But no, seriously. I’m glad they’ve figured out a way to cope with high school that lets them be themselves; Having people around you, especially in high school, that share the same passions for things like this is great, even though I’m sure their Vampires will forever sparkle in the daylight and their Werewolves will always be homeless underwear models.

The entertainment industry does this all the time: Remakes of older movies and retro-gaming in the video game industry are the norm now. The music industry is ever cannibalizing itself with samples and covers. So why not re-purpose on a more permanent scale?

Plus, you can tell everyone you went to prison on your vacation. Priceless.

She not only wants to capture the essence of each animal, Santiago also pays great attention to the details of markings, trying to “capture the personality of the dog through his or her eyes.” As she says on her site:

“Send to me as many photos as needed to show your dog’s/cat’s face, feet, tail and all markings. It is also very helpful to have at least one standing profile shot to help me understand the shape of your pet’s body. When your sculpture has been completed I will send you a link to a group of photos so that you may see it in the round. At this time I am able to make small changes if needed. Otherwise, with approval of your sculpture, I will ship your fur kid off to you once your final payment is received.”

The Human Truth™ of Living Vicariously™ is “Wow, that was almost real!” and the evidence is usually about having an experience that takes you away from your usual existence and the thrill that comes with pretending something is “for real”.  Well in this case, it more about commissioning a piece of art that captures the image and spirit of a beloved pet that will live on after they have gone…. Now if she starts doing it with people, THEN it will get creepy.

Keeping this in mind, how much more vicariously can you live from watching a movie? By inserting yourself into it.

Yoostar is a new technology that includes all the tools consumers need to digitally insert themselves in the place of original lead actors in famous movies and television shows. Included in the system—slated to become available in July—are a studio-grade web cam with built-in dual microphones and remote control, portable green screen, professional stand, and Yoostar software that is PC- and Mac-compatible. -via

Furthermore, if you’re feeling pretty proud of your acting skills, you can upload your footage on Yoostar’s site, where it’s viewed, rated, and waged against others renditions.

Experiencing danger with no fear of consequences (either physically or legally) is a mega plus for any sort of entertainment product or venue out there. And let’s not mention there’s something to be said about watching your uncle/brother/cousin prance around as Rambo too. At least, for those of us watching it makes for quite the laughs!

But then something clicked:  Yes, writing 140 characters to your close friends and co-workers about what you ate for breakfast is vacuous and boring…. But reading what Steven Fry had for breakfast in a Maori Village in NZ is interesting to me. (and 80,000+ others)
IT’S ALL ABOUT WHO YOU FOLLOW.

I now have a FOLLOW list that is glittering with “Twitterati” that I can LIVE VICARIOUSLY through… or at very least, I get a chuckle pretty much on an hourly basis…yep, I’m addicted.  (Let me say here that I now tweet on the regular and I love the way my co-workers communicate on it…but that’s another blog)

Now, my Follow list will probably be a lot different to yours- just like our itunes playlist or Facebook: iRead list will have our own flavor.  But I can almost guarantee fascinating people or “stars” in your chosen fields of interest are twittering or will be soon.  They might already be sharing their innermost thoughts, random stream of consciousness, humor, interesting links, retweets of other likeminded folk, opinions, rants or calculated PR.

But what happens when you think your following the real Tony Robbins and it takes you a few days to realize your being motivated by a wise-ass who thinks it’s funny to masquerade as someone else?  (Living Vicariously can certainly become a hobby)

Well, you dust yourself off and get savvy. Go to their official website and they will have the right link for you if they are twittering.

I personally get a lot of joy from some Fake Twitterers – they can be hilarious social commentaries!

I mean we all “GET” that Darth Vader isn’t kickin’ back in the Death Star tweeting from his Blackberry…but it’s so fun to pretend.

So, if you have always wanted to feel yourself get shot in the head when you are gaming or if  you want to see your friends, pesky younger siblings and neighbors in pain, you definitely need the HTX Helmet, the FPS vest, and some serious counseling.

According to Swedish Scientists this seemingly impossible feat might be easier than you would think.

The press release explains the experiment:

Cognitive neuroscientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet (KI) have succeeded in making subjects perceive the bodies of mannequins and other people as their own.

In the first experiment, the head of a shop dummy was fitted with two cameras connected to two small screens placed in front of the subjects’ eyes, so that they saw what the dummy “saw.” When the dummy’s camera eyes and a subject’s head were directed downwards, the subject saw the dummy’s body where he/she would normally have seen his/her own.

The illusion of body-swapping was created when the scientist touched the stomach of both with two sticks. The subject could then see that the mannequin’s stomach was being touched while feeling (but not seeing) a similar sensation on his/her own stomach. As a result, the subject developed a powerful sensation that the mannequin’s body was his/her own.

In a separate experiment, that used a similar video setup but with another human instead of a dummy. The neuroscientists observed that subjects experienced considerable stress when a knife was held to an arm that was perceived to the their own but was actually the other participants and no reaction when the knife was held close to their own arm!

Differences in appearance or sex did not affect the outcome of the experiment.

“This shows how easy it is to change the brain’s perception of the physical self,”

Says Henrik Ehrsson, who led the project.

“The sensory impression from the hand-shake is perceived as though coming from the new body, rather than the subject’s own.”

(Twilight Zone  theme song begins to play now)

If 3-D doesn’t give Hi-Def television a run for their money we don’t know what will. Finally switching over from analog to hi-def, and already a faint voice is creeping up taunting, “gotta get 3-D, gotta get 3-D, gotta get 3-D!” Can you imagine a screen shot that literally makes your reflexes twitch and blood pressure rise out of mere in your face front row seat action? The NFL can. That’s why it will be broadcasting live (albeit privately) the next San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders game at select theaters Dec 4 in 3-D fashion. Real D Inc, responsible for powering the displays, says “We look forward to giving fans of live events the opportunity to feel like they’re in the front row.”

What’s better than “almost” catching that football? “Almost” catching that football in real time, with no worries of parking, crowds, lines, overpriced snacks, or being trampled on or falling over the half naked drunk fanatics around you. Yea. That’s a sports fan haven. But while general transmissions to publicly broadcast games live in 3D are still in the works, know you’ve got plenty of time to save up for a compatible box. While 3-D television sets are already available in stores, the industry is still working on technical standards which keep evolving as fast the technology growing. Give it another couple years, otherwise you’ll end up feeling like you did when you bought the first iphone, only to see a year later there’s a far better, and far cheaper model available.

Some of you may remember that nauseating carsickness experience you felt while watching the Blair Witch Project flick in theaters so many years ago. The film was a quite a smash, and those shaky handheld cameras were largely to credit for the realistically terrifying experience it helped create.

Now, almost a decade later, that shakiness has proven key to creating an almost real virtual experience in EA’s latest video game, Mirror’s Edge. And it’s not because Mirror’s Edge is the first-person game out there—it’s not; but because Mirror’s Edge is the first game to hack our “proprioception,” aka your ability to multi-task. Take driving for example. Your hands and feet are doing one thing, while your eyes do another. Sports, eating, listening to music even. In this video game, it’s running. Running like a madman on top of rooftops, through tunnels, and pipes as you hurry to deliver messages underneath the noses of a totalitarian regime.

What makes this video game so intense, is that you actually have the ability (in your virtual body to jump of course) to climb, duck, jump or run on anything you want, and then lets you see the parts of the body that would you naturally see if you really were doing so in reality. This includes viewing the environment around you as it would naturally present itself. As Wired magazine put it, ”When you jump, your feet briefly jut up into eyeshot — precisely as they do when you're vaulting over a hurdle in real life. And when you tuck down into a somersault, you're looking at your thighs as the world spins around you.” 

Finally triggering emotions to match our actions, this game rides at the head of our living vicariously wave because “it’s not merely graphically realistic; it's neurologically realistic.”