Immersion Project

This picture comes from a visual artist whose work I stumbled across in Robbie Cooper's blog with regard to a new project that he is working on called the Immersion project. 7 photos from the project are featured in The New York Times.

About “Immersion”;

Immersion is a project that records video of people “through the screen” as they play games, use the internet and watch TV. There’s three of us involved in the actual production of the footage- Andrew Wiggins is a camera man based in London, whilst Charly Smith is a First Assistant Director, also based in London. In 2009 we’ll be working with the Media Center at Bournemouth University, on an 18 month study called “War and Leisure”, of teenagers and war in the media. Using the Facial Action Coding System, developed by Paul Ekman, we’ll be analysing the reactions of teenagers to war in video games, movies, news footage, documentaries and online video. Outside of this study we’re also filming people consuming a range of media- everything from the shopping channel, porn, sports, to programming created for babies.

As a gamer myself, the facial expression or premise of the whole project must have struck a chord. In many ways, the mind state that I enter (and I suspect most gamers enter) when playing a good game is so unlike that of my experience in any other context. I'm sure that there are researchers out there who are studying the effects of this "in the zone" state of being on imprinting and neural activation. I happen to know almost nothing about it, but thought it was interesting and will probably scrounge around on Cooper's blog for a bit to see if he can't enlighten me.

Barring that, the photo shoot is still a lot of fun.

So Frickin Disturbed Right Now....

I had someone link me to a Facebook group that was claiming that live dogs were being used as shark bait on a French-controlled island off of the coast of Africa. I was disturbed by the thought, but figured that the story was just so much BS.

Apparently not. The story is reported here on National Geographic:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1019_051019_dog_shark.html

They show it right alongside this completely disturbing photograph. Apparently the hooks are put in the animals through the snout or paw, and then they are dragged from the back of a boat for miles until they attract a shark, sometimes while they are still alive.

So... I'm basically at a loss for words here. I don't care what sort of dire economic situation you are in, there is no possible justification for this kind of thing. As a vegetarian, I realize my perspective might be a bit skewed relative to the general population, but someone who could do something like this must be inhuman. This story makes me want to donate a thousand dollars to some militant environmental "Greenpeace-esq" group, and then outfit them with heavy weaponry...

So frickin sad.

Pandas and Culture

So, I was bored at work and stumbled across this article on CNN:

Panda bites student seeking hug:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/22/panda.bites.man.china.ap/index.html

Apparently some 20 year old guy in China jumped a few fences and rushed up to this panda in the zoo, hoping to "cuddle". Instead, the panda bit him repeatedly on the arms and legs. Then security was called and chased the panda off. But my favorite part of this article comes is a quote from the park ranger when asked if the zoo would be putting up additional signs or fencing:

"We cannot make it like a prison. We already have signs up warning people not to climb in," he said. "There are no fences along roads but people know not to cross if there are cars. This is basic knowledge."

It just struck me as hilarious at the moment. It sorta feels like the entire difference between Chinese and American perception of public safety encapsulated in a moment.

And in this instance, who could blame them? In the US, that zoo would probably have raised the fence, put razor wire at the top, killed the panda and would still have a lawsuit to deal with.

But, I gotta say, that panda is pretty damn cute. I think I need a hug too...