Monday, April 21, 2008

Hooliganism

This past weekend, while returning to home to Surrey through Greater London, I encountered something different from any of my previous social experiences... Football Hooliganism. My girlfriend and I arrived at London Bridge rail station to an unexpected mass of Riot Police complete with body armour, face shielded helmets, batons, and guard dogs. They were their awaiting the infamous fans of Millwall FC who were on there way across town to play Leeds FC. What an amazing waste of resources to require hundreds of police at the station because the drunk louts where going to be changing trains at the station. Hundreds more travellers where disrupted, scared and inconvenienced by this draconian display of force interacting with the blatant stupidity of this testosterone/alcoholic mix of a mob scene. This brought to mind the social nature of entertainment and the responsibility of the creators and visionaries to realize the impact of their mediums on society and individuals as a whole. Also I was reminded of a very important man Rogan P. Taylor and his fascinating Ph.D. thesis called The Death and Resurrection Show From Shaman to Superstar. - a brilliant analysis of the social roots of modern entertainment. Rogan Taylor is now one of the worlds foremost experts on the social impacts of Football fans consulting with clubs across the globe to help them deal with its problems. His book is a must read for anyone in entertainment, it will change your perspectives on your art profoundly.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

The British Museum

This past week I had the opportunity to tour the sites with my father James who has been visiting me in London. We decided our Sunday in the city would be best spent in an inspired visit to an iconic home of global history The British Museum. WOW!!!! what can I say, every turn was filled with objects which overwhelemed the sense of awe and wonderment. From Artifacts fallen from the Parthenon to Eygptian mummies and Early human life of Europe and Roman England, it was breathtaking. If you are ever in London and want to be truly amazed but the collective human history through priceless artifacts, go here. An arcitectual marvel in itself the British Museum not only holds more treasures then anywhere I have ever seen, it is an iconic space worthy of all-time. Free Entry since 1753.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Immersive Vision


I spent the past week at the Immersive Vision Conference the European workshop in Immersive Theater at the University of Plymouth. The Conference was very exciting. I small but influential group of vendors, technologists, producers, and venue mangers of the Domed Theater and Immersive Entertainment and Scientific Visualization communities. The Conference was done as a showcase for the new immersive vision theater at Plymouth a tilted 6.5M truncated dome space with a projection system by Global Immersion. Other highlights of the conference included DomeView and a pre-visualization tool for Full Dome from the Navagar Foundation in Portugal and David McConville of The Eluminati who gave a fantastic and enlightening presentation on the history of the Dome.

The Week concluded with a trip to the new INTEC Planitarium in Winchester, UK a 16M FullDome Theater also by Global Immersion. The Conference was great success and Alchemica was very pleased by the general response to our work in spatial and enviornmental effects from the Dome Community.