A Present for the Future

Acts of Whimsy Status: Updated Every Few Days, Should Start Overhaul Next Week.

Adventure Machine Status: ...a little bit better, every day.

The act of whimsy that I posted up today was to make a small sculpture out of scotch tape and put it in a public place. That might need a little explaining... in image form.

It's amazing what you can do with ordinary household objects... in other news, I really can't wait to get Acts of Whimsy functioning on an user participation level. I realize that a lot of my ideas simply involve creating odd artwork/poetry and putting it out in public. I need fresh ideas bubbling in so that the Acts of Whimsy don't just stagnate.

Also, I've been e-mailing Jane McGonigal about hosting a Cruel 2 Be Kind game in the Santa Barbara area. She sent me an e-mail back, and although it was simply a short message making sure I wasn't planning on using the game for commercial purposes, I think that a legitimate bond was formed.

Casting for Intelligence- How to Avoid Casting Pitfalls

Well, things are going along quite well on the Acts of Whimsy front... a new one every day and whatnot. I'm a bit afraid to publisize the site just yet as it is going to go under serious reconstruction in the next 3-4 months (at which point it will be, well, good).

Anyway, I thought that I would deviate from my usual posts and put up an article I wrote recently on casting people for a play. And here it is.
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The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.
-Oscar Wilde

Sitting down to write this article I have a couple things working against me. The first is that I am on an unfamiliar computer, and the second is that I am not quite sure how to write out my thoughts on this subject without sounding very similar to a cheap motivational speaker that you might hire to expound about life at your child's elementary school. In addition, I'm not quite sure how to explain the connection between the quote above and the following article, except to say that it has something to do with honesty and something to do with charm.

I'd like you to forget for a moment that the Hungarian lady with the accent as thick as her calves is trying out for the sassy barmaid living in 19th century London. Maybe it will work, and if it does you want to be sure that you're prepared to catch it and not just usher her through the door as soon as her cursory cold reading has come to a close. Perhaps she bombs, and does not have anything resembling what you're looking for in your character. Tell her so, give her some specific directions from your magical, directing bag of tricks, and tell her to try again. Maybe she just can't act, in which case you politely thank her for her time and move on: there was no harm done, and you have had the immeasurable pleasure of listening to a Hungarian accent for a few minutes.

Perhaps, though, there is something that catches your eye or your ear. Perhaps your gut would be a better way to put it-- something in her reading catches your keen directing/casting gut. This is where the title of this essay comes in: I encourage you all to cast for intelligence over anything else (gender, perhaps, aside... although I have reservations even on that front). I have worked with trained actors and computer programmers who have never set foot on a stage, and although the trained actors are much better at avoiding the furniture, the thing that determines a good performance in either is intelligence. I don't, by the way, mean IQ, the ability to take apart and reassemble a combustion engine, or a penchant for reading Nietzsche. I mean some kind of emotional, acting intelligence... some people just have the ability to understand a role. They treat it with sincerity, and they somehow know just how to swing their arms, and when they set down their purse before they cross so that they have something to come back for in ten minutes when their husband is kissing his mistress it just feels right.

This is an immediately obvious quality, nor is it something that can be gleaned from a resume, nor is it even something that is a constant-- different directors get stunning results from different actors. So how do you tell? 'How,' I can hear the multitude of voices inquiring, 'do we cast these magical specimens, assuming that we buy into your whole intelligence concept, which keep in mind... we might not?' Listen and communicate.

I know that this pushes me from the already shaky ground of motivational speaker to the dangerous realm of corny marriage counselor, but it's the truth. Listen for things they can improve on, tell them why you love the character, and be open if they make choices that you had not anticipated. I have rarely encountered a problem of not having someone right for a role, and when I have, it has almost always turned out that I was underestimating one of my choices. Of course, this doesn't give you cut and dry guidelines, but that wasn't really my goal. One of Kurt Vonnegut's characters, questioned on how to tell a good piece of art from a bad piece of art, says that one has only to look at 10,000 paintings and they will never again have any problem with that distinction.

This article is not meant to tell you a recipe for casting, but to give you permission to have fun with the process and relax about your preconceptions. Tell people why you like their character, or even the play as a whole. Open up to them, and they will open up in ways you couldn't expect. Cast for honesty, and a person's natural ability to engage you. Cast for intelligence.

Whimsical Thoughts

I am sitting in my office right now doing work with my programming guru, Colin Curtin. Earlier today I had the pleasure of meeting with a delightful lady by the name of Anna Garrett, who will be designing a new version of the Acts of Whimsy site in Flash, and has agreed to keep trucking away at it until it has all the user interaction that it so desperately seeks with every ounce of its cybernetic soul.

So... that's cool.

I also promised to open unto you the treasure trove of information that I gained from studying research on the 'Pay it Forward' effect. For those of you not in the know (and it should be pointed out that 'in the know' in this case means being Kevin Spacey proficient) Pay it Forward is a movie in which an idea is presented by which favors are done, and rather than paying back their benefactor, the recipients of these favors are asked to do generous things for three people who they run into. The idea has been around since before the movie of course, but the previous presentations had the unfortunate quality of not containing Kevin Spacey.

So, as it turns out, doing a generous act for someone is not enough to cause significant generous acts on their part. However if given the chance for immediate reciprocation, say scientists Martin Nowak and Sebastien Roch, there often follows a third, unmotivated act of generosity.

This is something to keep in mind while performing acts of whimsy- it is good to give an avenue for reciprocation. While giving them your name seems to go against the anonymity that I adore in so many of the actions, perhaps the website actsofwhimsy.com would be good. Although having a website on a piece of paper or a leaf takes away some of the magic... maybe a phone number they can call that states in audio form the daily act of whimsy so they have an action they can perform without knowing quite what it belongs to. Then a cursory google search will no doubt turn up the details of the situation and if they'd like they can join our community.

Yes, I think I like that idea... I like it quite much. Also, here's a picture.

A Couple Acts of Whimsy- Stories From the Front Lines

Well, the Acts of Whimsy site has been up for a few days, and I thought I would start this entry by sharing some stories from the field. We started off with one that involved writing a Haiku on a tree leaf where someone could stumble across it. Unfortunately, my digital camera is currently out of service, so I don't have any images to share, but what I do have is a brief story.

I wrote mine on an ivy leaf (not a tree I know, but I figured I could be forgiven for that) by a couple of rope swings that I am in the habit of frequenting with my friends and housemates. It read:

Pendulumesque
We are not who we once were
We are all heros

You have to add on the 'k' sound at the end of -esque to get the initial five syllables, but I can live with that: otherwise I'm pretty happy with it. If anyone else has, now or in th future, any stories they would like to share, please do. My e-mail is graham DOT talley AT whimhunts DOT com.

Another act of whimsy that stuck out was writing a secret on a piece of paper and putting it in a library book. Mine was both a confession and a pleasant note about myself- I guess I'll never really have feedback about how it was received, but just writing it was pretty fufilling. I have a feeling that whoever finds it will be at the very least intrigued that someone left a revealing, unmasked truth sitting in a library.

And now, off to do some work. More to come soon- I've done some research the 'Pay it Forward' effect, which I think relates to this project, and I wanted to toss out some things that I've gleaned from my readings.

The Beginning- A Story of Love, Lust, and Betrayal

Well, this is it... it being the initiation of a new project. Today or tomorrow I will be posting up the acts of whimsy site (at the conveniently title domain actsofwhimsy.com) for all the world to marvel at and critique. I can trace the origins of the site back to several projects that I began in college, but I won't do that because... well... I just don't feel like it right now- it will just have to wait for another post.

The goal of the site is to build a community of people who are engaging in actions that are, simply put, whimsical: writing poems on trees, performing 30 second skits during elevator rides, leaving notes mysterious instructions inside library books, planning flash mobs, etc. The site will be broken up into three sections- actions, events, and projects. Although they are currently sadly lacking, my eventual plans for them lie below.

The actions portion will have small things that people can do (we'll stick with the poem on a tree leaf example for now). Actions can be submitted by users, and a daily Act of Whimsy will be listed for people to perform, although it's more of a suggestion than a call-to-arms. Users will be able to rate the actions on a simple scale of 'I've done it,' 'I did it today,' and 'I like it.' Based on this scale, the action of the day will be selected by having the most 'I like its' and the least 'I've done its.' You will be able to see each action's stats, so you can tell how many people have done the action of the day, what most people would like to do, and how many people have done you action (assuming you had the gumption and wherewithall to post one up).

The events portion will allow you to post events for people to attend. Kind of a facebook-esque system, although this will be for specifically whimsical events (flash mobs and pajama parties in the park and what-have-you and who-for). People can sign up, comment on them, share stories and post images.

The projects portion is for those things that are a little larger in scope. Maybe you want to put together a photo-album of people across the country making funny faces: this will allow you to create a project that other users can join or sign up for a pre-existing project that tickles your fancy. I'll be honest with you- I'm an idea person and have 9+or- 2 things going through my head at all times. I'm hoping that the projects section of the site will help me bring more of those ideas into the world, and allow other human beings who are similarly afflicted to do the same. It will also have some project management tools so you can keep track of everything.

I want to make Acts of Whimsy driven by users, and what they want, so go ahead and send me some feedback and ideas. Go on. I mean, just do it... what the heck right? Even an e-mail saying "I hate it" or "Rock on, space cowboy" would be appreciated.

For those of you who want to help, or who may want to help if they were the victims of some form of coercion (red vines is the first thing that comes to mind, but I'm willing to talk it over), definitely contact me. Graham dot Talley at whimhunts dot com.

Heck, give me a call... even if you just want to chat. eight oh five six five seven oh four six one.

I imagine that the next post will be on the theories and motivations behind the site, and the story about my days as Baron von Funstein of the FUN Club. If you'd rather hear about something else, you know how to reach me.

This is Graham Talley, signing out for the day.