Fresh, Hot Wastes of Time

I’m supposed to write a 100 word review of one of the SXSW events I attended for my Pop Culture class. How the hell can I smoosh down Will Wright’s astounding keynote into 100 little words?

Will Wright Wows SXSWi

Hundreds of SXSW Interactive convention-goers braved a thunderstorm and strong winds to duck into the downtown Hilton on March 13 for a keynote speech from computer game pioneer Will Wright. Wright, who is best-known for his “Sim City” and “The Sims” series, delivered a high-intensity, fast-paced, and thought-provoking talk about the nature and future of gaming narrative.

Wright also demonstrated his upcoming game, “Spore.” “Spore” will allow players to evolve from single-celled organism to spaceship-building civilizations, and embodies Wright’s gaming philosophy of allowing players to tell stories to the computer rather than vice versa. Game play will also be collaborative, allowing players to share creatures and planets with each other.

“Spore” is rumored to be on store shelves by the end of 2007.

If you’re interested in the Wright talk, you can see it on YouTube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7. There’s also a partial transcript over at Wonderland.

He has some concepts that really gave me a lot of food for thought, especially in terms of ARG design. Let the players tell the story – we see this all the time, to some extent. PMs often adjust the plot in response to the players. Could it turn ugly quickly? Sure. But I think there is such a trend towards collaboration these days, where the audience wants to feel invested, that it’s very much worth exploring.

Since last year, I’ve been writing the parts of two characters in the alternate reality game that accompanied the United States release of the Korean movie, The Host. You can check out my writing on Enhance Yourself, where I played Amie Adams, or on KoreanFilmFan’s Myspace page, where I wrote the blog entries, audio scripts, and video scripts for Sun-Yi Park.

This was my first professional ARG job and it was a great experience. It’s always fabulous working with the incredibly talented and good-looking Dave Szulborski, who was the evil genius behind the project.

And if you like movies, please check out The Host. It’s a monster movie and a family drama with lots of pathos all rolled up together. Plus, the special effects are really amazing. It’s currently on screen in several cities and will be opening in more this Friday.

Coming up soon, I will be involved with World Without Oil, which is another ARG but it’s a “serious game” rather than a marketing campaign (not that there’s anything wrong with marketing campaigns!). It promises to be thought-inspiring, collaborative, and really interesting. It’s already getting a good amount of press, from MTV to Gamasutra, thanks to Jane McGonigal’s GDC keynote. I’m really excited about it.

We went to see Zodiac at the Alamo Drafthouse last night. It was long, but I thought it was a great flick. The first half deals with the murders themselves, while the second is about the subsequent investigation. Great acting by all involved, and nice period settings.

After I came home, I spent about 4 hours obsessing on the unsolved code. Robert Graysmith, portrayed in the movie by Jake Gyllenhaal, claims to have solved it, but IMO that’s a joke. Some interesting theories, discussion, and argument floating around out there, though. Enough to waste houuuuuuuuuuurs on. Which I did.

Also, I just wrote a suggestion to the Drafthouse that if they’re going to show a three hour movie, at least let people know ahead of time that last call will be 30 minutes in. Pretty parched by the end, there.

ETA: Wow, that was quick! I just got an email back from Tim League, who founded the Drafthouse. He said that the early last call is one of his pet peeves, and it’s something they’re working on. He wants to have last call be 45 minutes before the movie ends. Awesome!

ETA2: And shortly after that, I heard from the manager of the Alamo Village, offering to send me passes. Have I mentioned how much I love the Drafthouse, even if their last call is early?

I was interviewed by German ARG site ARGR this month. Google translator says that the opening paragraph reads:

DTE Cook is 35 years young, nut/mother of two daughters, two cats and two dogs and lives in Austin, Texas, in the United States. It writes not only for our friend side ARGNet but also in their own Blog named Addlepated. Under this name it probably also most Argonauten is in unForums well-known. Today it writes for a change once with us, because it weiht us into some secrets from its past bad life, and which there so all happened is really interesting.

On another note, I’ve decided to resign my position as staff writer for ARGNet.

Last, but not least, work is starting to step up for the upcoming serious game, World Without Oil, for which I’m excited to work as a community liaison and writer.

Also, the word “liaison” has three vowels in a row. Who know? I’ll have to give my spellchecker a biscuit.

Likely I’ve missed a few, but here’s what I’ve come up with for a list of commercial ARGs:

1994 – Publius Enigma – Pink Floyd
1999 – Blair Witch Project – Blair Witch Project
2001 – Majestic – Pay for play
2001 – The Beast – A.I.
2002 – Push – Push, Nevada
2004 – I Love Bees – Halo 2
2004 – ReGenesis – ReGenesis
2004 – Sable & Shuck – Stella Artoris
2004 – Legends of the Sacred Urns – Sharp
2005 – The Art of the Heist – Audi
2005 – Perplex City – Pay for play
2005 – Jamie Kane – BBC
2005 – Last Call Poker – Gun
2006 – Who is Benjamin Stove? – GM
2006 – Edoc Laundry – Pay for play
2006 – Studio Cypher – Pay for play
2006 – The Lost Experience – Lost
2006 – Fallen – Fallen
2006 – Kyle XY – Kyle XY
2006 – Cathy’s Book – Pay for play

This is hilarious! Watch the documentary.

http://www.menwithcramps.com/ with a link at the bottom to:
http://www.macinnesandporritt.com with a link at the bottom left to an employee login. *perks up*

(via MetaFilter)

http://whois.domaintools.com/menwithcramps.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/macinnesandporritt.com

Anonymous info for both.

If this is a trailhead, I… well, let’s just hope this isn’t a trailhead.

Envelope-to: me *at* addlepated.net
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 11:12:38 -0500
From: “Jochen Peiper” [doctorjpjr *at* gmail.com]
To: me *at* addlepated.net
Subject: The Meaning of AV

Dear sir,

A colleague suggested that I contact you concerning the meaning of AV. Do you understand this? If so it is most important that I make contact with you immediately. Please tell me do you know the meaning of AV?

Please accept my apologies for this intrusion if you do not understand this message.

—
Dr. Jochen Peiper
Our life is made by the death of others.

Jochen Peiper, for the uninitiated. Nice sig line.

Maybe it’s just me, but this SF Chronicle article sounds a lot like the article I wrote.

LIVE! RUDE! GIRL!
WHO’S THAT GIRL?
Neva Chonin
Sunday, September 3, 2006

Live! Rude! Girl!

“The Net is a waste of time, and that’s exactly what’s right about it.”

William Gibson

She calls herself Bree and posts her video blogs on YouTube.com under the handle lonelygirl15. She says she’s 16, but looks older, and claims she’s homeschooled by her religious parents. She has a purple monkey hand puppet, a lazy eye and a mysterious shrine to ye olde occultist Aleister Crowley. Her best friend and video editor is Daniel, a geeky emo-boy who posts using the nomenclature danielbeast and adores Bree from afar.

It seems everyone adores lonelygirl15 from afar. Her deceptively insipid videos average a million views apiece and inspire both parodies and tributes. In pure headline-speak, her celebrity comes down to: Boys want her! Girls want to be her! The New York Times, Business Week and the London Times want to write about her! So much love! So many conspiracy theories!

Conspiracy theories? Oh. Oh, yeah. Many of us have a wee problem with lonelygirl15. She doesn’t exist — well, not outside of YouTube, anyway. Bree, forgive me. I want to believe in you, but all clues point to fakery (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The videos are slicker than K-Y Jelly, with professional lighting and editing techniques that scream of postproduction. The narrative sounds formulaic and scripted, and lonelygirl15/Bree is not an especially convincing actress.

“Random” events look rehearsed, and considering her fame, those devout and overprotective parents must surely have caught wind of their daughter’s online shenanigans. Most damningly, online sleuths have found that the domains for her two fan sites (lone lygirl15.com and lonelygirl15fanclub.com) were both registered before she posted her first video.

Bree insists she’s real. A real human, walking around in meatspace with the rest of us. Many people, including New York Times blogger Virginia Heffernan, go along with this because, after all, why not? They like believing in lonelygirl15, and parodying her, and swapping theories about her, and imagining her sitting out there somewhere with her purple monkey and Aleister Crowley. It beats watching Leekspin.com 10,832 times in a row.

As with the last big Internet meme, “Snakes on a Plane,” and all the viral cults before it, the creative energy that swirls around lonelygirl15 is far more interesting than the object that inspired it. The online world would be dull indeed without its fabricated stars. If lonelygirl15 didn’t exist, it would have been necessary to invent her. Which is why someone did.

The mastermind’s identity remains an open question. Are the video diaries viral marketing by a network building an audience for a future series? A clever promotion for the bands whose music plays on lonelygirl15’s soundtrack? A Thelemite conspiracy? A right-wing Christian conspiracy? A Mormon conspiracy?

So far, the likeliest theory suggests that lonelygirl15 is a project by a coterie of artful prankster(s). Brian Flemming, the filmmaker behind the faux documentary “Nothing So Strange,” has been fingered as a possible suspect. He denies the charge, and the mystery plays on. I’m hoping Bree will start wearing berets and brandishing Kalashnikovs and delivering sermons on how the fascist Internet preys on the life of the people. We’ll see.

But enough about Bree. Let’s talk about me and what I’m watching on YouTube this week. All can be found by running a search on YouTube.com’s main page.

1. Geriatric1927: A 79-year-old widower who thought he’d give this crazy technology a whirl and wound up being the most popular vlogger on YouTube. If George Clooney jilts me and Stephen Colbert is busy canoodling with Jon Stewart, I’m gonna marry Geriatric1927.

2. Bolivia Bug: Cute? Terrifying? The fourth caterpillar of the Apocalypse? You tell me. JUST DON’T TOUCH IT.

3. Two Chinese Boys: It is what it is. Two Chinese teenagers in front of a monitor, lip-syncing to the Backstreet Boys, Jessica Simpson and other pop icons. I can tell you’re wondering what’s so special. To which I reply, all that is truly special eludes description, so discover them. Worship them. They’re like Jesus, in a way.

4. Cat Massage: A cat massages a puppy. Conversation ensues.

5. Gizmo Flushes: Another cat. This one compulsively flushes a toilet so he can watch the water go round and round. In “Jurassic Park,” the world went to hell once the velociraptors learned how to open doors. Now cats have learned to flush toilets. You do the math.

6. ChurchCommittee Channel (find it in YouTube’s channel listings): Nothing brings the funny like zealots who don’t know when to shut up. ChurchCommittee collects clips of political stupidity that range from Ann Coulter describing how “swimmingly” the Afghanistan situation is going to highlights from “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.” Mmm. Stephen Colbert. Am I the only one who develops a patina of sweat just reading his name?

7. AMDS Films: A Parisian mash-up whiz takes on Hollywood and wins. Score one for France. My favorites: An homage to “The Matrix” and Keanu Reeves’ transcendental blankness in “Neo Waits for the Ghost Train” (episodes I and II) and “Hamlet 2006,” the Bard’s masterpiece as interpreted by Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron.

What are you waiting for? Start surfing. The world’s gone to hell. Bush is still in office and Christopher Meloni was robbed of his Emmy. Get on the Internet.

Neva has been sitting in front of her iBook for 10 hours straight at nchonin@sfchronicle.com.

A credit might have been nice. 🙁