Filed under: Internet
Shoot an Iraqi artist (with paintballs) over the web
For the next six weeks, Wafaa Bilal will live in a small room in the back of Chicago's Flatfile Galleries. You can logon to watch him any time of day, seven days a week.While Big Brother and Justin.tv have taught us that this alone might provide a few moments of diversion from the office cubicle, Bilal's stepped things up a notch. Not only can you chat with him or communicate via a webcam. You can also control a paintball gun that will shoot at Bilal -- even when he's sleeping.
What would have just seemed like an odd act of masochism takes on a new meaning when you consider the fact that Bilal was born in Iraq.
It's strange enough that video game addicts are now presented with the opportunity to shoot a real live human being using pretty much the same interface they would normally see when fighting fictional aliens. But the art installation is meant to raise questions of surveillance, obsession with guns, and the American occupation of Iraq.
Bilal has garnered a lot of attention already, so you might not be able to access the website right away, since the server is experiencing some strain. You can also keep up with Bilal's video diary on YouTube.
With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet.
They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...
