How does a computer know there's an audience in?
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Dear All,
I didn't expect to find such an amusing thread about psychic energy and crashes in the forum today. Funny.
Here's my small contribution: somehow I have a special relationship with machines. It has very often happened (in workshops mainly) that someone has a problem, and then I walk over to look, and somehow it has magically fixed itself -- seemingly due to my presence near the computer.
Of course, the scientist in me wants to say that, in the hectic and often nerve wracking moments leading up to a show, we are likely to do something differently than the did when we were calmer in rehearsal, and that this is the real source of the problems we encounter.
However, this is strongly countered by the small amount of Italian in my heritage, which leads me to believe in stuff like the "evil eye" and wonky gremlins that run around the theater trying to cause mischief. I blame it on the gremlins, those little bastards.
Best,
Mark(P.S. Sorry to make a blanket statement about Italians and superstition... that evil eye stuff comes from my grandmother.)
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A friend of mine told me about a farmer in the austrian mountains, who can shut down a computer without touching it. He was so certain about, that while listenig to him it felt like a fact: there are people who can do that no doubt about it.
Would like to something live...but not during a performance ;-) -
Oh that reminds me: In 2003, I was giving a demonstration of Isadora to a group of teachers, and -- no joke -- at the exact same instant I pressed the power button on my compute,r the entire northeast of the United States lost all electrical power. Maybe I should edit the Wiki and take responsibility for that one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003
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LOL @mark that's epic!
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@mark "somehow I have a special relationship with machines. It has very often happened (in workshops mainly) that someone has a problem, and then I walk over to look, and somehow it has magically fixed itself -- seemingly due to my presence near the computer."
whenever i read 'Mark All Viewed' it makes me think of mr C. as some kind of deity! -
enjoying this thread :)
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I got a quick story
I was hired to recreate an old piece by Nam June Paik last month.The piece was called "Three Camera Participation" an elegant live video interactive piece with three cameras producing a single channel out of three camera inputs that are specially offset. (No izzy)During the install I got to a roadblock; no matter what I did I was getting video noise and glitching in the system.I spent the better part of the afternoon slowly going through each cable and connection...In the end there was a small two foot cord that seemed to be defying the laws of physics -- with no connection running through the cable whats so ever it would produce signal.I think it was Mr. Paik comeback to screw with me a little... :-)And of course the next day the cable produces no signal, and the piece worked fine...G -
This weekend, we're performing in Theatr Harlech, a run-down venue in a stunning location between the sea and the mountains. We got here the other evening and helped set up for a film screening, couldn't get the PA to work. I eventually traced the issue to the speakers, where someone had unlocked the Speakon cable, but not removed it. I've since found out that this happens regularly. There have been sightings of 2 old men in there, sometimes the piano gets played in an empty stage. There's always 2 seats down in the morning, no matter how the seats are left at night. Our dancers are a little bit worried about spending the day there today. I'm looking forward to it.....
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@dbini this is a crazy story!
You should set up a time lapse overnight! PLEASE! haha -
It wasn't as spooky as the people at the venue made out. Tanja spent quite a while doing some shamanic energy work and seemed to make friends with whoever was there. we heard the toilets flushing in the men's dressing room a few times, despite there being nobody else in the building at the time, but the auditorium seats were all up when we arrived the next morning. no problems with the show, in fact, on the day of the show, it wasn't even cold in there. (its a concrete building and the heating's broken, so its always cold in there)
we're applying for some funding to spend more time up there next year and do a variety of projects, so i can let you know if anything supernatural occurs...
