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What is immersive entertainment? Does anyone really have a definition? A good definition? You can argue that the next shiny new thing in “immersive entertainment” is some kind of video game, or a new form of theatre, or the next great theme park. It really doesn’t matter what the claim...

Pale Blue Dot Ventures (PBDV) engages Valley of the Moon Partners (VOMP) as strategic advisors to secure development partners for the California Space Academy (CalSpace)  The proposed California Space Academy is an exclusive destination entertainment opportunity sitting on 82 acres of land, 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean in Santa...

Before we contemplate what lies “Beyond Immersive Entertainment”, let’s review what we mean by “Immersive Entertainment.” Immersive – (1) Deep mental involvement. (2) A method of learning by the exclusive use of specific content. (3) To plunge fully into an experience or environment. Entertainment – (1) The action of providing...

A couple of years ago, as a fresh-faced college sophomore proudly brandishing his self-engineered major of “narrative brand promotions,” I had a limpid vision of my impending career. It began with an internship at Walt Disney Imagineering and ended with my induction as a Disney Legend, with my handprints forever...

Let's start with this: I don't think there is anything special called “Immersive Entertainment”. This is the most blatant kind of industry self-aggrandizing jargon. With all appropriate respect to my friends who actually have celiac disease, “Immersive Entertainment” is the equivalent of the jar of Bubbie’s Kosher Dill Pickles in...

As I get older, I find I read more biographies. I guess when you have more road behind you than ahead of you, you get more interested in other folks perspectives on the hike. I am always amazed when I read about writers and storytellers I admire. From Shakespeare to...

A story can be born from a simple thing. Look around. Find an object near you. What draws your eyes? What has an intriguing texture? Pick it up. What story is attached to this object? Is it something that really happened? Does your object evoke a memory? Or, does it...

Working for a company like IDEAS, you can’t help but be constantly mindful of story’s role in human society. It is the hallmark of our species’ intellectual capacity, the ability to organize our sensory intakes into meaningful schemas of cause-and-effect. In last month’s blog on poetry, I referred to human...

So, storytellers as thieves … Seems like there are several ways to address this premise. First, of course all storytellers are thieves! Unless the artist/orator in question developed the story in question entirely by themselves while serving tour of solo duty inside BioSphere X, then any good storyteller will have...

Poetry is raw emotion, it’s what happens when you tear yourself apart and make something with the pieces. It can be clever, tragic, beautiful, grotesque, melancholy. It can be anything. I think a lot of poetry is made to be read aloud, sometimes sung. It’s full of such luscious, delicious...

Poetry is to language what a fine brandy is to grape juice. It is refined, distilled, and concentrated. It has strength and potency and at the same time it’s subtle. A poem invites deliberate contemplation and promises to tantalize, awaken, satisfy and warm and, at the same time, to provoke...

I love words. Their sounds, their shapes, the way they tango off the tongue and lips. I love the creative combination of these weird utterances and am amazed at their ability to move men to both greatness and ruin. I love their histories and often surprising heritages. Most of all,...