This is a video of a real-time blues performance taking place in Second Life featuring Komuso Tokugawa on vocals, guitar, harmonica and intelligent back tracks (which follow him) from Tokyo, Japan and myself on piano, excited yelps and groaning from Toronto, Canada. This is a regular weekly show so keep your eye on the event listings. The video was filmed and edited by Osprey Therian.

In a world where a mobile phone ring costs more than a real song, I am convinced that virtual music performances are the future for musicians.

Realitynaught

Originally uploaded by HatHead Rickenbacker.

Here is a picture of me in one of my Second Life mixed reality avatars standing in front of a virtual screen of the same video feed where I am sneaking this shot with my mobile phone.

Here is the video I mention in the previous post where Fire Centaur shot me with a video block head on top of my Second Life avatar body. As I mentioned earlier, the shoot was quite traditional in its process except that it all took place virtually with Fire Centaur directing me via Skype on the set using a script on a notecard.

A bit rudimentary as more work has been done on tighter fitting face masks and the film was shot with a free camera (as opposed to a machinima SL camera system) but an excellent proof of concept, especially since the whole idea was less then a day or so old.

In addition to better video face masks, I have also made a most excellent spacesuit so I can be a kind of ‘realitynaught’, directly inside SL, with my real life face peering from behind the safety of the virtual glass helmet. (not in this video)

This video is also an excellent example of language learning in virtual worlds as I learn to say “hello” in Korean. I am scheduled to be participate in a shoot for SBS TV in Korea inside SL wearing my mixed reality avatar to talk about Fire’s SL english language school tomorrow.

In make-up

Originally uploaded by HatHead Rickenbacker.

I have a real penchant for mixed reality. I love the profound disorientation, disruptive but often positive, that can come from an intense mixed reality.

It was quite literally only yesterday that I hooked up my live video feed into Second Life. After creating screens 256 x 256 meters across, I immediately tried many methods of attaching my live video head to my virtual body.

Today, through a set of random circumstances, I was asked to use my blended reality avatar to act in a movie of my avatar moving about in Second Life and my real head performing the lines in real time.

At one point, I was beaming my face live onto the body of another avatar in a different simulator while simultaneously performing my lines with my own mixed reality avatar.

However most of the shooting process was more traditional, with Fire Centaur directing me via Skype on the set using a script in a notecard.

By the time I finished editing the gratuitous dribble out of this blog entry, Fire has finished his video! It is amazing how quickly ideas can take shape in virtual reality.

More in the next entry…

Required infosumption for all futurologists are the addresses from Stantford University’s Singularity Summit. The illustrious and deep thinking speakers included Ray Kurzweil, Douglas Hofstadter plus some others, who while interesting certainly, had brittle stacatto accents and grand assumptions I couldn’t bear for more than a few minutes.

Ray Kurzweil - Keynote Address

Ray did not coin the term ‘Singularity’ in its current futurological usage - the predicted imminent creation by technology of entities with greater than human intelligence - but he has done extensive studies on the exponential trends of technology advancement.

I have been reading Ray’s books for years and, even though he should be wearing a Federation Star Fleet officier’s uniform at all times, his observations highlight very important issues that we will soon face.

The following three links are Ray’s keynote address which sum up his books and his current defense of them well. Ray starts with a demonstration of a reading machine for the blind that reads aloud from one of his books as well as a video example later on of a telephone system that translates between spoken human languages.

Ray Kurzweil - Singularity Summit - keynote address part 1
Ray Kurzweil - Singularity Summit - keynote address part 2
Ray Kurzweil - Singularity Summit - keynote address part 3

One of my favorite parts is when Douglas Hofstadter, who is up next to provide a mused response, starts writing down notes while Ray is speaking. More on Doug’s response in a later post. It is particularly interesting to me to watch these giants face-off as they have both had a big impact on me.

Check out Ray Kurzweil on the web: http://www.kurzweiltech.com/