I surfed a sweet pipe in Tahiti on my lunch break. Virtual Reality: It’s unreal!
Virtual Reality is fascinating. I mean, the possibilities are endless aren’t they?
I say ‘fascinating’ because, unless you show me what it does, how it works, and what it can do for me (since I don’t play online video games), I don’t think I really get it. But I’m fascinated. That’s probably why I think of it a little bit like the-future-that-doesn’t-really-exist-yet.
I’m sure you were introduced to the concept of VR many years ago… with movies like Star Wars and Princess Leia’s hologram with an important message for Luke to find, or the likes of Surrogates – an epic movie starring Bruce Willis, about a futuristic world where humans live in isolation, only interacting through virtual robots – people’s lives were all virtual reality and never actual reality.
And now, it seems that VR is here and VR is almost available for all…
But, I’ve got questions:
– What does it look like? (An App? A Programme? A separate piece of hardware we all carry?)
– What does it replace? (Think CD’s vs iPods)
– What do we actually do with it? Travel to the supermarket? Try on clothes? Drive Cars? Talk to famous people?
– And what is the difference between Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality anyway? – but I think that’s another blog post.
I could go on.
If you’re anything like me, I need to experience VR myself to understand it. Only then can I explore VRs possibilities.
We are all in luck. To help explain VR to me was none other than the Icelandic pop icon Bjork.
You see, Bjork has also been asking questions like mine, and in collaboration with some smart cookies, they have explored their own virtual reality questions together. As a result, they have come up with a few answers… and guess what? you can see their responses to these questions through the Bjork Digital Exhibition at Somerset House in London.
In Bjork’s immersive virtual reality exhibition, you really can have a one-on-one recital with Bjork, on a beach, in Iceland. Oh I mean, not really, virtually. In other experiences at the exhibition, one can look at her tonsils as she sings, or if you always wondered what it would be like to transform yourself into a giant moth – Bjork has you covered here too…
This exhibition, doesn’t exactly answer my questions, but what it does do very successfully, is show us all a small facet of what is possible with VR, and it’s exciting! Very exciting!
I am looking forward to the day that we can see the Segrada Familia finished – and although I’ve already been to visit it, I won’t have to make the trip just to see it completed, I’ll just virtually see it. I also am looking forward to attending Glastonbury, but not have to camp, or glamp, or be stuck in traffic, or actually even leave my house – especially if it’s raining!
But for now, I’ve just finished my lunch break and have been surfing a sweet pipe in Tahiti – yes, we at Brand Brewery are exploring too… Come in for a brew if you like, I’d love to show you what we’ve been up to.
Or else, why not just get barreled?
P.S. At Brand Brewery, the brews are real – get in touch!