Flashy for Windows

Microsoft is working hard on extending it's online grip in the video space. After IE7 and WMP11, the next thing on the horizon is probably the "WPF/E" (those catchy names...) - mixing in some flash-like interactivity and scripting.

Nice samples include a changing player - which keeps playing while it morphs, or a multistream player with animation bringing one video to the front on mouseover.

On a sidenote the blog has (once again) been put to the side due to the girlfriend changing jobs, buying a house and moving a lot of our stuff - and probably will be lingering until I get a new pc ordered up come 2007. The stack of notes and ideas is getting higher than it was over the summer - so a new deluge will be forthcoming.

...and the sun is almost gone for the winter - but leaves a nice red edge to the sky in the early afternoon...

Sounds like web spirits

September was the "rebirth of music" issue from Wired - with podcasting filling my Zen with weekly shows and podiobooks, I have to admit that pure music has taken a backseat (even with our whole collection on the pc). So it was interesting to read a bit more about alternative venues (in the broadest possible interpretation of the word) such as Last.Fm and NerdCore Hip hop.

Last.Fm basically takes the community and recommendation aspect of Amazon and brings it to music. By "listening in" on more than 3 billion songs played (software works with most audio player programs, such as Winamp, iTunes and Windows Media Player) they help you discover new music and keep a finger on what's getting hotter around the net.

Nerdcore offer up a twisted mix of geeky rap, with artists taking their names from a broad swath of popular media. Good fun. Have picked up a couple of tracks, and added them to the playlist.

In a way I'm glad that I'm not in the US - free Amazon shipping and NetFlix delivering 7 million dvds each week to 5 million subscribers just might feel to nice and convenient to go out and look for new entertainment on my own. Been feeling the same way about games lately, so when I got a gift card I headed straight to town and grabbed a couple of games that had already made in into platinum (PS2 bestsellers). Review games feel the same way - get several, play some or all for a bit, then a few for more than an hour and then pack up a whole stack and give them back to free up closet space.


Totally unrelated tangent, but she was featured at Wired Next Fest; "Actroid Der Kokoro -- an android resembling a young Japanese woman" - gives off a Bladerunner vibe. Sure you can tell she's not all that human - but give it some years and the money to improve facial texture and complexity, and things might not be so clean cut. Especially if she answered on a video phone. Neat and spooky mixed together nicely.

Time flown by

- and it is another mixed bag of musings going on - from the June issue of Wired at first, for some reason it's been gathering dust next to the pc for far to long with a small note on some of the more interesting subjects.

Connected anew

Mixing up wi-fi to make gps and tagging of real life, Navizon is the brainchild of Cyril Houri. Since gps is not always available in downtown areas - and there are more smart phones than gps portable units in peoples pockets, it makes sense to slowly and gradually build up alternative location mapping and "super size" it with community based tagging of relevant locations such as restaurants and offices.

A nice term Wired also used was "freemium" - the basic service is free for all (like flickr and skype), but there is a premium option (more upload and storage and calls outside the network, respectively) for those that really enjoy the service or just want to support it. The service is good in and of itself, but for a modest fee you get even more. And if the scale is large enough, the company delivering the service can get a solid revenue stream from small payments.

But if you only have a "one off" idea to test out, the ransom model might be worth a shot. Think of it as Paypal support in revers. Rather than having people donate if they like the show / story / blog as a lot of podcaster and others do, set a price and a limit for donations up front for releasing the content in the first place. Of course, it helps if you actually have a track record and some dedicated fans willing to play along. And it should be a feasible amount considering your input and effort. Don't shoot for a million dollars for you short story...

Connecting to disconnect

If you want to get off the net and away from the computer for a while - then the Instructables might be a good "half way house". Featured in the Rave Awards and on Lifehacker among others, the site offers up instructions for DIY projects ranging from weird to bizarre - or how about a 3d scanner based off a laser pointer and a wine glass?

And if you want to dig out that old chemistry set, but live in the US and want to avoid being detained on suspicion of either making drugs or wmd, you might want to head on over to the Society for Amateur Scientists [wikip]. They have a magazine online offering up projects and information for the tinkerer in all of us.

Stuck for ideas? Need to think up something for the sci-fi story without going totally overboard? Well, some of the concepts from the "Simplicity" campaign [flash] by Philips might fit the bill. Personal fave and the reason for going beyond the Wired inset? "In Touch – an interactive touch-sensitive display as an alternative to voice mails and family messages stuck on the fridge."

...and the sun is with us partially behind the clouds - and in 'real time' after the end of daylight savings today ...

Frags for money and boost for free

"play your favourite PC games like Counter Strike and Quake for real money" - A new service coming out of Sweden (but formally operating in Malta), called Gamelio offers cash-based gaming in Quake 4 and Counter Strike 1.6. When I visited there were only 4 players online, so it is still a bit early to call it the next big thing, but the concept sounds solid: why not add a small wager to the general trash-talk of online games?

With poker reaching new millions weekly, the digital economy and online community might be ready to step it up another notch. This should not be confused with the more "organized" gaming competitions (as discussed in podcast #8 by the fragdolls) where only the top contenders will walk away with a cash prize. Gamelio appears to be all about "putting your money where your mouth is" and will be interesting to follow over the coming weeks/months

snippet

Seeing the gulls float by,
so effortlessly and
graceful on the winds currents
- tilting their wings slightly

Pure white feathers in the sun
Touch of yellow on the beaks

Nature all around.
Yet so urban and made up
balcony, faux stone floor

Moving beyond games and movies?

Another thought-initialising piece from Gamasutra - "Beyond Machinima" delves into the impact of games on cinema and the other way around. In terms of using game-related tech to test and develop ideas for movies, and in terms of how we as viewers and players are affected by both media in terms of our expectations for each experience.

It tangents of into the perfect home environment (including oxygen systems...) and how driving games influence car chases and our need for speed. Same as how the Matrix lifted expectations for visual effects, and LOTR for epic storytelling and sweeping battles - games influence our cultural frame of reference. And collaborative environments like the NWN community fostering the need for fan / user participation to make something more than "just" a finished product.


And for a more lighthearted piece of entertainment, the new Aardman film - Flushed Away, has some goodies and info up at the site


...and the sun shines on the brightly colored trees in their fall habit...

What have you done?

The PS3 is more or less "around the corner" - at least for the US and Japan, while Europe is left behind in the x360 world for another few months. Eurogamers have posted an interesting preview of the online solution Sony is developing - featuring easy friends list, multiple accounts for family members and a store with "actual" prices rather than points. But the one big unknown, which should be evident for Sony that they have to deal with (considering the Final Fantasy and Ratchet style games with tons of hidden goodies to find/solve/get) - is, as pointed out in the article, the achievements on Xbox Live. A common interface for displaying your deeds and skills is a nice add-on for any community based system, and without a basic framework in place the Sony offering becomes yet another 'also ran' along the lines of the Net Walkman.

Another game-related story is from DrDobb - an interview / product preview with Chris Crawford on storytelling and his upcoming SWAT tool. He has ambitious visions for the future, but is open enough to admit that it is basically a gamble on how he thinks things might pan out;

"computer games are a tiny subset of — what? That thing doesn't exist yet, but when it does, it's got to be, ... much bigger than computer games."

And I got a bit sidetracked based on his mention of Eclipse - since it can also be used for mobile devices, with a collection of acronyms such as eRCP and SWT doing most of the job for you. Might be worth some further investigation as a supplement to .Net - if there is a good set of database sync solutions available to rival the MS solutions.

Machinima last year

A short interview with Paul Marion, as well as his great "Still Being Breen" music video made in Half Life 2 - over on YouTube. Currently you get 2150 results if you search for Machinima over there, with the most-watched racking up over 2 million views since September 13th ("Male restroom" - psa style with Sims2 and edited in 'special effects') while the rest of the top five have 100 - 250 thousand.

So, not quite LonelyGirl style fascination - but then again most series have their own sites, such as RvB from Roostertheeth with 1/2 million registered users, or put their clips up at machinima.com (2317 shows, total of 4,7 million views)

The next big thing? Well, at least it is a great channel and tool for aspiring filmmakers to test their skills at writing scripts, editing dialogue and cutting scenes into a cohesive story. Maybe the next George Lucas is picking up Sims2 or HalfLife2 today.



...and the sun is slowly setting behind the clouds...

Touching

It is an old story (January actually) - but still a fascinating subject: improved touch-based interfaces
The Minority Report made real - at least in terms of how we interact with the computer. Having used a pda (qtek 2020i currently) for several years, and worked with a touch-screen based reporting solution I can truly appreciate how nice something like this would be.

Using your hands to gesture or point something out is a lot more convenient for shuffling through large amounts of data, or for indicating a general direction.

On a slight tangent, a small plug for the audio version of Spherical Tomi - it is a sort of cyberpunk space crime novel. The story is good, but does leave you hanging (part two is being written...) - the tech on the other hand is marvelously described: the spheres are "screens" around the person using them, containing code and parts of programs - strung togheter and activated with laser-tipped fingers (paraphrasing) in a mash-up of Matrix and Minority Report.

With the Beta.Blogger running rather well, this blog will probably get another re-design shortly - fading down the backgrounds and adding in some new features (labels)
...and the sun is dim - fall is in full effect...

Opinion Flow - games human play

Gamasutra.com has an interesting feature, called Modeling Opinion Flow in Humans Using Boids Algorithm & Social Network Analysis
Similarily to pathfinding, you can model people and influences as nodes with vertices representing the "weight" or degree of normalized influence between them. Then the actions of the player (or other major events) - and most importantly; how those events are communicated - can influence how popular opinion in general and the actual opinions of individual npcs will fluctuate over time.

"At the end of the day in our game universe, one supports King John, supports King Richard, or doesn’t particularly support anyone."

Like the author says, its not the Matrix yet - but a step forward in modelling and adapting networks to opinions.

Unfourtunately the supporting "site" is just a "hello world" page, rather than actual links for sourcecode and downloads. Hopefully it will be up over the weekend, since the article was dated the 26th.
EDIT: the java code and a collection of Excel files is now up

Of course - the challenge of finding a timed "network" remains - from whom do the people hear what news when and how does that affect their interpertation of it (is it the bard that has been travelling with Richard - or the wounded soldier fighting for John - or the neighbours daughter?)

Sound, shower, battery

Yes, another Wired issue has been read and enjoyed - and here are some of the things that made me think and surf around for more information.

Steaming

The company Kohler has run some rather spectacular ads in Wired (and presumably elsewhere, considering the number of great ads) Great use of artists -not to mention that the product looks kind of fun as well, a build-in shower so you can put up several and have your own say in how and where you want the water. "22- and 54-nozzle bodysprays and showerheads that deliver lavish amounts of water for a stimulating or soothing hydrotherapy experience." Now to find a suitable house and I'm all set for Cribs dropping by.

Sweet small

I really enjoy having my Zen mp3 player - it works great for shuffling through podcast (using WMP and four smart playlists to sync only the new ones of various types) and the occasional burst of music. But I have to admit that the newer Zen Plus does look really nice, with about 40% less volume (cut in all dimension, 16 mm off the height) and a color screen. On the downside the battery is embedded so you can't just swap it - not that I've had to swap the one I have, or ever had both charged and brought along, and I'm unsure how well the joystick works on the go.

Lap-car

Well, seems like it is promotion time all over this post (which is why I've grouped all three together) - because bring up the rear, presumably not for long, is the Tesla Roadster featured in Wired as well. A battery-powered sportscar, it takes the li-ion batteries normally found in laptops and supercharges them - in fact 6831 of them - to make the light car go 0-60 in 4 seconds.


But with recent Sony-problems looming in the background, I'm not to sure about putting a whole batch together is the best stunt at present.

And speaking of laptop batteries - why are there (to my un-googled knowledge) no "minibatteries" for office use, containing only enough juice for the ten minute walk to the meeting - thereby making the laptop a bit less heated when used in an office setting day in and day out?

Since we are getting on a tangent here - have a math tidbit and read up on Pingala, an Indian mathematician who 'invented' binary numbers.
In the fifth century BC.

Flickr goes mapped

Now there is a new way to play with your flickr images - a drag and drop interface for showing where the images is from (or geocoding if you want it in technical terms). It is really easy to use, since you can filter your own images by several different kinds of criteria (date uploaded, set, not coded etc) - and then simply drag them onto the map to assign a location.

Convenient? Check
Fast? Check
Fun? Check

So, a visual online world has just taken one step closer to becoming a reality. Even if they might need to do some minor adjustments (such as easily allowing you to add to the same 'spot' as others by chosing accuracy or getting a pop-up), it is a great step forward and a good response to the ease of upload from the Picasa beta


...and the sun is well hidden, fall is coming on fast with rainclouds closing in from all direction...

Mix or match?

The myth of the living-room PC: "My tech-savvy friends who can afford anything they want set up a huge HDTV with TiVo, cable, and DVD playersÂ?then sit in front of it with a laptop on their knees. They use Google and AIM while watching TV, but they keep their 2-foot and 10-foot gadgets separate." (Paul Boutin - Slate Magazine)

So, no need for convergence? There is more than enough to do on each "island" (especially if you add in a PS2 and/or Xbox to the mix, then you have all you need both places) - youTube isn't ready for a huge screen, and with dvd burners you can easily transfer the content you want both ways.

Convenience is probably the key factor - at least for me. It is a lot faster to pick up a series on a dvd boxed set, than it is to program the vcr or hook the pc up to the cable and the tv. Because we have the whole season at once, we decide how many episodes to watch - and how frequently. And the quality is always top notch.

Maybe that is why I haven't included any TV cards in the planned setup for a new home pc - but have been considering getting a separate box and just use some of the old components for a pvr and mediahub.

And the new Slate design? Nice, especially the slide-menu.

MySpace on Daily Show

Youtube offers up several versions of this clip from Comedy Centrals The Daily Show, originally aired in February; MySpace trendspotting
Brilliant stuff, really catches the problem and the upside of social networking: you can have lots and lots of connections with very little effort - making it easier to experiment and find the ones you do want to stay in touch with more frequently.

Could 70 million "people" be wrong?

I want to be a part of it

“the urban as a psychological state inside each individual, due to the number of impressions and the physical space so populated that the senses need to adjust and adapt to the ‘nerve intense’ space. A fusion of the spatial and social that each one of us has to deal with in order to stay sane”

That quote is from a book review of Marshall Berman and “On the Town. One Hundred Years of Spectacle in Times Square”. (264 pages, published by Random House, 2006). The review is written by Erling Dokk Holm (Norwegian academic and opinionated media personality). And it is an interesting take on how different city life is. I can feel it sitting here on the outskirts of the city proper, seeing nothing but forested hills in one direction – and the massive rail and cargo terminal, supplemented by the ever-fuming pipes of the waste recycling facility, in another. The balcony is large enough to spend a lot of time there, lost to the world as such. But the subway is quick enough to bring me into the hubbub of inner-city in 15 – 20 minutes. And even if Oslo is a small big city, there are times and places that just feel to intense.

Another reference to follow up on is “Georg Simmel”, a turn of the century (not the last one) German sociologoist who wrote on the effect of modern life and urban relations among other subjects.

"Times Square has been the space of jazz as well as porn, of music as well as poetry. This is why this urban landscape is so culturally soaked” And so it felt when I was in New York. A true mix of all the world has to offer up. Shiny brand-stores and darker alleyways side by side. Staring tourists and vigilant police officers, passing each other by like leafs on the autumn wind. It felt at once wonderful and grotesque. The highs, the lows and everything in between that our modern society has to offer.

“Berman is as believable when quoting Shakespear as Beasti Boys, Sex and the City as Karl Marx” And that is what makes NYC larger than life, yet still so familiar. It is the setting and the influence for cultural expressions from NYPD Blue to Sex and the City, from 50 Cent to Frank Sinatra. And of a whole host of things in between, from yellow cabs to pretzels, from the death of John Lennon to the trials of the Apprentice. It is the city of cities, the modern Rome and Athens, the Olympics of the urban spirit. And for the last five years, when ever you look at the skyline with the gap – it is also a reminder of the challenges we face as people, as a part of a globalized world where the boundaries between war, advertising and opinions are blurred, quite possibly beyond repair.

Khaldun on civilization

– it is good to remember that history is not filled with joyful progress, but rather with a discreet number of good times, followed by a fall or a break from the trend – either because the next “empire” is taking over, or simply because the sustainability isn’t there any more.
The Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, the Khalifs, the various Chinese empires through the ages, the British Empire, the Third Reich and perhaps now the USA and the EU – the CCCP is already fragmented and gone.
Hindsight is 20-20, and the optimism on our own behalf is over stated. We are unable to think forward into the future with any sort of accuracy. As Robert Charles Wilson, author of Spin said – there is a cognitive divide; ask people what the world will be like in 50 years, then what they will be doing in 50 years. Then try to combine those two pictures into one description… “the future looks bleak, but I’ll be in the Caribbean after retiring from a well paying job”.

• “There will perhaps be a market for five computers world wide”
  
• “ No one should need more than 64k of ram”

Things change, and it is only afterwards that we really understand what has happened – or at least what we need to do going forward.

- and here ends the backlog of post written in the sun with Word (so some funky formatting might need cleaning up) - but the stack or read books and magazines still has some good thoughts, hopefully during the week I'll get a few more completed and then review these a bit for possible links and updates


...and the sun is breaking through the clouds after solid rain most of the day...

The drive and the baby steps

In an interview (with Morgenbladet - almost rivaling Wired as my #1 source lately -at least until I pick up the notes from the last two issues) early this summer the Norwegian author and sort-of-philosopher Jostein Gaarder made some interesting comments. What follows are rough translation, preserving the intent if not the wording and nuances, followed by my reflections and links.

"The whole authorship is recognizable by an eruptive need to express oneself when it comes to the big questions"? Just do it, like the old Nike slogan said. Some times this blog feels the same way. Some articles or events are just too big to let go with just a casual discussion. The drive of reflection and the possibility of interaction drives the words from the mind, into the fingers and out to the page (be it html or paper). But not all of us want to end up translated into tens of different languages, recognized at sight (not to mention sound) in large parts of the world. The act of thinking and writing is in many ways its own reward.

"?Descartes was concerned with the relation between soul and body. That is something I'?m extremely fascinated by, but today I would discuss it with a neurologist. And the existence of God is best discussed by astrophysicists" -? the science and understanding of the mind is making leaps and bounds right behind the covers of SciAm Mind (note to self: pick up the latest issue, and finish the last couple of articles from the summer issue,? post are in the queue). We are approaching the mind from all angels; chemical, electrical, decisions and DNA. And with each understanding we uncover a whole stack of new questions and areas of research. So the amount of knowledge and specialization grows until it truly is too much for one person to grasp? and then we start looking at the stars, where the numbers are in billions, and the distances beyond our ability to truly grasp. In a way I'm glad the sky is blue during the day, so we can "forget"? the stars and go about our business, leaving the dreaming for the nighttime.

"There are fewer and fewer cultural references in my books. Previously I could walk around thinking about something Schiller had written. Today I'?m thinking about the Devon age, when the amphibians crawled out of the seas." The second I read this, one name and one book jumped up and shouted "?hey, over here"?; JG Ballard and Drowned World. A scifi masterpiece, one of the key concepts of the book is the pre-historic core memory we all possess. Normally it is hidden far down, but extreme events or prolonged exposure to the right climate (hot, humid and limiting) will bring it right back. And during the last fortnight I've felt it coming on -? the heat phasing out the need or desire to do anything other than just sit still in the sun. Leaving all things requiring mental input until the sun goes down, sometime after nine, be it making dinner or washing clothes.

Stick around or do it again

Art is in the eye of the beholder. Ever since Andy Warhold and Marcel Duchamps decided that art is what artists say it is – as long as the buyers are willing to pay, or the gallery willing to display it, there has been a (muted) debate on where the new boundary should go. The last fuel to the fire is the news of Damien Hirst and his work “The impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” (basically a shark suspended in formaldehyde). Sold by Saathci two years ago for a reported $2 million, it is now so decayed and faded, that Hirst has proposed to “repair” it. How? By changing the shark and the chemicals. So out with the old, and in with a new set of components that matches the original. Does that make it into version 2.0 of the work, or into a cheap knock-off? Is it still art, and still a classic work? Or simply a product of our media-infused age?
On relevant tangent would be the Asian (Japan / China) view of history and permanence. A temple that has been rebuilt six or ten times, is still considered to be hundreds of years old – as long as the location, design and purpose remains the same. There is even one temple in Japan that exists in two instances – one being used for (???) ten years, while the next is built. Then the first is torn down and rebuilt while the second takes over as the “actual” temple in use. It is more the IDEA of the temple than the actual building that is at the core.

There will always be sunshine after rain – laughter after pain, so why try to limit expression or devotion to a (random) given set of building blocks? Why not just go with the flow and erosion of time, and let the guiding concept take center stage?

What did you expect?

Half Life 2 is a great game, at least in the opinion of the hordes of fans who waited years for it, and most of the "industry" - from retail to reviewers. But perhaps what we enjoy is the contextual change from Wolfenstein and Doom, the improvements that make sense within the FPS "paradigm" (or frame of reference).
A feature in Gamasutra; "Constraint is Design" interviews Katherine Isbister and Nicole Lazzaro, and gives the following quote
"Students who were not already fans of this genre felt really frustrated interacting with the Half-Life 2 characters. They expected even more interactivity and lifelikeness from them because of how good they looked"

So, what did you expect when you picked it up? And how did that change and mold your impression?

Burn out or fade away?

Article by D Pink in Wired (14.07) on the economist
David W. Galenson: "By examining the careers not only of great painters but also of important sculptors, poets, novelists, and movie directors, Old Masters and Young Geniuses offers a profound new understanding of artistic creativity."

Interesting topic - at least as long as you keep it "tabloid" with "there are two types", rather than what it says inside the article;

"In his later papers, as well as in the book he published this year, he has refined his theory to make it less binary. He now talks of a continuum Â? with extreme conceptual innovators at one end, extreme experimental innovators at the other, and moderates in the middle."
apparentlyy Malcom Gladwell (of Tipping Point and Blink, the last of which I'mcurrentlyl almost done with) also wrote an article but had it rejected by the New Yorker. There is an pdf link at Galesons site, 24 pages.

But, back to the subject: is it true that some people find their "way" early, while others need time to find their inner genius? Or is it simply that we appreciate different things from (in/by) various creators - be they artists, authors or poets? Maybe we enjoy Cezanne because he doesn't try to give answers, while we celebrate Picasso (too much, some argue) for having to go beyond the norm to findchallengee and a separate voice?

What would you rather do? Find the formearlyy, then spend the rest of your days in "decline" (or dead... only the good die young) - or spend years and years refining, learning, exploring - until finally one day you had the golden touch?

Art across borders and time

An exhibition and two artist - first off there is major photo exhibit in Milan (Italy) at the Forma

Life: "till 29 August 2006 features the best in LIFE photography. 140 photographs specially selected for this show, including some of the best known pictures taken by LIFE photographers – such as Eisenstaedt, Bourke-Whitre, Mydans, Parks, W. Eugene Smith, Robert Capa."

Then in keeping with the times, perhaps a different look at Iran might be suitable; enter stage left Farhad Moshiri, a painter miing classical potteryshapes with more modern graphical design styles. Or perhaps Rokni Haeri, whos art falls somewhere between Picasso and religious drawings.

All this and a lot of other ideas and impulses come from this summers edition of Intelligent Life, a yearly dose of summer reading courtesy of the staff over at the Economist.

And so the vacation is over, the net is online again and tomorrow the small laptop will bring up a series of post from last week.

What are they fighting for?

The world as we knew it is still hobbling along. Death toll in Iraq is up; daily reported average crossed the 100 mark. Israel abducted Hamas politicians and Hezbollah took two soldiers alive.

But what really shocked me, above and beyond the excessive use of force – was a picture of three young Israeli girls. One standing in the background with her digital camera, having taken or planning to take pictures, whilst the one in the foreground is writing messages on the bombs destined for Lebanon. How can we maintain hope a peaceful co-existence when even the next generation thinks it is right to drop bombs all across a sovereign neighbor, killing UN peacekeepers and chasing out thousands of foreign nationals there on vacation?

Oh, they probably had their reasons and explanations – perhaps their parents or older brothers had been killed in fighting or by a suicide bomber. But isn’t that exactly the problem? Sticking to the Old Testament and “an eye for an eye” is not likely to solve the myriad of conflicts. Unless they truly are looking for an “ultimate solution” all parties involved need to reexamine both the rhetoric and (most importantly?) their actions. Easy? Not by a long shot. But far, far better than the alternative; insecurity, insurgents and irreplaceable losses.

Someone looking at the world through new eyes – or at least delivering their lines in a new voice is al-Qaida (the most common spelling used here in Norwegian). In early July they release a video featuring their new “dude”, the reportedly 28 years old American national Adam Gadahn. The son of a goat farmer in California, he is listed on the FBI site with a variety of aliases, but no “real” crimes as of yet. Jessica Stern of Harvard wrote in the NY Times, over here Morgenbladet picked it up and now here it is online.

The interesting thing about the speech was his focus on the American atrocities – Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, as well as the body count in Iraq. Thereby he was not just preaching to the converted masses, but linking “his” struggle with popular opinions; it is not alright to do as you please if the goal is good – for the ends do not justify the means. In a way it is the 50-ies and McCarthy all over again. You can not support and promote liberty and justice by taking away the rights and safeguards that thousands and millions have given their life to protect. It is difficult and hard to take the higher ground, but it is the only way to come out with your hands and conscience clean.

Too hot to think, too cold to care?

Starting up again after the summer… even if it is still hot enough to sit outside on the balcony on this, the last day of the holiday proper. Tomorrow is Saturday, and the last weekend before it is back to work on Monday. For all of July I’ve hardly done a thing. Some reading, a little bit of news and sports, and for the last three or four days gently getting back online. And today the laptop got booted up again, and here I am sitting outside in the shade trying to arrange and structure various thoughts and ideas from the summer.

Four main themes in the posts to come – probably mixed, but maybe a bit split up if things work out (and from an IT standpoint they’re not right now, the editor won’t start without an online connection to verify my account so this is good old MS Word doing the job for now).

1. Media and content – just finished reading Watchmen, currently almost done with volume 1 of Crying Freeman, saw Pirates of The Caribbean – Dead Mans Chest last night
2. World and politics – not to much, this is not the place for it, but some words on a picture of Israeli girls writing messages on the bombs for Lebanon and the “new” al-Qaida “dude” (Adam Gadahn)
3. Art and culture – Gaarder and Ballard, PlayMusicMagazine.com, Berman on NYC, Khaldun on civilization, Hirst redone
4. Mind and perception – Blink, SciAm Mind, some memories from the corporate retreat and NLP

So on that mixed and ambitious statement of intent – I guess it is time to get to the matters at hand and put some of my summer thoughts out there. Most likely there will be a large number of smaller post over the weekend, and then some follow-up and longer thoughts during next week.

Sparrow

House sparrow as described by The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds; "these cheerful exploiters of man's rubbish and wastefulness, have even managed to colonise most of the world"
They are in decline, due to changes in the way we live and act - with less grain and seed laying around for them to enjoy. Their cousins in the country have an even harder time at it - so drop some crumbs the next time you are out and about.

More on Episodic Gaming

Gamasutra has a feature called "Episodic Gaming in the Age of Digital Distribution": "At the heart of the debate about episodic gaming, we believe there is a push toward Gaming as a Service"

It raises several interesting points - including the distribution of games content, risk-reward and the aspect of lock-in.

Distribution - almost a "must have" to make episodes feasible, from the days of short films every weekend, via tv episodes to podcasts with a dedicated rss feed. The attention of the audience and the cost must match up, which is why X-box Live is so cheap for low level membership and why Steam needed something huge like Half Life 2 and Counter Strike Source to get off the ground.

Risk - it is easier to get a spin-off from something popular than to start a new franchise from scratch. If you have to both create the world, characters and story - as well as educate the masses, and develop the core system, the episode is no cheaper than the original. But if you already have the fan-base (ref Marvel comicbooks minority of total revenues) then the episode or sequel is that much easier to do.
This can already be seen by the "adver-games" [1, 2]- small flash games used as part of a major advertizing campaign, where the concept and story is already created (sometimes the game as well, it is just reskinned for the occasion) and put before the audience.

Lock-in - with more and more content available; books, movies, tv shows online or on dvd, multiple games systems, tens or hundreds of MMOs - there is a much stronger case for building up direct consumer relationsships for all parts of the valuechain (ip owner/creator - developer - publisher - distributor - retailer). It is in part why Nintendo is still going strong (financially if not in terms of absolute marketshare for consoles) - they own the Mario franchise, so they can control how it is used and by whom, making it easy to come to market with new spin-offs or sequels.

With the improved X-box Live Microsoft is giving the 360 a better chance of being the first stop for consumers - and the stats show that short casual games are a (excuse the pun) "Killer App". Why pay a lot to learn something new, when you can test something just as captivating for five or ten minutes? Sure the hard core will still want their Halo 15 and Doom 2073, but for mass-market a short, risk-free and compelling piece of entertainment is key. Be that a "15 minutes weekly in-between episodes game" for TV hits like Lost - or a discussion forum with other fans...

In other words: the future is still wide open, and the chance of there being "one right and final solution" is a big in episodic games as in business in general: slim to none, but good for a rant or book

Grow up

Discovery Channel has a rather interesting piece (via /.) on our state of mind - aptly called Immaturity Levels Rising: "academics, teachers, ... are often strikingly immature outside of their strictly specialist competence"

Partially because in order to always learn new ideas and adapt to constant change, the brain never "finishes" - sort of like when you burn a cd or dvd, and make it multi-session in case you need to add a couple of files later. At no time are you truly sure that you have found your place and the truth of life, it all keeps on going and changing.

So is there truly no end in sight? Do we know enough to say that there will always be something more to know?

A simply case in point is the stats in the latest issue of Wired on neutrinos:

• Estimated number of neutrinos detected: 725,000
• Rate at which solar neutrinos reach Earth: 60 billion per square centimeter per second

Which basically means that in 50 years we have "detected" just about one thousandth of one percent - of those that hit in a second. The numbers and scale are truly worthy of the term "mind boggling"

Maybe some day we will know and understand enough to be content, to fill our days in peaceful contemplation with no need to adapt to change - but for now, there are enough changes and challenges ahead to make it wise to be immature

More blood

BloodSpell Episode 1 is out (along with e2 - 4 currently, e5 coming in a week). It is a machinima made with NWN, and looks really good from the first few glimpses. The dvd quality movies wheigh in at around 70 mb each for Windows Media.

I'l update a bit more on how good, funny or over the top the story is later in the summer - after seeing a few more of the episodes, and having had some time to reflect on it.

Most fascinating tidbit? They made/adapted a program to override the textures and add in lip-sync, along the lines of Half Life 2.

"Gad of the Iron Arm, a ruthless Blooded leader, is performing what appears to be a human sacrifice. A force of Black Monks of the Angels, including the novice Jered, are poised to attack and capture him."

There is also an interview from Bioware - and apparently there is a 'real' movie with the same name, an "occult horror" from 1987.

Photo as art

With digital cameras it is easier to take pictures. So easy in fact that a lot of them are just left in a folder on the computer after being transferred over, never to be seen again. While a few might get edited or adjusted a bit, even fewer are eventually printed out.

But for that one great shot - maybe the service offered by ProFormat (as presumably others, I know HP had an in-house service for large prints) is just the thing: printing out the image as if it was a painting, and putting it up on a proper frame. Now, to find and adjust just that one great image...

Canvas for photo: "Den Canvas vi använder heter 'Water Resistant Art Canvas' och är som namnet anger vattentålig"

Step by step - tv and games unite?

Wired story on episodic gaming, having a new spotlight following Episode 1 for Half Life2; Tune in Next Week for Gaming Fun: "I got that satisfying sense of completion that I often miss in a normal 'big' game, when I realize I'll never have time to play the whole 50 hours, and reluctantly abandon it halfway through." (page 2 direct)

I would compare it to short modules for games like NWN - with many of the best modules splitting up the adventure over several parts. It has all the advantages mentioned in the Wired story - you can adapt from feedback, you reduce risk from spending to long on the wrong concept, you can improve over time and you can have minor characters and plots develop long term.

In short: you can do like the soaps (as Sheldon writes)

The best part about episodic content is the potential for disintermediation - that good old 1999 buzzword - digital distribution will give us global price, rather than inflated local prices. And shorter stories in an established framework are smaller and easier to download than full games, making it less of a 'gamble'.

Now, what remains to be seen is how broad the uptake will be, and if Valve is actually able to keep HL2 growing in a good way.

Don't bother?

Adobe has a "Pocket PC Exchange" they inherited along with the rest of the Flash related content. It currently holds 13 entries. 5 from the 30 th of June and 8 from the 29th - in 2005.
Contrast this with the number of entries on a place like Handango with 12 606 titles listed.
Sure, one is free and the other is commercial (but with 30+ free downloads), but I think it is a matter of lock in. The Flash player for the pda was not includd by Microsoft - nor is the development version included. While MS gives you hundreds of mb of tools, the Flash player is sold.

Talk about shutting yourself out of the market. Yes, it is a niche - but one dominated by two core groups for software: developers who like to hack their device and try new stuff - and excecutives, who often end up making decisions on tech choices.

And if you can get the first group to make something for fun and show it to the second group - how would that improve the chance for getting the go-ahead for making bigger solutions, either multi-device or pure online?

News not fit to print?

"That transition is going to happen, with or without newspapers. And how successfully that transition is managed will determine not only whether healthy newsrooms come out on the other end -- but also how well important newsroom values endure." (Poynter - Leading Lines)

What is news? Just something that you hadn't heard before, or does it need to be related either to you or the things you care about? If scientist discover something - say a new particle - which does nothing more than help fill out the blanks in some theories, is it news or just an event?

What is a paper? Just a random collection of stories, to fill time and become "tomorrows fish'n chips wrapping"? Or can it delivery some sort of total experience, giving you a bigger picture than the parts, even when it has no idea which ones you decide to actually read on any given day. Is it all about making a statement of intent - bringing you the news you ought to read along with the news you think you'd like to read? To challenge you and give you insights and angles you would not come up with on your own? For a tabloid newspaper, the income from the actual sale of the paper more or less covers the printing and distribution - which means that all the content (and any profit) comes from the advertisers...

What is the web? A huge collaboration or lots of deserted, stranded islands pumping out the same stories over and over? Why should there be 150 or 874 almost identical pieces on a major event? Why not have a networked, intergrated approach, where the only thing you do is add something on to an ongoing "conversation" rather than just rehashing wire stories or speculations from other sites?

meta comment: written in the compose mode, sacrificing 'proper' coding of bold and italics for ease of typing

...and the sun is great - a week of true summer, still going strong...

Blogger expand

Vampus is one of the more prominent and outspoken Norwegian bloggers. She has recently graduated to an additional blog on the website for on of the major "fashion" magazines, Henne (aka Her when translated from N.)

Quote: "Så VamPus smilte søtt til fotografen og sa; Takk, jeg klarer meg selv!"


So, for once actual "talent" wins out over generic celebrity faces - or does it? Would she have gotten the column without the previous spate in relation to thDanishsh cartoons? Maybe, but it is clear that the willingness to go above and beyond in terms of taking a stand - and most importantly voice an opinion loudly, is what will get you more exposure. If you can write, even better. If you can also supply some cred oexistingng readers - you're halfway there.

So, if you are looking for more mainstream exposure; make sure to fit into an easily branded niche - preferably an empty one, then take a stand for (or against) something everybody can relate to.

[just a disclaimer - this is in no way an attack on VamPus, she has been bloggin for a year and a half or so, and mainly has opinions on a lot of things - from shoes thorough politics to MTV]

And yes, there is a bit of an offline backlog that has yet to make it on here, looking for some time to edit and link up in the coming days (new laptop, ultra portable from Lenovo)

6-6-6

- double up day - and I had to backdate this to gt it right

3 years
3 months
3 days

into the millenium I started this blog

and that is how long it has been here on Blogger - and still the online editor does a rather stange job of the Norwegian characters æøå

so, hopefully summer will give some inspiration and push me back to posting some more thoughts here (rather than on assorted journals and forums all over the inter-web). Main themes lurking in drafts and notes include poverty, choice or fate, world and timezones and of course various books and movies/series

so stay tuned - or drop by once in a while, and I'll try to do the same

...and the sun tries to stay up all night, but hides for a couple of hours - but it doesn't get really dark ...

Podcasting the legit way

Creative Commons have put up a rather interesting Podcasting Legal Guide, with foreword and introduction by Lawrence Lessing. Among other things it gives a short but clear description of "fair use", including podcast related examples.
It is hosted as a read-only wiki, and in a pdf document for easier printing and sharing offline.

And, for the geek in us, there is a link to information on doing enhanced podcasts - not only for iTunes, but also for Windows Media with some scripting. Shame that this brings us back to the browser and standard wars, with several formats competing for attention. But, some years down the line it might be just as easy to do it with effectient video files using still images for large parts of the content... stay tuned.

monthly?

maybe i should reconsider my goal for how often i can post something meaningful?
two major projects back to back until just before easter once again put this on the backburner, and now it's off on a short holiday.

Living the life

I am currently reading the book Random Family, about life (and death) in the Bronx during the mid to late 80-ies. I picked it up because it was recommended by a Norwegian journlist and author, Åsne Seierstad - she has written a similar type of book from Afghanistan and one from Serbia, none of them as gritty or long (in terms of following the same people closely over time - she has revised the Serbian book a couple of times, going back and visiting those who are still alive and still want to talk).


Eight miles of murder is a well written piece from the Guardian, on the area knwon as 8th mile, featured in songs by Eminem - and the backdrop for the movie with the same name.

So what is the connection here? That in many ways, life in parts of the USA - or for parts of the population - is in many regards a lot worse than in actually war-torn countries around the globe. That crime and despair does more to ruin hope and fortune, than actual bombs and lack of 'freedom'.

It is easier to care for those in the far off places, than those who are mostly removed by means and oppourtunuties. It is far to easy to look the other way, or to focus on the big malls, the department stores and the Hollywood image. But America (and in some regards Europe as well) is basically stading on the backs of the poor, the - almost to literarely - down-trodden.

we live our life, hoping, praying, that it won't happen to us - that "they" will remain someone else, out of sight, out of earshot, just around the corner.'


...and this seriously needs a good edit and a couple of more paragraphs tomorrow, time permitting - but i'll post this rough stream of consiousness version for now.

Going home

From the 13th volume of Cerebus, some thoughts based on the notes and discussion at the end (an essay on F Scott Fitzgerald, and his impact on the storyline;

"does anyone else care about any of this? Probably not. 'Love at first sight' and all that rubbish. Ah, well. My story. My notes. Suffer dear reader, suffer..."

Well, considering that it is at the end of some 400 pages - in this volume alone, it is a safe bet that those who might suffer have already skipped ahead to the next book - if they even read it up to this point in the saga. But for the rest of us plowing through the part comic, part literary fan-art and part rant, the essay is a good thing. It adds a bit of almost required background, especially if F. isn't on your "most read" list.

So why do I read it? It is certainly a long way from the Conan'esqe character with his appetite for whiskey and the sword of the first issues. And it is also a bit removed from the fiery rhetoric of the mid-point. It is a bit more refined, thoughtful and reflected even. With the last day in sight, additional insight is welcome. Cerebus is truly a work like no other. Part comic, part rant, part literary musing and certainly part autobiography.

I can't help but wonder how it would have turned out if Sims had had other channels to vent his ideas alongside the comic - a blog and a podcast...?

"I see I am starting wrong. Let me begin again."

So simple a phrase - yet so full of meaning and messages. I'm not getting the reaction I desired, I'm too scared to finish what I set out to do, I'm no longer certain there is a goal in sight. Or; my mind has truth be told run off without my consent, and I really have now idea where this is going, so I'll try to somehow tie up the loose ends second time around.

Is this also me?

Found a rather interesting site called Personal DNA - which offers a pretty decent personality test (I've been through quite a few working as a management consultant) for free. It had an interesting twist on the usual "agree - disagree" scale, using for example a matrix with a movable "pin" so you could set your preference in two dimensions seamlessly. Not that I belive they use exact floats for calculation, guessing they round it to a ten point scale, but it was fun and easy to do.

And now on to the juicy stuff; my description was Free-Wheeling Inventor (with more description of the detailed results online)

But what I really liked was the visual - just like the boxes used in marketing research for comparing various stages of knowledge or intent to buy - available as a big square (below) or a smaller horizontal and vertical bar (might put it in the menu later as a test)

Very high on openness and masculinity, high confidence and authority. Most interesting thing with the profile was the suggestions for how to be slightly different - or 'expand your horizons' as some might call it.

The overall score and description fits pretty well with the ENTJ profile, as I posted a year ago; "They dislike to see mistakes repeated, and have no patience with inefficiency. They may become quite harsh when their patience is tried in these respects, because they are not naturally tuned in to people's feelings, and more than likely don't believe that they should tailor their judgments in consideration for people's feelings."

So I guess I am still me - one way or the other

...and the sun is slowly fading into the clouds at the end of what could have been a nice spring day, if the snow weren't two feet deep...

A dynamic and fast-moving market?

Well, when it comes to the mass / volume market for computer games (pc), then it seems to be all abouot longevity here in Norway.

Consider last weeks top selling games. Number one was a pretty new entry from Star Wars. Then they line up with WoW at #2 (50 weeks and counting), Battlefield II at #3 (36 weeks) and The Sims 2 (51 weeks). Also in the top 10? One expansion for each of the last two.

So, does that mean that the mass market moves slowly, or simply that some of these games continue to capture new users each and every week, expanding their reach and building off the network effect (since both WoW and BF are mainly online, and Sims has a community aspect with the Exchange)?

Do all hardcore gamers rush out to get their pre-ordered games on release, leaving a short blip or burst on the sales chart the first weekend only to be followed by a veritable flatline?

can't buy me love - but happiness?

from yahoo finance;
As the study notes, the incidence of happiness has held steady even as per capita income has more than doubled - which suggests money can't buy happiness. But a breakdown by income indicates otherwise. Twenty-four percent of people with household income under $30,000 are very happy, vs. 49 percent of those making $100,000-plus. The report resolves the paradox by saying that "what matters on the happiness front is not how much money you have, but whether you have more (or less) at any given time than everyone else."


cause and effect? are you more likely to make more money if you are inclined to be happy/positive - or is it simply good old envy; you are less happy if you know that you can't do what others can?

or are you more likely to have good friends and a supportive community (be it professional or more leisure oriented like rvb) if you aren't always busy keeping food on the table and the heat turned on?

...and the sun is giving a weak appearance behind the misty clouds...

Truth in fiction

There were two "incidents" last year, of truth meeting fiction, or literature, head on. The first occurred in Norway, when Solveig Ø?strem attacked her (former) friend the author Hanne Ø?rstavik [Nor wikip] for using her as a model for some of the less flattering persons in her stories. The title of the 'article'? "Damned cup of tea" [in Norwegian]

The other kicked off in Sweden, after Per Gunnar Evander released his "I min ungdom speglade jag mig ofta" (in my youth i ofte looked at myself in the mirror). A few months later his daughter attacked the book for its representation of 'truth' regarding , among other things, the relation to her sister who passed away after a car accident in 95.

How should authors deal with writing about their own lives and the people they know? Is there a hard line or a soft line in the sand, shifting in the wind and waves as we move into an even more open world (with blogs, myspace pages and other community profiles making more and more information available on the leaders of tomorrow)?


And then there was a case in the US - as coverd on On The Media; "James Frey's booze-and-drug-fueled memoir A Million Little Pieces was not, strictly speaking, based on truth"

So is it wrong to tell your story as highly fictional - keeping it the way you felt it might have gone or should have been - rather than sticking with the basic 'facts of life'? Or does it only become a problem when a lot of people start to read it, and use it as a guideline or shocking story?

And will a story ever be "true" when it is written by one person? Can we know why other people do or say the things they say? Can we even assume that they actually say what we think they say if we don't see the whole picture - such as body language, or the rest of thconversationon leading up to the statement?

Can we even be sure what we ourselves are actually thinking at any given time - and what is just after the facinterpretationon or rationalization in order to make sense of the events around us?

...and the sun melted a bit of the massive snow outside today...

UserFriendly Strip Comments

UserFriendly for today;


So, do you?

And in the third year he said to them...

that it was an honor of sort to actually still be doing this blog (even if it has been a bit quiet lately - more on that later), three years on from the first tentative baby steps, back when blogs where still a niche channel and podcasting not even a concept. Now in 2006 there is little doubt that the so called "user generated content" is finally taking a big step up, with interaction and conversations taking a much needed place in the spotlight.

We are after all social animals - so the fact that myspace and similar communities keep growing, and that people want to comment on and discuss the simple issues like the weather, should come as no surprise.

Looking back and walking forward

So why the draught of postings - is there a simple reason or just a set of good excuses?

First and foremost is the fact that I haven't been good enough at taking the time to do what I intended with the blog in the first place; put a different spin on a subject, get some tangential and loosely related thoughts and questions up - in order to make the readers and myself think a little more about an event or a concept.

But it has also evolved to serve as a sort of digital locker - where I keep links I find to fun or interesting sites and products, as well as articles (mainly in Wired) that are 'recommended reading'.

On to the ambition going forward to the double-point (that would be 06-06-06 obviously, nothing like a bit of numerology to fill the days, especially considering how many changes and adjustments our calendar has overgone through the centuries - which should probably be the subject of an upcoming post: the randomness of facts);

Make the blog more like a column or newsletter - try to get on major post in every week (most likely Friday or over the weekend), and add in one or two "link posts" during the week with everything from funny quizzes to new launches.

I'll also try to pick up some of the first post - and revisit the themes, to see if my ideas and inspirations takes us somewhere different than they did back then.

So, until the next time (hopefully over the weekend): have a marvy day and enjoy 3-3-6

make my movie

Re-mixable films is the next step in fun stuff for artist, not merely putting out something under creative commons, but actually putting up all the source files for others to put up their take. Wired story: "nine hours of production footage, 90 minutes of sound effects and dialog, plus hundreds of storyboards, concept drawings, and still photos"

Talking of free access, there is an audio device called squeezebox that offers the software part as open source, so you can do your own adjustments to features and locales. Nice. And they even have resellers right here in Norway...

Off the charts - new coffee record

Cup of Excellence last week auctioned off 36 new lots, with great results:

• "the average lot price for all of the coffee was $4.75lb"
  
• "$49.75/lb. for his award winning coffee. "
  
• "Brazil’s seventh competition and the 22nd competition for the Cup of Excellence"
  

For reference, the old "record prize" was around $21. And like the Coffegeek said - this is before roasting, not to mention shipping and retail mark-up. So the streetprice might well end up hitting the $100 mark! Now that is a serious buzz. Still nice to see the CoE going strong, with the average price inching upwards.

good feeling for a good taste

We finally got around to picking up some top notch espresso; EL SALVADOR: finca La Fany, from the Cup of Excellence 2005. Got it at Mocca - a local roaster here in Oslo with a commitment to quality and fair relations (among other efforts they have participated in the COE as tasting judges. Of their 13 'singles', 6 are COE, including the finca from Honduras. Looks like it could be a nice spring in terms of gaggia enjoyment.

When will you be there?

CNET News.com story on securing a domain name and/or personal email address for babies: "So if a baby has an e-mail address, and people do write to him, he has a virtual time capsule waiting"

interesting in a twisted sort of way - would be akin to just putting all the cards in a box and hand it over a 13?

But there is definitely a "generation" perspective here, think of how much kids growing up today will glean from looking at their parents flickr and blogs, going through playlists and podcasts rather than stacks of lps. Assuming, that is, that the content will still be around and accessible in ten or twenty years time. Will html still be understood, will the servers over at Yahoo and Google (read: flickr and blogger) still be up?

How will the text and still-images pages of 1995 look in another twenty years? As dated as 19th century newspapers? Like the cavepaintings and stone carvings of old next to the all video all dimensional digital world?

So maybe you should take some extra time to archive for the next generation - both digitally (online and off, including some key software) and good old hard copy (go ahead and splurge on a book edition of your own blog!)

And then get moving into the future, making each day a little better than the last.

Finaly Fantasy XXII

Gizmodo has snooped up info on a "limited edition cordless compact controller for FINAL FANTASY Xll"
Nifty - now if only Square could get around to bringing out the european version of Kingdom Heart II, I'd be more than ready for FFXII

Whole word in your hand?

After many a failed ebook reader, and only lackluster sales of the various tablet PC versions - things seem to be picking up for the "other" type of terminal.

Nokia is experiencing supply problems for their 'pad' due to increased demand way beyond expectations, and at the CES Gizmodo has spotted the Sony Reader "that uses the display technology from E-Ink " - it looks really great for black and white comics, and that would be an interesting application (in addition to the odd PDF document and research reports of 250+ pages).

But - like so many announced products before it, it remains to be seen if it actually makes into stores and then into the homes and offices around the world.

Based on the last post I came across this site;Blambot - a different kind of type-house, as it specializes in fonts for comics (both lettering, titles and effects!) The names are worth a visit in and of themselves... whoop a** and Srgt. Sixpack to name two

Truth or dare?

There is a very strange/special/... webcomic called"Panel One". It has a slightly twisted description, and I guess the main point for now is to consider if it is truly art or parody or something alltogether more disturbing!?

"vehicle for exploring a variety of narrative and non-narrative ideas I have about comics and visual storytelling"

Even the next and back buttons are a bit on the side of the norm - but quite "in character"

Cold Day (141105)

It is another cold day
Turning into night
As l sit here thinking about
What might have been
All those years ago

It we had been someone else
Or maybe just sometime
Any time
But right then

The taste, the feeling in my head
Brings me back
To the day I heard
That he would be

NO MORE

One memory blends into another
As time somehow catches up

With me again
And I have to move
Before the day is over
And the new one begins

No pain, no direction , no sense

Too hot or too late?
Uncaring or simply beyond bother...

Finally it is summer but it is not enough for you
Somehow I need to find a way to the other end. And maybe end in the shadows instead.

As the dragon cloud is long gone and the evening is fast approaching once more, I stand here thinking.

...

In the sun and
feeling warm

once more and then it’s time

LeapFrog - flying knowledge?

LeapFrog : "learning is fun, surprising and exciting you do more than simply nourish growing minds, you inspire a lifelong love of learning"
Guess it goes to show how segmented the world has become - I'm not sure i would have heard about it living in the US without kids (but we do buy gifts for a few so maybe it would have been on a xmas list) - but never mentioned here in Norway. The big product is the basic Leappad - sort of an interactive ebook reader, with the option to enhance it with various stories and edutainment (newsstory dated 1.1.06 on the pad and competitor VTech).

But the real buzz this year is the Wired-featured Fly - a standalone pen, which uses specially textured paper to set up games and PDA-like features (technology provided by Anoto of Sweden, part owned by Logitech). Sounds sort of cool, but also a real hassle if you need to have a stack of special papers - it was one reason I skipped my Filofax mini; to hard to find paper to do quick notes in volume.

Then there is the newish demographic "tweens", ages 8 to 12, not kids anymore, but still not teens. Sort of sad - the time we have as kids is growing shorter, but we don't really grow up on the other end (or at least some of us think we don't and keep on doing the fun stuff ourselves)

(darn - the updated blogger pop-up has removed the strong in favor of the span style bloated code)

Gaming and gadget galore

"Going Ape" (Wired 13.12) - Michel Ancel of Ubisoft got to do the King Kong game because of BG&E - will it see a re-release, or perhaps be included in a bundle? Good fun game, haven't played it enough but still give it high marks. We have the pc version, but I think it actually works better on a console (like Tombraider).

Shuttle M1000 XPC oooh! nice design... would really love to have one small WMCE box and another one running linux with mythTV doing all the open source hacking. And then I would only need a month off each year to watch all the stuff that might just be interesting or fun or... But there is time and space constraints, so I will have to settle for some minor tweaks to the box we have (speakers, external hd for mid-term storage of stuff)

Say it loud?

outside the Dorchester in 1930s - as told by Julian Amery: a lady waiting with umbrella for the rolls to arrive, approached by a ragged man,

"i haven't eaten for three days"
"foolish man that you are - you must try.
if need be you must FORCE yourself"

same article, differnet source, one definition of a gentleman:

"someone who is never rude BY ACCIDENT"

(quoted in and from vanity fair, an article by C. Hitchens, in the December 2005 issue)

Art, games and something in between

unrealart.co.uk is a site by Alison Mealey - to showcase and explain her "unreal" art. How unreal? Well, according to the process page it is "created using data from the game 'Unreal Tournament' "
Neat use of a game engine for something a bit out of the ordinary - no bragging video about how many n00bs she has fragged, no machinima about two disgruntled guards shooting the breeze.

Ties nicely into the comments by/about Matias Faldbakken in a recent article; games are crossing boundaries TV will never be able to in terms of immersion and impact. "As opposed to movies games are non-linear, anti-compositoric (?), devoid of (inner/self-contained) meaning - and as such not ART (artistic/artsy) in the traditional sense" - it is creation, it is a product of both the mind and the actual process, and as such is definitely on line with books, movies, plays and other art. But at the same time a game is really nothing without the player, initiating the action (be it in the form of pre-set scripts for the bots in the Unreal Art, or with you voice doing the 'playing' in Singstar) and making the whole come together. Sure you can (and should) loose yourself in the great books, but the story isn't changed by your perception or attitude. Frodo still takes the ring, Boromir still freaks, no matter how you feel about their tone of voice or the way they look. But in KOTOR? The character could go all Vader or stay sparkly clean. But even though both "paths" are enabled by the game engine and the modules - it is still in the hands of the player.


"...it challenges everyday life in a way not even television has been able to" - with more and more games-related properties crossing over into other media (such as the Doom movie, and the Resident Evil and Tombraider), and the way new games are much more than games - they are platforms for the dedicated users to make their own parts or their own entertainment.

"the future of art is writing" (said about him) - because it is the story that moves us, be it the story behind or the story in the piece. It takes all the pieces (such as the voice of the actors, the musical score, the scenery, the camera angles) and makes it into a whole, something more than the sum of the parts.