My colleague Barry put together these tasty clips from the 1980s ground-breaking scifi movie "Tron." Barry pulled out every use of the word "rez" in the film to explain why Global Kids named its new social network for virtual world educators "RezEd.org." "Rez" in the Second Life context refers to creating objects in-world, i.e. to…
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“Second Life and the Public Good Community Challenge” : awesome submissions!
I just finished doing a first read-through of the submitted proposals for the USC Network Culture Project’s "Second Life and Public Good Community Challenge". There’s a rich assortment of innovative projects on the table, all of which are worthy of support in their own right. Winnowing it down to just five is going to be…
Remarkable video on the roots of hip-hop dance
"Nobody here made up nothing. All we are doing is manifesting shit at a different time." – Crazylegs My friend Snora posted to Yehoodi this awesome video created by Midus. Without commentary, the eight-minute collection of dance footage shows the parallels between modern b-boy and hip-hop dance and older dance forms — from lindy hop…
2 jobs available for community development project in Boston using Second Life
Gene Koo of the Berkman Center at Harvard wanted me to pass around these job notices for an innovative project called "Hub2": "Hub2 seeks to enable local neighborhoods to participate more meaningfully in the design and development of their own public spaces. Residents engage in a process that employs 3D tools and problem-solving techniques to…
OECD wants to know how the internet can make the world a better place
Here’s an interesting use of online video to facilitate public participation in international policy making. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has asked the "YouTubers" to submit their visions of how the internet can be used to "make the world a better place" which will be responded to by member states of the…
What Dawn Hampton teaches me
This Friday, a couple hundred of us lindy hoppers celebrate the 80th birthday of Ms. Dawn Hampton, a woman who has had a remarkable life as a jazz musician, singer, and dancer. I have been lucky enough to get to be around Dawn regularly at Frim Fram and other swing events in New York. I…
VIDEO: Shim Sham at the NYC Dance Parade
Here’s some fun video provide by Will Luong of me and a bunch of other lindy hoppers dancing a fast Shim Sham during the 2008 NYC Dance Parade. Yes, I messed up at least four times in the the routine. Suck it.
Happy Birthday, Dawn Hampton! Dance that bhangra!
I just got home from a wonderful dance party to celebrate the 80th birthday of Ms. Dawn Hampton, one of the elder stateswomen of lindy hop and an inspiration to me and thousands of other dancers around the world. As befitting a celebration of Ms. Hampton, the party featured two of her favorite bands, the…
ICC Prosecutor slams Sudan for shielding ICC indictees
I had a frustrating time trying to watch the ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo present his report to the UN Security Council this morning on the situation in Darfur. (Curse you, Real Player!) But I managed to read the written text of his statement. In his report, the prosecutor heavily criticized the government of Sudan for…
VIDEO: PMT Breakdance team at Spring Showcase 08
Here, finally, is some video from the PMT Studios Spring Showcase that my fellow breakers and I performed at in April. It is interesting to contrast this performance with our much less polished but somehow more entertaining version of this routine that we did at Frim Fram a few weeks ago. I guess the kind…