in the shell

Because I was going through old articles I'd written (I'm updating my business site, too, just a little), I found this one on virtual idols and thought I'd post a link to it ...

http://www.jgdesignworks.com/Idol_October2k3_issue.pdf (172 KB)

This has always been an issue that fascinates me ...

--Jeff

Yeah, I *LOVE* virtual idols. Reiko rocks!

I want to get some Yuki Terai DVDs. I realise they're marketed more to lonely men, but eh, I like these virtual people.

you would that the west would be up to virtual idols...with all of the computer editing on fashion photos, it's just as unrealistic.

off the track, but when i read the title i thought you meant actual idols...fetishes of veneration, but virtual. then i was reminded of "born in east L.A." where paul rodriguez thinks the holographic image of jesus is speaking to him, when it's cheech yelling at him on the speaker phone. funny.

Sylphisonic wrote:Yeah, I *LOVE* virtual idols. Reiko rocks!

I want to get some Yuki Terai DVDs. I realise they're marketed more to lonely men, but eh, I like these virtual people.

theres tons of stuff on youtube. They sing just about every song in the known universe. Some of them are pretty cool...I always thought Kyoko Fukada was a virtual actress

Ah okay- I will look. It hadn't occured to me, lol (I've been using it to look up music videos of Hades from Hercules singing about how he can't get into heaven and stuff like that, )

Echos of Macross Plus always spring to mind when people mention stuff like this

I find it paradoxical that real people use every more artificial means (make-up, cosmetic surgery, photo/video edit, etc.) to look 'perfect' when they are not, and at the same time people working on computers are forever trying to make artificial landscapes, people and objects that look more 'real', including the real imperfections that are found on a normal human body. They seem to have passed each other going the opposite way...

Hee hee FF:TSW. All the freckles on the faces and wrinkles and such. That was so cool ^_^.

I love Macross Plus and Sharon Apple too. One of the first times I was really introduced to the virtual idol concept.

Just watched Macross Plus and was inspired to see if there were any new virtual idols ... I came across Hatsune Miku and others using Vocaloid2 software, which synthesizes Japanese singing--in other words, the characters can sing without a human doing the actual vocal work. It seems to me the software is mainly about the synthesizing and not the creation of the idol, but Hatsune Miku has apparently taken off and is a bit of a cultural phenom. They've just come out with a new character, Megurine Luka, whose voice was sampled from Yū Asakawa (Nagi in Boogiepop, Priss in BGC 2040). You can see more at http://www.crypton.co.jp/mp/pages/prod/vocaloid or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocaloid.

--Jeff

What actual difference exists between between these VI and acts like Milli Vanilli or the pre-fab boy bands?

There is more silicone in some of these real singers than there is my my laptop.

At least a VI won't go hang with that Hilton skank or throw up on your shoes.

Virtual icons are nothing new. It's just a "progressive" step from animation idols.