Inception on youtube

Imran showed me a video about inception (massive spoiler alert, do not watch before you seen the film) over twitter and I started to check out the related videos, theres some really funny stuff out there.

Memes where do they come from?

I’ve taken my eyes off mydreamscape for a few weeks recently but I’m back on the case. Recently attended a nice lecture (I was recommended by my hypnotherapist Shannon) which reaffirmed what I’m trying to do with mydreamscape.

The organic chemist August Kekulé claimed that a ring in the shape of Ouroboros (an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail.) that he saw in a dream inspired him in his discovery of the structure of benzene.

As noted by Carl Jung, this might be an instance of cryptomnesia (cryptomnesia occurs when a forgotten memory returns without it being recognized as such by the subject, who believes it is something new and original. It is a memory bias whereby a person may falsely recall generating a thought, an idea, a song, or a joke, not deliberately engaging in plagiarism but rather experiencing a memory as if it were a new inspiration.)

In the session/lecture I attended Susan Leigh who was the guest speaker, talked about dreams but from the point of view of a hypnotherapist. The idea being if someone comes to you for help, you might be able to get an idea of what and where there problems take root. However there was still lots to learn for someone like myself.

I wrote notes down while she was talking but here’s a few of the key points.

  • Dream descriptions are not as important as how they make you feel.
  • Within the first 30mins of falling a sleep, you are treated to a preview of all the dreams you will have that night. Like a set of trailers for that night
  • Repeative dreams obvioulsy say a lot more you that one offs.
  • The dreamer is the best person to describe and make sense of there dreams. The whole dream dictorory thing is questionable, although broad concepts do still some what apply.
  • Friends and family who know the dream may be better that a expert at understanding elements of the dreamer dream.
  • Food and drink can have a serious effect on dreams
  • Using self hyponisis its possible to artect your dream
  • Mental fatigue creates images which are not helpful
  • All manimals dream
  • Dreams are symbolic and people generally have 6-7 dreams a night

Susan mentioned the work of Dr Keith Hearne who is a internationally known British psychologist who conducted the world’s first sleep-laboratory research into ‘lucid’ dreams. Funny enough I didn’t know but I’ve actually got a book of his on my bookshelf Understanding Dreams.

So going back through the key points, I’m wondering if I should focus more on the metadata of the dream that the description its self. But also interestingly the concens about gaming or spamming the system isn’t such a worry anymore. The descriptions will be interesting but overall the descriptions won’t be that important plus will only really be interesting to friends and family who know that person.

In actual fact there was quite a lot of talk about the fact people close will be able to interupt the dream. I’m not sure what this means in the face of dream dictionaries (i assume there very generalised).

Lots of food for thought, but it strikes me that until we can confirm what kind of dream the person is having, the ephasis should be on the metadata collected. Roll on the dream recorder…

Everything you know about transmedia storytelling is wrong

I’m glad Dan Hon created this and the follow up presentation, unfortunately I can’t believe it took me 2 years to see this presentation. I totally agree with the points made in the presentation. Transmedia storytelling to date has been pretty lazy affairs. I’m wondering where the blockage is… beyond the notion that people don’t get it. Its a whole new world and personally I feel there no frameworks to support this new kind of storytelling. Someone should do something about that…

Forgetting history

Xerox Parc Mouse

One of the things I’m hoping to do a lot more of in the future is working with the hackers of our generation and understand how what there doing now to scratch there own itches will expand to the mainstream. Anyway interestingly I was having a discussion with a guy from my circus workshop class (yeah another day I’ll explain) and he was saying why he liked Apple. One of his reasons was that Apple created the Mouse and that Apple create the best Keyboards and Mice.

I was totally shocked!

Now to be fair he was only 19 but still… one look at the Xerox Parc page on wikipedia page.

Most of these developments were included in the Alto, which added the now familiar SRI-developed mouse unifying into a single model most aspects of now-standard personal computer use.

Shock horror, apple did not develop the mouse. They may have borrowed/stolen the idea once Steve Jobs saw it but it wasn’t developed by them.

Anyway the point is theres a lot of this going around. We cover this on the latest Techgrumps, people ignoring or dismissing the rich history which sits behind most of the things we take for granted.

My good friend Miles use to talk a lot about the fact most blogs would only go surface deep however the blog does make a great place to dispense information. Don’t get me wrong there are some really great blogs with well thought out posts but maybe there isn’t enough?

Robert’s web? Another internet inspired show

Roberts Web

Robert’s web joins the long list of TV shows built around web based content. However this one is more a combination of Know your meme, Inst msgs and the digg reel. Got to say its certainly a lot more funny that Rude Tube and a lot more topical that the digg reel. Not quite up to the level of Rocketboom when it was still popular but it certainly works for a mainstream tv show.

Sleeping on the weekends

I’ve been doing lots of research into dreams and sleeping and I just wanted to share this nugget of information.

Why is it So Hard to Wake Up in the Morning?

Your clock is controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus, a part of the brain that controls the body’s biological rhythms. But, says Jean Matheson, a sleep-disorders specialist at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, these preset natural rhythms often don’t align with daily realities—work or school start times cannot be adjusted to fit a person’s sleep schedule. People who have trouble crawling out of bed probably have an inner clock set to late wake-up and sleep times, a condition known as phase delay.

It is possible to adjust your phase-delayed body clock, Matheson says, but at a price: No sleeping in on the weekends. “When people sleep late on weekends, they revert to their natural phase-delayed rhythm,” she explains. This makes it harder to wake up early on weekdays. You can train yourself to wake up earlier, Matheson says, by setting your alarm 15 minutes earlier each day (and heeding its call).

When I was younger, I use to be able to cycle my body clock on the weekend. So I would sleep in late on the weekends but wake up early on weekdays. Now I’m older, I’ve finally come to the realisation that I can’t do it no longer.

A few things got me smiling the last few days

Google Docs are now editable on Android and iOS devices. This means I can finally go a head with my plans for a special niche type of service.

Paypal unveil Micropayments at 5% per 5cents. No idea how much that will be in pound but it doesn’t sound too bad. Of course Facebook have already signed up hoping to get some virtual good action

For Sale: Escape Magazine the almost complete set

Escape: Issue: 2Escape: Issue: 3Escape issue: 4Escape issue: 5Escape issue: 6

Escape issue: 7Escape issue: 8Escape issue: 9 Escape issue: 10Escape issue: 11

Escape Magazine seems to have almost no history or mention. There’s my blog post written in April this year and the magforum which has this reference.

Short-lived title from Maxim publisher Dennis aiming to explore the World-Wide Web. The first issue was withdrawn for legal reasons. Jennifer Aniston was on the cover.

Obayifo left a comment he had issue one, the one which was withdrawn. It must be worth a lot of money now? I could really do with issue one to complete my collection but then again I am selling my collection, if anyones interested?

Once again, I really do think Escape was a head of its time. It was .net magazine crossed with loaded or maxim. Its slant towards Internet culture was great. Yes it was a men’s magazine but beyond the front cover it had some very interesting articles. For example in issue 2 beyond the half naked cover of Sandra Bullock you had,

  • Emails of the rich and famous
  • Better that Sex?
  • Skin up? (about Tattoos)
  • Xmas Goodies
  • Net Girls
  • From Watchmen to Soul Men
  • Your place or mine? (about swinging)
  • I don’t need this pressure, Ron (Rob Atkinson vs Championship manager 2)
  • Surfing for the board generation
  • This man is sick (about a guy selling a very dodgy cdrom)
  • Orgasmatron (interview with mike saenz, creator of Virtual Valerie)

Ok maybe thats not the best advert for the magazine… *smile*

Someone did point me to den of geek which I have to say is not quite as punchy as Escape’s writing staff but its not a bad substitute.

Now time to make a start on the rave flyers…

Manchester Werewolf chapter – Wednesday 1st December

Werewolf Manchester Chapter

Werewolf: A simple game of strategy and deception, played by a large group of people. The game is all about making accusations, lying, bluffing, second-guessing, and social engineering.

What is there not to like?

For the last time this year, the chapter will be getting together to play the much enjoyed game of werewolf. This time the venue is changed to the place for digital people, Madlab in the northern quarter.

If you’ve never played before, I swear you will enjoy it. Its not one of those boring card or board games, werewolf is like poker but the cards and chips were eaten by a werewolf.

This will also be a great place to get some practice in before BarCampManchester4 which is that Saturday.

There will also be a surprise announcement on the night from myself, as I’ve been developing something which might be of interest to werewolf players across the nation.

The chapter will be back in the new year with more events… best way to stay tuned is signing up to the official facebook group for the Manchester Werewolf chapter.