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| "I think I have a solution!" |
02 August 2013
26 July 2013
Why are things creepy
Yesterday's post and the creepy countdown videos in the Pronunciation book Youtube channel, reminded me of another video I watched recently: Why are things creepy?
If you're interested in a logic, fast-paced and charming analysis of the topic, I suggest you watch the video (and all the other videos on Vsauce channel for that matter! They're all brilliant). Don't worry, the rest of the video is not as creepy as the thumbnail... most of it, at least.
So what makes things creepy is the fact we can't explain why they (kind of( scare us or what looks odd about them.
There's nothing shiver inducing about a video with a black number on a white screen, but the fact a mysterious someone is telling us that something is going to happen is creepy, because we don't know who, we don't why... we don't get the context of it all. We know it's not a countdown to the end of the world (... right?), and yet we would feel more safe if only we know what was happening exactly.
Creepy things both scare me and fascinate me greatly. Maybe it's their nature.
In the above mentioned video, what caught my eye the most is the singing android. The video is more hilarious than creepy (what's with those random nature shoots?!)... but again, try to watch it all alone in the silence of the night. Believe me, it's not the last thing you want to see before going to sleep.
What fascinates me the most though it's not the android itself, but the person behind it. This person has decided to spend time and money (lots of money, the mechanical parts cost quite a lot) to build this thing. He/she has the the right knowledge to build this thing. Then this person decided to make an artistic (?) video with his android... singing. Why he decided to make it sing in the first place? Is that voice computer generated or just recorded from someone? Last but not least, how this person sleep in the same house of that thing?! (sorry android to call you thing, I'm sure you're going to have a soul too... like, in a couple of years. Don't kill me!)
By the way, I obviously can see the potential of human-like androids in the future, but they're also one of the thoughts that scares me the most. I guess I just watched too many tv series where it didn't end up very well.
(I still want that Cylon toaster gadget by the way)
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| The video original thumbnail. Creepy? I'd say quite so. |
If you're interested in a logic, fast-paced and charming analysis of the topic, I suggest you watch the video (and all the other videos on Vsauce channel for that matter! They're all brilliant). Don't worry, the rest of the video is not as creepy as the thumbnail... most of it, at least.
So what makes things creepy is the fact we can't explain why they (kind of( scare us or what looks odd about them.
There's nothing shiver inducing about a video with a black number on a white screen, but the fact a mysterious someone is telling us that something is going to happen is creepy, because we don't know who, we don't why... we don't get the context of it all. We know it's not a countdown to the end of the world (... right?), and yet we would feel more safe if only we know what was happening exactly.
Creepy things both scare me and fascinate me greatly. Maybe it's their nature.
In the above mentioned video, what caught my eye the most is the singing android. The video is more hilarious than creepy (what's with those random nature shoots?!)... but again, try to watch it all alone in the silence of the night. Believe me, it's not the last thing you want to see before going to sleep.
What fascinates me the most though it's not the android itself, but the person behind it. This person has decided to spend time and money (lots of money, the mechanical parts cost quite a lot) to build this thing. He/she has the the right knowledge to build this thing. Then this person decided to make an artistic (?) video with his android... singing. Why he decided to make it sing in the first place? Is that voice computer generated or just recorded from someone? Last but not least, how this person sleep in the same house of that thing?! (sorry android to call you thing, I'm sure you're going to have a soul too... like, in a couple of years. Don't kill me!)
By the way, I obviously can see the potential of human-like androids in the future, but they're also one of the thoughts that scares me the most. I guess I just watched too many tv series where it didn't end up very well.
(I still want that Cylon toaster gadget by the way)
25 July 2013
Something is going to happen in 77 days
You know what I love? The internet.
Sometimes internet debates get a bit crazy, but as long as you don't take it personally (and remember that there are probably more than a few trolls out there), reading comments and replies can be fun.
I enjoy reading everything, from adorable hypothesis such as the recent Jon Negroni's The Pixar Theory, to absurd conspiracy theories about the Illuminati dictating what toys kids get in their Happy Meals (I just made up this one, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone actually wrote something like this before).
The main reason why I can enjoy such a variety of stories is that I don't believe them. Or better, I don't really care to verify how true or untrue they could be. In many cases, I probably couldn't even if I wanted to, so why not enjoying them just for what they are? Aka amazing stories!
What make them interesting is the interaction between the users and how the stories come together thanks to the ideas and suggestions of many different people, in my opinion.
There's a thing on the internet that takes advantage of this mechanism, and it's called ARG, Alternate Reality Games. In the words of wikipedia, ARGs are "interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and uses transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by participants' ideas or actions".
So basically these games are born an idea of a person or an organization that often present the game not_as_a_game, and can be played only in collaboration with others. People discuss puzzles they've solved and share informations they've got about the game, working together to find answers.
To be honest, I felt quite stupid every time I tried to be part of those games, but you know, it's hard to get in the game when it has already started for a while, and I never had the chance to follow one of these games from the beginning. So many infos, so many puzzles already solved, so many characters to remember! But reading about them is fun anyway.
Recently, something strange happened on a Youtube channel called the Pronunciation Book. This channel opened back in April 2010 and since then it posted video regularly.
The content of these video wasn't very sensational until two weeks ago. A male voice taught the viewers the pronunciation of a specific word, following it with random example sentences. Nothing special, right? But it gained its niche of followers even during its first year, and even a parody account.
For three years videos have been posted regularly on this account, and although you could say the example sentences were a bit curious already, no one expect the even stranger countdown that started with a video titled "How to Pronounce 77".
This time, the male voice didn't even said the number, but informed us that something is going to happen in 77 days. Since then, the account has been posting a new video every day, all titled "how to pronounce [number]".
Today is number 61, and by far no theory has been confirmed. But of course, there are quite a lot of theories running around (someone compiled a useful Google Doc, if you want to catch up)!
The most plausible, in my opinion, is that it's a well planned marketing campaign for a new series, game or film. I'm curious to discover what, though.
The Daily Dots, an online magazine, suggested a Battlestar Galactica reboot. The only reason I thought about BSG while listening to the videos is... because I'm watching BSG now, XD;. And because a "Chief" is continuously named, and I was just asking myself the other day if I'll ever remember Chief's real name in BSG, because even his son is going to call him Chief, I'm sure.
Comments on the youtube channel hypothized something related to "The Hunger Games" (which I'm not familiar with), while others talked about various videogames.
My favourite hypothesis, and to be honest I don't even remember where I read it first, it the one than links the channel to Lost. I admit, I was a huge fan of the series, and Lost is not new to this kind of games. The Oceanic Airlines website was probably the first fragment of ARG I ever came in contact with; back then it wasn't linked to Lost as explicitly as it is now.
The youtube channel was opened a couple of months after Lost ended, the randomness of it fits and the graphics too in my opinion.
To be honest I don't see why or how there should be any more Lost (as I said, I say this as a fan!). It's just my favourite theory, except the one that says that in 61 days the things that's gonna happen is... the end of the coundown. Sob.
I'll definitely wait for the 24th of September, not so patiently.
Sometimes internet debates get a bit crazy, but as long as you don't take it personally (and remember that there are probably more than a few trolls out there), reading comments and replies can be fun.
I enjoy reading everything, from adorable hypothesis such as the recent Jon Negroni's The Pixar Theory, to absurd conspiracy theories about the Illuminati dictating what toys kids get in their Happy Meals (I just made up this one, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone actually wrote something like this before).
The main reason why I can enjoy such a variety of stories is that I don't believe them. Or better, I don't really care to verify how true or untrue they could be. In many cases, I probably couldn't even if I wanted to, so why not enjoying them just for what they are? Aka amazing stories!
What make them interesting is the interaction between the users and how the stories come together thanks to the ideas and suggestions of many different people, in my opinion.
There's a thing on the internet that takes advantage of this mechanism, and it's called ARG, Alternate Reality Games. In the words of wikipedia, ARGs are "interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and uses transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by participants' ideas or actions".
So basically these games are born an idea of a person or an organization that often present the game not_as_a_game, and can be played only in collaboration with others. People discuss puzzles they've solved and share informations they've got about the game, working together to find answers.
To be honest, I felt quite stupid every time I tried to be part of those games, but you know, it's hard to get in the game when it has already started for a while, and I never had the chance to follow one of these games from the beginning. So many infos, so many puzzles already solved, so many characters to remember! But reading about them is fun anyway.
Recently, something strange happened on a Youtube channel called the Pronunciation Book. This channel opened back in April 2010 and since then it posted video regularly.
The content of these video wasn't very sensational until two weeks ago. A male voice taught the viewers the pronunciation of a specific word, following it with random example sentences. Nothing special, right? But it gained its niche of followers even during its first year, and even a parody account.
For three years videos have been posted regularly on this account, and although you could say the example sentences were a bit curious already, no one expect the even stranger countdown that started with a video titled "How to Pronounce 77".
This time, the male voice didn't even said the number, but informed us that something is going to happen in 77 days. Since then, the account has been posting a new video every day, all titled "how to pronounce [number]".
Today is number 61, and by far no theory has been confirmed. But of course, there are quite a lot of theories running around (someone compiled a useful Google Doc, if you want to catch up)!
The most plausible, in my opinion, is that it's a well planned marketing campaign for a new series, game or film. I'm curious to discover what, though.
The Daily Dots, an online magazine, suggested a Battlestar Galactica reboot. The only reason I thought about BSG while listening to the videos is... because I'm watching BSG now, XD;. And because a "Chief" is continuously named, and I was just asking myself the other day if I'll ever remember Chief's real name in BSG, because even his son is going to call him Chief, I'm sure.
Comments on the youtube channel hypothized something related to "The Hunger Games" (which I'm not familiar with), while others talked about various videogames.
My favourite hypothesis, and to be honest I don't even remember where I read it first, it the one than links the channel to Lost. I admit, I was a huge fan of the series, and Lost is not new to this kind of games. The Oceanic Airlines website was probably the first fragment of ARG I ever came in contact with; back then it wasn't linked to Lost as explicitly as it is now.
The youtube channel was opened a couple of months after Lost ended, the randomness of it fits and the graphics too in my opinion.
To be honest I don't see why or how there should be any more Lost (as I said, I say this as a fan!). It's just my favourite theory, except the one that says that in 61 days the things that's gonna happen is... the end of the coundown. Sob.
I'll definitely wait for the 24th of September, not so patiently.
24 July 2013
Battlestar Galactica #02
I must admit it. I felt like the second season was getting a bit boring around episode... 14? 15?
I think it's mainly because of my short attention span; I just can't focus on things for too long lately...
But! Just when I lost all hopes (for my attention span, not for the show itself), I got interested again.
Well it was hard not to, with such a series finale. I was a bit exasperated, because why do these people never learn?! But most of all, why do people still trust Gaius Baltar, for f*@# sake! Sigh.
I'm sure season 3 will have a better commentary than this! XD
I think it's mainly because of my short attention span; I just can't focus on things for too long lately...
But! Just when I lost all hopes (for my attention span, not for the show itself), I got interested again.
Well it was hard not to, with such a series finale. I was a bit exasperated, because why do these people never learn?! But most of all, why do people still trust Gaius Baltar, for f*@# sake! Sigh.
I'm sure season 3 will have a better commentary than this! XD
23 July 2013
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