#Monika Bielskyte

[hier-houdt-het-op]

[igotopinions]

BLOG RUNNER

I have some thoughts about Blade Runner 2049. Spoilers and unsolicited opinions below the cut!

Hello! I am a white North American scifi fan man in his thirties, ergo I fuckin’ love Blade Runner. Own the final cut DVD. Seen various cuts many times. Threaded Blade Runner-y stuff into a lot of my early writing. I’m also a fan of Ryan Gosling, and was otherwise primed to like the hell out of Blade Runner 2049.

You might guess by my set-up here that I did not like it. Well, let’s start with some...

Simple, easy criticisms

How were there even less Asian people in this than the first one? Weird in general, super weird for a setting that evokes many modern Asian cities and with so many elements of Japanese culture woven into it. Also an LA without any Spanish in the signage feels odd...

Where are the male sex-bots & hologram pals? Also, if there were any queer characters or content in the film I must have missed it.

This movie was miserable in its portrayal of women, outside of a few main characters. More on that below.

Holy crap was there a missed opportunity for something amazing when Deckard is being tempted by Fake Rachel. Could have had some amazing meta-commentary on trying to recapture the feelings of a past love but instead was just a tired “What if I could give you what you’ve missed all these years?” villain tease.

Seriously, what is up with Villeneuve’s addiction to twelve year old boy titty doodles? 

Simple, easy praise

Luv & Joi, aside from their names, were pretty great. Joi’s spin on the scene from HER was a worthwhile exploration of a different take on the same thing. It was very satisfying following the line connecting Luv’s hitting on K by way of commenting on the beginning of Rachel & Deckard’s relationship all the way through to her kissing K after beating the shit out of him, then yelling “I’m the best one!”. Lieutenant Joshi was also fantastic as the order obsessed boss who hits on her employee/slave.

That fight at the end, just outside the seawalls, was rock solid. Maybe it was the (intentional?) reminder of when Gosling went full Jason Voorhees on Ron Perlman in DRIVE, but the dread of the dark, indifferent, steadily pounding waves did wonders as backdrop for everything in that scene.

The kids put to work extracting nickel from e-waste was a nice nod to a very real, shitty thing from life.

Um, well...let’s move on.

And more!

That Cityscape, Costume & Set Design, Tho

I get why you’d go the CGI route, but dang I wish they’d done what the new Star Wars films are doing and tried to use CGI more as a garnish for practical models in line with the original films. The sense of texture and plain old presence would have helped greatly, while better evoking what they were trying to - the original. Those high up shots of the city near the beginning made the copy/paste-ness of the city blocks mimicking the classic old setting very obvious, and thus even close up it was hard to think of them as being anything special. That’s a kick right in the low hanging reason a lot of people, including myself, would want to see this film in the first place. Individual set designs were much better - I never thought I’d be so pleased to see scuff marks around a door handle like you do in Lieutenant Joshi’s office - yet still suffered a bit for often being designed to prod you in the ribs all “Hey, hey remember that scene from the first one? This is like that, only we tweaked it a little!” Overall, none of the locations looked bad per se, they just never did anything terribly new or interesting. That said I feel like I should give the film a bit of a handicap on this front if only because it’s specifically trying to build on a look that was original as hell when it showed up 35 years ago and has since been re-visited to death by umpteen works made in-between then and now. I found myself reminded of when I first saw the scene in ANNIE HALL with the subtitles of the characters thoughts and said “This is so tired...”, then realized it was the actual point of origin and I only felt that way because of later works who riffed on or copied it.

The women of 2049 vs Villenueve and his twelve year old boy titty doodles Much like The Truth, the think pieces are out there (same with the curious racial demographics). So I’ll just add that I found some moments of violence against women pretty jarring (ex. Leto cutting his nude, oiled up and freshly fondled ladybot) and, as much as I love the three main female characters, they’re all pretty one-note...any one of which I could handle if there was another, complex female main character to balance things out. There is not. Oh and those absurd statues that dominate the first shot in Las Vegas with what what can only be legally described as “titties” and their perfectly round, open, waiting mouths kicked me right out of the story. It took me a long time to get back into it. If that and things like it (see: giant holo-nipples) were supposed to be commentary on the crassness of commercialized male desire, they hewed too close to being what they were potentially commenting on for it to be clear. As good ol’ Vonnegut says in MOTHER NIGHT, “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.“ I gather Villenueve does better by women in ARRIVAL, which I’m overdue to see, but that wasn’t the film I just watched. I don’t know about queer characters which, again, genuinely felt strange not to see any evidence of in the film. I know some charming folk will think I’m just “virtue signaling” or whatever with this stuff but replace “no queer characters plus poor representation of women & POC” with “Nobody with all ten of their fingers, people had a dick sticking out of their forehead which was never explained, plus everybody kept being really shitty to dogs for some reason” and hopefully that’ll get across that if nothing else this kind of thing is just sloppy, incomplete storytelling that distracts the viewer. The nut of it is... ...when I zoom in - enhance, if you will - on a specific part I can find an awful lot to like in Blade Runner 2049. When I pull back to look at it as a whole, I’m left with a movie that felt at most like a good version of a tired, tired, tired format -  re-booting or re-visiting old properties instead of creating new stories. I’m not convinced this film achieved what many of the most celebrated scifi sequels did, which was to really re-imagine - not just revisit - what was done in the first film, like with ALIEN becoming ALIENS. Could you switch genres like James Cameron did, when the neo-noir feel is so integral to Blade Runner? Maybe! It’s not like there wasn’t any horror in ALIENS to go with the action, and it would at least have been a more audacious approach to mix neo-noir with another genre, or outright sublimate it to that newly introduced genre. Sure I find new things to appreciate about 2049 as I read more articles after the fact, but a story shouldn’t need follow-up research to raise it above “Bad film with some bright spots”, which is where I was at right after leaving the theater. I did have another, very positive feeling while heading home that night. I felt free. Free of franchise re-visits, re-boots, sequels etc. of properties from the 80′s and 90′s, of which I cannot for the life of me imagine another that I might be interested in. This feels great, and I suspect it’s this more than anything which has compelled me to add to the mound of commentary & criticism on Blade Runner 2049. Join me for a moment and just imagine going the rest of your life without ever watching another long-delayed sequel or franchise re-boot... FURTHER READING This Twitter thread by Monika Bielskyte that did the rounds a few months ago when Ghost In The Shell came out feels relevant, even if the point in Blade Runner 2049 was to build on the original Blade Runner. I’ll always love the original, warts and all, but man oh man do we need to move past it.

[hitlager]

[robotmonkeys-net]

[spiriteddreamweaver]

I love being 

ignored

silenced

shut out

Because I know soon

you will crawl back

wanting in

and wondering why now

I have you

locked out

Art by Monika Bielskyte

[zzkt]

VIRTUAL REALITY AS POSSIBILITY SPACE

As we go into this future without screens, we must pay attention to the context that our ‘innovations’ shall be set in: we have been witnessing the loudest voices on the internet, in the media, & in politics screaming for alienation vs communication, enclosure vs openness, fear vs curiosity. In the light of recent events, I cannot help but admit I have been somewhat troubled by how narrowly we have been approaching our work, even we — even this very group of people that calls themselves innovators & explorers. Our work is never just entertainment or marketing or science or technology, we are, in fact, creating culture.

via https://medium.com/@monikabielskyte/virtual-reality-as-possibility-space-24a8600a59ff

[tenaciouschaosturtle-ad805251]

MONIKA BIELSKYTE

[designaday]

Interaction 21: More Takeaways

I unfortunately missed Brenda Romero’s talk due to an important meeting, so I’ll have to watch the recording later, but I did catch the Q&A where she shared a few really interesting facts:

The only biography about Margaret Hamilton is a children’s book.

A woman invented the concept of pointers in 1952.

We’ve been able to inhabit a virtual body for over 40 years (in video games), but nobody has explored disability.

Dylan Thomas’s talk, Design for Cognitive Bias, contained a lot of good information, but my favorite bit was the explanation for how changing the framing of a conversation changes the entire conversation. He showed a photo of an elderly man sitting behind the steering wheel of a car and asked the question, “Should this person drive this car?” He then juxtaposed it with the question, “How could this person drive this car?” and finally posed the question, “How might we do a better job of moving people around?”

Nina Krishnan pointed out how design thinking fails us: “In the spirit of ‘rapid iteration’ we are incentivized to limit debate and discussion, not consider the ethical implications of design, and exclude historically marginalized communities from our processes.”

Ariba Jahan asked us to take the following pledge: “I, Jack, will not use my power to make decisions for a community that I don't share a lived experience with.”

Monika Bielskyte’s session, Protopia Futures, was pure poetry.

In his closing keynote, David Brin threw a lot of scary possibilities at us, but I appreciated his claim that while pessimists are proven right at first, optimists are always proven right in the end. He optimistically used the year 02021. “We know we are in early days. We are the primitive ancestors of much greater people down the road. We believe in a future, and we’re going to be good ancestors.”

That was an excellent note on which to end the conference.

[automaticvr]

PRIMER EU 2018 Monika Bielskyte A futurist with an artist's eye and an inventor’s mind, Monika Bielskyte prototypes culturally diverse, socially and environmentally engaged future world designs for the entertainment industry, technology companies, and cities. A large part of her time is devoted to research and strategy in the immersive media technology space (Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Reality). Bielskyte's work consists in connecting bleeding edge technological innovation with some of the world's most original creative visions. Bielskyte’s clients include technology leaders (Google, Reliance JIO, CERN, Intel, Telefonica), iconic media brands (Universal, Lionsgate, BBC), major Hollywood & entertainment figures (Ridley Scott Associates, Alex McDowell, Sam Esmail, Guy Laliberte), design companies (Rick Owens, Aston Martin) and governments (UAE, Mexico City). She is also a co-founder of ALLFUTUREEVERYTHING, an agency & a platform for prototyping futures. Bielskyte takes the most cutting-edge digital concepts and places them squarely in our material world, opening our eyes to a future where we live with, in, and around technology much more deeply than we do today.

[workfromhom]

Announcing the agenda for TC Sessions: AR/VR in LA on October 18

TechCrunch is heading to UCLA on October 18 and we’ve assembled some of the AR/VR industry’s most prescient founders, investors and executives to chat about the startups and trends driving virtual and augmented reality in 2018.

The world’s top tech companies have heavily invested in AR/VR and are persistent in broadcasting the technologies’ potential to blur the lines of how consumers interact with the digital world. Beyond the tech titans, it’s the small startups that are dialing into what’s missing in the ecosystem right now. Our agenda showcases some of the powerhouses in the space, but also plenty of smaller teams that are building and debunking fundamental technologies for virtual worlds.

We still have a few tricks up our sleeves and will be adding some new names to the agenda over the next month so keep your eyes open. In the meantime, check out these agenda highlights:

TechCrunch Sessions: AR/VR UCLA, Los Angeles // October 18 See full agenda here

Kickstarting an Industry Yelena Rachitsky [Oculus]  Oculus has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into funding VR content, and while the headset market is still small, developers have built plenty of games and experiences. Facebook’s VR future rests on people finding new worlds that they want to step into, how will Oculus make this happen? .

The Social Experiment Adam Arrigo [TheWaveVR], Sophia Dominguez [SVRF] and Gil Baron [Mindshow] If anything, the OculusVR acquisition in 2014 signaled that Facebook saw VR as a social final frontier. No one really knows what exactly those interactions looks like though, but there’s an awful lot that’s already been explored. .

Reality Checks Niko Bonatsos [General Catalyst], Catherine Ulrich [FirstMark Capital] and Jacob Mullins [Shasta Ventures] “[VR] is the frothiest space in the Valley right now. Nobody understands it but everyone wants in. Any idiot could walk into a f***ing room, utter the letters ‘V’ and ‘R’, and VCs would hurl bricks of cash at them.” – Erlich Bachmann. While this may have indeed been the case a couple years ago, investor cash has been a bit sparser in 2018. Where are the opportunities now? .

Staying Lean and Mean Maureen Fan [Baobab Studios]  Baobab Studios has raised $31 million from top investors to create cinematic VR that excites audiences. While VR startups raised plenty of cash in 2016 and 2017, slow headset sales have caused startups to focus on building for a virtual future that might take a couple more years to reach. .

Cloud 6 Matt Miesnieks [6D.ai] and Bruce Wooden [6D.ai]  AR is out there, but the experiences available today are still feeling pretty isolated. 6D.ai is building out cloud AR tech to link these experiences together on a digital layer of the real world. .

Ditching Headsets for Holograms Shawn Frayne [Looking Glass Factory], Brett Jones [Lightform] and Ashley Crowder [VNTANA] Augmented reality may be a powerful sight, but it requires participants to own expensive hardware. Is there a workaround? Startups are working to centralize the experience but it’s going to look a lot different. .

Game Theory Nathan Burba [Survios] and James Iliff [Survios]  While VR might not just be about gaming, it’s accurate to say that, in 2018, it mainly is. Survios has raised nearly $55M to show the potential of VR gaming, as the studio continue releasing new titles, can they keep their momentum going and will gaming continue to be the big opportunity? .

Early Days, Early Bets Peter Rojas [Betaworks] other speakers to be announced soon Fewer AR/VR startups seem to be raising big seed rounds in 2018, but how have early-stage investors changed their approach to funding new talent in the space? How should founders get their attention? .

Building Inclusive Worlds Monika Bielskyte [AllFutureEverything] other speakers to be announced soon  If you had the chance to redesign society, where would you even start? As game developers continue designing massive online virtual worlds where we will spend more and more time, how should we look to correct issues we encounter and how can we build a better future? .

Augmenting the Office Clorama Dorvilias [DebiasVR] and Derek Belch [STRIVR] and Morgan Mercer [Vantage Point]  How can businesses learn from mistakes before making them? By training employees with VR, there’s the potential to more accurately simulate key scenarios and push people towards good choices. .

Your Virtual Self Parham Aarabi  [ModiFace] other speakers to be announced soon Smartphone AR is already in your pocket, but what can consumers actually use it for? While Snapchat face filters took us half-way there, new tech is making it easier for us to augment our faces with real world use cases while also getting closer to building out realistic avatars of our virtual selves.

Early Bird tickets are still on sale for one more week. Buy your early bird tickets today for just $99 and you’ll save $100 before prices go up. Student tickets are just $45. Book your tickets here. .

from Facebook – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2MxQsIS via IFTTT

[hier-houdt-het-op]

[un-enfant-immature]

Announcing the agenda for TC Sessions: AR/VR in LA on October 18

TechCrunch is heading to UCLA on October 18 and we’ve assembled some of the AR/VR industry’s most prescient founders, investors and executives to chat about the startups and trends driving virtual and augmented reality in 2018.

The world’s top tech companies have heavily invested in AR/VR and are persistent in broadcasting the technologies’ potential to blur the lines of how consumers interact with the digital world. Beyond the tech titans, it’s the small startups that are dialing into what’s missing in the ecosystem right now. Our agenda showcases some of the powerhouses in the space, but also plenty of smaller teams that are building and debunking fundamental technologies for virtual worlds.

We still have a few tricks up our sleeves and will be adding some new names to the agenda over the next month so keep your eyes open. In the meantime, check out these agenda highlights:

TechCrunch Sessions: AR/VR UCLA, Los Angeles // October 18 See full agenda here

Kickstarting an Industry Yelena Rachitsky [Oculus]  Oculus has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into funding VR content, and while the headset market is still small, developers have built plenty of games and experiences. Facebook’s VR future rests on people finding new worlds that they want to step into, how will Oculus make this happen? .

The Social Experiment Adam Arrigo [TheWaveVR], Sophia Dominguez [SVRF] and Gil Baron [Mindshow] If anything, the OculusVR acquisition in 2014 signaled that Facebook saw VR as a social final frontier. No one really knows what exactly those interactions looks like though, but there’s an awful lot that’s already been explored. .

Reality Checks Niko Bonatsos [General Catalyst], Catherine Ulrich [FirstMark Capital] and Jacob Mullins [Shasta Ventures] “[VR] is the frothiest space in the Valley right now. Nobody understands it but everyone wants in. Any idiot could walk into a f***ing room, utter the letters ‘V’ and ‘R’, and VCs would hurl bricks of cash at them.” – Erlich Bachmann. While this may have indeed been the case a couple years ago, investor cash has been a bit sparser in 2018. Where are the opportunities now? .

Staying Lean and Mean Maureen Fan [Baobab Studios]  Baobab Studios has raised $31 million from top investors to create cinematic VR that excites audiences. While VR startups raised plenty of cash in 2016 and 2017, slow headset sales have caused startups to focus on building for a virtual future that might take a couple more years to reach. .

Cloud 6 Matt Miesnieks [6D.ai] and Bruce Wooden [6D.ai]  AR is out there, but the experiences available today are still feeling pretty isolated. 6D.ai is building out cloud AR tech to link these experiences together on a digital layer of the real world. .

Ditching Headsets for Holograms Shawn Frayne [Looking Glass Factory], Brett Jones [Lightform] and Ashley Crowder [VNTANA] Augmented reality may be a powerful sight, but it requires participants to own expensive hardware. Is there a workaround? Startups are working to centralize the experience but it’s going to look a lot different. .

Game Theory Nathan Burba [Survios] and James Iliff [Survios]  While VR might not just be about gaming, it’s accurate to say that, in 2018, it mainly is. Survios has raised nearly $55M to show the potential of VR gaming, as the studio continue releasing new titles, can they keep their momentum going and will gaming continue to be the big opportunity? .

Early Days, Early Bets Peter Rojas [Betaworks] other speakers to be announced soon Fewer AR/VR startups seem to be raising big seed rounds in 2018, but how have early-stage investors changed their approach to funding new talent in the space? How should founders get their attention? .

Building Inclusive Worlds Monika Bielskyte [AllFutureEverything] other speakers to be announced soon  If you had the chance to redesign society, where would you even start? As game developers continue designing massive online virtual worlds where we will spend more and more time, how should we look to correct issues we encounter and how can we build a better future? .

Augmenting the Office Clorama Dorvilias [DebiasVR] and Derek Belch [STRIVR] and Morgan Mercer [Vantage Point]  How can businesses learn from mistakes before making them? By training employees with VR, there’s the potential to more accurately simulate key scenarios and push people towards good choices. .

Your Virtual Self Parham Aarabi  [ModiFace] other speakers to be announced soon Smartphone AR is already in your pocket, but what can consumers actually use it for? While Snapchat face filters took us half-way there, new tech is making it easier for us to augment our faces with real world use cases while also getting closer to building out realistic avatars of our virtual selves.

Early Bird tickets are still on sale for one more week. Buy your early bird tickets today for just $99 and you’ll save $100 before prices go up. Student tickets are just $45. Book your tickets here. .

[robotmonkeys-net]