From jrock@sirius.com (jrock)
Subject: ChromeMoonOrigins
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 00:59:39 -0800
Organisation: Sirius Connections
Newsgroups: alt.chrome.the.moon,alt.pave.the.earth
References: <50ulpe$87o@banana.spyder.net> <DxH18w.LFH@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> <1996Sep11.161328.715@nntp.muohio.edu>
Xref: news.demon.co.uk alt.chrome.the.moon:295 alt.pave.the.earth:14523
Path: thebeast!news.demon.co.uk!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!usenet2.news.uk.psi.net!uknet!usenet1.news.uk.psi.net!uknet!EU.net!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!sun.sirius.com!jrock
Message-ID: <jrock-ya023080001409960059390001@news.sirius.com>
Lines: 43
Article 1403


I thought someone might be interested in the origins of the Chrome Moon
Group, I was astounded to find it still existing. The group was created as
part of a play which was meant to happen online as well as in a physical
treater. The play was Twisted Pairs by George Coates Performance Works in
San Francisco. The play was about Online identity and relationships. It was
presented in 3-D, a combination of 3-D slides, film, live SGI generated
animation, and live actors. The audience wore 3-D glasses to view the show.
It was the first play about online life and it was successful at that and
innovative, but wasn't a smash and closed in 4 weeks. Audiences loved it at
first, but after reviews said it wasn't that good, audiences seemed
embarrassed to think otherwise and stopped screaming at the end. So anyway,
there was a character named HackerJack, a conspiracy theorist who believed
there was a plot to melt asteroids with Star Wars Technology and Chrome the
Moon. It was the most absurd conspiracy theory we could think of, thus it
was in the play and thus it became a 'real' newsgroup. Because as we became
somewhat tired of saying, "The Sho is the Web, the Web is the Sho." How
many versions of the moon becoming Chromed did I have to do 5? 8?... I
modelled a view of the earth (on which an actor stood) pointing up to the
3-D Moon which dissolved into a Chrome sphere. At first George (the
director) wanted the Chrome version of the moon to have more craters, then
he wanted it to reflect the earth, then he thought it wasn't Chrom-ey
enough, then he wanted it to reflect the actors moving on the stage. I
discussed this with Alfred the SGI guy, could we throw animation of the
actors into the SGI and make that move like a reflection on the moon? Too
much trouble, to much memory. Then George wanted to show an animation of
Star Wars Satellites melting asteroids and having globs of chrome float over
to the moon and coat it (this is all in 3-D remember). I told him this was
beyond my abilities and he suggested we contact NASA and have them animate
it for us. I have to admit it would have been a cool effect, but although
NASA has actually obliged us in the past they declined in this case. Just
about the time I was Chroming the Moon for the fifteenth time, George
decided to cut the scene from the show. Working for the treater I have
acquired a portfolio of some very strange things I would find hard to
explain, and all in 3-D, hummingbirds wearing bicycle helmets, views of
amusement theme-parks based on the books of the Apocalypse. and several
variations of the Moon becoming covered with chrome. I just thought someone
might like to know. I am very pleased to see a sister group in the header
'alt.pave.the.earth' I would be interested in knowing if the chromedMoon
spawned the pavedEarth newsgroup, or if they just found each other through
an organic affinity. Though the goal of Chroming the Moon may seem a far
off dream, we may all derive some comfort in the almost total success of
the effort to pave the earth.
JR