Artwork Displayed in Unusual Places

Joyce Boncal wrote this exclusive article for us.

Artwork Displayed in Unusual Places

If you’re young, budding artist, hoping to be discovered, where can you display your artwork? There is always your own web page but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you can afford to advertise that web page. This very web environment, ManuelMarino.com, is a good starting place. You might try your local library. Some libraries show works of art by local artists but are sure to ask if they also sell artwork on commission.

Also consider entering your work at a country fair or displaying your work in offices and restaurants. Contact your area art league for their ideas about local opportunities. If you’re a student at a college, most have yearly art shows. Then there are craft consignment shops selling everything from jewelry to framed photographs.

How about a local laundromat? Wait, before you laugh, think of the high volume of traffic a laundromat gets. I’m thinking of a local laundromat that is a cafe, laundry center, and entertainment hub called Spin Cycle Cafe Laundromat in Newington, CT. In addition to people coming in to do laundry, you have people coming in to eat, people coming in to watch a movie, etc. all the while your painting, photograph, or sketch is hanging on the wall for all the world to see.

At Spin Cycle, on the wall, are several paintings and pieces of art. One captivating piece of work was created by an artist named Lindsey Behrens. It’s a silkscreen piece of artwork where she used two different woodcuts to get the desired effect. The background is the earth as seen from outerspace and the foreground is a caveman in a flying saucer flying over the earth. There is something mesmerizing about this piece of artwork so I wasn’t surprised when I learned that it sold for $210.00.

I called Lindsey to learn about her art education. She studied art in college and gets her art inspiration from her young son and the outdoor environment around her. She heard about displaying artwork at Spin Cyle simply by word of mouth. She recommends young artists try to display their work at art shows, frame shops, galleries, art events, and, of course laundromats.

You just never know where your art talent might be discovered.

Posted in Arts, Ideas | No Comments »

Music-Emotion Driven Game Engine

Dr. Roberto Dillon has written this article about his Music-Emotion Driven Game Engine. I think this idea to really have potential.

Music-Emotion Driven Game Engine

In the fast developing world of videogames, sound has traditionally played a less important role than other features, such as graphics. Nonetheless, recently, due to the latest technological advances, both developers and audiences alike have understood how much sound and music can do to enhance gaming experiences and increase the overall realism and emotional impact of virtual worlds.

Today, many music games are being released with great acclaim on different formats but many of these games tend to be in the rhythm/action category where the player is actually “reacting” to music while a real and natural “interaction” with this medium is still lacking.

This aspect is currently being addressed by a team of researchers and developers at Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore, led by Italian computer engineer Dr. Roberto Dillon, with a project codenamed M-EDGE (”Music-Emotion Driven Game Engine”) which is fully supported by the National Research Foundation of Singapore.

The underlying idea of the project is to assess and further investigate music related cognitive science topics and integrate the results into games by designing and developing an interactive and emotionally-aware musical game engine that enables players to experiment with a completely new gaming interface.

In fact, by using this engine as a development tool, game developers will be able to build content on top of it where players are not limited to control their actions in the virtual world by using standard interfaces, like a mouse or keyboard, but also to directly affect the game progress by expressing emotional content through the playing of a real musical instrument.

To accomplish this, M-EDGE will be developed to recognize different basic emotions (like happiness, sadness and anger) as expressed by players in their musical playing on an instrument of their choice like flute, guitar, violin or drums.

This information can then be used to control the game accordingly by allowing the player’s in-game character to perform particular tasks or by developing the game story in particular directions. For example, one of the games currently being designed by Dr. Dillon to test the system capabilities is based on the well known legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. In the game the player will impersonate the Piper himself by actually playing a flute and go through the storyline, including its multiple endings as described by different versions of the original legend, according to the emotions he will be able to express through his very own playing and hence decide the fate of Hamelin young people.

Obviously, this kind of games would be a great tool for players who have previous musical knowledge and know how to play a musical instrument, nonetheless special attention will also be dedicated to give a chance of successful playing to people who never played music before. This will be achieved by allowing prospective players to experiment with simple percussive instruments so as to give a chance and an incentive to get into the fascinating world of music making through games to as many people as possible.

The Singaporean team believes the concept of an emotion-based music game engine like this would represent a leap forward within the music games genre and could also have a strong potential for commercial exploitations, besides having a valuable educational side. In fact, as suggested, it will actually encourage people to learn and practice music through a challenging and fun tool where all players, from beginners to professionals, will be given a chance to freely express themselves through music, something no other game has ever done before.

Besides these, more serious and medical applications could also be possible: the final framework could, in fact, be a valuable tool in assisting emotionally impaired people to practice and experiment with their feelings under supervision of a physician/psychologist.

The project, though still in its early stages, is raising a good interest in the gaming community and has already been presented at the Game Convention Asia Conference in Singapore last September. For those interested, slides of the presentation can be downloaded from Dr. Dillon’s website.

Posted in Arts, Games, Ideas | 2 Comments »

The Power of Ideas (Part Two)

This is the Part Two of the powerful article by Deremiah. (Part One)

RELATIONSHIPS INFLUENCE THE POWER OF YOUR IDEAS…

Brian Tracy who has done a lot of research to compile the information in his wonderful book “CREATE YOUR OWN FUTURE” expresses in Chapter 7, page 115 that Relationships Are Essential toward the development of your future. The Power of Ideas are improved by the friendships we develop and nurture. Most people underestimate how their friends impact the direction they are going and will continue to go in as a result of the company they choose. Sometimes you have to realign yourself with new partnerships in business, new personal and business relationships just to place yourself in a more positively influential environment with others who have the same values that you do. When you begin to hang out, spend time talking with people who reflect the kinds of attitudes that uplift you. It’s just as important to get yourself moving in the right direction as it is to get an electric current to the right appliance or device you’re trying to power. Like electric current powerful ideas have to be directed. It’s very important that if we want to be successful business people that we need to hang out with other successful business people. If you want to be elevating the level of the power of your ideas you need to begin to elevate your level of friendships. Edward Bernays said it best in his book called “Propaganda” where he references many times that a large volume of our society is often being governed by a small handful of influential people. So who are the small influential players in your commiunity? How could you influence the relationships you desire to have in the art world, the music world, or the business world that governs a great deal of the future direction of those industries? Finally how can you gain recognition and be known as one of the Kings or Queens of your industry?

ELECTRICITY AND THE POWER OF IDEAS BOTH OPERATE IN STREAMS…

Real electric power moves in streams we call currents. Those currents flow in the direction we aim them in. Now the Power of Ideas works the same way. The more powerful the idea the more others join in to move along with the flow of our stream. So it becomes very important that others know that the ideas that we have are electric. The sooner others find out and hear or see the impact that our elecritc current has the better it is for us and the sooner they can jump into the stream and add to the flow of the current. When an idea doesn’t have a charge it will fail to add it’s electricity to the atmosphere. It’s like the creative atmosphere of our house when I was a child was conducive for bringing about more artistic gifts because the atmosphere was charged with a certain current for the arts. How can you charge the atmosphere of your home or your job to create the type of electricity that gives your ideas the power to channel themselves into a boisterous stream that grows?

WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW TO INFLUENCE THE POWER OF YOUR IDEAS.

I have over 21 things you can do to unleash the “Power of Ideas” but I’ll give you 4 today that will free you up to live more creatively right now. If you’d like to get 3 more Free ideas shoot me an email at deremiahcpe@gmail.com . And the first 20 people to respond who use the headline “More Power of Ideas for me, Deremiah *CPE” and give me their name and mailing address I’ll give you a Free opportunity to coach you via email (which means I’ll respond to no more than 7 of your emails…working toward helping you to solve the problem). Here are the four I said I would share with you right now.
1.) Make a list of 7 people you’d like to meet and then get on the internet and get to introducing yourself.
2.) Get a journal today and start using your journal like a Fishing Net to capture all the ideas you’re loosing.
3.) Turn your TV off for the next 30 days and dedicate your TV time to making one or more goals develop.
4.) Get a pack of 25 Thank you cards and force yourself to Thank at least 5 people everyday.

Posted in Business, Culture, Ideas | 1 Comment »

The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting

Today we interview Robert Benson, who wrote the ebook called “The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting“.

MM: Robert, when did you have the idea to write a book about Vinyl Record Collecting? It is an unusual (but also very fascinating) topic.

RB: The ebook started out as a five page “report” about the subject and just grew from there. There is so much detail that is involved in collecting vinyl, and I just wanted to cover the topic in the best way possible, hence the ebook. And, I have made it very affordable at $4.99 a copy and certainly am not getting rich selling it, but rather I get a keen sense of satisfaction in detailing and explaining the hobby to others. But, the beauty of a digital product like this is that I can add information, interviews and updated material anytime, in fact just six months ago the ebook was at 40 pages, it is now over 70 pages. I wanted to delve into why people collect, the thrill and passion, that not only do I get from collecting, but what other collectors and dealers feel about the hobby. I have over 10,000 records and love adding to my collection, the thrill of the hunt is special to me (and as I found out, to others as well). I do not sell my records, rather, I think that they will be passed on to my family and continue to appreciate in value.

Many people argue about Vinyl and the “old good quality”, are they right? We lost something with digital media?

Oh, yes, there is a “sound fingerprint” that is lost when music is “compressed” into digital format. I call it “binary sound” and the human ear hears music in analogue sound and that is why music on vinyl sounds so much better. In fact, ask any musician (many of who are vinyl record collectors) and they can tell you what compressing the music into digital sound does to the music; that “sound fingerprint” is lost. As for my opinion, music wasn’t meant to be heard as a bunch of 1’s and 0’s compressed together to form the sound, and vinyl records have been around since sound reproduction began; and quite frankly, aren’t going anywhere (remember the reel to reel tapes, eight-tracks and cassettes? vinyl withstood those sound formats for a reason, the sound quality)

What can you tell us about the new media trends and their future?

I had to chuckle when I read about this marketing ploy-they have combined a CD and vinyl into one product. One side is the music in CD format and the other side is a 3 minute vinyl record. Now, I don’t think this is the answer, but I would assume if you can get a hold of one of these, do so, I would think they may be highly collectible once the dust settles.

I have also taken a keen interest in what the band Radiohead has done with their latest release, in fact I have an article on my blog about it.

I am also writing band biographies and reviews about new independent bands for an Internet radio station and I feel that, although a lot of bands still release their product via vinyl or CD, the distribution methods are changing, which to me, is a good thing; a music lover can get to hear so much more music that they may have otherwise not have heard. Many bands are releasing their music independent of the record labels (i.e. Radiohead) and going to MySpace or CD Baby to get their music heard. But, bands will continue to release music on vinyl, because that is what the consumer is looking for.

What about your next projects?

I am currently working on another ebook about “bird” and “animal” names and groups in rock and roll (a daunting task!) and I am having a blast doing this. I also write for www.gemm.com, which is one of the largest vinyl retailers on the Internet (I do band bios and articles). I am also busy working up a couple of more web sites, which I hope to go “live” very soon. I am also involved with a wonderful organization headed by Gary Freiberg called Vinyl Record Day, which helps educate the public about the cultural and social impact that the vinyl record has had on our society. Vinyl Record Day also helps promote and preserve the wonderful art work that has been created throughout the years. I also answer emails that people have about vinyl as well as pursue my fascinating hobby of collecting vinyl records.

On a personal note, I want to thank you for your time and the opportunity to discuss my ebook and hope that you got as much enjoyment out of reading it, as I did putting it all together.

And I thank you, Robert, I wish you big success, your ebook is really charming.

Posted in Arts, Culture, Ideas | 2 Comments »

Dreams are Real Enough

Peter Buckley just sent me this article he wrote for us, and I feel it to be really powerful… read:

Dreams are Real Enough: Notes on Writing and Dreaming

I wish to talk to you about dreams. I will try to resist sentimentality. Dreams are both beautiful and dangerous, and I want to demonstrate how they can be utterly pestilent, as well as a positive force that propels us through life, and writing.

I can discuss dreams with little reference to the “dreamer”, or “myself” – self-importance is futile in my case because I am not one of those “lucid dreamers” who possess the ability to control their dreams. My current project, “Peter and the Hare” requires me to evoke dreams, not entirely to the letter of the original inspiration, but, still, they are not “mine”. To say I “write” dreams would be like saying I lasso clouds. How can I claim ownership of something that only half-exists? And who creates the clouds? Writing for me is a collaborative effort.

The “something” that reveals itself to me in my writing is not particularly mysterious. It is always the same thing I am chasing, and that it remains a “something” hardly matters, as long as I have the desire and energy to chase it.

What I hope to produce is a body of work akin to a body of a centipede. This strange insect constantly grows extra legs and on those legs, more legs and more, more, more, until it dies or I do. Just to confuse things, the legs might not always be those of a centipede.

It is important for dreams to run free, yet to capture them we must impose rules, or make compromises. The most skilled writers can capture the energy of the original ‘dream’ while making it easy-to-read and accessible to others. You are writing with your readers, not against them. This is what I occasionally (and sometimes deliberately) forget…that centipede thing? What was that about?!?

“Peter and the Hare” is very experimental; please do not assume that I know what I am doing. The stories on my site are more like impressions, and it is up to the reader what impact they are allowed to make. The overall effect is anarchy. It’s a playground, but one I take seriously. It’s also just a place I put my stuff.

The fact that it’s a weblog affects the content. The internet is insane, uncontrollable – it can make us more intelligent or more ignorant. It can broaden our horizons, or expose us to unhelpful ideas. It feeds us this exhilarating white-noise. I’m hoping “The Hare” will confuse, shock, and entertain in equal measure – just as dreams do, and the internet itself is a dream.

If my blog is about anything, (and I want it to go anywhere, and be “…about anything”) it’s reality. So in an article about dreams, I should say something about reality. But reality can not necessarily be singled out as a “thing” separate from dreams. And dreams are real enough.

The whimsicality of dreaming can be seen in my work’s humorous elements. Laughing is better than crying, they say, and I laugh a lot. I’m not sure what “their” stance is on doing both at the same time, so I’ll assume that’s ok too.

I’ll reproduce some of my poem, Bubble, here - one of my worst poems (!) but it might at least demonstrate a point. The full text is here:

“When you live inside a bubble
the archway of the stars
becomes the pattern of the ceiling.

The edges of each table-leg
are softened with used teabags
that stain the carpet mahogany brown,
and the stain lingers perpetually.

This character is trapped in a dream. Is he fortunate, or is he to be pitied? The most un-clichéd answer is “neither”, but even that’s been worn-out.

Dreaming = escape, and this is wonderful. But it can also take its toll. Firstly, it demands dedication – the dream will always demand “completion”. My characters often seem blinded by their dreams. “The Hare” is the most habitual dreamer – he can hop from world to world, and doesn’t seem troubled by this destiny. Conversely, there is Dmitri, a comedy-Russian stereotype I have a lot of fun with. Dmitri is a realist who has seen too much to dream. He dislikes dreamers. In the middle of this are a cast of anonymous people, who stage dreamlike conversations. It’s not clear when or where they are happening, and it doesn’t matter. What emerges from conversations such as “It Takes a Train to Laugh…” and “In England, We Say Toilet…” is the pain of dreaming; dreaming breeds loneliness, delusion, an inability, (even unwillingness) to communicate. Perhaps I feel guilty about dreaming and about creating, for as long as we each build our own castles, there will be wars.

“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can play together all night.” - Bill Watterson

But we can deal with dreams in two ways – they’re both disposable and essential, because things can be simultaneously insightful and very, very silly. These “in-flight movies” can teach us to wander through life with a sense of humour. Confusion need not be a source of angst, but something to be embraced; a coping strategy that gives us hope.

Posted in Arts, Culture, Ideas | 1 Comment »

The Power of Ideas (Part One)

Like the power of electricity your Ideas have greater impact when they rapidly flow in concentrated streams of thought. You’ll find this and more in the article wrote by Deremiah, exclusively for ManuelMarino.com . Deremiah *CPE (Customer Passion Evangelist), is the winner of the 2004 Nightingale-Conant Acres of Diamonds Award and one of the top marketing experts on MarketingProfs.com. Deremiah (www.byderemiah.com) writes extensively on marketing and business communications. Learn more about Deremiah and his easy to read smart book, 52 Great Weeks: how to quickly develop unforgettable, inspirational service when you don’t have time. Contact him at deremiahcpe@gmail.com.

And now… the article:

The Power of Ideas (Part One)

Although I’ve been drawing most of my life I can only really remember having the ability to control this talent somewhere around 4 years old. By the time I turned five I got a hold of an oil Paint by Number set. It was one of those cheap simulated board canvases with numbers that matched the numbers on the small plastic oil paint containers and they came with a few red enamel paint brushes. My mom who was very creative used these paint by number kits to paint pictures for the walls in the duplex we lived in. She often did these kinds of things along with sewing clothes. In between all this she’d drive out to the military base to create these ceramic roosters and salt & pepper shakers she used to make. Every now and then she’d take me along. There were very large multiple rooms like a cafeteria style set up and most of the attendees were military housewives. In one area they’d create the ceramic figures, in another they’d paint the figurines and in the last room is where they’d fire the objects that were painted in these ovens they called kilns. We were living in Fairbanks Alaska at the time because my dad was stationed there in the U.S. Army. During this time my father had an amazing collection of music and he used to love to sing in his spare time. But occasionally I would find him at the kitchen table doing a few figure drawings of people. My dad was very good at drawing full figure images of people and it was during this time that I began to recognize that I too had the gift to draw and the power to control my ideas. In this kind of environment burgeoning with creativity is where I uncovered multiple gifts. This is also where I experienced the beginning of my discovery of how diverse gifts influence one another and spring forth through the power of ideas.

THE OUTER WORLD CREATES ENVIRONMENTS FOR THE INNER WORLD…

It is easy for most people to see how we are shaped by the environments of our communities. Having lived in 13 cities here in the US and two cities in Germany and being a teacher of history I see very clearly how environments affect everything. We are all shaped by the geographical land masses, oceans and climates of the environments we live in. Those things alone dictate everything from what kind of clothes we were, which trickles down to how we look, what kinds of crops we grow, the things we manufacture, what we eat and even how we speak. But it doesn’t end there we are influenced by cultures, religions and the races of people and these things likewise affect everything I named above. However beyond those basic influences of culture, religion and races and our environment there are other things that also affect how we think and eventually how we behave. And with all these outer influences shaping and affecting who we become it is so easy to forget that there is an inner world of influence…a world of thoughts and ideas that eventually have more impact upon who we become than all the changes in weather put together could ever have upon us. It is here in the environment of our inner-hemispheres that we have the greatest control upon our present condition when we use the power of ideas to fuel our successes.

IF YOUR IDEAS ARE POWERFUL THEY’RE INFLUENCING THE WORLD…

Are your ideas influencing the world? Shoot me an email at deremiahcpe@gmail.com and share with me how your ideas are influencing the world. Think about it! It was the power of ideas that brought your parents together. And the power of their ideas that influenced the future of the world’s collective ideas when you were consumated and birthed into this planet. Every member of the world is a part of the collective governing body of our world, our countries, our cities and our communities through the power of ideas. From Steve Jobs release of the iphone to CNN’s release of the news everyone is influencing the power of ideas. Every person within this creation we call earth has the complete authority to change the future direction of this world through the ideas they release. Whether their ideas are productive or unproductive they still have influence. Like the butterflies in China can impact the weather in Italy we have the ability to affect the future climate of ideas. But the kind of effects that we desire to have must be considered before we take action. Often times our ideas are creating environments for us that are not strong enough to resonate the kind of powerful influence we want them to have. If you desire to really use the power of ideas to work in your benefit remember that powerful ideas have a life force that is very influential. So don’t you want to start thinking about choosing the kind of ideas that could really influence the world? (Part Two)

Posted in Business, Culture, Ideas | No Comments »

Reinventing oneself in journalism

Christian Toto is a Denver-based freelance reporter specializing in arts reporting.

He can be heard on three US radio stations, as well as occasionally on “The Dennis Miller Show,” which airs across the country.

He got his first byline as a young boy with his hometown newspaper. He reviewed “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and the paper misspelled his name.

Howard Stern, the radio bad boy, once read one of his columns on the air.

This is his story.

This isn’t exactly the best time to reinvent oneself in journalism. If newspapers aren’t dying, they’re very sick and doctors aren’t sure what to prescribe.
That didn’t stop me from quitting my job at a metropolitan newspaper and traveling across the country for the chance to start a family and buy an affordable home.
Priorities are priorities, but I feared giving up doing what I love for a living - writing movie reviews and entertainment features.
Thanks to the Web and some creative thinking, that hasn’t happened - yet.
Since moving to Colorado I’ve been able to continue my movie reviews but in a freelance capacity. The adjustment to being my own boss has been enlightening. My commute entails shuffling from the bedroom to my office, with no reason to check shadow traffic reports for fender benders or overturned trailers.
Nice.
But the amount of rejection I face each day makes me long for the security of a regular gig.
That’s where the Internet came in. I decided to create my own Web site, attempt to brand myself and see where that might take me. I know less than zero about HTML - heck, I didn’t know it was now referred to as XHTML, and I had never heard about CSS either.
For starters, I decided to leverage my last name, Toto, as something that sets me apart from the competition. Thus www.whatwouldtotowatch.com was born. Silly? Perhaps. But after decades of “Wizard of Oz” ribbing, that name had to start paying dividends.
I began the site on a blogger platform, but I soon changed it to have my own domain name.
But boy, was the site genetic.
It took me weeks of poring over a comprehensive XHTML starter book to learn how to tweak the site and add some usable content.
That learning curve remains steep, and my site still needs a considerable amount of work. But web design wasn’t the only area where I needed to stretch my brain. Marketing my Web site required another skill set I lacked. The Web actually helped me out here, and with a few google searches I found a number of ways to spread the news about my new site.
Today, www.whatwouldtotowatch.com receives a modest amount of visitors, and every time I pitch a story I direct the editor to my home on the Web for further details. Blogging on a daily basis also makes me a sharper writer, or at least one who can pound out paragraphs at a steady clip.
That efficiency will serve me well someday, I bet.
In a year, I might be writing press releases for some faceless think tank, or correcting grammatical errors for a local company’s human resource division. I’ll probably double my salary in the process, but if I juggle my web efforts just right I can avoid that fate.

Posted in Arts, Business, Ideas | 1 Comment »

Creating games, a beautiful Art

Andrea Angiolino was born the 27th of April, 1966 in Rome, the city where he still lives. He published many boardgames and books about games, besides developing games for every media. His works appeared in more than a dozen of languages including Korean, Czech and Maltese. He is a game journalist on national magazines, newspapers, radio broadcasts The Italian School and Education Ministry named him “Expert game author”, while the Lucca Comics and Games show gave him the first “Best of Show” prize for lifetime achievements. More info are on his personal site. Here’s what he wrote for our Weblog, about creating games and about his career:

I am what it’s usually called in English a “game designer”, but I prefer “game author” instead. Essentially, I invent games: their rules, their settings, their mechanics.
I love this. It is both a sort of artistic activity and my full time job. Italy is not so a big market for authors of boardgames or role-playing games: so I do every other sort of games for work. It does not matter so much if they are boardgames, card games, role-playing games, tv games, computer games or gambling games for the Italian state: my role is to create them, and sometime to be their editor or translator. I also write articles and books about games: I am at the same time a creative, a historian and a critic. These roles help each other a lot, making me a far more conscious game designer and journalist. Anyway, apart from puzzles and word games (our traditional “enigmistica”) for magazines, the ones where I feel more “author” are boardgames, card games and role-playing games.
A game is a little world with a simplified set of laws, the rules, that its inhabitants, the players, learn and try to master. The author is the God of these worlds. There are abstract boardgames, like - let’s say - draughts, that are like a mathematical model of a little universe. Some of them are very simple. I like “steamlined” and effective games. One of my best-sellers is a book about paper-and-pencil games: very few rules, very simple materials and very intriguing tactics and strategies. Making a simple, original and intriguing game is a difficult exercise for an author: but together with some of our Renaissance artistic geniuses I think that the real art is in taking away, not in adding.
Anyway I prefer games with a setting, as chess, Monopoly or Clue. The stronger the atmosphere is, the more they look “literary” rather than “mathematical”. I am more used to designing boardgames that tell stories - I find them more involving than abstract games. ‘Madame Bovary, c’est moi,’ said Gustave Flaubert, and I could say ‘Lothar von Richthofen, it’s me!’ if I think to my games about the aces of the first world war. Several of my boardgames are actually just a different way rewriting the story of Ulysses or of telling dark stories of medieval struggles between rising feuds. “Obscura Tempora”, a card games of mine with this last setting, appeared with a short story about a viking raid on the rulebook, and that’s not by chance: the game and the story come from the same suggestions, share the same inspiration, tell the same tale in two different ways.
Sometimes my games are not novels but essays: I design games for teaching, advertising, promotion and such. The last one, “Fair Play”, has ben asked me by Pangea - Niente Troppo, an Italian fair trade organization: they wanted a game that could help to explain all the travel that the cotton does from a seed in a remote field to the T-shirt you are wearing, explaining how we could have have a less polluting and fairer process. In this case I start from the setting and even the message that the game has to bring to players. When I design a game for the fun of it, usually aimed to the generic market of players, I can do the same or just the opposite: I may think about a boardgame with a pawn moved by all the players, instead than one pawn each as in traditional games, and then wonder what - or who - that pawn can be. Maybe Odysseus in the hands of the Gods? Then other rules and detaiuls of the setting are a natural consequence of that choice. This is how the boardgame Ulysses was born.
In these years, there are two main styles in boardgame design. Oversimplifying, the German school has quite abstract games: original mechanics and linear rules with nothing useless. Even if they have a setting, as they often do, it is somehow “pasted on” the rules: There is no strict connection between the setting and the rule system. This is a logical and mathematical approach to game design. The opposite school, quite more “literary” and historical, is the so called American style: plenty of rules to give a detailed simulation of the subject of the game, often coming with plenty of miniatures and gadgets to thrill the kid in everyone of us. But I feel I am part of an “Italian style” instead: a simple frame of rules but strictly connected with the setting, so that everything you do in the game tends to give you the feeling to live in the simulated world. Being able to do that with a “steamlined” rulebook is actually the big challenge.
What I also love of boardgames is that they are a open creative process. Many players of my last card game “Wings of War” share new rules, new scenarios, new game materials all over the net. This help me and my co-author Pier Giorgio to develope new releases in the series. The fans also founded a web discussion group, to exchange opinions and additional stuff for this very game - it has just reached one thousand members. To my eyes this, in the end, is a measure of success greater than just the amount of copies sold or the number of foreign publishers that translated the game into their languages: when so many people decide that my game is their game and put their energies in it, it really means that my lonely work in front of my computer is worth the time spent on it.

Posted in Arts, Games, People | No Comments »

The “multiformis” director

Today we interview Jaques Smit, an incredible man. Just read all his current positions: Managing Director at MindNova Advertising Pty (Ltd), Marketing Director at Inland Kitesurfing Pty (Ltd), CEO at Avonstorm Entertainment, Producer at Avonstorm Pictures Pty (Ltd), Technical Director at Blo-Tant Pty (Ltd).

Here is the interview and I initially ask about Cereal, his new project/show:

MM: “Cereal is the perfect example of how an Idea can be developed despite the obstacles, can you explain briefly what is Cereal?”

JS: “The title “Cereal” is a play on words as the show is a pseudo-parody of the serials of old. Serials were the old fashioned, Saturday afternoon cliffhanger matinees, complete with dashing heroes, damsels in distress and fiendish villains… Not to mention the ol’ ‘conquer the universe’ plot motif.
Instead of trying to remake the classics of old, “Cereal” uses footage from original television shows; kicking off the first half of the first season is “Radar Men from the Moon!”
“Cereal” does follow a coherent plot and does feature reappearing characters as a regular show would, but the visuals are all that remain from the originals. The sound effects, music and voices are rerecorded and rewritten by the actors and creators behind “Cereal” to create an offbeat blend of old and new and produces hysterical results in doing so.
Cereal is aimed at a broad audience and sets out to create a get away from every day stresses. The show is runs with the plot of commander Cody that must save the world form strange aliens that are destroying the railroad lines for some unforeseen evil intent (revealed in episode 5 ;-P). Commander Cody and his heroic band of miss fits light up the show with witty comments and questionable lines.
The first episode “A sale at Penny’s” introduces the hero’s to the audience and sets the mood for the under lying joke that will run throughout the first season.”

MM: “I know you encountered obstacles…”

JS: “Creating the series was easy as it came natural to the well trained staff we had at our disposal. But upon completion of the pilot episode the next step was the hardest. Finding a TV station willing to broadcast something as revolutionary as Cereal. We approached all the large stations we could get a hold of and after being kept waiting on answers for excessive periods of time we finally decided to use the Web as a broadcasting platform instead.”

MM: “So the show runs online like web series. Are you having success?”

JS: “We started posting the series on the web one week ago with no advertisement backing other than word of mouth. The results have been astonishing. We went from ten friends viewing the show to give us support to an average one hundred viewers a day within a seven day period. We have received raving reviews from fans that have started quoting the show in every day conversations.

Our next step was to start searching for sponsoring companies willing to advertize on the site in order for us to keep developing the show. Our first sponsor came from the faithful directors on one of my other companies called Inland Kitesurfing. We are still searching for more sponsors but thanks to our fantastic fans we will have no problem there at all.”

MM: “What are your next projects?”

JS: “Avonstorm Entertainment is a group of young entrepreneurs that have come together to make their dreams a reality. Our first two projects were Avonstorm Gaming and Avonstorm Motion Pictures. As Avonstorm Gaming we are launching our first MMO-Cell phone game in January 2008 called Wappet.
As for Avonstorm Motion Pictures, we have been working on another more conventional television series that we are trying to raise funds for. In the true spirit of our organization we will stick to great comedy as we send two forgetful Hungarian spy’s into a suburban community to complete a mission they have forgot about in a land they know nothing of. The preliminary scripts are hilarious and are living up to all the ideals we set out to meet.”

Thank you, sir, what else to say?

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Why Music, Arts, People, Ideas?

Music and Arts, People and Ideas.

What links all these words together? It’s not difficult. But first let’s begin studying the term “artist”. It means “One, such as a painter, sculptor, or writer, who is able by virtue of imagination and talent or skill to create works of aesthetic value”, but also “A person whose work shows exceptional creative ability or skill”.

If we agree that whenever we have exceptional ideas and we are able to create from them a work of aesthetic value we can be considered “artists” then you know what links all those words together: creativity, the ability or power to create.

And on these pages you’ll read about Arts in general, and much about Music (my world), about Ideas and People who had them and created through them… and about You, yes about You, reader, because maybe you don’t know, but there’s an Artist somewhere, think about it… somewhere inside yourself.

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