"A Fitting is a Kinect-based art installation that explores the relationship between cultural and personal expectations of body image. The game is an interactive theatrical performance where the player takes the role of a young woman in front of a large mirror, with an audience watching her in its reflection. The audience and the game itself prompts the player to twist, contort and bend his/her body in order to progress. Doing so receives approval from the audience and game, but at the cost of the players discomfort."

Source:

http://www.adittami.com/projects/a-fitting

I came across this while reading an article submitted by the two women who are working on the project on e-feminist.com. The point of the project is to minimize the effect of image conciousness and objectification in popular media, including video games, on girls. 

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I know it shouldn't bother me that much but it kind of does. I mean asking people for something like $50,000 and then getting it seems like overkill, but then what happens if they don't reach that amount? Does it all go to waste? Does the money go straight into their pockets?

Is this really a good cause to ask people for money?

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Ready for Spring.

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It has been 7 year already, as my first account was created 3 months before this one, years went very fast, and I cant believe it has been 7 years here at GS, many have left the site for good, many didn't and I hope I never do, and I hope to see GS once again the great place it used to be.

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?Moonrise Kingdom?, Wes Anderson?s newest feature and easily one of his best, is a delightful, colorful and flat out beautiful depiction of young love, seen through the eyes of a director with a youthful heart. Sure he might overindulge in terms of visual style and whimsy, a passion and uniqueness I personally love, but in the end his mastery behind the camera and tenderness for his characters and the stories he tells make for wonderful experiences.

Not everyone always feels the same obviously, many are completely turned off by his work, but I think in this case even the most anti-Anderson crowd will have a hard time not falling in love with this story, these characters and the touching, charming and often hilarious situations they find themselves in. That is because this time around, more so than in his previous film, the line between reality and fantasy is extremely thin. In his previous films, and this is coming from someone who has loved EVERYTHING he has done (yes, even ?The Darjeeling Limited?), the worlds he creates, with their overtly intellectual, quirky and often pompous characters, are often interpreted mostly as shallow and even more harshly labeled as pretentious and annoying because they are drowning in an ocean of visual grandeur. Although I personally love it, I cannot say I blame people for thinking it. The story, emotion, pain and humanity of many of his films can be lost and viewed strictly formalistically in his attempts to stay grounded while also throwing a very thick layer of style over everything. The difference with ?Moonrise Kingdom? I believe has to do with the perfect blending of that passionate and fine eye for detail, color and design and the central human story below the surface. Here we have the joys and passions of young love, juxtaposed with the hollowness and pains of adulthood in a way that feels more like a fable than an actual depiction of real life. It is in that way, how this feels more like a story out of one of Suzy?s fantasy novels, that makes it work so well.

This fable takes place over the course of a few days in the summer of 1965, on a fictional island off the coast of Rhode Island. It follows Sam Shakusky, an orphan and Boy Scout who has trouble making friends; and Suzy, a smart but depressed young girl whose parents think is ?troubled?. After meeting a year before, and becoming pens pals, the two decide to run away together. When the Scout Master (Edward Norton) finds out he goes to the local police captain (Bruce Willis) to start a search party with Suzy?s parents. As Sam and Suzy?s love blossoms in their adventure across the island, the adults have secrets and personnel issues that begin to get in the way with their search for the children.

Visually intertwined with this story are everything one would expect from a Wes Anderson film. Those fantasy elements and overall tone I mentioned above are really driven by the use of tracking shots, almost always consisting of layers of action, with things happening in the background that could be easily missed on a first viewing; and set and costume design that not only capture the era (the late 60?s) but also a very fantastical and specific melancholy-summer atmosphere. The house where Suzy lives for example feels more like a doll house, with the characters just puppets under Anderson?s guidance. In this way the entire film really feels like a live action version of a story that would normally take place in the world of ?The Fantastic Mr. Fox?.

As for the performances, which are just as important as the visuals and designs because of Anderson?s writing and humor, are all around just wonderful. For the adult cast this comes as no surprise. Bill Murray for instance is no stranger to Anderson?s films (this being the sixth time he has appeared in one). The rest fit in nicely, with Willis and Norton seamlessly blending into the world and dead pan humor. What really blew me away was the performances by the two child leads, Kara Wayward (Suzy) and Jared Gilman (Sam). Now these performances were not perfect, I felt like they stumbled over a few lines and their delivery was flat at times, but it worked in their favor making the performances feel very natural, never forced and their missteps felt more like children trying, and at times failing, to sound smarter than they really are which was in line with the personality and background of both.

Overall this definitely ranks up there as one of Wes Anderson?s best, probably right behind ?The Royal Tenebaums? (my personal favorite of his). As for its place amongst the rest of the films this year? I can easily say that it is the best, and my favorite, filmso farin 2012. And although there are still many more to come, I think I?ll be hard pressed to find another film that was as all around beautiful, charming and fun as ?Moonrise Kingdom?; and even if it doesn?t turn out to be the ?best of the year?, it will most likely be the one I revisit most often.

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Life does have it's moments.

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http://jaytheillustrator.tumblr.com/

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Hi everyone. You may have noticed that GameSpot is starting to look, sound, and feel different these days. GameSpot's content group is actually being reorganized to focus more on video and to explore new directions, and as it turns out, I'm not going along for the ride. As of today, Friday the 11th, 2011, my job has been eliminated.

Up until today, I was the managing editor of GameSpot. But it began for me in January 1998, all the way back from when GameSpot was a small startup company based out of a cramped two-story San Francisco building that used to be a travel agency. For 14 years, I've been covering PC games, console games, handheld games, and game hardware through reviews, previews, newsletters, customer service, news developments, press conferences, trade shows, video shows, special features, op-ed columns, and strategy guides, among other things. During those 14 years, I never took a step back. Not in the good times, not in the bad times, and not even in the weird and scary times. To make a long story short (too late), I did everything I could to make contributions that were valuable, useful, and even crucial to the site's prosperity, its editorial integrity, and in some cases, its survival. Anyone who says otherwise either doesn't actually know anything about GameSpot, is a liar, or both.

So you may be wondering why you've never heard of me, but as a programmer might say, that's working as intended. Let me explain, and even less briefly this time.

I signed on at GameSpot at a time when anyone could get rich by buying any old stock in the market or by "doing something with the Internet." As you might expect, with people everywhere starting to get rich, they also started getting a little big for their britches. Everyone outside the game industry, and also in it, considered him/her/itself to be a genius, and proclaimed their greatness to the heavens. Game magazines and Websites scored juicy exclusive stories on upcoming games by gushing not just about the games, but also about how awesomely awesome the developers were. You know--stroke the old egos a little bit. It often worked. Then the year 2000 came along. The year of the Tech Wreck, when the bubble burst, etc.. Advertising budgets, particularly for Internet companies like ours, dried up seemingly overnight and sites like GameSpot really started feeling the pinch. With the American economy already contracting going into the following year, we then had a certain series of events happen on September 11 of 2001, which made having a job writing about video games seem trivial and petty, and also not very practical or stable, what with the stock market also tanking and everybody on the TV claiming the end times were upon us.

That's when it dawned on me...there might be something to that old saying about pride coming before the fall. I've never cared for selfishness or self-importance, but it became very clear just how many people were making it their mission to seek out the spotlight, and how there didn't seem to be enough people driven to build something that was useful or substantial. I made the conscious decision, there and then, to go the exact opposite way, to double down on what I felt was truly important: Holding myself and anyone who worked with me to a higher standard of writing, and doing whatever I could to ensure that GameSpot's content was as good as it could be. To try to help build something that actually was great, rather than stand around talking about how great I was or wasn't.

If self-aggrandizing bloggers with diarrhea at the mouth were the problem, I wanted to be part of the solution. I wanted to share the most interesting games, and the most interesting aspects of these games, with the readers of GameSpot, so that they could discover games they might otherwise have missed, and so that they might share these games--which were, you know, only for losers who live in their moms' basements--with new people, and maybe have these new people discover that video games aren't just for loser basement-dwellers. That these so-called "video games" are actually pretty cool. And the whole time, I wanted the games themselves to be front and center. I wanted the games to be the stars. Because it wasn't about me. It's never been about me.

At this point, I'd like to shift gears and comment on the current state of the game biz. You could say it has some problems right now. Publishers who produce retail products are at war with retailers who sell used games. On the one hand, several game publishers are now offering preorder "bonuses" (such as day-one DLC) that effectively penalize customers for not buying new games, while resellers continue to grow fatter and fatter by buying used/trade-in games at $20, then turning around and reselling the same used game for $40-50 and pocketing the difference. As a result, digital distribution is clearly the future, except that digital services keep getting hacked and spiraling bandwidth costs are making widespread distribution of large digital files seem increasingly untenable. (Don't take my word for it. Ask Netflix.) Or maybe the real future is in social, free-to-play, and mobile games, except that many of these games nickel-and-dime their customers to death with microtransactions that are baked directly into the actual design of the games themselves. The only common thread here is that paying customers lose. Want to get this new game? You either pay full price+ for it, or you pay slightly less for a "used" version lacking content and often with crippled online capabilities. Go social/mobile/free-to-play and enjoy a new breed of games that are specifically designed to be mind-numbing unless you pay money to make them less so.

Sadly, I don't have any good solutions to these problems off the top of my head, other than to point out that smart customers will really appreciate it when game companies present their products in a way that doesn't burden said customers with these problems. (Hint, hint game companies. Also: Hint, hint, customers.) However, if you, like me, work, or worked, in the actual game industry and have begun, like me, to wonder exactly what you've been fighting for, let me point out that there are still good people writing about and covering games, and that there are still great development houses out there looking to make games that are actually enjoyable as games, and also that the barrier to entry on actual development has never been lower for those thinking about crossing that line themselves.

I'd also like to remind my brethren (or, former brethren as it were) that even though games are increasingly being considered a "business" in the sense of being cash cows to exploit, they've actually always been a business. Your hard work, professionalism, integrity, and willingness to contribute to something that's bigger than yourself are not only what got you here--they're what made the game industry so successful, and they're what will continue to ensure that you, and games, thrive. You writers and reviewers and news reporters, you video producers, you graphic designers, you programmers, you testers, you producers, you game designers, you artists, you musicians, you sound technicians, you voice actors, you product managers, you community managers, you publicists, you Web page builders, you copyeditors...each of you is an important part of this business. And there's no shame in being part of a business, especially one that's produced so much enjoyment for so many, and for so many years.

The very best people to do business with are knowledgeable, productive, detail-oriented, solutions-focused, considerate, easy to work with, and always learning. I've met countless people who evince these great qualities and I'm sure there are many more in this industry out there that I simply haven't met. These are the qualities that will serve you in good stead, regardless of whether everyone is making tablet games now (or "freemium" online RPGs now, or big-budget first-person shooters now). These qualities are what give you real value, both as a creator and as an employee/employer. These qualities are what will give you staying power out there, even when times are tough, and when it seems like the whole world's gone crazy, and that there are no opportunities and no real hope. Regardless of whatever irrational decisions come down from on high or whatever unfair market forces try to cut you off at the knees, there will always be a place for people with your skill, creativity, talent, drive, and relentless pursuit of self-improvement.

I think I've said enough at this point, so I'll be signing off now.

Goodbye and good luck to all of you.

-Andrew

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[ Watch Video ]

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My most favorite professional athelete is retiring after 19 years (Career: 1992 - 2011). I never loved basketball the way it is now before he entered NBA.

• 4 NBA Champion(2000,2001,2002,2006)
• 3 NBA Finals MVP(2000–2002)
• NBA Most Valuable Player(2000)
• NBA Rookie of the Year(1993)
• 15 NBA All-Star(1993–1998,2000–2007,2009)
• 2 NBA scoring champion(1995,2000)
• 8 All-NBA First Team(1998,2000–2006)
• 2 All-NBA Second Team(1995,1999)
• 4 All-NBA Third Team(1994,1996–1997,2009)
• 3 All-Defensive Second Team(2000–2001,2003)
• NBA All-Rookie First Team(1993)
• 3 NBA All-Star Game MVP(2000,2004,2009)
• 1994 FIBA World Championship,MVP
• 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Champion
• Elected 1 of50 Greatest Players in NBA History, 1996
• NBA Highest Earner in History ($292,198,327)

I know this time would come, but I was really shocked when I saw the news at Google... Well, he has to take of his aging body now... Spend that$292,198,327 you earned from your contracts! (Highest earned in NBA History. Bryant is third @$196,190,615).

I will truly miss you... I'm missing your great play for several years now, but what makes you more special is how you entertained me with your crazy and funny antics. Thanks for the great memories Your Royal Shaqness... God bless in your pursuit of becoming Dr. Shaquille O'Neal.

Thanks for the great memories Your Royal Shaqness... God bless in your pursuit of becoming Dr. Shaquille O'Neal.

Here's a video of some of Shaq's NBA Career Highlights.

Here's what others' reaction regarding Shaq's retirement:

Shaq Legend Hang up the jersey in Orlando Miami and LA Congrats shaq You Been a big brother since day one Now Not too many donuts!!
--Ron Arteston Twitter

One of the greatest to ever play the game. MUCH RESPECT BIG @SHAQ
WOW @SHAQ is leaving the game! I still remember him putting that big elbow in my chest when I was a rookie!
--Andrew Bynumon Twitter

The NBA wont ever be the same without Shaq Albert. Great guy. Shaq made the NBA a better place.
-- Mark Cuban

The Big Fella @SHAQ retiring! The funniest teammate I EVER had.I remember growing up watching and admiring him, a privilege to play with him
I would call Him @SHAQ Kovia ( like the bank) cuz he would always lend me money on the plane to gamble lol (I never keep cash on me)
@SHAQ would bring his Key Boards on the Air plane to produce like Timberland lol. He would dance like he was back in his FRAT days lol

--Jared Dudleyon Twitter

Great Career Big Homie @SHAQ! Sad to see you go...All Star Game will never be the same again lol
--Braylon Edwardson Twitter

What a career for Shaq Diesel!! The most dominating force to ever play the game. Great person to be around as well. Comedy all the time!!
--LeBron Jameson Twitter

I don't know why but Shaq retiring make me feel old...
-- Jimmie Johnson on Twitter

Everyone show Shaq some love. One of the best to ever do it. #cannnyouudigggittt
--Kevin Loveon Twitter

Congratulations @SHAQ on your quadruple platinum hall of fame career. I know you're not riding off into the sunset...what's next?
--Steve Nashon Twitter

We will miss the OG aka @SHAQ
--Nate Robinsonon Twitter

Shout out to @SHAQ on the hall of fame career. One of a kind player.
--Rajon Rondoon Twitter

For 19 seasons, Shaquille O'Neal was literally and figuratively an NBA giant. On behalf of the NBA, its teams, and his millions of fans around the world, I want to thank Shaq for everything he has meant to the league and to the sport of basketball, both on and off the court. We wish him and his family all the best.
-- David Stern

I'm honored and truly humbled to have been a teammate of the GREAT @SHAQ..this game will not be the same without him..respect
--Dwyane Wadeon Twitter

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