot action games suck as tools of indoctrination: Their narratives rarely matter. In an action-shooter game, the real narrative -- the one that matters -- isn't the type of uniforms or country you're fighting; it's the the physics. The emotional and cognitive content of the game is just about being physically graceful enough to achieve your goals in fast-moving, fast-changing environment -- a statement that defines everything Half-Life 2 to football.

The problem with Friedman -- and other pundits who don't play games -- is that all they see is what's happening on the screen. And sure, on the screen, you might be fighting Nazis, or contras, or green-blooded aliens, or the Civil War South. But in the gamer's mind, it's all just vectors and motion: After a few hours of playing the game, the external reference points boil away. Talk to chess grandmasters and it's the same thing. They don't look down at the board and think, oh, this is a war-like situation in which a powerful queen is defending a hapless, old, past-his-prime king. They just see abstract forces, the platonic interactions of the game's rule-set. Some masters have told me that they do not even visualize the pieces any more -- just the interactions between them.

If action games aren't so good at ideology, which games are? See also: Games for Change.

Me in Pixels

2005-08-10T22:49:00.000-04:00

StorTroopers (discovered in Wonderland) has lately been distracting me from just about everything I'm supposed to be doing. Here's me through my recent history, in pixel form:

Kind of reminds me of "What If..." over at Flip Flop Flyin'.

UnrealArt

2005-08-10T13:30:00.000-04:00

[Via Kotaku via PixelSumo] UnrealArt is a fantastic project by Alison Mealey, in which striking images are generated from the actions of bots playing in custom Unreal maps.

1 min 1 sec
42 x 42 cm
2005

You got Point
42 x 42 cm
2005

Somebody Gets It

2005-08-08T21:33:00.000-04:00

Those chaps at the Economist have a well-reasoned and well-researched article on games, bringing some much needed rational thought to the whole Hot Coffee brouhaha. The concluding paragraph sums it up nicely:

Like rock and roll in the 1950s, games have been accepted by the young and largely rejected by the old. Once the young are old, and the old are dead, games will be regarded as just another medium and the debate will have moved on. Critics of gaming do not just have the facts against them; they have history against them, too. “Thirty years from now, we'll be arguing about holograms, or something,” says Mr [Dimitri] Williams.

I was just saying the same thing the other day.

The Soul of the Blogosphere

2005-07-30T10:56:00.000-04:00

...is apparently cats. From this NY Times piece:

"Cats, who live indoors and love to prowl, are the soul of the blogosphere."

I certainly don't disprove that. I blog. I have a cat.

Thanks for sending the article, Alice.

Childlike Wonder: Kobito

2005-07-29T22:53:00.000-04:00

I've played around with AR (augmented reality) a bit, so the technology of "Kobito" doesn't strike me as complicated or out-there. However, the combination and application of several simple ideas/technologies is brilliant. Don't get me wrong, registering virtual objects with the real world isn't easy, nor is building a two-way feedback system between the two worlds. But to me, the real triumph of "Kobito" is the way it captures our facination with imaginary and invisible powers or beings. Watch the videos and tell me it doesn't excite your inner child.

Via Clive Thompson, who has some interesting observations too.

Someone Else's Face

2005-07-26T13:24:00.000-04:00

I enjoyed the movie Face/Off, but I had no idea how close we were to making it reality. Dr. Siemionow, one surgeon pushing the envelope, has nothing but the highest moral reasons for attempting this still risky procedure; she wants to help patients whose faces were disfigured.

Sci-fi imagining aside, I wonder what the psychological effects of wearing someone else's face would be? Surely, it must be better than not having a face at all or wearing a "living quilt." But what happens when you look at yourself in the mirror and see someone else? Skull shape and musculature will prevent a patient from looking like the donor, but it's still not the same face.

Weird.

Hot Coffee

2005-07-25T16:55:00.000-04:00

Anyone who pays attention to gaming will be aware of the "Hot Coffee" debacle. Greg Costikyan has some good thoughts, and as usual, the discussion at Game Girl Advance is excellent (see also here and here). Now that the ESRB has made its ruling, I consider the matter over, though there are several wider implications that have yet to be resolved (modding for instance).

In any case, I just read a nice (and somewhat sarcastic) editorial piece over at SFGate.com: "There's Sex In My Violence! What's this lame soft-core porn doing in my ultraviolent 'Grand Theft Auto'? I am outraged!" Here's some choice bits:

Suddenly that downloadable patch you installed last night kicks in and there's, like, a lame and badly animated sex scene, right there, right between the graphic bloody part where you bazooka'd the police helicopter and the part where the gang-banger gets his lame ass beaten with a large handgun, and suddenly you're like, what the hell? Who stuck this lame badly animated sex in here? Where'd my soul-numbing ultraviolent racism go? I am outraged.

But the piece makes a more global connection:

Meanwhile, just down America's street, countless thousands of young U.S. soldiers are hobbling home from Iraq and Afghanistan, wounded and disabled and limbless and traumatized to the bone, eyes deadened to the world and permanently scarred to their cores and in interviews and documentaries and various news stories you often hear many of them say this one weirdly similar thing.
...

This is what they say: Oh man, you know what it reminded me of? You know what it was like over there, what with all the killing and the violence and the guns? It was just like, well, it was just like a video game.

UPDATE: Stephen Johnson weighs in elloquently. His op ed in the LA Times includes gems like "The national carjacking rate has dropped substantially since 'Grand Theft Auto' came out" and zingers like this:

Dear Sen. Clinton:
I'm writing to commend you for calling for a $90-million study on the effects of video games on children, and in particular the courageous stand you have taken in recent weeks against the notorious "Grand Theft Auto" series.
I'd like to draw your attention to another game whose nonstop violence and hostility has captured the attention of millions of kids — a game that instills aggressive thoughts in the minds of its players, some of whom have gone on to commit real-world acts of violence and sexual assault after playing.
I'm talking, of course, about high school football.

Brilliant.

Godfather

2005-07-10T14:09:00.000-04:00

The NY Times has an interesting article on the upcoming Godfather game being developed at EA. There were two things that struck me about the article:

First, the author, Seth Schiesel, recognizes the true importance of the GTA series. Schiesel writes, "What has made the G.T.A. series so revolutionary and successful is not its content but its form." It's nice to see a mainstream media source saying something intelligent about GTA and not decrying its violence out of hand.

Second, I really enjoyed reading about how members of the film cast engaged (or didn't engage) with the videogame version of their film. Coppola's well known criticisms of the game ("I did not cooperate with its making in any way, nor do I like or approve of what I saw of the result.") are balanced by Brando's interest in the new medium. Before he died, Brando clearly grokked the difference between films and games: "It's the audience, really, that's doing the acting."

Despite Brando's participation, Pacino declined to participate in the Godfather game in any way, which is funny because he licensed his likeness to Vivendi Universal for the coming Scarface adaptation. It's unclear exactly what his reasons were. James Caan, on the other hand, gleefully embraced the possibilities of the new medium. "When they asked me about it, my first thought was that I was going to finally try to get Sonny through the tollbooth..." Of course, that isn't the case; Sonny will still die, but I am heartened that some actors are embracing the narrative freedom of videogames.

It all makes me wonder what will happen when Hollywood actors get involved with a game that doesn't have the political baggage of the Godfather. Could there be an original game property that uses famous film talent in a way that isn't slave to a predetermined storyline?

Cyborg Issues

2005-06-21T16:55:00.000-04:00

Provoking, as always, Clive Thompson wrote a short blog entry on cyborg gender politics. Sometimes, I feel like I'm living in a future that I imagined when I was a kid, playing cyberpunk RPGs. I remember playing Cyberpunk 2020 and first confronting the idea that replacing chunks of your body with machine parts could screw you up psychologically as you drifted farther and farther from humanity. Now, we have amputees shining and decorating their robotic prostheses. And emergent gender issues.

Clive notes a double standard under which many women still feel compelled to hide their prostheses. In the comment thread, however, someone brought up Aimee Mullins, an actress/model/athlete. Mullins had her legs amputated at the age of one and wears prosthetic legs. She certainly doesn't rate as any less human than anyone else.

I think that with the elasticity of the human brain and our ability in incorporate new things into our bodies, our concept of humanity will probably change and grow rather than exclude those with robotic replacements/augmentations. Just as we don't think of people with glasses as any less human, we'll continue to view people as people, even as more and more machines are incorporated into our bodies.

UPDATE: Speaking of cyborg gender issues, I recently discovered SilverAJ, who has volutarily modified her body in some interesting ways. I don't think any of them are functional beyond visual aesthetics though.

J Allard Redux

2005-05-20T16:34:00.000-04:00

Here's a J Allard quote from an interview with Eurogamer in regards to the Xbox and PS3 prices:

I don't know what our price is going to be, and I don't know what their price is going to be. They got a lot of stuffed in, huh? Look at the back of that thing! Holy crap!

He also made some nice points about competition being good for gamers:

I know it makes for good drama because it oh, it's Microsoft versus Sony - I want gaming to get bigger. I think it's great that all three companies are all taking really different approaches and are bringing gaming to the next level in different ways. That's good. That's good for competition, that's good for the consumer, that's good for the industry, because it's going to grow the industry, and if it gives game creators more opportunities to go and push the envelope, that's great.

I like this guy more and more. Oh yeah, and I got my new HDTV the other day, too. ;)

Of Cats and Catwomen

2005-05-19T14:27:00.000-04:00

I'm working at home this afternoon, and I've got the movie Catwoman playing in the background. It's about what I expected: mindless, amusing, silly. The funny thing is watching it as a cat owner.

My cats are actually meowing in response to the on-screen felines.

Of course, Halle Berry acting like a cat is mostly ridiculous. The sexy strutting and jumping around are more like some guy's fantasy of what Halle Berry acting like a cat would be. However, at times, Halle does justice to her namesake, scarfing raw fish or falling off a high shelf and then looking surprised.

I think that, while cats have their sensual moments and are unquestionably nimble and lithe, they are actually a lot more innocent and erratic than the stereotype. For instance, in one scene, Halle is discovering her inner cat while playing basketball with Benjamin Bratt's character. She is engrossed in the sheer love of playing with the ball, which struck me as very cat-like. However, her unnatural ability with the ball, seemed too in-control for a cat. When my cats play, it's much more wild and out-of-control. The crinkle ball with which they play flys this way and that. The pace of play is much more stop-and-go as they lose interest and then return to the ball.

All-in-all, the movie certainly could have done a better job making Halle cat-like. But I suppose that's probably not what it was about. Plus, dog-people wouldn't have gotten it.

Cult of Personality: Xbox's J Allard

2005-05-17T23:59:00.000-04:00

Amid the furor of all the unveilings prior to E3, I've been captivated by the prominence of Microsoft VP J Allard. I first heard Allard speak at GDC 2004 where he introduced XNA. At the time, I pegged him as just another MS hawker, trying too hard to make a monopoly sound cool. I heard him again at GDC 2005, where he pimped the HD Era [in the interests of full disclosure, I should say that I won an HDTV at that talk, though I have yet to receive it]. He still came off slick and even a bit "over-produced," but the content of the talk seemed to make sense.

Maybe my distrust of Allard came from the fact that he's always got a big screen projection of himself behind him [exhibit A]. To be fair, I've only ever seen him when he's giving a talk which excuses the Citizen Kane thing. Either way, I've never quite been able to separate the real J Allard from the manufactured J Allard. Then I saw this.

Somehow, knowing that he at least looked like an engineer in his past, I feel a lot more comfortable with him. Certainly, the things he's done are not too shabby. According to the recent Time magazine article on the Xbox 360, he pretty much single-handedly convinced Bill Gates to make the Internet a major part of MS's strategy. He also was the mover-and-shaker behind the pursuit of gaming. Time uses the word "evangelist," which I think is appropriate. In the OurColony.net video, I think he comes off as genuinely excited about what he's talking about.

So, to sum up, I find J Allard facinating.

Animal Augmentation

2005-05-03T17:10:00.000-04:00

Wired is running a provoking article that looks at the ethically questionable area of technologically enhancing animals. At first, it read like a review of some bio-art piece, meant to generate discussion, but by the end of the piece, it was clear that some people think augmentation of animals is not only ethically sound but technologically feasible. Wow.

The best quote:

"With children, the insane and the demented we are obliged, when we can, to help these 'disabled citizens' to achieve or regain their full self-determination," says Dr. James J. Hughes, executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and author of Citizen Cyborg. "We have the same responsibility to enhance the intelligence and communication abilities of great apes, and possibly also of dolphins and elephants, when we have the means to do so. Once they are sufficiently enhanced, they can make decisions for themselves, including removing their augmentation."

Irritating Interactive Art

2005-04-27T18:48:00.000-04:00

The New York Times has a snarky look at some of the interactive art on display at the Boston Cyberarts Festival. As much as I love interactive art, I have to agree that a lot of it is overly prurient, frustrating to use, and condescending.

Wired has commentary on the festival as well, though they take a more charitable look.

I'm happy to see people working with orbital imagery, as that's what I spend a lot of time doing now. Data connected to place seems important to me.

Fun with Google

2005-04-27T18:42:00.000-04:00

Clive Thompson, constant purveyor of interesting links, references this fun little app by designer Grant Robinson: Guess the Google. This "game" is a lot of fun, and also points to the infiltration of searchable data into everyday consciousness. iTunes is another good example. I'm excited that I don't have to organize everything anymore. If I want a certain song, I search my iTunes library for it. If I want a certain thread in my email, I search my gmail account.

This is why Google is so important to the future.

Oh, and if you haven't used Google Maps yet, try it out.

How to Be Annoying

2005-04-22T17:00:00.000-04:00

I'm never quite sure how to feel about being into videogames. On the one hand, I believe wholeheartedly in the importance of interactive entertainment media. On the other hand, gaming is, in a lot of ways, still a ghetto. Even people in the industry deal with this duality. Hence, GameDaily's Media Coverage column this week... which is hilarious.

[Shudder]

2005-04-12T16:19:00.000-04:00

Clive Thompson posts this cringe-inducing factoid over at collisiondetection.net.

If this applies to you, here's some info: When I call you on your cell-phone, there are certain expectations. I assume you aren't on the toilet. And I sure as hell don't want to be talking to you if you're in the middle of getting your freak on.

What a sad commentary on modern society.

Solar Death Ray

2005-04-01T12:17:00.000-05:00

Things have been pretty busy lately, and most of my blogging attention has been on Laundry Sessions. However, I just ran across this great link:

Solar Death Ray

Enjoy.

Professional Community: GDC vs. LPSC Part II

2005-03-16T17:37:00.000-05:00

If you follow Laundry Sessions, another blog for which I write, you'll have seen my comments on gender-distribution at the two (very different) conferences that I've attended over the past two weeks. Another, more personal, contrast has become evident. Both conferences are "professional" conferences. The GDC provides an annual meeting for game developers, while LPSC serves to unite planetary scientists. I happened to be fortunate enough to present at both, and while I've enjoyed myself immensely, I certainly feel more at home in one of the communities than in the other.

[Aside] If you're my boss: don't worry about me leaving anytime soon. [/Aside] That said, I have to say that I feel much more a part of the game development community. Maybe it's because I have many more friends in games. Maybe it's because I'm not a planetary scientist, although I'm not really a game developer either. Maybe it's just because I went to this year's GDC before attending LPSC, and I'm just plain worn out. But in any case, I feel like an outsider in the space science community. I've barely understood the talks I've attended. I haven't recognized a single person at the parties I've attended. I don't feel like I have that much to offer to planetary science.

I do like doing education and public outreach, which is why I'm involved with LPSC in the first place, so for now, that will keep me going. However, I'm going to keep this feeling in mind as my career unfolds...

Aw...

2005-03-02T14:07:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to post this for a while...

This was totally unposed. I had just brought Halo 2 home, and Lucca, my kitty, jumped up on the bed and grabbed it. He tried to eat it, too.

Hotel Rwanda

2005-02-26T02:31:00.000-05:00

I just saw the movie Hotel Rwanda. What an amazing, devastating, unrelenting film. All of the acting was phenomenal. I can't even fully process it right now. If you haven't seen it, you should.

Terminator's Grandpappy: Robot Soldiers are Here

2005-02-16T11:45:00.000-05:00

The New York Times [free registration required] is running a piece on the SWORDS robot, an armed robot that is set to deploy in Iraq. Now, I'll admit that the images of a gun-wielding, remote-operated robot do light up my imagination. The utopian sci-fi nerd in me can't help but extrapolate to a time when wars are all fought via robot and human life is preservered. Of course, the dystopian sci-fi nerd in me can't think of anything other than the bleak future of the Terminator movies, in which intelligent robots decide they're done taking orders from humans.

Sci-fi visions (utopian or otherwise) aside. The idea of armed robots strikes me as very wrong. Many will argue that robotic soldiers reduce bloodshed and keep flesh-and-blood soldiers out of harm's way. However, the whole idea of an armed robot is to kill. While SWORDS operators teleoperate their mobile weapons platforms from a safe distance, the human beings on the business end of the robot are still bleeding and dying. An armed robot does nothing to halt violence and war.

From a purely tactical perspective, it seems like weaponized infantry robots are highly susceptible to hacking or other interference. No matter how good the encryption is, a signal is still being sent from the operator to the robot and back. A smart enemy could surely interfere with that loop, rendering the robot useless, or worse, turning it on its owners.

On top of all that, the military continues to push for artificial intelligence that will take the control of the robot out of human hands. Is this a good idea? I work closely with robotics projects at Carnegie Mellon University, which is one of the universities working on the millitary's Future Combat Systems project, and I have to say that I have yet to see an autonomous system that I would trust. As AI becomes more and more advanced and more and more embodied, machine revolt seems more and more likely. James Cameron's Terminator becomes less and less of a sci-fi adventure and more of a cautionary tale.

Just in case you're reading this after the NYTimes article has been archived, here are some links to other information:

an article about SWORDS at Defense Review
Foster-Miller (the company that built the SWORDS robot)
an MSNBC article
SWORDS in light of Asimov
an article at the Guerilla News Network

Law & Order Does Videogames

2005-02-14T23:23:00.000-05:00

I watched an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit the other night. The show, always well written and willing to engage issues, centered on a crime allegedly caused by a videogame. Tony at ButtonMashing.com and Andrew at Tales of a Scorched Earth give the episode a pretty good review (from a gaming culture perspective). I agree that it was a remarkably even handed look at videogame violence for something as mainstream as Law & Order.

That said, there were some things that irked me as a proponent of games. The open-mouthed stare of Stabler's kid as he played "Intensity" (the episode's Grand Theft Auto stand-in). The developer portrayed as irresponsible, too cool and a bit overworked. The fact that no other (non-violent) games were really even mentioned. These things reflect poorly on the medium.

Of course, now that I've written that and thought about it some more, I have to admit that in many ways, Law & Order was presenting reality (which is what I love so much about the series). Kids often get that hollow stare while playing games (I'm sure I don't look super smart while I'm playing). Parents often don't monitor what their kids play, leading to surprise and shock when kids are found killing hookers in GTA, just as Stabler was shocked to watch his son play Intensity. Developers often work on multiple projects aimed at multiple age levels, which leads to confusion as parents associate the entire industry with "kids stuff." Some developers maintain an aloof attitude which many people interpret as nonchalance or worse. In fact, the open-ended nature of games could possibly be seen as a failure to take a stand. And let's face it, the developers being too busy and overworked is pretty dead-on.

After thinking about it, I guess what bugged me about the Law & Order episode is that it reflected how many people see this industry. And the industry isn't doing much to help itself. Sure Law & Order takes the occasional potshot at Hollywood, but Hollywood can take it. Games are at a point where more negative press can seriously affect how people perceive gaming as a medium, as a form of expression. I just wish the industry would attempt to spiff up its image, broaden the types of content, treat developers better. Pipe dream?

First Time for Everything

2005-02-04T15:43:00.000-05:00

I had an interesting experience on the bus on the way to work this morning. I was riding standing up, reading the latest issue of Wired. In particular, I was reading an article called "The Painful Truth" about regional anesthesia being pioneered in combat medecine (online at Wired.com). Suddenly, I found myself feeling really woozie. My stomache was flipping, and I felt faint. I had to sit down.

I don't get motion sick. I don't consider myself to be particularly sensitive to the sight of blood. However, I'm pretty sure that my reaction was related to the graphic descriptions of battlefield injuries in the article, which was accomanied by one particularly gruesome picture. For example:

His left calf muscle had been blown away, exposing a length of bone and pulped flesh, and blood was leaking through his field dressing. His foot was swollen with edema... At one point, a technician lifted his wounded leg to clean it, and the weakened tibia fractured with a sharp crack that sent shudders through the surgical staff.

There's a picture too.

Normally, I don't react to stuff like this, but for some reason, perhaps the visceral and detailed nature of the description, my body decided it had had enough. Consciously, I wasn't even that repulsed by the content. The article held my attention with its overarching story, but at some subconscious level, my body did not like thinking about massive tissue trauma.

I always get a kick out of this sort of thing (not that I enjoy it while it's happening). It serves as a reminder that our conscious selves are not always (or even ever) in total control.

And the article itself really was pretty interesting. It was a different look at the costs of the Iraq war, even as it detailed some of the technologies that are being developed and deployed in the Middle East.

Sony QRIO: He, She, or It?

2005-01-28T14:40:00.000-05:00

I had the good fortune today of seeing Sony's humaniod robot and corporate ambassador, QRIO. QRIO is an impressive thing, even more impressive than Honda's ASIMO, in my opinion. It's smaller, but more independent, autonomous. Technically, it's a modern marvel. It can stand up after being pushed over. When it falls, it even braces itself with its arms to protect its head. The bipedal balance is great; face and voice recognition is impressive; stereo vision and listening is quite amazing; the movement is very expressive... but...

One audience member at the demo raised the interesting question of gender. Does QRIO have a gender? One of the Sony people giving the demo had been alternately referring to QRIO as "he" and "it." Another researcher used the feminine pronoun "her." In answer to the question, they sort of joked about it, and their answer boiled down to "it doesn't really matter."

I thought this was too bad. QRIO is being developed with human-robot communication in mind. QRIO is supposed to connect with people on an emotional, affective level. The simple choice of a gender would be a huge step towards defining a character for QRIO to which people would relate much more readily. Choosing an age would help too. For instance, QRIO reminds me of a little boy; if they made that choice consciously and made it concrete, QRIO would be far more interesting to interact with.

In my own work with robots, particularly with bringing NASA robotic exploration missions to the public, I tend to assign a gender to each in my head. NASA robots aren't even humanoid, but somehow their autonomy cries out to be characterized. Zoë, a CMU robot that I work with on a regular basis, has always been female in my mind, and in public education materials, I refer to Zoë as "her." The roboticists that I work with were surprised the first time they heard me do this. Perhaps, growing up around boats, which are traditionally feminine, put that in my mind, or perhaps, my artistic and dramatic background causes me to have a different outlook than your average engineer.

In any case, I urge anyone working on robots to consider this issue, especially in relation to humanoid or entertainment robots.

Triumph of the Right Brain

2005-01-27T14:20:00.000-05:00

Well... I've known and believed this for a long time, but it seems the establishment is starting to consciously recognize the importance of artists to commercial ventures. This article in Wired Magazine talks about some reasons why.

While I'm not sure I believe all the reasons, I do find it heartening (and validating) to hear that others think artists are important to the economy.

2 Links via Grumpy Gamer

2005-01-18T21:01:00.000-05:00

The inimitable Grumpy Gamer has two links that I found amusing:

What if...

Postal Experiments

Enjoy. And if you haven't tried Grumpy Gamer, give it a go; you might like it.

[Yeah... I just used a semi-colon in a blog.]

Robot Insurance

2005-01-14T13:45:00.000-05:00

This is an old Saturday Night Live skit, but it's even funnier now that I work with robots on a regular basis.

Robot Insurance

Put an Artist in Power...

2005-01-11T14:46:00.000-05:00

Antanas Mockus was mayor of Bogota, Columbia. I hadn't heard of him before, but I just read this article at the Harvard Gazette. Here's a couple choice quotes:

People were desperate for a change, for a moral leader of some sort. The eccentric Mockus, who communicates through symbols, humor, and metaphors, filled the role. When many hated the disordered and disorderly city of Bogotá, he wore a Superman costume and acted as a superhero called "Supercitizen." People laughed at Mockus' antics, but the laughter began to break the ice of their extreme skepticism.
---

"The distribution of knowledge is the key contemporary task," Mockus said. "Knowledge empowers people. If people know the rules, and are sensitized by art, humor, and creativity, they are much more likely to accept change."

The idea that art/humor/creativity are what sensitize people to the rules of society seems particularly powerful to me. Not that I needed another reason to believe in the importance of art, but this is such an eloquent testimony to the prominent place art should hold in the world.

This is what happens when you put an artist in power. Awesome.

Tsunami Relief

2005-01-04T11:11:00.000-05:00

My family donated some money to the tsunami relief effort through the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that does good work. If you haven't given anything yet, I'd urge you to donate.

Another Reason I'd Like to Move to Europe: Cars in Vending Machines

2004-12-22T14:43:00.000-05:00

Not only does it get upwards of 70 miles per gallon, but it fits two to a parking spot and can be obtained from a vending machine. I want one.

Buddhists Against Videogames

2004-12-18T01:09:00.000-05:00

Just noticed that my favorite Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, has outlawed videogames for monks. From the Revised Pratimoksha, the basic book of training for Buddhist monastics:

A bhikshu who plays electronic games, including those on a mobile phone or a computer, commits an Expression of Regret Offence.

This bothered me at first, as I like Buddhist thought and also videogames, but then I noticed they outlaw internet porn, sad and/or exciting music, masturbation, and a lot more.

Trails

2004-12-17T00:10:00.000-05:00

Just a quick follow up on the idea of the internet as another medium for maintaining relationships...

First off, Gina Lynn recently wrote on Wired News about the dangers of being able to instantly find out the whereabouts of an ex. Google offers a powerful way to taunt yourself with memories of the past. I'm not sure this is such a bad thing.

Second, a friend of mine recently lost a domain name to porn. When the name expired, a porn company bought it and used it to serve porn. While this is totally legal, it's shady as all get out and a really despicable practice. Now when people go to this website, they see porn. I guess this shows the darker side of the internet. I know this is nothing new, but this is the first time it's happened to someone I know, and it hits harder this close to home.

Digital Life

2004-12-02T16:13:00.000-05:00

Wired News has a short piece on Mary Hodder, an internet consultant who lives much of her life online via blogs, email, IM, etc. This touches on issues that have been on my mind lately. At this particular moment in my life, many of my social and professional relationships are carried out over the internet. I recently finished grad school, and many of my good friends left town to pursue careers. I'm pursuing mine here in Pittsburgh. Friends from high school in Maine and college in Philadelphia have scattered across the world. My family remains in Maine with the exception of my brothers who are both now in the Chicago area. I keep in touch with all of these people mostly via email and IM, occasionally picking up the phone for a voice-to-voice conversation, and sometime even getting on a plane for a visit.

Lately, my Xbox has been facilitating a new kind of keeping in touch: the online deathmatch. So far, only a couple of friends are using Xbox Live, but shooting the breeze over the included voice communication system while killing each other (or other players) in Halo 2 arenas has the easy familiarity of sitting around in somebody's living room or dorm room with an Xbox and the original Halo. It's a pretty compelling application of entertainment and network technology.

That said, I'm starting to wonder if my face-to-face social life is suffering as a result of my ability to maintain relationships online. I have a few friends here in Pittsburgh but little incentive to go out and make new ones. Am I becoming a hermit? Am I forsaking the comforts of spatially close friends for this more distributed relationship network? Fortunately, I don't think so. I'm actually quite happy with things the way they are. For now. Eventually, I will want to settle down, surrounded by friends and family, but for the time being, with my career in flux and with no guarantee that I'll be somewhere for any length of time, I'm happy to stay in touch with people via email, IM, phone, Xbox Live, and so on.

In addition, tools such as Friendster are helping me resurrect old friendships, maintaining connections that I would otherwise have let drop. Space is, in many ways, less of an object. Location factors less into my relationships.

One final question: Am I changing (evolving/devolving) as a social being? Am I unconsciously learning to interact with friends and family in fundamentally different ways? Is this process detrimental to my ability to interact with people face-to-face?

Gum Blondes

2004-11-18T14:23:00.000-05:00

Man. This is why I love (and hate) our culture, the Internet, the art world...

Gum Blondes

I have no idea what kind of relevance to anything this has.

The Incredibles: Ubermensch?

2004-11-16T17:13:00.000-05:00

Just ran across this interesting tidbit linking the message of Pixar's latest, The Incredibles, with the writings of Nietzsche. "Everyone is special so no one is." I'm not sure if I agree or disagree with the sentiment of the movie, but it certainly is an important issue in today's world.

Anda's Game

2004-11-16T13:31:00.000-05:00

More on the optimism front: A great short story called "Anda's Game" posted at Salon. It's well worth the short ad you'll have to view (unless you are a Salon subscriber). This story gets at the hope and optimism that I feel when I think about game technology and the possibilities for a greater good.

Kinsey

2004-11-12T18:05:00.000-05:00

Haven't seen the film, but this tidbit from Wired.com's review seemed particularly timely:

Kinsey's story reminds us of the liberating power of knowledge, and that sexual equality, like gender or racial equality, is a right that 20th-century heroes fought and suffered for.

Things like this give me hope, as I look into the coming four years.

Halo 2 and Live

2004-11-12T16:09:00.000-05:00

Just a quick word to say that I am now a member of Xbox Live, driven to get online finally by the release of Halo 2. If anyone wants a game of Halo, Crimson Skies, or Burnout, my gamertag is (appropriately enough) "Clubberjack."

I have to say that the Live experience is really a pleasure so far. I got hooked up and payed up without a problem. The voice communication is a lot better than I had anticipated. With other people who have decent connections, the sound quality is about as good as my cell phone, sometimes better.

I've only played Halo 2, but the Live experience for that game is incredible. I've only experienced lag in 16 player matches, and people are by-and-large decent. I haven't run into too many dumb-asses. It's very easy to slowly gather a group of teammates and continue playing together. Last night, a friend and I jumped into some team skirmishes and after a few matches, we had picked up a couple more people, finally having a big enough group to make up the better part of an 8-man team. When the lag in the 8-on-8 matches got to be too bad, we switched to straight up deathmatch between the 5 of us. The ease of staying together and switching games is really quite amazing.

Also, anyone playing Halo 2 online really owes it to themselves to check out bungie.net's stat tracking system. Registering for a bungie.net account (and linking your gamertag to it), opens up some really amazing features, namely the Game Viewer, which still blows my mind.

Art Kick

2004-11-12T16:01:00.000-05:00

Lately, I've been on an art kick. Two of my favorite artists, discovered through Clive Thompson's Collision Detection, are El Rey and Bathsheba Grossman. El Rey has a great, playful pop-art style that contains pop-culture references along with some great portraiture (of animals and people). Bathsheba Grossman creates beautiful "math art," sculptures that demonstrate mathematical ideas, though they are ideas that are a little beyond my level of understanding. These are the kind of things you could imagine M.C. Escher creating if he had access to rapid prototyping, 3D printer equipment. I would love to see some of her stuff blown up to a huge, monumental scale.

First Post

2004-09-06T11:21:00.000-04:00

Testing. Just trying to get the hang of Blogger.