corps

I don’t know if anyone will bother to read this last blog, but I was wondering if the same “middle school sartorial logic” we were talking about in class today–the anxiety of seeing and being seen–also shows its pervasiveness in the possibilities of belonging inherent in capitalism itself, where essentially the corporation you belong to “is” your clothing, what marks, contains, supports, and protects you. By performing work for a company you are not just earning a paycheck, but also performing an identity associated with the company’s products, services, and philosophy. The payoff to affiliation with the company is that you then get to wear their reputation… and/or help create it.

world’s new fastest computer

and it’s made out of video game parts

Second life as a classroom

I know we experimented with this, but after flipping through the 2nd life guide, I’m really interested in how other people have experimented with 2nd life as a classroom–

p. 53 the UC Davis “Virtual Hallucinations Project” where you can “experience” them…
p. 69 visualizing data, including a globe a la Snow Crash (Tanner, your area of interest)
p. 54 literature alive: Eduisland II: goth lit taught in a castle (I want to take that course…)
p. 71 virtual architecture as the “ultimate green” technology: no impact if you don’t really build it? (except for the electric bill that depends on burning something…)
p. 352 the appendix for educators

also, p. 224-242 about “identity in the virtual world” make some interesting assumptions… so I’m just going to quote them:

“Your cultural make-up places inevitable boundaries on who you might imagine yourself to be and how you adapt to this brave new world” (226)

“Next, what are your defining factors? These are phenomena we think we should be able to slough off when we’re online, but they ahve a huge impact on the decisions we make when we’re inside Second Life–just like when we’re offline. We’re enveloped in stereotypes, coping mechanisms, and reflections from our offline lives; it’s impossible to imagine that we could get rid of them completely. So rather than totally reinventing ourselves when we enter a world like 2nd life, what we’re really doing is extending ourselves–our existing hopes, ambitions, and ideals–and adapting them within the newfound communities of people that the online space affords” (227).

It’s an interesting premise, given that the first five chapters seem aimed to get you excited about the prospect of reinventing yourself and forming a new identity–through the various lands you can visit, communities you can be part of, the potentials for designing your avatar and experimenting with being the opposite sex or a vampire or a dragon or a merperson.

There’s a slight contradiction later on:
“The anonymity of 2nd life can be a huge release. You can completely reinvent yourself in a safe place, without real-world relationships and restrictions holding you back. Research into virtual environments points out that people are more willing to be open and honest with each other when hiding behind a virtual mask than when they’re face to face, just like on a train ride over the course of which a stranger tells you his life story. Virtual worlds like 2nd life are filled with encounters of personal disclosure. That kind of sharing breeds trust and, ironically, the opportunity to be more like our real selves” (231).

What exactly is the real self they’re referring to?

“Everything, from a prim lamp to prim hair, represents a little bit of who someone is and who they want to be” (229).

It’s all about concern for how you present yourself as a textual object to be read by others…

“Because it’s a social environment, and the people on the other side of the avatars are human beings with feelings and memories, what you do becomes who you are.. So your choices form the basis of your virtual pseudonymous identity” (235).

“Everything you do in Second Life is an explicit display of identity” (235).

“Interpersonal relationships are fantastic, but to create a passionate and connected community, you’ve got to have common enemies” (238).

“our second lives aren’t really that different from our first ones. More often then not, our identities in-world aren’t huge leaps from our identities elsewhere” (240).

Virtual Worlds Atlas

I found this interesting virtual worlds atlas. It doesn’t have the easiest organization yet, but it’s interesting to browse what else is out there (small worlds) in addition to second life, WoW, etc.

For example, China’s response to second life is “HiPiHi“, which doesn’t have a bilingual mac version yet. Surely there will be interesting encounters between the government and dissidents? Also, as one blogger put it: “Will [it] prove attractive and sticky even without the twin vices of virtual sex and gambling that are so critical to Second Life?”

Here’s an interview with its creator, Xu Hui.

2nd life ID

My avatar in 2nd life is a furry female named Niele Navarathna. I haven’t been too creative with the sartorial details, but I made it to Nexus Prime….

The humans are dead

Just remembered how awesome this song is, and relevant to a discussion of the Matrix and robot takeover, etc…

wiiiiiii

Hear of Wii Fit?

Also, comparing Nintendo to Disney.

Fascination with falling things

While marathoning the Matrix series, I kept noticing:
- green code falling
- gold bullets/artillery shells falling
- Trinity falling
- Neo learns how to fly
- theme of fate: things “falling into place” vs. falling as in feeling out of control, surrendering
- what is control? the dominant question…

Some interesting nomenclature:

Seraph literally means “winged” (it relates to Seraph class of angels ), but more importantly, it’s a type of font… not the kind I’m typing in, but in something like times new roman font. There’s a few places you could go with this. Associated with the Oracle, who unbalances equations, Serif is the one with mobility/wings working in the gratuitously embellished font rather than the bare-bones sans-serif code that someone like The Architect might prefer. He protects the Oracle like a Seraph, but he’s also a master of moving through the code of the matrix because he’s a serif… the embellishment on the typography itself.

Also begging to be analyzed, the room number “303″
The obvious imagery of trinities, but where the three points in a triangle create an empty center (zero) in their middle, a matrix of possibility (like what Sadie Plant discussed).
Agent Smith @ 55:30min, “Me, me, me.” “Me too.”

“You’re here to understand the choice you already made.”
Temel Nosce. Know thyself.

Friendly Review: “Breathing in Cyberspace”

Just came back from Sylvie’s excellent project, “Breathing in Cyberspace,” which was shown as a double-feature with “Paper White Ghost Dance.” It was kind of fun being able to recognize many of the artist’s influences and it was refreshing to be at a live performance, because unlike film, you get to have peripheral vision and all the interesting layers of shadow it brings… and experience the excellent sound system with the first 30 seconds of this:

Sylvie, it seemed like you enjoyed having the dancers be your real-life avatars… and making interesting connections between vaudeville showmanship, puppetry, and magic.

I don’t know if this was on your agenda or not, but for me, the juxtaposition of ocean imagery, jellyfish, sea anemones, with the vaudeville puppets, Bioshock imagery, and other pictures was very rich… and it gestured towards the way in which “breathing in cyberspace” is conducted through imitative movements–literally, as in Second Life or video games, when a gentle sway of the landscape, the cadence of flickers, or a character’s chest regularly rising makes cyberspace seem alive to us. The dancers alternated between being very conscientious and intentional about their movements (cutting puppet strings, their look of concentration) and also in the vein of modern dance, seeming like their limbs had run away from them (swiftly flying arms and legs)… but instead of being “out of control” maybe this type of movement suggests a series of reactions to the invisible, to things the audience cannot see, to subtle currents of air, ghosts, spectres, currents, etc.

The second part of the show (choreographed by Sylvie’s dancer) really complimented the first half… strange noises of child breathing but also some very lyric passages of modern dance, a guy who becomes his painting, and many rolling pairs of bodies, foldings over; and pillows. Pillow skating (one under each foot) had to be my favorite part.

I was also interested in the way that the juxtaposition of different media alternately lulled you into a dreamlike contentment (soothing music like bells and chimes, the vaudeville show in person and on screen, the trance of watching dancers) and yet also how it enjoyed poking you awake (rock music, transitions to Bioshock graphics, etc.)… which is definitely part of the cyberpunk experience: getting totally absorbed, and then going “oh wait do I need to be paying attention to something else, to reality?”

Lovely job, Sylvie! and nice haikus

human tetris!

My friends introduced me to this Japanese game show… take it as you wish