PinnedTopics I PonderI have no certified expertise in any of these areas. I am informed and actively engaged in them. That is all. Virtual Reality This is my most active topic with over 50 articles related to VR linked, (below the picture). They range from think pieces to narrative evocations of VR…Virtual Reality6 min read
4 days agoBanksy in VROn-Location Storytelling: Street Art — My VR Storytelling does not come from a position of expertise. It comes from my idea of how to learn about something. I imagine myself organizing and explaining to an audience what I’m learning while I’m in the middle of learning it, and I make the learning materials on the…Virtual Reality7 min read
Jun 19“The Dawn of Everything” is HopefulSmart, Research-Based and Hopeful, Wow! — It always feels good to finish a long and demanding book, especially if it helps you feel better about the human race. Positive feelings are fewer and farther between than ever in the 2020s. It’s In to be Bearish on our species. The challenge is to take it all in…History6 min read
Jun 16The Trouble with ‘Ulysses’On-Location Storytelling in VR — If you have ever recorded normal daily life and then tried to watch it or listen to it, you know it’s almost unbearable. Real life isn’t a series of practiced scenes tuned perfectly for external consumption. It’s full of awkward pauses, interior monologues running silently, extraneous noises and nonsense. Living…Virtual Reality15 min read
Jun 4The Question of St. KevinOn-Location Storytelling in VR — St. Kevin is not the most famous Irish Catholic Saint, but he has a Feast Day that is celebrated by both the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Christian traditions — June 3rd. Kevin wasn’t as ambitious and heroic as St Patrick, which may be why people were drawn to him…Virtual Reality11 min read
May 22On-Location Storytelling in VRA good story tells itself, but it needs an accomplice. Good storytellers use whatever they have as props — from colored paintings on cave walls to costumes to dance, or their own vocal embellishments. Many storytellers write books or advertising copy. A few do one-person shows, usually with some multimedia…Virtual Reality7 min read
May 13Death’s DoorVR Dying Experiences #4 — The Dying Gaul has been around. Thomas Jefferson had him. Napoleon specifically demanded that The Dying Gladiator, as he was known at the time, be brought to Paris under the terms of the Treaty of Campoformio (1797). Many people who weren’t as rich or powerful had small reproductions, because, it…Death8 min read
May 7Complete EnoughVR Dying Experiences #3 — A good paradox gets people’s attention. Announcing an event in VR as a VR Dying Experience is already an attention-getter. It’s meant to be a filter. In Session #1 we sat in cemeteries and burial places around the world and some people gave eulogies for someone or something they had…Death5 min read
May 1Mortality Game Show!Avatar Squares: Special Death Edition — When Amy Schneider was on her Jeopardy winning streak, people paid attention. They still do, more than ever. Game Shows are the beginning of Reality TV, although they are not generally categorized that way. We don’t want our Game Shows scripted. That’s part of their charm — the stuff that…Death6 min read
Apr 27Getting Used to the Idea of DyingReport from a VR Course in Progress — I think we get used to things and eventually accept them, and who knows, maybe even appreciate ideas like dying, by doing them. Not just by thinking about them. You’d think that would be a problem with dying, until you step back and see dying as a transition. Maybe a…Death7 min read
