Art Machine
Just another former infatuation junkie

If you’re a playwright or an independent directory, you might want to take a look at VirtualStage. If you’re an animator or a computer artist, you might want to skip this technology until it’s gone through a few generations.

VirtualStage is a software application that enables you to create your own virtual reality and, in particular, your own three dimensional (3D) animated plays, dramas, films and television productions. The drama is created in real-time, that is, as-it-happens and is recorded for subsequent playback.

The actions of the virtual actors are defined and directed by you, thus allowing an infinite range of possible gestures and movements. The actors’ dialogue, also entered by yourself, is spoken using computer synthesised speech. You position and then control any number of cameras so that the performance can be viewed from any angle. The drama itself takes place against a backdrop that you will have designed.

It’s a fascinating idea – one that will probably benefit a lot of younger writers looking for some indicator of what their work will look like once it’s been put on the stage or shot on film. It’s simple – cast your characters from a set of different body types paired with computer generated voices. Tell the characters when to sit, when to stand, when to walk, and what direction to face, and they’ll do it. Type a line of dialogue for them, and they’ll say it. Point a camera and you can switch to that angle at any time. Granted, your characters look blocky, your environments look flat, and your dialogue winds up being delivered with all of the passion of a Johnny Mnemonic-era Keanu Reeves on tranquilizers, but for many authors this will help them just by virtue of seeing and hearing their play before they actually get it produced.

Now, beyond playwrights and screenwriters, does this have any other application? Could it, for instance, be used to create the first virtual Seinfeld?

Are you kidding? Look at the sample video of this program in action. I have enough trouble watching ten seconds of the video without imagining watching anything close to thirty minutes of it.

But it makes for an interesting first step. Up until now, Maya has been one of the few computer animation programs aimed at making CG accesible to the general public – and, as somebody who tried and failed to learn Maya using their Personal Learning Edition, I can testify that even that program has a few stumbling blocks on the way to mastery.

Dakine Wave, however, has developed an interesting concept when it comes to accessible computer animation. Tell a character to walk across the floor and she walks. Tell a character to shrug and he shrugs. Put in a line of dialogue and the mouth “syncs” (somewhat) to the words. You don’t even have to have any friends to provide the voices – the computer will do it for you (albeit in a stilted and lifeless fashion).

You’re a long way from competing with Pixar, but this kind of thinking in the music industry has produced some truly amazing software – GrooveMaker, ACID, and Apple’s nothing-less-than-amazing GarageBand spring to mind. Even so, those programs are the current product of generations of software aimed at making music accessible to the people.

As it stands, VirtualStage is little more than a quick-and-easy visualization tool. But if it continues to develop and grow, this could get very interesting.

Any artist who has ever worked for free will tell you that there are a lot of non-monetary forms of compensation that are quite nice. There’s experience, exposure, just being part of something truly historic, and getting to work with great people.

Few of them, however, are as nice as getting paid for what you do.

A group of former pupils at a London comprehensive school are poised to win thousands of pounds in unpaid royalties for singing on Pink Floyd’s classic Another Brick In The Wall 25 years ago.

The pupils from the 1979 fourthform music class at Islington Green School secretly recorded vocals after their teacher was approached by the band’s management.

Now the 23 ex-pupils are suing for overdue session musician royalties, taking advantage of the Copyright Act 1997 to claim a percentage of the money from broadcasts.

[...]

Peter Thorpe, who sang on the single, told friends: “We were just taken to the studios and it was great fun. I didn’t realise royalties were owed and I’m very glad to be in a position to claim them.”

Fun, yes. In the name of art, yes. To be part of one of the greatest albums ever released, yes. But if I were owed a check, I would want that, as well.

As I watch the trailer, I can only think one thing – I hope that whatever hand that steers the universe will see fit to ensure that Douglas Adams’ legacy is treated more kindly than that of Dr. Seuss. I can’t stand to watch more of my childhood destroyed by rotten licensing and lousy movie adaptations.

Yes, I said my childhood. I grew up on Douglas Adams and Monty Python. Is there something wrong with that?

Belgium, I say.

I used to keep a bag in the trunk of my car. It was an old, yellow thing – a Kool-Aid incentive from a long time ago (actually, the bag itself tore just recently and I threw it out – no big loss). In the bag was a change of clothes, a toothbrush, a stick of deodorant, and a couple of hotel bottles of shampoo. In a sense, it was a peacetime “Jump Bag.” I wouldn’t expect ordinarily to be forced into extreme conditions, so the bag assumed access to a ready source of food, first aid, running water, etc. It was more of an unexpected-stay-at-a-friend’s bag than a survial kit.

With terrorism apparently trumping all other concerns in America, there’s a vast market now for safety devices. Just witness the Quantum Sleeper – a product that obvious missed its calling as a luxury item for the wealthy vampire set. The concept is basically a luxure panic room built into your bed, so that all you have to do is swing a couple of panels shut and pull a hood down and – presto! – you’ve entombed yourself. Note that this item isn’t actually on the market yet. They’re still looking for startup capital. But the market is flooded with expensive emergency gas masks (that basically look like plastic shopping bags with gauze patches), “skyscraper parachutes,” and the like.

Of course, not to be too snarky about it, a Kerry Presidency would probably have been the best possible protection in a terrorist attack – notice how both areas hit by terrorism on 9/11 went blue? But I digress.

Here’s my thought on the issue. If you’re really that concerned about security, don’t get taken in by suppliers who’ll sell you twenty-five cents worth of plastic for five-hundred bucks and claim that their untested product will save your life (skyscraper parachute, I’m looking in your direction). Instead, keep a “Jump Bag.” This bag of items you’ll need in case of an emergency will help you much more than a Quantum Sleeper if you keep your wits about you. This website will give you a few suggestions for what your jump bag needs – most of which are inexpensive and readily available (link via Making Light). They also offer some pointed advice. Some of which includes…

• There is no perfect kit.
• What you have in your head is the most important survival/first aid equipment of all.
• It’s better to carry general-purpose items than specialized equipment.
• In a survival situation, you live as long as your feet do.
• You can live to be ninety without a Rambo knife, but hypothermia or dehydration will kill you deader’n dirt by this time tomorrow.
• A terrorist attack is just a badly-placarded HAZMAT incident.
• Alcohol and disaster don’t mix.
• Brush your teeth, wear your seatbelt, wash your hands before eating and after using the toilet, and look both ways before crossing the street.

Yes, your mother’s advice will save your life. Even the clean underwear bit – the last thing you need is an infection hitting a [coughcough] sensitive area [cough] in the middle of a survival situation.

Here’s the fact – there’s a lot of panic, and with that panic there’s a lot of exploiteers ready to strike it rich. You can spend all the money in the world. Your Quantum Sleeper won’t help you when a plane flies into your apartment building. Your emergency gas mask won’t help you when a man walks into the lobby with a bomb strapped to his waist. You can’t buy a fix for everything – the best thing you can do is go on with your life, dammit. If something happens, keep your wits about you – but it’s not worth the sweat.

And if you must play Rambo, here’s my final suggestion. Buy the following book. Memorize it. Don’t use it unless you have to.

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook

The new movie poster for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been released. It’s got this fun, strange vibe to it – half Dracula and half Wizard of Oz, which leaves no doubt that it is, in fact, a Tim Burton movie.

Artist: Gift of Gab
Label: Quannum Projects
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Rating: **** (4 out of 4)
Availability: / Widely Available

There’s not a great track record for artists from much-loved bands going solo. Mick Jagger never quite made it. Pete Townsend keeps trying. James Iha wishes people would just return his phone calls. Often it’s because the band with which they gained their fame has some sort of balancing or smoothing effect on the act in question – who would ever have guessed that the guitarist for Smashing Pumpkins could write songs that sappy? So it seemed odd to me to consider one of my favorite MC’s going out on his own, without the benefit of his usual DJ and partners in rhyme. Even so, I happily plunked down the $9.99 because if there’s anybody I have faith in, it’s Gift of Gab.

While Gift’s name might not be immediately recognizable to the public at large, he’s made some headway as the frontman for the cerebral, anti-gangsta hip-hop troupe Blackalicious. Their albums – featuring the epic, sprawling rhymes of Gab laid over the rough-and-tumble beats of Chief Xcel – stand as an alternative to mainstream rap, offering a mindset more geared toward expanding the listeners’ horizons than toward blowing anything up or away.

And in Fourth Dimensional Rocketships Going Up, Gab doesn’t abandon his lofty goals. In the initial track, “The Ride of Your Life,” he sets the tone of the album as a transcendant piece – an album dedicated to upward movement and progression. Throughout the album, you’ll hear Gab call on his namesake, his gift with words (“Sorry, y’all, but I didn’t bring a gat along – just a pen that does tricks like a magic wand”) in songs like “Rat Race” and “The Writz” (which features a clever twist on the classic “Puttin’ On the Ritz”). Thematically, Fourth Dimensional Rocketships isn’t that far removed from Blackalicious’ offerings, Blazing Arrow and Nia.

Which, of course, begs the question – why record a solo album? What does Gab offer on his own that doesn’t come out in Blackalicious?

For starters, the sound. While Gab sounds the same as always, the production (handled by Jake One and Vitamin D) is lighter and jazzier than the usual Blackalicious fare, underscoring rather than driving the crawling rhymes coming out of Gab’s mouth. The lighter touch allows the MC space to breathe while clearing the air for his lyrics to sink in and turning the rapper’s voice into an instrument in its own right.

Second, as odd as it may sound, is the form of the album. Blackalicious’ outings tend to drift into the area of the “concept album,” featuring tracks that flow smoothly into one another and build upon a theme. Gab doesn’t give up his usual thematic strength, but there’s less sense of narrative to the album, leaving the listener with the feeling that Gab has a lot to say, and doesn’t care to couch it in a larger story this time around.

As a side project, it’s hard to imagine a more successful album than Fourth Dimensional Rocketships Going Up. He succeeds where other going-solo acts fail – proving that not only is he an important part of his home group, but that he has a lot to offer on his own.

Now, see, it’s odd to put up an affiliate link to something that you get for free, but there it is.

iTunes is introducing a new service this month. The Street Official Mixtape series will present non-stop mixes of some of the best in indie hip-hop, hosted by Winta. In Volume One, you’ll find 25 minutes worth of brief clips displaying the mad skills of acts as diverse as DJ Jazzy Jeff, Planet Asia, KRS-One, and Gift of Gab (recognizable as the anti-gangsta frontman for Blackalicious).

So, have you got an interest in hip-hop? What have you got to lose? It’s free.

Never let it be said that I don’t follow a good example. It had occurred to me a month or so before the election that the ArtMachine used to have… well… more variety of subject matter. Somewhere, the occasional rant about freedom of speech, failed drug policy, and the erosion of civil liberties turned the ArtMachine into an all-out political blog. And some of the other things I was involved in earlier fell by the wayside. It’s been a while since I posted a book review, and while I do have a recent music review, I haven’t done nearly as many as I used to do. And I don’t think I’ve mentioned even once that I’ve landed the role of Reverend Hale in a local college production of The Crucible – I don’t know how I’ve let that slide by.

So, I think I’m going to follow Thud’s example. You’ll still see the occasional political rant, but I want to discuss some other things. Because, frankly, I wish to retain my sanity for the next four years.

Every major news source is reporting that Senator Kerry has just called George W. Bush to concede victory. Thereby confirming the diagnosis that the Democratic party has a terminal case of civility.

At this point, here’s where the election stands: Ohio shows a slight lead for Bush, but the provisional and absentee ballots have not yet been counted. The number of provisional and absentee ballots is much more than the margin between the two candidates, meaning that John Kerry could actually have taken Ohio.

This morning, it was reported that three more states were still in play – Wisconsin, Iowa, and New Mexico. The numbers showed that if Bush were to lose Ohio, he would need all three of those states to win.

As Senator Kerry’s concession is announced, the C-Span election results map shows that WISCONSIN HAS GONE FOR KERRY.

This means that the election hinges entirely on Ohio – and Ohio legally does not count its provisional ballots until 11 days after the election.

However, Senator Kerry has conceded victory.

Where’s the fight? Didn’t we swear after Florida that we would fight to have every vote counted? Didn’t we shake our fists in the air and swear, “Never again”? It doesn’t matter to me that Bush has the edge in the popular vote this time around – those aren’t the rules we play by. And we know from 2000 that the Republicans insist on playing by those rules. If the situation were reversed, Bush would not dare to concede at this moment.

We are to love mercy and do justice. If we try to do it the other way around, we get screwed. That’s what happened to Al Gore in 2000, and that’s what has just happened to John Kerry in 2004. We need to wake up.

Head out to the voting booths. Keep these things in mind:

• Know where you’re supposed to vote. www.mypollingplace.com can help you find it if you don’t already know.
• If you received an e-mail or a letter telling you to vote on Nov. 3 for any reason, that is a lie. Go to the polls today and vote.
• If you have been told that people with outstanding tickets (etc.) will be arrested at the polling places, that is a lie. Go to the polls today and vote.
• If you have been notified that the polls will be open on Nov. 3 for people who didn’t have the time/couldn’t make the drive/were kept indoors by the weather, that is a lie. Several states have done early voting, but no state has done late voting. Nov. 2 is your only chance to vote. Go to the polls today and vote.
• When they announce the polls are closed, anybody who is still standing in line will be allowed to vote. If you are in line and they announce the polls are closed, stay in the line until you have voted. No matter how long it takes.
• If you come to vote and you are not on the voter rolls, ask for a Provisional Ballot.
• If you need special assistance at the polling place, it must be provided to you.
• If you made an error on your ballot, request a new ballot. It is your right to do so.
• Your vote is your vote. You don’t have to tell anybody who you voted for or why, and you don’t owe anybody anything – do not sell your vote, and do not let them intimidate you. Vote your way.
• If you have a question about how the machines work, don’t hesitate to ask the poll workers for assistance.
• Write this number down. 1-866-OUR-VOTE. This toll-free number is manned by trained, non-partisan volunteers and lawyers. They will answer any questions you have about your vote, and they will assist you if you have serious concerns about voter fraud, misconduct, or intimidation.

Further tips are available at Election Protection. Now, get out there and vote!