Microsoft has just opened up its new “YouTube killer” (yeah, right) site, SoapBox. At first glance, it looks like it has a long, long way to go before it could topple YouTube, but it does have some fun stuff on there, including The Muppet Matrix, a spoof trailer rendered with the Muppets instead of Keanu and company. Completely unauthorized by either party, of course, but it’s still kind of fun – although I would have loved to have heard attempts at the Muppet’s voices instead of straight dubs from the film. Imagine Kermit saying “Whoa,” or Rizzo saying “Buckle your seat belt, Dorothy…” Room for improvement, but still promising. Kind of like SoapBox, actually.
Storyteller, scholar, consultant. Loving son, husband and father. Kindhearted mischief-maker.
I'm the Director of the Games and Simulation program at Miami University in Ohio, where I am also an Assistant Professor in the College of Creative Arts' Emerging Technology in Business and Design department. I'm also the director of Miami's Worldbuilding and Narrative Design Research Laboratory (WNDRLab). I have a Master's in Comparative Media Studies from MIT and a PhD in Media Arts and Practices from the University of Southern California.
In past lives I've been the lead Narrative Producer for Microsoft Studios and cofounder of its Narrative Design team, working on projects like Hololens, Quantum Break and new IP incubation; in a "future of media" think tank for Microsoft's CXO/CTO and its Chief Software Architect; the Creative Director for the University of Southern California's World Building Media Lab and the Technical Director, Creative Director and a Research Fellow for USC's Annenberg Innovation Lab; a Visiting Assistant Professor at Whittier College and director of its Whittier Other Worlds Laboratory (WOWLab); the Communications Director and a researcher for the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab; a founding member of the Convergence Culture Consortium at MIT (now The Futures of Entertainment); a magazine editor; and a award-winning short film producer. more »
The opinions put forward in this blog are mine alone, and do not reflect the opinions of my employers.
