Oh the things engineers do when they’re bored and forced to look busy. Philips will debut, at a conference in Salt Lake City (of all places), a jacket with built-in vibration motors. The point is to study how people physically react to watching movies. Suggested first movie: Caligula.
Now, the jacket isn’t a wearable Rumble Pak or anything—you’re not supposed to “feel” what it’s like to be beaten up like that guy at the end of There Will Be Blood, but rather to “feel” to emotions of that character. So, when said characters was being threatened by Daniel Day Lewis, you’d “feel” his anxiety, if that makes any sense at all. I don’t know, I’ve met a bunch of the Philips guys, and they’re a strange lot.
And, for the lolz, here’s a dumb list of movies where this jacket would be useful:
• Gladiator (the part when Maximus stabs Commodius… I’d love to know what proper, fully justified revenge feels like)
• Troy (the first fight… who wouldn’t want to stab your king’s HUGE enemy in the neck after dodging a giant spear? hmm… that sounds a little off…)
• The French Connection (the car chase, duh… I’ve always wanted to be in a high-speed car chase)
• The Reader (*that* scene… that’s pretty much every teenage boy’s dream scenario, lol)
• Apollo 13 (“oh boy we’re doomed”)
• Frost/Nixon (when Frost gets Nixon’s drunk dial… I love feeling awkward!)
• Back to the Future (the part when Biff discovers the sports record book… the feeling that “holy smokes I’m going to be rich”)
• I am Legend (because I WOULD LOVE to be the last man on Earth, that would bring me such great joy, except for the zombies)
Any other movies where you’d like to “feel” what the on-screen actors are feeling?