Something to think about:

“You take the blue pill and the story ends.
You wake in your bed and you believe
whatever you want to believe.

You take the red pill and you stay
in Wonderland, and I show you how
deep the rabbit-hole goes.”

- Morpheus

I presented the following presentation at the first-ever Nevada Interactive Media Summit last week. My presentation consisted mostly of demonstrations in Adobe Flex Builder but if you plug the code below into Flex, you should be able to follow along. A video of the presentation should be available soon.

Demo #1: RSS Reader

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute">

 <mx:HTTPService id="myRSSFeed" url="{rssURL.text}" />

 <mx:Label x="10" y="12" text="RSS URL:" fontWeight="bold" />

 <mx:TextInput id="rssURL" width="357" x="68" y="10" />

 <mx:Button x="371" y="40" label="GO !!" click="myRSSFeed.send()"/>

 <mx:DataGrid id="myDataGrid" dataProvider="{myRSSFeed.lastResult.rss.channel.item}"

 width="417.5" height="144"

 click="{myTextArea.htmlText =

 myRSSFeed.lastResult.rss.channel.item[myDataGrid.selectedIndex].description}"

 x="7.5" y="70">

 <mx:columns>

 <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Date" dataField="pubDate" textAlign="left"/>

 <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Title" dataField="title" textAlign="center"/>

 </mx:columns>

 </mx:DataGrid>

 <mx:TextArea id="myTextArea" width="415" height="162" x="10" y="222"/>

 

</mx:Application>

Demo #2: Twitter Search Application

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<mx:WindowedApplication xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" title = "Twitter @ NIM" layout="absolute">

 <mx:Script>

 <![CDATA[ 

 private function doSearch(e:MouseEvent):void

 {

 twitterService.url = "http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=" + twitterKeyword.text;

 twitterService.send();

 }

 ]]>

 </mx:Script>

 

 <mx:HTTPService id="twitterService" />

 

 <mx:Label x="10" y="20" text="Twitter Search Term"/>

 <mx:TextInput id = "twitterKeyword" x="10" y="38" width="295"/>

 <mx:Button click = "doSearch(event)" x="379" y="38" label="Search" width="81"/>

 <mx:List dataProvider = "{twitterService.lastResult.feed.entry}" labelField="title" x="10" y="68" width="450" height="282"></mx:List>




</mx:WindowedApplication>

The first-ever Ignite Reno was a great hit! You can check out the videos at http://ignitereno.blip.tv.

Like the morning sun your eyes will follow me
As you watch me wander, curse the powers that be
Cause all I want is here and now but its already been and gone
Our intentions always last that bit too long

- Full Moon by Black Ghosts

Our topic of discussion last class was two-fold: “what is art?” and “what is a computer?” The multidisciplinary nature of our Serious Games class includes art, computer science and journalism so it is important for all of us, coming from different backgrounds and experiences, to understand a little bit about the other fields of interest.

So what is art?
You will be hard pressed to find any two people who will give you the same answer. To me art is any expression of an idea. This expression can be conveyed through any medium and/or utilize any set of tools, mechanics, etc.

Interested in how others would define art, I sent the question out to Twitter and here are some of the responses:

KristenAmazing @colinloretz whatever you want it to be. That is a hard question.

bliccy @colinloretz But seriously… a subjective, expressive interpretation of…anything. Defining art second in line to “meaning of life”.

clustrfck @colinloretz The answer you seek is unobtainable

teepoole @colinloretz A desired communication between an artist and a public.

teepoole @colinloretz Rather, the materialization of.

keith_anderson @colinloretz the seeking of the question (by doing) usually creates the answer.

tahoedrew @colinloretz re: art! an external expression of an internal concept, emotion or world

AngelaRaeBrooks Art is the creative soul inside yourself

Art in Games

For some of the best art that I’ve ever seen in a game, check out Project Offset. Not only is the art stunning but it is all real-time imagery generated by the game engine itself. Ordinarily, you would have to create prerendered cinematic video clips to attain this high level of quality, forcing you to watch it like a movie instead of interacting with it. Check out the videos for more information.

What is art to you?
Leave your opinion in the comments!