Last night I dreamed....
I'm working with a computer program that lets you create stories using Family Guy characters at an amusement park.
I'm planning on doing a scene that has similarities to the boat scene in Willy Wonka. I consider using Puck's soliloquy from A Midsummers Night's Dream. I'm wondering if I should write the monologue in italics.
Then I end up with a log ride, which I'm not sure what would work for my boat scene.
And then...I feel like I'm actually on the log ride. I lose interest in creating a story and become more interested in using the program as a sort of virtual reality. I swim underwater and look at leaves, noting that I can breathe underwater.
After that, I walk around. I stop at a donut stand. They have huge donuts the size of my head. The woman working there isn't very friendly, and there's a sign warning that all sales are final.
I order a donut, learning that it costs five dollars. Despite there being different flavors, she doesn't ask what type I want. She just hands me a pink donut.
I leave the stand and begin to eat. The donut no longer looks like a donut. It's like the program couldn't keep up the imagery. Now it's just layers of brown dough. It tastes sweet but dull.
The Family Guy thing was a big random. I don't watch that show. But I've been reading bits and pieces of screenplays, and that's one that I looked at. Although that was weeks ago.
I guess the pink donut is a reference to The Simpsons.
I think, though, that my main reason for having the dream is this idea I've had since the pandemic began. Why aren't we working harder on making Ready Player One a reality????
I was preaching about that in the spring. And I started again this week with the colleges opening. Why isn't anyone creating a massive virtual university; one with classes, dorms, parties, clubs, etc.
Would it work?
I'm not sure.
I haven't had much experience with multiplayer games or experiences.
I played a few Minecraft games. But it didn't go beyond games. There was no real conversation or socializing.
And I know colleges already have a lot that is virtual. A lot of classes are virtual. And thanks to online groups/apps, Jack already had a fairly rich college social life, before even getting on the actual campus and meeting his fellow students in person.
Would it be worth it to have an extensive online college experience with pretend dorms, pretend roommates, pretend coffee shops, pretend cafeterias, etc...and real classes?
A part of me can't picture it working. I picture professors trying to teach via virtual classrooms, but then all the little avatars don't want to stay. They want to jump around the virtual world—playing, chatting, and exploring.
But, in a way, regular college is like that too.
I was talking to Tim about that yesterday. College is supposed to be about the classes and the degree. But when I look back to my college days, the classes feel kind of like the subplot.
I'm working with a computer program that lets you create stories using Family Guy characters at an amusement park.
I'm planning on doing a scene that has similarities to the boat scene in Willy Wonka. I consider using Puck's soliloquy from A Midsummers Night's Dream. I'm wondering if I should write the monologue in italics.
Then I end up with a log ride, which I'm not sure what would work for my boat scene.
And then...I feel like I'm actually on the log ride. I lose interest in creating a story and become more interested in using the program as a sort of virtual reality. I swim underwater and look at leaves, noting that I can breathe underwater.
After that, I walk around. I stop at a donut stand. They have huge donuts the size of my head. The woman working there isn't very friendly, and there's a sign warning that all sales are final.
I order a donut, learning that it costs five dollars. Despite there being different flavors, she doesn't ask what type I want. She just hands me a pink donut.
I leave the stand and begin to eat. The donut no longer looks like a donut. It's like the program couldn't keep up the imagery. Now it's just layers of brown dough. It tastes sweet but dull.
The Family Guy thing was a big random. I don't watch that show. But I've been reading bits and pieces of screenplays, and that's one that I looked at. Although that was weeks ago.
I guess the pink donut is a reference to The Simpsons.
I think, though, that my main reason for having the dream is this idea I've had since the pandemic began. Why aren't we working harder on making Ready Player One a reality????
I was preaching about that in the spring. And I started again this week with the colleges opening. Why isn't anyone creating a massive virtual university; one with classes, dorms, parties, clubs, etc.
Would it work?
I'm not sure.
I haven't had much experience with multiplayer games or experiences.
I played a few Minecraft games. But it didn't go beyond games. There was no real conversation or socializing.
And I know colleges already have a lot that is virtual. A lot of classes are virtual. And thanks to online groups/apps, Jack already had a fairly rich college social life, before even getting on the actual campus and meeting his fellow students in person.
Would it be worth it to have an extensive online college experience with pretend dorms, pretend roommates, pretend coffee shops, pretend cafeterias, etc...and real classes?
A part of me can't picture it working. I picture professors trying to teach via virtual classrooms, but then all the little avatars don't want to stay. They want to jump around the virtual world—playing, chatting, and exploring.
But, in a way, regular college is like that too.
I was talking to Tim about that yesterday. College is supposed to be about the classes and the degree. But when I look back to my college days, the classes feel kind of like the subplot.
I think dreaming about a giant, expensive pastry that only comes in one flavor simply means you go to Disney a lot.
ReplyDeleteAnd that last sentence is the best summary of college I've ever read.
LOL. And thanks. Speaking of Disney... Have you ever stayed at Fort Wilderness. I'm pretty sure you haven't in the last few years...unless you have robbed me and the rest of the world a trip report. But in the past? Although when you listed all your past Disney trips, maybe you also included where you stayed. I can't remember. Anyway...I have this idea of doing a Disney trip at Fort Wilderness but not going to any parks. I want to stay in the little cabins, eat at the buffet (which will probably no longer be a buffet) fail at playing tether ball, look for rabbits, and buy the little package of Entenmann's donuts at the overpriced grocery store. I also want to go to Niagara Falls now. I don't think I've ever had a wish to go there. It was last on my Canada list. But you sold me as soon as you educated me about the Dinosaur mini-golf. And I don't even really like mini-golf.
DeleteReading about your dinosaur passion in Denver...I should also add that I've never been much into dinosaurs. So I don't know why I'm excited about dinosaur mini-golf.
ReplyDeleteBeing the park addicts we are, the idea of not going to them when staying there is alien to us. We did stay at Wilderness Lodge twice (once with just my wife and I for our first anniversary, once on Anabelle's 2nd trip) but never the campground. We stopped going there that to stay at the value resorts for longer stays. As a kid we stayed at the Contemporary, because, as my daughter says, I am a fossil, and back then there were only 2, later 3 hotel choices.
ReplyDeleteSee, I'm not only a dinosaur geek, but a carrier. Sadly when we looked at a later Niagara trip, we learned the hotel we stayed in next to the dinosaurs was torn down (while the same brand one with terrible reviews two blocks away was still there) to make room for a go kart track. With hitting Denver more often we never worked up the energy to go back.
Oh no about the hotel. I am crossing Niagara off of my list.
ReplyDeleteWe have gone to the parks too many times. I have started to daydream through most of the rides. It's more like I love the rides for nostalgic reasons. I feel if I go to the park, I won't have much fun. But if I don't go, I will regret it, because I will be longing for a few specific things (like the little farm house in the Land and the Kawaii exhibit). Although we've been going yearly for a while. If we took a break for a few years, I'd probably go back to being excited about the parks and having fun there. I mean not that I have zero fun. But I feel like I often have to make an effort to not zone out. AND...if I don't go on rides, I end up regretting it. A lot. Now...writing this, I'm realizing I can't go to Disney World without going to the parks. And if I go to the parks, I'll have to go on almost every ride or experience great regret. So really I should just stay away from Disney World.
That...that makes me so sad. We only go every few years, but I don't think that would happen to me. We used to plan a day on every trip to go to a water park (going back to River Country Days) and with only one exception very early on, we changed at the last minute and went to the park again.
ReplyDeleteI always maximize time in the parks. Even on a long trip I'll go on rides again and again, it just makes me happy.
I'm not really a huge "new experience" type guy.