Loosely Assembled » play

Nested Play as Identity Centrifuge

fekaylius — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:00:05 +0000

PLAY, a short film by David Kaplan and Eric Zimmerman, explores a potential web of interconnected game spaces that puts the viewer’s sense of identity and context into a centrifuge.

One variant that would be cool to include in a piece like this would be showing the in-game initiation of one of these games inside of a game. This addition could construct a much richer labyrinth of interaction and agency, something much more complex than the obvious russian doll metaphor. The ability to zoom in and out between characters as part of the game play.

Although it’s fairly stimulating to watch someone else’s musing on this potential structure in linear passive form, it might be best explored as a game itself.

Playful

fekaylius — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:19:32 +0000

Billed as “A Day of Cross Disciplinary Frolicking” the Playful \*conference\* is a gathering around games and the notion of play within our contemporary media landscape.

I keep thinking there needs to be some kind of app specifically for keeping track of every interesting gathering. The master calendar of conferences/lectures/openings. I’d put Playful on that list of things to attend one day.

(Via Russell Davies.)

Bike Submarine

fekaylius — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:02:35 +0000

A small but great collection of images of people about to get gravitazed(!). Related to my old MidAir group on flickr, that has generally become too full of sports shots, but oh well.

“When I cried, it was because of extreme grief, and when I fell, it was because gravity made itself master over me.”

link: but does it float

Heely Turbines – Situationist Action Sports – Dope Ass Rolling Cyborg Shoes

jason — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 06:02:11 +0000

Christian Croft and Kate Hartman have hacked a pair of Heelys (those sneakers with the hidden wheel in the heel) to generate enough juice to power a little onboard navigation system with unconventional ideas about navigation. As you roll down the street, a little toe mounted digital screen gives directional suggestions, but these suggestions are not trying to help you get to a specific point B, they are directions to help you get lost, to help you wander and explore your own city in a new way, in a way that isn’t influenced by your own habits, nor by urban design, nor by instinct. It’s a pure wandering route generator.

Despite understanding that the project is primarily a technological sketch for sustainable energy harvesting, I am primarily interested (for this venue) to examine the relationship it has to the situationist practice of the dérive because I feel that a purely random, or even algorithmically based path through a city misses the experience of ‘feeling’ one’s way around the psychological topography, which Guy Debord expresses as essential in his Theory of the Dérive:

One of the basic situationist practices is the dérive [literally: “drifting”], a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances. Dérives involve playful-constructive behavior and awareness of psychogeographical effects, and are thus quite different from the classic notions of journey or stroll.

In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their relations, their work and leisure activities, and all their other usual motives for movement and action, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there. Chance is a less important factor in this activity than one might think: from a dérive point of view cities have psychogeographical contours, with constant currents, fixed points and vortexes that strongly discourage entry into or exit from certain zones.

If the onboard digital instructions were less about turn right or go straight, but were more about looking, feeling and following currents like: oncoming traffic, the loudest street, the most or least crowded path, a smiling face, towards the sunrise or sunset, towards the sound of music, into an empty shop, up the steepest stairs, towards the shortest person or away from home, then i would say that this (already very cool) project would actually be participating in the historic conversation on psychogeographic dérive. But in the meantime, shit, I’d sure rock some dope ass rolling cyborg shoes! Wouldn’t you?

tip off via wmmna

A final Last Thursday for the Clown House

fekaylius — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:42:06 +0000

A final Last Thursday for the Clown House: ”
Dingo Dizmal, captain of the Clown House.

Yes folks, it’s true. Tonight at Last Thursday on Alberta Street, the Clown House (at NE 24th and Alberta) will play host to hijinks and fun for the very last time.

(Via BikePortland.org.)

PRIMITIVE SKILLS BARCAMP

jason — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:22:52 +0000

Well, not really a ‘barcamp’ brand event, but in the similar unconference style, REWILD is putting on a week long skills and knowledge sharing event called REWILD CAMP PORTLAND. Mark your calendars, August 4th in when it kicks off, and you should go to the wiki and RSVP.

contextuality

fekaylius — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 19:13:24 +0000

Wine Rack

fekaylius — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:14:05 +0000

BYOB

Zoobomber meet to design new rack

aqua zorbing ?

fekaylius — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 04:27:40 +0000

yes! there are poeple in that ball (3 of them), yes, it’s full or water, and yes they are jamming down that hill. It seems like it might be like a hamster wheel meets water slide.

gnar gnar, but why the hell isn’t it being dropped off a cliff, or down a roller coaster, or into some SF hills?

via: blogabond

Fisher-Price SUCKS

fekaylius — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 19:01:46 +0000

There is a nail fasteners that comes off the toy, posing a hazard.
Parents started reporting this issue 2002, Fisher-Price did nothing.
Then, because they didn’t issue a recall, in December 2002, a 14-month old child aspirated one of the nail fasteners into his lung. The child was taken to the hospital and underwent an emergency surgical procedure to have the metal nail fastener removed.

Federal Law mandates immediate reporting to the CPSC after getting legit reports, Fisher-Price botched that one too. So they are being fined almost a million bucks, and yes they finally have issued a recall where they will send you a repair kit for the toy, but they sure don’t make it easy. We DO actually have this toy (disclaimer: gifted), so I called their recall line at (866) 259-7873, and got a slew of menues, and the notice that they really didn’t want to talk to me in person, but that i’d be happier if i went online to complain. I wanted to interact with a human, the human that answered was impatient with the fact that i didn’t know the product number for the toy i was talking about, “we make several models of that toy, i can’t help you if you don’t have the product number”.

Great, thanks a lot.

THIS is exactly why you should never buy the garbage that is being dumped on the market by toy industry giants. And here is an example of a barn that you can make with your kids instead of supporting companies like Fisher-Price and their parent Mattel.

also, if you aren’t afraid of a little pro-islam sentiment, and perhaps a little conspiracy theory, check out this rundown of a very popular meme about Mattel’s Cyber Patrol software and it’s deep political tentacles.

the worst line rider movie ever

jason — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 07:14:09 +0000

made by yours truly

Line Riding Addiction Begins

fekaylius — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 00:54:19 +0000

Just like the old skateboarding things we used to draw.

There’s a new way to be creative on the fridge now

fekaylius — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 18:33:50 +0000

Bike Poetry!

Go Dag Go.

brainball

jason — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 06:41:00 +0000

Make: covers OSBall

jason — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 20:54:53 +0000

(those of you with subscriptions to the online magazine, the link is here, the rest of you will have to get your own hard copy and turn to page 87.

Here is a sneak preview

Yknow what I realized, Mike K, the author, has yet to actually get his feet dirty on the OSBall courts!! wassup witdat? Time for an SF vs PDX bout.

btw, Dustin Hostetler did the hilarious illustration, love it dude!

Sprockettes Benefit Party @ Disjecta

jason — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:47:39 +0000

Nov 17, 18 & 19
The International Bike Dance Off and Benefit Party.

I also heard about a tallbike building workshop, will look for more info on that particular item.

(Via the Bike Portland Blog.)