Watch me get sick as I cover the Oculus Rift version of Museum of the Microstar, a narrative-driven experience made by RUST.
Oculus Rift: Museum of the Microstar
Went to my First Thrift Store Today
As an adult, anyway. No, this trip was not influenced by Macklemore. I think.
I do a lot of background acting in North Carolina (you can see me in We're the Millers, Revolution, Under the Dome, etc.), and, as a background actor, you're often expected to bring your own wardrobe. The more options you have, the better. You generally can't have anything too bright or with logos/images, and, in my case, that greatly limits what I can bring. I often have to take my brother's clothes, so I've been slowly building up a new wardrobe for myself, primarily for background work, but also because I've been wanting to change up my style anyway.
Sorry, Giant Bomb Emporium, but your shirts are too flashy.
I read a post on Facebook about one background actor who makes a trip to a thrift store every week or so, limiting themselves to spending $1. That sounded like a great way to quickly build up my new clothing collection, so, for the first time, I dropped by my local shop that I've passed numerous times over the past couple of years. I donated four pairs of pants my brother gave me as the logos were too big for me to wear on set and then went to the back to browse. I came away with two pairs of pants for $1 and a like-new garment bag (along with the two hangers and U.S. Army garrison cap inside) for $3, making for $4 total. Not bad! I've been badly needing a proper garment bag as my clothes would often wrinkle on the two to three-hour drives I often have to take to set, and carrying them around was always a hassle. I suspect I got a better deal because of the pants I donated as she originally wasn't going to charge me for the clothing. I didn't feel right about that and told her to charge me what she thought was fair.
The store also had a PlayStation and PlayStation 2 I briefly considered picking up, but they didn't have any cables or controllers. There were also some older games, like SSX Tricky for the Xbox. As I drove away, I fantasized about what it would have been like to find a fully working Dreamcast and a copy of Shenmue. I wouldn't be writing this right now, that's for sure!
Now that I have my garrison cap, it's time to hit up the Casual Encounters section of Craigslist and pick up women looking for military guys. I should probably shave first, right?
My default Casual Encounters face. Works every time.
Oculus Rift: ParrotCoaster Demo
Take a quick ride with me as I check out Jeff Murray's latest ParrotCoaster demo using the Oculus Rift. Jeff Murray is the owner of PsychicParrot Games, who you may be most familiar with as the makers of Death Ray Manta. Shuhei Yoshida, President of Worldwide Studios for Sony Computer Entertainment, made a #DRMPSVita joke on Twitter when announcing the game was coming to the platform in the midst of the #PS4NoDRM campaign.
Oculus Rift: Infinite-Realities' 3D Nude Scan of Joceline Brooke-Hamilton
Disclaimer: This video features a high-quality, 3D scan of a fully nude woman.
Lee Perry-Smith (director at Infinite-Realities) has released another Oculus Rift demo containing a 3D scan of Joceline Brooke-Hamilton. This time, fully nude, the scan of Joceline is repeated five times, each model featuring a different type of shader. From left to right you have: Polymimetic Alloy (T-1000), Massage Oil! (I called it "Massage Oili" in the video as I couldn't discern the exclamation point with the low-resolution of the Oculus Rift), Powdered Skin, Linear-Polarized, and Metalized.
Here is the first video featuring a different scan of Joceline Brooke-Hamilton in which I go into more detail about the technology and its future possibilities.
More Fun Wi-Fi Names
I was at Fort Bragg (North Carolina) this morning and came across these Wi-Fi access points. The first one is my favorite. For those who don't understand the reference, just look up Antoine Dodson.
The third one is just gross. Don't look up creampies while at work if you don't know what they are.
Delicious.
Oculus Rift: Infinite-Realities' 3D Scan of Joceline Brooke-Hamilton
Lee Perry-Smith, director at Infinite-Realities, took a high-quality 3D scan his company did of Joceline Brooke-Hamilton and created a demo in Unity for viewing with the Oculus Rift. I go into detail about his company's work, do a close examination of the 3D model, and talk about the inevitable future that 3D scanning and virtual reality is headed toward. Open Broadcaster Software wasn't allowing me to do a 1080p capture of the demo while using the Oculus Rift, so I included additional footage at the end of me capturing the demo from my monitor (while holding the Oculus Rift in my hand) so you can see just how high-quality the 3D model actually is.
Wubby's (NeoGAF) review of Custom Maid 3D, a game that supports the Oculus Rift and comes with a controller for your penis.
Oculus Rift: Tuscany Demo 2.0
It's been a while since I used the Oculus Rift, so to ease myself back into things, I decided to check out the updated Tuscany demo.
The Culture War
Years ago, I saw a forum post that contained an excerpt of the following article. After searching, I found the article was written by Tom Standage over at Wired.com back in April of 2006. The article is archived on their site and the formatting is kind of wonky, so I've included it in full here. It's funny how people never seem to learn from the past.
"US senator Charles Schumer says some videogames aimed at kids "desensitize them to death and destruction." But dire pronouncements about new forms of entertainment are old hat. It goes like this: Young people embrace an activity. Adults condemn it. The kids grow up, no better or worse than their elders, and the moral panic subsides. Then the whole cycle starts over. Here's how the establishment has greeted past scourges.
Novels
"The free access which many young people have to romances, novels, and plays has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth; and prevented others from improving their minds in useful knowledge. Parents take care to feed their children with wholesome diet; and yet how unconcerned about the provision for the mind, whether they are furnished with salutary food, or with trash, chaff, or poison?"
- Reverend Enos Hitchcock, Memoirs of the Bloomsgrove Family, 1790
The Waltz
"The indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was introduced ... at the English Court on Friday last ... It is quite sufficient to cast one's eyes on the voluptuous intertwining of the limbs, and close compressure of the bodies ... to see that it is far indeed removed from the modest reserve which has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is ... forced on the respectable classes of society by the evil example of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so fatal a contagion."
- The Times of London, 1816
Movies
"This new form of entertainment has gone far to blast maidenhood ... Depraved adults with candies and pennies beguile children with the inevitable result. The Society has prosecuted many for leading girls astray through these picture shows, but GOD alone knows how many are leading dissolute lives begun at the 'moving pictures.'"
- The Annual Report of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 1909
The Telephone
"Does the telephone make men more active or more lazy? Does [it] break up home life and the old practice of visiting friends?"
- Survey conducted by the Knights of Columbus Adult Education Committee, San Francisco Bay Area, 1926
Comic Books
"Many adults think that the crimes described in comic books are so far removed from the child's life that for children they are merely something imaginative or fantastic. But we have found this to be a great error. Comic books and life are connected. A bank robbery is easily translated into the rifling of a candy store. Delinquencies formerly restricted to adults are increasingly committed by young people and children ... All child drug addicts, and all children drawn into the narcotics traffic as messengers, with whom we have had contact, were inveterate comic-book readers This kind of thing is not good mental nourishment for children!"
- Fredric Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent, 1954
Rock and Roll
"The effect of rock and roll on young people, is to turn them into devil worshippers; to stimulate self-expression through sex; to provoke lawlessness; impair nervous stability and destroy the sanctity of marriage. It is an evil influence on the youth of our country."
- Minister Albert Carter, 1956
Videogames
"The disturbing material in Grand Theft Auto and other games like it is stealing the innocence of our children and it's making the difficult job of being a parent even harder ... I believe that the ability of our children to access pornographic and outrageously violent material on video games rated for adults is spiraling out of control."
- US senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2005
Oculus Rift and Razer Hydra: Sixense Tuscany Demo Highlights
This is a highlight reel of my previous video that covered the Sixense Tuscany Demo using the Oculus Rift and Razer Hydra. Don't pump up your volume to hear me talk! My audio levels were off and I added subtitles.
And I'm aware that you can't use both hands to grasp an object, but it felt wrong not to do it with the larger ones.
Download the Sixense Tuscany Demo.
My Neighbors Are Trying Too Hard
I was fixing my wireless router and saw this when setting up the Wi-Fi on my new HTC One. I think my neighbors are trying a little too hard.