#the pulse of the carnival [ audio ]

[rollinpinwheel]

G'morning, have some Pinwheel vibes

[vampirevatican]

levi making edits of you 💕

yes because he's your #1 fan

treating you with idol status means stalking your socials and gathering every bit of content to make a shrine to you

he gets images and video from asmo's devilgram and some from yours too

while the brothers, and you, think he's spending late nights raiding and doing gacha pulls he's actually working on his latest edit of you

carnival edit? yes. any trending song used for an edit where it's one person?? best believe he's made one

ones that include your voice? yes but it's also tricky.

he could just use audio from your socials, but it's not enough... especially when other demons dare think they have a chance

he's gotta be one step above the competition

of course the accounts he posts these on are private and damn near anonymous. he's no tech noob.

not to mention imagine mammon's reaction or whichever dateable or non-datable is your #1

he would rather avoid an argument and the embarrassment

ofc asmo usually finds them first because he has his finger on the pulse of everything trending

the little fandom created behind you in the devildom, have dubbed levi (anonymously) with "that guy who makes really good mc edits" and "that one mc edit"

yes he has made thirst trap edits, yes some of them were a struggle to survive but he did it for you! (and maybe himself... and if he had the courage, maybe to rub it in his brothers face.)

[blogswithamelia]

BCM116 - Week Three Journal Entry (Case Study)

For the case study, I have chosen to research the Pulse Room work by Rafael Lorenzo-Hemmer. I was very fascinated with the concept of symbolising many different people’s lives in a room full of flickering lights. 

What is it? 

Created in 2006 by Rafael Lorenzo-Hemmer, Pulse Room is a large immersive media installation with over one hundred 300W light bulbs hanging 3 metres from the ceiling, covering the entirety of the exhibition room. At the side of the room, there is an interface that has the ability to read a human’s pulse. When a participant touches the sensor, their palpitations get recorded and transferred to the lightbulb closest to them (which is hanging slightly lower than the rest), and it flashes in time with the rhythm of their pulse. This information is stored and when new participants enter, the previous recordings are pushed forward, so that the new pulse can be recorded. Each new participant can see the previous heartbeats of people who entered before them, as they flicker all over the ceiling of the room. The flashing light bulbs together produce a chaotically flickering light environment by various layers of repetitive rhythms, creating a vibrant and pulsating “room”.  This interaction creates a unique and personal experience for each participant, blurring the lines between the artwork, the viewer, and the surrounding space.

Who is Rafael Lorenzo-Hemmer? 

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is a Mexican-Canadian installation artist who was born in 1967 in Mexico City. He graduated from Concordia University in Montréal, Canada in 1989 with a Bachelor of Sciences in Physical Chemistry. Despite his qualification in chemistry, he chose to pursue a career in interactive art, using his scientific skills and creativity to create immersive works. His works usually mix technology, performance, architecture, sound, and light to produce fascinating exhibitions that aim to influence audience participation. They also are most commonly showcased in public spaces and they are heavily inspired by phantasmagoria, carnival, and animatronics, his light and shadow works are "anti monuments for alien agency". Over the years, Lozano-Hemmer has received many awards across the globe for his works, such as:

Two BAFTA British Academy Awards for Interactive Art (London, England)

Golden Nica at the Prix Ars Electronica (Austria)

"Artist of the year" Rave Award from Wired Magazine

Rockefeller fellowship 

The Trophée des Lumières (Lyon, France)

International Bauhaus Award (Dessau, Germany)

The title of Compagnon des Arts et des Lettres du Québec (Québec, Canada)

Governor General's Award (Canada).

Inspirations, Context and History

Pulse Room belongs to a genre of art known as new media art. New media art is a broad term that covers art forms that are either created, edited, and showcased through new media or digital technologies. There are many types of media art, but some examples of popular ones include:

virtual reality 

digital

game 

computer animation and graphics

interactive 

In this case, Lozano-Hemmer’s work falls under the “interactive art” category. Interactive art takes on the form and shape of an event, where people attending the piece interact with the piece in order to make it come to life. This genre emerged in the late 19th to mid-20th century as artists started to incorporate the ever fast growing technologies into their creative processes. The recent establishment of the internet around this time also provided artists a place to reach large audiences across the globe that were previously inaccessible. Artists began to experiment with various mediums such as video, audio, digital graphics, and interactive installations. 

Lozano-Hemmer's work aligns with this tradition by using technology, in this case light and sensors, to create an immersive and participatory experience for the audience. Pulse Room inspired by Macario, directed by Roberto Gavaldón in 1960, a film that features the protagonist suffering from a hunger-induced hallucination and that each person is represented by a lit candle in a cave. These lit candles symbolised the duration of individual lives, which inspired Rafael to create a similar experience. The piece was also influenced by minimalist and serial music, as well as cybernetic research on the process of cardiac self-regulation carried out by the Instituto Nacional de Cardiología in Mexico.

How was it created?

Materials used in Pulse Room:

Computer (any)

Incandescent light bulb

Metal heart sensor stand 

DMX Dimmer pack/circuit board 

Lorenzo-Hemmer demonstrates the integration of art and technology through using a computer programming interface. This computer is used to collect the pulse signals from the metal bar sensor and has the ability to control every single light bulb in the room. Data is updated through USB connection to a DMX circuit board, and then it gets sent to the dimmer packs (which controls the amount of power of the bulb) where the bulbs are. There are two cables in the installation, one of which boots up the computers and sensors while the other translates signals to the dimmer pack. Lorenzo-Hemmer has made use of these technologies in order to create an aesthetically pleasing room full of sparkling lights, each representing a human being, leaving visitors pondering their experience after departing.

Significance

Pulse Room is a creative way of representing the human body's uniqueness. Everyone in the world has their own story, either individually or in the form of friends, family or romance. These people of all ages together help create the artwork of our world. In Pulse Room, each individual bulb represents an individual life. Likewise the pulse itself is symbolic of the rhythm of life. Each pulse has a different rhythm, much like how every person has a different look and personality. The all-encompassing immersive environment simultaneously transforms and translates energy from one source to another. The light bulbs register a human life and compose layers of repetitive rhythms as well as a vibrant and pulsating room. the installation will affect his or her sense of space and time. The visitor's experience within the installation is an index of the living organism. The light occupies the visitor's field of vision intensifying the contrast between light and darkness and the beating effect represents his or her actual heart pattern.

How does this help me?

This inspires me for my final work as I would like to do something interactive with lights, colours as well as have something that leaves the audience pondering the meaning or questioning their view on a certain topic, but I haven’t come up with any ideas at this point. I still need to brainstorm, so we shall see what I come up with in the future!

[writer59january13]

The boss aka Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen

born at Monmouth Medical Center

in Long Branch, New Jersey,

on September 23, 1949.

His nationalities include hodgepodge

of Dutch, Irish, and Italian descent.

He grew up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey.

I dedicate the following poem

to aforementioned musician, whose figurative guitar finger kept on the throbbing pulse resoundingly reverberating

across American heartland.

this cautious man (bobby jean) born in the u.s.a.

grownin’ up in the badlands of atlantic city

bonded with blood brothers

felt born to run along backstreets

in brilliant disguise that did cover me

frequently blinded by the light

of the full moon

casting silhouettes against darkness

on the edge of town

which lunar shafts pierced candy’s room,

while immersed in book of dreams

describing better days on a Cadillac ranch

where devils & dust - visible dancing in the dark

celebrating like calendar showered 4th of july

or other glory days in darlington county

even though I ain’t got you.

livin’ in the future

mine hungry heart hankered

and felt like I’m on fire

for you, this fire in me craved human touch

desire - roaring into the ole factory fire

because I wanna marry you

because the night populated

with girls in their summer clothes

each dazzling like 57 channels (and nothin’ on)

in imagination of my american skin

descended from when adam raised a cain

before last to die forecasting kingdom of days

now dwelling in celestial mansion on the hill.

now rightfully claim status of I’m a rocker/ local hero and I’m goin’ down

meeting across the river

if I should fall behind

on the downbound train as living proof

within light of day magic jungleland

policed by highway patrolman i.e. johnny 99

alias johnny bye bye – held up without a gun

defending this lucky town

established on Matamoras banks

from an incident on 57th street

thus celebrated

as local hero every independence day

when, with murder incorporated

firing point blank out in the street

that staccato new york city serenade

from no surrender outlaw pete

originally from nebraska.

it’s hard to be a saint in the city open all night

within my hometown

once my father’s house, now my city of ruins

where tis moot to ask

does this bus stop at 82nd street?

one step up

into the pink Cadillac

hops the ramrod queen of the supermarket

teasing audio dials sans radio nowhere

a red headed woman

racing in the street toward secret garden

to save my love –

with thee angel rosalita (come out tonight)

offering reason

to believe roll of the dice real world

and to prove it all night

from spare parts – shards of roulette wheel

housing souls of the departed

please save my love and stolen car

for sherry darling – that spirit in the night

she’s the one among souls of the departed

no longer stopped by state trooper

precinct based along streets of philadelphia

some crackling like streets of fire

straight time mandate

for those armed to the teeth

along tenth avenue freeze-out.

requiem per terry’s song – what love can do

accompanied by e street shuffle

performed in somber tones

rumbling down thunder road

for souls of used cars

two hearts crushed

along this hard land

for: the ghost of tom joad

the last carnival homage

to wild billy’s circus story

the price you pay when you’re alone

working on a dream

now wreck on the highway.

we take care of our own from youngstown

when heading of to the promised land

the rising distant mystical eden

where you can look,

(but you’d better not touch)

espying the river of salvation

joining eternally the ties that bind

a tunnel of love

or like the wrestler

pinning opponent tougher than the rest

like laborers working on the highway

chiseled like this hard land!

[black-strike-otp]

LT : Chapter 5

♪♫ Holding onto what we find. We don’t want to lose this fight. You, me, and gravity.  Brave enough to give it all, knowing that the faint will fall. You, me, and gravity~  ♪♫

Was home here, or was it out there? Here felt foreign. The planet recovering and not full of life; a thousand memories of war, a childhood hardly lived. Here tasted like defeat and sadness mixed with endings and beginnings never fully over or fully starting. Here was an unfulfilled dream and false hopes.

But there was no better. There had beauty and adventure, but it was hollow. There had no connections and no secure place to ever rest your head long. There was just as much muddled with loss as it was with triumphs. There had whispered promises and torn them down; ripping them from outstretched fingers the moment you thought you had grasp.

Cybertron was not home. But space neither felt like home.

Staying or going, Novastrike felt no yearning for either conclusion. At the end of the cycle, the only benefactor of each was one held a somewhat reliable source of energon and the other the possibility of a long overdue retribution. These only positives the top of a pamphlet of further ‘good’ qualities as they were filled with bad.

The answer to leave though wasn’t a question. After all, she could never forget and never forgive. The dreams that haunted her at night; the recollections that would be with her forever now in her processor. So much loss. So much more that could come. Yet it was something she felt had to be done.

Guard had always been the biggest supporter of everyone. He was determined to see the qualities in someone that spoke to a goodness in them. Their strengths could be assets; their weaknesses something he would acknowledge and see them through. It didn’t matter what faction you came from; your history, your background, everyone deserved a justified evaluation and a chance. Everyone deserved the right to live and to change and grow; everyone deserved a helping hand and a smile, a shoulder to lean on, someone to listen.

Should it be so baffling that someone so thoughtful was once a Decepticon? There were tales of glory and sacrifice from them; though most believed to be untrue. To think that Megatron had once vowed for peace essentially considered a myth by all standards now...

She twirled a small artifact between her digits as she mused; feeling the channels and cuts scored into metal. With just a glance, the light of her optics caught on the polished silver sphere. A simple yet elegant design had been painstakingly carved into the surface, with a small set of initials on the other side. Dangling from it, a thin flexible strand of silver to attach to her wrist and slip beneath the armor on her arm for safekeeping.

A smile played across her mouth as her thoughts cleared. With a flick of her digit, she popped open the lock on the penny-sized objects hinge.

Inside, a pulsing light show of silver and blue tones danced across the gemstone inside. A single chip hidden beneath it let out a most unusual sound; an enchanting chime of soft music mixed with a darker, richer undertone. It wasn’t something especially special to anyone but her and one other individual, but the tune soothed her when little else did.

There was a long road ahead. A journey that like the voyage that originally took Cybertronians off their home world and into the unknown left them with hope but no tell of success or victory. Things could go a number of ways. For all she knew, they may never return to this place again.

It would all be worth it in the end. She had to assure herself of this.

Closing the locket with a soft ‘click’, Nova slipped it beneath her wrist and up into her armor with a heavy vent. Her helm fell low as she jiggled her dangling legs over the edge of the chasm before her; watching the world and its people pass her by.

Her audios flicked back and she turned her helm sluggishly to look over at the scorpion approaching her. He blinked his many optics at her out of sync as he approached.

“All okay?”

“Yes- fine, just a bit lost in thought I suppose. Why? Something wrong, Scorp?”

Clicking in response, the bug shook its helm from side to side. Its thin prong legs tapped swiftly upon the metal ground underfoot as he approached the remainder of distance to her side.

Upturning her lips into a smile, Novastrike reached out to brush her digits against the dark gold and silver minicon’s side. There were fissures that lined his armor senselessly; without pattern from wounds battle and nicks and dents that were either old or needed repair from careless digging tactics. He otherwise appeared in notably good shape, thanks to Blackout’s devotion to taking care of his small mechanoid friend.

“Checking on you,” he chirped in response.

“Awwww, what, are you worried about me?” Nova cooed, scratching in the space between his the armor surrounding his helm and his body.

A delighted mechanical whirl escaped the bug as he gave a slight shiver in response.

“Second partner,” he confirmed. “Seem distant. Making sure.”

Offering a reassuring smile, the small white-armored femme turned her gaze off to the side.

“She does appear very far away from here,” agreed a rumbling voice; catching Nova off guard as she whipped her helm around.

With arms crossed, the obsidian giant had crept up on her without her realization. Strange how someone so unbelievably large could do such a thing. The sheer force of his weight and presence shouldn’t allow it.

“I hope she doesn’t stray too far,” he went on a bit quieter as he stepped closer. “Though, where she may roam among stars, I would follow.”

Novastrike gave a snort in response. She could feel the burn in her audios as she smirked up at the moron; his softened crimson optics and the slight smile he usually reserved only for her a few others that she could count on one servo.

“We’re going to the same stars together,” she emphasized, trying to play serious.

“You appear to be walking among them already.”

“I’m just… having some alone time with my thoughts.”

“Do you wish for us to go?”

“N-No you’re both quite alright, Blackout,” Nova hurried in response, raising both hands up to him in surrender before dropping them to her lap.

“Hmm,” he grumbled deep in his chassis. “If you’re sure of that. Notwithstanding; you do appear to have walked in starlight and bathed in the presence of the universe’s light.”

“Bet you tell that to all the femmes,” she hissed, squirming in place.

An amused smile in black, Blackout echoed a deep chuckle to himself. He slowly moved to a kneeling position; offering out a servo to each small Cybertronian.

Scorponok was quick to scale up his master’s arm and perch himself awkwardly over his shoulder. With his frame being built more horizontal, he simply lounged himself over the mech with a self satisfied trill. He wasn’t normally up so tall to take in all the views.

Giving a small shake of her helm and a roll of her optics, Nova huffed and carefully climbed up to kneel on her sparkmate’s servo just before he moved to stand at full. She tried not to look too closely at his damned handsome faceplate or the ridiculous warmth and love emitting from his gaze. Stupid mech had a way with making her spark pitter patter and do flips like it was on a carnival ride. A reaction she couldn’t control.

The giant mech gingerly offered her a place upon his shoulder, which she accepted gracefully. Slipping from servo to shoulder, Novastrike dangled her legs off the edge and leaned back as he dropped his arms to his sides.

“I most definitely don’t say that to all the femmes,” he finally replied with a mischievous grin.

“The only reason you’re saying that is because my armor is white,” she laughed quietly.

“Your armor could be as dark as mine and the statement would still be true,” he disagreed matter-of-factly. “You are a good individual. A very compassionate femme who likes to spread her kind spark with anyone she can.”

“Mmmm,” Nova hummed thoughtfully. “You’re sweet, handsome devil.”

She leaned in to press a light kiss to his cheek. Blackout smiled a fraction more; his chassis rumbling with a noise of appreciation.

Something felt… off.

“You didn’t just come here to smother me with sweet words, did you?”

“I… didn’t know you were up here,” Blackout admitted slowly. “I came here hoping for a little quiet time, too.”

“Well, if you need the space…”

“No,” he breathed in quick response. “Stay. Please. I…”

A ray of emotions moved over his faceplate. Conflicted, hopeful, nervous… Novastrike’s audios drooped a little as her tail swished, reaching out to caress the side of his face.

“Hey…”

Leaving was worrying him. She could feel it. Even with their sparkbond closed off for the time being, it was something that had been building within him. She’d seen it, sensed it, watched it morph and evolve. There was a lot on his shoulders.

And leaving his best friend behind again; not knowing when they’d return, what they’d return to, if communications would be able to continue between them while they were in the bowels of space…

Whatever it was Blackout had meant to say, he didn’t finish. He looked over to Scorponok, reaching up to scratch along the side of his helm for a moment.

His other arm reached up a handful of nanokliks later; digit extending to stroke the side of her faceplate. Nova let out a small little ‘huff’, scowling at him a little.

It didn’t seem to prompt a response, but he leaned her a bit closer and kissed the top of her helm.

Venting out sharply, the small femme exhaled as she murmured, “I’m here for you, you know. If you want to talk about it.”

“I know, Novastrike.”

“We’re a team here: don’t forget that.”

Blackout grinned then; a flash of confidence lighting up his optics. “How could I forget?”

Snickering quietly, she placed her palm to his shoulder for support as she leaned back. Her voice soft and gentle as she spoke: “If you don’t want to do this, love, we don’t have to. Guard wouldn’t think any less of you for wanting to stay here, wanting to spend time with Barricade and Venus.”

A frustrated noise escaped Blackout. He raised a servo to place it against his faceplate. Scorponok on his other shoulder chattered with reassurance.

“I know,” he stressed. “But the bots left on the Rising Star, they didn’t have a choice in what happened and what situation they’re in now. They were as much allies and support as Guard had been. I owe them so much for accepting me, for helping repair me, for their kindnesses. Guard wouldn’t let them down, and I won’t either.”

“And Neutroboost,” he snarled the mech’s name like a curse, “Needs to pay for what he’s done.”

“You know, for a mech who likes to say how dark and vile you are, you’re very noble, sweetspark.”

“You say that after I threaten the life of a mech?”

“Well, yes,” Nova stated, perplexed. “Any justice system would say he needs to be punished for his crimes.”

Blackout snorted. “You realize my punishment will be very different from a just punishment, according to many of Cybertronians old laws?”

“Duh. Trust me: I too want to make him bleed.”

“Heh,” Blackout chuckled shortly. “You spend too much time with me.”

A quiet metallic laughter escaped Scorponok. Blackout tossed him a dirty look, but Novastrike felt a fire burning in her chassis. She scoffed loudly and gave her mate’s face a little shove, causing him to look back at her with some surprise.

“Shut,” she threatened in a scathing tone. “You can’t blame yourself for my thoughts or actions. I… offlined a mech when I thought he was going to kill you. I’ve fought my own battles. I’d have offlined a mech for Guard, too. He took me into the Neutrals group and even when Crookedwing and Neutroboost weren’t certain of me; saw me as an expense but at least one who didn’t consume a lot of their resources, Guard saw potential and said that I should train. That there were things he saw in me and knew I could do with my own skills and size that no one else could.”

“In his name and honor, I want to get revenge on his behalf, too,” she seethed. “He didn’t deserve what his own so-called ‘friend’ did to him. They were together in this war before any of us were, and that was how Neutro repaid him? No, I want to see this through, and if that means that my servos get dirty in the process, it’s a risk worth taking. There’s no governing system for Cybertronian. Even if there was; frag them.”

She huffed dramatically at her last point. In a sulking fashion, she threw her arms up, and then crossed them tightly to her chassis as she pouted.

Blackout stayed silent for some time. Slowly, he turned his optics away from her to stare at the horizon. After quite some time of silence, allowing her to cool off, he finally spoke.

“I’m sorry if I seemed insensitive of your feelings.”

“No you didn’t, not really I just… I want to make it clear: I’m doing this just as much for Guard as I am myself. And I understand that this might not be easy, and it certainly won’t be pleasant, squeaky clean work.”

“You know,” Blackout said quietly, “If things get too much for you… I’m willing to stand up and do the hard stuff.”

“Oh please,” she teased, letting out a shaky sigh as her shoulders relaxed, “I’ll be the one finishing off Neutroboost most likely, anyway.”

“Is that so?”

“You bet your firm aft.”

Dark laughter escaped Blackout. He pressed a servo to his chassis a moment, shaking his helm. With a sharp contrasting bright light emitting from his scarlet optics, he tilted his helm slightly towards hers. Novastrike mimicked the gesture as she stood up, placing her forehead against his.

“I love you, and your spunky fireball of sass,” he chuckled.

“And I love you, and your firm aft.”

He raised an optic ridge.

“What? It’s a nice aft.”

“I knew you only liked me for my frame.”

“Oh, shut up,” she hissed, laughing as she shoved at his faceplate while they both laughed.

A quiet, underlying set of notes sung forth from her spark as she snorted on her laughter. Though she couldn’t make it out through their cackling, its matching counterpart echoed in a resonating deep hum in Blackout’s chassis.

It occurred to her that home was neither here nor there. Home was with Blackout; with Blackout, with their friends and their family.

They were the home she’d been missing all those years ago. And she’d do anything to fight to keep it whole and safe.

[vrheadsets]

PlayStation VR Library Now Over 100 Titles

Originally launched on 13th October, 2016, the PlayStation VR went through something of a rocky start to reach its current position as king of the high-end virtual reality (VR) castle, with over 1 million units sold. With the upcoming release of the updated PlayStation VR headset, this seems like a good opportunity to look at the history of the device so far, and what is currently available for users to play.

Upon first launch, the PlayStation VR’s popularity appeared to take Sony by surprise, as the company had not produced enough stock to meet demand, a problem particularly seen in Japan where customers queued around the block on restock days. With the new PlayStation VR version seeing initial release in Japan later this month, lets hope Sony have learned from experience.

The PlayStation VR features a 5.7 inch OLED panel with a display capable of 1080p resolution, the device also has a video output box that allows video to output to the TV as well as the headset as well as providing processing for 3D audio effects. Though the PlayStation VR has no build-in headphones, it has a standard 3.5mm audio jack for users to plug in their own headphones, or a third-party audio solution such as the Mantis. The headset has nine LEDs for position tracking, which is PlayStation Camera is responsible for.

A run down of the currently available PlayStation VR titles follows below:

Title

Publisher

Release Date

Dreamworks: Voltron VR Chronicles Digital Domain Interactive September 26, 2017 DWVR Perziur Slu September 26, 2017 Light Tracer Oasis Games Limited September 26, 2017 End Space Orange Bridge Studios Inc September 19, 2017 Bloody Zombies NDreams Ltd September 13, 2017 The Solus Project Grip Digital S.R.O. September 18, 2017

  The Solus Project

A tense, atmospheric hybrid between a survival crafting title and sci-fi horror that gradually ramps up the tension until you are jumping at your own shadow.

VR Karts Viewpoint Games Ltd September 12, 2017 Don’t Knock Twice Wales Interactive September 5, 2017 Sparc CCP Games August 29, 2017 Sneaky Bears War Ducks Ltd August 29, 2017 Soul Dimension Time of Virtual Reality August 22, 2017 Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul VRWerx, LLC August 15, 2017 Neptune Flux Zoxide Games August 8, 2017 The Lost Bear Fabrik Games Ltd September 5, 2017

  The Lost Bear

A narrative puzzle-platform title that uses an aesthetic borrowed from paper cut-out puppet shows to tell a story of overcoming fear.

Dino Frontier Uber Entertainment August 1, 2017 CastleStorm VR Edition Zen Studios August 1, 2017 Theseus Forge Reply S.R.L. July 26, 2017 Smashbox Arena Archiact Interactive Ltd July 25, 2017 Tiny Trax FuturLab Limited July 25, 2017 Heroes of The Seven Seas Time of Virtual Reality July 25, 2017 Infinite Minigolf Zen Studios July 25, 2017 Superhot VR Superhot Sp. z o.o. July 21, 2017 The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Viewing Revolution Bandai Namco Games America Inc. July 18, 2017 Manifest 99 Project Flight School Inc July 18, 2017 Archangel Skydance Interactive LLC July 18, 2017

  SuperHot VR

A VR recreation of the hit time-bending first-person shooter. With its own unique and distinctive look etched in red, white and black SuperHot VR delivers unique gameplay in which time only moves when you do.

Apollo 11 VR Immersive VR Education Ltd. July 12, 2017 The Bellows Castle Steps LLC July 11, 2017 Fantastic Contraption Radial Games Corp. July 11, 2017 Arizona Sunshine Vertigo Games B.V July 5, 2017 Spider-Man: Homecoming – VR Experience Sony Pictures Virtual Reality June 30, 2017 Cavernous Wastes PouncingKitten Games LLC June 27, 2017 Ancient Amuletor Time of Virtual Reality June 27, 2017

  Arizona Sunshine

In a world overtaken by zombies, you must travel the desolate and dangerous deserts of Arizona, shooting down zombies with your trusty gun, facing horrors in bright sunshine.

Chess Ultra Ripstone LTD June 20, 2017 Air Force Special Ops: Nightfall Sony Interactive Entertainment June 20, 2017 Race the Sun Flippfly June 13, 2017 (VR Update) Special Delivery Meerkat Gaming LLC June 6, 2017 Tekken 7 Bandai Namco Games America Inc. June 2, 2017 Star Trek: Bridge Crew Ubisoft Entertainment May 30, 2017

  Star Trek: Bridge Crew

Fulfil the dream of generations of Star Trek fans by taking a seat at a bridge console and becoming a Starfleet officer. Explore the galaxy, battle Klingons and get your friends in on the action for this intergalactic experience.

Dick Wilde PlayStack Limited May 16, 2017 Farpoint Sony Interactive Entertainment May 16, 2017 Moonshot Galaxy Big Fish Games May 9, 2017 Polybius Llamasoft Ltd May 9, 2017 Gnog Ko-Op Mode Inc. May 2, 2017 Oasis Games Shooter VR Bundle Oasis Games Limited April 25, 2017

  Polybius

Drawing inspiration from an infamous videogaming urban legend, Polybius presents a surreal arcade shooter that is as addictive as it is bewildering.

Symphony of the Machine Stirfier Pty Ltd April 25, 2017 Statik Tarsier Studios April 24, 2017 Quiz Night Tonight! Mardonpol Inc April 21, 2017 Bandit Six: Combined Arms Climax Studios Limited April 19, 2017 HeroCade Lucid Sight, Inc. April 18, 2017 VR Invaders – Complete Edition My.com B.V. April 18, 2017 StarBlood Arena Sony Interactive Entertainment April 11, 2017 Mortal Blitz Skonec Entertainment April 4, 2017 Fated: The Silent Oath Frima Studio March 28, 2017 Korix StellarVR Limited March 28, 2017 Leave the Nest Kaio Interactive LLC March 14, 2017 Darknet Archiact Interactive Ltd March 7, 2017

  Statik

A puzzle title featuring a creepy scientist who seems to have taken lesson in charm from GlaDOS and a box that holds your hands confined form the basis for a clever and intuitive puzzle title.

Unearthing Mars Winking Skywalker Entertainment Limited March 7, 2017 Dying: Reborn Oasis Games Limited February 28, 2017 Psychonauts In The Rhombus Of Ruin Double Fine Productions February 21, 2017 Mervils: A VR Adventure Vitruvius Technologies Inc. February 21, 2017 DiRT Rally Plus PlayStation VR Bundle Codemasters Inc. February 17, 2017 Joshua Bell VR Experience Sony Interactive Entertainment February 14, 2017 VR Ping Pong Merge Games Limited February 7, 2017 Dexed Ninja Theory Limited January 31, 2017 Moto Racer 4 Anuman Interactive January 24, 2017 Resident Evil 7 biohazard Capcom U.S.A., Inc. January 24, 2017

  Resident Evil 7 biohazard

Generally acknowledged as one of the best entries in the Resident Evil series for many years, this dark tale of an apparently abandoned plantation house and the sinister family inhabiting it is given whole new levels of terror in VR.

Eve: Valkyrie CCP Games December 23, 2016 Rollercoaster Dreams Halfbrick Studios Pty Ltd. December 20, 2016 Lethal VR Team17 Software Ltd. December 20, 2016 Fat City Heavy Iron Studios December 15, 2016 Starship Disco Solus Games December 15, 2016 Perfect NDreams LTD December 13, 2016 I Expect You To Die Schell Games LLC December 13, 2016 Werewolves Within Ubisoft Entertainment December 6, 2016 Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality Bossa Studios Limited December 3, 2016 How We Soar Penny Black Studios Ltd November 29, 2016 Crystal Rift Psytec Games Ltd November 29, 2016 Pinball FX2 VR Zen Studios November 29, 2016

  EVE: Valkyrie

Spin-off of the popular sci-fi MMO EVE, EVE: Valkyrie for many was their first taste of the depth and immersion that VR is truly capable of.

NBA 2KVR Experience 2K November 22, 2016 Gary the Gull Limitless Sky Squadron, LLC November 22, 2016 HoloBall Treefortress Inc. November 22, 2016 VirZoom Arcade VirZoom, Inc November 22, 2016 Proton Pulse Plus ZeroTransform LLC November 22, 2016 Space Rift – Episode 1 bitComposer Interactive GmbH November 15, 2016 Time Machine VR Minority Inc. November 15, 2016 Trackmania Turbo Ubisoft Entertainment November 11, 2016 (VR Update) Robinson: The Journey Crytek November 8, 2016 Eagle Flight Ubisoft Entertainment November 8, 2016

  Robinson: The Journey

Step into a sci-fi world full of adventure, secrets, and dinosaurs. The players takes the role of a young boy, trying to survive on a harsh world with only an AI for company.

Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare Jackal Assault VR Experience Activision November 4, 2016 O! My Genesis VR Xpec Entertainment Inc. November 4, 2016 Carnival Games VR 2K October 28, 2016 Weeping Doll Oasis Games Limited October 27, 2016 Windlands Psytec Games Ltd October 25, 2016 Tethered Secret Sorcery Limited October 25, 2016 Pixel Gear Oasis Games Limited October 20, 2016 Sports Bar VR Cherry Pop Games October 18, 2016 Waddle Home Archiact Interactive Ltd October 13, 2016 Gunjack CCP Games October 13, 2016 Rez Infinite Enhance Games October 13, 2016

  Rez Infinite

Successor to the cult trance shooter of the SEGA Dreamcast, Rez Infinite gives the experience a new dimension by bringing it into virtual reality with spectacular results. Particularly with Area X.

Headmaster Frame Interactive Studio LLC October 13, 2016 Loading Human: Chapter 1 Maximum Games October 13, 2016 The Assembly NDreams Ltd October 13, 2016 Ace Banana Oasis Games Limited October 13, 2016 Catlateral Damage Fire Hose Games October 13, 2016 (VR Update) Job Simulator Owlchemy Labs, Inc. October 13, 2016 The Brookhaven Experiment Phosphor Games October 13, 2016 Battlezone Rebellion October 13, 2016

  Job Simulator

One of the earliest VR success stories, Job Simulator is a tongue-in-cheek look at a future run by computers where humans have forgotten how to work. Job Simulator was so successful that merchandise was produced.

Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live Sega of America Inc October 13, 2016 RIGS Mechanized Combat League Sony Interactive Entertainment October 13, 2016 Here They Lie Sony Interactive Entertainment October 13, 2016 Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes Steel Crate Games, Inc. October 13, 2016 Volume: Coda Bithell Games October 13, 2016 World War Toons Beta Studio Roqovan, Inc. October 13, 2016 Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration Square Enix Co. Ltd. October 11, 2016 Batman: Arkham VR Warner Bros. Interactive October 11, 2016 Thumper Drool LLC October 10, 2016 Harmonix Music VR Harmonix Music Systems, Inc October 10, 2016 100ft Robot Golf No Goblin LLC October 10, 2016 SuperHyperCube Polytron Corporation October 10, 2016

  Batman: Arkham VR

Though short and more of a proof-of-concept than a full videogame, giving people the chance to be Batman, even for a short time, drew a lot of attention.

The Playroom VR Sony Interactive Entertainment October 10, 2016 Until Dawn: Rush of Blood Sony Interactive Entertainment October 10, 2016 PlayStation VR Worlds Sony Interactive Entertainment October 10, 2016 Tumble VR Sony Interactive Entertainment October 10, 2016 Hustle Kings VR Sony Interactive Entertainment October 10, 2016 Super Stardust Ultra VR Sony Interactive Entertainment October 10, 2016 Wayward Sky Uber Entertainment October 10, 2016 Driveclub VR Sony Interactive Entertainment September 21, 2016 Nebulous Namazu Studios August 30, 2016 Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X Sega of America Inc. August 30, 2016 Bound Sony Interactive Entertainment August 16, 2016 VEV: Viva Ex Vivo‎ Truant Pixel, LLC May 17, 2016

from VRFocus http://ift.tt/2xnesGY

[qorillas]

a comprehensive humanz listening experience

henlo friends i wrote this as i listened to the entire humanz album for the first time. here are my thoughts and revelations written in real life as i went through this life-changing and at times harrowing experience. i hope you enjoy

intro: i switched my robot off

is that russel’s voice

that FUCKIN TRANSITION INTO ASCENSION??? damn

7/10 im fuckin ready

ascension

gets me fuckin pumped as always

BE A PUPPET ON A STRING HANGIN FROM A FUCKIN TREE

9/10 after like 50 plays over the past few weeks it’s still great 

strobelite

oh this is a cute intro. very bouncy

sounds like a hip and trendy remix of the seinfeld intro. im digging it

this is the type of song you go swaggering down the street to wearing ur fancy new 70s disco duds

just had a mental image of murdoc dancing disco to this

i feel like this is gonna grow on me in the coming weeks

noodle’s falsetto is so cute she’s going so hard i love her

7/10 i like how happy it was

saturnz barz

honestly after how joyful strobelite was this tempered the album really nicely

i still can’t listen to this song without thinking about murdoc’s dick. minus one point

honestly i’m only four songs deep and the album already has got a really strong electronic pulsing haunting vibe going and i love how well it all goes together

death by 2d. those vocals? WHACK and by whack i mean i want to cry it’s so beautiful

6/10 always a classic and gave us THE BATH but honestly i’ve always liked the other singles a bit more and i don’t want to think about murdoc’s dick

momentz

what is happening

MOMENTZ that scared me

HOLY SHIT

HOLY SHIT HHOTLY SHIT

THEY’RE GOIN OFF

DAAAAAAAMN 2D

dirty

im gonna SCREAM THIS IS SO FUCKING GOOD THIS GOES SO FUCKING HARD GOD FUCKIN DAMN

whose voices are those?? the high voices saying plastic on the ceiling

is that 2d and noodle omf

honestly the fact that this is in a major key makes it like. really psychedelic party hard i can see people headbanging and on hella drugs listening to this

i think i liked the intro part more than when it got all dreamy at the end

7/10 kind of petered off at the end but the intro was really amazing

interlude: the non-conformist oath

i promise not to repeat things other people say lmao

4/10 obligatory weird shit from damon

submission

ohhhHHHHhh the vocals

OOOHHHHHHH THE BACKING VOCALS

ohhHHhhHHHHHHHH fuck fu cku fucK i love the backing choir it’s so gorgeous 

all the choir backings make me think of the whole band just singing quietly together in the back and. idk it’s such a good image of them all being so deep into their music and jamming together and on the same wavelength

what the hell kind of noise is 2d making in the background of this

i feel like this is gonna get stuck in my head in the next week 

HOLY SHIT THE RAP i like his rap style very erratic 

the choral vocals behind the jumpy rap is so good

this is honestly something i think of when i think of the word celestial

8.5/10 this is gorgeous but i’m saving 9s and 10s for things that really knock me off my feet 

charger

is this the orange juice lady

super tough leather jacket vibe murdoc def wrote this

fuuuuuuuuuuck stu’s lil breathy speaking voice. honestly im weak for high pitched breathy stu voice he’s so cute fuck me up

a cha cha cha

i feel tough listening to this like walking into a gritty bar and smirking at everyone. the beat is really stalky

idk normally i don’t really like songs without very much melody but its p well done 

OHHHHH the electronic whistles that’s good

murdoc probably was fuckin his bass for this one

okay more melody at the end!!! choral backing vocals are back too i like it more now

6/10 2d’s vocals got me wet ngl

interlude: elevator going up 

wait that was so short

uh 5/10 because the guy says going up like gooOOOooing up which is nice

andromeda

ohhHHHh okay honestly with the interlude before it it’s nice it feels like im taking a fast glass elevator up to space 

OH I JUST GOT WHY THERE’S LIKE AN ELEVATOR SOUND AS THE FIRST NOISES

this like. cleansed my palate and calmed me down after charger. 

the drum? ??  poppin. smooth backing instrumentals. noodle’s little humming in the background? adorable. 2d’s falsetto? magnificent

the little melody right before take it in your heart now lover always gets me it’s so dancy i always bounce around to it. so great

andromedaaaaaaaa (andromedaaaaaaaa)

when does damon cry

8/10 another hit single and it reminds me of like neon signs and retro roller rinks

busted and blue

OH FUCK IT TRANSITIONS

OH FUCK THIS IS THE ONE THAT MAKES EVERYONE CRY ISN’T IT

ohhhHHHHHhhhhh god oh god this is gonna fuck me up 

FUCK

death by 2d 

ohh. oh my god. fuck. fuCK. fuck the vocals. fuck. the vocals. 

my heartstrings

is it about 2d? because if it is. oh god that’s so sad

amplify the sirens more like amplify my sobs because there are tears

so deep and ethereal i feel like i’m sitting on a roof staring up at the stars about to fall into space

I CAN’T GET BACK WITHOUT YOU

this is another love song on par with to binge or on melancholy hill

murdoc niccals or stuart pot or SOMEONE IN THIS BAND is in LOVE WITH SOMEONE and it’s BREAKING THEM APART 

THE BACKING VOCALS oh noooo oh noo oh no

fuck i’m really actually tearing up i [note: i had to stop here because my breathing was getting funny and i was tearing up and my rommate is asleep so i had to calm down]

he sounds like a lost little child looking at the stars through his window 

the deep bass sounds and the minor chords and the gentle snapping. im floating

THE SLIDING NOISES this is what it feels like to be in space my heart is so cold and empty but so full 

the ending satellite. the gentle rain noises. the setting down of the music. goodbye i am dead tell damon albarn that he has killed a person on this day

10/10 this song is one of those rare ones that catches me by the heart and reminds me of dark blue and stars. thenks damon albarn for my life and someone please comfort 2d 

interlude: talk radio

why are there so many interludes in this damn album

wtf

uhhhhhhhh

is this guy okay

2/10 what the fuck

carnival

what the fuck

oh okay that opening beat was cool

is someone knocking on a door. let them in

the keyboard in the back is cool i guess

someone please let whoever’s knocking in 

very bobby womack-y vibe. pretty intense between the dark instrumentals and the KNOCKING WHICH DOES NOT END

hyeAUp

3/10 i didn’t really like it. very spinny tho and it goes well with the rest of the album as like a filler song

let me out 

MAMA MAVIS OH MAMA THEY TRY MY PATIENCE

OH OH OH IT’S GONE WHO IS LEFT TO SAVE US

OH OH OH WE MOURN IM PRAYIN FOR MY NEIGHBORS

THEY SAY THE DEVIL’S AT WORK AND oh IS CALLIN FAVORS

honestly the little electronic oh oh oh’s in the beginning are what i live for

plus they bleep out trump which is hilarious drag him damon

let me out let me out let me out it’s DEL LET HIM OUT

fuck this was my favorite out of all the singles i listened to it 15 times today

2d’s vocals are adorable yeah yeah yeah 

the whispering gets me SO MCFREAKING PUMPED im ready to OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT

the build up gives me legitimate shivers. the whispering and the choral vocals ugH i love it

you gotta die a little if you wanna live

the ending is so haunting

let me out 

9/10 i love this song so much please let del out. my only problem with it is that i sound dumb when i try and sing the first lines with the electronic oh’s 

interlude: penthouse

REALLY ANOTHER ONE

damn someone’s goin hard

ding

5/10 sounds like one of those audio posts where people do some song but heard through the wall 

sex murder party 

just looking at the title i know murdoc wrote this

oohhhhh nice beat

this is like going to a cool underground house party with lots of smoke and colored strobe lights somewhere in germany

is someone playing the kazoo

idk i don’t think 2d’s sleepy sad vocals really go with this it sounds like he’s mourning while walking down a runway

on that note: model 2d walking down a runway. he would fall off the stage almost immediately

this sounds like something that would play in forever 21

the deep voice has some cool lyrics 

why are they whimpering the words sex murder party 

the kazoo is back

murder murder murder muuurder 

4/10 didn’t love it but it was better than carnival and it had a kazoo 

she’s my collar

ohHHH i like this very punk pop

oH SHIT damn stu those vocals tho

wait what is he talking about a collar

DID HE JUST SAY SHE’S MY FURSONA

i likE IT IT’S VERY DARK AND BOUNCY AND ETHEREAL BUT UHHHHH IS THIS A REFERENCE TO ALL THE BDSM AND FURRY SHIT GOING ON THIS PHASE

the panting .. . . mmmmmm

2d’s tryna get some 

KALI DAAAAAAAMN

this is a really sexual song but i really love it 

i really love when 2d speaks quickly and semi-raps 

kali’s vocals are gorgeous. also her snapchats were great

she’s my collar she’s the one i’m running with 

im jammin out this is gonna be my new jam 

FUCk the panting came back i. wasn’t expecting this

9/10 2d’s into some kinky shit but i’d still let him fuck me 

WAIT THE PANTING IS A REFERNECE TO DOGS FUCKING SHIT IT’S A PUPPY PLAY REFERENCE WITH ALL THE 2D DOG STUFF THIS PHASE FU ck

i am. kinkshaming. minus one point for making me suffer through this realization

interlude: the elephant

COME THE FUCK ON THEY’RE NOT INTERLUDES ANYMORE IF THEY TAKE UP THREE QUARTERS OF THE GOTDAMN ALBUM

uhhhhh again. what the fuck

2/10 these are getting annoying

hallelujah money

so unsettling and weird but that’s what it’s going for i guess

ben clementine’s voice is so good and it sounds like a sermon esp with the choir in the back i love it

idk it makes me sad because it reminds me of the night of the election and how everyone cried and was so scared

i love the chord progressions

haaaaaaallelujah moneeeeeeey 

again 2d’s vocals kill me i have been slain thrice

we are still humans, how will we know, how will we dream, how will we love

what fantastic lyrics. the crux of the album tbh i feel like i’m being told a story

this song terrifies and creeps me out but makes me feel warm and strong like i can face the scary things it brings up??  i don’t like it as a song per se but as a piece of art with a message it’s absolutely amazing

HALLELUJAH MONEY

where is my spongebob scream

8/10 i never loved this song but i appreciated the chord progressions a lot this time around and it adds a lot to the message of the album. also it fuckin destroys donald trump lmao damon what is ur damage i love it

we got the power 

honestly it’s upbeat and i like that but it’s a little bit too cheesy for me

the claps in the back remind me of that shitpost where it’s like the people in the 80s doing that weird dance yoga

this is a good song to do jazzercise to. imagine murdoc doing jazzercise

 never mind don’t do that

“on the m1″ is that a reference to m1a1?

oh oh oh stu ur so cute

the backing instrumentals are so powerful i feel like i am being propelled through the stratosphere on russel’s back

5/10 it’s cute and happy but i never really ever got into it even after having had time to

interlude: new world

P L E A S E N O M O R E I N T E R L U D E S 

this sounds like an electronic soap opera intro theme song

the elevator? ? i guess the elevator is the new thing this album

oh fuck this is creepy 

yikes yikes YIKES 

honestly it has an actual uhhhh music ish thing going on so?? ? i guess there’s that

i just wanted to be close to you BITCH NO GET THE FUCK AWAY 

2/10 because i don’t want to be close to whatever’s whisperin in my ear and also because apparently damon albarn does not understand what an interlude is 

the apprentice

so great. so jazzy. so cool and suave. 

clap clap clap cla-cla-clap i love the beat 

I AM A BROKEN SCREEN I’M A MAP ROUTINE

this is also going to get stuck in my head isn’t it

I’M INSIDE YOUR HEAD ya u are

oooohhh the electronics are so bubbly

THE FEMALE SINGER’S VOICE? ? ? SO SMOOTH SO GOOD so gorgeous im dead

this song reminds me of a lava lamp 

YO NEW BLACK KING NEW YORK DREAM 

IM THE FIRST BLACK PRINCE OF A NEW WHITE KING

god this rap is so great 

normally i don’t like slower songs but this one just. takes its time and jams out and knows exactly what it’s doing. what a bop

8/10 a solid addition to the album and holds its own really well 

halfway to the halfway house

this album is so long but i’m not complaining. actually i am a little because i have a writing sample due in an hour and a half and my computer is dying but this is more important 

nice spaceship sounds

2d’s really jamming out on those bloopy keyboard sounds isn’t he

it’s like floating in a pool of static kinda

i like the chorus esp since everyone in the band is singing together which i still think is so cute

everyone singing on it has really good voices but idk the fact that there’s no real melody kinda distracts from that 

it sounds like a congregation or a gospel choir which is super cool 

3.5/10 it was pretty cool but a little too aimless for me

out of body

pipe down pipe down

tHIS IS CREEPIN ME OUT

oh SHIT WAIT THIS IS SO COOL DAMN

i don’t know who’s rapping right now but i love her and her voice

THIS GOES OFF DAMN

i love it. i love this song this is so bouncy and cool and it’s so cute too with the lyrics telling you how to dance

noodle wrote this. noodle 100% wrote this

i feel so cool listening to this 

this is definitely going to be in a commercial for like. fashion or makeup or something 

this is the new runway song

this is something you listen to right before going out to some fancy european club with like models and weird plastic architecture

oH SHIT OH SHIT 2D’S RAPPING IM SCREAMIGN

FUCK 

FUCK IM YELLING his voice is so high im screeching

they made this fucking dork into a suave motherfucker 

9/10 i was briefly transformed into a european model and stuart “two-dents” pot makes his debut as a falsetto rapper and also establishes himself as the coolest baddest hippest raddest mofo out there despite not being able to tie his shoes 

ticker tape 

it’s almost over :(

very dreamlike and chill 

awwww the way he sings ticker tape is so cute 

the whistling!

okay this one’s cute it’s like. very dreamy and sweet

cauterized and beautiful wow i like those words 

i can see stu or russ singing this gently under their breath while just doing work. what a cute and sweet song 

it’s about healing? maybe they’re healing their relationships with each other. i hope so

a sudden draft and quick chill, a single snowflake falls and that is all damon your imagery is fantastic as always

ohh the acapella is so nice. this means murdoc had to go buh buh buh in the back which is cute 

the sudden stops are so quirky 

again i love the crackling of vinyl at the ends of some of these 

7/10 super cute and not what i expected at all from such a dark album

circle of friendz

the final song? ?? i hope it’s good i wanna give it a 10

ohhhh what’s gonna happen with this buildup

who’s breaking shit

aw these lyrics are cute even though they’re a little juvenile 

a circle of friends :))))))

the growing instrumentals in the back are so sweet 

stu and noodle singing my circle of friends as the last thing in the album rotted my teeth and gave me diabetes

a cute ending!!!! even though it didn’t wow me it made me smile

7/10 they are a happy family 

faves: ascension, saturnz barz, momentz, submission, andromeda, busted and blue, let me out, the apprentice, out of body 

overall: not going to give it a numerical rating because i would just give it a 10 because i was so excited for it. honestly i think it was a pretty solid album there weren't any breakout hits like feel good inc. or whatever but they did a really solid job on it in total. thenks damon albarn for my life please tell 2d and noodle and russel and murdoc i love them 

[learninginapublicmedium]

Learning in a Public Medium: Global faith, queer protest, and video activism in the AIDS crisis and the present. The Lab at MAC Belfast, Saturday 25th March 2017 1-4 PM. Event description: In 1989, video artist, writer, arts organiser, educator and activist Stuart Marshall wrote:‘the visual domain has an extraordinary importance to gay politics and gay experience. For example, the gay pride march is the only political demonstration which automatically achieves its own political ends. Unlike any other political demonstration which attempts to demonstrate – to make visible – the extent of public disapproval in the hope of an eventual political effect. It demonstrates that lesbians and gay men exist, that we insist on being visible and that we refuse to be confined to the private domain by which we have been consigned by law. The Gay Pride march takes up and makes public the forms of display- carnival theatre, pantomime, ‘exhibitionism’- which have been the only forms through which gay men have been allowed to 'appear’.’ This workshop will explore Stuart Marshall’s writings and works for sound and video that configure queerness, visibility and sound in the context of a reflection on the intersection of faith, activism and protest by comparing queernesses in the context of sectarian conflict and the influence of faith in queer politics and culture in the global north - Northern Ireland- and the global south - Aceh, Indonesia -,to consider what it means to march in a context where marching is already a contested kind of public protest or where queerness leads to corporal punishment or state sanctioned violence and brutality. Acknowledging the role that radical theatre and street performance played in the genesis of pride as a form of political protest, the workshop will also seek to explore movement, spatial exploration and sound as evidenced in Stuart Marshall’s 1971 sound-mapping work titled Idiophonics, that uses the body, sound and language as a way to consider alternative paths of resistance to spatial domination and/ or the visible in this and other queer cultural activist works and practices.  Workshop schedule: Part 1: Movement(s), resistance and bodies Reading from Stuart Marshall, Picturing Deviancy, in Ecstatic Antibodies: Revisiting the AIDS Mythology.(Ed. Tessa Boffin and Sunil Gupta). Reading and movement exercise using Stuart Marshall’s ‘Go Through The Motions,’ 1975, 6 mins. Clips from ACT UP N.I.H. protests and Stuart Marshall interview with Gregg Bordowitz on Christopher Street, New York from Stuart Marshall’s Over Our Dead Bodies, 1991, 74 mins. Movement exercises with laptops and projectors projecting images of protest, resistance and bodies: Audio from: Keep Your Laws Off My Body, Catherine Gund and Zoe Leonard, 1990, 12 mins Video from:  Elegy in the Streets, Jim Hubbard, 1989, 29 mins (extracts) Journal of the Plague Year (After Daniel Defoe), Stuart Marshall, 1984 (extract) Kiss 25 Goodbye, Steve Farrer, 1991, 6 mins 42 secs Affirmations, Marlon Riggs, 1991, 10 mins (extracts) Screening of Robert Hilferty, Stop the Church, 1991, 23 mins 16 secs -COMFORT BREAK- Part 2: Performance (mapping space in sound, queerly) Reading from Stuart Marshall, Alvin Lucier's Music of Signs in Space, Studio International, 192 # 984. December 1976, p.284. 'Consider how the notion of space has developed in the visual arts since the mid- 1960s. Sculptural articulation of three dimensional space has been supplemented by environmental art, body art, performance space, conceptual space, installation – the list could be enormous. In a sense space can be seen to play no part in music (at least by the composer).  Western music has traditionally demanded a repression of space: most music is performed for an audience who are all in the same seat. To a certain extent musical performance must address itself to the performance space but only to subjugate its specificities – a 'bad' concert hall is one that irrepressibly asserts its own presence. Conductors attempt to de-emphasise the acoustic characteristics of particular auditoriums in order to attain a kind of acoustic norm appropriate to the kind of music being played. This may involve the repositioning of instrumental sections and the moderation of notated dynamics, if for example, he brass section is over-emphasized by the resonance of the space. But this extremely important spatial parameter is un-notated by the composer and in this sense is extra-musical. It falls outside the musical code, Most music is spatially non-specific in notation and spatially assignifying in performance (in that performance aspires to an acoustic norm).' Workshop based on Idiophonics, Stuart Marshall, 1971  Idiophonics, as the title implies, is concerned with the individuality of both performer’s and audience member’s perception and with the signification of these differences. The work has no definitive form—performances are constructed from a repertoire of simple sections. The most recently performed version consisted of three sections: 1. Three performers carrying tuned wood blocks and hammers stand back-to-back in the centre of the performance space. They attempt to make a simultaneous attack by intuiting each other’s moment of entry. When a performer detects simultaneity s/he takes a pre-determined number of steps away from the centre of the space. A series of closely spaced pulses, even though they may occur within a single pulse’s reverberation time, do not constitute simultaneity. As masking must be total, errors may occur when two simultaneous pulses are thought to be three. As the performers separate within the space the environmental acoustics begin to alter individual performer’s perception of simultaneities. As the distance between performers increases to more than 57’ audible delays are formed by the sounds traveling for more than 50 ms. These delays markedly affect an individual performer’s perception as sounds heard simultaneously by one performer cannot be heard as such by any other performer. The section is completed when performers reach the extremities of the performance space. 2. Three performers tune ultrasonic whistles having a low frequency range within the acoustic spectrum to the lowest frequency available on all three whistles. The performers separate to the two furthest points of the performance space, A and B at one point, C at the other. Performers A and C produce a continuous tone as A walks rapidly toward C. C hears A’s frequency shifted upwards by a doppler effect and tunes his/her whistle to this frequency. C carries this new frequency (which is heard as a downwards doppler effect by A) to B who repeats the operation. Each audience member hears a frequency shift differently depending upon his/her position in relation to the moving performer. The operation is continued until the whistle frequencies are carried out of performers’ range of perception. 3. Three performers carrying portable foghorns stand at three exits from the performance space. Each in turn produces a sound pulse which is immediately “echoed” by the other two. The performers than leave the auditorium producing pulse sounds at will. When a performer hears a signal s/he replies immediately. As sound delays increase, returning replies may sound like new signals which have been returned as echoes from distant buildings or landforms. The section finishes when performers can no longer maintain audio The group will attempt a queer Idiophonics (using found objects we can gather and/or mobile phones e.g. youtube clips of air horns, app notifications, recordings of phobic slurs or embodied queer sounds of choice while following Marshall’s original instructions…) Part 3: Questions and discussion Questions developed by Ferdiansyah Thajib, KUNCI Cultural Studies Centre, Yogyakarta, Indonesia and Conal McStravick on queer protest and faith in the post-colonial present.  Questions: What kinds of public are created through current forms of street politics? How do these relate to historical forms of street protest? What can (queer) protesters aim to represent by protesting and how can they address the complicated relation between rights and imperialism or colonialism? What are the continuities, or discontinuities the limits and possibilities of comparing different types of protest or march in Northern Ireland or in Aceh, Indonesia? What role does the audible play in protest and in terms of tooling for new kinds of protest, what are the roles of the audible in pushing visibility?  Who do queers represent when they protest and whose voices do they conjure in their acts of protest? Whose outrage needs to be voiced ? How are these protests personal and how are they relational and how are they shared?   

[killitwithbleach-blog]

Goodbye to a World

I’m standing on the most sacred ground in American music history. In 2015 Bethel Woods, the site of the first Woodstock Fest, has been transformed into Mysteryland, a multisensory cultural experience for a new generation of starry-eyed electro lovers.  Between two hundred-foot-high rainbow-painted horse heads Porter Robinson is concentrating on the instruments before him where DJ decks had been stationed all weekend. My face is drenched in the effervescent glow of the stage lights and suddenly I’m thinking, “Fuck, it’s happening again.” My nose tingles as I recognize the delicate melody that gradually swells into a triumphant wall of sound. The bastard has me tearing up for the second time this set. When the towering euphony reduces to four crooned lines, I’m crying.

                       We’ll see creation come undone

                       These bones that bound us will be gone

                       We’ll stir our spirits ‘til we’re one

                       Then soft as shadows we’ll become

The lyrics don’t conjure any particular memory or evoke any particular emotion, but rather elicit the response of experiencing vivid beauty. “Sea of Voices” was Porter Robinson’s homecoming announcement, telling the world that the year-long hiatus, his recession to his parents’ home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was over. (Robinson, 2014)

Porter Robinson’s ascension to EDM superstardom was more a series of snatched opportunities than a pursuit. A 12-year-old recluse fascinated by role-playing and rhythm video games, he began trying to re-create his favorite 8-bit tunes on a pirated copy of Sony’s ACID software. By posting his unripe productions on Internet forums he found a mentor in vet producer Kyrandian, who pushed Porter until out popped a Beatport number one. “Say My Name” was a bona fide electro house banger, and at 16, Porter was instantaneously inundated with requests to DJ parties around the country. DJ culture was totally foreign to the small-city Carolina boy and clubs were uncharted territory until he started performing in them.  One year later he wrangled Ultra Music Fest, South by Southwest, and three Electric Daisy Carnivals on his first headlining EP tour. One year after that, he charted Billboard. (in Fusilli, 2012)

Oblivious to the dominating Dutch house sound of the first wave of the EDM takeover, Porter’s 2010 to 2011 singles were influenced by the music that raised him: chiptune, trance, IDM (intelligent dance music) and Japanese electro hyperpop from the interactive video game Dance Dance Revolution. The result was a moderately eclectic soundboard within the typical 128-BPM four-on-the-floor electro house format, which he coined “complextro.” It was a style defined by its lack of definition and an emphasis on detail, which Porter thought characterized the work of some of his biggest inspirations, Wolfgang Gartner, DirtyLoud, and Skrillex. Porter prematurely enlisted himself as another purveyor of complextro while these early singles—though inspired by several genres—still fit snugly into the electro house casing. (in Fusilli, 2012) That is, until he wrote “Language.” With its trance breakdowns, glitched-out buildups, and an ambient vocal interlude between progressive house drops, it defied the structural and tonal conventions of electro house. Finally, Porter had fulfilled his own prophecy. He was a complextro artist. The summer of 2012 it was impossible to avoid “Language” at any major festival. If you knew at this point what the letters E-D-M stood for, you knew Porter Robinson’s name.

It’s the all-American name of the fresh new face of the American dream, although as far as faces go, our 19-year-old protagonist hasn’t quite grown into his yet. Porter sits opposite his Billboard interviewer at Coachella, a tan, tattooed human stamp of the word “bro.” In the same frame, Porter’s skin appears blanched and his shoulders permanently hunched over from years of living behind the blue light of a computer screen. His upper lip is shadowed by sweat and baby hairs. As Porter recites responses about his age and influences, he absentmindedly slackens his mic hand so the audio feed fades in and out. Once Billboard Bro has filled his question quota, he flashes a farewell smile at the camera. Porter is sheepishly thanking the camera he thinks has been filming him this whole time, and you have to wonder if socializing is something he ever enjoys. (Brooks, 2012)

In between “Say My Name” and “Language” Porter Robinson made a crucial decision.  With Gesaffelstein and Brodinski added to his roster of idols in 2011, he flirted with the idea of making a sharp left turn into tech house, a hybrid of mechanical techno percussion and groove-infused house. (Brooks, 2012)(in easylove Records, 2010) After all, his proclaimed main objective at the time was to “maximize energy and write a song that was perfect for the dance floor,” an idea he traversed in the 2011 Spitfire EP with two dubstep tracks and the crassly aggressive moombahton number “100% In the Bitch.” (in Fusilli, 2012) But something was missing. The constraints of music that functions solely to energize the body left him yearning for a sound that would satisfy the soul. Goodbye tech house, hello emotional introspection. The uplifting and anthemic “Language,” his first true complextro track, was also his first artistic expression of sincerity. Its chart-topping success was all Porter needed to start a new chapter of his career: the decision for beauty.

“Easy” was the confirmation that the Porter we knew, booty-shake-maker big-beat-banger Porter, was never coming back. A collab with fellow touring producer Mat Zo, “Easy” one-upped “Language” in emotionally uplifting power. By connecting with his fans on a deeper, more personal level, it seemed Porter had unearthed his true identity as an artist over entertainer. He was gaining momentum. And then he disappeared.

The decision to abandon the DJ culture that nurtured him peaked in late 2012 when he was touring with Mat Zo, “Easy” in development. “I remember being in the back of my tour bus, and we were all just listening to our favorite music and sharing tracks, and we did that for an hour, and there was not a single dance record that any of us wanted to play for each other.” (in Knaggs, 2014) EDM was losing its appeal. Porter was becoming fed up with the creative limitations of dance music as functional entertainment, the hackneyed structure that builds and releases for the sole purpose of partying. The fear of creative stagnation, which he frequently refers to as “the enemy” in interviews, prompted a retreat to Chapel Hill. “I’m going to go back and listen to every album that inspired me and figure out what it is that I loved about that stuff, and try to channel this all into something that’s really me.” (Robinson, 2014) No interviews, no tours—he dissolved back into the Internet so that the only time we saw his face was in hieroglyphics, 【＝◈︿◈＝】. If Porter hadn’t withdrawn at his peak, we might’ve lost interest in that year of Soundcloud inactivity and festival absence. But we didn’t. We were hungrily awaiting the big reveal.  

Worlds was Porter Robinson’s dissent from EDM, but it materialized less as a middle finger than a hug. It wasn’t 21-year-old Porter who emerged from the blue light portal of his parents’ basement, it was 12-year-old Porter, the boy consumed by the various universes of massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). (in Knaggs, 2014) Porter constructed Worlds as a universe with different doors, where you could enter Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or Diablo, Mario 64 or World of Warcraft, enter the fictional fantasy that he’d been living while “Say My Name” was still in the making. He forged a sonic trip down memory lane to the “cheesy 2000-era pop rock,” the late-90s/early-2000s video game chiptunes trapped in 8 bits, and the Japanese media that defined his childhood. To effectively and obviously reference this era in Worlds he went straight to the source, plucking out presets from General MIDI and SoundFonts, programs created in the 80s and 90s to facilitate seamless transitions from recorded to synthesized audio. (Robinson, 2014) “Most people would hear those and they wouldn’t think that it sounds retro, they would just think that it sounds bad. But for me, that’s moving the nostalgia forward.” (Robinson, 2014) This conglomerate of “retro” and contemporary synthesized sounds gives the album a timeless quality. Stadium-sized snare hits à la Phil Collins dance with unfamiliar modernity through advanced glitching effects. Every human voice on the album—including the many guest artists—is processed with an ethereal futurism. The album’s keyword was ‘escapism,’ the medium a projection of our imaginations. (Robinson, 2014)

In contrast to the discordant hues of the spitfire album cover, Worlds displays pastel softness. Deviating from the rapid-fire 128 to 140 BPM pace of Spitfire. Worlds hovers mostly around 90. Although 128 BPM rhythms do occur, they project a refined delicacy, as in the case of “Sea of Voices,” which actually feels like it floats through 32 BPM. If you were looking for a dance floor banger, Worlds was not the place to look. Crowds wouldn’t jump up and down at his shows anymore, but pulse the air with their outstretched hands, embracing each other affectionately and swaying in sensual undulations.

“Sad Machine” emerged as the immediate hit. An infectious opening hook carries the intro into Porter’s most singable verse yet. It’s a wistful post-apocalyptic duet between Porter and Avanna, a female character from a Japanese singing synthesis platform called Vocaloid. (Robinson, 2014) Boy meets robot. Boy and robot comfort each other in the wake of the end of the world. Porter embraced the role of vocalist out of necessity as the album’s due date rushed up, his vulnerable rawness as a singer contrasting with his computerized counterpart. (Robinson, 2014) His reference to Avanna in interviews as “she” and “her” is more endearing, rather than disturbing or pathetic, and he could care less that some label him an internet-certified pussy. “The best hate tweet I ever got was ‘hey loser go hang out with your imaginary robot girl’ I was like hell yes this dude gets it.” (twitter.com) K-k-k-kawaii, Porter!

Avanna resurfaces in tracks like “Fresh Static Snow” and “Goodbye to a World,” though not in the most Japanese of all, “Flicker.” In her place, a text-to-speech program spits out a nonsensical, whimsical rap of seamlessly chopped up and reconnected album titles translated to Japanese, albums like Daft Punk’s Discovery, his all time favorite. (Robinson, 2014)  This is one more example of how Porter cleverly repurposes his sources of musical inspiration directly into the product. “Flicker” is an ode to the Japanese ideal of the appreciation of beauty and color. He searches for the recreation of this ideal he’s absorbed from the timbre of Japanese video games through pensive breakdowns that bloom into optimistic chord progressions.

The most literal representation of Porter Robinson’s resignation from aggressively beat-driven EDM is “Fellow Feeling,” where a weeping violin multiplies into a mournful symphony worthy of a blockbuster soundtrack. The first two minutes of this elegant lament recall the piece Porter has claimed to be “the most beautiful song [he’s] ever heard,” the orchestral version of “Serenity” by Afternova, an expansion on a trance beat, within which also lurks the melody of “Language” and the movement of “Sea of Voices.” (in Harper, 2011) “Fellow Feeling” is conducted by a girl’s whispered narrative filled first with regret, then optimism.

           I cried, for I didn’t think it could be true

           That you and I might’ve always known one another

           And that we could not only evoke,

           But conjure a place of our own

           And that everywhere that has ever existed

           It was all in service for our dream

           Now, please, hear what I hear

A chugging techno monster abruptly infiltrates the symphony, assaulting the vulnerability of the strings with mechanical grime.

           Let me explain

           This ugliness, this cruelty, this repulsiveness

           It will all die out

           And, now, I cry for all that is beautiful

This duel between the two conflicting aesthetics then morphs into a hard-hitting complextro beat guided by a driving side-chained kick drum. To Porter, this was the easiest way to declare his separation from the perfunctory functionality of dance music. The hybrid house climax at the end, though, references “Language” and “Easy” to make clear that mellifluous music at 128 BPM is still a possibility.

If you visit Porter Robinson’s Soundcloud page you will find it cleansed of the “ugliness” and “repulsiveness” to which he refers in “Fellow Feeling.” Missing are his moombahton and dubstep releases, the faux-complextro pre-“Language” singles, and the bass-heavy Spitfire remixes. The density and grit of these tracks cannot, in his mind, coexist with his newly refined artistry. I wonder if Porter can even listen to “100% In the Bitch” now without cringing at its vulgarity. As for Soundcloud’s music discovery function, he spends at least an hour daily searching the server for new ideas rather than “crazy production prowess.” Rejecting the negative connotation of the word ‘novelty,’ he embraces its implication of distinctiveness. “When I hear something that I’ve never heard before, I love that feeling, and I think that’s one of the greatest things about electronic music.” (Robinson, 2014)

The conception of the Worlds tour was as immense an effort as the album itself. Porter handed everyone in his art department a 20-page document with explicit instructions on the visual concept. Surrealism based on glitch and role-playing video games rather than trippy drug-inspired imagery was the goal. (Robinson, 2014) The outcome was a multi-screen cinematic journey through flashes of vibrant and prismatic glitches and Japanese calligraphy, skies of floating islands, pixilated flower fields, molten orbs, and the familiar forests we experience vicariously through recurring anime characters that leap, fly and fall through Porter’s low-poly imagination. Full immersion in his vision is essential, so he performs only original compositions edited for the sake of novelty, triggering samples on drum pads, playing dominant melodies on keys, and singing wherever possible. He defies the odds against a single DJ possessing so much virtuosic musicality. Inevitably, the experience begs the emotional participation of his audiences, which is guided by narrations, the most memorable of which is the following:

Every place you’ve ever imagined

It’s real

There is a fictional city in your

mind and you know every corner of it

Your mind is a world

Each of us is a place

This shit really takes you on a feel trip.

The conclusion of the album and the live show is Avanna’s swan song, “Goodbye to a World.” In the most heartbreaking instance of the overarching apocalyptic theme of Worlds, Avanna devolves literal bit by bit into her monotone death. The fragility that leads to worlds’ destruction references the MMPORGs so significant to Porter which, “once the company goes under, or the game is no longer profitable...these worlds are completely inaccessible. They basically just die.” (in Knaggs, 2014) I imagine young Porter’s eyes welling with tears as the server shuts down and he is forcibly returned to reality. “Worlds doesn’t really have a place in reality,” he tells us. (in Knaggs, 2014) As he grapples with the imminence of adulthood, he preserves a child-like fantasy. It’s a vessel of fiction and escapism, which is really the guiding spirit of EDM as a whole, though Worlds has liberated Porter from the shackles of the conventionally vapid modes of this ideology. As he noticed EDM curating its own obsolescence, he mapped out his immortality in an alternate universe with an open invitation and warm welcome for those of us who wish to join him.

  Bibliography

Robinson, Porter. Porter Robinson on DJing and the State of EDM. YouTube. N.p., 12 Aug. 2014. Web.

    10 Dec. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdzj2I0QgP8>.

 Robinson, Porter. "A Powerhouse, And He's Not Yet 20." Interview by Jim Fusilli. The Wall Street

    Journal. N.p., 4 July 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <http://www.wsj.com/articles/

    SB10001424052702304299704577502452164796814>.

 Robinson, Porter. Porter Robinson Q&A @ Lollapalooza 2012. Interview by Jonathan Brooks. YouTube.

    N.p., 4 Aug. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u--wXQB--00>.

 Robinson, Porter. "New 'World' Order: Porter Robinson Interviewed." Interview by Rob Knaggs.

    Clas. N.p., 11 June 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <http://www.clashmusic.com/features/

    new-world-order-porter-robinson-interviewed#view-gallery-image-2>.

 Robinson, Porter. Porter Robinson Interview: 'EDM is entertainment, it's not art'. YouTube. N.p., 5

    June 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwOLDyJv-wI>.

 Robinson, Porter. Porter Robinson on Video Games and Breaking Down Tracks from His Debut Album,

    'Worlds'. YouTube. N.p., 11 Aug. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/

    watch?v=UiRDqYxPSig>.

 Robinson, Porter. EMC 2014: Keynote Porter Robinson: Changing the Game. Interview by Nick Thayer.

    YouTube. N.p., 15 Dec. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/

    watch?v=iPxfWmnRmyw>.

 Robinson, Porter. "Porter Robinson Interview." easylove Records. N.p., 1 Nov. 2010. Web. 10 Dec.

    2015. <http://www.easyloverecords.com/porter-robinson-interview/>.

 Sachs, Elliot. "Porter Robinson Refuses to Work with Katy Perry." YourEDM. N.p., 10 Aug. 2012. Web.

    10 Dec. 2015. <http://www.youredm.com/2012/08/20/

    porter-robinson-refuses-to-work-with-katy-perry/>.

  Robinson, Porter. "An Interview with Porter Robinson." Interview by Sarah Harper. Knight News. N.p.,

    29 Oct. 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <http://knightnews.com/2011/10/

    an-interview-with-porter-robinson/>.

 Robinson, Porter. "Q&A: Porter Robinson Loves SF, His Dogs, and Japan." Interview by Carlos Olin

    Montalvo. SF Station. N.p., 12 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <http://www.sfstation.com/2014/

    09/12/porter-robsinson-san-francisco-dance-music/>.

[type2diabetestreatments-blog]

DSMA November - How to Use Social Media?

New Post has been published on http://type2diabetestreatment.net/diabetes-mellitus/dsma-november-how-to-use-social-media/

DSMA November - How to Use Social Media?

As veterans in the diabetes blogging community, Amy and I are often asked how people can get started or get more involved in social media. If you're unfamiliar, it can feel like a huge undertaking, so it's not surprising that many people are hesitant about jumping in feet first. Plus, the discussion continues about whether social media really does make a difference. This month's Diabetes Social Media Advocacy (DSMA) carnival poses the question:

What advice would you give someone trying to figure out how to use social media?

Obviously, we wholeheartedly believe that social media does make a difference, so here's some of our advice on getting started:

Allison's Advice -

There certainly isn't a right or wrong answer to this question, but I want to encourage as many people to get involved in this big, amazing family that we have here online! I <3 the DOC!

I was recently a guest on the DSMA Live online radio show and we discussed this topic in great detail, so if you want to hear the audio version of my adventures in the DOC, you can check it out here.

My advice on the show — and a conviction I stick to — is that it's OK to start slow. When you're just getting started, it can seem very overwhelming to have so many options! A dozen diabetes social networks, plus Twitter, plus Facebook, plus the hundreds of diabetes blogs can feel very paralyzing.

Simply start with whatever makes you feel most comfortable. Some people are more interested in lurking and observing, so reading blogs or forums might be their best fit, whereas some people might want to jump into blogging or tweeting their own stories and advice. Blogging can be great if you have stories or experiences you want to make available to people, while Twitter can be perfect for those who want to keep a pulse on the community without the work that goes into maintaining a blog. However, keeping up with the frequency of Twitter can be overwhelming, too, so some might feel more comfortable getting to know people on Facebook or another diabetes social network, like Diabetic Connect. Honestly, there really is something for everyone!

The last thing you want to do is let yourself get overwhelmed by social media and start feeling like you're not really connecting with anyone because you're so wrapped up in just trying to keep up with all the messages! Start by doing the one or two things that make you comfortable, and that you feel like you're getting some value out of. Once you've mastered one social network or community, it is a lot easier to branch out and use other tools.

Amy's Advice -

I don't think it's any secret that social media has changed my life. I can barely imagine what it would have been like to be diagnosed with this isolating, high-maintenance disease in my mid-30's without all the internet tools to plug into a community of empathic fellow patients. Ugly, that's what!

I've been so very fortunate to find myself at the epicenter of this amazing online community, and am extremely grateful to everyone who's followed my work here at the 'Mine — which is my passion, my job, my homebase, and the thing turns living with diabetes into something I can look forward to every day (almost).

I get asked by a lot of people and groups these days about how best to utilize social media, so I'm going to share some tidbits of information that I presented to diabetes educators in Utah at a recent conference. Here goes:

• Keep in mind that social media isn't a fad... it's a fundamental shift in the way our society communicates!

• One of its core tenets is that it is easy to use; all you do is just click a link here or there to get talking. If it were hard to use, Facebook wouldn't have upward of 750 million users!

• What makes social media social is the INTERACTION it allows. No matter what platform you start on, the first thing to do is look for some people who share similar interests with you and reach out to them. Message them. Start a dialogue.

• Follow the golden rules of Transparency & Authenticity: be completely open about who you are, what you stand for, and who pays your bills (if applicable).

• Be prepared to LEARN, and not just push out all the amazing things that you know.

• Facebook is great for: finding old friends and groups like your old alma matter, letting friends and family know what you're up to, finding out what they're up to, keeping up on what your favorite organizations — and retailers! — are up to.

• Twitter is great for: following a constant stream of rapid-fire tips and information from interesting people and organizations you admire, finding out what these people and groups are up to at any given moment, making real-time snarky comments about what you're up to.

• Blogs are great for: reading longer articles about topics that interest you, from writers who interest you, and being able to comment and interact with said writers. Some publish very personal stuff, while some publish more "formal" content like news coverage and product and book reviews (we do both!)

• Dedicated diabetes online communities are great for: establishing an online "home" where you can dwell among friends with diabetes, find great recipes and community product reviews, plus helpful guides to diabetes topics, etc.

• Keep your eye on Google+, a new hybrid of Facebook and Twitter that allows you to choose the people you want to follow and organize them around "circles" of friends, family, colleagues, etc. There will also be video chatting. Much buzz about this to come, I am sure!

• Know what you're looking to get out of social media, so you can use it to your best advantage: Want to make new friends? Understand new products and research better? Find advocacy programs you can get involved in? Check, check, check — you can do all that and more!

• If you want to learn how to do something online, search the internet! There are tons of tutorial videos and super-easy how to's out there ready to help you.

• Don't forget to have some fun with it.

Enjoy the DOC. It's the best resource I can imagine for living well with diabetes.

* * *

This post is our November entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you'd like to participate too, you can get all the information here.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

Type 2 Diabetes Treatment Type 2 Diabetes Diet Diabetes Destroyer Reviews Original Article

[rollinpinwheel]

Me: I should write replies/be productive

Brain: Pinwheel selling merch in between shows but it has the same energy as Kitchen Without Gun

[rollinpinwheel]

I bring you Pinwheel vibes let's hit the carnival 🪗

[rollinpinwheel]

As a Robo Fizz Mun you Can't be normal about Dance Robot Dance

[rollinpinwheel]

Speaking of muse songs...

@fizzarollitm here's a gift from Pinwheel

[rollinpinwheel]

Music for when Pinwheel is feeling a little mischievous, flirty, or dare I say... romantic?

[rollinpinwheel]

Obsessed with this remix