Áine, Finnegan, and Andreas

From Mother to Daughter poetry-prayer

Gratitudinal Contact video

Time for Contact practice

Raise A Hand in Blessing movement

________________________________

Take a deep breath… let it out with a sigh

From Mother to Daughter poetry-prayer
by Aine deDannan

I am grateful to be learning
how precious sleep is…
that taking my time allows me to see the world more fully…
to explore the world with my hands and mouth…
how to do hand-to-hand contact from my not-yet-one-year-old…
that life is both fragile and strong at the same time…
to savor every moment with the loves in my life…

Gratitudinal Contact video

Time for Contact practice

Try these simple activities with your family members, whether blood family, chosen family, or spiritual family.

Hand-to-Hand Embrace

Hold a loved one’s hand in your hand
Now find a new point of contact with each other’s hands…hold it for a moment…Then make a new shape and hold it…
And another and hold it…
Continue, and then find a natural point of closure.

For the Love of Children

With a baby or small child, let that child explore your face, your clothes, or your hand with his or her hands. Enjoy the beauty of this child’s exploration!

Connection

Find someone you care about (or several),
Hold each other in an embrace,
Step out enough to lift your hands up into the air,
Lifting up your care for each other in a hand-to-hand dance,
Then lower your hands for an embrace of gratitude.

Raise A Hand in Blessing movement

When we dance hand-to-hand we often practice opening the space between us. We can feel that connection even when we aren’t right together. Raise a hand in blessing. Turn in a full circle (or not) and know that others are sending blessings to you too.

As you move, listen to “Mother” from the Anatomic album by Afro Celt Sound System.

Take a deep breath… let it out with a sigh

________________________________

This week’s post is created byÁine E. deDanaan. Aine was first introduced to InterPlay when she started seminary at Pacific School of Religion in September 2000 and subsequently completed the InterPlay Life Practice Program in 2003. She moved back “home” to southwestern New Hampshire in July 2008. After taking time off as a new mom of Finnegan, Áine is now bringing InterPlay to the Keene, NH area! As a licensed massage therapist with a focus in Chinese Medicine, Áine helps people find more ease and wholeness in their bodies. Áine’s husband, Andreas, offers support with his willingness to play, as well as lending his graphic design expertise and video editing abilities…not to mention his beautiful parenting! For more information about Áine’s work (or to sign up for her newsletter) visit www.innerphoenix.org; to see more of Andreas’s work, visit www.dedanaandesign.com.

For anyone in Oakland and the surrounding area–you are invited to the InterPlay Free Sample. There have been so many amazing new developments recently! Come find out what is going on in the world with InterPlay these days. If you are new to InterPlay or if you bring a friend new to InterPlay, you will be entered in a drawing for dinner at Ozumo in Oakland (just two blocks from InterPlayce)! All that is required is to show up and sign in. This event is at InterPlayce, Sunday Dec 6, 2-3:15 pm and is free!

Think of traffic. The faster we go, the harder to avoid collision. We are many. We are diverse. Our empathy mechanisms are on overdrive.

Result? We pull back, shut down, isolate.

Kids do it. Teens do it. Family members do it. Workers do it.

Teamwork? Community? Family? Too tired, too hard, too much!

Think of the economy. “Do more with less.” Work harder for the same or less pay.

Result? Fatigue. Overwhelm. We strive for resiliency, tools, but self-help won’t fix this.

Think of school, health care, work, religion. Sit side by side. Nose in a computer. Face your teacher/Dr./Boss. Concentrate. Get the message. Individual effort and achievement = success.

Result? When we fail, we think something’s wrong with us. Leave education and religion.

Throw in trouble, mental illness, trauma. Governments, lawmakers, school administrators, insurance, and police step in, our least creative, compassionate solutions.

Result? Humans need connection, fun, inspiration, challenge, compassion and noble causes MORE THAN EVER!

The body says….IT’S TIME!  GIVE ME SOMETHING, ANYTHING!

In Teaching Compassion, educator Kimberly Post Rowe for the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development identifies the need to build connection in a classroom to move people from empathy to compassion.

InterPlay is twenty years old. Like a visionary, energetic young adult, its creative methods and simple ideas move people in all kinds of circumstances from overwhelm to ease, isolation to connection, and more importantly than ever, from withdrawal to compassionate engagement! A deep breath and a sigh, a quick round of naming things that we have in common, shaking out whatever we’re sitting on, bringing our fingertips together and lifting up common concerns. It’s the little things that will change the world.

This image comes from the newly created InterPlay Inspiration Deck by Anita Bondi

The Story of Side by Side story

The Orangutan and the Hound Dog video

Dancing Side By Side/Raise a Hand in Blessing Movement

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Take a deep breath… let it out with a sigh

The Story of Side by Side story
(From the newly released InterPlay Inspiration Deck)

Side by Side are best friends who have always been together. They were born on the same street, went to the same schools, and now live in the same green-colored apartment building in San Francisco.  They like almost all the same foods, work for the same company and even vacation together.  Side by Side consider themselves extremely lucky, having mastered the fine art of being totally themselves while being together.  They are 100% real and authentic with each other. They know that they are happier together than apart, and so they keep it that way!

The Orangutan and the Hound Dog video

Sometimes our friends and playmates are just like us and sometimes they seem to be completely different. What matters is our desire to exist side by side with whomever we choose. Enjoy this video demonstrating that we really do know who we want to be and who makes us feel good, even if the rest of the world says we don’t belong together…

Dancing Side By Side/Raise a Hand in Blessing Movement

Picture three people that you like to be with and imagine yourself dancing with them.  Have fun dancing side by side while listening to Stan Stewart’s musical improvisation  (created in an InterPlay class for a walk, stop, run on the practice of side by side).

Side by Side improvised by Stan Stewart

As you finish, hold a moment of stillness, raise a hand in blessing, turn a full circle, and see all of those side by side you smiling and supporting you!

Take a deep breath… let it out with a sigh

_______________________________

NOTES:

This week’s post is created by Anita Bondi and Stan Stewart, InterPlay Leaders in PA. Anita is most excited about her newly created and released InterPlay Inspiration Deck. To find out more or purchase your own set, visit www.anitabondidesigns.com. Stan is having a blast with his newest musical toy: a looper!  (That is what he used to create the song above!!) Purchase Stan’s music at www.MandalaDesignWorks.com

For anyone in Oakland and the surrounding area–you are invited to a book release party! Hear Cynthia Winton-Henry read from her new book and meet Anita Bondi and Stan Stewart and the InterPlay Inspiration Deck. This event is at InterPlayce, Saturday Nov 21, 4-6 pm and is free!

As you know, Interplay has some legal issues with Bethesda over the Fallout franchise. These in-game screenshots, courtesy of The Vault fan site,  were (if they’re real) reported to be used in court as evidence that the game is in development. The screens look ok, although a little bit worse than Fallout 3, but remember, these are (if real) from an MMO title, probably in alpha stage. Rest of the screens and some new artwork (these are sure to be real) after the jump.

Pewnie część z Was słyszała, że Interplay przy odsprzedawaniu praw do Fallouta ZeniMaxowi (de facto Bethesdzie) zachował sobie możliwość stworzenia gry MMORPG w uniwersum Opadu. Po reaktywacji firmy tu i ówdzie zaczęły pojawiać się pogłoski, że prace nad FO trwają, a  przedsięwzięcie nosi roboczą nazwę Project V13.

Od jakiegoś czasu Interplay wypuszcza grafiki koncepcyjne z 13-tki, a dzięki Pawłowi Ausirowi Dembowskiemu możemy zobaczyć trzy pierwsze screeny z produkcji. Do obejrzenia na Polygamii.

I realized shortly after creating MMO Fallout that the blog would attract some disappointed looks from people who came here under the impression that this was a fansite for a Fallout MMORPG, so it always makes me giddy when I get a chance to report on the actual Fallout MMO, codename Project V13.

To bring you up to speed, not much has happened since my last article on the Fallout MMO, and the legal battle between Interplay and Bethesda. Interplay sold the rights of the Fallout franchise to Bethesda, although Interplay retained the rights to create an MMO on the grounds that the company actually be developing actively. Earlier this year, Bethesda sued Interplay, claiming that the company did not keep up its end of the deal, and in order to gain the rights to create a Fallout MMO. Interplay claims that they are indeed working on a title.

More after the break…

These screenshots were leaked by an anonymous source at Interplay, but are being used as evidence in court, of Interplay’s work on V13.

It should be noted that this is in a pre-alpha state, so the great majority of the textures are likely placeholders.

As much as I hate to say it, there isn’t much about these screenshots that can be said, but at least we know it’s somewhat being worked on. There isn’t much to say for years of work, but understandable for a company facing the kind of hardship Interplay has.

More Fallout MMO news as it appears.

Dyck DeWid has a strong mind, strong heart, and big body spirit. When I met him I felt his strength more prominently than his heart. That has changed. Check out what this big, married contractor guy says about InterPlay in North Carolina. I love you Dyck.

——-

Face Dances in North Carolina

“Right in the middle of a fall day, it seems important to tell how special the InterPlay Community is to me… and maybe how rare it is too.  Looking at my life, I belong to 4 or 5 other groups.  And over time I’ve been in many more than that.

In No Other Community have I observed or felt the broad unconditional acceptance that is so easily fundamental to InterPlayers. This is so important to me, I’ll shout it if you don’t mind:

1.  I’M FINE JUST AS I AM,
2.  I DON’T HAVE TO CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT MYSELF TO BELONG,
3.  IF I WANT TO EXPLORE I’LL BE AFFIRMED AND HAVE FUN DOING IT.

I don’t know if people everywhere don’t have the same problems, humor, insecurities, egos, fears, masks, hopes, grief, guilt, and all the rest a big list?  Don’t these affect one’s energy of accepting diversity and one’s capacity for personal freedom?  Surely looking thru our own lens must affect how we all perveive one another, no?  Yet, in InterPlay these common attributes don’t seem to interfere with our individual abilities to accept and affirm one another in a sincere and honest way.  In InterPlay these don’t seem to interfere with our giving one another what each of us needs or wants.  On the contrary, the fabric of the community is just this.  It has become in me a joy filled willingness, even an importance and urgency to find the precious, the strong, the delightful, the innocent… the God, in everyone.

A more personal accounting, an inner view:  I am somewhat aware of my affect on others.  That in the quest to find who I am, my purpose, and to be true to myself, I can disturb some, can scare them, make them wary or mistrustful.  This places me in a minority or ‘on the fringes’ at best, of most groups.  Naturally, there is a partial number either unaffected or positively affected.  But, the others seem to be greatly affected with my disturbance to their foundations or equalibrium.  This is an accepted, possibly even relished part of my everyday life.  For, though I may not understand completely, I am both confident and full of joy with life.. I’m not sure whether the IP Community came to learn and accept this over time, or whether they are helping create it, or both.

Sincerely,
Dyck
——-

The health, beauty and wisdom of InterPlayers comes in all sizes, sexes, ages and cultures. If you are ready or willing to learn to play again then magic will happen. Give it a few years and Grace and Joy will start coming out your ears, mouth, mind, and heart. I love how this always surprises me. Want to see what twenty years will do? Check out this Wing It! concert Youtube of the four originals dancing their hearts out.

Interplay had to sell to Bethesda the rights to Fallout 3 (and subsequent titles) but kept the rights to produce a Fallout MMO. However they had to secure some kind of funding  (they were hoping around 75 mil. $) and to enter full production of the game by April 4th 2009. Whether they did that or not, we’re not sure. Bethesda sued them over it and the suit is still going strong (some Interplay lawyer says the result is weeks away).  The good thing about this is that we have something to marval at now, namely some art work for the above-mentioned  MMO, dubbed Project V13.

A Fallout MMO is a no-brainer, it had to come up sooner or later, as is a GTA one. Interplay predicts 1 million subscribers globally within the first year and revenue of $160 million after its first year in operation.

Happy Halloween! Ready to trick or treat? America is.

Evil vs Good quote

“Twins of Evil” video

Evil Twin Body Wisdom

Evil twin tricks (Bwa ha haaaaaa…) practice

Treat movement

__________________________________________

Take a deep breath and let it out with a sigh!

Evil vs Good quote

“Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.”- Simone Weil

“Twins of Evil” video

Playing with “evil” is a human tradition. It is how we rise above it and poke fun at it.

Evil Twin Body Wisdom
Brain Herring (of Raleigh, NC), sharing about their Evil Twin Performance Jam tradition “The Evil Twins Strike Back,” says people are encouraged to “Tell your scariest story, sing your most haunting song, dance like the zombies are after you in InterPlay’s version of open-mike night, joining with others to create a special Halloween performance!” He says, “The first time we did the Evil Twins performance jam, at the last minute I threw in two words at the end of the description,”Costumes welcome.” I didn’t really expect many people to come dressed up. I was astonished at the effort and creativity that people put into their costumes. People had a blast and a tradition was born. Being given permission to do stuff (move, sing off key, talk loudly) felt vital. In the naming circle, the fake identities start to be revealed. No one uses their real name! Stories and songs and dances come from other places. And yet there is a sense that a greater truth is being revealed than is otherwise allowed. One man is a brain-damaged mental patient.  Another is the winner of a wet t-shirt contest. Where else, even in InterPlay, would this crew be so brazen?

Evil twin tricks (Bwa ha haaaaaa…) practice
•Fling your focuser (and your serious self) up in the air for 30 seconds.
•Thrust your pelvis forward and walk around. Can you keep a straight face?
•Hold your face in a strange position and keep it there. Let your moves flow from your facial expression.
•Dance in a completely jerky, quirky way to “Amazing Grace.”
From Dance: A Sacred Art: The Joy of Movement as Spiritual Practice p49 “Trickster Dances”

Treat movement
Play Marquetta Dupree and Angela Holley singing “InterPlay.” Dance with a hand or your whole self as you raise a hand to welcome a million connections!

Take a deep Breath and Let it out with a Sigh.

She came around despite he disagreed. Keen to snaffle up his experience she looked for the great result or sign. On third floor she found emerging fullness, the reward for interplay. She understood why he hide it. He hasn’t seen it since then.

‘Interiors outside’, work by Pim Kersten

According to this listing at Amazon UK, the Black Isle / Interplay RPG Planescape: Torment is due out on DVD in just a couple of days. The 1999 classic is considered by some to be the best role-playing game ever, and is listed at £17.99, or about $30 USD.

Why a re-release wouldn’t also be made available on GOG or Steam eludes me; perhaps an announcement is forthcoming. Collectors will be pleased by this news, though, as the retail version of the game is moderately difficult to come across.

Amazon UK

[Thanks, Darryl]

Cassandra Sagan's dog Zusha, the abominable snow dog

Friday Morning Virtual InterPlay: Just for Fun

Just for Fun story

Mozart on roller blades video

DW3 Practice

Dancing the World into Form Poem

Anti-Depression Video video

Raise a hand in blessing movement

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Take a deep breath, let it out with a sigh.

Just for Fun story
by Cassandra Sagan of Portland, OR

When I was a kid in Brooklyn I was a contestant on a TV show called “Just for Fun.” I had a terrible time. Before the live broadcast began, the host, Sonny Fox, went around the audience asking for jokes. My dad had written me a perfect one: I would ask Sonny Fox, “What do you get when you turn funny socks inside out?” Sonny Fox! But he was sweaty and impatient in person.  He picked seven other kids and never even called on me. My team lost a carload of prizes—Suzy Homemaker ovens, talking dolls, games with fancy plastic moving parts— because I couldn’t sweep a ball fast enough across the slippery floor. I felt chubby and ashamed. The losing players got one of those metal looms where you make pot holders out of mop fibers.

Tom Robbins says “It’s never too late to have a good childhood.” Studies show that children learn by playing. And as we become more and more a culture of lifelong learners, we require Lifelong Playing. So let’s play, “Just for Fun.”

Mozart on roller blades video

DW3 Practice
Dance Write Dance Write Dance Write

I love to sit on my balance ball and write. The poem, the song, the midrash, the e-mail is in my body, my feet on the ground, my breath blowing my lips to raspberries. I’m a sloppy writer, bouncing a little, leaning back and working those abs, circling my hips and breathing into my kidneys, or my liver, whatever it is back there that needs breathing into. I drape my body over the kitchen counter, the Muse at my back, kneel on the rug with my tush in the air, curl like a cat on the sofa. I take a legal pad and walk all over the house, the deck, the yard.

Do a DW3—Begin in stillness.

Take a deep breath and let it out with a sound.

You can do a one hand dance, a full body dance, a chair dance, balance ball dance, lie on the floor for a couple of minutes and roll dance. It might be a different dance each round.

And then write. Let the words come out of your dance, your body.

You can write longhand or type. Try thrusty writing, flowy writing. It can be utter nonsense phrases hooked together with commas and conjunctions. Write in a shape. Imagine you can breathe the words out. Start out with something you always say. Write in Fake German, capitalizing Significant words. If you happen to write something Pulitzer that’s lovely, but it’s not the goal. Just write for the sheer fun of it. A few minutes, a few lines, a few words. And then dance again, write again. Do that three times.

Dancing the World into Form Poem
by Cassandra Sagan, the results of a DW3

Words, I’ve missed
the way you slipped through my hands
onto the page, slithering
a while before you disappeared.
It was you I was looking for:

all those years all those men,
writhing from one excruciating love poem to another.
Poor Younger Self had all the right components
dumped into her like a junk drawer.

But, Girlfriend, I’ve missed
the way we used to play
freeze tag, you were beautiful
the way shadows are beautiful
flickering on the edges of light.

Remember how we danced with the Clown Goddess?
All it took was a smile,
a Tai Chi flick of the wrist.
We were twelve-years-old
torn between the childhood we’d lost
and the womanhood we could only long for.
Living Words, I want to press
myself against you until my DNA whirls
in synchrony with your Hebrew, Sanskrit, cuneiform,

I want to kiss you
like a prayer book, a siddur,
like tzitzit, the fringe of my prayer shawl
wrapped around us as we dance this world into form.

Anti-Depression Video video

Raise a Hand in Blessing movement

When we dance hand-to-hand we often practice opening the space between us. We can feel that connection even when we aren’t right together. Raise a hand in blessing. Turn in a full circle (or not) and know that others are sending blessings to you too.

Listen to Leonard Cohen’s DANCE ME TO THE END OF LOVE while you dance.

Take a deep Breath and Let it out with a Sigh.

Note: This week’s posting is created by Cassandra Sagan. Cassandra is a new Portland, OR InterPlay leader and organizer, a writer, a poet in the schools, a Ukelele playing songstress, and a leader in her synagogue. She will assist Cynthia Winton-Henry at the Applied Improvisation Network conference in Oregon this November.

Hey, who knew?

20 years ago, did we imagine that a class of a dozen or so people and a performing group of 4 would turn into a global social movement and a performing company of over 20? Not hardly, although we did admit quietly amongst ourselves that we wanted to change the world.

Did we think we would still be doing it 20 years later? Probably not. But regardless of what we intended, since we have been at it for a long time, we should have a big party to celebrate, don’t you think?

In the InterPlay universe, we’re ready to celebrate the smallest step, the most incremental accomplishment, the tiny act of courage, because we know that if you keep at it, eventually it adds up to something. InterPlay hasn’t spread like wildfire, but by just keepin’-goin’, one small connection at a time.

And yes, we’re gonna celebrate!

This weekend WING IT! will perform three times, including the reunion of all four original company members.

Oct. 23-25, Fri & Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm
at InterPlayce, 2273 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94612

On Saturday evening, November 7, we will have a wonderful free-fundraising-event-birthday-extravaganza with dessert, entertainment, inspiration and hoopla! And we’ll introduce the Million Connections Campaign. That’s how many InterPlay connections we plan to make in just three years! You can help by logging in your connections at interplay.org.

And if you’re in the Bay Area, we’re hoping to make a connection with you on November 7 and at the WING IT! concerts.

Come join the party!

Nika Quirk

Nika Quirk, president of the Body Wisdom Board, has interplayed for about 17 years. A dancer, systems thinker, and beekeeper with an M.B.A., she has served both for-profit and non-profit organizations. As a social entrepreneur she is a savvy small business consultant and EveryDay Leadership coach. Being a beneficiary of her coaching, I want Nika to share her work with us because InterPlayers need ‘nuts and bolts’ ongoing support to create InterPlayful work and lives. We need help to continually clarify our purpose, consider our use of time, energy, and money, and garner crucial encouragement to take new steps.

Nika says, “As changemakers (social entrepreneurs, artists, activists, InterPlay leaders, etc.), we often notice the personal wear and tear of holding the center of something new. It takes physical, spiritual, mental and emotional energy to make the new world that we want to live in. We need community that affirms our body wisdom, grounds our life practice, and supports our purposeful work. A circle, sustained over time, in which to witness, babble, shake out, discern.”

Nika is offering unique coaching in affordable small group tele-sessions- “powered by InterPlay” to support EveryDay Leaders who want to sustain a daily life practice and build a creative livelihood.  Wouldn’t it be great to get support from someone who knows what it means to “go the speed of the body” “use easy focus” “get rid of the icky stuff,” and proceed incrementally?

A visionary listener for times of change, Nika muses…

“Our planet shifts
Old structures fall
Feel the urgency?
Time to engage
With all we’ve got.
Notice the rhythm?”

What is your rhythm? Is it time to thrust, swing, shape or hang? Is it time for a solo, duet or ensemble? What do you need for your next clear, strong initiation? Can phone calls work for embodied activities?  Nika says, “Over the years, I’ve been integrating InterPlay into coaching by phone, teaching online, and facilitating groups like the Body Wisdom National Board via teleconference. We all know the joys of being body-to-body together but in casting a wide community web, I believe that maximizing the possibilities of telecommunications strengthens our interconnectedness.  Just like hand-dancing at a distance, we can stretch our kinesthetic imaginations to find the connection.”

Nika is forming coaching groups of 6-8 people. Interested? Email her at NikaQuirk@mac.com to learn how this form might serve you. Are there other people you’d like to form a group with? Let her know. Individual coaching is also available by phone or Skype, at sliding scale fees – you can schedule directly from her website. As she says, “My mission is to inspire both ease and action in these turbulent times, and to offer my services in a way that I hope is more financially accessible for you and still a self-sufficient livelihood for me.”

Nika’s blog, services and other information can be found by visiting Quirky Auntie’s “Sustainable Living” Room.

Are you a coach and InterPlay leader? Let me know how you blend InterPlay with your services at Cynthia@interplay.org.

The Loom, designed to encompass
the beginning and the end
a frame of time and space
outwith warp and weft: suspends
two sets of diverse threads
at angle to each other
interlacing a myriad
of chords of colours
an all encompassing synaesthesia
a polychromasia
a symphonia
of whirr and whorl
as multiple patterns unfurl
with the flow of the shuttle
in and out; back and forth
countless strands that bind
to follow perpetual paths:
spools continually unwind
flowing, weaving, trying to find
a composite connection
an entwined collation
of twisting, winding, ripping yarns
manifesting into many forms
each filament, each fibre, interplays
connects, combines in infinite ways
all bound up yet running free
each an integral part of the tapestry.

This morning was pleasant.  I didn’t do much.  I enjoyed my bowl of Count Chocula as I watched Prey the Stars gameplay videoes.  All the while I brainstormed the cynicism with which I would approach my article on the remake of Earthworm Jim.  I mean, I loved that cartoon series as a kid, and even though I only played the game briefly, I liked it a lot.  I even plan on downloading the game to my Wii.  I just wish the next release was a sequel instead of a remake.  I guess I’ll have to hold out on Earhtworm Jim 4 for quite some time.  Damn Interplay and their lagginess!

I just finished writing out a study guide for my math class.  I am not looking forward to tomorrow’s quiz at all.  I think I’ll do better than last time based solely on the fact that I’m a bit more prepared and have actually devoted time to studying, but the teacher’s method is so mediocre and the book is so terribly worded that I haven’t gotten a complete grasp on the material.  I can only hope I pull out a much better grade than I did on the last quiz.  I’m tired of studying right now, though, so I’ll have to devote some more time to math tomorrow.

On a much lighter note, the weather continues to be nice.  October weather came just a few days early, and that’s something I was really happy about.  I’m looking forward to Halloween once again, even though I never do anything on that day.  It’s just an overall enjoyable day for me.  I’ll most likely do what I usually do: get a pizza, watch Halloween, and give out candy.  It’s simple, and maybe a bit cliche, but I’m a creature of habit.  I’ve had that same tradition for years now, and I don’t plan on changing it.

You’ve heard of twitter….amazing!

facebook, myspace, online chats…remarkable!

Now there’s T.I.P. – Talking in Person! (coined by moi)

In five years studies will confirm TIPing as the most high functioning, potent form of communication. Social networkers in InterPlay who use TIP already know this to be true. More than sharing info and selling products TIPers GO DIRECT! Direct communication is one of the most powerful instantaneous CREATORS of body connection (social glue) and wisdom. Body to body communicating faster than the speed of words we can experience interpersonal health or disease, organization or disorganization. We can accelerate and increase shared knowing  We can make a better world in an instant.

InterPlay cultivates the willingness and ability to TIP. TIPing includes movement, vocalization, stillness, words, and actual contact. WHEN THIS HAPPENS BODIES LOVE IT! MINDS LOVE IT! HEARTS LOVE IT! Because InterPlay focuses on affirmation and honoring each person’s experience real time InterPlay is hot, loving, and juicy.

Last Friday I learned that computers want to help us TIP. Dorothy came to the Friday Morning drop in class, opened her laptop to gmail. Her friend Katie was online and waiting. Dorothy “called” her via the internet through video chat. Up came Katie’s live smiling face, (she’s an InterPlayer at Yale Univesity). She was able to see us and we were able to see her. She danced with us, witnessed us, and said her name in the circle in the moment, directly connecting, but from different sides of the US. WOW. It was awkward at times. The computer couldn’t hold the connection and Dorothy had to help it, but it was direct and worth it.

I get energy from TIPing. If I want to make a thing happen, clarify confusion or give to someone, I call or get together. InterPlay allows me incredible opportunity to do this. Add some rest, food, and the ability to stop connecting and Voila…the world looks pretty good.

Want to learn more about how TIP technology works? Check out the NOVA video on Mirror Neurons. The body’s incredibly cool neural network genius. You got it, why not use it.

Keep on TIPin…

Muzzaik, Out Of Reach (Add2Basket & Interplay Remix)

myspace.com

Clayfighters, clásico de la época de Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 y MegaDrive, va a recibir un remake previsiblemente el verano de 2010 para las actuales consolas de Nintendo.

Para el que no conozca el título, se trata de un juego de peleas al estilo Street Fighter. No es tan bueno como este, pero tiene un diseño muy original con personajes realizados por “clay-mation”, animación por plastilina.

Es gracias a este diseño, lo que convierte a este remake en una opción interesante si cae en buenas manos.

Aquí dejo un video para los nostálgicos y así poder apreciar como se curraban antes la música en los videojuegos:

Fuente: Meristation

Si l’on croit Michael Mc Whertor de Kotaku et Kris Graft de Gamasutra, Bethesda aurait assigné en justice Interplay. En 2007, Bethesda a payé 5,75 millions de dollars pour acquérir les droits de la licence Fallout. Suite au succès – amplement mérité soit dit en passant- tant critique que commercial de Fallout 3, voilà le développeur qui s’inquiète de la mise en vente par Interplay des premiers épisodes de la série sur des sites de téléchargement comme Steam ou Good Old Games. Cas traditionnel de copyright infringement comme ils disent, à laquelle tu imagines que je ne comprends goutte : Interplay a-t-il vendu ses droits sur les titres déjà présent dans son catalogue, ou seulement sur les titres à venir ? Bethesda est-il en droit de s’indigner face à la vente d’un Fallout Trilogy (les deux premiers plus Fallout : Tactics), qui pourrait laisser planer un doute quant à l’inclusion de Fallout 3, ou n’est-ce qu’une manœuvre pour récupérer les droits de publication d’un MMO Fallout bien hâtivement rétrocédés à Interplay ? Même si ce genre d’imbroglios a de quoi faire rire quand il s’agit de se disputer un titre supposément porteur d’un regard critique, presque anarchiste, sur la société américaine, loin de moi l’idée de chercher à savoir qui est dans son bon droit. A vrai dire, je laisse ce genre de questions essentielles aux avocats d’affaire (l’époque a les Salomon qu’elle mérite), et je voudrais profiter de ce combat un peu vain autour d’une  série particulièrement  chère a beaucoup de joueurs, pour proposer à ta sagacité une vision un peu différente de la propriété intellectuelle.

Tiens, mets tes écouteurs, et regarde un peu cette vidéo. J’espère que t’as rien contre le rock.

Je te l’accorde volontiers, Iggy Pop a de beaux restes, et il conclue tous les concerts avec les Stooges reformés par un No Fun alors que la scène est envahie. Le showman est magnifique, et toute l’affaire est très professionnelle, à n’en pas douter. Mais ce qui me paraît particulièrement frappant, c’est le public. Pas toujours tout jeune non plus, il y a à n’en pas douter des gars qui écoutent les Stooges depuis plus de trente ans (ils jouent à domicile sur cette vidéo). Qui se sont détruit la tête sur 1969, qui ont baisé sur I Wanna Be Your Dog et sans doute vomi sur Seek & Destroy. Depuis le temps, ces chansons, et beaucoup d’autres morceaux du répertoire de l’Iguane ont traversé leur vie et l’ont informée. Ce concert, est évidemment possible grâce aux Stooges, grâce à Ron Asheton qui quelques temps plus tard devait mourir, grâce aux producteurs, évidemment. Mais ce moment et ces chansons n’appartiennent plus à qui que ce soit. Elles appartiennent collectivement au fan défoncé qui hurle “Goddamit play No Fun” au début de la vidéo, au mec de cinquante ans empâté dans son T-shirt qui danse péniblement, ou même à l’ado qui pour la première fois de sa vie monte sur une scène, ou encore au caméraman. Ce genre de moments, quand bien même il est né d’un calcul artistique, n’existe que dans sa dimension collective, il tient du bien public.

Va dire au fan de trente ans des Stooges que c’est fini, on ne vendra plus leurs albums directement, mais qu’il faudra passer par une compilation approuvée par le studio qui a récupéré les droits. A mon avis il te dira d’aller te faire fucker off. Parce que sérieusement, que tu aies acheté les droits, No Fun, elle est à moi cette chanson, à moi et à Iggy et à Ron et aux autres, et ce genre de trucs, le fric ne l’achète pas.

La société de consommation à la casse ?

Tout cela manque de réflexion, certes, ça sent le post dans l’urgence. Ce n’est qu’une ébauche de ce qu’on pourrait appeler une propriété d’usage ; qu’on songe à l’époque où les développeurs méprisaient totalement leurs fonds de catalogues, et où les joueurs étaient dans l’obligation de recourir aux romsets et à l’émulation (et autant dire que cette période est loin d’être finie). Ce n’est pas tant que l’information doit rester libre. Mais il faut qu’elle reste la propriété de ceux qui l’aiment, ou quelque chose du genre. Dans le cas de Fallout, ça veut dire droit imprescriptible à disposer des premiers épisodes : difficile d’imaginer que Bethesda fasse retirer ces derniers de GOG ou Steam sans susciter un gigantesque tollé. Cela n’implique pas qu’il faille faire des fans “officiels” de sinistres gardiens du temple : à preuve, l’attitude passablement rétrograde de sites comme No Mutants Allowed face au Fallout 3 de Bethesda, qui, en ce qui me concerne, est de loin le meilleur épisode de la série. C’est avant tout une question de principe : s’il faut évidemment rémunérer les artistes et leurs producteurs, et que pour le moment, faute de mieux, la propriété intellectuelle peut encore servir, il n’en demeure pas moins que le droit de ceux qui ont vécu par l’œuvre n’est pas à négliger.

La propriété, c’est le vol quand elle prétend déposséder ceux qui se sont nourris d’une idée. De toutes manières, sans un public pour avaler les idées, celles-ci n’ont aucune valeur. A dire vrai, le titre Fallout valait surtout comme trace dans la mémoire collective des joueurs. On peut appeler cela une marque et chercher à le monnayer de manière implacable, ou se souvenir que sans la violence capitaliste, la valeur a vocation à appartenir à qui la produit : l’artiste, mais aussi son public.

This post is part of a project to share reflections about all 28 of the Core Elements of InterPlay.  For background information about InterPlay or this project, read What the Heck is InterPlay?!.

The Best Icebreaker Ever

Recently, my mom forwarded me the following email:

Could I get instructions for the ice breaker Gretchen used at the retreat? It was the best I’ve ever experienced, and I’d like to use it at work.  She was so great!

Awwwww. Nice of this man (I’ll call him Matt) to compliment me and my workshop facilitation. But even nicer that he recognized the power of the InterPlay form of “babbling”.

He’d experienced this unique “icebreaker” during a church retreat (for the ultra cool Covenant Baptist in Houston, Texas), where I’d been invited to teach some sessions on embodied worship.

How to Lead Folks in a Babbling Sequence

Here are the instructions I emailed back to Matt:

1. Put people in partners
2. Have them decide who will go first.
3. Tell them you’re going to give them a topic and they will talk about it for 30 seconds. Tell them you will ding a bell when it is time to switch.
4. Announce the first topic. Simple ones are best. (For example, have folks describe their car. Or a friend. Maybe their favorite view from a window).
5. After they have both spoken about the topic, have them thank their partner and find a new one.
6. Repeat the process two more times.
7. With the final partner, give them an extra minute to reflect on what it was like for them to talk in these quick bursts about different topics.

If you want to see an example of babbling, watch the video at the top of this post. It’s surprisingly simple!

Babbling Creates Instant Community

I’ll never forget when Phil Porter, one of the cofounders of InterPlay, revealed a discovery of his: community is created when each person in the group hears a personal story from 3 different members of the group.

This advice was a revelation to me, one I have tested out hundreds of times since. And it’s true. So often we think we need fun, unique games to serve as icebreakers. But really, people just want to feel connected to each other. And connection happens through personal stories.

Plus, as I mentioned in the video (above), we can reveal a great deal of information about ourselves in 30 seconds. Just the other day in an InterPlay class, my partner described the view from a window. From this seemingly innocuous topic, I learned:

she used to live in Minnesota, she lives in the second floor apartment, she really likes cats, she knows a lot about trees, she lives with a male significant other, she and her partner enjoy being silly together.

Wow! That’s a lot of stuff crammed into 30 seconds.We’re bound to find something we have in common there. (I like to be silly and I have lived in Minnesota!). The more we find in common with the people in our groups, the more connected we’ll be.

The Mundane Details Contain the Juiciest Nuggets

Another piece of InterPlay wisdom: Profound truths are embedded in mundane, daily details.

So often group facilitators try to get their students to “go deep” by having them share big deal reflections with the rest of the group. What are you most afraid of? What brings you the most joy?

In InterPlay we ease into the deep stuff. Why force people to share their intimate details so overtly? Instead, just have them, for example: describe their kitchen! A gay man might quickly have to choose whether he’ll reveal that his male partner does all the cooking. Or I’ll reveal that I’m still single at the age of 36, living with roommates. And we sometimes share meals.

These seemingly mundane details contain the nuggets of some of our deepest human experiences: loss, love, pain, surrender, courage. All that comes out?! But all I did was ask them to describe their kitchen!

What Should We Babble About?

Babbling is so quick and easy. Anyone can talk for 30 seconds. I’ll end by leaving you with a list of possible topics you can have folks babble about. Enjoy all the stories!

• Describe the view out a window
• Describe your desk at work
• Describe the place you feel most relaxed
• Describe one of your friends and what you like about them
• Describe your car
• Talk about things you did for fun as a child
• Talk about things you do for fun now
• Describe in excrutiating detail how you got here today
• Describe what you ate for breakfast (or lunch, or dinner) today
• Describe two objects in your living room and how they got there
• Describe the contents of your refridgerator
• Etc, etc. Add your own ideas by commenting! (The comment link is, strangely, up at the top of the post).