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20:15:07 04/22/10
The Losers -starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoë Saldana, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Oscar Jaenada and Jason Patric
[LESS INFO] 9 VIEWS | ADDED 20:15:07 04/22/10
An explosive action tale of betrayal and revenge, “The Losers” centers around the members of an elite Special Forces unit sent to the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. But the team—Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar—soon find that they have become the target of a deadly double cross, instigated from the inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max.
Making good use of the fact that they are now presumed dead, the group goes deep undercover in a dangerous plot to clear their names and even the score with Max. They are joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with her own agenda, who is more than capable of scoring a few points of her own. Working together, when they’re not arguing amongst themselves, they have to stay one step ahead of the globetrotting Max—a ruthless man bent on embroiling the world in a new high-tech global war for his own benefit. If they can take down Max and save the world at the same time, it’ll be a win-win for the team now known as The Losers.
“The Losers” stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“Watchmen”) as Clay; Zoë Saldana (“Avatar,” “Star Trek”) as Aisha; Chris Evans (the “Fantastic Four” films) as Jensen; Idris Elba (“Obsessed”) as Roque; Columbus Short (“Stomp the Yard”) as Pooch; Oscar Jaenada (“Che: Part Two”) as Cougar; and Jason Patric (“In the Valley of Elah”) as Max.
Sylvain White (“Stomp the Yard”) directed the film from a screenplay by Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt, based upon the comic book series written by Andy Diggle, illustrated by Jock and published by DC Comics/Vertigo. “The Losers” is produced by Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster, with Steve Richards, Andrew Rona, Sarah Aubrey and Stuart Besser serving as executive producers and Richard Mirisch co- producing.
The behind-the-scenes creative team was led by director of photography Scott Kevan (“Stomp the Yard”), production designer Aaron Osborne (“Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang”), editor David Checel (“Stomp the Yard”), visual effects supervisor Richard Yuricich (“Orphan”), and costume designer Magali Guidasci (“Zombieland”). The music is by John Ottman (“Orphan,” “Valkyrie”).
Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Dark Castle Entertainment, a Weed Road Pictures production, “The Losers,” to be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. The film has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA for scenes of intense action and violence, a scene of sensuality, and language.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Anyone else would be dead by now.
“The Losers have fun while they kick butt.” Director Sylvain White succinctly sums up the appeal of the ex-special forces unit that comes to the big screen from the pages of the popular DC/Vertigo comic book series, by the team of writer Andy Diggle and artist Jock.
As a fan of the original comics, White wanted to capture the same irreverent style in the film “The Losers.” He relates, “When I read the comics, the first thing that really struck me was the sense of humor Diggle and Jock were able to inject into a very action- driven story. It was such good source material, and I wanted to stay true to it by reflecting that tone in the movie.”
Producer Joel Silver agrees. “The great thing about ‘The Losers’ is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously, which originated with the comics, of course. But much of that attitude also came from the screenwriters, Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt, who brought so much to the table, and a lot came from Sylvain, who delivered a strong, visual cinematic style that I think feels fresh and hip and cool.”
Producer Akiva Goldsman was already familiar with Sylvain White’s work from the director’s feature film debut, “Stomp the Yard,” a drama centered around a step- dancing competition. “And yet,” Goldsman says, “there was a construct to the dancing in it that made it very much like martial arts, which spoke to the style he wanted to bring to this movie. Sylvain has a really good eye and a terrific sense of character and action. When he showed us what he wanted to do with ‘The Losers,’ we were all impressed.”
Employing his graphic arts background, White had created a full storyboard for the film that told the producers all they needed to know. “Sylvain came in and gave us a dazzling presentation,” recalls producer Kerry Foster. “He was so passionate and had such a clear vision for the movie that we knew he was the perfect choice to direct it.”
White says he not only drew inspiration from the original comic books but also from the screenplay. “It had a light tone paired with very gritty, visceral action. That can be a very difficult balance to maintain, but Peter and Jamie did it perfectly.”
James Vanderbilt, who collaborated with Peter Berg on the screenplay for “The Losers,” notes, “I was raised on Joel Silver movies like ‘Die Hard,’ ‘Lethal Weapon’ and ‘48 Hrs.,’ and that is my favorite type of action film—where there are real emotions, but not everything is so dire all of the time. The stakes are high, but the characters seem to be having a good time...and we have a good time with them.”
“The Losers are fun; you want to hang out with them,” White affirms. “They are not superheroes, they are real guys; in fact they’re underdogs who find themselves in what I would say is an extreme situation.”
“We’re not soldiers anymore. We’re fugitives.”
Despite what they are called, “The Losers” started out as anything but. Rather, they were an elite black ops unit, who were called upon for only the most perilous missions.
But in the jungles of Bolivia, while on a secret mission to eliminate a powerful drug and arms dealer, they are betrayed by a shadowy government operative named Max, who has his own reasons for wanting them eliminated...and almost succeeds.
“They’re left for dead and left taking the blame for the innocent lives that were lost on their mission,” White remarks. “Now they have to find their way back into the U.S. and redeem their names.”
Being presumed dead does have its advantages. But, although no one may be looking for them, five “dead men” can’t exactly walk back into the country without drawing unwanted attention. They need help and they find it in an unlikely source: Aisha, who is as beautiful as she is mysterious. Before they can reclaim their lives, however, they will have to deal with Max.
Each member of the team—Clay, Roque, Jensen, Pooch and Cougar—has a specialty that makes him individually strong. Together, they are unstoppable...or so they hope.
CLAY – OPERATIONAL CONTROL
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is Clay, The Losers’ man in command, whose entire identity had been wrapped up in being a soldier. After the team is betrayed, however, he is forced not only to fight for his country and his men but also his name.
Morgan offers, “His rank is colonel and that had defined him. Without that he has to question who he is, but he still has to lead this ragtag group. The leadership thing came naturally to me. It helped that I’m older than most of the guys in this movie, so I immediately wanted to kick their butts anyway,” he deadpans.
“Clay is a hardened man, but he has a definite sense of humor and I loved the dry wit of the script,” Morgan continues. “That can be difficult for a writer to capture on the page and a tricky thing for an actor to deliver. But I’m pretty sarcastic in real life,” he smiles. “In fact, I tend to be even a little dryer than Clay, so that worked well for me in playing the part.”
Sylvain White says he was sure Morgan was the right man for the role even before he actually met him. “He pulled up on his Harley and I knew instantly he was the guy. He’s got this very cool, mature energy about him, a kind of old soul quality that makes him a born leader. Jeffrey is very likeable, very approachable, but there is also a bit of a dark edge to him, which was something he was able to layer very well into the character of Clay as he spirals down into his obsession to take revenge on Max.”
“Jeffrey is that great combination of a tough guy with a heart of gold,” adds Goldsman about the actor, who played a very different kind of soldier in “Watchmen,” the film adaptation of the acclaimed DC Comics graphic novel. “He’s handsome and rugged and can appear dangerous, but at the same time be kind and sensitive. It’s a very mercurial quality that is hard to deliver, but he absolutely did.”
JENSEN – COMMUNICATIONS & TECH
Chris Evans plays Jensen, the team’s computer wizard, who can hack anything—or into anything—that comes his way. Even under cover on the other side of the world, he manages to keep up, via computer, with the standings of his niece’s 8-and- under soccer team, The Petunias.In terms of the family dynamic of the team, he is kind of the kid,” Evans admits. “He gets into mischief and cracks jokes at inappropriate times, but he cares about this group of people and loves what he does. He’s quick with a smile and has limitless energy. I enjoy playing guys like that because you can’t help but bring some of that attitude home with you.”
“Jensen is the geek with a gun,” White laughs. “Every character has moments of comic relief, but Jensen is probably the funniest guy in the movie. Chris had a ball with that because he is a genuinely funny person and was able to bring his own natural humor to the role. He is such a great guy to be around; he was always making us laugh, and that’s basically who Jensen is.”
“Chris was a wonderful addition to ‘The Losers’ cast,” Goldsman says of Evans, who is already a favorite of comic book genre fans for his role in the “Fantastic Four” movies and has just been announced as the new “Captain America.” “He is not only a talented and appealing actor, he also has the same sort of charm as Jensen, which is very engaging.”
ROQUE – DEMO & TACTICAL
Idris Elba plays Roque, an explosives expert, whose personal weapon of choice is a knife...the bigger the better. Roque has been Clay’s brother-in-arms for years, although Clay’s dogged determination to exact revenge on Max, at any and all costs, is now causing friction between the two old friends. “Roque is a no-nonsense type of character,” the actor observes. He’s a straight talker, very to the point. He’s an experienced soldier who’s not very emotional about the job; he just gets it done.”
White remembers, “When I first met with Idris, he told me about his ideas for how he could bring facets to the character of Roque because his story takes an unpredictable turn. He is an amazing actor; I knew he had the capacity to make his arc believable and yet surprising.”
“I liked the character of Roque, and that I had enough room to make it my own,” says Elba, who adds that there were other elements that appealed to him about the project. “The script was great—funny with a lot of larger-than-life action. And I’ve worked with Joel Silver before and am a fan of his movies, so that was another draw.”
“Idris is one of those go-to actors,” notes Silver who previously worked with the actor on “RocknRolla” and “The Reaping.” “I always know he’s going to give a great performance, no matter what the role. He can do drama, he can do comedy, he can do action, and there’s all of that in this movie. This is my third film with him, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.”
POOCH – TRANSPORTATION & HEAVY WEAPONS
Columbus Short takes on the role of Pooch, the group’s transportation expert, who “can rig, wire, fly, drive or commandeer any vehicle, and gets to shoot some pretty sweet weapons,” states Short.
Pooch also has the most personal motivation for wanting to return home. Short explains, “Pooch’s wife is about to have their first baby, and he desperately wants to get back in time to see his child be born. It makes Pooch kind of the heart of the group and adds to the guys’ individual reasons for wanting to clear their names.”
Short’s motivations for taking the role involved both the script and the director. “The storyline was great and the writing was very clever and witty; I laughed out loud reading some of the dialogue and I loved the action,” he comments.
The actor says he also appreciated the opportunity to reunite with Sylvain White, who had directed him in “Stomp the Yard,” which marked his first leading role. “Sylvain is a very collaborative director; he gave me the freedom to discover things about my character that weren’t necessarily in the dialogue. I couldn’t imagine a better experience than working with him again on this movie.”
White states, “I knew Columbus was perfect for Pooch from the get-go; I didn’t even have to think about it. When I read the script for ‘The Losers,’ I felt that the character was the emotional anchor of the team. He’s the family man and the kind of guy you want as a friend. And Columbus has a very warm soul and this sweet innocence about him that makes you care about him the second you meet him, so I pictured him as Pooch right off the bat.”
COUGAR – LONG-RANGE ELIMINATIONS
Spanish actor Oscar Jaenada is cast as Cougar, the unit’s crack sniper, who can hit any target with a steady hand, a cool eye and a quiet calm. “I loved playing a character who is more about sight than sound, more visual than verbal,” Jaenada offers. “Cougar may be the quiet type, but he’s always there watching out for his team. He’s the strong, silent guy in the movie.”
“Cougar is the mystery man of the crew,” says White. “I met Oscar and thought he was incredible; he has such an expressive face and an amazing presence. We needed someone who could act with his eyes, and that’s Oscar. He brought the character of Cougar to life in a way not many people could have.”
Kerry Foster emphasizes, “Oscar was such a boon to the cast. He enjoyed the idea of playing the guy who doesn’t need to speak to get his point across. He came in from Spain and wasn’t able to arrive until the day before we started shooting, and I think the other guys were sad to see him because he was clearly the coolest of the bunch,” Foster teases. “But he’s just the sweetest man and everybody loved working with him.”
“It’s pretty much a suicide mission.”
Despite their individual and combined skills, The Losers need help to sneak back into the U.S. undetected. That’s where Aisha comes in. Zoë Saldana plays the woman who proves to be either a formidable ally or a dangerous enemy...or both. It’s hard to know whose side she’s really on—other than her own—but Clay is about to learn she usually comes out on top.
“Aisha appears to them out of nowhere just when the guys think there is no hope for them to get back home,” says Saldana. “She makes them an offer that sounds too good to be true, but it’s also an offer they can’t refuse: she’ll get them back into the country, but then they have to deliver Max. They decide to take her up on it, but there is mistrust from the beginning because they don’t know what this woman is hiding up her sleeve,” the actress smiles.
White, who had been a fan of Saldana’s even before her recent roles in the sci-fi blockbusters “Avatar” and “Star Trek,” recalls, “When we started discussing the role of Aisha, I instantly thought of Zoë. She has remarkable acting chops, but she also has the physicality the role demanded. Aisha is not the lady in distress; quite the contrary, she’s the badass who actually rescues the men. She’s very capable, very strong and very determined, and Zoë brought her own genuine strength to her performance. She also happens to look very much like the character in the comic book, so we were thrilled when she said yes.” Joel Silver adds, “Zoë is beautiful and sexy and exciting—all the things Aisha needed to be. We wanted Aisha to be a match for the guys and then some. She’s tough, smart, opinionated and able to mix it up, and everything we expected of the character, Zoë delivered to the role.”
“You know that if we do this, we are waging a war against the Central Intelligence Agency.”
The man who targeted The Losers—and who is now their target—is Max, a shadowy and ruthless government operative, who is now operating by his own set of rules to keep America on top. And if a few billion dollars end up in his pocket along the way, even better.
Jason Patric, who plays the role of Max, affirms, “He has his own manifesto and a twisted sense of patriotism that I thought was funny and even a little topical today. Max has a bit of a swagger and an overconfidence, which I think he uses to hide the fact that he’s been beaten down in the past. But I just tried to have fun with it.”
“Max was probably the trickiest part to cast,” White asserts. “We wanted to cast against type, and Jason has never played a true bad guy in a movie before. He came in with some great ideas for the role, and I thought he would help me create a unique character who is different from other villains we’ve seen. He brought this quirkiness to his performance that I think really sets it apart.”
“Jason was terrific,” Foster agrees. “He made Max menacing and eccentric and funny all at the same time. He’s a villain you love to hate.”
As do all self-respecting villains, Max also has a henchman named Wade, because, as Patric says, “Every bad guy should have a thug.”
Wade is played by Holt McCallany, who offers, “Wade is a former special ops soldier, a very competent guy who has now kind of gone over to the dark side. He took all the skills he learned in the Special Forces and become a soldier of fortune. He’s a guy who’s essentially a mercenary. What makes him dangerous to The Losers is that he knows these guys. He knows their history and what they’re capable of...and what a threat they are.”
Judging by appearances, you can also tell what Wade is capable of. “You know Wade could physically take Max out any time he wanted to,” White allows. “But Max is smart enough and manipulative enough to have Wade following his orders, no matter how outrageous they are. Holt played the character with just the right balance of fear, loathing and respect.”
“CIA, NSA, Special Forces... We’re not them.”
Before the main cast of “The Losers” could portray a Special Forces unit they had to learn to behave like one. Former Navy SEAL Harry Humphries, who has served as the military advisor on a wide range of films, recently including “Iron Man” and “Transformers,” was the film’s military advisor and “training officer.” Humphries relates, “I come from the Special Operations community and I feel a great responsibility to them, so it was very important to me that the actors, who obviously didn’t have any prior tactical experience, look correct onscreen.”
He and his team put the cast of “The Losers” through a rigorous training regimen. “I didn’t try to turn them into total ninjas overnight,” says Humphries, “but I looked at what they would be required to do in the script and concentrated on those skill sets, like proper weapons handling, dynamic room entry, fire and cover, etc. They were all excellent students. I was very impressed.”
The actors had equal praise for their trainer. “Harry was a great instructor,” Idris Elba states. “He taught us quite a few tactical maneuvers. He made sure we looked realistic, especially handling the gear and the weapons.”
Columbus Short concurs, “Before I got there, I would not have known the first thing about dismantling or brandishing any sort of weapon. Now I feel like a weapons specialist. We were trained in the protocols known by every Special Forces operative in the world. It was very cool.”
Since Oscar Jaenada was still in Spain at the time, Humphries sent a trainer based in Europe to teach the actor the rudiments of being an expert sniper. Humphries notes, “A former British SAS (Special Air Services) Operative named Tony Smith went down to see Oscar in Madrid and just immersed Oscar for a week in the mental and physical requirements of precision rifle shooting.”
“It was very important for me to learn how to act like a real sniper,” Jaenada says. “Tony taught me the right way to hold the rifle and I also had to learn about precision and patience—when to know the perfect moment to take the shot.” Armorers Michael Papac and Vincent Flaherty worked closely with Humphries to select and supply the right weapons to use in each scene, including Cougar’s mammoth- scoped rifle, the Knights Armament SR-15.
Chris Evans points out that the most important thing he learned about the Special Forces was “I am not cut out to be one, that’s for damn sure,” he laughs. “We were out in the jungle doing those scenes, and I’m like, ‘I need water...I need a chair...I’m sweating...I’m tired...There’s mud, and bugs are biting me...’ We’ve got a whole team of ex-Navy SEALS consultants who never even break a sweat, and I’m wondering when lunch is.
Oh yeah, that’s not for me.
“But seriously,” Evans adds, “it was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had making movies. Where else would a guy like me get Navy SEAL training? It was fantastic.”
One important aspect of the actors’ training was learning to work together as a unit, which they all agree came naturally. “There is a shorthand between those guys, a special camaraderie, and I think we captured that,” says Jeffrey Dean Morgan. “Within one or two days, we realized it had fallen into place as far as us all feeling like one team...with Sylvain White as the maestro.”
White remarks, “The first time the cast was all assembled as a group they immediately bonded, and it was pretty clear that they had great chemistry between them. That’s the kind of thing you can’t really predict or bank on, so when it happens, you feel really fortunate. And I think it makes a big difference on the screen, too.”
“Welcome back to the land of the living.”
The action of “The Losers” unfolds around the world—from the jungles of Bolivia to New Mexico, from Mumbai to Dubai, and from Miami to Houston to Los Angeles, with various points in-between. Despite the diversity of the settings, the filmmakers were able to accomplish almost all of the principal photography on the island of Puerto Rico.
“We looked at quite a few places,” White recounts, “but when we got to Puerto Rico, we saw that the islandhas a great infrastructure and different locales. It was very convenient because we could ‘cheat’ a variety of terrains within a relatively small distance.”
“It was staggering what we found when we came to Puerto Rico to scout,” Foster confirms. “There is a city, obviously gorgeous beaches, a close approximation of a desert, and a rainforest that was ideal to double for Bolivia. It’s a beautiful island and the people could not have been more wonderful.”
Filming on Puerto Rico, the filmmakers also took advantage of the dramatic backdrop of the Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest radio telescope. Jason Patric shot his first scenes there and, in the process, discovered something about himself. “I didn’t realize I have a lack of fondness for heights, but I do now,” the actor reveals. “It was a pretty daunting way to begin.”
To craft the look of the film, production designer Aaron Osborne first went to the source: the original comic books. “What I noticed is that they used two or three colors to represent the tone of each setting, so I really tried to enhance that.”
“Every chapter of the comic books is a new environment distinguished by different color palettes,” White observes. I really wanted to do that in the movie as well—where every time we are in a new city or country, the aesthetic of the film changes completely, so there is no homogeneous look. It’s very eclectic.”
White collaborated with Osborne and cinematographer Scott Kevan to break down the images of the scenes. “We charted the whole movie with certain color schemes for each location and different shades as we moved from day to night,” Osborne explains. “We were quite meticulous about it.”
Color also came into play in the work of costume designer Magali Guidasci, who deviated from tradition by dressing the main protagonist, Clay, mostly in black, while the villain, Max, mainly wore white or light pastels. “Clay is a black-and-white type of guy,” she says, “so he wears a black suit and white shirt—another type of uniform in its own way, make no mistake. Max is always in a very light color, if not pure white. We first see him in a white suit and black tie, as if to appear the opposite of Clay.”
Form followed function with Cougar’s trademark cowboy hat, which was the perfect accoutrement for a sniper whose eyes needed to be shielded from the deflecting glare of the sun. His clothes are in muted colors to allow him to fade into the background and he wears gloves with the trigger finger cut out. Function was also important in costuming Zoë Saldana as Aisha, in clothes that Guidasci describes as “simple and athletic. She wears boots where she can conceal extra weapons, but no heels for that lady. She needs to be agile—able to jump and kick ass.”
In keeping with Jensen’s fun-loving nature, the character wore a collection of T- shirts that were as colorful as his personality. The idea of the T-shirts began with the one Petunias shirt he wears to support his niece’s soccer team. Guidasci offers, “Then Sylvain came up with the idea for Jensen to have a different funny T-shirt for almost every scene. Some we found and some were created by our graphic designer, Eduardo Gomez, and we also tried to make some of them subtly apropos to the moment.”
Osborne notes that the filmmakers adopted the term “Loser style,” which did not refer to the clothes of the characters but rather their surroundings. He elaborates, “Let me put it this way: anything we built in ‘Loser style’ either got burned, destroyed, shot up or blown apart.”
For certain sets, where the action was going to be explosive, Osborne and his crew consulted with special effects coordinator John P. Cazin, as well as stunt coordinator and second unit director Garrett Warren. Clay’s hotel room in Bolivia was the most obvious example of a set that was literally designed to be demolished.
“My first thought was, ‘Oh, we’re building a motel room...no big deal,’” admits Osborne. “But we had to design layer-by-layer, working everything out with John regarding the special effects, since we were going to burn down the entire room, and also with Garrett on the stunts, because people were going to be thrown around and putting their fists through the walls. So what seems to be a normal motel room was actually planned to the utmost detail. Every piece of furniture had to be replicated several times over because we were either going to burn it or smash it.”
The motel room is destroyed over the course of an all-out brawl between Clay and Aisha, who, surprisingly, is more than a match for her larger opponent. “The fight scene between Clay and Aisha was amazing to create,” says Warren, who had recently worked with Saldana on “Avatar.” “They were both consummate professionals: Jeffrey is up for anything and Zoë has a dancer’s physicality and loves doing stunts. We just pulled out all the stops.”
“The thing I loved about the way Garrett designed the fight is that he made it very playful,” Saldana comments. “When Clay and Aisha meet, you think they’re about to hook up for a steamy scene and they end up kicking the crap out of each other. There’s something sexy about a woman who can hold her own against a man, especially when they find each other irresistible.”
“It was pretty hot,” Morgan agrees, though not necessarily referring to the attraction between the characters. “The flames in that room were real, so filming that scene really stood out for me.”
Hot and steamy proved to the watchwords for the entire cast and crew while working in tropical Puerto Rico. “It’s a beautiful place, but the heat and humidity were unrelenting,” Morgan attests. “Add a black suit and about 60 pounds’ worth of guns and gear, and it made filming the action scenes a special challenge. You can’t drink enough water because no matter where or when you’re shooting, you’re drenched in sweat. But the good news is you’re bound to lose a lot of weight,” he grins.
In planning the stunt sequences, Warren says, “I got my team together and we brainstormed to come up with some interesting, fun ways to shoot. I talked Sylvain into letting us fly him above one action scene on wires and he actually held the camera to film one of our guys doing Parkour-style moves, running and jumping over these large containers. That was a lot of fun...at least for us.”
White also worked with Scott Kevan to film the action from a perspective that brings moviegoers right into the fray. The director emphasizes, “We want the audience to experience certain pivotal moments through the eyes of the characters. It’s about positioning the camera inside the action and staying as close as possible to the actors. Sometimes it’s limiting, and other times it opens brand new doors. It was a fine line, but I think we were able to find a good combination.”
He continues, “I’m very proud of the action in this film, but what I think shines through the most is the fun tone and the great characters. I think ultimately that’s what I want to leave the audience with—having had a good time with ‘The Losers’...and wanting to do it again.”
ABOUT THE CAST
JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN (Clay) starred last year in the action thriller “Watchmen,” Zack Snyder’s controversial big screen adaptation of DC’s seminal graphic novel. Morgan played Edward Blake, a.k.a. The Comedian, whose murder sets off a potentially explosive investigation and reunites his former costumed colleagues, the Minutemen. Also in 2009, Morgan starred in Ang Lee’s independent feature “Taking Woodstock.”
Morgan is currently at work on the crime thriller “The Fields,” in which he and Sam Worthington star as detectives investigating several unsolved murders in Texas. In November, he stars in the remake of the action hit “Red Dawn,” playing a U.S. Special Forces soldier who helps the teenage rebels, known as the Wolverines, fight back against enemy forces that have invaded the United States. Prior to “Red Dawn,” Morgan filmed the suspense thriller “The Resident,” opposite Hilary Swank, his former co-star from “P.S. I Love You,” in which he played her prospective love interest.
His other upcoming films include Mikael Hafstrom’s period drama “Shanghai,” with John Cusack, and the murder mystery drama “All Good Things,” in which he stars with Kirsten Dunst, Ryan Gosling and Frank Langella under the direction of Andrew Jarecki. Morgan’s additional film credits include the independent comedy “Kabluey,” with Lisa Kudrow; the romantic comedy “The Accidental Husband,” opposite Uma Thurman; and a cameo role in David Dobkin’s holiday comedy “Fred Claus.”
Morgan first gained the attention of television audiences with a recurring role in ABC’s smash hit series “Grey’s Anatomy.” His dramatic arc as heart patient Denny Duquette, who wins the heart of Katherine Heigl’s Izzie Stevens in a star-crossed romance, made him a universal fan favorite. He has also had recurring roles on the hit CW series “Supernatural” and on the award-winning Showtime series “Weeds.”
ZOË SALDANA (Aisha) enjoyed a banner year in 2009, starring in back-to-back blockbusters. She capped the year starring as Neytiri in James Cameron’s history- making sci-fi epic “Avatar,” for which Saldana won an Empire Award for Best Actress. The film, which also starred Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver, broke numerous box office records on its way to becoming the highest-grossing motion picture of all time. Among its many honors, “Avatar” won a Golden Globe for Best Picture – Drama and earned nine Oscar® nominations, also including Best Picture.
Earlier last year, Saldana played Nyoto Uhura in the sci-fi action adventure hit “Star Trek,” about the early years of the legendary crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Directed by J.J. Abrams, the film also starred Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Eric Bana.
Saldana will next be seen in the Neil LaBute-directed comedy “Death at a Funeral,” in which she joins an ensemble cast that also includes James Marsden, Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan, Martin Lawrence, Columbus
Short and Luke Wilson.
Born and raised in New York, Saldana first gained attention with her memorable feature film debut in the starring role of Eva in “Center Stage,” directed by Nicholas Hytner. She followed with “Get Over It,” “Crossroads,” “Drumline,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” and Steven Spielberg’s “Terminal,” for which she won a 2004 Young Hollywood One to Watch Award from Movieline magazine. Her additional film credits include “Haven,” “Guess Who” and “Vantage Point.”
In 2009, Saldana graced the cover of ELLE as one of the magazine’s “Top Women in Hollywood.”
CHRIS EVANS (Jensen) stars this August in Edgar Wright’s action comedy “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” with Michael Cera, Anna Kendrick, Jason Schwartzman, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. He also just wrapped production on Adam and Mark Kassen’s drama “Puncture,” in which he stars as a drug-addicted lawyer who takes on a major health supply corporation while battling his own personal demons.
Evans next starts filming opposite Anna Faris in Mark Mylod’s romantic comedy “What’s Your Number?,” about a woman revisiting all her ex-boyfriends in hopes of finding the man of her dreams. This summer, Evans is set to go into production on the action adventure “The First Avenger: Captain America,” in which he will star in the title role of the Marvel Comics superhero, under the direction of Joe Johnston.
Evans is also well known to moviegoers for his role in the hit “Fantastic Four” action adventures. His more recent film credits include Paul McGuigan’s sci-fi thriller “Push,” in which he starred opposite Dakota Fanning; the independent period drama “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond,” written by Tennessee Williams and also starring Bryce Dallas Howard; and David Ayer’s crime drama “Street Kings,” with Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker.
Raised in Massachusetts, Evans began acting in regional theatre before moving to New York, where he studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute. He made a few guest appearances on television series before landing his first feature film starring role in the comedy spoof “Not Another Teen Movie.” His early film work also includes “The Perfect Score,” with Scarlett Johansson, and “Cellular,” with Jessica Biel and Kim Basinger.
In 2005, teamed with Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis and Ioan Gruffudd as a group of astronauts who gain individual super powers after being exposed to cosmic radiation in the blockbuster hit “Fantastic Four.” Two years later, he reprised the role of Johnny Storm, a.k.a. The Human Torch, in the summer action hit “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.”
Among Evans’ other film credits are Danny Boyle’s critically acclaimed sci-fi thriller “Sunshine,” with Cillian Murphy and Michelle Yeoh; “The Nanny Diaries,” opposite Scarlett Johansson; the independent drama “London,” opposite Jessica Biel; and Griffin Dunne’s “Fierce People,” with Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland.
IDRIS ELBA (Roque) recently starred in the hit 2009 thriller “Obsessed,” with Beyoncé Knowles and Ali Larter. Elba earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for his portrayal of a married man being stalked by a co-worker. He previously shared in a Screen Actors Guild Award® nomination as a member of the main cast of Ridley Scott’s 2007 true-life drama “American Gangster,” with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.
Elba has several film projects upcoming, including the crime drama “Takers,” with Matt Dillon, Zoë Saldana and Hayden Christensen, and the action adventure “Thor,” in which he stars with Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman under the direction of Kenneth Branagh. He also executive produced and stars in the independent film “Legacy,” which was chosen to close the 2010 Glasgow Film Festival, and has also been selected to screen at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Elba’s additional film credits include David S. Goyer’s horror thriller “The Unborn”; Guy Ritchie’s “RocknRolla,” as part of an ensemble cast that also included Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton and Tom Wilkinson; and the hit horror thriller “28 Weeks Later,” to name only a few.
On the small screen, Elba had a recurring role last season on the hit NBC series “The Office.” In his native England, he next stars in the title role of the BBC crime drama series “Luther,” set to debut in the UK in May. He first gained attention with his starring role as the de facto leader of a Baltimore drug empire in HBO’s acclaimed original series “The Wire,” for which he received an Image Award nomination. Additionally, he starred in the Channel 4 telefilm “All in the Game,” and gained another Image Award nod for his performance in the HBO movie “Sometimes in April,” as a Hutu soldier who tries to save his Tutsi wife and family during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Elba has also worked on the stage, including leading roles in several plays produced in London. Additionally, in New York, he starred in Sir Peter Hall’s off- Broadway production of “Troilus and Cressida,” receiving rave reviews for his portrayal of Achilles.
COLUMBUS SHORT (Pooch) previously collaborated with director Sylvain White as the star of the 2007 hit “Stomp the Yard,” which topped the box office in its first two weeks in release and brought Short an NAACP Image Award nomination for Best Actor. He more recently won an Image Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the true-life drama “Cadillac Records,” about the birth of rock n’ roll in Chicago, in which Short starred with Beyoncé Knowles, Jeffrey Wright and Adrien Brody. He next stars in the ensemble comedy “Death at a Funeral,” alongside Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan, Martin Lawrence, James Marsden, Luke Wilson and Zoë Saldana.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Short relocated with his family to Los Angeles at a young age and, by his early teens, had landed work in television commercials. He was a senior at Orange County School of the Arts when he was offered a part in Broadway‘s hit show “STOMP!” He went on to choreograph Britney Spears’ “In the Zone” tour.
Short began his film acting career in 2006 with starring roles in “Save the Last Dance: 2” and the comedy “Accepted,” with Jonah Hill and Justin Long. His subsequent film credits include “This Christmas,” opposite Idris Elba, Regina King and Chris Brown; the horror remake “Quarantine”; the thriller “Whiteout,” with Kate Beckinsale; and “Armored,” with Matt Dillon and Laurence Fishburne. On television, he played the young writer Darius on Aaron Sorkin’s acclaimed drama series “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.”
Short is also working behind the camera through his production company, Great Picture Show Productions. He most recently executive produced “Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming.”
OSCAR JAENADA (Cougar) is an award-winning actor in his native Spain, who is quickly becoming well known in the U.S. In 2005, he starred in the title role of “Camarón: When Flamenco Became Legend,” the true story of Camarón de la Isla. Jaenada earned a number of acting honors, including Spain’s prestigious Goya Award, for his portrayal of the legendary flamenco cantaor. He more recently starred in “Todos Estamos Invitados,” for which he won the Málaga Spanish Film Festival’s Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Toulouse Cinespaña Award for Best Actor.
American film audiences have also seen Jaenada in Jim Jarmusch’s thriller “The Limits of Control,” in which he co-starred with Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton, and Steven Soderbergh’s biopic “Che: Part Two,” starring Benicio Del Toro.
Born and raised in Barcelona, Jaenada later moved to Madrid to pursue his acting career. He started out in the local theatre and also landed roles on television. His breakthrough came in the widely acclaimed 2003 feature “November,” for which he received a Goya Award nomination and won several other awards, including a Toulouse Cinespaña Award for Best Actor.
JASON PATRIC (Max) first gained attention with his starring role in Joel Schumacher’s 1987 comedy thriller hit “The Lost Boys.” He went on to earn critical acclaim for his performances in the drama “The Beast of War,” the erotic thriller “After Dark, My Sweet,” and the crime drama “Rush.”
Patric subsequently starred in Walter Hill’s “Geronimo: An American Legend”; the title role in “The Journey of August King”; Barry Levinson’s “Sleepers”; and Neil LaBute’s “Your Friends and Neighbors,” which was also the first feature Patric produced under the banner of his production company, Fleece.
Patric’s more recent film credits include “Narc,” “The Alamo,” “Expired,” “Downloading Nancy,” “In the Valley of Elah,” and “My Sister’s Keeper.”
On Broadway, Patric starred as Brick in the revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” opposite Ashley Judd. His other theatre work includes productions of Neil LaBute’s “Bash”; “Beirut”; “Out of Gas on Lover’s Leap”; “The Tempest”; “Henry V”; and “Love’s Labour’s Lost.”
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01:15:36 02/12/08
Virtual Worlds Libraries Education And Museums Conference Saturday March 8 2008 In Second Life
[LESS INFO] 6 VIEWS | ADDED 01:15:36 02/12/08
“Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education, and Museums”Saturday, March 8, 2008 in Second Life - New Media Consortium Conference Center.http://www.alliancelibraries.info/virtualworlds/Purpose of the Conference: To provide a gathering place for librarians, information professionals, educators, museologists, and others to learn about and discuss the educational, informational, and cultural opportunities of virtual worlds. Please note: Although the conference will be held in the virtual world Second Life, presentation and paper proposals about LEM developments in other virtual worlds are encouraged. Tentative Schedule 9:00 a.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) "Ancient Mesopotamia: Engaging Online Resources from the Oriental Institute," Presented by Wendy Ennes and Lisa Perez Wendy Ennes, Teacher Services and e-Learning Coordinator for the Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago, will present information about the new, engaging website Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History. In this highly useful online resource, students and educators can learn about various aspects of Mesopotamian culture. They can participate in the interactive "Dig into History", playing the role of an archeologist or a museum curator. Also, they can peruse the "Learning Collection", zooming in on various teacher-selected artifacts. Teachers can also locate primary source materials, lesson plans, and recommended learning activities. This presentation will be useful to teachers, librarians, students, and history aficionados. This presentation is brought to you in collaboration with the Chicago Public Schools Department of Libraries and Information Services. "Persistent Worlds: Will They Ever Go Away?" Presented by Dr. Susan Hazan Now that Second Life has hit the front page of Newsweek it seems Neal Stephenson's vision of the Metaverse has crossed over -- from being a fringe fantasy land for pure escapists to a persistent world for play, commerce, creativity and exploration. It's time to take a close look at this synthetic world. Presented by three leading avatars directly from Second Life, this panel will showcase some of the leading cultural institutions from their 3D graphic locations, and will explore how they welcome visitors, guests and colleagues in-world. "The State of Librarianship in Second Life" Presented by Lauren Pressley This session examines the idea of librarianship in Second Life, specifically focusing on reference practices and the development of a library's presence in a virtual world. The session will conclude with a discussion of possible virtual world library services that have not yet been designed and implemented. "Reflections in Wonderland" Presented by Alison (Wynne Merlin) Williams & Mary (Merry Mayo) Hudson This paper takes a reflective approach concentrating on the authors' explorations of Second Life. These explorations were undertaken as part of a project to assess how the university library might operate in such an environment to support student learning. An introduction briefly outlines the project and we then go on to describe our initial experiences of Second Life, and of participation in courses and meetings. In the light of these experiences we reflect on the possibilities offered by this type of environment, before concluding with our thoughts on the way forward. "Reconstructing Maya: Student Created Poems" Presented by Beth Ritter-Guth (SL Desideria Stockton) The students in College English II: Literature at Lehigh Carbon Community College are creating interactive poems to celebrate the poetry of Maya Angelou. Conference participants will be able to view the work of students, meet them, and construct a poem of their own. The workshop will require the use of voice and participants should download a free recording program like Audacity. Students will showcase their interactive poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou. A notecard with the instructions on how to build the poem will be provided, and participants will work together to create a collaborative poem using WAV files, objects, and scripts. 10:00 a.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) "Voice vs. Text Chat: Solutions for Teaching/Presenting in Two Languages Simultaneously" Presented by Chris Haskell As voices ring out over the virtual landscape, some oppose vocal communication for its technical imperfections, infrequent use, and VW cultural bias. Educators, presenters, and facilitators in the Metaverse need solutions to communicate in both "native" languages. This session demonstrates tools and techniques currently being employed to engage multiple learning and communication styles in this expanding virtual space. "Immersion Environments and Recreational Learning: Opportunities for Informal Education on the Virtual Landscape" Presented by Aldo Stern and JJ Drinkwater When the residents of an online three-dimensional platform such as Second life are able to create their own immersion environments, learning opportunities abound. Experience with a number of recent experiments has indicated that the educational potential of these builds comes not just within the context of a formal, institutionally-managed didactic approach, but also--and in some cases, more successfully--in the context of informal, self-directed learning opportunities. Panelists Aldo Stern and JJ Drinkwater draw upon their real world backgrounds in the museum and library fields, along with their extensive experience in a variety of experimental collaborative educational, cultural and recreational environments created on the SL platform, to discuss the relative success of traditional "classroom" approaches in various builds, and the surprisingly vibrant informal learning dynamic that has developed alongside--or as an alternative to--the attempts at structured, hierarchical didacticism. The panelists also will seek to explore how what has transpired in-world is analogous to the real world living history/reenacting "hobby" movement of the 1970s-1990s and other recreational self-directed learning opportunities, and consider issues of how institutions and organizations might utilize the potential of online creative platforms in the future to more effectively foster and encourage self-directed learning, and to integrate it into their programming in ways that it could compliment and enhance more traditional approaches to engaging and educating diverse audiences. "Whatcha Gonna Do?: An Academic Health Sciences Library in Second Life Embraces New Roles" Presented by PF Anderson (Perplexity Peccable); Gillian Mayman (Gillian Oh); Anne Perorazio (Kaiya Qunha); and Jane Blumenthal (Wrenaissance Jewell) Academic health sciences libraries support the educational, research, clinical, and service missions of the universities and healthcare institutions of which they are a part. In the recent past, this has meant primarily building print and web-based collections of health and research information, and providing classes and services that facilitate the use and integration of these collections into the skillset of the local academic healthcare community. In Spring of 2007, the University of Michigan Medical School purchased an island in Second Life. In supporting the activities associated with this initiative, we have found that many of the activities and services we have traditionally offered are not immediately relevant in the new environment, are needs that are being filled by others, or are beyond the scope of what is possible with the resources currently available to us. Examples of these might include teaching how to search Medline, offering classes relating to health skill sets, building collections of health information. Similarly, many of the activities and services we have found ourselves embracing in Second Life are hard to imagine ever happening in our real life libraries. Examples of these might include building freebie collections, teaching classes on how to make clothes, setting up a Spirit Shop for the university (along with making the inventory), hosting in-world and out-world events to engage community, setting up a patient support group, as well as helping folks navigate Orientation and Help Islands. Here we present information about the similarities and differences between what we do in which environment and why we do or do not offer similar services in the other environment, as well as discuss the planning process and skill sets required. We would particularly like to focus on tools that have formed the basis of our community building efforts, which have largely depended on resources that bridge Second Life and the broader online and analog environments. So, when it comes to leading the way in a new and emerging technological environment, what are librarians going to do? Our answer: whatever needs to be done. "Interaction, Visibility and Searchability in Virtual Worlds: The Possibilities, Benefits and the Future" Presented by Namro Orman Interaction with the Web should be a major focus point for libraries in virtual worlds. Resources, news, and communication are needed, and not only with Second Life Residents. The merging with other social networks looks promising, but a lot can be improved/gained inside Second Life as well to make library services and resouces more visible, and findable, also on the Web. This goals of this session are to improve awareness of current possibilities, to show developments, and to offer a sketch of the future. "The 3D3C Metaverse" Presented by Yesha Sivan Dr. Yesha Sivan, founder of Metaverse Labs, is interested in interoperability. He also has been looking into how virtual world simulations can interface with the real world. 11:00 a.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) "Applying Distance Educational Theory to Virtual Worlds" Presented by Rebecca Hedreen Current adult educational theory is student-centered and those students have experience, abilities, and preferences that affect or control the learning process. This presentation will show (and tell) you how to use these theories, and the practices that spring from them, to improve your Second Life presentations. In the process, we'll cover some techniques that also improve accessibility and decrease the chance that a technological glitch will ruin your work. "The Museum Phenomenon in Star Wars Galaxies" Presented by Annie Platoff Annie Platoff, the Director of the Wookiee Cultural Center, the premier Wookiee museum in Star Wars Galaxies, will discuss the museum phenomenon in Star Wars Galaxies. "My Life as an Avatar (So Far)" Presented by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle This presentation is intended for teachers, librarians, and those who work in museums; as well as amateur history buffs. In this discussion I will provide an account of how I came to portray one of the best known authors of the Victorian era; the development of a plausible "back story" to cover my inadequacies; my successes and failures in Second Life; my views on the educational potential of ReCreationism; and, finally, my advice to aspiring ReCreationists. "The Festival of European Languages in Second Life" Presented by Birdie Newborn (Birdie Newcomb in SL) This session will look at the Festival of European Languages recently held on Belle Isle in Second Life. It was a venture in outside-the-classroom education. It was a 6-hour festival over half the island with a schedule of speakers, demonstrations, booths, and a giant map of Europe with landmarks to every known language community in Second Life. 6:00 p.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) "Self-directed Group Learning in Virtual Worlds" Presented by Nick Noakes This will be a mix of an interactive discussion session on the affordances of Virtual Worlds with respect to self-directed group learning, followed by a tour of Boracay sim to see one way self-directed group learning can be implemented. "Virtual Museums: When Do They Become "Real"?" Presented by Annie Platoff With the launch of massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs), players were given the opportunity to build their own communities within the confines of virtual worlds created by the game developers. When Star Wars Galaxies was launched in June 2003, players were also given the opportunity to manipulate their environment. SWG Developers not only allowed players to place structures within the landscape of the game, but also gave them the opportunity to decorate the interiors of their buildings. It wasn't long before players began to open their own museums. At first, the museums were nothing more than decorated houses containing developer-made paintings and objects. Eventually, however, the museums evolved and now there are quite a number that include interpretive labels, thematic exhibits, and more. While some of these museums are quite well known within their communities, they are virtually unknown by those who do not play the game. That is not the case for the museums in another virtual community, however. The emergence of museums in the virtual world of Second Life has been the topic of much discussion in the museum community. Also launched in 2003, Second Life presents itself as a 3-D virtual world rather than a game. In the world of Second Life players can create just about anything they can imagine and add it to the environment including, of course, museums. Some of those museums have been replicas of real-life museums created by private individuals. Other museums in this virtual environment were created as initiatives of established real-world museums. But there are some museums in Second Life that only exist in that virtual landscape. The International Space Museum, one such museum, has spawned a real-life non-profit organization to support the work of the virtual museum. All of this activity in virtual museums brings with it some interesting questions for members of the museum community. Are virtual museums "real" museums? And if they are, what are the implications for established real-life museums? This paper will examine a variety of museums in two virtual environments ? the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies and the virtual world of Second Life. It will apply established definitions of what is a museum and determine which of those virtual museums appear to meet the criteria. Finally, it will draw conclusions about the "realness" of virtual museums and the potential of these institutions for reaching new audiences. "An Overview of Science-Related Stuff in Second Life" Presented by Dr. Troy McConaghy (Troy McLuhan in SL) Troy will give examples of how Second Life is being used for science education, public outreach, prototyping, and research Intendend Audience: Scientists, science educators, science librarians, and science museum professionals. "Immersive Education: New Models for Lifelong Learning" Presented by Kevin Roebuck Open source technologies for virtual worlds, on-line games, and new media have tremendous potential to offer new models for lifelong learning. Sun Microsystems Global Education & Research Group has formed a new community to explore these new immersive worlds and their application with the Project Wonderland 3-D tool-kit, Project Darkstar Game Server and SunSPOT sensor platforms. The new Sun Immersion Special Interest Group has announced a joint initiative with the Immersive Education Initiative at Media Grid including a $25,000 set of "Immersion Grants" to see pilot projects in K12 schools, community college, and higher education institutions. This session will feature Kevin Roebuck, Community Manager for Immersive Technologies at Sun, to give a brief overview of the communities activities, initiatives and worldwide projects in open source and open content for Immersive Education. 7:00 p.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) "Using Second Life to Enhance Student Research and Presentations" Presented by Robert Walker The presentation will look at an exciting Second Life assignment being used at Labette Community College in the Music Appreciation classes to enhance student presentations. This assignment could easily be adapted for use in any class that requires students to research and present that research to the class. It is useful for both onground and online classes. Students are given the following assignment, using Second Life, prepare a museum exhibit on the following composer. You should include written information, audio, images and perhaps video. Your presentation should not only include biographical information about the composer, but information about the period that the composer was writing. That information should include people of historical interest, other artists of the period, clothing and architectural styles of the time. This presentation will show the mechanics of managing an assignment like this. What tools do the students need? What knowledge/tools does the instructor need? These concerns will all be discussed and examples of previous semester projects will be reviewed as well as the assignment and the rubric. "Virtual Worlds for Learning" Presented by Ann Crewdson and Sachin Patil Virtual Worlds offer a quick and inexpensive ways of simulating information artifacts(in libraries and museums) into multi-faceted synthetic learning environments that merit interaction, immersion and information equally. The Federation of American Scientists, as part of its "Virtual Worlds for Learning" research program, has created a Virtual World Sim (Mesopotamia) in Second Life that leverages collective intelligence by enabling interdisciplinary communities of scholars such as archeologists, librarians museologists, historians, technologists, artists, and academia to share data and their expertise. The prototype has developed a web-integrated inworld tool, called Medulla, to collaborate on 3D content creation, peer-review the content for authenticity and edit it continuously based on new academic & research findings. In the near future, this tool will support functionalities for incorporating game-like features to make simulation experience more interactive and engaging. This presentation will describe content creation & management processes we have developed to collect, render, manage, evaluate and preserve digital assets for 3D virtual environments. Attendees, mainly librarians and museum administrators, will learn how virtual worlds together with web technologies can be used for a wide variety of learning opportunities, scholarly interaction, and the collection, development and management of digital assets for 3D virtual environments. "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" Presented by Rochelle Mazar This presentation will demonstrate and explore the ways that digital objects have been archived in older virtual environments, their contribution to a competitive gift economy, and the kinds of lessons those practices bring to bear on the work being done by librarians and educators in Second Life. In text-based MOO spaces, object archives function as museum spaces, shops for finding useful objects to use in one's own builds, and as a structure that reinforces and supports a functioning gift economy. In worlds without built-in money economies, archiving and "generics" organization allows new users to see what has been built before, to take advantage of that older work by taking their own copy of these generic objects to build upon, and provides a form of feedback and recognition for those who build the best objects across the entire MOO community world-wide. With a long tradition of including the builder's name as part of the object, a successful builder can build a reputation across many different virtual worlds as others request archived copies of their objects. This gift economy encourages builders and programmers to donate their work for use by others as well as to create more and better generic objects for general use. Their active participation in the gift economy thereby assists in the creation of richer online spaces for all. Could this model work in Second Life, in spite of its existing money economy? This presentation would consist of audio content detailing the structure of these digital archives and their use, as well as detail about the gift economy and how it encouraged more and better objects to share with the community, and would include discussion with participants about its pros and cons and feasibility for use in Second Life. 8:00 p.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) "Education on the Teen Grid: The View from Eye4You Alliance Island" Presented by Kelly Czarnecki (Bluewings Hayek in SL), Anthony Curtis (Stone Semyorka in SL), and Beth Kraemer (Alice Burgess in SL) So what's it like to be an educator on the teen grid? Eye4You Alliance Island has been a source of education, creativity and fun on the teen grid since 2006. Librarians, professors, authors, technology specialists, subject matter specialists, and teens from around the world are involved in projects ranging from classes about SL and RL skills; recurring events like book discussions, space talks and island management meetings; special events like the recent literary festival, last year's college fair and craft fair; and a host of other activities. The presenters will provide an overview of what it's like to be an adult educator on the teen grid, describing the challenges and opportunities, and will discuss recent activities and plans that are underway. We'll compare the experience with education on the main grid and discuss our view of the future of education for teens in Second Life. The presentation may also incorporate comments from the teen residents themselves. "VW Libraries and Education: The Purpose and the Potential" Presented by Valerie Hill (Valibrarian Gregg in SL) Virtual worlds seem to be exploding into existence online. For everyone from toddlers to senior citizens, a virtual world beckons. Valibrarian Gregg, a Second Life librarian (and real life school librarian) shares her journey learning in a virtual world to help understand the purpose and potential for librarians and educators. Read some of the latest Virtual World news at iVinnie.com. "Providing Library Services in Second Life" Presented by Margaret Ostrander and Anne Mostad-Jensen Margaret Ostrander will share her research in progress exploring information seeking behavior in Second Life. All research is taking place in-world, combining structured interviews and ethnographic fieldwork. Research questions include: What are the information needs of everyday Second Life residents? What kinds of information are people in SL utilizing, and how do they go about finding it? This research explicitly studies SL residents in non-library contexts. A more robust understanding of such "native" information seeking behavior can help inform SL library services. This research is under the supervision of Dr. Michael Stephens of Dominican University (Illinois, U.S.A.). Read more about Margaret's research at Librarian Dreamer. Anne Mostad-Jensen will present her research in progress focused on the new user's experience in Second Life. Research questions include: How do new users approach and use virtual worlds? What are the information needs of new users and what are their information seeking behaviors? Research subjects will be observed while utilizing the Second Life interface for the first time, accompanied by pre- and post-interviews. This research will inform how libraries in Second Life can help meet the needs of new users. This research is under the supervision of MLIS faculty member Dr. Joyce Yukawa of the College of St. Catherine (Minnesota, U.S.A.). Both Anne and Margaret will share their findings to date, along with learnings about the methodologies and research instruments they have adopted.CREDITS: This machinima was filmed on location with the help of avatars in the teen grid and main adult grid of Second Life: Info International, Talis, and Eye4YouAlliance Island, funded by the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC). http://infoisland.orghttp://www.talis.comhttp://www.plcmc.org/teens/secondlife.aspMachinima: Bernadette Daly Swanson / HVX Silverstar in Second LifeMusic: Revostock.com
