Posted on April 11, 2008 12:49 AM
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Avatar Machine, by designer
Marc Owens, is a wearable device that simulates the experience of third-person gaming environments.
By wearing this costume and head-mounted camera with VR goggles, a user can view themselves as a sort of virtual character while moving around and interacting in the real world.
Owens created Avatar Machine to explore whether such a device would grant users "a diminished sense of social responsibility (...) and demonstrate behaviors normally reserved for the gaming environment." In other words, turn them into instant board trolls.
Owens, 26, is a design student at the Royal College of Art, and lives in East London. An earlier version of this experiment from Owens circulated around the web in 2007.
In part one of today's Boing Boing tv episode, we premiere an all-new experiment with Avatar Machine -- live beta testing conducted in 2008, in the Harajuku area of Tokyo. Here, the user (Owens) flirts with Harajuku hotties, then almost gets his ass kicked (for real!) by some Japanese gangster dudes.
In part two of today's show, Xeni speaks with Owens over a Skype video connection, live from his studio in East London.
HowStuffWorks has a step-by-step explanation of the device here. (special thanks to Susannah Breslin)
Posted on April 10, 2008 12:01 AM
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Today on Boing Boing tv, a glimpse inside the "Miss Hooker 2008 Beauty Pageant," the creation of artist
Natalia Fabia. Nine glamorous punk pinups compete for the title, showing off such diverse talents as egg frying, fantasy whistling, and yo-yoing. Who will win? No actual prostitutes were harmed in the filming of this episode, just metaphorical ones (as in "we all sell ourselves here in Hollywood.").
UK-based
Russell Porter chronicles alt music culture in the
Porter Report with aggressive wit and offbeat charm. Today, the "professional chancer and well known layabout" joins us on Boing Boing TV for a live session by alt-blues-punk band
the Guillotines (Sounds Like: "we suffer for our music and now it's your turn.") Next, some wasted chick with a double mohawk tries to hit our host up for spare change.
Here are previous BBtv episodes featuring Russell Porter. (special thanks to Jolon Bankey).
Klaus Pierre, a French/German actor-waiter-whatever, aspires against all odds to become America's next great action hero. In today's episode, he faces trials involving botox injections, standup comedy rejections, and attempts to hack his way into an actual red carpet premiere in Hollywood, for great justice.
Previous Klaus Pierre episodes on BBtv:
Klaus Pierre, French-German Action Hero in Training in America: Pirate Musical of Epic Fail
Klaus Pierre, French-German Action Hero in Training in America, studies Savate
Klaus Pierre, French-German Action Hero in Training in America at Coffee Shop.
Klaus Pierre, French-German Action Hero in Training in America, studies Swordfighting
Point Break and heartbreak
Time Magazine just published their first-ever index of blogs (hay gahz! what took ya so long!), and generously included Boing Boing (and a screenshot of Boing Boing tv) in the mix. Thank you, Time! Readers can vote on their favorite blogs (heh), if so inclined.
I was really happy to see some longtime friends and sharers of post-fodder in the mix, too, including Wired Threat Level, and my friend Reverse Cowgirl, whose writing about the sex trade became particularly topical for a wider audience this year after the Spitzer scandal. Kudos, all!
Today on Boing Boing tv, we explore the work of award-winning, self-taught animator
Tyson Ibele, who is based in New Zealand. In this episode, the 21-year-old artist explains that he taught himself animation during high school using
free software freeware. He says:
I was originally introduced to 3d animation by a great
freeware program call Anim8or
way back in 2000. Soon after, I discovered a program called 3d Studio
Max and I have been working with it up to this point. I now work for a
company called MAKE.
So, I have several years experience with 3d Studio Max,
and am familiar with everything from modelling to texturing to animation.
Tyson offers advice for would-be animators among the BBtv audience, and shares tips and tricks for anyone interested in this digital craft.
(Ed. Note: the "MAKE" in question is not the DIY craft publication, but a visual effects and animation studio, "Make Visual.")
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