Princeton Groups - Launch Party

I'm taking a brief break from my self-imposed purdah to do a favour for a friend, and bring you news of an event this Sunday. Here is the official announcement:

Princeton University in Second Life announces “Diversity”on the Princeton Groups island
Scope Cleaver- Architect
Poid Mahovlich - Terraform Artist
Launch party: April 20, 2008, 5-7 pm SLT

Please join us for the opening of the Princeton Groups island with a concert by Grace McDunnough on Princeton Groups, 5 pm SLT, Sunday, April 20.

The “Diversity” building on Princeton Groups island is intended as a social gathering place for Princeton University student groups and organizations. The commission stipulated a warm and friendly location where students could meet, chat, and organize events in Second Life.

The resulting sim is a thoughtful contrast of Second Life resources with real world concerns. The stark, evocative landscape provides a foil for the elegance of the architectural composition. The central building’s rainbow colors exemplify the lively, multicultural community for whom it was built. The present generation of Princeton students will someday grapple with the environmental issues suggested in the desert terrain of the sim.

“Diversity” is architect Scope Cleaver’s fifth building on the Princeton University in Second Life islands. Like his other full-sim composition at Princeton in SL--Alexander Beach--it shows an expansive use of scale that unexpectedly creates intimate social spaces. Uncharacteristic of Scope are the warm, organic building textures, which underscore the building’s function as a community center. The organic theme is carried into the building’s massing, originally suggested to the architect by a photograph of a nautilus shell.

Poid Mahovlich, SL terraformer, designed and executed a landscape that would provide interest and focus to the building. More than that, the landscape itself is a series of destinations inviting exploration. A variety of walks and suggestive vignettes reveal artistic discoveries, environmental statements, and sweeping vistas from which to appreciate the greater composition of landscape and architecture.

Architecture and landscape merge in a delightful collaboration between Scope and Poid under the “Diversity” building. Don’t leave without discovering it!

location: SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Princeton%20Groups/130/47/22



Artist statements:
Scope Cleaver says: "Science is about describing things, describing reality . . . describing what there is. Design is about what should be. It’s trying to bend the world, bend the environment, to your vision."

Poid Mahovlich says: "I build creatively using smoke and mirrors. I am a geek dreamer; driven by ethereal fuel some days, nerdtech and biscuits on others. I have a passion for terraforming, sculpting pixel earth is an evolutionary process of discovery where you enter a very different head space. I am a Real Life professional conceptual Artist: a self-proclaimed Wizard who has a severe allergy to Hawaiian shirts."

A Peek into Princeton

This post first appeared at 3pointD... but here you get full set of pictures.

The number of universities entering the virtual world of Second Life never ceases to amaze me. One that I have been keeping an eye on for some time is Princeton. It has been closed to casual strollers while construction proceeds, but following a bit of string-pulling, I was able to get an advance preview earlier this week. I have only one small problem: the amount of information I now have is so huge it is going to take all of my ingenuity -- and there’s precious little of that -- to prune it down to the bare essentials. The sim will not formally open to the public until the next academic year, but much of the work is now complete.

Incidentally, aware that I over-use the term "iconic" I have opted in this post to go with "signature" instead. Time will tell whether this is a sensible move.

My tour guide was the charming and ridiculously well-informed (not to mention often downright hilarious) Persis Trilling, who, apart from heading up the Princeton in-house IT education support services, is something of an expert on the History of Architecture and is overseeing the build in Second Life.

There is a strong architectural spine running at 45 degrees across the island, along which several of Princeton’s signature buildings are situated. On arrival you find yourself facing a simulation of Nassau Hall. The original was, at the time of its completion in 1756, the largest stone building in the colonies. However, a couple of fires in the 19th century put paid to that, and the building now standing -- and reflected in this Second Life build -- dates from the 1850’s, though the college continued to tinker with it for many years. Clearly some compromises have to be made when looking to reproduce buildings in Second Life, and in the case of Nassau Hall there is a great simplification of the interior -- with 2 large rooms set up for seminar groups of around a dozen participants, and what appears to be a debating chamber. The texturing of the building, indeed, of all the buildings in this sim, is excellent.

Behind you as you arrive is a simulation of Chancellor Green Student Center, which was originally the college library building and dates from the 1870s. It reeks of Victorian Gothic. Inside is a library (surprise!), which the college plans to build into a Second Life-based online resource, together with a couple of informal meeting rooms that would house around 6 people.

The third major building along the spine is Alexander Hall. Following some hiccups with construction of the simulation, this has been taken on by CJ Carnot of New Media Consortium and is currently being reworked, but even the version I saw was most impressive. Again, as with the other buildings, the texturing brings out a great sense of physical presence. The actual building, built in 1892, was designed (and still serves) as a convocation hall for commencement exercises and other large gatherings. It therefore made sense to preserve this function in Second Life. This is where concerts and many meetings will be held. [Given the current state of reconstuction, I don't have any good pictures of this building]

Off to one side of this trio of signature Princeton buildings lies another jewel -- but this time there is no Real World counterpart. The Art Gallery is the work of Canadian master-builder Scope Cleaver, and anyone who knows his work will spot the style immediately. Persis was full of praise for the way in which Mr. Cleaver has gone about fulfilling his brief: "If Chancellor Green is about Ruskin's seven lamps, Scope’s building has them in spades too. He is just using a different architectural vocabulary.The sense of craft; of expression of essential human qualities and the emotive use of light and space is a lot like the more modest drama of Chancellor Green." She went on: "It's a very nice build, and I think reflects well on the existing major buildings -- each one perfectly modern in its day, in fact, forward-looking. I showed him a lot of spaces that I admired. He did not copy anyone but respected an element of each design. I told him what I liked about each -- so a little Carlo Scarpa; a little Gehry; a little James Stirling."

So what is the aim of the Princeton island? Is it just an architectural display? The current aim is to offer classroom sessions and writing seminars for the Schools of Architecture and Visual Arts. There is also a human behaviour experiment being designed for the island. They will also be offering performances, "cocktail parties" and conferences, recognizing that in Second Life an island needs people if it is to be of any value. As for information, the plan is to offer a rich set of resources, including RSS feeds, podcasts and vodcasts. There is already a shop offering free Princeton shirts (the closest I'm ever likely to having one!) and a number of training notecards for would-be builders.

There is more on this island that I have not covered -- for example, the Prospect Garden,
and the debating society buildings -- but hopefully this gives you a feel for what to expect in September, when we may all get a chance to visit. Thanks to Persis for giving me far more information than I could ever hope to include in this posting, and for being such a gracious host.

Scoping Out Princeton East

I have written several times about Princeton's sites in Second Life as it continues to expand its presence and, more interestingly, continues to commission work from some of the most thoughtful builders and artists in the virtual world. Last night, I popped along (again) to the Princeton cluster of sims after noticing an unusual-looking construction on Princeton East on the Second Life map. From the aerial view it seems to resemble a rocket in flight, or perhaps a ship travelling at speed, and leaving a wake behind it:



The sim turns out to be another fascinating build from Scope Cleaver, though as you will see from my photos, it is not quite complete. The only mention I've found on the web so far about this construction was on arcspace.com, which commented almost a year ago: "Princeton East, a void sim is currently open space, but a folly/ tower/ observation point designed by Scope Cleaver is planned for future development." Now, nearly 12 months later, this folly / tower / observation point/ whatever-the-heck-it-is is approaching completion. Indeed, Persis Trilling, the custodian and curator of the Princeton sims, has indicated that it will open officially in just a couple of weeks - and reading between the lines, I understand we can expect a few surprises when it does open.

Until then, I will leave you with this taster. In most of these piccies I opted for a moody, mysterious "foggy" setting:

The Triptych at Princeton North

I have a largely visual treat for you today, courtesy of Poid Mahovlich, who has produced yet another interesting piece of work on one of the growing cluster of Princeton sims. I've talked about Poid's stuff on these sims before, but I think this takes things to a new level.

Poid commenced work on Triptych around 6 months ago, and launched it at the end of June (or thereabouts). As the name would suggest, this is an immersive installation in 3 parts, accessed through a common portal. The parts are labelled 1) Gossip Death of an Avatar, 2) Binary and 3) elit-sim. At first I had a problem picking up the thread connecting them, and to be totally honest I'm not sure that there is one. But more of this anon. Let's consider each of the parts first. If you've not yet visited the sim, do be aware that it is not a mirthtastic, laugh-a-minute, rollicking roller-coaster of rumbustious fun. I do suggest you follow the advice to set your daylight settings to "midnight".

Gossip is dedicated to a friend of Poid's who was hounded out of Second Life by gossip, lies and insinuation, and whose live (both atomic and digital) was made a misery. A steady drizzle of gossip (the word actually pours down and through you) forms the backdrop to a couple of remarkable constructions. One resembles an orrery, and seems quite benign; the other is a disconcerting circle of whispers, some consuming you with incandescent fire, and all the while you are poked and probbed (and even impaled) by rods emanating from the centre of the circle.

Elit-sim is a commentary on elitism. As the accompanying notecard puts it: "Elitism - The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources. There is NO room for elitism in art in any world." Both this and Gossip I suppose represent aspects of the dark side of existence, and in particular the oddly enhanced and speeded up existence to be found in virtual worlds like Second Life.

This not-so-neatly segues us into Binary, the final part of the Triptych. This is inspired by Snow Crash, which is often referenced as a key influence on the development of Second Life, and particularly "Chapter 8 - Black Sun Passport - Stepping Through the Stargate." A black room ripples and dances with noughts and ones. Aside from acting as a metaphor (and nod in the direction of The Matrix) that everything you see in virtual worlds is digital, I am not clear what this is about. But Poid does say that (if pushed at any rate) this does provide a common thread linking the other parts.

It's a great build. Sombre, certainly, but also full of texture and detail. It should be on anyone's "must see" list - though perhaps not on Day 1 of their new Second Life. Give it a few days, eh?

It is also worth mentioning 2 other people: Talia Tokugawa, who provided additional scripting for the build and Persis Trilling, responsible for Princeton's Second Life and more importantly, curator and mentor to the group of artists who have produced such fascinating works on these sims. Here's my pictures - which I hope whet your appetite:

Princeton WWS - Ephemeral

The second of today's Princeton posts relates to the Princeton WWS sim. While I assume that the 'WWS' of the title relates to the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, the sim at present houses another art installation. This one is entitled 'Ephemeral', which may be an indicator that the installation is temporary, pending the construction of a virtual WWS.

It has been constructed by Poid Mahovlich, and as far as I can tell it has seen little use since it was employed as the venue for an exclusive film showing back in February. The film, Passage to Zhong Fu, is a piece of machinima directed, produced and edited by Verdi Millionsofus as part of the 48 Hour Film Project. It stars Poid Mahovlich and duckyfresh Wantanabe, both of whom also contributed to the making of the props and landscape. Music is by the prolific Dizzy Banjo.

It seems that the ephemeral 'Ephemeral' is still here - and is best experienced in midnight mode. It seems to consist of a number of odd, enigmatic scenes... an old British telephone box surrounded by phone books, a smoking crater, a beaver lodge next to a magical sword, an otherworldly celtic burial chamber, and a diving point from which you dive into a piranha-infested pool (and those boys bite!). That's a far from complete list, but hopefully gives you a flavour of the place. I can't actually see where one might actually screen a movie - but perhaps you can find a hidden (haunted?) cinema somwhere! As usual I have a bunch of snaps for you to peruse. I know these ones are rather dark - but that's what happens when there's no lights on:

Al Arrives Late at Alexander Beach

I seem to be having one of those weeks... or two... or maybe more. I got an invite to the opening of Princeton's newest, and most exhiliratingly strange build in Second Life, Alexander Beach. But I never actually seemed to get there. I will blame timezones, though I suspect that is as lame as a 3-legged camel, excuse-wise. OK... I just missed it, alright?

I first visited Alexander Beach in September. At that time it was still under construction, though the main features were starting to take shape. The sim is part of the extensive Princeton cluster, built under the excellent and sensitive stewardship of Persis Trilling. It is a fascinating mix of new and old/ RL and SL. Scope Cleaver has provided several buildings for the cluster, but none as large and ambitious as this, for Alexander Beach.

The structure spans the entire sim diagonally, with a large auditorium at one end and an exhibition area at the other. In form it is like a giant insect - at least, it is to me. The enclosed abdomen houses the auditorium, while the exhibition area occupies the head and thorax. Two stubby wings project at right-angles from the thorax, providing sandboxes for use by Princeton students. The intricacy of the design is something to behold and the attention to detail is spell-binding. I've taken rather a lot of snaps - which I hope you enjoy:


After my conversation with Sophrosyne at Extropia Core on Saturday, I'm hoping to scoot over to the opening of the Evolutions Museum, another new Scope build, which showcases "the humble beginnings and fascinating evolution of some of the most talented content creators in SL."

Princeton West - The Quiet

Princeton has shown itself on a number of occasions to be at the cutting edge of artistic work in the virtual world of Second Life, and its latest installations serve to cement that reputation still further. Many of you may already be familiar with this first one, since it has already garnered plenty of column inches in blogs and elsewhere. It is the latest work by A.M.Radio, the creator of the fabulous Wheatfield - or more accurately, The Far Away.

For the new piece, The Quiet, he has had access to an entire sim, yet the construction itself is deceptively simple. A small wooden shack - little more than a tiny vestibule and a bedroom - sits alone, in a bleak winter landscape. Outside there's a frozen pond, with a number of Radio's trademark(?) fiddles embedded in the surface. Next to it is a small rowing boat filled with kindling, nestled in which is a picture frame displaying an enigmatic and oddly eclectic mix of items. The shack itself is impeccably done. Complex textures abound. Is that an old, washed out photograph, blown up and replayed as a wall texture? And what's with those handbells? Try clicking the bell on the bedside table. Or take a seat and be bathed in soft, honeyed light streaming through the old window. And what's that strange piece of electrical jiggery-pokery on the floor? And how come, when you touch it, you receive a link to a photomap of the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois?

Yep... A.M.Radio loves to be enigmatic, and this is no exception! Here's my snaps - but as with all his builds, this is best experienced first hand.

Princeton OIT

Lots of other folks have already been in to gawp and wonder at the new Scope Cleaver building on the new Princeton OIT sim, so I thought I'd better get in for a look too. The OIT of the title is the Office of Information Technology, incidentally.

The building is something of a departure for Scope... or perhaps that is better phrased as an evolution of his style. I've not had a chance to chat with him about the influences, or the client brief, so I don't know the context of the build. In scale, it is easier to get to grips with than some of Scope's recent, almost sim-wide constructions. It is actually possible to see and appreciate the whole thing - and very nice it is too. It has a certain steampunk look about, which is definitely a departure from previous constructions.

Although the building is the centrepiece for the island, sitting as it does on the only reasonably level section of land, I would draw your attention to the other, smaller gems dotted among the hills and valleys. There is, for example, a small homage to the great British sculptor, Anthony Gormley. Go for a ramble in the hills, and see what you can find. Here's my pictures, including some of my finds:

Princeton - On The Beach

I appear to make a habit of saying "this will be a short post" - and then banging on for ages. But not this time. Brevity is my watchword tonight! So here goes...

Earlier in the Summer I brought you a peek inside Princeton's new site in Second Life. I can now tell you the main site is officially open... though there are bits and pieces still to be finished. It now spans 7 sims, including this one: Alexander Beach.




The Alexander Beach island features a strange, complex, faintly fishy-shaped building, the latest bespoke creation of Scope Cleaver. It is intended for use by students, who can try their hand at building in the sandboxes supplied. There are also a couple of art installations, one whose name escapes me, and the one shown below: Liquid Light.



I confess I missed the launch party itself - I am notorious for this, I'm afraid. So my apologies to Persis, who kindly supplied me with an invitation.

Al checks out the new NMC islands (+ Updates)

In an earlier post, Al noted that the New Media Consortium (and allied pals) had now amassed a total land mass of some 30 islands - but only the central core were accessible. He's pleased to say that access is now available for most of the islands - although to be fair, most are empty, with the exception of the downright odd "Service" island, with its assortment of retro-futurist motocars, metal statues, dino skeletons and of course, Bender (photos below):


And Al was particularly intrigued by "Research 3". Unlike the other main islands of the group (with the exception of MIT, Princeton & Cornell) this island is off-limits while building proceeds.
However Al got close enough for a quick snapshot:

Aside from the lure of forbidden fruit, what is intriguing about this island is that (if you squint really hard) it appears to be a joint venture with IBM. Certainly, there are discrete IBM screens dotted about the place. It looks like the relationship between IBM and NMC is about to get even closer.

UPDATE:

• While we're in a mood for self-improvement, Al would like to point out that he's just spotted Coventry University island.(UK - he assumes). Absolutely nothing there yet - which is probably why he can get it. No doubt it will close once the construction starts.
• Meanwhile, on an adjacent island, Forum Europe is looking to kick off its presence. If it is the one accessed here then this is what is says about itself: "Forum Europe's contribution to the debate on European economic and political issues goes beyond conferences, publications and press relations. Forum Europe carries out long-term projects that raise the profile of people, subjects and/or organisations, and are much more than PR vehicles." Which is nice...
• And a minor build.. The Bartle,Bogle,Hegarty island is now open for inspection. More of this anon, when I can be bothered.
  
  

Flowerball - More Weirdness!

You may recall that not so long ago I told you about the Princeton sim. Although it is not yet officially open, today it played host to an Interactive Art thingy (their words, not mine - though they could easily have been mine) - an audiovisual, immersive thingy by artist Douglas Story with soundscape by AldoManutio Abruzzo (with scripting by Desdemona Enfield). The work, entitled "Flowerball" is... well... ummm... it's... err... well, it's... a ball... yeah... containing flowers... kind of.

Probably best if I show you first, eh? You start off at this floating plinth, which displays the artworks you will get to know rather more intimately when you visit the Flowerball itself. Follow the instructions to rez a seat that will fly you down to the installation itself.



You start this part of your trip in what I will describe as a large ear-trumpet. Once you've found your way to the outside (it is sign-posted) you then fly across to the Flowerball itself.


Inside the Flowerball you get to fly about in this bizarre, constantly changing, flowerscape. Make sure you follow the audio setup instructions to get the full brain-melt effect:



And that's it really (or it was for me - due to a problem with the chair scripting we could not get back by "public transport" and had to resort to Hobson's Choice).

I scouted out the rest of the area and came across this building. Speaking with the charming Persis Trilling, I now understand that this is the new information centre, where all manner of RSS feeds, podcasts and vodcasts (sounds like a Russian space mission to me) will be made available. The architect is the ever-reliable Scope Cleaver.


Ah.. but what of the Art Installation thingy? Here's some salient quotes from the accompanying notecard:
The inspiration for FlowerBall came from the feeling that accompanies the best examples of my close-up floral photos: that of being inside the inner chamber of the flower. My first thought was to construct gigantic blossoms in Second Life, but I quickly found that my building skills were nowhere near being equal to the task. I then thought of my avatar sinking through layer upon layer composed of a series of concentric spheres, with the images changing on contact with each layer.

When I first spoke with Aldo about the music (he prefers the term ‘soundscape’) for this project, and told him there would be five layers in the ball, he started talking about pentatonic scales and John Cage. I didn’t understand much of what he said after that, but understood that “penta” has something to do with the number “five.” I also got that the result would be pretty cool….and that part was certainly right.

Apologies for leaving out stuff about the scripting - but apparently it's all clever stuff. If you really need to know, then get yourself down there and find out!

+++

UPDATE: Douglas Story has left a comment informing me that a short vid of the installation is available here: http://blip.tv/file/310004/ - and that the "chair problem" has now been sorted.

NMC undergoing massive expansion

The New media Consortium islands, already an excellent port of call for anyone in education (NMC comprises over 200 colleges and universities), is undergoing yet another growth spurt.

Cornell and Princeton are the latest additions, though not open to the public. MIT is also here, but little seems to have progressed on this in the last couple of months. In addition, a cluster of new islands are being added. Many appear to be general teaching islands, while others are focused on specific disciplines: Maths; Sciences; Arts & Letters. This site is rapidly becoming - or has already become - the largest cluster of islands in SL! I make it 30 sims. Please Note: to go there you will need to join the NMC guest list here.

IBM, Virtual Transactions and Spatial User Interface

Virtual World News have just run the following story: "IBM Looks at New Virtual Transactions Methods"

It's not exactly a huge article, so I have taken the liberty of re-printing it whole:
"IBM aims to invest the majority of its research and development dollar into building software that can link traditional transaction systems to modern interfaces, for example, releasing automatic teller machines that link to banks in virtual worlds such as Second Life," said SVP Steve Mills. Of course, IBM also has its eyes on its own platform, Multiverse, so Second Life is likely only one application. The Smart Bank Application simulates high-volume banking environments and links virtual ATMs to real-time authorization from a core banking system over the Web. The ComputerWeekly article highlights three purchases that build into IBM's transaction strategy. The company announced plans to purchase Princeton Softech to give users cheaper storage and greater access to historical data; in July it bought Data Mirror, a package that allows real-time transfer and identification of data; and in June it bought Telelogic to help users develop industry-specific software.

This seems to be something of an emerging trend with Second Life - and doubtless other Virtual Worlds. In effect - and to simplify over-much, I admit - this would see the use of 3D environments as a sophisticated development of the User Interface (UI). Let's step back in time...

WARNING! What follows will fall somewhere between "ludicrously technical" and "childishly simplistic", depending on your knowledge of IT. Sorry.

In the beginning, the UI was a set of manual switches and some flashing lights. Time passed, and in due course along came the punch card and the printer, followed by the teletype. Up until this point, computers were only to be used by people with bad haircuts, beards and pipes - and I'm not being gender-specific. The first great democratisation of the UI came with "green screens" - suddenly ordinary people could use computers, new applications allowed trained people to wallow in the richness of a 24 line x 80 character display, awash with information. The advent of personal computing saw the introduction of the GUI - the Graphical User Interface (thank you, you foresighted folk at Xerox Palo Alto). Graphics helped deliver (supposedly) vastly more intuitive and powerful representations of information through the "windows metaphor" - we entered a world in which each pixel could convey meaning, and computing was open to just about everybody.

Client-server architectures were a logical step forward, linking the friendly user interface of the GUI with the grunt power of enterprise applications - the ones that had previously been accessed through "green screens". The web user interface and multi-tier client-server architectures have been a further refinement. Here, just a tiny slice - the visual display element - is run on the client's own machine, while virtually everything else, the logic and information (the "big chunks") of the application, is stored and run on big, grunty machines elsewhere.

Now we have reached the next logical progression - the Spatial User Interface. In 3D, we are granted spatial depth, freeing us from the limitations of a flat graphical display* and allowing us to build ever more creative metaphors and models with which to take input and deliver information. Visualisations can be more interactive and more compelling than ever before - and it is this that IBM are tapping into. In effect, the virtual world is acting as a spatial user interface to large commercial back-end systems, using multi-tier client-server architectures. I said this is something of an emerging trend, since the Eolus One Project, previously covered in this blog, is also working with the same metaphor (and also includes IBM as one of its core participants). I think we can expect many more such initiatives in the coming months and years.

Interesting times...

* I know we still see Second Life on a 2D surface, but the interaction is spatial. I am also aware of ignoring the brave souls in the world of CAD-CAM. Such is life.

A Random Selection of Sites I Like

At the recent Sophrosyne's Salon I showed a slide containing a hotch-potch of some of the SL sites I like. When asked, I rather rashly agreed to produce a notecard. With Second Life currently down for maintenance, I thought I'd do the next best thing(?) and list them here. But first - here's the slide (click for a link):


The sites are:

Row 1:
Dunder Mifflin Offices (The Office)
Repares - Virtuool's Giant Head
Art Center - Xantherus and Rhizome
VMOA
EOLUS

Row 2:
Princeton
Rezzables - Black Swan
Suruga Bank
Tokyo Mainland
Dresden Gallery

Row 3:
Orange
Amazon Web Services
A well-known vodka...
Chichen Itza
Koelner Dom

Row 4:
Reflexive Architecture demo
Blue Pill - Belgian build company
9/11 Memorial by Liam
Vietnam Memorial - The Wall - by Meme Sciences
SLtk Pro

Row 5:
Kowloon
Vranken Diamant
San Franceso d'Assisi
Leo Burnett

The other sites I listed as favourites are:
Svarga
Spin Martin's assorted sites (though they have probably changed many times)
Rachelville
Eldorado
Icarus
Dogfight Island
The Far Away (aka The Wheatfield)

If you are so inclined, you should be able to track down all of these sites by searching this blog. Can't be bothered? I don't blame you. But who knows? It might while away a few minutes while you wait for SL to come back after maintenance - or you may prefer to leave it for those dull days after Christmas when, torpid and full of wine and turkey, you need something mindless to do.