disco boy, vvvv and how i came to love the atomic wireframe
Lok Neville Lee certainly has a few designer tricks up his sleeve (his clock, business card and Björk imitation certainly hit the spot) but the main reason for this post is his DISCO BOY project, what he calls a virtual interactive musical instrument. The definition is misleading, though - if you're expecting something along the lines of, well, anything Maz had to offer, you're on the wrong tracks.
This is a graphically wonderful demonstration for a DirectX-based realtime video synthesis dev environment called VVVV - something VJs and their kin love to use. You basically push qwerty keys to trigger samples and you have some background loops to keep you unbored - whereas the idea is awesome, I'd pretty much love to see this updated. (Did you notice you can unwrap the whole music field from his head?)
rabia sorda - walking on nails
Black, yellow and speedrunning in Mexico. Thanks to Miss A. for the Erktime, really.
schwarzenegger-inspired metal: austrian death machine
Half your brain is melt into killing the flu you've just received after the yearly "we've seriously revamped the devilish concoction now" flu injection, and Gargaj just killed the other half with the one and only, yet terrific vide of Austrian Death Machine entitled Get to the Choppa.
Now mind you, I know you haven't read my trip report on the Nippon Connection 2008 yet (because only one-third is online, I know I have a few things backlagging) but most of my communication was with Marty, guitarist of cyberpunk metal band New Project, who from time to time (hourly) decided to practice his Arnie impersonation on me, one key sentence focused on the fucking chopper we need to get to? Right. The ADM video is entitled Get to the choppa (noticed the ork spelling?) and if this is not enough for you, their album Total Brutal sports tracks like I am a Cybernetic Organism, Living Tissue Over (Metal) Endoskeleton, Come With Me if You Want to Live or If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It. And by the way, it was done by Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying, being "a tribute to the great Arnold movies. It is a band fronted by Ahhnold with music I wrote and recorded in my free time."
And seeing the tour dates, people just don't get it.
superstruct: build our future in 2019
Humans may have just twenty-three years to go.
Miss A. sent me a link the other day about SuperStruct, the world's first massively multiplayer forecasting game. Gamers help to chronicle how we will live in 2019 and how we might solve the problems we have to face sooner or later. The game is played on forums, blogs, videos, wikis, and other familiar online spaces and although I'm just researching myself into it, not spending serious time with it, this looks progressive, challenging and smart. (And is backed by the Ten-Year Forecast team at the Institute for the Future, a not-for-profit think tank based in Palo Alto, California.)
To play the game, you first need to invent a future self, then familiarize yourself with one of the five superthreats - Quarantine, Ravenous, PowerStruggle, Outlaw Planet and Generation Exile -, then adopt one, base a story around, search for team members (allies) and then design the future around your story. Bad public PR: The Ten Year Forecast team at the Institute for the Future will analyze the player-created game content. We'll prepare an official Superstruct Report featuring our top collective insights about the year 2019, and the best tactics for superstructing society. No more, no less. (superstruct wiki, superstruct facebook group, community outpost)
tarkovsky's stalker full version on google video
It actually makes sense to start browsing around on Google Video for non-mainstream stuff. You end up with quite a big chance to find full-length movies there, such as Tarkovsky's STALKER (2 hours 35 minutes!) - an elementary piece of science fiction moving picture art and wondrous dystopia. (via warren ellis)
naga sabi: the bombs are in place
Körülbelül kétezer oldalnyi Frank Herbertet kéne átnéznem egyetlen idézetért, ami ebbe a posztba illik: amikor az embernek halnia kell, a saját két lábán járul a végzete elé, fremenek mondták vagy zenszufik, de a lényeg ebben is benne van, csak nem tudom kurzívval jobbszélre szedni így, pedig kéne.
Nézem az asztalon feszítő Tabasco Habanero szószt és a flow gyönyörű, selymes finomságával sugallom neki, hogy apafej, lófaszt sem érsz már. Kisebb is az üveg, az ereje halványbordó, alig látható szálakban suhan ki az ablakon és olvad bele a pesti fogyóholdas, amúgy fagyasztottgecihideg éjszakába. Túlütöttük ugyanis az ingerküszöböt megint, megérkezett az újabb kulináris kés a térdkalácsunk alá köszönöm Pierre, pont ide passzolt, a Naga Sabi Bomb.
Naga jolokia, vörös habanero, wasabi, fokhagyma, lime, ecet és só keveréke alkotja ezt a valamit, amiről a hotsauceblog csak azt írja, hogy ez az a szósz, ami annyira csíp, hogy beleharapsz az utcán és a következő útkereszteződésnél rogysz térdre, kezdesz el sírni és játszik puzzlet a világ egy óráig legalább az arcod előtt, bár a wasabi-íz nem jön ki, talán csak ha szusira locsolod, akkor.
Vakmerőségem minden egyes cseppjére szükségem van ahhoz, hogy megkóstoljam, joghurttal fogom bélelni a gyomromat és lehet, hogy videóra vesszük az IT/Tudomány rovat másik örökbecsű tagjával életünk utolsó pillanatait. "kicsit felek, csiposkaja-fetisunk veget vizionalom gyomortajeki elszenesedett sebekkel", írja Dawe és ez így is van jól, megugorjuk az újabb lécet is. Kaptam három kilónyit, azóta már nem gyűjtök bélyeget, mondja a gyermekvers, a Naga Sabi ugyanez chiliben.
Kicsit félek.
cyberpunk/transhumanism pdfmag h+ released by r.u. sirius
Cyberpunk/transhumanist icon R.U. Sirius (you remember The Real Cyberpunk Fakebook?) just released his new free PDFmag H+, brimming with implants, human enhancement, robotics, human engineering, science fiction funding and a bit of Stross and Ellis. SF/cyberpunk PDFmags are on the rise and I'm so sad I can't release more info on that. (via technoccult)
ea resuscitates syndicate franchise
EA is set to reveal a brand new entry in Bullfrog's cult classic Syndicate series, CVG has been told. The gritty cyberpunk action-strategy game that put you in charge of a global military corporation sending out a team of cyborg agents to perform missions throughout the world was released in 1993 and was continued in 1996 with a sequel with a very fucked up game interface, Syndicate Wars. The game was amazing, very monotonous and a very good hotbed for a normal remake. (via cvg)
james cameron talks avatar
CPC just published a 15-minutes interview with James Cameron (comes from The Hour on CBC), mentioning his take on Battle Angel Alita comes in 2011. But this interview is much more about his new movie in 2009, Avatar. (via cpc)
top 50 cosplay cleavage shots
Hello, filthy readers. This week triggers a whole lot of stuff (stuff as in personal and secondly, stuff) and a series of new posts, but as we all know, Mondays are different. Mondays need strong, boiling, freshly brewed Mexican concoctions and boobs, such as the Top 50 Cosplay Cleavage Shots. The link that Kotaku leads you to is obviously dead because of your enforced and uberzealous interests in chestmeat. But I fell for it, so you will, too. (via kotaku)
love is an endeavour, love is yours (love is noise)
Procedurality matters a lot these days, started to mean a lot some decades ago in the demoscene and makes some comebacks - sometimes cartoonishly (as in Spore), Introversion plans to use it in their new game and we have a very awesome impressionistic game by Eskil Steenberg that's painfully hard to find. Because it's called Love. (And I link it, because I like you all. And I also need more clicks.)
The world is worth changing, so get on with it. Take your mates and make your planet whatever you want it to be. Some of it is yours, and some is your friends. Some just happens by itself. Sometimes it disappears and makes you sad. But then again, you know that kind of thing can’t last. It’s a balancing act between love and loneliness, is what Eskil sez about his game. If you want more, feel free to check out all the stuff rockpapershotgun has on him (February article, April interview) - basically it's an exploration-based moderately-multiplayer FPS with astounding impressionistic visuals and a procedurally generated universe. And it's just got an in-game pre-alpha tech footage out. (via rockpapershotgun)
ld50 hetedik születésnap, the news is on
Kész a flyer, terjeszthetitek, linkelhetitek. Összefogtunk az Avalon Clubbal (és hatalmas viking asszonyok védelmezzék a NegativeArtot, bár ez most jobban hangzik büntetésnek, mint bármi másnak, pedig Warren óta jól tudjuk, hogy a viking asszonyok a világmeghódítás legjobb eszközei voltak, mert amikor nem baszták őket, akkor hajókat gyártottak belőlük a viking férfiak), a közös buli november 8-án lesz az Őrsön túl: főfellépőnk az Inkubus Sukkubus, supportjaik a Variola és a Servo.Hatred, a flyeren a lemezlovászok, ez meg az év egyetlen alkalma, amikor hajlandó vagyok pult mögé állni, ha jól számolom. A hely a belvároshoz képest elég mocsokmessze van, viszont vannak partybuszok, az arcomat meg valami mosolygörcs rántja össze, amikor belegondolok abba, hogy mennyire jól szólt a Blue Stahli a helyi hangcuccon. So there.
(Igen, hamar lesz kint jobb kép is ezekből.)
rjdj: next-gen music solutions and drugs
RjDj is a music application for the Iphone. It uses sensory input to generate and control music you are listening to. RjDj is mainly consumed with headphones. Think of it as the next generation of walkman or mp3 player. The consumer experience of RjDj is similar to the effects of drugs. Drugs affect our sensory perception, so does RjDj. RjDj is a mind twisting hearing sensation. (Damage sez: will buy new iPhone just for this.)
doktor sleepless: the first trade paperback
Engines of Desire, the first trade paperback of Warren Ellis' new cyberpunkish-biopunkish comics series, Doktor Sleepless is on the shelves for the taking. Will write more when I receive that in my mailbox, although I've read the issues many times and after the first initial shock, it is smart, arrogant and violent as most of Warren's stuff always is.
pablo valbuena's augmented sculptures (interview, videos)
Grinding's recently published a post about Pablo Valbuena's new augmented sculpture at the TodaysArt festival in Hague. Valbuena's an amazing guy - the post just made me remember that last year at the Ars Electronica festival I not only youtubed his amazing installation entitled Augmented Sculpture 1.2 but also interviewed him. At the moment I cannot find the original English sound recording, I only have the Hungarian translation that I did for HVG Online (read the Hungarian version here, together with the complete article that we did for the online version, we wrote a different one for the weekly print) so here's a brief resumé.
What Valbuena says in the interview about his augmented sculptures is that he first showcased it in the Madrid media lab - the first prototypes were really small. The experience and the impact grows with the size, thus reflecting on architecture.
Back in Linz (see the video right above) he only used one projector. If you use only one, he says, you can only cover certain angles, so it's reasonable to put the cubic objects in the corner. If he put his installation into the middle of the room, all free to walk around, he would have needed more projectors to cover all angles and that would require lots of previous experimentations on how light sources overlap. This installation is only about physical geometry, virtual geometry and how these overlap. When the lights are stronger, the audience understands more about the geometry; when it's darker, you can see much better how surfaces reflect the light and you are aware of the smaller changes.
Valbuena says that his installation consists of virtual and physical parts, wherein the physical connects more to traditional architecture. He studied architecture and also drew a lot so he's more interested in construction and the mixture of hard and soft surfaces. He only wants to complement the physical layer with a content layer, especially one with dynamics and sound. He'd love to make an interaction between people and the public space, he says (thus actually taking us towards what's on the Hague videos), because people are getting more and more mistaken about what interaction really is - when you walk into a building and sense the space around you, that's an interaction in itself, a stronger and more direct stimulus than pushing buttons. He is influenced by the works of Zaha Hadid and also Lebbeus Woods.
On using sounds, he says he listened to Spanish netlabels, such as Miga and worked with open-source software to achieve something that's very close to linear composing. He also mentions working with layers that he turned into sound and then backasswards, how to make visual geometry out of sound effects.
He experimented a lot with everyday objects, such as cars, chairs, washing machines, enjoying the fact that the new visions always bring up subconscious meanings. Using people and making an augmented fashion show could be amazing, he adds.
UPDATE 1: Here's a neat video of the Hague event directly from Pablo's site.
haujobb - blue
Whipping moves on keyboards faster than you could follow and that was when something happened to get him totally wired, and that didn't happen often. He had nights when the bugs were at the neon and the air smelled of perfume and fast food. Scanned faces as they passed, looking for the wild card in the private tarot, a new one, anxious for a sign, someone to tell him what his new life would be like. Not very different. More comfortable. Always waiting for that next card to fall. (WG, Burning Chrome)
still - passing (the beauty of traveling alone)
And this was the demo that won the demo compo of Function 2008. A gentle mash-up of the first moments of Metal Gear Solid 2, the ambiance of Natural City and the smell of highway, alone. (via pouet)
asd - lifeforce (one video on the complexity of beauty)
Promised myself to write on the Function 2008 demoscene party that took place here in Budapest. (Writing? EPIC FAIL.) We managed to get there just in time for the 60-minute force break that came just before the demo compo and in the heat of the various EDs we managed to cocktail up in the bowels of doom... slam. Five minutes of awe and silence. Karsten, m1k3y, all of you: watch this. (via pouet)
new angelspit blipvert: fake/cyber hair draft
Angelspit's back with a new blipvertish post on YouTube on how to make some fake hair. Really missing out on the previous, tongue-in-cheeky blipverts!
japanese william gibson vintage laptop bag
All of you who loved the contemporary fiction of Gibson's later books, rejoice. Japanese bag maker Head Porter has just released a new collection of vintage military-styled bags from the William Gibson line. The design "comes from Buzz Rickson, the company responsible for Sugar Cane Denim, as well as iconic flight jackets and Army attire dating back to the WWII era" and the material's supposedly the kind of nylon the military uses in the bulletproof vests (with some genuine horse leather).
Porter MAG lights on zippers, lots of pockets and removeable shoulder straps make the shoulder bag cost 530$, while the shoulderbag version goes for 340$. (via coolhunting via Bruce Sterling)
