soupablog

Woodridge Elementary Poetry Café - May 21, 2009

labyrinth in springtime

we need that labyinth guild we've talked about. :)

An Invitation to View: Laser Wars I & II

Thirty years ago this summer, a cinematic tour-de-force hit the big screen. The year was 1979 and the country's science fiction psyche was sandwiched in the liminal space between the first and second Star Wars releases. America needed more. And we gave them Laser Wars.

In the back yard / backlot of our childhood home in San Antonio, my brother Mark and I grabbed my grandfather's Bell & Howell Super8mm movie camera, wrote a script, cast neighborhood friends, created paper-plate flying saucers, and tin-foil constellations. We had just turned 10 years old, and we were ready for the fame and fortune a space movie would bring our way.

Thirty years later, the film – and its unforgettable 1980 sequel, Laser Wars II — have been unearthed, digitized, color-balanced, and readied for its world release, here on Soupablog.com.

Highlights include:

• Several scenes in which my mother turned the movie camera 90º sideways, believing she could achieve a 'portrait' orientation.
• Visible laser "blasts" made by pin-pricking the actual processed move film.
• A 1970's-era Simon™ game and headphone used as a torture device.
• Two dramatic death scenes featuring … me!
• Wet/dry shop-vac used for R2-D2-esque droids (plus many other Star-Warsian homages)

Interestingly, one of the supporting cast members went on to a full time career as a documentary filmmaker.

Happy Birthday, Mark

Today is my twin brother's 40th birthday, and here is a detail from the painting he'll open when he wakes up.

surprised

on saturday, amidst an all-day rainstorm, we headed out to shirley's and jerry's peach creek farm near string prairie, texas (about 17 miles south of bastrop). the occasion — so i thought — was susan's 60th birthday. given the timing and the venue, this made perfect sense.

when we arrived, however, i quickly realized i was the honoree. and since it was a week before my 40th birthday, i was truly surprised. amy had worked hard sending e-vites the month prior, and we had a diverse grouping of friends, old and new, who had made the trek out to syler hall — the pavilion named after my in-laws.

waldemar was in town from boston, so that made the day extra special. friends came in from places varied as houston, austin, marble falls and san marcos. thanks. what a great way to say goodbye to my thirties (or as my friends put it, hello to my fifth decade of life).

A relaxing weekend with some similarities.

Last night was the spring Franciscan Retreat for my church community. It was a good, healing time for me, and it helped me to slow down and ease out of some depression, I believe. I'll link to photos that Gordon took once they're live. I didn't do the photo-taking this time, though I usually take a batch. There were others to play that role. — it's a great time — differences are set aside, younger and older generations mingle, food and drink are shared, there's a lot of playing and music and art and storytelling.

Then at lunch, I ran into some old friends, the Roberts, and was able to catch up. That was nice.

Then I met Amy and the kids over at our neighborhood association's annual block party. It reminds me what a great neighborhood we live in. The police and firemen were there, loving on the kids (although the firemen got called away twice on real emergencies!) — volleyball, frisbee, balloons, face painting … it's a great time — differences are set aside, younger and older generations mingle, food and drink are shared, there's a lot of playing and music and art and storytelling.

SXSW Redux: six takeaways for youth media publishers, designers, game developers and marketers

six takeaways for youth media publishers,
designers, game developers and marketers:
click to see my original post at Toolbox Studios' blog:

 6. Teens [still] don't Tweet. While Twitter was hands down "the" tool at this year's SXSW Interactive (and one we recommend be part of any company's corporate communication plan... see more at #5), the 140-character micro-blog trend isn't being as eagerly adopted by teens. Anastasia Goodstein's YPulse teen panel again validated this hunch: You're just not going to reach a majority of 14-to-18 year olds with the über backchannel. Better to occupy the mobile space and MySpace. Facebook is there as well, but the "I wanna customize my space" fave MySpace is still top dog among this cohort. Should be interesting to see how this trend develops as Facebook and Twitter continue to dominate and grow the microblogging/lifestreaming space.

5."Not making plans is so totally Web 3.0." — this line from Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, framed a second, related truism—Twitter was clearly still the rockstar and darling of sxswi. As McCarthy pointed out, when lines to get into parties at the Austin confab got too long, flash-mob intelligence via Twitter created new meetups, new parties, on the fly.

With a multitude of third-party tools and add-ons, Twitter offers increased freedom and mobility to stay on top of news and events in whatever niche you're interested in following.

And to those following the youth crowd, just because they aren't all on Twitter (yet), that doesn't mean their socializing isn't happening on the net—teens are embracing MySpace and Facebook, but moreover, they're embracing the relationships emerging from those connections. As Harvard fellow and youth media scholar Dana Boyd points out, "We have this belief that kids are just addicted to social network sites. If anything, they’re addicted to their friends. This “addiction” to friends is precisely what makes social networks so important, especially for tweens, who are more limited in their socializing options (until they can drive). There’s school, extracurriculars and the movie theater on the weekends, but with social networking they can be sure not to miss a single OMG moment.”

4. Get out of the way and let your audience explore. Interestingly, this reminder came out of an interactive game development session, although it was emphasized in later Web 2.0 panels as well. As one gaming expert stated, "the complexity of our gaming interfaces should level up with our users as they proceed [with gameplay]." The key idea here seems completely intuitive, but it found new currency with me at the Playing On! Interface Lessons from Games session: when we design games, instead of front loading the game with tutorials or a discursive set of rules, we should allow the player to start gameplay and learn progressively.

In the 2.0 panels, this prioritization of the audience surfaced more in the context of public relations and customer management. With social media, we all know you can't exert control over everything online as you once could. You can't play by the same rules, either. You have to learn to listen to the conversation, insert yourself/your company genuinely, and be okay that you can't predict or dictate the outcome. You can only monitor and react to it.

3. Design is still king. Evidenced everywhere I turned. Good design creates context. Good branding creates curiosity, loyalty, buzz and desirability. Too many examples to name. Okay, maybe one: Alex Bogusky's B-cycle (bicycle sharing) initiative.

2. It's all about R&R. Not rest and relaxation, but rewards and reputation. A fascinating seminar borrowed from the language of game playing mechanics and found parallels to be brought to bear in all of our social media apps. Rewards will need to move beyond simple point-tallying and actually show bling for levels attained (exemplary games display which level a user has achieved, which in turn earns him/her instant street-cred). The best of these apps incorporate some kind of collecting mechanism as well—a metaphoric trophy case—to show off those accumulated points. Whether it's medals on an army officer's uniform, merit badges on a girl scout's sash, or a collection of karate level belts, humans collect visual indicators of our advancement. Finding creative ways to do this on the application level rewards your avids, and offers a clear path for noobs who want to engage with your brand.

1. A Social Vote for Change Probably the most memorable session I went to was a lunch at Stubb's BBQ, where the topic was "Social Media for Social Change" — a lot was said about the distinction between using social media for charity and using the same tools to effectuate actual social, systemic, societal, or institutional change. 700 people RSVPd for this lunch. I was lucky to arrive early, which means I got in the door, actually ate a great brisket lunch (ironically/awkwardly eating my BBQ sitting next to two new friends who work at PETA2), and settled in for the conversation. The panelists included pioneer Beth Kanter, David Armano, Scott Goodstein,  Stacey Monk, James Young and Randi Zuckerberg. For an engaging overview of the conversation, read Kanter's brilliant summary blogpost here.

Kate's first gallery showing

Kate Soupiset recently had a piece hung at the Southwest School of Art & Craft. Her abstract painting, entitled Chutes & Ladders, was part of an arts installation from kids at various area schools. I'm just getting around to posting the photos here.

Liveblogging from SXSW

Greetings from the TechSet Blogger Lounge here at SXSW. I'm taking a brief rest here before attending a 3:30 breakout session. We just heard Zappos CEO give an opening keynote. I've been livecasting some of my comments on Twitter (follow me @soupiset). Anyway, just wanted to say hello to my readers, to let you know that you can follow me on twitter, and I'll try and give a wrapup sometime soon.

lakeside, Monday morning

woke up at 7:30, made double batch of pancakes while abi and emma were fishing with martin and caleb. breakfast was enjoyed over a volley of monty python grail quotables. after I cleaned up the kitchen I poured myself a cup of coffee, black, and headed out to the back porch. words can't properly describe the placid cool of the morning. willie nelson is playing in the background -- "I'm not trying to forget you anymore" -- and I'm thinking about trigger's luthier and about the quiet of the morning and about the girls sitting there fishing and getting along and just being pals and about this cool breeze and about how some folks recognize each of these various bird melodies and how each bird has a name. now someone who sounds like toad the wet spocket is in martin's changer but we can't ID the band. all 6 kids are up; the two amys are sleeping in. martin's shuffling songs now (fragments of chris taylor, vintage spin doctors, mercy me, r.e.m, etc) jordan is fishing. the sleepy day unfolds. in the distance homeowners start up their weedeaters and planes fly overhead. the girls lose interest in the lakeside activites and head inside. the magic of the morning fades a bit, but the day still holds it's secrets, waiting for timely revelation.

"here's a truckstop instead of st. peters, yeah yeah yeah."

so much beauty in this world

check pablo reinoso's spaghetti bench and other pieces:

k-bobs as excuse for kids to eat more veggies.

"If I only had a ball of string, a rock and some tape" — Rev. MacGyver

I'm reposting two fun iPhone snapshots from Tim Snyder at the new Netzer Co-op digs at First English Lutheran in Austin. Jonny Baker might need to further repost for one of his Worship Tricks.

Tim writes: "…This is why you shouldn't worship in a box -- well not literally anyways.

PROBLEM: Worship is designed and set-up. With the final touches in place, we discovered a slight problem — no remote to control the Keynote slide show as we utilize rear projection while worshiping inside a "box" of transfiguration white sheet (our dwelling place for Jesus). How will we ever control the computer placed outside the box while worshipping inside the box?

Solution: Call in Rev. MacGyver (Tim and Ryan with their powers combined)

RESULT: A ball of string, a rock and tape are acquired. We throw the ball of string up and over the rafters of the church and dangle a rock guided by other strings suspended from the pew to create a pully mechanism. One end will be in the box — the other will suspend a rock above the space bar of the the computer outside the box.

Brilliant.

800th Anniversary of the Franciscan Order

"The 800th anniversary of the founding of the Franciscan Order is celebrated today. It was on Feb. 24, 1209 that Francis heard the gospel and gathered his first followers. Before the end of that year, he and eleven others walked to Rome and sought the blessing of the Pope. The Franciscan Order was founded" [via]