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Speaking of ... PingRay's Issue 4

The Gravity Master

There are three kinds of people in the world:

1) Those who love to throw George W. Bush around in Pekka’s “Freefall,” the Online Gadgets & Toys selection in PingRay’s Issue 4.

2) Those who want to rescue George W. Bush from the effects of gravity confronting large circular objects.

3) Those who wish to make clear they couldn’t care less.

In support of the first two groups, we decided to talk with the “creative programmer” who created the basic “Freefall” piece. He’s a 24-year-old from Finland named Pekka Sandborg. “I've used computers since C64 and Amiga 500, but not just to play games,” he told us via an email interview. “I used to draw and make animations with Deluxe Paint, program experiments with AMOS and compose music with trackers. I've recently begun my career as a professional Flash developer.”

After some research into animated simulations of physics, he “realized it'd be very easy and fast to use circles in collision physics, and it'd look nice too.” Following some early experiments, he had “the idea to place the bubbles randomly, and create new ones under the ragdoll while it was falling infinitely.” 

His first major released “Freefall” version had a young woman rather than the 43rd  President of the United States.

The George Bush version, as indicated on that page, was a modification of Pekka’s work by “an unknown Flash guru,” whose identity Pekka doesn’t know either. “I was expecting this to happen,” he told us. “I hear Flash files are easily decompilable. What I didn't expect is that 'Freefall' would grow to be such an Internet phenomenon! Almost everybody seems to enjoy the Bush-doll, but some find my girl a little too creepy and disturbing ;).”

We asked how one creates the physics of falling in Flash. Pekka responds: “The ragdoll consists of particles (hip, knee, foot), constraints that connect particles (thigh, knee) and angular constraints that restrict an angle between two constraints. Particles are pushed out of bubbles that they are penetrating. Because of the verlet integration, the particles adjust their velocities automatically when they are constrained or pushed out of bubbles.”

A NOTE: The instructions on the page for the George Bush version say you can speed up or slow down gravity with the up and down arrow keys. For those of you who may not have been able to make this work, Gravity Master Pekka informs us that “it’s the left-right arrow keys. As with any Flash files, you first have to have 'focus' of the Flash movie”—meaning that you have to click the Flash movie once before using the keys.

On the horizon for the Man Who Led to Bush’s Fall: “A screensaver version of the freefall with the ability to use your own skin. It'll use my new, faster and better ragdoll-physics, too."

"Oh, and a blog," he added. "Everyone's got to have a blog."

Speaking of ... PingRay's Issue 4

Mystery Park

"Vector Park," the “Alternate Worlds” selection in PingRay's Issue 4, balances the rewards of patient exploration against the imperatives of how-does-this-work frustration, like objects hanging in the Park’s levers game.

The near-anonymity of the Park’s creator—Brooklyn, NY resident Patrick Smith, who appears to want to remain far in the background, as silent as his creation—adds to the mysterious position this Park enjoys on the Net. Dozens of bulletin board and blog comments exclaim its virtues, wonder about its meanings and its author, and exchange tips as to its workings. Most react as if they’d stumbled across a wondrous but anonymous object from another world.

For instance, this reaction from PingRay Guest Commentator Hugh Osborn, an educational consultant who claims to have  solved the first "Myst" without one crib note:

“Try the middle activity of the three with the mobile that you must make yourself out of strange elements. What is the purpose? Is it a game? If so, what is the solution, or even what might a solution look like? This is a fascinating puzzle, game, and work of art. I have built something live that needs improving and looks like my own Calder, but the birds are agitated and my five-legged squid really doesn’t seem happy – I’m off to balance them all better. God just dropped in and now I have to weigh Him off against a bowling ball and a submarine – a very new experience for me.

“Finding the hidden world in the Moon-Telescope-Junkpile game was magical. Whoops! I can’t visit it again – a one-time experience. But the creatures in this world seem to be hinting at something new. What could it be?  The eggs on bicycles in the right-hand work seem to like my cursor – I must find out what they want.

“I think Fellini will be directing my dreams tonight.”

And, for those of you who would like some assistance with the levers game, try this crib note from someone who thinks he broke the code of that section of the park. 

 

Speaking of ... PingRay's Issue 4

The Natural

Alex Jovy's “White Bits” (2002), the tightly-edited short film that is our Net Movies selection in Issue 4, appears to be the work of a director with greater experience.  Schooled in Switzerland and the United Kingdom and originally trained as a lawyer, Jovy is apparently a natural.

His first short film, "Holiday Romance” (to be featured in an upcoming PingRay issue), received a 1998 Oscar nomination. Jovy had no previous directing experience when he undertook the production. It was written in a day by screenwriter Clive Hopkins, based on a story Hopkins was told about someone having their keys stolen and their house burgled. Hopkins decided to explore what would happen if the keys had been planted. Clive showed the script to a director, JJ Keith, who showed it to Jovy.

Like “Holiday Romance,” Jovy’s 2005 short film, "Two's Company," offers a twist on an old story. In this romantic comedy, a woman cheats on her blind lover.

Jovy’s first feature film, "Sorted" (2000), about a young lawyer investigating his brother’s death, got mixed reviews. Set in the London club scene, it drew upon Jovy’s background as a DJ and club promoter.

His current project is a feature based on Persian leader Cyrus the Great (circa 500 BC), who, according to the director, was "a kind of Robin Hood, a champion of human rights who drew up a kind of bill of rights for his people called the Cylinder of Cyrus, which is now in the British Museum.”

Among other things, Cyrus freed the slaves in his empire, tolerated all religions (still a major accomplishment), and ordered his governors to treat his people fairly (ditto). Whatever the dramatic or political strengths the film may offer, it has become well-known as the “most expensive independent film” ever made in Britain. Its private backers allegedly include the Sultan of Brunei.