Tag Archives | Play

Virtual Bonding With Your Pets

By on September 14, 2012 in News 0

It seems that new models of play are constantly emerging. Perhaps adaptable for babies as well, iPet Companion allows the user to remotely interact with and amuse household animals by manipulating toys in distant locations:

iPet Companion employs cutting-edge technology, robotics and digital connectivity that allows you to play with your pets by controlling unique robotic toys located in your home with a few clicks of your mouse.

A camera that captures all the fun lets you watch no-lag video of the cats as they chase, jump, pounce and grab at the robotic toys that are wired to respond instantaneously to your direction. There is even a way to interact with friends through a chat box making this a truly unique and engaging experience.

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The Most Boring Culture On Earth

By on July 27, 2012 in News 12

Kottke on the indigenous Baining people of Papua New Guinea, who when awake scarcely do anything but work, out of the belief that unstructured fun is a waste of time. One wonders if we are drifting in their direction:

The Baining eschew everything that they see as “natural” and value activities and products that come from “work,” which they view as the opposite of play. Work, to them, is effort expended to overcome or resist the natural. To behave naturally is to them tantamount to behaving as an animal. The Baining say, “We are human because we work.” The tasks that make them human, in their view, are those of turning natural products (plants, animals, and babies) into human products (crops, livestock, and civilized human beings).

They do not allow infants to crawl and explore on their own. When one tries to do so an adult picks it up and restrains it.

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Creators of South Park Create Mormon Musical

By on February 25, 2011 in News 14
Trey Parker (left) & Matt Stone (right) at The Amazing Meeting in 2007

Trey Parker (left) & Matt Stone (right) at The Amazing Meeting in 2007. Photo: enseptico

Trey Parker and Matt Stone first created Cannibal! The Musical together, followed by the cult film Orgasmo. Now the duo is taking the religious approach. Working with Robert Lopez (one of the creators of Avenue Q), their new play, The Book of Mormon, is to be performed on Broadway by next March. The New York Post reports:

A lot of very smart theater people — Stephen Sondheim among them — think the movie “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut” is one of the best musicals of the past 15 years.

“South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone demonstrated a flair for musical theater, lovingly sending up its conventions and traditions while knocking out a batch of witty, catchy tunes that echo the beloved scores of the Golden Age of Broadway.

It was inevitable that these guys would write a stage musical one day.

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Online Games Turn Work Into Play

By on January 15, 2010 in News 0

A Stanford professor advocates World of Warcraft or Second Life in the workplace to hone skills like teamwork, leadership, and data analysis – and even suggests putting online gaming experiences into your resume! “There’s just so much that gets done [in a virtual world] that’s just right on target with what happens in real business.”

And meanwhile, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt now claims that multiplayer gaming also provides good career training, especially for technology careers. “Everything in the future online is going to look like a multiplayer game. If I were 15 years old, that’s what I would be doing right now… It teaches players to build a network, to use interactive skills and thinking.”

Maybe this article asks the ultimate question. “Is the corporate world beyond Google and IBM ready for legions of dwarves, gnomes, night elves, orcs, and trolls competing for leadership roles…?”

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