Immediacy in Theatre. Games.

Collective-immediacy, as attached as I am, may have put the cue before the ball (horse/cart is useless for me, but since I play snooker, contact juggle and fire-twirl, this metaphor genuinely works).

The latest development is a taxonomy of games that include a performative element. Big, urban, locative, hybrid, pervasive and theatre, each offers an alternate experience of immediacy, and I'm kind of excited about exploring the nuances offered within the space.

It's not biting off more than I can chew (metaphors are thick tonight), but digesting what is within my tract. It also does the Honours thing of A+B=?, whereas CI compounds the equation (A+B)+(C+D/E)=?

Worth looking at in the morning, but I feel like I'm making headway in a few regards, and that this is the least troublesome and potentially most rewarding for all concerned at the present.

A rare double-post. Off to play midnight soccer - how often does that happen?

Pervasive

Pervasive games are everywhere.

They are not bounded by space, time or set participants. They can be played by one or many, in physical or virtual space.

As far as I can tell, they are the most inclusive area of gaming, as they include practically everything. Their one condition is a disruption of the 'magic circle', meaning if concentration on anything but the game is lost or ruptured, it becomes pervasive. Someone (else) moves one of the chess pieces. You think about a move while you're at work. It's pretty expansive.

As big as big games are, they are not pervasive by nature. It might happen that at times in play they move into pervasive territory, but they can (and most often do) require that players know they're players, spaces are defined (if at times enormous) and they have clear starting points and fairly clear end points (or a goal that can be reached in a reasonable time).

Funny how digging through stuff makes the big seem small.

What is a Big Game?

Today's theme is defining a Big Game.

Some Games:
- Urban Game are played within a city/with city as play-space.
- Location-Based Games (aka Location Aware Mobile Game) most often has a Location Aware element (likely GPS) in play, and also functions in an city-space.
- Hybrid-Reality Games are mobile, multi-user and offering a space that exists in the virtual and the physical simultaneously, where the physical is also in an urban setting.

Josh's idea of a Big Game:
- Do not require an Urban space (Popup Playground, Coney), but may use one.
- Do not require any technology (Popup Playground, Coney), but may use some.
- Must be interactive.
- Must be immersive.
- Must be mobile (by this I mean replicable, not site specific) 
- Are (ideally) innovative (not a prerequisite, but

So Josh's Big Game concept is standalone - and inclusive:
- Urban, LBGs and HRGs all count as Big Games as well as their own things.
- Site-Specific Performance isn't Big Gaming (not interactive, or able to be replayed at a different location)

But needs more exploration:
- Theatre Games
- Pervasive Gaming

Immediacy/immersion

Read and wrote a lot today.

Simple terms. Immersion is a state of mind, a kind of 'leave your hat at the door and get on the ride'. It is deceptive, geared towards making your body believe something it knows is false.

As immersive interfaces become more capable of approaching realistic environments, that's when things get blurry.

Immediacy on the other hand is pretty direct. It is totally experiential. It has no emotion trickiness about it. You either experience it or you don't.

Immersion can make it easier to get to. So can simple, uncluttered interfaces. But even in the most hypermediate display in the most hypermediate world, immediacy can still persist, through something as simple as shock, or pain.

Not the most pleasant experience, but immediate (and in some ways immersive) nonetheless. 

Q & A

Pulled a presentation out if nothing today, then spent hours writing almost nothing!

Did read a few cool articles, one about three kinds of immersion, another about subjective knowledge. 

Then Q&A started, the panelists were good and I lost my entire train of thought.

Dad

It's Dad's birthday today.

I called him after work - complete with brutal hangover - and we talked.

Typical Dad, even on his birthday he just wanted to hear what I'm up to, so I told him. I told him about trying to think like a researcher, about being an impetuous guy wanting to change the world through sheer will, about stress, about Liam snoring at 6pm after the fights, about everything.

He told me about his fiancée, about his friends, his near-step son, his plans for a visit, his stories (he writes short stories).

Dad is one of my best mates. We just resume where we left off last time, every time. He calls me out as I do him. He made me, but he never sits above me. He's so smart, so genuinely wise. He humbles me, and I love him for it.

I look at him and I see what I'll physically resemble every step of the way. He is 25 years older than me and he is 25 years older than me and he is 1000 years older than me. We're so different and yet, we're the eldest of our siblings, the most responsible of our generations and the best humoured of our family.

I hope I can stay half the man he is. 

Happy Birthday Dad. This one's for you.

Read this if you want another take on cool Dads:

http://www.mydadsmymate.com.au/2013/01/james-ian.html?m=1

Social

Really good to see my old friends, but sad to find they're doing (relatively) zero.

We drank in the way old friends do, freely, lacking concept of the liver and kidney damage and just trading stories.

We'll all be sore tomorrow, but it appears I'm the Lone Ranger regarding forward motion. It's a little sad, but it is what it is (what a lame phrase) and I love them all regardless.

Suz is keen to do what I do, a bit because she loves the idea, but because she needs to feel like she's a part of something.

Tom is in the throes of a full blown relationship. Adam is filled with post-relationship blues, a 'status' years gone by that he can't shake.

Jorge is off to Italy to trace his roots. He's the most medically unstable (as far as Western medicine dictates) but by far the most socially reasonable.

The rest is just smalltalk, so ignored for now.

I'm re-writing Neal's essay. The hope is tomorrow is the last day, but I predict an extra day in lieu of awful hangover (drink works differently when you're not in constant contact) which means I may ask for my first (only) extension at RMIT. Worked at Monash, so I foresee few issues, plus I may squeeze in a birthday and a revisit from a good mate.

Anyhow, I need a little rest, but I'm glad I saw folk and I'm happy I squeezed in a couple of hours editing prior to my current state.

To bed sweet fellows, and for those awake enjoy the bonds that socialising brings.

Read Adrian's FB post on Patricia Leavy or http://markchilds.org/2013/04/11/immersion-immediacy-and-augmented-reality/

Itch

I've had my head deep in the Honours world for so long that I've put aside many of my regular itches.

Not just Honours either. I've just had such an explicit focus that so many other things have fallen by the wayside.

I almost lost myself for a minute. But upon reflection I find I'm strangely more grounded. I'm stressed as fuck and I can barely remember what I'm supposed to be doing when I'm doing it, but at all times I can see a light at the end.

Today I went to get my second coffee and said something stupid to the staff at the cafe. We all had a laugh, then I read an article about how to taste beer, which I'm practicing right now.

I fixed a whole lot of little things later, which took away some writing time today but set me up for the next fortnight. 

I also agreed to socialise tomorrow night.  A huge exhalation of relief descended, and I wrote 700 good words.

I had a pleasant shift at work too, cracking polite jokes and just being.

One itch scratched. More to come.

In the meantime, have a look at this:

http://museumgeek.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/rethinking-why-immersive-theatre-is-compelling-it-might-not-be-the-immersion-after-all/

Networking

I hate 'networking', sending bullshit emails to people you don't care about in order to make meaningless connections to further personal aims. It seems forced and banal.

I usually leave this interaction up to my partner in crime, because she's a social butterfly that loves smalltalk and gains some sick satisfaction from 'knowing' as many people as she can.

Don't get me wrong. We're best friends - we just know what each other are good at and work together. I'm an angry hermit, but put me in a room full of people and I'll get them doing cool stuff. I'm just hopeless at gathering the people.

Today I met up with Jayden - a very networked meeting - and we talked about the gaming version of networking.

It's the part of my game I have no idea about - and the part he does. It's how to create a digital link between the player and the avatar. I could do a basic version, but Jayden has ideas to make it 'faster' - and as far as immediacy is concerned, the faster the better. If the video can move at the speed of the audio, we're in business. The only other initial hiccough is how to make the GPS kick in through line of sight.

Anyhow, Jayden needs some bodies (people) that can move in synch. I spent three years off-and-on with people doing just that - some of whom can pretty much do it on cue.

Networking isn't all bad.

READING THE WONDERFUL JANET MURRAY TONIGHT. SHE TELLS ME THAT

Games seem to be well-suited to the role of cultural ratchet, preserving patterns

of behavior from one generation to the next through the intrinsic pleasure of shared

attention and imitation. Game play in itself is a means of transmitting general hab-

its of imitating, sequencing, and synchronizing actions.

AS WELL AS

Other game patterns seem to address basic cognitive skills such as sequencing

actions, coordinating hand and eye, sorting, matching, counting, and navigating a

map. These game primitives are common to the earliest children’s games and to

traditional games including those known from ancient times, such as athletic con

-

tests, dice, and board games. They all focus attention on a limited domain and force

us to match our behavior with conscious, shared expectations.

 

AND

 

Games have also become a focus of participatory performance art, calling atten-

tion to symbolic content of games often in disturbing ways. The British art collec-

tive Blast Theory produces unsettling treasure hunts in virtual and real urban space

that require the player to trust strangers (http://www.blasttheory.co.uk).  

I also read a nice short essay by Ian Bogost (well, 2 of them)

ART and WORK 

from his book

 

 

Art was fun, but work was worth it. Great stuff.

 

Time to get off the network and think about sleep!

Rewrite

Today was the second Gantt chart, the second Thesis outline and the second round of Postcursor drafting, each greater and more wondrous than the last.

Well, each more accurate and refined than the last.

Each more directed than the last.

Even the Boss is excited about the direction I'm headed. I'm feeling pretty chuffed.

Reading

Bringing

Life

into

the

Group

Experience:

The

Power

of

Immediacy 

 

 which has some cool theories like

RECOGNIZING
IMMEDIACY
In
order
to
preserve
immediacy,
we
must
first
recognize
it
when
we
see
it.
A
group
is
immediate
when
the
members
experience
a
rush
of
feel-
ings
and
find
themselves
free
enough
to
express
them.
It
is
immediate
when
the
members
bring
up
new
ideas
and
form
new
relationships,
when
their
memories
are
newly
discovered
and
yet
feel
old
and
eternal.
When
a
group
212
Ormont
is
immediate,
the
vague
becomes
real.
The
essence
of
immediacy--constant
engagement
with
others--is
the
continuous
presence
of
the
unforeseen.
Be-
hind
these
manifestations
is
the
force
of
evolving
relationships
among
the members.

I like this a fair bit, even though it's from psychology.

But the point is I've been rereading and rewriting and I'm feeling pretty pumped - even though I have to write 800 words a day for the next while!!

Sharing is Caring

Having a grand old time passing resources around and pinching other people's.

Today's venture was about creating my game.

Had a discussion with the Boss today. We think I'm (mostly) on track, just have to play with my game a bit more.

I know I should be doing other work right now but when you're on a roll.. Read someone else's blog!

Jayden has a bunch of stuff on immersion. Yesterday he came up with the goods, except I can't help but think of the difference between "Physical embodiment of virtual avatar" and my take - physical embodiment of a physical avatar. More thought needed.

Spoke to Chet about making a game too. She's pumped and shooting a few people my way.

Loads of crossover.

For now, off to write a timeline/gantt chart to share with my leaders.

Timelines

Just finished an outline of my exegesis for the Boss tomorrow, as well as run through my slides for the CERES presentation.

Play is the thing that emerged as an overarching thing.

I've already been over this, but it keeps coming back and it is hard to ignore.

But that's neither here nor there for the moment. The main thing is I've given myself enough time to get my project done with editing to spare - provided I get cracking. It's reasonable, it's busy and it's very active, but as long as I have F&#K all coursework next semester it might even be good.

I've also been reading a bit more on Punchdrunk and Gob Squad. It's got me moving my essay around for Danielle. She asked me to refine as much as possible, then write big from there. I wanted Big Games. Now I'm looking at BGs in the UK. Now I'm trying to find a year when all three (Blast Theory included) had a bit going on. 

If I can get this right, I'll have the option of exploring my project/exegesis in three parts - and have the first two well under way.

Part 1: Immediacy etc - Adrian's Essay

Part 2: Big Games etc - Danielle's Essay

Part 3: The exegesis - my project

Also going to talk to the Boss about the potential for heading off to this thing in Madrid that Adrian sent me. Such a great opportunity and I'm sure the Uni'll get cred so everybody wins. Provided I get accepted of course!!

Stuff gets done when you make timelines, and things don't look so far away - which is both good and bad!!

Dumber

The theme of today's conversations has been around people getting dumber.

It's a general observation, but it seems that as a whole the race isn't really progressing in the brain department.

It's like the conversation about which journal to write for - the one with 120 readers or the metropolitan newspaper.

The problem is, if you write for the little journal, you become an elitist. If you write for the big one, you become an idiot.

What if you write for neither, and just do something else?

I'm reading the old Jean Baudrillard via Blast Theory, and the guy makes some good points. I need to read a little more before I put pen to paper, but something about this chasing perfection even though it is impossible seems to be hitting me, the hyperreality deal.

It has me thinking in a slightly different way about everything, but certainly about how I might/change/bend the simalcra/simalcrum into my Big Game.

Better talk to Jayden first - then I'll feel dumber.

Rearrange

Today I moved the desk out of my room, along with all the tech attached.

Bedroom and Study are no longer connected.

Here's hoping!

Also, I met some old friends today completely by accident, a couple of guys I worked/drank with for years and haven't seen for just as long. Made some plans to catch up.

I've just been so busy with this semester, working and balancing housemates I haven't had any time to live, which has been getting me down.

I'm really keen to spend a few of the next days with my nose in a book (or staring at a monitor), but it's nice to remember there's other stuff out there.

Glad I moved things around.

Edits

Wow. I need to leave way more time for editing. Thank goodness this draft is for something two weeks down the track.

Wait a minute - I see what you lecturers are up to! Clever rabbits.

The pain of all this reading, is that it keeps creating more questions, more potential avenues for exploration. No sooner have you written a great combination of Bolter and Grusin's transparent immediacy along with Victor Turner's Communitas to create a working model of Collective-Immediacy than the fucking ludologists rock up alongside immersive theatre.

I really want to see Sleep No More (Punchdrunk) because I did a crazy MacBeth + Insomnia thing a while back, and it sounds like it'd be great.

But it's missing media interfaces, so as long as that's the case, I can't use it to research my take on immediacy. Plus it isn't running at the moment so I couldn't if I wanted to.

Sorry! Spent so much time editing that I just needed to unload! Maybe I should write these posts a day early, sleep on them and come back the next day?

That's way too much hassle.

So close

And just when you think you've got it - a new way of thinking arrives.

I'm in mid-draft for Neal and really solidifying my take on immediacy when along comes immersion. I haven't read too much into it yet but it seems to be the game-specific version of immediacy. It also seems to be closer to what I want to explore.

This requires more than one evening of reading, so for now I'm off to throw the rest together - but stay on this space.

So very close.

Insomnia

I did a sleep deprivation post a while back, but I haven't slept in two days and I'm finding it a little hard to write.

I'm good at reading though, which seems strange. Maybe because anything I write unravels, but reading lets my mind wander and unpack things. Reading up on Ludology and trying to get my hands on a bit of Jesper Juul. Also need to get on the Sherry Turkle train.

But it's my Bro's first night back in the house so since I can't really concentrate I think it's bad TV time.

Hopefully that'll put me to sleep.

Performing Research

An oddly good day.

My housemate moved out (which was annoying as all hell but I'm glad it happened) which means my new/old housemate - my brother - can move back in. It also means that for 24 hours I'll have the place to myself, which I find very productive.

I got my essay back from Danielle and what do you know? My first RMIT HD. Feedback included the usual (no more hyperbole, better editing, a version of Adrian's cone thing) as well as a few things to read and explore - including ludology (again, Kim with the goods).

I really felt like I'd done something with this essay even before getting it back, like I'd somehow married my playful performing arts nature with the more academic notions of essaying. When it came to question time, I didn't need much because I'd already been thinking about it and putting it into practice. I kind of just wanted to get back to writing, which is really not like me at all..

Anyhow, I moved Neal's draft over into Scrivener and found a thread that fits, which is using the research relative to performers (rehearsal, dramaturgy, etc.) as a way of expressing my own practice as research - and writing. It's engaging, contemporary and genuine - exactly what I'm about. It also helps me to avoid my (so far) common pitfalls. As soon as I get 'wanky', I pick up on it, but I have a little leeway to play with form regardless. Sounds counter-intuitive, but it really works for me - and instead of explaining it I'm going to just do it and that's that!

Anyway, I'm off to use metaphors that aren't and get some much needed sleep.

A performer researching performance without performing isn't performing research. Say that 10 times fast!

Timing

I took a break from essaying (in my usual style - smashing out 500+ words and starting to veer off track), walked to my local park and opened a beer in order to clear my head.

Sounds crazy, but considering the hangover I'm sporting a couple of beers is a great cure.

Anyway, a small ball of fur decided to say hello and somewhat attached to him was a lovely man by the name of Joseph. We made brief small talk then launched directly into medium/large talk - turns out he's an AV/sound designer from Brisbane who knows a few of the same people I do and a whole lot more.

We switched numbers and stories while his dog ran around. He offered to read my essays and gave me a bunch of people to talk to. He also gave me pretty liberal access to his library. I gave him food for thought and a few shows to see for possible inspiration and networking opportunities.

Made my evening.

I also got a call from a friend asking me for an interview. Made me feel a little bit important, but also scared because I'm me so what am I doing being interviewed about anything? We started talking about my project and he offered to come on board if I need bodies. A fair exchange in my book.

I also had a meet with Neal this morning about where I'm headed regarding my postcursor. It turns out that the writing I've been doing over the last few days really was in a more constructive vein. He invited me to the next PPPPP event, but as always, I'm busy! One day I'll make it Neal!

I have writing that needs doing, but I had to take some time out to remark on the timing itself.

It's everything, isn't it?

Mother's Day

Mum got the stupid video Liam and I made for her - and loved it.

We spoke this morning about life in general, and how a year is not a very long time in the greater scheme. I think that the older we get the less value we place on time in some ways, and the more prevalent it becomes in others.

A year when you're two is half. When you're thirty, not so much. When you're sixty, even less. But perhaps we appreciate small happenings more as we age.

Interesting thought.

I worked ten hours today and spent the first five in constant motion, with the second half in near stasis. The time flew while I was busy and dragged on the other side. Even though I wanted to kill everyone from noon until five, at least I was entertained. It was when I could feel the seconds that I became properly agitated.

Same holds for Honours I guess. When you're busy you have no choice but to be busy, but as time opens up it starts to grate. That said, I'm filling my 'downtime' with loads of work, readings and writing in particular which keeps me busy - and active, connected.

I read everyone's articles for class tomorrow with time to spare. I've had the chance to reflect on them individually and as a whole, and there is a great range in stuff. From artistic rambling to pragmatic approaches and the space in between, I'm really feeling it this time around. 

I also got some feedback (horrible via amplification but great in an academic context) on my abstract for the Postcursor. It's funny, because I wrote it near a week ago just how much of the feedback has already been reflected in the writing itself. I disagree with the failure as something other than failure, because I feel that the feeling of failure is a very powerful motivator (at least for myself) and to name it something else detracts from the power of the thing, but perhaps I'm being too pedantic.

Anyway, I have a bit of time and a few chores so this will suffice for today. I think if I counted blog-words I would have a massive word count for my daily target (250-500, but recently I've been ripping out 1000 without too much effort), but this is largely irrelevant.

Just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to mine, and to all the good mothers out there. 

Theatre Games

Just reading something Kim posted has me thinking more and more about the fine line between games and theatre.

Many a theatrical theory (Boal, Brecht) seems to appear in the game world, and it looks like the converse is starting to take off too.

Not a long one today. Just looking forward to some theatre games of my own!

Play

Last night I wrote a lot. Pomodoros for me are more like doppio pomodoros - I hit stride around the 25 minute mark and just kind of fire from there until I start to lose the thread, which is around the 50 minute mark.

I go off to have a cup of tea, or a lap around the block (walking is very productive for me thought-wise) and reflect on where I'm at, or where I might be going.

Last night I fired out about 1000 words - handy since I'll be ultra busy over the weekend - and I came across this great running idea for, well, everything in my case.

Play is Experimentation.

If you give me an object or an idea, I'll play with it. I'll roll, throw, catch and bounce a ball in a variety of ways in order to see what I can already do with it, and get other ideas about ways it might be used.

I experiment without thinking about it too much. I play, and out of that play comes the rest.

When I write, I play with different words, move them around, find synonyms and just try out alternate combinations. I do it best when I'm not thinking about it as an exercise with purpose. Once they're there, I can shape them into more refined patterns, edit them into more cohesive arguments and concretise the whole thing - but it's pointless to try starting from there beforehand.

However, it is important to note that if you give me a ball, I'll play with the ball. The fear sets in when you lay an array of objects before me and say 'go nuts'. What do I choose? Do I pick only one? Do I play one at a time? Do I multitask? 

You get the gist. In a research context, play works for me, but I have to pick my toys out. I choose immediacy and I choose Big Games.

Once the choices are made, the play sets in, and I can move these two things around independently for a while. Once I've exhausted my options, I can start to see what fits, what crosses over, or find places they don't where they might - and play around with that.

For now, I'm playing with the experience of immediacy and the potential for a group experience of the immediate. I'm also playing with Big Game format and available technologies from a gamer perspective. That's it, and it's more than enough for the moment (there's a relatively problematic sentence).

I was rolling the usage of play around in my writing and found that it was only static when used as a noun (press 'play'), but that's just for me to kick around.

To play with.

Buzzing

What a superstar!

Harry and I had a meet. Just before I caught him, Tully rocked up out of the blue and told me the guy was awesome.

No lie! We ended up in the exertion games lab looking at gizmos and talking about ways of incorporating stuff into my Big Game.

EMS may not be the way to go, but we're looking around for something that might work a little better.

As another thought, it might be worth experimenting with a few technologies in game, to see which is the best option - if at all!

Whatever comes up trumps I'll probably chuck into the final project, but it's worth having a look.

I have a feeling I'm in for all kinds of shocks along the way - mental and physical. I can't wait to film me getting electrocuted in different ways for days at a time.

Feels like 'Jackass: The Research Project'.

Can't wait to update my ethics... 

Abstract

I think I found a new way of writing.

I scored some feedback on my writing the other day from Adrian and I'm starting to put it into practice.

Neal gave us something to write about - an abstract for a soon-to-be-due assessment - and I started applying some of the stuff Adrian said, in conjunction with the other stuff Neal told me earlier.

I also added a bit of the stuff Larissa told me from my 'meltdown' email.

You know what? I ended up with a pretty good abstract, about 400 words of pretty clear writing that covers everything from bludgeoning my way through my initial Precursor to where I'm headed.

It's not perfect, but (I think) it's much better than my previous endeavors. It also gives me a pretty concise map to fill out. It's in five short, connected paragraphs and each one leads into the next - but they all connect to each other as well, which gives the whole thing a real sense of purpose.

It also forced me to look at why I'm doing what I'm doing and how the parts of my project will inform each other, and the outcome. Like I said to Adrian and Larissa via email, I'm not looking to prove whether something 'is', but rather see 'if' something is (I think that's what I wrote, and if it isn't that's what I meant).

I also started chasing down a few leads Christian (here talking about a play he directed by a playwright I don't really like - but he's a cool guy) sent my way, which threw me into a great thesis (long) by Christy Dena as well as back into the hands of Rob Reid, who really just keeps popping up (pardon the pun considering he's the artistic director of Popup Playground) everywhere I look.

Anyway, the main thing is that for me, writing in a small format forces me to focus my words and my thoughts, without getting to abstract.

Oh dear.

Clarity

Narrowly avoided meltdown.

Having trouble defining my exact idea of immediacy, and started second guessing myself in the process.

As a performer, I have a tendency to just do stuff. If it didn't work, I can always try again in the next rehearsal, the next show.

But with Honours, it's so much waiting. I have months to do something. I'm going to do it over and over again until I want to burn it and never look at another reading, another thing I've written.

It's tough.

But I found something out, which is pretty cool. I MUST practice.

I thought I'd try a straight thesis, but that isn't how I work. Play to our strengths, right?

I woke up at 1am this morning and pulled out a pencil and an A3 book and went straight to work. There was no thinking, even though there was. There was no stress - I just kind of did it.

It felt exactly as it should be. I wrote in problems, wrote on ideas, drew a few pictures and then it was 3am and I needed to sleep again.

The sleep of babies, or quite possibly the damned.

I have no choice but to make this thing, and that beats all of the attempting to fit it into anything else for the moment. In doing what I do, I'll find something out, and I'm okay with that.

That's clarity as far as I'm concerned.

Disenchanted

I just wrote a massive post about my ill feelings toward my current position, then deleted it.

It was all true, but what's the point of injecting negativity into an already rough spot?

It wasn't all bad, so let's try and salvage some of the better points.

I got some good feedback today.

I remembered where I come from.

I don't have anything to prove. It is what it is.

Tonight I feel disenchanted, but perhaps tomorrow that will pass.

I hope so.

From little things...

Haha! I thought today was going to be mentally low-key.

I woke up late (read: slept in because I had nowhere to be for once) and watched the Swans get up over Brisbane with my brother. We're New South Welshman, and accordingly I don't really care for AFL, but Liam's (my brother) quite into it so it was a nice bonding exercise. Plus we spent most of the time talking about my current studies and his impending ones (exercise science/human movement degree), which was pretty cool because many of our paths cross over due to the physicality of our pursuits.

Anyway, after that I went home and reread an old, semi-seminal text for devising (Making a Performance), this time with a keen eye towards Blast Theory, and rediscovered Gob Squad, in particular their show 'Room Service'. I also tapped into old favourites The Wooster Group and pretty much had a grand old brainstorm that could only be accomplished in the speed of handwriting - so I pulled out my pocket journal and went crazy.

I also received an email from the DERC about attending a meeting, and since my appointment with my supervisor was scheduled for right afterward we decided to do the lot together. It helps that she's the co-boss of the place I guess.

Anyway, after all of that I found myself very restless, in the way a painter gets when they've been away from a canvas for too long. I'm a live (what you may call 'theatre') performer first and foremost, and while I've shot about a dozen short films in the last year, I have not trodden the boards for over eighteen months. THAT IS A SERIOUS DRY SPELL.

What really hit me the most is that I have an urge to direct more than act. I want to play in a room full of players then send them on their way. I've directed before, so this isn't exactly new, but it's the first time I can think where my actual stage presence may hinder a show. This could be because I'm trying to maintain the distance of observer/researcher, or it could be that my prediction came about five years early (I knew at some point I'd become a director before an 'actor', I just thought it'd happen at 35, or 40) - but that might be wrong too.

I just had to shoot out a few tendrils to my people. Now I'm waiting for replies. I'm not sure whether I want to make this as part of my research or not, but I'm certain it has to be made and sometime this year.

Just for kicks, I started reading a little Dixon, only to find the guy is pretty much like me - performer turned (in my case, turning) academic. He also has really similar interests.

I'll leave this for now, but from zero-to-really-fast in a few hours needed to be written. Not sure how it'll all pan out but there's a storm brewing and I'm on the helm, rolling the wheel and laughing at my potential demise.

From little things...

Clean

Cleaned up my space and the work just flowed.

Read all the extraneous stuff (for classes), commented on it and pushed a discussion with a nice thread - active engagement. Relevant to the Collective Futures people for sure.

Rejigged Zotero and chucked in a couple of readings on Blast Theory too. Now that I'm going with the collective-immediacy angle, I'm starting to see some real holes that need filling. It's exciting.

But for now, back to paid work. Cleaned up the space there too so it'll be easier to get out faster.

I like being clean.

PDFs!!

Such a cool thing - except when your fancy new computer doesn't feel like reading them.

So while I wait for my software to update, I thought it might be a good time to blog a little.

Got my ethics application back from the boss (Larissa) and it turns out I did pretty well! A few minor changes and I'm ready to go.

What this means is time to hone my interviewing skills, but considering I just picked up a job as a freelance journalist, this can't be too hard. Plus I did a year of straight Comm in Newcastle and interviewed some pretty amazing people for that.

Anyway, I got in touch directly with Dan from Blast Theory and they're willing to (time permitting) slot me in somewhere around July - right when I planned for it. BOOM!

I also shot an ex-director of mine (Christian Leavesley from Arena Theatre and Uncle Semolina & Friends) an ask and he got back to me ASAP, with some possibly relevant people to hit up and something better - a potential job if my research comes through.

And here I was playing at the wholly theoretical with no thought to the future. WIN!

I still need to listen to the wonderful Kim D'Amazing's ABC radio piece that likely will have an effect on my direction. Kim has a great way of just kind of getting where people are and giving them the right stuff. I tried doing it and I'm okay - but she is bang on the money nine time out of ten.

Anyhow, there are readings to be read and I just saw one of them work so I'm off to read it while the reading's good.

PDFs!!

Back to it

And now that all the hand-ins are out of the way, it's time to get to work on the next round!

1) The Precursor - bigger, better and able to fit into a journal
2) Danielle's Map - no longer a map, but a definite exploration of a sub species
3) Adrian's Essay - expanded in words but refined in content
4) To thesis or not to thesis - a discussion that needs having with Larissa

What I'm thinking:

1) Using my first precursor as a step to the second, almost that by testing it, I wound up bouncing off - and ending in a different direction.
2) The Big Gamers (Urban Gamers), like Blast Theory, DotPlay and a few of the other players need a bit more searching.
3) I'm liking where my concept is at the moment, so not rocking that boat until feedback occurs.
4) No sooner had a thought 'Only Thesis!' than I was hit with a way - and possibly a need - to make something. Along the lines of 'Connected', no more than ten minutes (probably five) and incorporating a whole lot more tech but in a much smaller space. What it really hinges on is which groups (if any) are available to watch/play with and how I might go about getting on board something non-local.

No messing around. Back to it!

Ethics

Man, is the Ethics application a lengthy one.

I thought, maybe 10 pages, not too hard, mostly kind of spelled out already.

NOT SO!

What's great about it is, not only do you have to kind of nutshell most of your ideas (note: PhD candidates don't seem to understand word counts prefaced with 'less than'), but in planning out the practicalities of your actual project, you start to get a better feel for what you're required to do - and how best to action it!

While filling it out, I realised that if I choose to, I can make a work, and that work will give me people to interview on all sides as well as give me a vehicle for experimentation. Not saying I'll take that path, but now I know it exists I have, not a fallback, but another potential avenue.

What I'm really trying to do is find a local (not necessarily, but much more practical) group doing the same thing I am, so that I can be fly on the wall (a la David Savran and The Wooster Group), or better yet, a guy with a foot on each side of the fence.

I also stumbled across a few interesting characters, and one in particular has appeared in a whole host of unlikely places I've also been checking out. His name is Geert Lovink and he is all over the place.

I might need to get in touch, but I'm not sure of the ethics involved.

Oh dear.