Scott McCloud and the Brothers Winn

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjxAqd7nS0k

Last blog we talked about the new fan video versions of my animation which have been posted in other languages. This time around we're going to talk a little more about some other people's work related to my project.

I'm thrilled to see that one of my heroes, Scott McCloud, has just had some nice things to say about my project in his blog. The image here is a screengrab from his recent post, go to http://scottmccloud.com/?p=32 to see the original, and be sure to check out other parts of his website while you're there.

You may recall that I mentioned Scott not too long ago in my entry called Auras, Ghosts and Pareidolia. As I said back then, Scott is well-known for his insights into the underlying meanings of different forms of graphic representation, and a respected comics artist in his own right. In his blog entry pictured here, entitled "Information Wants to be Loved", he compares my original 11-minute animation with a video for the song "Remind Me" by the Norwegian duo Röyksopp, which won the 2002 MTV Europe Music Award for best music video (I've seen this video before and it really is worth watching, an arresting sequence of visuals takes us through what I presume is some kind of virtual world a la The Sims, but there are elements within it that make us wonder what we're really seeing: a video game? A virtual reality simulation? Our own reality as a set of data? Here's what Scott McCloud has to say comparing the two videos:

"They’ve both been around for a while (2006 & 2002), but if you’ve never seen either I strongly recommend both.

"Funny thing is, I love the first one [Imagining the Tenth Dimension] because it’s all about pure information—spare, monochrome, one idea at a time—and I love the second one because it’s just the opposite: a cascading waterfall of mostly useless infographics. Maybe it’s just the sensation of being taught. Maybe it’s just porn for info-geeks like me. Either way I can’t take my eyes off them."

Thank you Scott for mentioning my work, you have made my month for sure! Here's my video again:
http://www.tenthdimension.com/medialinks.php
... and here's the aforementioned award-winning music video by Röyksopp:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBvaHZIrt0o

Now I'd like to introduce you to the Brothers Winn, whose site "What You Ought to Know" is a collection of video blogs about a diverse and amusing range of topics. Why do I bring them up? Because a couple of days ago they published a fun blog entry about my work called "Time Traveling the Multiverse". Here's their video for the entry, please check it out and be prepared to laugh:

You can see their original entry with this video at http://www.whatyououghttoknow.com/show/2009/03/03/time-traveling-the-multiverse/
This video is also posted on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx4GZJpL8W0

One of the important questions raised in the Winn Brothers video is the subject of impossible universes. If there's a multiverse of all possible initial conditions, then does that mean there's a universe where everything turns into shrimp, or where gravity reverses its direction every second Thursday? Here's what I wrote back to them in response:

Hi Brothers Winn, thanks for mentioning my animation, I really enjoyed your fun discussion of these ideas. Over at the Imagining the Tenth Dimension blog, I’ve posted a link to your entry in my Interesting Links section.

I also have over 200 videos posted on my channel at YouTube, there’s other ones that expand on the ideas from this 11-minute animation you’re talking about, which is basically just the ideas from chapter one of my book. These videos include discussions about what is and isn’t possible within the multiverse, and other ways of thinking about dimensions. Here’s some youtube links you might enjoy:

The Fifth Dimension Isn’t Magic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bk5KCEt17M
What Would a Flatlander Really See?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73IGTygl_Q4
Aren’t There Really 11 Dimensions?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfhOBevrN2U
The Holographic Universe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMLVjFrtq6Q

It's fun to see all the new connections that are springing up around this project. In particular, in recent weeks I've been enjoying a lot of challenging and uplifting conversations with people at my youtube channel. As I've said before: this project is all about tying together a huge number of threads which some don't believe have any business being shown to be interrelated. Thank you everyone for your encouragement and your great questions!

Enjoy the journey,

Rob

Next - The Comedian