sometimes it helps to be around children. You constantly have to come up with something to keep them from jumping at you, climbing on top of you or grabbing and poking you.
Inventing games is something that parents have to do all day, and kids are quite a demanding audience.
It's strange to see how the little things add up to each other and form answers to questions that seem so complicated when discussed at workshops or roundtables or conferences.
Moving from the sagasnet workshop on interactive storytelling straight to playing penguin and pig with Michael Nitsche's daughter in the car on the drive to GeorgiaTech seemed funny to me.
I get the feeling we might be focussing on electonics too much when it comes to experience, narration and plain old fun.
But we're getting there. Hopefully, some day, we will see all the screens vanish or be integrated into things that are useful to use while keeping us physical and attached to the real world.
And geting up at 6am isn't as bad as i thought it would be...
Atlanta is half-warm.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Inventing games is something that parents have to do all day, and kids are quite a demanding audience.
It's strange to see how the little things add up to each other and form answers to questions that seem so complicated when discussed at workshops or roundtables or conferences.
Moving from the sagasnet workshop on interactive storytelling straight to playing penguin and pig with Michael Nitsche's daughter in the car on the drive to GeorgiaTech seemed funny to me.
I get the feeling we might be focussing on electonics too much when it comes to experience, narration and plain old fun.
But we're getting there. Hopefully, some day, we will see all the screens vanish or be integrated into things that are useful to use while keeping us physical and attached to the real world.
And geting up at 6am isn't as bad as i thought it would be...
Atlanta is half-warm.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
i am sick. I mean, as in "i need medicine" sick. From the "obviously" departement comes the news that a 12 hour flight doesn't help much against sinusits. Wonderful medicine does, and maybe even antibiotics.
Anyway, due to sickness, my stay here in Seoul will be shorter than expected. Even though this city is overwhelming (so are the dreams it gives me), it just doesn't really feel good to not be able to see a doctor that understands your language.
Stuff like this happens, and of course, like my grandma would say, it reminds you of what's really important in life - health and stuff. I'm glad that it comes at a time when nothing really super important has to be done. Then again not that anything that i do is super important...
Anyway, Seoul is amazing (and this time, i use the word very carefully). The amount of people constantly present per square meter is astounding. I had the pleasure of searching for some electronic gadgets yesterday together with a friend (who's super insane and only stayed one day before he leaves again for boston...) and we barely made it out alive. I didn't have my camera with me that day though. But these pictures, taken this afternoon, should give you an idea.
Hotels should have windows. These air conditioned rooms make you sick all by themselves. Add to that water that you can smell the chlorine from and you get a very good starting point for regaining health.
But!
The breakfast is gorgeous! And if i wouldn't be slightly off, i would totally dig the korean food. I had some Kimchi yesterday and it was fantastic. Unfortunately though, my body is not capable of adjusting to the spices so fast, so my digestion was a bit...disoriented...
I feel like i'm on drugs. Must be the water or something. More pictures, as usual, on flickr.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Anyway, due to sickness, my stay here in Seoul will be shorter than expected. Even though this city is overwhelming (so are the dreams it gives me), it just doesn't really feel good to not be able to see a doctor that understands your language.
Stuff like this happens, and of course, like my grandma would say, it reminds you of what's really important in life - health and stuff. I'm glad that it comes at a time when nothing really super important has to be done. Then again not that anything that i do is super important...
Anyway, Seoul is amazing (and this time, i use the word very carefully). The amount of people constantly present per square meter is astounding. I had the pleasure of searching for some electronic gadgets yesterday together with a friend (who's super insane and only stayed one day before he leaves again for boston...) and we barely made it out alive. I didn't have my camera with me that day though. But these pictures, taken this afternoon, should give you an idea.
Hotels should have windows. These air conditioned rooms make you sick all by themselves. Add to that water that you can smell the chlorine from and you get a very good starting point for regaining health.
But!
The breakfast is gorgeous! And if i wouldn't be slightly off, i would totally dig the korean food. I had some Kimchi yesterday and it was fantastic. Unfortunately though, my body is not capable of adjusting to the spices so fast, so my digestion was a bit...disoriented...
I feel like i'm on drugs. Must be the water or something. More pictures, as usual, on flickr.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
time is rushing past me and i didn't post in ages. That doesn't mean i didn't mean to. It's just that i try to use most of my time to work on moviesandbox - that is if i'm not trying to get from one place to another.
Life blurs and it is both good and bad. As long as i feel i can take some time to rest, everything is ok.
Spending some time doing nothing helps, too.
In these past weeks i have been to Leipzig, Berlin, Amsterdam, London, Ludwigsburg, Bonn and Linz. All of the events were worth telling about, although i don't want this to degenerate in a "been here, done that" type of posting. Instead, there's this sort of feeling slowly spawning somewhere inside.
I feel that there is a new movement starting to take hold of people. A next generation of young artists start to embrace the new possibilities we have in a mix of commercial interest, integration into their lives and non-commercial cltural exploitation.
I like that, it gives me hope that people always find things that will link them to each other. Of course, you can argue that i am only subject to a tiny amount of people and also very agenda driven (then again, who isn't?). Still, i feel that there is something universal coming out of this. Something that even business people with gazillions of dollars dont manage to control.
As some might say, this is the next bubble that's just about to crash, others believe that it gives more and more people the opportunity to communicate and share culture, thought and art. And what more do we need these days than a proper way of communicating with each other?
With all the grim news surrounding us, we seem to embrace all the optimistic new bits that technology gives. It might be for the worse, in the end, who knows. But right now, it opens up possibilities and channels and ways to create culture and community that spread far beyond racial differences.
I just thought i'd write something positive...
there's tons more images on flickr.
And i just want to add a huge big thank you to all the people that hosted me in the past weeks, especially Andy/Nadya and Theo. Once i have a huge house, i'll throw a party and everyone's invited! I promise!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Life blurs and it is both good and bad. As long as i feel i can take some time to rest, everything is ok.
Spending some time doing nothing helps, too.
In these past weeks i have been to Leipzig, Berlin, Amsterdam, London, Ludwigsburg, Bonn and Linz. All of the events were worth telling about, although i don't want this to degenerate in a "been here, done that" type of posting. Instead, there's this sort of feeling slowly spawning somewhere inside.
I feel that there is a new movement starting to take hold of people. A next generation of young artists start to embrace the new possibilities we have in a mix of commercial interest, integration into their lives and non-commercial cltural exploitation.
I like that, it gives me hope that people always find things that will link them to each other. Of course, you can argue that i am only subject to a tiny amount of people and also very agenda driven (then again, who isn't?). Still, i feel that there is something universal coming out of this. Something that even business people with gazillions of dollars dont manage to control.
As some might say, this is the next bubble that's just about to crash, others believe that it gives more and more people the opportunity to communicate and share culture, thought and art. And what more do we need these days than a proper way of communicating with each other?
With all the grim news surrounding us, we seem to embrace all the optimistic new bits that technology gives. It might be for the worse, in the end, who knows. But right now, it opens up possibilities and channels and ways to create culture and community that spread far beyond racial differences.
I just thought i'd write something positive...
there's tons more images on flickr.
And i just want to add a huge big thank you to all the people that hosted me in the past weeks, especially Andy/Nadya and Theo. Once i have a huge house, i'll throw a party and everyone's invited! I promise!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
