Where the heart is...
We are hiring!

Are these your future colleagues?

MediaCatalyst is on the look-out for talented and inspiring people to fortify our team.

Seeking:

• project managers
• account directors
• Flash designers
• art directors
• copywriters
• developers
• business analysts
• testers

Go to Mediacatalyst.com/jobs to check out our job descriptions (under 'people'). If you're interested, send your CV, a cover letter and a picture of your tatted self to jobs@mediacatalyst.com!

Keywords: recruitment,MediaCatalyst,Amsterdam,FITC,tattoo

 

MediaCatalyst at FITC Amsterdam

As we speak, The FITC Amsterdam -- Design.Technology. Cool Shit! -- is kicking off just down the block from our Amsterdam office. If you're there, you'll have received a little sumtin sumtin to mark our presence... Here's what you do with it:

Remove the excess paper around your tattoo.

Pick an area of skin that you’d like to see embellished.

Make sure that it’s clean, dry, and not too hairy…

Place the tattoo with its shiny side to your skin.

Press a wet cloth against it for 30 seconds. Wet it plenty!

Don’t peel, but carefully slide the transfer paper off to the side.

Enjoy your newly decorated self!

Keep you're eyes peeled for part two, in which MC people show some (decorated!) skin...

Keywords: FITC,Amsterdam,Tattoo,MediaCatalyst,is,hiring

 

Hi, I'm Timi and these are my avatars

Because of our upcoming workshop, I started to think just what kind of ‘avatars’ do I really use. Maybe not all would be considered avatars in the strictest sense of the word, but these are all definitely aspects of my identity:

• As a kid, I always signed my name along with a drawing of a cat. Up to this day, I draw this cat picture on frozen or misty windows in cars, bus stops, bathrooms and on the inside cover of my new books.
• As a student journalist in the university, I adopted the pseudonym, ‘delunna’. Originally, it was spelled ‘deluna’, then it became ‘delluna’ and because I couldn’t remember my password for one of my email accounts, I had to change my user name to ‘delunna ’and that’s how I use it up to this day.
• I used to sign political writings with a drawing of a quarter moon and a spear. The spear was inspired by freedom-fighters in the Philippines belonging to the indigenous peoples. The moon was a graphical representation of ‘luna’.

• In chat rooms in the late 90’s, I was ‘Boss Miawok’ (a male character), a direct reference to a popular Filipino comic strip figure of a mafia-type Mayor of Cats. I acted like the boss and other users would actually pay their respects to me by typing actions such as ‘bows’, ‘tips his hat off’, and the like. Before I knew it, I had my own minions and even my own trademark dessert became legendary: ‘Boss Miawok gives you choco-sardine mousse with crunchy cockroach bits sprinkles.’

• These days, I also use interchangeably photos of my cat, ‘winoli’, and the cartoon character ‘Pukka' and sometimes also a photo of the real me.

(Read more...)

 

Avatars, gods and me

After months of procrastination, I finally got around to read ‘Lord of Light’, an epic science fiction/fantasy novel by American writer, Roger Zelazny. The timing is good because this coming Friday, we’re having a workshop on Avatar Societies with Mark Meadows as guest lecturer.

‘Lord of Light’ (awarded the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and nominated for a Nebula Award in the same category) is about ‘gods’, their avatars and their epic battles, touching on many points of Hindu and Buddhist teachings. It’s set on a planet colonized by the remaining people of a destroyed "Urath", Earth. It’s a strange planet occupied by hostile indigenous race. To be able to survive, the crew of the ‘Star of India’ used chemical treatments, biofeedback and electronics to manipulate their minds to manifest superhuman powers. They achieved near-immortality through reincarnation using the growth of new bodies and electronic mind transfer. So these ‘first peoples’ managed to continue controlling the planet by being birthed as different avatars.

An avatar in Hindu philosophy refers to the incarnation or bodily manifestation of a divine being, or the Supreme Being (God) onto planet Earth. The Sanskrit word avatāra-means "descent" (avatarati) and usually implies a deliberate descent into lower realms of existence for special purposes.

In the world of information technology and interactive media, avatars most commonly refer to the representation of a user. At the very core, it uses an image or name or a combination of both, residing in an environment which usually allows interaction with other users.

At least, that’s what I think. What do you think? Did you ever stop to think how many ‘avatars’ or representation of yourself is out there in the brave new world of interactive media?