if you have yet to walk around the streets using google street view, you're in for a surprise. it's my latest obsession. this shit is fucking insane and eerily lucid. part of me is terrified at what this means for privacy as we know it, but the part of me that is amazed and fascinated by far supersedes those concerns right now. i mean, creating physical maps and gps still impresses me but this brings the world into virtual focus like nothing else has ever before. but i understand, it is deeply unsettling. you can't help but feel a sense of your individual world has been blown into pieces when you enter your address and there pops up not only your house, but your open curtains in the window and your car parked out front. sure the license plates are blurred out, but you know it's yours.
what blows my mind more than anything with street view is that it finally sets the framework for actual real live virtual reality world. think about it, the structure is ALL THERE, real live photos. every major city in the world. how difficult could it be for a skilled team of videogamers to begin making the world interactive? i think if a video game developer were to combine with google, our entire world as we know it would change. movies such as eXistenZ and Gamer suddenly become not so far fetched. while 360 degree viewing inside selected businesses and public buildings likely poses as far too much of a risk for fraud, robberies, heists, etc., street view could seek approval from businesses such as bars, clothing stores, whatever, to capture the interior but use it on a random location somewhere else in the world. i don't know. it seems that the hardest part is over, the world has been captured in it's 360 degree view.
admittedly i haven't yet tried out the few street view inspired videogames, and actually didn't even know they existed until today, but there are a couple of cool concepts already on the go: Play An Adventure Game Built Using Google Street View; and Real Time Race. interesting concepts but we can do better.
on the darker side (the much darker side), there are of course extremely disturbing privacy concerns in being able to virtually see places from the comfort of your own home. to no surprise, google street view is causing big waves amongst privacy activists and governments around the world, but still the lines are blurry. if you can go to a public place in real life unrestricted, then what makes street view so wrong? in japan, google is re-shooting its street view images because of complaints that the cameras were mounted high enough that they were overlooking private fences and even into people's homes.
if you want to get really skeptical, who's to say google itself isn't a government operative or world organization. static cameras placed all over the world would not only be highly controversial and impossible to gain approval from different countries for, but expensive and difficult to monitor. the solution? vans the drive around periodically with cameras on top under the guise of Google surveilling every accessible major neighbourhood and intersection in the world. by being an independent company from government, even though they are an american company, google has figured out a borderless loophole....which is why it makes even more sense for them to be a government agency. we are already inching dangerously closer to this concept with The New Google Latitude.
all of this is entirely possible, if google street view is legally allowed to remain active that is, and if you disagree with me, i have two words for you: the internet. anything is possible.
in 1995, one of the coolest shows ever created was on the air for 13 episodes called VR.5. real life and virtual reality co-existed. i was only 13 when this show came out but it remained permanently etched in my mind. i've always had a sick fascination with this shit.
related articles:
-Google Street View arrives here to controversy (Dec 3, 2009)
-Swiss privacy watchdog to sue Google Street View (Nov 13, 2009)
-Google Street Views Faces Privacy Critics in Japan and Greece (May 13, 2009)
-Google wins Street View privacy suit (Feb 18, 2009)
-Top 15 Google Street View sightings (May 31, 2007)
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
how to romanticize your way through otherwise mundane and typical scenarios
i'm at the pharmacy waiting for my acid reflux medication. the pharmacist hands me my prescription with his pale womanly hands and tells me that he takes the same kind. i smile shyly and let out a single awkward laugh though his face remains calm. i tell him i don't get heartburn i just have trouble breathing sometimes. that's common, he assures me, sensing my vulnerability. i just can't stay away from spicy foods i love it, he says and we hold a gaze, allowing just enough time for me to imagine enjoying a curry dinner together in an exotic restaurant. if you think hard enough, you can make a moment happen...
Friday, November 27, 2009
brownie <3
When the longest relationship you've had is with a dog, you do everything you can to mold your life around that little creature and hope you make them happy as they do you. I've had Brownie by my side for 8 years now and feel like I would be missing a limb or something if he wasn't around.
One of the most satisfying feelings in the world is the unconditional and non-judgemental love from a pet. There is a saying "Put your dog and your wife in the trunk of the car for an hour. When you open the trunk, see which one is happy to see you". But unfortunately, you can't have one extreme without the other. Last night I experienced for a only flash the most agonizing pain I have felt in years, and all day that moment keeps flashing back and I break down.
Brownie had his first "grand mal" seizure last night. I've seen dogs have seizures before but when it's your own and you are alone it is absolutely petrifying. Your dog's life suddenly flashing before your eyes.
He walked into the living room looking confused and then he stumbled and fell onto his side. His breathing turned into wheezing and then a horrifying scream-like noise as his body became stiff with his head thrown back. At the time, I didn't know what the fuck was going on. I tried to get him to breathe properly, to wake him out of his state but he just kept screaming.
After what felt like ages but was probably only a minute or so, it all stopped. His breaths became smaller and smaller and his body more and more limp until he wasn't breathing at all, his body was completely lifeless and his eyes were closed. I screamed. I was thinking a million things a second like what in the fuck am I going to do with Brownie's little body, how did this happen? I tried to touch him but the lifelessness terrified me and I was shaking uncontrollably. Slowly, he started breathing ever so softly and his eyes flickered open. He looked confused then slouched over to lean against a wall.
He was ok and I was bawling. I called the emergency vet clinic and they told me it would be a 3-4 hours wait and $200 for an examination. I got part way there then decided to turn around when I came to the realization of what had happened. He had a seizure. All of the dogs I've had growing up have had them and I knew there really is not much you can do when they are this old.
Brownie is about 12 this year. "About 12" because the best guess they could figure at his age when I adopted him from the shelter was 4. I took him to the vet today to have him checked out and she said pretty much the same thing. There is not much you can do, it is likely the first warning sign that there is something wrong in his brain and it may happen again, or could be a one-off thing for now. And as I was sitting in the waiting room, Brownie on the seat beside me, an old man comes out of the back room with his hands over his face and crying his eyes out. That heart-wrenching gasping for air type of cry. "I'm so sorry James," the nurse said to him. I picked up Brownie and my eyes welled up. The nurse said I could go wait in the back room if I wanted, quick to pick up on my sensitivity.
This is what it's like to have truly loved and lost.
So now I have for the first time realized that Brownie is not going to be around forever. I felt in that moment when he was on the floor what it's like to have him die and it is so painful. I don't know what I'm going to do. This little guy has been with me through everything...
2001
2009
<3
One of the most satisfying feelings in the world is the unconditional and non-judgemental love from a pet. There is a saying "Put your dog and your wife in the trunk of the car for an hour. When you open the trunk, see which one is happy to see you". But unfortunately, you can't have one extreme without the other. Last night I experienced for a only flash the most agonizing pain I have felt in years, and all day that moment keeps flashing back and I break down.
Brownie had his first "grand mal" seizure last night. I've seen dogs have seizures before but when it's your own and you are alone it is absolutely petrifying. Your dog's life suddenly flashing before your eyes.
He walked into the living room looking confused and then he stumbled and fell onto his side. His breathing turned into wheezing and then a horrifying scream-like noise as his body became stiff with his head thrown back. At the time, I didn't know what the fuck was going on. I tried to get him to breathe properly, to wake him out of his state but he just kept screaming.
After what felt like ages but was probably only a minute or so, it all stopped. His breaths became smaller and smaller and his body more and more limp until he wasn't breathing at all, his body was completely lifeless and his eyes were closed. I screamed. I was thinking a million things a second like what in the fuck am I going to do with Brownie's little body, how did this happen? I tried to touch him but the lifelessness terrified me and I was shaking uncontrollably. Slowly, he started breathing ever so softly and his eyes flickered open. He looked confused then slouched over to lean against a wall.
He was ok and I was bawling. I called the emergency vet clinic and they told me it would be a 3-4 hours wait and $200 for an examination. I got part way there then decided to turn around when I came to the realization of what had happened. He had a seizure. All of the dogs I've had growing up have had them and I knew there really is not much you can do when they are this old.
Brownie is about 12 this year. "About 12" because the best guess they could figure at his age when I adopted him from the shelter was 4. I took him to the vet today to have him checked out and she said pretty much the same thing. There is not much you can do, it is likely the first warning sign that there is something wrong in his brain and it may happen again, or could be a one-off thing for now. And as I was sitting in the waiting room, Brownie on the seat beside me, an old man comes out of the back room with his hands over his face and crying his eyes out. That heart-wrenching gasping for air type of cry. "I'm so sorry James," the nurse said to him. I picked up Brownie and my eyes welled up. The nurse said I could go wait in the back room if I wanted, quick to pick up on my sensitivity.
This is what it's like to have truly loved and lost.
So now I have for the first time realized that Brownie is not going to be around forever. I felt in that moment when he was on the floor what it's like to have him die and it is so painful. I don't know what I'm going to do. This little guy has been with me through everything...
2001
2009
<3
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
bucky award
oh man!! my favourite band made the shortlist for the cbc radio 3's best new artist and is in the top 5!
vote for the racoons HERE! xoxo
vote for the racoons HERE! xoxo
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