Trapper Markelz

A signature fading away...

A few months back, I, along with my buddy Steve, were lucky enough to be in Seattle for a business trip, and took a little side adventure to meet J Allard. As the guy who managed the development of the Xbox, for an Xbox guy like me, it was a fun experience. 

We talked for over an hour about a wide range of topics related to entertainment, user experiences, centered around what we did at 360voice.com and how that might impact other types of interaction with entertainment devices in the future. 

At the end of the meeting, I pulled a super-geek move and had Allard autograph my Zune music player as Allard was also responsible for the technical development of that device as well. If I had my Xbox in my pocket, I probably would have had him autograph that too. Here is what the Zune looks like:

Sadly enough, the signature is starting to wear off... I use my Zune pretty much every day... so it was bound to happen. At least I will always have the memory of having a Zune autographed by J Allard. :)

I held off blogging about my experience with J Allard, because in a professional way, it seems strange to blog about people who you interact with in your career. It still feels strange... so that is why this is more about the fading signature than about J Allard the person. 

I will say that meeting him was a memorable experience... and our conversation solidified in my mind that there are still some really amazing innovations that will come to the consumer entertainment space... and it is fun knowing that 360voice has been a part of that in some small way by impacting the thinking of many innovative people.

The old swing days

A while back, my old dance partner Tracy Hogan put together a DVD of some of our rehearsals and dances. I wanted to get a few of these online so they are part of the public record. Watching these over again really makes me miss it... the fun... the challenges... the friendships... and being that in shape!

Here is a piece that Tracy and I choreographed together. Jeep Jockey Jump.

Best photos of 2008

I have put together the best photos of 2008. Check them out on our Flickr page:

View them now

People dancing makes me happy

Based on the popular viral video, Where the hell is Matt?, this VC firm produced a fun recap of all their portfolio companies. As someone who in 2008 made the transition into this crazy ride that is an internet start up, the optimism of this video and all of these people really connects with me

It is amazing to think how many companies out there are working as hard as we are at gamerDNA. I follow KillerStartups.com every day and the sheer volume of new companies is pretty amazing. It takes a lot of optimism to be in a start up... and meeting so many optimistic people is pretty infectious. I can see why people keep doing startups.

Tracking the Large Hadron Collider

Earlier in the year I was watching some specials on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and was excited that it was to be turned on last month... As a hobby I follow quite a bit of big-bang-string-theory stuff... it has even led to some of my own ideas around potential energy preference as a cosmological outcome... and some conversion with my sister-in-law. something I still think about quite often... in fact it makes me want to re-read Biocosm because that book was so rad... searching back through past blog entries also revealed a list of books that changed my life... still pretty accurate.

Anyhow... back to the LHC... my whole point was to link this video which explains how the LHC works... It is pretty fascinating... Also, if you are interested, an LHC blog I am tracking is the US LHC Blog.

Hannah the performer

I got a new memory card for my phone which allows me to now shoot video. At dinner the other day Hannah was singing lots of songs so I grabbed her performing her favorite these days, "Where Dreams Begin" which is some princess-teenie-bop song from Disney.

Warning... this video is grand parent focused... :)

(my favorite part, when Hannah speaks in meow-meow to "baby jaguar" to come see the show.)

Manga Markelz

Everyone is doing it!

Get your own face as Manga

My choices:

1. The green background to envoke GamerDNA.com
2. The blazer and shirt because that is what I wear at work most days
3. Brown hair, blue eyes.. because that is me.

If you are wondering what is this "Manga" thing, Wikipedia always saves.

TED: Jill Bolte Taylor describes her stroke

I watched this video a few days back... and it sticks with you... It really makes you think about how your brain works... I suggest everyone watch it. Pretty powerful insight from a neuroscientist or had a stroke and remembers what it felt like. Original link

Top photos of 2007

Here it is... my picks for the best Markelz family photos of 2007. Are you excited to see what they are?

Trapper's Best of 2007 (flickr)

It is fun looking back at everything. If I had to pick one favorite out of all of those, this would be it.

This is the kind of stuff that gets me excited

I am in one of those phases where I am so busy executing on specific projects, that I really haven't had a chance to read, think, explore some of the new things happening out there. Kevin sent me this video link today and this kind of stuff gives me chills:

Blaise Aguera y Arcas: Jaw-dropping Photosynth demo

Photosynth is nothing new... it was announced a while back, but this is the first time I have seen this TED presentation of it and it really crystallized in my mind a trend towards procedurally generated reality. I read a lot of sci-fi and they always talk about false memories and such... It makes you wonder how something like that would be possible... but then you see a demo like Blaise gives and it really makes sense. As we increase the amount of data capture going on around us... the devices get smaller, storage gets even more affordable and vast, the amount of photos and video increases... and through algorithms, that data is completely recreated for use in an entirely different context... and by leveraging the simultaneous collection of that data across a vast network of participants, the resolution is extrememly high!

This all makes me want to go back and read parts of Accelerando again...