I know I've been very busy and haven't been able to do as many futurist columns as I had been, but this one is just too good to ignore.
Emotiv Systems is about to offer headsets for $299 that will allow you to control your computer game directly with your brain waves. I've mentioned before that the two major forces driving the development of such interactive devices are sex and gaming. I wonder what the porn version of this cap is going to provide?
Tom
Emotiv Systems is about to offer headsets for $299 that will allow you to control your computer game directly with your brain waves. I've mentioned before that the two major forces driving the development of such interactive devices are sex and gaming. I wonder what the porn version of this cap is going to provide?
Tom
Labels: future art, science and technology, Tet
This is another in a series of articles covering the Stardance Project. On December 30, 2007, Jeanne Robinson, her filmmaker, James Sposto, and her dancer, Kathleen McDonagh flew in the specially-equipped 727 operated by the Zero-G Corporation. Jeanne and Kathleen flew as guests of Peter Diamandis, as I reported originally from the Heinlein Centennial.
It's been a month since the flight, and there's been a flurry of activity for the team. In spite of this, Jeanne has taken the time to give Urbanagora another interview. All of us here thank you very much for taking the time from your busy schedule to do this.
TET: Most Urbanagora readers have not experienced weightlessness unless they've jumped from a tall diving board or gone scuba diving. Is there anything to which you can compare the feeling of zero-g that might enable us to understand what it was really like?
JR: The classic high-speed elevator plunge is one way to experience zero-G....albeit for a lot less than 30 seconds...but is not recommended. A better one is a roller coaster. And more and more of us these days have had the unfortunate experience of being in an airplane that experiences a sudden, rapid loss of altitude.
That’s why it’s so fascinating that the human body can function in zero-G at all, much less for years at a time. How did that evolve, when for nearly all our evolutionary history the only way to be in zero-G was to fall off a cliff—which tends to limit your reproductive future?
TET: You said in your blog that once you were in flight, you had to alter your orginal plans for filming. Were you as successful as you hoped to be even though the conditions were less than ideal?
JR: Yes and no. We got better and more stable video images than we’d expected, much more uncluttered cubic area to work in than we’d expected...and much more lateral drift than we’d expected. Trying to precisely balance the power of two pairs of large jet engines, as they’re all changing thrust radically to produce the parabolic arc, is so difficult that Kathleen almost never entered free fall motionless. Always there was a sideways vector in one or more directions, and it could not be predicted. That often cut back her total zero-G time to even less than 20 seconds before she’d contact one of the walls, and made it trickier for me to stay out of frame. Fortunately Kathleen’s terrific at improv.
TET: In my opinion, Kathleen McDonagh, your dancer, looks a lot like I pictured the zero-g dancer from your Stardance novels. If you had written the book after experiencing free-fall personally what changes, if any, would you have made?
Probably not many, actually—because the most striking unexpected aspects of our experience were unique to parabolic flight. Lateral drift, for example, which plagued us on every arc to greater or lesser degree, won’t occur in space, in sustained microgravity. Spider and I both agree with you, by the way, about how much Kathleen resembles our own mental pictures of Shara Drummond.
TET: You mentioned that a fellow passenger on the flight proposed to his girlfriend during one of the arcs. What were the rest of the folks like that were up there with you?
JR: Exceedingly kind and generous, for one thing. They got into the spirit of our adventure at once, and cheerfully granted us far more room to move than our tickets entitled us to. In the footage you’ve seen, Kathleen and I are the only people visibie—in a compartment that nominally held 11. I can’t thank them enough for that: it made the trip twice as valuable for us. And of course, a simulation of spaceflight is the last place you’re going to find dumb or dull people: they were all good companions. The Zero-G Corp staff personnel, both aboard and on the ground, were, without exception, exceptional.
TET: Now you've got footage for your movie of actual controlled movement in zero-g. What's the next step towards getting the Stardance Project on the big screen?
JR: As Robert Heinlein wisely said, if the question begins, “Why don’t they...?” the answer is money. The main tasks left are rewriting the script to expand it from a short film to a large format IMAX (from 10 minutes to 45 minutes), and finding sponsors to finance the film. Production itself will be a long hard exciting process...but as soon as we find what theatre people call an angel or angels, my producer/co-director, Jim Sposto, and I are basically ready to get started storyboarding and auditioning CGI techniques and artists.
TET: To accomplish your Project, what is it that you need most at this time--financing, facilities or technical expertise? Has the publicity surrounding the flight helped with any of these needs?
JR: Financing is number one. The facilities and expertise are all there, just waiting for us to afford them. The publicity from this flight has indeed helped enormously; whether it will help enough remains to be seen, because money always moves slowly—particularly the smart money. But the more visibility we have, the sooner the smart money will find us.
Visibility is the key...and patience helps. Zero-G Corp’s president, Dr. Peter Diamandis did not actually have the $10 million dollars for his famous X Prize when he proudly announced its creation(fortunately, nobody ever asked!); it took him nearly 8 years to notice a magazine profile of Anousheh Ansari that mentioned her intense interest in space.
I’ve been choreographing zero gravity dance since Spider first put the idea in my ear in 1975; if nothing else, now people outside the science fiction community know that too.
TET: Do you have a target date yet for the production, or is it still too early to tell?
JR: Way too early, I’m afraid. But I’m a professional optimist. All artists are; we have to be. One thing I’m sure of: I’m much closer to realizing my dream than I have been since the morning the Challenger exploded, ending the Civilian In Space Program before I could go to orbit myself. Whoever is the first dancer in space will remember my name and Spider’s.
Wow, I would have loved to have gone up there with you guys and watched this live. It touches your heart to see someone's dream unfolding like this in spite of previous setbacks. We'll keep spreading the word, and if I run into anyone with some spare green, I'll know where to sent them.
Many thanks and best wishes always from all of us here at Urbanagora.
Addenda: By request, here's a link to the first interview.
Tom Trumpinski
It's been a month since the flight, and there's been a flurry of activity for the team. In spite of this, Jeanne has taken the time to give Urbanagora another interview. All of us here thank you very much for taking the time from your busy schedule to do this.
TET: Most Urbanagora readers have not experienced weightlessness unless they've jumped from a tall diving board or gone scuba diving. Is there anything to which you can compare the feeling of zero-g that might enable us to understand what it was really like?
JR: The classic high-speed elevator plunge is one way to experience zero-G....albeit for a lot less than 30 seconds...but is not recommended. A better one is a roller coaster. And more and more of us these days have had the unfortunate experience of being in an airplane that experiences a sudden, rapid loss of altitude.
That’s why it’s so fascinating that the human body can function in zero-G at all, much less for years at a time. How did that evolve, when for nearly all our evolutionary history the only way to be in zero-G was to fall off a cliff—which tends to limit your reproductive future?
TET: You said in your blog that once you were in flight, you had to alter your orginal plans for filming. Were you as successful as you hoped to be even though the conditions were less than ideal?
JR: Yes and no. We got better and more stable video images than we’d expected, much more uncluttered cubic area to work in than we’d expected...and much more lateral drift than we’d expected. Trying to precisely balance the power of two pairs of large jet engines, as they’re all changing thrust radically to produce the parabolic arc, is so difficult that Kathleen almost never entered free fall motionless. Always there was a sideways vector in one or more directions, and it could not be predicted. That often cut back her total zero-G time to even less than 20 seconds before she’d contact one of the walls, and made it trickier for me to stay out of frame. Fortunately Kathleen’s terrific at improv.
TET: In my opinion, Kathleen McDonagh, your dancer, looks a lot like I pictured the zero-g dancer from your Stardance novels. If you had written the book after experiencing free-fall personally what changes, if any, would you have made?
Probably not many, actually—because the most striking unexpected aspects of our experience were unique to parabolic flight. Lateral drift, for example, which plagued us on every arc to greater or lesser degree, won’t occur in space, in sustained microgravity. Spider and I both agree with you, by the way, about how much Kathleen resembles our own mental pictures of Shara Drummond.
TET: You mentioned that a fellow passenger on the flight proposed to his girlfriend during one of the arcs. What were the rest of the folks like that were up there with you?
JR: Exceedingly kind and generous, for one thing. They got into the spirit of our adventure at once, and cheerfully granted us far more room to move than our tickets entitled us to. In the footage you’ve seen, Kathleen and I are the only people visibie—in a compartment that nominally held 11. I can’t thank them enough for that: it made the trip twice as valuable for us. And of course, a simulation of spaceflight is the last place you’re going to find dumb or dull people: they were all good companions. The Zero-G Corp staff personnel, both aboard and on the ground, were, without exception, exceptional.
TET: Now you've got footage for your movie of actual controlled movement in zero-g. What's the next step towards getting the Stardance Project on the big screen?
JR: As Robert Heinlein wisely said, if the question begins, “Why don’t they...?” the answer is money. The main tasks left are rewriting the script to expand it from a short film to a large format IMAX (from 10 minutes to 45 minutes), and finding sponsors to finance the film. Production itself will be a long hard exciting process...but as soon as we find what theatre people call an angel or angels, my producer/co-director, Jim Sposto, and I are basically ready to get started storyboarding and auditioning CGI techniques and artists.
TET: To accomplish your Project, what is it that you need most at this time--financing, facilities or technical expertise? Has the publicity surrounding the flight helped with any of these needs?
JR: Financing is number one. The facilities and expertise are all there, just waiting for us to afford them. The publicity from this flight has indeed helped enormously; whether it will help enough remains to be seen, because money always moves slowly—particularly the smart money. But the more visibility we have, the sooner the smart money will find us.
Visibility is the key...and patience helps. Zero-G Corp’s president, Dr. Peter Diamandis did not actually have the $10 million dollars for his famous X Prize when he proudly announced its creation(fortunately, nobody ever asked!); it took him nearly 8 years to notice a magazine profile of Anousheh Ansari that mentioned her intense interest in space.
I’ve been choreographing zero gravity dance since Spider first put the idea in my ear in 1975; if nothing else, now people outside the science fiction community know that too.
TET: Do you have a target date yet for the production, or is it still too early to tell?
JR: Way too early, I’m afraid. But I’m a professional optimist. All artists are; we have to be. One thing I’m sure of: I’m much closer to realizing my dream than I have been since the morning the Challenger exploded, ending the Civilian In Space Program before I could go to orbit myself. Whoever is the first dancer in space will remember my name and Spider’s.
Wow, I would have loved to have gone up there with you guys and watched this live. It touches your heart to see someone's dream unfolding like this in spite of previous setbacks. We'll keep spreading the word, and if I run into anyone with some spare green, I'll know where to sent them.
Many thanks and best wishes always from all of us here at Urbanagora.
Addenda: By request, here's a link to the first interview.
Tom Trumpinski
Labels: future art, interviews, Stardance, Tet
A New Film Clip from the Stardance Project
0 Comments Published by tet on Saturday, January 5 at 3:39 PM.
The project's put up another great clip for download. I only wish that the space available for the dance moves had been larger. I plan on sending off my second batch of interview questions to Jeannie sometime in the next week or so. Until then, enjoy.
To my fellow Urbanagora posters, btw: I've received a number of complaints that the embedded videos that y'all've been posting is slowing the loading time for the page to a crawl for older machines. It might be a good idea if we all backed off on this and just posted links for a while to accomodate those who actually show up and read us on a regular basis.
Tom Trumpinski
To my fellow Urbanagora posters, btw: I've received a number of complaints that the embedded videos that y'all've been posting is slowing the loading time for the page to a crawl for older machines. It might be a good idea if we all backed off on this and just posted links for a while to accomodate those who actually show up and read us on a regular basis.
Tom Trumpinski
Labels: future art, movies, Tet, zero-g
Jeannie posted a video of her dancer in flight for a full twenty seconds. Damn, it would have been amazing to have hours of this kind of movement.
More to come, hopefully soon.
Tom
More to come, hopefully soon.
Tom
Labels: future art, Jeannie Robinson, Stardance, Tet
I just received a very excited email from Jeannie Robinson. She and her dancer are definitely flying one week from today. She and her husband (Spider Robinson) and the production crew are headed for Las Vegas.
They have started a blog here in which Spider, who is a professional science-fiction writer, will be talking about their experiences.
On behalf of all of us here at Urbanagora, Jeannie, Godspeed. We're looking forward to hearing about it and seeing it on the big, big screen.
Tom
They have started a blog here in which Spider, who is a professional science-fiction writer, will be talking about their experiences.
On behalf of all of us here at Urbanagora, Jeannie, Godspeed. We're looking forward to hearing about it and seeing it on the big, big screen.
Tom
Labels: future art, movies, space
Back in July of this year at the Heinlein Centennial, I watched with delight as Jeanne Robinson was finally given the opportunity to work with dance in free fall. I expect that her flight on December 30th of this year will enable her to incorporate real experiences, both physical and emotional, into the framework of the Stardance Movie project.
She was kind enough to give an interview to us at Urbanagora about her flight and movie:
TET: Twenty years ago, you were scheduled to fly on the space shuttle. What kind of training and preparation would you have had to make for that flight?
JR: I never got close enough to my departure date to find out in any detail. After the first civilian was killed, the program ended.
TET: For this flight, how are you and your dancer, Kathleen McDonagh, preparing, physically and mentally?
JR: We’re preparing on many levels. I'm not only working closely with Kathleen, but also with producer/co-director, James Sposto, who'll be filming Kathleen during our flight. Before designing Kathleen’s short movement sequence, I’ve had to familiarize myself with every aspect of the environment we’ll be working in. Several people from Zero-G Corporation have been assisting us. Their help has informed the shape of the choreography and the direction of the shoot. For example, we’ll be positioned in front of the bulkhead of the first of three sections. Each section holds up to 10 passengers. It’s likely we’ll be sharing our section with a few other passengers.
Despite all of our prep, the three of us remain keenly cognizant of the fact that anything can happen during our flight. In an instant we may have to adapt our plans, and improvise. For example we’ve been told the average duration of the 15 parabolic arcs is 25 to 30 seconds. But I’ve watched footage of a flight whose arcs only averaged 16 to 18 seconds.
TET: Will you actually be doing motion-capture photography during the flight, or merely getting the "feel" of free-fall? In either case, what actions will you be performing up there?
JR: Our plans don’t include motion-capture photography. Kathleen and I plan on simply experiencing the kinesthetics of microgravity — enjoying the feel, for the first several arcs. The experience will inform the choreography I’ve been imagining and writing about for years. But since no sequence can exceed 20-30 seconds, and some may be as short as 16 seconds, we’re quite limited in what we can accomplish. We hope to do more, but we are prepared to settle for “getting the feel” and capturing some shots and short sequences with a HiDef video camera. This footage will be used to help model the animation and fx for the final film, and the footage will be useful for publicity and fund-raising.
TET: The flight itself--are you just doing this one on December 30th? How long will you actually be in free-fall? Is this the same plane that was used for Stephen Hawking?
JR: This will be our one and only flight (until serious funding kicks in); we were given a single pair of free seats, and they cost thousands, and James purchased an additional seat. We will fly a total of 15 parabolic arcs—three of them at 1/3 gee, and 1/6, with the rest at zero-g. And each arc can vary from 15-35 seconds, depending on the weather, among other things. I don’t know if this will be the same plane Sir Stephen flew, but we’re flying with the same company, Zero-G Corporation.
TET: How do you plan to integrate the experience of this flight into your movie?
JR: We’ll have to wait and see what fate gives us. As I said, I’m prepared to settle for some promotional images, and hoping to make some actual choreographic discoveries and shooting decisions. If we’re lucky, we’ll get some fabulous footage to edit into a short film. Fingers crossed!
TET: On your film's sponsorship page you talk about how "the Stardance Experience combines artistic and humanistic themes with the backdrop of science." In my case, you're preaching to the choir, but for the rest of Urbanagora's readership--Why is this important?
JR: If mankind does not go to space (and soon!) it will die, sooner or later. But we won’t go there if it doesn’t seem like a human place: to draw us, it’s going to need art and culture, to help us express it, and to inform how we’re going to shape it together. Dance is the art form best suited to space conditions (and language-free), and film is the medium presently best suited to get that news to the general public. We need to show them that space is not only a place for test pilots and scientists. It’s really the next frontier — the next challenge for us to overcome in our evolutionary path upward.
TET: A lot of the financing so far for your film's been coming from individual investors. Do you think that the publicity from your flight is likely to open more corporate and agency doors?
JR: I certainly hope so. More and more, these days, the smart money has its eyes on the stars. There are about to be trillions of dollars made in orbit....and the people who go there to work or to play will need entertainment and aesthetics. One such effort is being master-minded by business entrepreneur, Robert Bigelow. His eight-year-old company, Bigelow Aerospace, is busy designing inflatable space habitats. He is trying to make low-earth-orbit destinations a necessity — the fulfillment of a life-long dream of getting humanity into space. He’s my kind of guy. I like the way he dreams. Check out the article about his effort in the November 2007 issue of WIRED.
TET: You've talked a lot in the past about your Buddhism and how it is an integral part of your life. Dancing in space has to be considered a truly transcendental experience. How does it relate to your faith and spirituality?
JR: I became a Buddhist at 25 when I read Suzuki Roshi’s book, ZEN MIND, BEGINNER’S MIND. As an artist I had learned to tolerate ambiguity, or not-knowing, in order to be open to the creative spirit. Reading Roshi’s teachings on “beginner’s mind” aligned with my wholehearted intention to approach my work freshly every day, in an effort to communicate an ultimately indescribable and unknowable mystery. Becoming a Buddhist reaffirmed what I already knew: the best way for me to serve the world was to integrate my visual insights into the physical act of making dances — a potentially mystical language beyond the reach of words.
Much like Zen itself, dancing in space has no boundaries.....no limits......no up or down. I hope that space’s unique conditions will help create art that leads toward human transcendence, that evolves us beyond what we’ve already seen, and that accelerates the process that forms art in the first place.
To hang in the center of the universe, surrounded by limitless space, is to arrive at the gateway to primordial knowledge. Stardance is a direct invitation to dream, dance, evolve and exemplify the best in humanity.
TET: After your flight, I'm sure that there'll be a great deal to discuss. May we talk again on this subject early next year?
JR: By all means. Immediately after we return home, we’ll be busy collaborating on a press release about the experience to send it out with still images, and at least a little raw footage. If we’re lucky enough to get some fabulous footage of Kathleen, Jim and I will work on editing together a video presentation for investors and sponsors.
TET: Thanks a lot, Jeanne. Say hello to Spider for us.
I certainly want to repeat that thanks from all of us here at the blog. We'll be watching the papers, the Internet and your press releases for the full story at the end of next month.
For those who would like to read Spider and Jeanne's SF books that introduced the concept of zero-gravity dance for the first time, they're available from amazon.com in plenty of time for Christmas shopping. They're well worth the price--I still cry at the end of the first one, even after all these years.
Tom
She was kind enough to give an interview to us at Urbanagora about her flight and movie:
TET: Twenty years ago, you were scheduled to fly on the space shuttle. What kind of training and preparation would you have had to make for that flight?
JR: I never got close enough to my departure date to find out in any detail. After the first civilian was killed, the program ended.
TET: For this flight, how are you and your dancer, Kathleen McDonagh, preparing, physically and mentally?
JR: We’re preparing on many levels. I'm not only working closely with Kathleen, but also with producer/co-director, James Sposto, who'll be filming Kathleen during our flight. Before designing Kathleen’s short movement sequence, I’ve had to familiarize myself with every aspect of the environment we’ll be working in. Several people from Zero-G Corporation have been assisting us. Their help has informed the shape of the choreography and the direction of the shoot. For example, we’ll be positioned in front of the bulkhead of the first of three sections. Each section holds up to 10 passengers. It’s likely we’ll be sharing our section with a few other passengers.
Despite all of our prep, the three of us remain keenly cognizant of the fact that anything can happen during our flight. In an instant we may have to adapt our plans, and improvise. For example we’ve been told the average duration of the 15 parabolic arcs is 25 to 30 seconds. But I’ve watched footage of a flight whose arcs only averaged 16 to 18 seconds.
TET: Will you actually be doing motion-capture photography during the flight, or merely getting the "feel" of free-fall? In either case, what actions will you be performing up there?
JR: Our plans don’t include motion-capture photography. Kathleen and I plan on simply experiencing the kinesthetics of microgravity — enjoying the feel, for the first several arcs. The experience will inform the choreography I’ve been imagining and writing about for years. But since no sequence can exceed 20-30 seconds, and some may be as short as 16 seconds, we’re quite limited in what we can accomplish. We hope to do more, but we are prepared to settle for “getting the feel” and capturing some shots and short sequences with a HiDef video camera. This footage will be used to help model the animation and fx for the final film, and the footage will be useful for publicity and fund-raising.
TET: The flight itself--are you just doing this one on December 30th? How long will you actually be in free-fall? Is this the same plane that was used for Stephen Hawking?
JR: This will be our one and only flight (until serious funding kicks in); we were given a single pair of free seats, and they cost thousands, and James purchased an additional seat. We will fly a total of 15 parabolic arcs—three of them at 1/3 gee, and 1/6, with the rest at zero-g. And each arc can vary from 15-35 seconds, depending on the weather, among other things. I don’t know if this will be the same plane Sir Stephen flew, but we’re flying with the same company, Zero-G Corporation.
TET: How do you plan to integrate the experience of this flight into your movie?
JR: We’ll have to wait and see what fate gives us. As I said, I’m prepared to settle for some promotional images, and hoping to make some actual choreographic discoveries and shooting decisions. If we’re lucky, we’ll get some fabulous footage to edit into a short film. Fingers crossed!
TET: On your film's sponsorship page you talk about how "the Stardance Experience combines artistic and humanistic themes with the backdrop of science." In my case, you're preaching to the choir, but for the rest of Urbanagora's readership--Why is this important?
JR: If mankind does not go to space (and soon!) it will die, sooner or later. But we won’t go there if it doesn’t seem like a human place: to draw us, it’s going to need art and culture, to help us express it, and to inform how we’re going to shape it together. Dance is the art form best suited to space conditions (and language-free), and film is the medium presently best suited to get that news to the general public. We need to show them that space is not only a place for test pilots and scientists. It’s really the next frontier — the next challenge for us to overcome in our evolutionary path upward.
TET: A lot of the financing so far for your film's been coming from individual investors. Do you think that the publicity from your flight is likely to open more corporate and agency doors?
JR: I certainly hope so. More and more, these days, the smart money has its eyes on the stars. There are about to be trillions of dollars made in orbit....and the people who go there to work or to play will need entertainment and aesthetics. One such effort is being master-minded by business entrepreneur, Robert Bigelow. His eight-year-old company, Bigelow Aerospace, is busy designing inflatable space habitats. He is trying to make low-earth-orbit destinations a necessity — the fulfillment of a life-long dream of getting humanity into space. He’s my kind of guy. I like the way he dreams. Check out the article about his effort in the November 2007 issue of WIRED.
TET: You've talked a lot in the past about your Buddhism and how it is an integral part of your life. Dancing in space has to be considered a truly transcendental experience. How does it relate to your faith and spirituality?
JR: I became a Buddhist at 25 when I read Suzuki Roshi’s book, ZEN MIND, BEGINNER’S MIND. As an artist I had learned to tolerate ambiguity, or not-knowing, in order to be open to the creative spirit. Reading Roshi’s teachings on “beginner’s mind” aligned with my wholehearted intention to approach my work freshly every day, in an effort to communicate an ultimately indescribable and unknowable mystery. Becoming a Buddhist reaffirmed what I already knew: the best way for me to serve the world was to integrate my visual insights into the physical act of making dances — a potentially mystical language beyond the reach of words.
Much like Zen itself, dancing in space has no boundaries.....no limits......no up or down. I hope that space’s unique conditions will help create art that leads toward human transcendence, that evolves us beyond what we’ve already seen, and that accelerates the process that forms art in the first place.
To hang in the center of the universe, surrounded by limitless space, is to arrive at the gateway to primordial knowledge. Stardance is a direct invitation to dream, dance, evolve and exemplify the best in humanity.
TET: After your flight, I'm sure that there'll be a great deal to discuss. May we talk again on this subject early next year?
JR: By all means. Immediately after we return home, we’ll be busy collaborating on a press release about the experience to send it out with still images, and at least a little raw footage. If we’re lucky enough to get some fabulous footage of Kathleen, Jim and I will work on editing together a video presentation for investors and sponsors.
TET: Thanks a lot, Jeanne. Say hello to Spider for us.
I certainly want to repeat that thanks from all of us here at the blog. We'll be watching the papers, the Internet and your press releases for the full story at the end of next month.
For those who would like to read Spider and Jeanne's SF books that introduced the concept of zero-gravity dance for the first time, they're available from amazon.com in plenty of time for Christmas shopping. They're well worth the price--I still cry at the end of the first one, even after all these years.
Tom
Labels: future art, interviews, space, Tet
