My Life in Second Life

Corvinima

2010-12-02T12:10:00.000-08:00

Digital Encounters...a new phase

2010-07-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

"My desire [was] to do something we hadn't seen before, a superhero story told in a realistic fashion. And doesn't step outside itself and acknowledge the form and the medium it's coming from, but one in which the audience is just immersed in the reality that's going on." (Christopher Nolan, 2005).

I've spent several years now INSIDE Second Life...how might we be able to bring Second Life outside and share our digital encounters?

Marcel Duchamp brought motion into art and illustrates an expression of depth: Rotoreliefs

Through the Virtual Looking Glass

2010-04-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Exhibition - Harbor Gallery, UMASS Boston

April 7 - April 30, 2010

Ara Vella, Tezcatlip0ca Bisiani and I went to the opening of Through the Virtual Looking Glass, a mixed reality exhibition being held at UMASS Boston’s Harbor Gallery. UMASS sits on Columbia Point, where the Puritans alit, and is the site of one of the earliest railroads in the country. It’s an appropriate venue to show virtual world art, this gallery with its pioneering backdrop.

We saw the organizer, professor of philosophy and director of the Virtual Art Initiative, Gary Zabel (Georg Janick in SL), buzzing around the gallery in full curator mode, greeting guests, checking on artworks, and glancing over at the crudités. He welcomed us with an engaging conversation about each artist. I was immediately drawn to a small work in the corner of the gallery, a photograph printed on canvas depicting a lovely Maxfield Parish styled installation I’d seen in-world. I was delighted to meet the artist Alizarin Goldflake (Martha Jane Bradford) who patiently explained her technique for making digital drawings, captured in Second Life and exported onto canvas. The texture of the canvas exuded warmth, in contrast to the giclée prints nearby by Bryn Oh and Feathers Boa, which illustrated darker subject matters.

Zabel has brought together a well rounded combination of formats; prints, photo frames with rotating digital stills, machinimas and the real life counterparts to Second Life creations, such as the Mayan styled imagery of Big Psomm 2, painted onto wall sized tarps, sent from Poland by Piotr Kopik (Olza Koenkamp) and the tangled telephone lines of communication from Misprint Thursday (Karina Mitchell) - “Just pick up the phone and call me” her installation seems to plead.

One would have to know a little bit about Second Life in order to truly appreciate the work presented. An orientation to the medium of virtual world art making would be helpful to non-users. While most of the work stands true on its own, it is the process of mixing mediums and realities that make these creations especially compelling.

Blogger giving me trouble with photos - see the exhibition here and here.

Fox Roulette

2010-03-15T17:55:00.001-07:00

"Of all the transformational devices, the most important and spectacular are the masks of the Kwakitul...The masks play a critical visual role. For the Kwakiutl, the mask is what is real. It isn't symbolic because it covers up and disguises; it is symbolic because of what it makes present: the spiritual reality. As such, masks are seen as objects of immense power." - Martha Padfield.

From Loki in Norway to Anansi in Ghana to Tezxatlipoca in MesoAmerica, tricksters act as conduits to the spiritual. They serve as teachers, working along the boundaries of what is socially acceptable, finding their manifestation through human imagination, forcing us to reflect on the roles we play – whether they are imparted upon us or chosen - through surprise or upset. Through this process, the trickster hopes to get us thinking about our social boundaries and questions why they exist or if they make sense. In many native cultures, a mask was used to conjur up the voice of the trickster, confronting and teaching through dance and performance.

Kitsune Chat 2 from otolythe on Vimeo.

In Chatroulette, an “uncensored mess” of a site, visitors have the chance at a boundary-less experience where anything goes. There is a glaring lack of imagination that abounds via the hands of the majority of users – namely 22 year old boys and older men with hands on themselves. The perfect zone for a trickster figure to insert herself, in this case, in the form of a kitsune. “Who are you”, she cocks her head, sniffs, and silently confronts. “What are you doing here?” Technology plows forward, giving us hardly any time to reflect. Likewise, our social mores and rules have little time to catch up. Chatroulette is the ultimate reality show, exposing all of us as voyeurs. With the “next button” so close to the fingertips, it’s easy to make a quick scene and depart, before anyone finds out who you really are. Kitsune hopes to give you pause.

2010-01-15T18:23:00.000-08:00

Ctrl+Alt+Del

2010-01-01T18:32:00.000-08:00

Dante submerged in the River Lethe, by Gustave Dore: illustration from The Purgatorio

A new year is often a time for reflection as well as an opportunity to cast off bad memories. I’ve mentioned Gordon Bell (MyLifeBits) who has stored as much of his life as possible, every scrap of evidence, hoping to facilitate a reconstruction of his life – an almost-accurate memory aided by technology. Viktor Mayer-Schoneberger examines the attempt at “perfect remembering” in his book Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age. Mayer-Schoneberger is considerably alarmist in his focus, describing the dangers of permanent digital memory, citing cases of particular online behaviors that come back to haunt professional and personal lives. He suggests that self-destruct dates be imposed on digital records. This isn’t a new idea; in fact, it’s one of the main functions in records and archival management.

courtesy of Marvel Comics

Is there a value in forgetting? “Within the abyss Lethe, measureless in sweep, glides smoothly on with placid stream, and takes away our cares.” (Seneca, Hercules Ferens) In Hades, the River Lethe offered the power of oblivion, allowing certain souls to forget all they had experienced in their lives, all the mistakes, all the pain. Writes Daniel Schacter, "Memory, for all that it does for us every day...for all the feats that can sometimes amaze us, can also be a troublemaker...” Our brain reconfigures memory, based on our present preferences and needs, affected by bias, absent-mindedness and misattribution.

Archivists spend years cataloging photographs and documents so that they are robustly described and better comprehended. When we reexamine the digital record of a life lived online, we – as spectators - likely take these records out of context. A photo of a group of women with cups in their hands may have little to no information associated with it – no time, no place, no description, so the spectator fills in the blanks (those cups are filled with beer, they sure look wasted!), making up a story to go along with the bits and pieces they observe. It’s easy to make assumptions, isn’t it? In her book, On Photography, Susan Sontag describes Marcel Proust’s attitude towards photographs – he considers them “a synonym for a shallow, too exclusively visual, merely voluntary relation to the past...whose yield is insignificant compared with the deep discoveries to be made responding to cues given by all the senses – the technique he called ‘involuntary memory’.”Mayer-Schonenberger panics about evidence left behind – I don’t doubt there are risks – but, like our own memory can be altered, so can the digital record.

MyLifeBits
The Virtue of Forgetting – interview with the author in Second Life

Happy 2010!

2009-12-31T16:25:00.001-08:00

wishing you well, dear followers...

Natural History in its Aesthetic Fashion

2009-12-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

“..stepping lightly down to bathe in the rainbow-coloured spray, would have seen the identical sights that we now saw,– the great prawns gliding like transparent launches, anthea waving in the twilight its thick white waxen tentacles, and the fronds of the duke faintly streaming on the water like huge red banners in some reverted atmosphere...” wrote Philip Gosse to his son Edmund in 1907.

Gosse is the author of Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot (published two years before Darwin ’s Origin of the Species), a marine biologist and illustrator of sea creatures, anemones and corals. I was reminded of him when I stepped out of my trap with Blued Food, on a visit to VeGeTal PLaNeT, created by French artist Vroum Short. Beneath a churning sea, we moved through galleries containing natural and cybernetic forms that flared, spiked, oscillated and swirled. Short’s output is almost overwhelming. She layers animations to create unique compositions that impart a kaleidoscope of moods. Blued’s distinctive eye led us through the wild maze of panels and free standing kinetic work and settled in front of a piece called Chaos.

Abductor, 2006. Fred Tomaselli. Courtesy of the James Cohan Gallery

It reminded me of the artist Fred Tomaselli, who explores the relationship between art making and drug taking. His chosen materials include pharmaceuticals - prozac, aspirin, antacid, saccharin, ephedrine - plants and magazine clippings that he meticulously arranges onto glazed panels. The combined effect makes references to everything from a primitive 18th century folk quilt to a tripped out 3-dimensional universe that morphs in front of your eyes, requesting an audience with your spiritual side. Tomaselli writes, “I want people to get lost in the work. I want to seduce people into it and I want people to escape inside the world of the work.” Short accomplishes this too, especially with Chaos, inviting viewers to literally sit on pose balls, alongside its pulsing panels. I was seduced by its celestial and rhythmic patterns, and disappeared into my own galaxy. Short’s Neptunian botanical installations offer an aesthetic appreciation of nature in its most fantastical forms.

More photos here.

The Romance of Natural History by Philip Gosse

knock knock

2009-11-26T17:46:00.001-08:00

is this thing on?

Happy Thanksgiving, lovelies. And beware of late night leftovers...

Who Burgles the Burglar

2009-10-31T07:19:00.000-07:00

I received a wrinkled envelope containing an anonymous note made from letters cut from magazines. “Pssst.” was all it said. I looked up and down my beach, flitted to and from my skybox. Nope...no one there. I was intrigued. Who left it?

And then a link – literally – was sent to me - http://otherpeoplesplaces.wordpress.com/ *– detailing the exploits of SL’s premier cat burglar. I’d heard about him! Velvet unicorn paintings were being ripped off from around the grid and people were getting worried. I'd heard there was no building, no security system, he couldn't breach. As I pored over his journal entries I became increasingly excited - what did he want from me?

He wanted to meet. What do you wear when meeting a prowler? Nothing sparkly. He might grab it like a magpie. I tucked a pistol under my skirt and opted for trench coat and getaway thigh highs. I arrived at our agreed meeting place, palms sweating, gripping my notepad and pen.

And then there he was, right in front of me, knitted cap pulled firmly around his face, scratching his back with a lethal looking crowbar. Did I feel threatened? Yeah! I sat still and looked about. I was in his lair, surrounded by loot. He had taken me to his hub of operations. He began to talk and I was surprised by his gentle voice. Not at all what I expected.

He started prowling only lately, out of necessity, he told me. The recession had hit him hard. “It seems really unfair that people have pixel food in their fridge...and some have none.” Ah! A sensitive burglar. A bit like the amateur cracksman A. J. Raffles who justifies his thieving thus, “We can't all be moralists, and the distribution of wealth is all wrong anyway...” Mainly, our burglar prefers lifting collections of fantasy art that won't be missed, rather than decorative arts, furniture, or other objects. However, his sensitivity soared to new heights recently, exemplified by his – er - “adoption” of a baby that he found during a prowl, left alone, in a less than seemly home environment. “I know this is going to look all Limbergh baby and sh*t…and I don’t care. In the long run, this little tiger will thank me. And if worst comes to worst, in a few years...I have an accomplice...”

This burglar works hard. I asked how long it takes to scout a prospective home. “For every 20 places I find, 1 or 2 maybe are worth telling the story...All of this stuff...is not faked...these are not things I place in peoples homes. Everything you see here or in my stories is 100% authentic and found in their houses.” For each exploit, the burglar writes descriptions and shares the slurl so you can authenticate his movements if you care to (I tested out a few slurls and confirm their validity.)

I looked across at him, slumping slightly over the table, and sensed a bit of pathos about him...he seemed, to me, to be a lonely burglar. “What have you learned about people, from exploring so many homes?” I asked. “How do people express themselves?” He sighed. Through “Lots of porn. Lots of self-portraits. Lots of wolves.” I began to think it was less about the loot and more about revealing the proclivities of some of our residents. He serves as the Phantom Gourmet of SL aesthetics.

We spoke about his greatest challenge so far (the Gorean castle) and he offered a few tricks and tips for maneuvering around security systems (which he may share with us). Although the burglar works alone, he asked me to ask you for tips and comments. If you know of a place that begs exploration, drop him a line via his blog and he’ll follow up.

As for future goals? “I think a visit to a Linden's home soon is in the cards.”

*Be warned, his discoveries are NOT PG-rated.

The Roof is Gone (Burning Life, pt. 2)

2009-10-22T15:45:00.001-07:00

Above photo by Warrick Renfold

The moment you arrive at Miso Susanowa and Misprint Thursday’s building, The Roof is Gone, your eyes and ears are put on alert. The main structure, constructed of wooden planks and encased in scaffolding (“I could actually build most of this in Nevada” says Miso), stands cross-like, assuming the air of a place of worship in the middle of a disaster zone. It generates a weather system of its own and is surrounded by swirling details; photographs spiral on the wind above, videos, embedded into prims, blink like lightning, and the static beginning of the soundtrack passes back and forth between your ears like sheets of heavy rain. And then you reach the eye of the storm, calm among the chaos. The song begins to soothe, there’s a living room to rest in, and, if you look carefully, you can even disappear quietly into the building.

The piece is part political, part personal. It conjures up memories of Hurricane Katrina and other natural catastrophes. It also invokes psychological drama through childhood imagery – the house is breaking apart, little bicycles are tangled in spikes, photos of kids are bent and curled. Miso left her “digital DNA” for us to examine, in the form of a poster in hanging on a wall inside. Over 50 hours worth of work went into the build and it shows. There are so many layers to explore (teleport yourself up several meters to experience the accompanying video to full effect) expect to spend at least half an hour to begin to scratch the surface. Miso explained that one of her main goals is to make art in SL that can be translated to the outside world. I look at this piece and see a maquette, a model that might be realized again in the actual world. The artists kindly offer a lovely freebie miniature of the piece, a great souvenir of BL 2009.

Hey, can’t BL be extended for a week? There’s too much to see and do...!

This just in from White Lebed, art director Burning Life: "The events and the activities will be closed in a few days, but the art and the builds will stay for another week and the gates will be opened till Nov 1st."

Just a Mortal with the Potential of a Superman...

2009-10-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

The Watchtower

Kalel Venkman in the Fortress of Solitude (photo courtesy of Venkman)

I read the article by Apollo Manga in the Second Life Examiner, about his role as ranger on the Playa. He writes that Burning Life Rangers are like “lubricants, reducing friction in the Burning Life community.” In a world that is self-governed, is there need for policing? The Linden Lab Terms of Service and Community Standards are in place as a set of rules for behavior – a LL book of etiquette if you will. But some folks choose to burn the book.

Have you ever been in sandbox, happily building away, when you were suddenly swamped under an obnoxious mass of particles? Le sigh. If you’re being shot at by projectiles, shoved, caged, verbally abused and worse, you’re being griefed (see one of my experiences). Who do you look to for help? Linden Lab has its own tactics we can use. For example, we can mute a fellow resident, or fill out an abuse report. But sometimes things happen that are beyond our skill set. Sometimes, we simply want help. What’s more comforting than the sight of a superhero, flying to your rescue? Yes, you can put a call out to the Justice League Unlimited. The JLU will sweep away the nonsense and leave you safe and sound. They have strategies to cope with the wide range of issues that cause grief in-world, from the obvious to the insidious, and offer assistance to everyone from sim owners to newbies.

The group began organically in 2006 as a crew of comic book fans, dressed as their favorite characters. Hanging around a sandbox one day, a couple of guys tackled a bothersome griefer using their innate tech skills, and from there, the JLU was born. It’s now made up of a 60-odd strong crew of scripters, artists, business people, authors, engineers – each contributing a particular talent to their collaborative undertakings. It functions much like a well-organized neighborhood watch. Their public service in SL has extended into the actual world; they sponsor and dedicate their services to a number of charity events, such as Project Jason.

I was invited to Justice Island for a few sessions with Kalel Venkman, who offered a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the headquarters of the JLU. Business takes place in a stately space station, the Watchtower, complete with a dispensary of sophisticated gear, meeting rooms, a library, and a place of respite, in the form of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. At the center of all is Brainiac, a tool designed by the League to monitor griefer operations throughout the grid. It’s a powerful piece of equipment, linked to all the gear League members carry about their person during patrols. Members go through a period of training and abide by a code of ethics that prevents misuse of any tool.

While some may bristle at the idea of “policing”, Venkman is adamant that the League operates as a peacekeeping and education force only, in place to help all residents enjoy the best SL experience, free from unwanted interference. The JLU gathers intelligence about griefing actions and communicate regularly with Linden Labs. Member ZenMondo Wormser invited me on patrol one evening and I watched Kohaku Owatatsumi, JB Hancroft and Wormser whip through a sim full of zombies and shooters in no time. As for advice to newbies, when confronted, don’t retaliate, says Venkman. “That does no good and just gets you into trouble yourself."

Their activities are a back breaking labor of love, like so much in SL, run on the good will of people who care that you have a good time. Although a dude or a dame in tights and a cape may not seem threatening, I assure you, they pack a punch. In a nice way. To read more about the JLU check out Krypton Radio.

Burning Life, part 1.

2009-10-20T09:32:00.001-07:00

What terrific travels at Burning Life last night...do see the Burning Life flickr pool for useful links and peeks at activities on the playa. It’s hard to know where to begin, so I started at Burning Life Zero Mile, hopped in a temp rez flaming vehicle and spun around randomly. It’s great to see the sims full of a variety of action - people looking and exploring, performers, like the Lamplighters, dancing off into the dusk, artists fiddling with their work, sculptures powerfully beating out heat, all against mad soundtracks from gentle breeze to speed metal. I was happy to run across wicked-blogger-on-a-break Wyatt Wellman, fitting right against the fiery backdrop wearing his charcoal persona. Blued Food was an ace companion – he’s a speedy scout. I followed him around as he shouted “Click EVERYTHING”. It’s true, the builds are full of surprises. I recommend doing one build per visit to really appreciate the work that’s gone into these sites. We found four Yip’s Fusion and I lost myself there for a good while. Yip has a way of providing comfort and romance wherever she lays her hand, and Fusion is no exception. Simple stenciled eyes blink and tear before you as you’re enveloped in a wash of pink and deep brown scrims, bending like waves. A track by I Monster (Heaven) makes you want to bow with them. The muted, dimly lit space is more mysterious than Yip’s typical palette, and suits the harmonic track. As always, she’s offering some charming freebies – soft bear noses and iridescent butterflies which follow along as you trek.

Other builds of note: Gettr II from Idialab for the Museo del Metaverso at Opal and The Roof is Gone by Miso Susanowa and Misprint Thursday at Black Rock which I’ll write about next.

2009-10-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

Pardon my silence - there's been a lot of interesting material to blog about, and I'm gathering entries for posting over the next few days. So please, stay tuned. For now, take this handy map and explore the Playa which makes up Burning Life...more soon and thank you for your patience, dear readers, x.

Unfinished Symphony of Prims

2009-10-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

There’s something special about a work of art unfinished. The viewer is able to study the methods of the artist, and observe their hands at work. Seeing a sculpture where its hinged or the lines that lead into an idea - it’s like being a botanist regarding a leaf with a magnifying glass. Egon Schiele is an artist whose body of work includes several unfinished pieces which are some of my favorite, like this one, of old houses in Krumau.

Coordinators at Burning Life respectfully requested that observers refrain from taking photos of works before they were finished. However, as I watched builders at work today, I was enthralled by the amount of work that goes into building, which I could only appreciate by seeing each and every prim revealed. Seeing these builds in partial states made me consider the intricate planning it takes to build a structure, and, when a build is done right, it leaves the impression that it was a cinch to make.

I crept around Donpatchy Dagostino as he worked today, watching from high above to below his feet, careful not to interrupt. More than half is in a raw state, elliptical shapes awaiting textures, resembling, from above, the shell of a beetle. At this stage it made me think a little bit about artist-architects pushing the limits of wood, like Robert Harvey Oshatz. Dagostino’s intent may be better revealed once the structure is complete, but seeing it unfinished doesn’t make it any less impressive.

SLtweets

2009-10-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

I joined twitter and plurk a while back but found my constant chatter to be incredibly dull. I bored myself to tears. To really take advantage of the twitter scene I'd have to spend way too much time away from rl work - so I gave it up. Until now. Today I found a clever thing. The SLtweets HUD allows you to twitter from within SL. Simply wear the HUD and post your thoughts, discoveries, and announcements in the chat bar where they'll be transported to twitterville for all your contacts to see. SLtweets also offers a tinyslurl widget so you can easily post locations. As an avid explorer, the HUD should offer a great way for me to share my explorations with you all. Away we go!

Last Night a DJ Saved My Life

2009-10-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

One of the first things I did when I logged on to SL for the first time (once I'd figured out how to keep my hair on) was to go dancing. First I did the rounds of ballrooms and jazz bars. Realizing ballroom dancing masks itself as SL foreplay I found my way to the indie clubs - first to Popscene (now defunct) and Alt7 (going strong since March 2007). Swiftly, I was tuned in to djs from around the world and introduced to a great variety of new music. I kept a pad of paper next to me, scrawling all the wicked new tracks I was hearing.

Let's hear it for the DJ!

Generating soundtracks and backdrops against which you create your own personal dramas...these DJs are the secret workhorses of SL, engaging us using their own particular techniques; some spending hours upon hours crafting a set (yes, you Ms. Lilliehook), some "curating" music, hoping to turn you on to something you've never heard before, others space out and forget they're spinning at all but no matter - they're here to entertain us and animate our experiences.

So next time you're out and about, eager to try your new dance from Henmations, remember to tip your hat (and a few linden) to the dedicated crew that make your world more aurally exciting.

A special shout out to DJs past and present Colleen Lilliehook, Darn Darwin, Enigma Bombay, Ennui Clip, Hotjack Canning, Infinite Graves, PirateDucky Constantine, The Nachts, and Warrick Renfold, who've each created brilliant soundtracks to my slife...

Burning Life is coming...

2009-09-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

Nature Never Wears A Mean Appearance

2009-09-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

I’m prepared for autumn. I collect apples and press a riot of leaves between the pages of unread books. Autumn is for Emily Dickinson, whose grave I used to sit on to make diary entries, and Ralph Waldo Emerson and his transcendentalists. Transcendentalism is linked to German romanticism and Buddhism. It believes in the soul’s intuition, inspired, in part, by poetical experience, of nature as the most awe inspiring work of art. “Indeed the river is a perpetual gala, and boasts each month a new ornament”, Emerson writes in his essay Nature, 1836. The transcendentalists experimented with a utopian community called Brook Farm, begun in 1841 by Unitarian minister George Ripley. The mission of the farm was to “insure a more natural union between intellectual and manual labor ... guarantee the highest mental freedom, by providing all with labor...” In other words, everyone, at all levels of society, could share the workload, ideally giving everyone the same opportunity to pursue leisure activities. Brook Farm failed – no one wanted to give up their leisure time to harvest the hay (Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “Thank God, my soul is not utterly buried under a dung-heap.”) - But still, society experiments with idealist communities.

Burning Man is one such experiment. Founder Larry Harvey explains:

“If technology itself is left to dictate our ends, then I think we can look forward to an increasingly disassociated way of living. Real community can only be attained through the experience of certain primal unities in the physical world....For the past 12 years I have directed Burning Man—a project dedicated to discovering those optimal forms of community which will produce human culture in the conditions of our post-modern mass society. Within a desert wilderness we build a city, a model world composed of people who attend our event from all over the globe. This virtual community is demographically diverse. It is multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and represents a wide range of age groups. It is formed in the image of the great ecumenical world that surrounds us; a teeming population of uprooted individuals. In other words, this intentional community that we create from nothing, and that returns to nothing when we leave, has been 'liberated' from nearly every context of ordinary life.”

Sound familiar?

Autumn is also for Burning Life (beginning October 17^th) which is a microcosm of the Second Life experience itself and is modeled on the RL Burning Man event. Run by a slew of volunteer builders, musicians, artists and others, a temporary city and entertainments will be created, a testament to the power of the ephemeral. Write the organizers, “Together, we will build a city, and we voluntarily accept many of the same restrictions that Nature imposes on the real thing. We do this to see how creative we can be with the same palette of materials and to revel in the beauty of simplicity.” The most remarkable thing to see at both events is to watch how a city grows out of a blank canvas, and disappears again. The abbreviated life of anything transient, such as Burning Life, adds to its remarkable allure.

Perhaps the most successful communes are those that are ephemeral. At least in SL, you may choose to avoid being mired in the dung.

Manifold Destiny

2009-09-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

I’ve mentioned before that I feel rather like a tethered traveler. I like to be on the move, and SL often offers a feeling of adventure, of chance encounters; the imagination is stimulated. We work hard in our real lives to get to “that certain place”. That’s what we’re meant to do, yes? But it’s funny, once you get to that place, there’s a little itch that makes you want to tear it up a bit, toss aside the careful planning and see what might happen. The documentary film Alfred and Jakobine is a story about my friend’s parents, who took a chance with their lives and literally took to the road...in a taxi. Alfred is an anthropologist, Jakobine, an artist. In 1953 they made their way to Casablanca and found themselves smitten with a nearly ruined 1953 London taxi which they used to adventure around the world. The film ought to teach us all a few lessons about getting up, getting out, staying put...

virtual is an illness that must be treated

2009-09-17T09:42:00.001-07:00

A new voice, not my own, do read: Less Traveled By.

Ready, Aim...

2009-09-12T19:22:00.001-07:00

Today I thought I’d share with you a little about stone slinging. I’ve practiced slinging in rl, an ancient but still active sport in the Balearic Islands. El foners (slingshot warriors) use a sling (fona), made of cord or leather. First, you gently place a stone onto the pouch. Next, hold both ends of the cord in one hand. Finally, very carefully, begin to spin it above your head, take aim, and *snap*, release one end of the cord and set your projectile flying. It’s really satisfying to hear the crack of the cord as you release it. It’s also really painful if you tangle yourself up in it. Slinging was historically used for hunting and defense. Now it’s a sport, rather male dominated, with annual competitions held in Mallorca. I practiced shooting my rocks into the Mediterranean, over the heads of unsuspecting sunbathers in Deya, and would duck into the spiky bushes when I missed the sea.

I was in the mood to hurl some rocks today so I searched on the slexchange for a slingshot. Among the scary flossy thongs also known as slingshots (very Borat), I found a catapult styled weapon at a Gorean supply shop but can’t figure out how to use it...do I need to go to Telnus? Would I be collared if I went? Surely I can’t go unless I know how to defend myself, so a bit of shooting practice first. I typically don’t play video games unless I’m waiting at the movie theatre (Lethal Enforcer, thank you very much), but Dangerous Geisha at Grossglockner is a great place for a gal to let off some steam without being bothered by obnoxious bling covered brutes thinking they're the Terminator. The games are free and, if you're a primitive like I am, they offer a bow and arrow to shoot with. Later, I took to the sims for some in-the-field target practice, and found a suitable spot at Aught, shooting projectiles among the ruins.

For more about slinging, look here and here.

I Want My Portal of Civilization!

2009-09-08T13:03:00.001-07:00

I read an unsettling article the other day about the Cushing Academy, a prep school for children and young adults, that is eliminating its library of 20,000 books. The headmaster, Dr. James Tracy justified his decision this way: “You know [holding up a book], if I look at this book I am struck by how limited it is. This is pretty bulky. I don’t mean to belittle or disparage it. I love books, and I love the representation of culture that they embody, but, from an information perspective, this is a very, very bulky way to reposit data by today’s standards.” A book is too bulky? Has anyone tried to snuggle into bed with a Kindle?

Instead of books Tracy will provide computers which he has named “Portals of Civilization”. I hope you understand, dear readers, that the information you seek is chosen for you - as in any analog collection. But many of your online sources are chosen by Google and other filters. And if we’re talking books, for example, they have to be copyright free. You'll need to supplement! While it may seem convenient as you sit in front of the laptop eating crackers over the keyboard, nothing beats the serendipity (there’s that word again, MM ;) ) of browsing in the stacks. Here’s an interesting study taken from student discussion groups across the country. Some of their observations about research in the digital age describe how students waste time online not knowing what to look for, yet still sift through articles trying to make them fit their needs, or try to figure out if an article is up to date, or whether something is from a credible source. This article, “Google Book Search: A Disaster for Scholars” ought to give an institution pause before hurling themselves fully into the digital zone without the infrastructure to support the idea. Google makes mistakes, the article tells us, my favorite being a misattribution of the following book, The Mosaic Navigator: The Essential Guide to the Internet Interface, which Google dates 1939 and attributes to Sigmund Freud and Katherine Jones.

In place of the stacks the Cushing Academy spent $42,000 on 3 flat screen tvs that will project data from the internet. The reference desk was removed to make way for a $12,000 cappuccino machine. When I was 13, I did not drink coffee, and the last place I wanted to hang out socially was in school. But school and city libraries were always an escape, a place to explore books in peace. They are the most comforting places in the world to me, libraries, full of possibility, imagination, offering answers to all my questions, or raising questions, which is even better. In a time when most of us are tethered to our computers and gadgets, the physical sensation of turning a well-worn page offers a form of respite that cannot be replaced. There's also plenty to admire in the physical, like the well-worn publisher's binding of something other than a mass market paperback. As a friend's shrink used to say, I think what we're looking for here is a balance. The Cushing Library states that few of their books were checked out. I think it's up to the Cushing Library to make their library truly relevant to their students.

As for online resources, I know Teen Second Life has got some wonderful projects that would put Dr. Tracy in a happy technological flutter. And, for you older folks, our Second Life libraries can be great…just visit the Alliance Library blog for access to a variety of in-world collections. I look forward to how online collections will develop. A really fine afternoon can be spent at the R.F. Burton Library in New Babbage (shown in the photo above). Click on the stacks and you’ll have immediate access to a wide of subjects (online books from credible sources!) having to do with Steampunk and Victorian history and literature, domestic science, and spiritualism. I’m particularly proud to be a member of the Caledon Libraries, who set the bar for sharing access to library collections.

There are so many different ways to uncover information and become literate, and you students of life and students of schools have to know how to find stuff in a myriad of ways. But remember, as my friend Matthew says, no one beats the book’s terms of service.

City (Los Angeles)

2009-09-01T04:47:00.000-07:00

I lived in London a few years back – got used to the soot and the tea breaks and the football (ah footie)! After a year, work demanded I take a short trip to the heart of America – Los Angeles - which I’d never been to. What a contrast! In LA, the sun always shone, the smiles were gleaming white, the streets were so smooth and wide. The moment I landed in LA, strangers, in line at Starbucks, at the gas station, in the middle of a crowded gig, just about everywhere, would embrace, shout “Hiya!” Call me!” and hand over a business card (often with no business described). But beneath their sunny smiles was a slight desperation. Making a living in LA was tough. Most visitors don’t see the back side of the Hollywood sign, the side left unairbrushed.

In City (Los Angeles), presented by the Brooklyn is Watching project, Miso Susanowa wants us to appreciate the real LA, its gritty, overwhelming side, the LA beyond the starry sidewalks. Susanowa recorded the sounds of the night outside her apartment window in LA at Hollywood and La Brea Avenues. Photographs of Hollywood Blvd. make up a three sided box in which Susanowa invites the viewer to sit among a moving grid of disorienting “snapshots” showing nameless, featureless faces. The chaotic sounds of the LA night is amplified all around. Viewing the installation in mouselook allows the viewer to become tangled in the grid.

As much as Susanowa wants to illustrate the dark side of her city, there is something rather beautiful about the installation whilst you’re immersed in it. The screen shots I took look like some kind of technofied marblized paper.

While the people I met in LA may have been struggling in their tiny run-down houses, they had fresh fruit to eat every day, dropping off the trees in their back gardens. Susanowa has captured LA as a city of contradictions.

Visit City here.

Pacific Theme by Broken Social Scene.

Ok, Alright

2009-08-28T17:42:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: I am jet lagged...feeling loose.

The symbol on the flag above means something like - "Ok, Alright". I think. It is according to the signs that were scratched onto fence posts, sidewalks and walls by hobos on the move looking for safe shelter. Read You Can't Win (a cautionary tale written by hobo Jack Black in 1926).

I read this review of the recent Second Life Community Convention, written by Andrew Sempere aka Tezcatilopoca Bisiani. He describes almost precisely why I find myself continually returning to SL, giving up valuable time to this seemingly intangible endeavor. Community is his operative word and perhaps that's why I starting thinking about the community of hobos...signaling to one another, "hey, it's ok, it's alright, stick around..." . He writes, "Why would an otherwise sane and healthy adult professional work a full work week and then spend hundreds of hours logged into a virtual world? Why, exactly, do we care so damn much? In its specifics, the answer is as varied as each of us, but in general it all ends in relationships, and community, and the sheer joy of building a world with people of like mind." His enthusiasm is motivating, the diversity of his projects is inspiring, and he uses the word "thrilled" in his review. I like.

Leap before you look...

2009-08-27T04:24:00.000-07:00

"The sense of danger must not disappear:
The way is certainly both short and steep,
However gradual it looks from here;
Look if you like, but you will have to leap..."
-W.H.Auden

See you in a couple of weeks, dear readers!

2009-08-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

hope you enjoy your summer holidays...

The Cult of Personality

2009-08-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

Artist Kasabian Beck asks us to consider celebrity within Second Life in his latest exhibition at Hotel Dare, “Slebrity™”. Presented against the spare white walls of the gallery are several panels depicting the names (in an also spare, sans serif font) of well-known personalities – creators of all types - within SL, seen in the image above. Struck by the cult of personality in the metaverse, Beck muses on “the very idea of virtual notoriety, how it is sought, attained and why it is or is not important...” I wasn’t familiar with all the names presented in the gallery which is an important point. It’s possible I might not have known any of the names – what meaning would the exhibition have had for me then? The names chosen have been curated – by the artist – revealing his own particular world experience. This exhibition will mean something different to each viewer and ought to inspire discussions about what I call the “flux” of personality. What most of the names have in common is that they are brilliant self-promoters. In art, reputation can be considered more valuable than in many other fields where celebrity is cultivated. Look at the Young British Art movement of the mid ‘90s; young artists, with small bodies of work behind them, created retrospectives and museums dedicated to themselves, to protest the English art institutions that had belittled them. Is the tone of this exhibition condescending? Do these names have any value at all as ideas or things to disagree with?

Virtual fame is the same as any other kind of fame, earned and unearned. As psychologist James Houran writes, “we need celebrities as much as we need food, water and shelter. We need them to feel connected.” These names on the wall are humans, not martians, not simply avatars. We condescend to these human fundamentals, our desire for celebrity, at our peril because we are human – not always wonderful but very predictable and found in all environments. A thought-provoking exhibition...go to Slebrity and have a think.

The Quiddity of Objects, 2 of 2

2009-07-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

In rl I work with contemporary artists and many of them create installations. One could categorize their work as conceptual art. After a number of years working with this genre I’ve come to reappreciate more traditional arts, or, rather, craftsmanship. I’m eager to see the hard work, the time spent, illustrated in the construction of a work of art. The time an artist spends making offers insight into the working process in a way that conceptual art may often not.

As I make my way around the galleries and museums of SL, I look with a rather critical eye at both virtual art and the presentation of real life art in the virtual world. When I heard the Smithsonian was sponsoring the Latino Virtual Museum I was excited to see what they’d produced. It’s the Smithsonian after all. Curated by Olga Herrera, the museum includes selections of paintings and archives from the Archives of American Art and other Smithsonian collections. I ambled toward an oversized photograph of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera...and squinted. I refocused, cammed back and forth. Nope, still blurry. I tried out a few other images and they were all out of focus. The technology of SL allows us to dig deep, get close, immerse, and it’s up to the curators to ensure they take full advantage of the technology. It’s not enough to throw a photograph, or other object, into the metaverse for mere presence if it’s not useful to visitors. While the LVM provided much text about the image, they seem to have forgotten about the value of the photograph alone. I’d like to see the flowers in Frida’s hair, study the works of art hanging on the wall behind her, or the food on the table in front of her. One photograph has a hundred stories to tell and the curators should allow the visitor to make their own observations.

The Smithsonian might take a look at the Dresden Gallery , a replication of a rl museum. The paintings are carefully rendered. Each is cataloged with basic, tombstone information. Almost minute details can be observed, as in this detail of a painting by Johann Thiele (The Elbe Sornewitz in Hoarfrost and Fog, 1741), making it useful for both the general browser and the scholar.

On the making of objects in SL - the real masters can be found in our 3D artists, like AM Radio, whose builds are thoughtful replications of real life things always elegantly assembled. Just look at the swirling hoses on this engine.

Or the felted platter and transparent plastic cover of a turntable, made by maclane Mills. The details observed are the fingerprints left by reality on the imagination of these artists. Both Mills and Radio capture the quiddity of an object – its “whatness”. It’s a testament to their receptivity and curiosity about objects, as well as their technical skills that make them craftsmen. Wrote Brahms, “Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.”

Freak out, part. 1 of 2

2009-07-23T03:37:00.000-07:00

(Disclaimer: I know I've been focusing on art a lot.I can't help myself. But I will expand, I promise.) The next two posts have to do with the quality of art. I have something to say about what I see presented online. First of two entries...

I used to work for an art moving company. We’d pack and crate paintings, photographs and sculptures for collectors, galleries and museums. I remember being in a storeroom, a van Gogh painting resting on its back, thinking how lucky I was to be this close to a work of art, no alarms or guards to shoo me away. My boss said “Go ahead, touch it.” I blinked at him. “Really?” He nodded and giddily I touched the surface of the canvas, tracing my fingers over the hills and valleys of aged paint.

It was electrifying, feeling the brush strokes, and I began to get an idea of how the master worked his magic. There is a phenomena called Stendhal’s Syndrome or hyperkulturemia – the feeling of being totally overwhelmed when regarding a work of art or anything of great beauty; the heart races, you feel faint, dizzy, mad even. People have been known to react violently too. At the museum I work in, a man ran into the galleries, slashed two paintings with a knife, and ran out again. Beauty can inspire pain when it feels unattainable. There are times when I’m working with a great work of art when I feel almost besieged by beauty. I stare endlessly into a canvas and try to put myself in the artist’s mind – looking as he looked – taking in the scene before him as he transports it from eye to brain to arm to fingertip to canvas. I am overcome. I run.

patience is a virtue

2009-07-20T21:02:00.001-07:00

waiting patiently...sort of...for internet access to resume

Exhibition Opens!

2009-07-09T21:11:00.001-07:00

The glint of eye, the crook of an elbow, the curl of the lips; what is it about these little parts all strung together that reveal a personality? Historically, portraits represented the authority, lineage or religiosity of a person. Within SL, a portrait is an articulation of identity in a realm where identity is more fluid than many of us are used to.

PersoNation presents the genre of portrait making with the works of ten sl artists. Some of the creators are artists in rl, some do not consider themselves artists at all. Some manipulate their images using a variety of tools, or deliberately pose their subjects, while other images were captured quickly. Each portrait expresses the unique intersection of artist and subject. PersoNation asks you, the viewer, to connect with each and discover your own story.

Come hang out on Friday night for dancing, contemplation, conversation and relaxation! The Woodget Gallery: teleport from here.

A Summer Valentine

2009-07-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

Some people look at us SLifers and think we may be living in isolation – tethered as we are to our computers. We’re imagined sitting in lonely rooms, isolated, ignoring the actual world around us. Maybe that’s true for some. But for most, we spend enormous amounts of time maintaining robust online friendships that compliment our real lives.

I didn’t start SL to find friends, probably because I’d kept a skeptical eye on cyberspace. I thought I was just playing a little game like Myst. But friends happened...

When I was a kid, I had two pen pals for years (until I became a teenager and turned all my writing inward, making melodramatic entries in my diaries, pretending I was the girlfriend of Baudelaire). I still have all their letters, their photographs, and other ephemera that could be folded into an envelope and mailed under one stamp. I learned from them; each person, a gift.

Making friends in SL reminds me a bit of cultivating a pen pal...here we are finding people from around the world, throwing our energies into getting to know one another. The “getting-to-know” you part is so thrilling. I’ve been blown away by the kindness of virtual strangers willing to reveal parts of themselves, whether through their art, their ear, their heart. I’m thankful for the trust my friends have shown me by sharing themselves, and for their kindness, their goofiness and their individuality. Thank you. :)) <333

Happy Birthday, America!

2009-07-04T07:45:00.000-07:00

Hugh Laurie's song for America

Bittersweet memories

2009-06-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

The Caerleon Art Collective is hosting a virtual exhibition, Aequitas, to compliment a rl exhibition at OSA Artspace, in Washington Heights, New York. Artists were asked to mine their childhood memories for inspiration. Nebulosus Severine and two other artists created a vignette, or stage set, on which guests can place themselves. Severine built an evocative and typical scene for many children shipped off to summer camp each year, called Summer, 1985; a platform tent in the woods; sleeping bag resting on thin mattress, bag of clothes stuffed damply beneath the rusty springs of the bed, can of repellent rolling across the floor. Visitors are asked to lie on the bed and listen to the radio. Stations quickly change as though someone were spinning the dial looking for a good tune. Snatches of 80s anthems blare - Shout by Tears for Fears, Its Much Too Late for Goodbye by Julian Lennon, Freedom by George Michael (*cringe*). Severine remarks that her camp experiences left her feeling fairly traumatized, being separated for the first time from her family. Each installation acts as a therapeutic setting where those first time moments, of feeling lost, unloved, lonely or scared, can be reenacted. I found myself slipping into the 80s when sitting next to Severine’s bag of camp clothes. I had terrible homesickness at camp. I participated in all of those typical activities; wrapped the boy’s dorms in toilet paper, sang a Squeeze song at the talent show, learned how to sail, did my chores...When my mom picked me up, however, I had bandages wrapped around both knees and hands from a big tumble down a hill, poison ivy all over my limbs, a fever, and conjunctivitis in both eyes. She took one look at me and started laughing. Nevertheless, I was sent back again and again for another tortuous round. Childhood memories are bittersweet...we crave the simplicity of being young, but remember most the times when things were – complicated. Be sure to spend some time also with the installations by Dekka Raymaker - Fear & Hatred in Rookley Close, Untitled by Banrion Constantine and Things Change at Nighttime by Penumbra Carter.

Exhibition up until July 3rd.

RMB City remembers New Orleans

2009-06-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

I went to New Orleans for the first time in August 2005. As soon as I hopped on my first street car I felt I had found my feet. It was all that I imagined and better and I settled in as hard as five days would allow. Five days after I left, the city was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. I felt my heart breaking as I watched events unfold on the news. Ironically, I had been at a conference full of archivists – experts in preservation. After the disaster I remember a woman contemplating the ruins of her house. She held up a wet and torn piece of paper. “It’s my grandmother’s gumbo recipe!” It was her most valued possession.

Years later, the city still struggles to recover. In November 2008, Chinese artist Cao Fei (an artist with seemingly boundless energy) and architects Laurent Gutierrez and Valerie Portefaix (MAP Office) collaborated on a project for Prospect 1, the largest international biennale in America, based in New Orleans. The artists created an environment in SL at RMB City. They illustrated and animated a line drawing depicting an area of the Lower 9th Ward (part of the city hardest hit by the flood). The installation was projected into the Contemporary Arts Gallery in New Orleans, and allowed gallery visitors to wander around the sim using ready-made avatars. A blogger for the Times-Picayune – the local paper – described the installation:

“Translucent waves sloshed over us from time to time. Buildings regularly collapsed... Drifting zombie-like through the sparse, lonely landscape was an endless loop anxiety nightmare -- an accurate depiction of post-flood New Orleans, wouldn't you agree?” (read more here)

I wandered around the colorless setting, admiring the strong black lines of the drawings. It took me a while to find a tiny square prim (on the ground near the trailer) that turned on the animations. Once I clicked on it, the sky immediately darkened above; clouds gathered, rain fell, waves pushed against the illustrations, which suddenly seemed as vulnerable as the gumbo recipe on paper. I sat in a little shed and felt the cold waters creep up around my ankles. A bigger disaster than Katrina would be if we forgot what happened there in August 2005. To read more about recovery activities in New Orleans read here.

Disorientation is good for you

2009-06-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

Check out this bit of personal interpretation from Carton Bristol.

I spent some time at the Hotel Dare at Poetik Velvets (I really can’t get enough of that ever-changing sim) and I came across a room that was sort of confusing to me. I didn’t get it. Little presents teetered down and up Willy Wonka styled conveyor belts, the Eraserhead-like sound of machinery burdened my ears, the colors were jarring.

Sometimes going into an SL environment can be disorienting. There aren’t always notecards explaining the who, what and why of an experience. This is good! Where else in any world can a visitor be given such respect for their own interpretation? These days, in the actual world, everything is over-explained with statements, exhibition panels, labels, accompanying videos...we’ve become such a service culture that we don’t allow people to think for themselves. Museums are terrible culprits in this area. Writes Stephen Weil, “the idea that a museum transmits information to visitors is, let’s face it, a bit condescending. The visitor may not share the same agenda as the creator – they may be visiting a [site] for frivolous distraction, consolation, or intellectual curiosity...” What I mean to say is, any disorientation we may feel is our own personal experience, and our individual interpretation of it is more valuable than anything anyone will ever try to s/tell us.

Exhibition Opens!

2009-06-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

Photograph by Draco Nacht

I've just opened an exhibition at the HG Wells Memorial Library - From Oxcarts to Gondolas: The travel albums of Isabella Stewart Gardner, running from June 14th, 2009 - January 3, 2010. This is a rotating exhibition describing the travels of a Victorian art collector, and the influence those travels had on the creation of her museum in the Fenway, Boston. The first segment of the show illustrates her journey to Egypt in 1874-1875...other journeys will include India, China, Japan, Italy and the American West.

The opening was a real treat - thank you to those who could make it :) ! And a special thanks to JJ Drinkwater, Caledon Library Director, Gabrielle Riel, for the wonderful selection of music (ancient Egyptian hymns to start!) and to my cousin Rudolfo Woodget, who carried the party over to his pub the Bashful Peacock across the street. There's no difference between setting up an exhibition in sl over one in the actual world - attention to detail is essential and I'm on edge until all is up and running smoothly. Now, for a glass of champers and a bit of relaxing - until the next exhibition in July.... ;)

Dispatch from the field

2009-06-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth...(Tennyson)

The creature that haunts all steampunks - and Icelanders - is the legendary kraken - the multi-limbed creature who inhabits the cold dark sea - wrecking ships and harassing sailors. It seems the creature has adapted to its environment in Second Life and taken to the skies. That's right - Air Kraken have been spotted! That mythical creature, that legendary monster, is prowling the skies above Lovelace Liberty. I spent the evening in the field, documenting the battle, and have the scars to prove it...see the evidence here. Thank you to Not Possible in Real Life for breaking the news...

An exhibition fit for a king

2009-06-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

Life was a preparation for death, and when you reached your stopping point you were surrounded by spells, incantations, your servants and family. You would be buried under rushes and dehydrated for 70 days, your organs carefully transplanted into alabaster jars, your brain, which had no value, was pulled out your nose. After your body was embalmed and wrapped in linen, your spirit and body would meet Osiris and 40 other deities in a ceremony called the “Negative Confession”. You’d deny any wrong doings in your life and have your heart weighed by the scales of justice, a baboon regarding you through squinted eyes. Once you were considered “true of voice”, all would be confirmed in writing by Thoth, the royal scribe and you’d make your way to your blissful eternal home in the Netherworld. Read more here: Egyptian Book of the Dead.

I’m working on a slexhibition about a real life Victorian who recorded her travels to Egypt in 1875. I’ve never been there, never smelled the dry air or seen scattered mummy parts in the sand...Instead I visited King Tut Virtual, organized by Rezzable. Wow!

This exhibition is clearly put together by experts in design and museology. It’s one of the most layered, content rich exhibitions I’ve been to; informative without being overwhelming, chock full of detail but no lag. In front of the orientation station/teleport hub lies the Valley of the Kings...the Eye of Horus symbol transports you to archaeologist Howard Carter’s camp and finally down into the dark recesses of the tomb of Tutankhamen . Audio clips describe everything around you in wonderful detail, including a radio clip of Carter describing his discovery. My favorite technological trick was being able to enlarge artifacts from their original size. After learning so much, I skipped through the sand in my sandals, boarded an ancient barque (boat), threw water on the local hippos and, like all museum visits, there are shops to buy trinkets. This is truly a must-see exhibition. King Tut Virtual, Kings Rezzable (17, 85, 2336).

Long...Now...

2009-06-06T08:13:00.001-07:00

Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life. ~William Faulkner

In Sploland this morning, I stood in the middle of Moucault’s Pendulum, threw out the idea of all being ephemeral and thought about slowing things down. I remembered one of the first exhibitions I attended in SL in 2007 – Brian Eno’s 77 Million Paintings (which also took place in the actual world at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts). The work is made up of three hundred hand-drawn images which are cut up using self-generating software to form an infinite number of variations that will take years to witness. The exhibition was sponsored by the Long Now Foundation (Eno is a founding member), which is best known for its invention of a 10,000 year working clock which will stand as a monument and “provide a counterpoint to today's ‘faster/cheaper’ mind set and promote ‘slower/better’ thinking." I’d love to see a model of this clock in SL.

The visual artists aren’t the only ones slowing things down. John Cage adapted his work ASLSP (“as slow as possible”) for solo piano into Organ²/ASLSP. Some have taken the composer's edict quite plainly. A performance of the work, in Halberstadt, Germany, which began in 2001, is scheduled to end in the year 2640. One sound, or pause, will stretch two or three years - the first chord was struck in 2003 and ended in 2005.

I ended my morning musing floating...slooooowly.....around an ancient ruined clock tower that had been smashed to bits by a steely robotic arm.

Reaching for the Ephemeral

2009-06-04T09:52:00.001-07:00

Beech leaf, covered in black mud, Bentham, Yorkshire, June 1979. By A. Gormley

I lost my flickr account the other day. About a year’s worth of comments, correspondence, contacts, favorite images - memories erased within minutes. I clenched my fists and shouted; stamped my feet like a little kid. And then I remembered. Most of what we create here, in this digital life, is ephemeral, and I’d better pony up and accept it.

One doesn’t think much of nature at all, when working in the digital, but I thought of the environmental artist Anthony Gormley who writes “Process and decay are implicit. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature.” So where we work, in this digital realm, is also transient. We must learn to be present, appreciate the moment, and let go.

Menhirs and Sheep

2009-05-28T05:02:00.000-07:00

Today was a foggy gray day. There was the finest kind of mist, off of the sea and lacing the air with a briny smell. One forgets that Boston was a harbor town, buttressed as it is by the giant glass sentries that make up the financial district. Anyway, I was craving the smell of a peat fire and the bleating of sheep and searched all day in sl for some virtual gorse and an Irish view. I have an innate passion for ancient standing stones and have spent some time doing field work, at a sanctuary that may pre-date Stonehenge by about two hundred years. Needless to say, there aren’t too many talayots in New England (though evidently there’s a site in New Hampshire that I’ve been too skeptical to visit).So, to get my prehistoric kicks, like any good archaeologist, I logged on...
I made my way to the Empress and Hierophant sim, currently under construction by Immortalis and Alchemy Cyannis. The tp landing presents a stunning view over rolling hills and rock walls. I wanted to embrace it, feeling like I had been transported to Derrynane, Ireland. Immortalis was busy building, holding a sheep in his arms. The Cyannis’ are planning a bed and breakfast, and from the looks of the site so far, I’d make plans for an extended stay. The stones at Empress and Hierophant are finely crafted, warm and lichen covered. I ran up to one menhir and imagined placing my palms on its surface. Rambling up a hill I got those butterflies in the tum when standing too close to a ledge. The waves below churned bright and blue and I felt compelled to walk and walk along the worn paths winding ‘round the island. Instead I tp’d my fellow intrepid explorer Wyatt and we sat among the blinking sheep, totally absorbing the countryside.

In this kind of place, your mind goes meditative, and we let our minds wander and ramble like our bodies had done, contemplating our environments, both inner and outer. Empress and Hierophant is extraordinary. Read more about it here.

I can’t mention megaliths without mentioning Julian Cope. For you stone lovers, you must purchase a copy of his book The Modern Antiquarian.

Stokame!

2009-05-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

my neighbor SarahtheRed's Puppy (above) & working on my show

After a hiatus I’m back at work on another exhibition for the H.G. Wells Library in Caledon...content & title to be announced soon. I have to thank Halfpint Pennell for providing an inspiring work environment at the Stokame Artist's Colony....a big lofty skybox to build in, a shack on the beach to mull in, a shop to show work in. A good patron knows how to keep her artists happy, and Halfpint shows she knows the artist’s mind by providing a bakery, market square, windsurfing, cozy nooks, even a drive-in theatre. I’ve such happy memories going to the drive-in on Cape Cod – was where I was first traumatized by Jaws. There’s a real Provincetown vibe in Stokeham. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for dreamlanders Cookie Mueller (one of my heroines) and John Waters...

Moving House

2009-05-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

Moving House

”Once you open your mind to the possibility
you're lost.
At least some part of you is.
You flirt with infidelity,
abandon the perfectly acceptable place
you've lived all these years
for a dingy photograph in the property finder
that promises an easy walk to the beach,
or a level lot with good sun.
Your mind turns...”
-by Mairi

After two years I’ve decided to part with the place that kept me in SL in the first place, Stormhold in Caledon. A few notecard exchanges after I posted my ad on the real estate forums, my house and other possessions were lobbed into my lost and found folder before I could blink...no turning back. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if one could shift as easily in rl? Such good practice it is, learning how to not talk oneself out of making a move.

Anthropomorphy

2009-05-01T17:59:00.001-07:00

When I was 16 I went to my first sci-fi convention somewhere (I think Troy, NY). I drove there in a red VW van full of D & D players, including a guy who spent hours in his garage making chain mail armor (when he wasn’t crafting sundaes at Friendly’s). Besides the thrill of getting away from home and staying in hotels with my boyfriend, I was thrilled with the characters we met along the way. One of my first memories of the con was skulking down a hallway, around 3 a.m., and coming across two people in white bunny suits. One was slumped against the other, receiving a shoulder rub. S/he turned to me, with big black eyes and drooping whiskers, and offered me a slug of cherry brandy. They were so striking, and so strange to me (in a good way). The memory is kinda hazy now and reminds me of Aphex Twin’s vid for Donkey Rhubarb.

Furry fandom is a whole scene in SL, and one I’ve hardly explored. For those of you that don’t know, furries are role players, artists, writers, and other appreciators of anthropomorphic animal characters with human traits. The scene is noted for its anime styled artwork, handcrafted customized fursuits, and, some think, kinky sexual practices (I have to read up on plushophilia). Anyway, a friend of mine is writing a paper about furry fandom so I offered to make a reconnaissance mission into Luskwood, the capital of SL furrydom, to see what I might learn. I donned a steampunk tail and ears and landed in the middle of a small dance party. No one greeted me, and, like most anthropologists making first contact, I felt a bit like an intruder. Then I got to thinking, most animals don’t talk....After a few minutes however, there was some chat, mainly about cheeseburgers. I began scrawling in my notebook and snapping pics of a lovely large chested red fox with a serpent’s tongue, a foxy white wolf with swinging hips, and a twee little raccoon with librarian’s glasses and a brownie camera round her neck. I noticed that most of them were from Texas...then I started imagining W having a secret life as a brandy sipping bunny and got distracted...Luskwood definitely warrants more investigation. Stay tuned...

Poetik

2009-04-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

One day I was approached by a newbie in a superman outfit who shouted in my face (even though he was standing right next to me) “Where’s the party at?!” I’ve been to some really great parties lately – the closing for the Pornosophy exhibition organized by LogLady Loon (you can imagine what went on there) and most recently at Poetik Velvets.
The Poetik sim was conceived by Nur Moo and Juju Dollinger, patrons of some of the best artists on the grid, as a place to immerse visitors in art, “concept sound and light reveries” (as described by Bettina Tizzy). Artists are chosen to create something site specific, like the sculpture above by Bryn Oh, and the work is celebrated, animated and complimented with music and visuals through Poetik Parties. This concept works better in SL than at a RL art opening. In the actual world, at an opening that purports to support both art and music, crowds press up against the art so works can’t be regarded, damaging wine is spilled at the feet of sculptures, and no one can hear each other over the booming echoes bouncing off white gallery walls. People self-consciously tug at their short skirts and trendy beards, distracted by everyone but the person right in front of them. And when the booze is gone, so are the peeps. At the Poetik Party the other day I could cam the craquelure of Oh’s sculpture at my leisure, chat to individuals and the group, and boogie all at the same time. And I only spilled wine on my typist. Satisfying!

Black Eyed Dog part 2

2009-04-20T06:43:00.000-07:00

When you're not up for it, SL can feel like a horrible vacuum...you sign on, throw some chat out into the metaverse and it feels like it's disappearing into a black hole. I was just about to erase my account when I wondered, could SL offer some form of respite from the blues? I crept along to Aught's field of flowers (discovered through Wyatt :) ) and threw myself down into the cosmos. I thought about Susan Weed and her healing tinctures made from dandelion and nettle. I took a long look at this sim, the ruins being overtaken by riotous growth and sat down in the darkest spot I could find, feeling ruined. Erase the account or not...? Then I felt the glimmering hand of a friend, was lifted up and out of the dirt, and was connected again.

the unexamined life

2009-04-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

is not worth living...said Socrates. Gordon Bell takes it to the extreme as a lifelogger - documenting every single moment in his life through audio and video recorders he wears around his body. Molotov Alva documents his disappearance as he moves away from the actual world and is fully absorbed into Second Life.

The Birds and the Bees

2009-04-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

The birds and the bees, aka true love(some lines overheard):

SEX HUD (wear me) whispers: Balls ready
[10:53] CR: you're pretty new to sl - are you having fun?
[10:53] LT: yeah
[10:53] LT: it's great
[10:53] CR: it's addicting - haha
[10:53] LT: yeah
[10:53] LT: i now
[10:53] LT: and the sex....
[10:53] LT: puff
[10:53] LT: you can made things that never imagine before
[10:53] CR: oh i know
[10:54] SEX HUD (wear me) whispers: Balls ready
[10:54] LT: yeah
[10:54] LT: u know?
[10:54] LT: i have a lover
[10:54] LT: he is crazy for me
[10:54] LT: and buy things for me
[10:54] LT: and give me money
[10:54] LT: and that's amazing

Body Parts by Alpha Auer

2009-03-25T15:08:00.001-07:00

In response to the last post - can cyberspace offer a place for the soul – I visited Alpha Auer’s “Body Parts”, an installation that confronts the idea of loneliness in cyberspace and the avatar as a sole soul. She writes, “once all the beautiful words have been uttered and all the chips are down, in the end love is a physical thing - and like Kafka in relationship to Milena, we are not. The sum total of our physicality is a bunch of cleverly strung together pose animations purchased from Vista. At best.... No corporeality = no love. There is no manifestation of love in the metaverse. Lots of other things - yes. Absolutely. But love - no…”

Visitors to “Body Parts” are invited to don cold monochromatic skins to blend in with the silvery sculpted figures clutching at and towards one another. The figures travel across the landscape like a Rubens composition (I thought of Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus), across and up. Jump on one of the pose balls and complete a circuit with a fellow avatar – aka human being – and notice how the figures struggle between refusal and gratification, between wanting the connection and revolting against it. I don’t know if I agree with Alpha’s claim that love cannot exist in the metaverse without physical connection...there are enough descriptions by others about the rl sensations felt when first dancing a waltz with a partner, or the shiver of the typist when crossing a snowy sim, not to mention the hundreds of seemingly fruitful partnerships. But because so much of our experience in-world relies on imagination which we use to fill in the blanks, (and there are blanks) are we ultimately only loving ourselves? Commune we will, our fellow avatars are our hand-held mirrors, but ultimately, we must self-gratify. Love can be blind and the brain compensates in the actual world as well as the virtual one. Writes Edward Castronova, “for the first time, humanity has not one but many worlds in which to live.” One could argue that there are more choices for love as well. /me jumps back on Alpha’s pose ball and continues to wrestle the thought....

Siri heavy lidded, half asleep

2009-03-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

A while back I was recruited as an illlustrator for Lycos. I met with the company head and showed him my portfolio. “These are great” he told me “But why continue using pens? I haven’t picked up a pencil in five years.” He brandished his art tablet and stylus at me and I knew then I couldn’t work for him. I like to see the hand in the work. I like the erasures and the depth on paper that graphite makes.

MIT professor and cybernetic pioneer Marvin Minksy believes that cyberspace will liberate us from “the bloody mess of organic matter”. In 1991 Michael Benedikt described cyberspace as a New Jerusalem... “If only we could, we would wander the earth and never leave home; we could enjoy triumphs without risks, and eat of the Tree of heaven and not be punished, consort daily with angels, enter heaven now and die.” Can cyberspace offer a place for the soul?

You are heroes!

2009-03-15T09:26:00.001-07:00

Thank you to everyone who lent their ears for War Child yesterday. Thank you for sharing your stories and for offering support for the organization. This means a lot to me personally, but, more importantly, to those children who benefit from War Child's actions. The organization works closely with the music industry to raise money to provide services for children affected by war. We listened to the compilation Heroes, which you can read about here. The most obvious way that children are affected by war is through death and injury (in the past decade, more than 2 million children have been killed and more than 10 million injured or disabled in armed conflicts). Children may also lose their homes and families, making the trauma of war even harder to cope with. Many creative projects are being done by War Child to help children recover from war. For example, "Creative therapy children's buses" travel around Kosovo to provide creative workshops for children in different areas. Check out War Child's website at www.warchild.org/projects/projects.html to learn more or contact project managers Chriistopher Carter and Sara Caproni in-world.

Please consider purchasing the album - it's aces - or joining the group in-world. Stay tuned for the opening of War Child's sim next week which will offer live music events and other activities. Thanks again, friends <3.

Mending Walls

2009-03-05T04:34:00.000-08:00

"Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun; And makes gaps even two can pass abreast."

- Robert Frost

Here's a build by AM Radio, the Quiet at Welsh Lakes, well suited for a New England wanderer.
Radio acknowledges the loss of landscapes in America, first in his most famous build The Far Away, and now here. I was reminded of James Howard Kunstler's description of the ubiquitous and "tragic crapscape" that is plowing over the stone walls and wheat fields of America. Driving through New England, in the winter especially, when leaves have been whipped from their branches, you can see miles of these stone walls, some of the earliest surviving evidence of man trying to manipulate and control his environment. There's an excellent story about this phenomena in The Golden Spruce - a book describing a logger's extreme ascent (or descent, depending on who you're talking to) into environmentalism, when he cuts down an ancient and revered Sitka spruce tree in British Columbia. As always, the spareness of Radio's builds, and the clues he leaves about, encourage a visitor to pause and...consider.

Stem Cells

2009-02-19T19:16:00.000-08:00

In his previous exhibition (8 Good Reasons to Save Polaroid), Kasabian Beck concentrated on the mysterious interior life of his subject. Stories were revealed ever so slightly in the crook of an elbow or sweep of the hip. In Stem Cells, a portrait series, Kas is still fixated on the details, but allows the subjects to dictate what they are. You’ll notice first how elongated the torsos of his sitters are; each subject looks as though s/he’s waking from a nap but forgot to stop stretching. In this series, Kas seems to have arm wrestled James Schwarz over wet canvas. He works organic, extravagant whirls across the surfaces; eyeballs bulge, shoulders poke up like tent poles through fabric. The Vargas-esque torsos of the women are mated with melting Dali clocks (thank you, Toon, for that observation ;) ), the men bisect the canvas with their angular edges....the soft smeary bends suggest impermanence, while the hard lines fight against it. The main element of a portrait is the expression recorded. Kas seems to be working with straightforward sl snaps – only one sitter emotes slightly through her lips. Most of the expression here is in the eyes, rolling skywards or squinting, and in the lines created by Kas himself. The National Portrait Gallery, London was organized in 1856 to commemorate individuals for their deeds. Come see how and think about why the slindividual is celebrated, elevated and commemorated. Become a Stem Cell yourself at the Poperation Gallery.

On Morals in a Virtual World

2009-02-11T05:51:00.000-08:00

Sometime in the 1500s, scholar Gabriel Harvey received a letter from poet Edmund Spenser. The letter complained about the evils and lack of morals in the modern world. Harvey read the letter, put his feet up in front of the tavern fire, broke off the edge of his pipe stem, lit anew, and thought up this response…

“You suppose it a foolish mad world, wherein all things are over-ruled by fancy. What greater error? All things else are but trouble of mind and vexation of spirit. Until a man’s fancy be satisfied, he wanteth his most sovereign contentment, and cannot be quiet in himself. You suppose most of these bodily and sensual pleasures are to be abandoned as unlawful, and the inward contemplative delights of the mind more zealously to be embraced…Good Lord, you…go about to revive so old and stale a bookish opinion…Your greatest and most erroneous suppose is that Reason should be mistress and Appetite attend on her ladyship’s person as a poor servant…

There is a variable course and revolution of all things. Summer getteth the upper hand of winter, and winter again of summer. Nature herself is changeable; and most of all delighted with vanity; and art, after a sort her ape, conformeth herself to the like mutability…all things else in a manner flourish their time and then fade to nothing…”

In other words, people, don’t judge, be kind, and enjoy yourselves and one another while nature follows its regular course...

Flesh, Blood and Text

2009-02-03T18:27:00.000-08:00

Artist: Alan Dojoji / Alan Sondheim at Experience Italy

“My back towards you as I’m typing…”
“If I find you wet me wet me…”
“I’m so tired tonight but don’t you dare touch me, don’t you, don’t you,
don’t you dare touch me…”
“I will turn dawn I will turn dusk…”
“You, you, you text me, you you you choose me…”

Twisted flocks of figures resembling gummy bears melted into knuckled shapes stream by. I touch them and they dissipate and reappear, like the moods described above by the narrator – a tantric female voice chants over the movement of the figures. “You make me want to throw up in my mouth”. I fly away, uncomfortable. I’ve overheard the narrator’s unedited thoughts…the fetal shapes meld and crosshatch across my view – I’m trapped, as the narrator is seemingly trapped in a dying relationship. It’s beautiful, it’s dark, it’s provocative.

Thank you, Blued, for keeping the mood light, or I would have been knocked, knuckle shaped, to the floor.

One Prim Wonder Challenge

2009-01-24T18:12:00.000-08:00

Oh innocent prim,

Waiting in sandbox eager

Torn end from end

Horrible haiku – but I’m feverish, give me a break. I was inspired by the One Prim Wonder Challenge, curated by Sabrinaa Nightfire. What can be done with one prim? Let me show you…or better yet, let Sabrinaa.

When I arrived at the site I found myself surrounded by brightly colored shapes, some partly transparent, some gently spewing particles, others squat and still. I felt as though I had happened upon a glass shop in Murano, Italy.

The majority of sculptures seemed familiar to me, early experiments in building. That was until I remembered that each was made of only one prim. I circled round and round trying to figure out how they were accomplished. Some artists worked with surface texture only – allowing the planes to speak for themselves, while others wrenched torus and sculpties into controlled chaos. You have one more week to see the work of fine builders, such as four Yip, who've taken up the challenge. Here are some of the highlights:

palette knives and surgical instruments tango

luca laval's prim keeps a steely eye on visitors

fine craftsmanship by Paula Dix

an sl moodscape by Jojorunoo Runo

The Art of Preservation - Kasabian Beck

2009-01-07T04:58:00.000-08:00

I intended to write about Kasabian Beck’s current exhibition A' l'inte'riur at Da Vinci Isle Galleries (well worth a visit - I'll review soon). But when I began to take a closer look into the breadth and depth of Kas’s work I found more to cite. Where to begin then? He deserves multiple posts. As an archivist in the actual world, I’m fairly obsessed with film and photographic print preservation. Kas appreciates traditional photography too, as illustrated in a concurrent exhibition at the Poperation Gallery.

The exhibition, titled 8 Good Reasons to Save Polaroid, shows a series of prints created by Kas, depicted in instamatic, or integral, film style. The images are rather hawt. Fragmented via collage, mysterious women peer at you through their lashes. The viewer glimpses the top of a tube sock, the back of a beautiful lingerie clad brunette, tiles on a floor, inconsequential details blown up and coveted.

8 Good Reasons serves a dual purpose. As gorgeous as the prints are, it’s less about art for art’s sake and more about art as action and education, for any day now the actual company, Polaroid, founded in 1937, will stop producing film for its cameras. Just as the details captured through Kas’s lens are coveted, film stock should be coveted too. Kas says it best in his artist’s statement:

“Everything from current photography and design, to advertising campaigns (American Apparel) mimmick the style of the polaroid picture. There is something of a longing, and a distance both to polaroids. Something etherworldly and nostalgic. The colors are never right, pictures are often not blurry but not in focus. Looking at a polaroid picture is like looking at a dream.”

So, for those of you hoarding your own memorable snaps, in the name of preservation, do your duty, readers: visit www.savepolaroid.com and visit the Poperation Gallery . 8 Good Reasons to Save Polaroid will be up until February 1st.

'tis that season

2008-12-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

Si mes souvenir sont bons je peux tout oublier - an appropriate enough New Year's saying from the Young Gods, yes? Enjoy yourselves! xx

We, the people

2008-11-30T16:54:00.000-08:00

portrait of gwendolyn

james schwarz (ftr that's a kazoo in his mouth)

James Schwarz is an artist who captures and illuminates the paradox of the avatar through his Headshot Series. I first learned of his work through intrepid profile stalking. I noticed that profile pictures taken by Schwarz had more depth than any I had seen before. The faces materialize from twilit dusk and the eyes make direct contact with the viewer. His subjects gaze confidently, coolly, sassily – they’re a bit intimidating. One of his sitters admitted being a bit shy about approaching Schwarz for an appointment (I felt the same way) so it was refreshing to read his follow up comment that he too, may feel a bit of the same when meeting people for a photo shoot. The nervousness comes from mutual admiration. We respect his work, and he respects us for timidly offering ourselves up as subject. He cares for his subjects, smoothing and softening their angles. The portraits are the same in size and presentation, but include personal accoutrements - a ciggy here, a headband there. Some avatars are plain, some are elaborate, each one unique. Take a few moments to view his flickr stream showing the series. It offers a rare opportunity to contemplate and know these personalities who are typically roaming, dancing, shagging, building, or otherwise on the move. I had a moment to catch up with Schwarz and asked him about the Headshot Series. He made an interesting point:

James Schwarz: "SL is pretty much a whole different dimension. The diversity of people…it's like the way each avatar is represented it's not just the work of one person, the owner, but a work of several others. If you think about it, the way you look right now is the hours and dedication put into by the creators of your skin, clothes, hair etc."

I’d never thought about that aspect of an avatar; that each individual represents a communal effort. But this idea is essentially the essence of SL, working collaboratively to achieve your individual vision, which made me think of Thich Nhat Hanh:

“You are me, and I am you. Isn't it obvious that we "inter-are"?”

See Schwarz’s first project – 100 Avatars – a community profile of the metaverse. Schwarz may have expressed being shy, but his artwork is not - it reaches out to each of us with a welcoming embrace. Rad.

four Yip's...

2008-11-09T11:28:00.000-08:00

art inspires me so very much. A commercial/graphic artist from Amsterdam, she has been gracing SL with her extraordinary freebies. When I say freebies I mean her art which she shares for free, allowing the viewer to interact, participate, collaborate and become her work (more about that here). I attended her opening at Wyatt Benoir's ARTist's Park. Here she features portraits - avatars rendered in broad brush strokes. The works are whimsical and curious, each holding a detail that made me quiver, laugh and sigh with happiness. Look for the lush attention to fleshy creases - a bit like John Currin coupled with a Jenny Saville attention to creases, but never bleak. On the contrary - the portraits, and their monumental presentation in the gallery - are bright and fun. The portraits capture a flushed tangibility through a Vogue stylist's eye - a stylist drinking a proper herb filled Pimm's .

(person standing in the top photo: Sawyer Campese)

Collecting fine slart

2008-11-02T12:15:00.000-08:00

I purchased my first piece of slart, finally! It's a portrait by Cienega Soon. This piece, titled Crosley, reminds me of a poster torn off a light pole by a club kid on the way home at sunrise. I was drawn to it for its warm and papery surface, not often seen in portraits of avatars. It's a departure from Cienega's other work, which has a much more steely pallet, with fantastical subjects and lines that made me think of Richard Dadd (who painted the Fairy Feller's Master Stroke and Crazy Jane). Time slid away and stories formed in my head as I found myself falling into a number of her photographs, wanting to know more, the sign of a good story teller, the sign of a fine artist.

See her work at the Castle Valeriya Artist Gallery or on flickr.

I'm no seamstress

2008-10-26T05:40:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I've never written about fashion in sl. My gawd. Having grown up with a seamstress granny who taught me how to thrift, I am well obsessed with clothes. I settled in Caledon because of the intellectual scene but, let's face it, the population are some of the best-dressed on the grid. Now and then I'll come up with some idea for an outfit, but I'm not sure I have the patience (or the equipment - hard to make buttons using a touch pad). I think I'll leave it to the array of incredible designers out there. My last attempt at dressmaking was for a Victorian gown based on an 1883 travel album containing albumen photographs from India. The top of the dress includes an image of the Tomb of Altamash in New Delhi, which was built in 1235. See how the architectural forms reflect the feminine, as in renaissance and baroque architecture, which acknowledged the human form. These forms are later seen in the work of the artists of the Art Noveau movement, who reveled in the fanciful, swirling line known as "whiplash", which celebrated the sensual female figure...and why shouldn't we celebrate that figure, eh? Here's an example of a designer whose clothing absolutely adores all figures: Hyasynth Tiramisu.

You are original

2008-10-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome, friends of Achariya who may have found their way here...I started this blog when I started Second Life a little over a year ago...gamely at first, to explain SL to folks who might never try it out, then mainly to keep a record of things that have struck me along the way. On Monday I was invited to a benefit concert for Heifer International which took place at AM Radio's Refuge. Singer ColeMarie Soleil played live. In between self-deprecating comments ("Sorry 'bout all the mistakes in that one") she belted out these amazing, moving notes; spontaneous, kooky, dark, gorgeous. I relaxed into my headphones, cammed about and felt like I was in some kind of charming menagerie, with the music, the wondrous setting, and the intriguing assortment of avatars all in one place...inspired me to look up Darwin's 1858 essay on the varieties of species...

Any problem in the world can be solved by dancing...

2008-10-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

...said James Brown

I've always danced...ballet, African, go-go on a box...Being in a club, dancing to music that makes you wiggle, is like having an affair with everyone around you. Everyone in the mood, everyone on the groove. Same works in SL...it's surprisingly satisfying to sit back and watch your avi twirl, grind and jump. Sinewave is the place to pick up decent animations. You may be familiar with the Lindy, Shag, Pogo, and Hustle...in SL you've got Caramel, Sprite, Swoon, Gimme gimme gimme, Jammy dodger, Yipeeeeeeee, Shaken and Stirred - hundreds of choices. You can slow dance, line dance, even reel. It's the best way to bond with your mates. If we in the actual world danced as much as those in sl we'd all be fit as fiddles...now, if I could only master Want Some in the actual world....

Happy Almost Halloween

2008-10-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

Versailles meets the end of the world...

The Steampunk Resource Center

2008-10-06T12:49:00.001-07:00

Sea Beaumont has pulled together a most comprehensive collection of resources at Caledon Downs. Three floors of freebies, links and landmarks for the discerning steampunk. So you won’t look like a total farb* pick up some authentic textures and artifacts such as a rusty smelter, a hobonet computer typing animation (powered by a sturdy little rat), a giant tesla ball, skybox, even a leathery catsuit and black leather kicks for the ladies. All for free!

Related landmarks are gathered together here, so you may never have to step foot in the 21^st century again. On the second floor you’ll find a brief history of steampunk and punkers, like the British engineer Isamard Kingdom Brunel (who smoked 40 cigars a day, slept less than 5 hours a night, and accidentally inhaled a half-sovereign coin, which lodged in his windpipe – the kind of man Siri would have invited round for tea). Online resources include links to you tube clips, Steampunk Magazine and the Steampunk Workshop.

Visit the Steampunk Resource Center here.

*wiki says: Farb “is a derogatory term used in the hobby of historical reenacting for participants who exhibit less commitment to historical authenticity, either from a material-cultural standpoint or in action.” (Though, believe me, steampunks are far more forgiving then the rev war folk).

Burning Life 2008

2008-10-01T20:35:00.000-07:00

I decided to head to Burning Life today and found myself a game companion willing to bear the hippie drums. Wearing our over sized aviator glasses we shielded ourselves from the burning avatars and made our way to a clever diorama built by Manx Wharton called The General Welfare - a lovingly sarcastic ode to back country South; the yard is full of detritus (including a cook book that contains a recipe for squirrel), a worn shotgun shack leans against its creaky wooden steps. Watch out for the swinging carcass draining on the porch. There you can sit on a plastic lawn chair (I could feel the weakened seat strain under my bottom) and take in the many details worth contemplating...Who set the Chevy blazing? We want to know.

Other highlights include AM Radio's installation "Beneath the Tree that Died".... a telescope bisects the land, a story of love lost documented through a telegram. Will the telescope help him sight his memories?

Finally, experience a bit of depressing-but-true political commentary through a "patriotic" installation where you're greeted by a gurning Marilyn Quayle and Lynne Cheney, and further spun and wrung through Warhol-esque portraits of Reagan and Palin...quotes from these brains mimic and taunt..not for the wavering voter this. It culminates via the temple to politics, which offers a soothing hot tub in an appropriate culmination of politics & sex. Let's hear it for Burning Life!

The Blurred Line - written by guest blogger Andrijah Beardmore

2008-09-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

Second Life was created as a form of escapism. You leave your real life behind in the actual world and embark on an adventure using an avatar in place of yourself. In this world, you can be the person you've always wanted to be, do the things you've always wanted to do, etc. But there is a certain reality behind Second Life. For every avatar there is a person sitting before a computer controlling their every function, so it is bound to happen that a bit of the real life person becomes a part of the avatar. There is a line between the two worlds, one that undoubtedly becomes a little blurred, thanks to the 1st life tab on everyone's profile, as well as the potential use of voice, among other things.

Recently I had a chance, not just to blur the line, but to completely cross, and being the type of person I am, I took it. On September 17, I boarded a plane and flew to meet up with the typists behind two of my most loved friends on Second Life, Siri Woodget and Colleen Lilliehook. A proposition like that might seem a bit scary to some, with the potential of completely destroying the illusion of that which we hold dear while living out our alternate reality. To me, I was thankful not to have any worries, having interacted with them so much in world, that I already knew them, even before we met.

There was no hesitation or wondering what I might discover, just a sense of knowing that this would be a great trip, no matter what could have happened.The meeting at the airport was quite good. I saw Siri first and instantly knew it to be her. We hugged like life-long friends. The same can be said when meeting Colleen, though she did a little bunny hop first, which I have to mention, or the story would just be incomplete. During my 3+ day visit, I got to see the two of them in their natural environment, which is quite dissimilar from Second Life. As it turns out, they are not always going to clubs to listen to music or hopping around from party to party, though I clearly knew that going into it, as we all do. What I did discover is that Colleen's hair is not quite so spiky, and that Siri is a bit more outgoing, among countless other little details. But the thing is, neither was in any way too different from the avatars they control on a daily basis. For the most part, they are the same people, even though their actions may not be the same - but then again, who does the same thing in both worlds.

In some ways, there is a realization that once you cross that line, there is no going back. Nothing will ever truly be the same. Now, when you converse in-world, you have these great memories to feed off of. You now refer to things you've actually seen and done together; going to a great concert, which was so worth seeing, eating Mexican food at this delightful little dive, being shown where Siri works, a mid-afternoon movie, and last, but certainly not least, sitting around a fire pit telling stories about in-world and out-world experiences. Oh there are stories I could tell you, but if I did that, you would have one less reason to find out for yourself exactly why meeting in real life is not a bad thing. For us, it was quite a good thing. I have made two friends that will last longer than I can imagine. I crossed the blurred line, and for that, I have no regrets.

Primgraph Magazine

2008-09-17T06:56:00.001-07:00

This entry is made on the run - i.e. sandwiched between rl obligations - but wanted to be sure to cite the Primgraph Magazine (edited by Alesia Markstein) "The Metaverse Magazine for the 1740s-1920s sims within Second Life". The content is very much worth reading (*ahem*, I contributed an article on Lady Lovelace), including articles on topics of General Interest, Arts & Culture, Fashion, Society and Technology. The magazine offers wonderful insight into the programming, social life and activities within Second Life's "before present"(pre-1950's) themed sims.

It's available in-world but I encourage you also to take tea (coffee/absinthe) and visit the magazine online via Calameo. The technology is really entertaining, allowing for a more actual reading experience - have fun flipping the pages back and forth, just like a real magazine, minus tearing and folding over the pages. Here's the link to the magazine - click "read the publication". Happy reading!

Evolution of an avatar

2008-09-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

avatar - 5 minutes old

20 minutes later

the following day

1 month later, forming an identity - club casualty

1 month later - an alt's alt - real wife of orange county

(avatar surviving on freebies)

The Daedalus Project

2008-09-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

Today I’m contemplating the Daedalus Project – Nick Yee’s psychological study of mmorpgs. Scholars have found that there is an effect on the real life behavior of people who have avatars, especially those who are considered particularly attractive in-world.
“Cyberspace grants us great control over our self-representations. At the click of a button, we can alter our gender, age, attractiveness, and skin tone. But as we choose our avatars online, do our avatars change us in turn? In a series of studies, we've explored how putting people in avatars of different attractiveness or height change how they behave in a virtual environment.” (from the Virtual Human Interactive Lab at Stanford).

Siri is definitely not conventionally attractive – I’m experimenting with that idea through an alt. As Siri, I’ve noticed that she is rather shy in-world, more so than her typist, as she figures out the technology, defines her place in a community, and navigates the myriad of virtual relationships and respective identities. Cultural immersion or assimilation takes time; there is a learning curve, and customs must be observed then practiced. Admittedly, after all the time I've spent in-world, in the actual world, I’ve noticed an increase in my sociable conduct. I’m more willing to make a call, get to a show, step out of my routine. I’m re-learning the art of socializing…

Happy belated rez day to me

2008-08-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

earliest siri

In honor of a much belated rez day I thought I'd revisit my earliest blog entry...ah, memories...
Here's what happened to me one day during my first week in second life.

"Signs posted warned me against leaving Help Island until I felt ready, as there’s no going back. However, being as impulsive as I am, I decided to go for it and headed towards the mainland. My advice if you decide to try a second life? Stay on Help Island for as long as possible. Learn how to dance, dress, back flip, build a bit and then depart. Learn from my mistakes…

I felt pretty pulled together as I toured around the place. I had a cup of free coffee in a Greenwich Village café, toured Info Island where all the librarians hang out, visited an art gallery filled with fantastic photographs by a contemporary French artist. I even made a friend who chatted with me one evening on a park bench. Thinking that my city buns were giving me away as a newbie, I decided to use the coupon for free hair at Gurl 6 and picked up an awesome set of locks that I wish I had in real life (bountiful, layered, six different colors!). However, malls are malls whether in real or second life and after browsing hairstyles for ten minutes I got that panicky feeling that I get in any shopping center and decided I needed a pint.

I managed to find my way to an English pub called the Three Lions. Once inside the bartender shouted my name in greeting and folks chatted by a roaring fire. I was met by my friend, who was wearing a Penguin t-shirt and socks with sandals. He asked if I wanted to dance. We watched two women, wearing tiny petticoats and leather corsets, gyrate to generic rock music being played by a band on stage which transmitted through the computer speakers. My friend slipped across the dance floor like Frank Sinatra, twirling and sashaying, leaping and bending. He was amazing! He told me to touch a poster on the wall in order to make myself dance. I did…and then all hell broke loose.

Suddenly my avatar was spazzing out like it was on cocaine and ecstasy. I did the hustle, the foxtrot, moonwalk, Britney and jazz hands all at once and over and over again. “Woh!” my friend said and backed away from me. He shouted directions at me “Right click, for god’s sake, right click”. I couldn’t stop myself from moving. As I blazed around the dance floor I noticed all the avatars had stopped conversing and were staring at me as I whipped by, back and forth. I think the band even stopped playing when my avatar raced over and pounded the floor of the stage before doing a pole dance in front of them. After what seemed like a half hour of hysterical command prompts, I managed to steer myself out the front door, still dancing mind you, and halted all animations.

I caught my breath and backed sheepishly into the pub. After a sit down and a pink cocktail (courtesy of my friend – though I couldn’t figure out how to drink it) he offered to teleport me to a ballroom dance. Amazed that he was still willing to hang out with me I agreed.

I was whisked away to a peaceful marbled piazza, with a fountain gurgling in front of me. My friend descended a staircase, elegant in a black tuxedo. He asked if I had a ball gown. “I have a ‘medieval frock’” I told him (that I had purchased for something like 2 cents in U.S. currency). We noticed that I was still in the seated position from the pub. “Hang on a sec.” I told him and tried to stand up. Nothing worked. Was it lag? Caps lock on? For reasons I can’t explain, I grabbed my hair from the top of my head and threw it on the ground. “Wow. You don’t have to get angry.” My friend said. Unexpectedly bald, I tried to grab my hair back and clicked edit to change my appearance. And then something happened that made me SO WISH I was the kind of gal who read directions before building a new toy.

Abruptly, all my clothes disappeared and there I was…standing butt naked in front of a stranger. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?” My friend laughed, “Cute butt”. I was HORRIFIED. I frantically clicked and copied and tried to get some clothes onto my body but instead turned my avatar towards my friend to give him full frontal. Now, I’d heard that you had to buy genitals at some Second Life mall in order to “complete the picture” but let me tell you – I was – as my son says - “nudie-pie” and all the parts were there. My friend was now snarfing with laughter as I managed to sit, yes sit, on a skirt and put on a black t-shirt. “Aw, Sweetie,” he said sympathetically. I blabbed about meeting later after I had gotten my bearings and bailed, teleporting myself next to the park near Three Lions for some privacy (next goal is to find some changing rooms). I left Siri in the park, in the dark, naked…except for a skirt that her cute butt is sitting on."

"Meaningful Fun"

2008-08-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I attended a talk given by Tom Bukowski (Boellstorf), author of Coming of Age in Second Life – the first anthropological study of the metaverse. Bukowski spent two years conducting research, focusing on ideas of place, identity, avatars and sex. The lecture was packed, the questions provocative. Of particular interest was how he chooses to use the phrase “actual world” or aw rather than “rl” or real world. By using the phrase “real world” you assume a real world that is computer-free; that one life is more “real” than the other. One scholar calls the examination of that blurry line between the two worlds “boundary work” which is so appropriate. Regarding the separation between the aw/virtual world, Bukowski writes: “…what I find more significant and less debated is why we find the question of traffic between virtual worlds and the “real world” so compelling….A large body of anthropological work…demonstrates that crossing a boundary can strengthen the distinctiveness of the two domains it demarcates”. Virtual life is not a completely separate, isolated social world…Bukowski received a bit of skepticism from colleagues (though support at UC Irvine), but it seemed to me that this reluctance to examine virtual life likely stems from a generation of scholars who shy away from new technologies. Luckily, Bukowski-as-Boellstorf has been named Editor-in-Chief of American Anthropologist, journal of the American Anthropologist Association, which ought to guide scholars, young and old, into virtual studies.

Read the first chapter of Coming of Age in Second Life.

Not too far from my reality

2008-08-12T17:14:00.000-07:00

Onwards I head into my next yet-to-be-named-project. I do my best (dr)thinking in fine Irish pubs. Andi and I found our way to this watering hole via the Inksters Competitive Writers' Group's headquarters. The founder, ItsNaughtKnotty Canned, sponsors a very clever daily writing challenge for members. Authors, of any sort, are given two inspiring themes and have until midnight slt to submit their piece. Winners receive 25 lindens and a nice hefty pat on the back from their mates. Yesterday's challenge included:

Sponsorship
Who is supporting your medical treatment? What logos and brands would you love to eliminate from your life? Describe a life where every move is dictated by a corporate identity.

or

Ejection
Leaping from the single engine plane without a parachute .
Hit that link to read more about the>> INKsters.

Being a dormant illustrator myself, I asked Andi if he might offer a word to work from, that might begin to flex and force my weakened fingers onto a blank page. He chose "brick" and I've been banging my head against a brick wall ever since, in response.

Lady Lovelace at the Whitehorn

2008-08-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

What a great turn out for the opening on Saturday. Thank you all for coming! I couldn't have done it without the support of Sir JJ and Sir Zenmondo, who patiently answered my endless questions. This exhibition is truly dedicated to Sir Zenmondo, who is Ada's long lost partner in code poetry. Thank you to Miss Poppy for the portrait of Zen. Thank you also to Miss Snook who provided suitable music and commentary, and set a perfect tone.

The exhibition inspired a visitor to relate the following tale about Charles Babbage - my favorite so far:

13:01] RF: Here is my factorite Babbage anecdote.

[13:02] RF:Babbage once took issue with one of Tennyson's poems. The poet soon received a letter from the logician:

"In your otherwise beautiful poem," Babbage wrote, "one verse reads,

Every moment dies a man,

Every moment one is born.

"If this were true, the population of the world would be at a standstill. In truth, the rate of birth is slightly in excess of that of death. I would suggest:

Every moment dies a man,

Every moment 1 1/16 is born.

"Strictly speaking," Babbage added, "the actual figure is so long I cannot get it into a line, but I believe the figure 1 1/16 will be sufficiently accurate for poetry."

Exhibition Opening - curated by yours truly

2008-07-26T04:36:00.000-07:00

I've been beavering away on the Ada exhibition - only a week to go! Here's the blurb - do come to the opening!

Mesmerism, flying machines, Romantic verse and proto-computers.... Ada Byron (King), otherwise known as Lady Lovelace (1815-1852), stands at the intersection of Victorian art and science. Daughter of the renegade Lord Byron and his more numerically minded wife Annabella Milbanke, Ada was born with dual powers: her gift was to grasp and render mathematical theory with the immediacy of poetry.

As a woman, an intellectual and a mathematician, Ada cuts a compelling figure. Although she died young, her contributions to the history of computer science are significant. Join us in a celebration of her unique contribution, and find out how a young Victorian woman became the First Lady of computer programming.

Join me for a gala opening Saturday, August 2nd from 12 - 2 pm.

The exhibit will run from August 1 to October 25th

Black Eyed Dog

2008-07-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.
"So it is."
"And freezing."
"Is it?"
"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."

Feeling rather a bit like Eeyore lately...luckily found my way to the Garden of Sorrows where I let the rain wash over me while I let a rl and sl cat curl up at my feet and found a book to distract me...so bound to head toward the up and up.

New Toulouse

2008-07-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Last week I attended the opening the Toussaint L’Ouverture Library of New Toulouse .
What an open, friendly, educational, magical place. Partygoers wore celebratory white and toasted with traveling cups of gin. I took in the accompanying exhibition about Kate Chopin and thought I’d illustrate for you here just what an exhibition in SL looks like. Here you see me examining a photograph, imported into the SL interface. I click on the photograph and a dialogue box containing a “webliography” appears so I might examine exhibition themes more deeply. The web page opens within sl or can override the sl window altogether. Opening the page in-world allows me to continue an easy rapport with other visitors – I can interact with them as well as the text. In other words, I can stand side by side with others and enjoy the exhibition – sipping gin of course.

Upstairs Downstairs

2008-06-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

All things being rather limitless in sl, owning land doesn't tether you only to your terrain. In rl I own a parking space and am allowed to build freely up to 7 feet above the ground. In sl, I can build over 500 meters into the sky.

Since moving into Caledon, I've kept my boots firmly on the ground, with only a few forays into the sky via hot air balloon. I've heard there are some dirigibles and the like hovering overhead but I was not prepared for what I did, in fact, discover, as I rocketed up above my cottage.

High in the sky, dotting the airscape, I found a whole assortment of what can only be described as love shacks - sweet, quirky, private, and experimental. I felt I had stumbled upon "the king's chambre" in Lauderdale House, Charles the II's room where he met his mistress Nell Gwynn. There is something so romantic about settling in the sky, among the clouds, the sunset stretching before you. So this is what my neighbors have been up to...and here I was thinking it was so quiet when there was a world of action right over my head.

Of course I had to assemble my own little dreamy yurt....

Steampunk Neko

2008-06-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

It's Friday the 13th and we're going to celebrate Halloween tonight - why not!
Anyway, while looking for zombie skin to compliment my dead-stewardess outfit, I stumbled across the JD Mechanical Toy Factory .

My ears were accosted by the comforting sound of rusting cogs and puffs of steam. I was reminded of Bladerunner's J.F. Sebastian and his apartment full of toys when an automaton named Machine Person made flattering remarks while I browsed. Conceived by Jenne Dibou, there are some fantastic creations here - slouchy victorian cottages, rustic skyboxes, and for the ladies, a beautiful pair of pumps with gears spinning in the heels.

Speaking of gears and beautiful detail - check out this set of steampunk neko ears and tail by Blackheart. Being more inclined towards steampunk than neko I picked up this scripted tail and ears, for an extremely reasonable sum. Get your coppered arses down there!

Food for Thought

2008-05-31T13:19:00.000-07:00

“All Love is sweet. Given or returned. Common as light is love, And its familiar voice wearies not ever.” (Shelley)

How better to express how I was feeling the other day after a night out with Colleen, Wynn and the wandering poet Andrijah, dressed in the form of a sweet cakey muffin.

Falling...

2008-05-05T03:50:00.001-07:00

Last night I slipped into Dr. Who's Tardis machine - hypothetically speaking of course - and lost myself completely to the vortex of the online universe. I could see the clock ticking away on the bottom right side of my screen...11:30...12.30...2.30...but I wouldn't, couldn't be stopped...what's another few minutes. Rl begone...this was frame dragging, gravitomagnetism, and I wobbled...and righted.

2008-04-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

Took some time off due to rl and spent time in-world only to work on Ada Lovelace exhibition. And I found I missed my mates...got that feeling that I used to get in high school when my parents would drag me off to the country on the weekends - that I was missing the big party, something really fantastic. There's no feeling of guilt, like in rl, when it comes to balancing relationships in rl and sl. RL comes first, no questions asked.

That said, I want to spend some time cultivating my in-world friendships. Colleen and I just met a really wonderful gal, Wynn Grumiaux (there she is above, with her goggles on). She creates dioramas in an underground bunker she calls home, setting a mysterious scene full of artifacts; the fragment of a note, a book open to a specific page, a bottle full of mysterious liquid, a buzzing machines which invites you to twirl its knobs. The visitor wonders, what happened here? Wynn dresses for every occasion and is one of the wittiest chicks...she came up with a fabulous steampunk name for herself - Monocle Lewinski.

Anyway, back to blogging. I've got other plans which I've been putting off - furrydom and creating an alt. So, my dear, few and far between readers, onwards into the aetherworld...

Yes!

2008-03-09T19:39:00.001-07:00

Okay, I may cop all my entries from Bettina Tizzy’s fantastic blog (Not Possible in Real Life) but I must also promote this sculpture by Blackthorne Hare.

In his sculpture titled “Yes”, Blackthorne has frozen a moment in time. A jet blazes into pieces above a busy intersection, about to blast apart the peaceful neighborhood below. Trucks and cars tremor in anticipation – their fate depicted through ghostly shadows.
There’s angst and worry here, a feeling that one gets when things seem too quiet, too serene. Blackthorne is the father of a young child and I can’t help but think how his sculpture describes that moment that parents carry around with them always – the idea that things may just detonate. But there’s hope here too. Directly beneath the nose of the crashing plane is an embrace pose. One could look at this as a moment of utter desolation, an embrace goodbye, or else an unyielding defense against despair through human connection.

The exhibition is up until March 11th – go!

World of Interiors

2008-03-08T17:06:00.000-08:00

Now and then, during twilight when all looks inviting and curious, I like to stroll around and peer through the glowing windows of my neighbors to look at their stuff. As a curator of personal effects I appreciate character left out on display and objects of personal significance. Perhaps I ought to spend some time writing a few World of Interiors entries in order to feature some of the amazing and wonderful artifacts created and cared for by my dear neighbors.

Here's my little forge house in Stormhold. I don't have too many prims but each thing I've placed makes me feel right at home; above the fireplace is a hex sign offering luck and happiness to visitors, in the corner a 1792 celestial globe by Giovanni Cassini; my beloved Victrola cranks out the tunes of the 20s and 30s, and a mask of the Kwak'wala of the Pacific Northwest Coast (my thesis subject) hangs next to a statue of Charles Babbage (the subject of an exhibition I'm working on for Lovelace).

Keep your curtains open!

El Bosco

2008-02-22T12:54:00.000-08:00

Lucas Cranach the Elder, the maestro of the pale and protruding Saxon forehead in early Renaissance painting, was sent on a secret diplomatic mission to the Netherlands by Frederick the Wise…there he found himself staring into the nightmarish fantasy world of Hieronymous Bosch.

Outside the Velvet nightclub, I stumbled upon this Hieronyous Bosch carousel built by Menubar Memorial and laughed out loud over my fingers. The second obvious characteristic of second life residents besides their creativity, is a sense of humor. I grabbed onto the spikey helmet of a creature, from the right panel of the Garden of Earthly Delights, being chased by a beast from the Temptation of Saint Anthony. The Seven Deadly Sins span above, twirling the whole mad crew round and round in their own elemental stew. I’ve been thinking about trying to find a church that suits my vague Gnostic leanings but nothing quite suits. And I mean the experience of church-going. Sitting on a hard pew, the cold creeping up your calves, the plodding hymns...Instead, what about sitting on a carousel that forces you to confront demons, one that could rinse and inspire as it spins its rider round and round…

Buy one here.

Rumsey's World

2008-02-16T05:45:00.000-08:00

David Rumsey (aka Map Darwin), a San Francisco based collector of maps, has collaborated with advertising agency Centric, to create a wondrous sim for all you cartographers, travelers, historians, artists, sculptors, and designers to gawk at. The build takes advantage of an avatar’s ability to fly; it's taken in from above or from floating within. Rumsey of course appreciates scale. As I walked through the earliest detailed survey map of Yosemite (from 1883) I felt a sense of wonder. I safely explored the peaks and valleys, with no fear of dehydration or snakes. I’d love one of these for Franconia Notch in New Hampshire so I could plot out a route ahead of time. As a printmaker, I relished being able to peer closely at the inked edges of the hachuring (style of line that indicates slope).

Here’s me hovering inside the Globe Terrestre, 1790 by Giovanni Maria Cassini which illustrates the routes of Captain James Cook. The celestial globe was created by Cassini, in 1792. Here I am floating over the constellation of Coma Berenice (the only constellation named after a real person) and Bootes the Herdsman.

Educating Siri

2008-02-15T16:54:00.001-08:00

For an old fashioned archivist like myself, one who works with dusty artifacts and iron-gall ink, just being able to dress my avatar in lots of different outfits was exciting enough.

As I move on to other more educational things I feel like I’m way behind the second life learning curve. With some avatars doing things like collaborating with NASA to create depictions of the earth with real time weather patterns, my recent contribution to the education of the second life public seems small. But you’ve got to start somewhere.

I donated a book to the collection of the Caledon Library (Emily Thornwell’s 1853, Lady’s Guide to Perfect Gentility – a handbook of Victorian etiquette). This means making a book, which means: downloading a scanned work from Google, turning it into a plain text doc, editing for mistakes, pagination, etc. then copying text into notecards that are placed into a folder which is then embedded into a three dimensional object in the shape of a book. When you click on the “book” your avatar is presented with a folder that can be copied into her inventory and read at her leisure. Likewise, I could have simply embedded into the book a link to the url which would lead to the original online source which my avatar/typist would have been led to via their web browser. Pretty cool.

So next up is curating my first online exhibition. I’ve chosen as my subject Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron’s daughter. Her association with Charles Babbage and his Analytical Engine I hope will excite the steampunk-inclined. I’ve met with the very lovely and very busy JJ Drinkwater, the director of the Caledon Library, who’s been guiding me through the process of finding an exhibition space and connecting me to potential collaborators. One thing I dig about sl is the ready, steady go go go attitude of residents. What might start as a gentle musing is immediately grabbed by anyone you care to muse with. Possibilities aren’t just discussed, they’re immediately experimented with. This was intimidating at first – “What do you mean we can just do it? Shouldn’t there be Approvals? Budgets? A Memo of Understanding?” This is the free-floating jazz mentality Au was talking about - a total relief from real world bureaucracy.

Whither SL? one reply

2008-02-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

In a lecture given at Boston’s Museum of Science in April 2007, journalist Wagner James Au described sl as “collaborative lucid dreaming” which results in “promiscuous changes” to the landscape like “free-floating jazz”. The beautiful thing about sl is that the content created in-world (a.k.a ip - intellectual property), is owned solely by the residents. Whatever you make is yours to do with what you wish (Linden Labs 2003 attempts to tax resident creations inspired a full-on Boston-styled tea party revolt, resulting in LL giving residents full rights to their stuff, no fees). Everyone works with the same tools, everyone is given an equal playing field. The base of the culture is creativity. And for those of us who like to fly their freak flag high, it’s a perfect setting. I’m not surprised that the median age of users is 35…with many of us fused to home life - engulfed as we are by parenthood, or dulled slightly by professional or financial life – those of us who are daring enough to dabble in the latest technology, those of us who are reticent designers, writers, artists…here is a home…without walls to hem you in!

I listened to a short piece on NPR the other night about how, according to a marketing analyst, corporations aren’t interested in sl anymore. He was quite snotty about it actually, and I sensed a bit of a chip on his shoulder. “The people who spend their time in sl are people we’re not interested in anyway”. Nah nah. Actually, residents in sl have demonstrated that they’re not interested in you. James Au observed that “in the context of the fantastic, their brands as they exist in the real world are boring, banal, and unimaginative”. *

The creativity and imagination of residents can be overwhelming – I often find myself thinking “How did they DO that?!” but I want to learn, and the desire to learn keeps me coming back…night after night.

*Marketing in Second Life Doesn't Work by Wagner James Au.

Here's Where the Journey Ends

2008-02-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

My rl husband alerted me to the news that Journey, the rock band of 80s fame, was to celebrate their latest album in-world on February 1st. Now I’m no Journey fan. The band reminds me of those low teenage years, and something about the nasal pitch of Steve Perry’s voice makes the hair on my neck stand on end. Listening to Journey transports me immediately to a high school dance, shedding a teenage tear or two over “Wheel in the Sky”, spinning in a drunken stupor under the gymnasium bleachers…shudder…

I braced myself and found my way to the Journey Rock Band island. It was laid out like any other lazy mall on the mainland – a grassy football field hemmed in by structures on either side - and one lone tree. A panel depicting every Journey album cover emerged in front of me. The pavilions on the other side of the grass were in fact 3 dimensional manifestations of select album covers – an attempt to depict the songs’ vibes. The island advertised itself as having lots to explore, that it was so much fun for visitors that we’d want to return again and again. I looked around me…there were no people around, except for two newbies who were having a hard time getting settled.

[13:03] Amanda M: Yo
[13:03] Ace B: hey Amanda
[13:03] Amanda M: How are ya?
[13:03] Ace B: I’m good...do you have a face?!
[13:04] Amanda M: I see my face, you don't see my face?
[13:04] Ace B: I am no good at this SL stuff!

I turned back to the panel and clicked on “Next” (1977) and was teleported the 4 feet across the grass to a pavilion-cum-living room filled with what looked like bongs. Maybe they were lamps. I stared at the hairy chests of the band members, thinking how bad the 70s were for music.

The “Infinity” (1978) pavilion was a trippy wonderland filled with annoying dragonflies and mushrooms. Exactly what I imagine as I listen to Journey. I ached to put on my Mötorhead t-shirt and light a cig. A carefree-sounding narrator greeted me. “Welcome to Journey Rock Band!” He read from a script, sounding like he had no idea what he was reading - could have been Winnie the Pooh for all he knew – in fact, the landscaped pavilion was very Winnie the Pooh. But no, he read out the interminable story of Journey’s journey to fame and fortune.

The fact that only excerpts of Journey songs were played over the speakers, like an itunes snippet, shows that this whole project is just one big marketing scheme. Not sure what else I expected…One of the best art exhibitions I ever saw was a recreation, in a gallery, of a teenage boy’s bedroom from the 70s. Visitors stood around chuckling and sighing in familiarity over the artifacts of a seventies childhood. Perhaps in Journey Rock Band I’d rather see a high school gymnasium filled with braces-wearing, mullet sporting avatars-as-teenagers. That would be something to see.

No, the book did not contain any lyrics, or pages for that matter

Versailles

2008-02-01T15:15:00.000-08:00

Pretending I'm Kirsten Dunst at Versailles. Fencing, chess, and attentive French palace guards who chuckle while they shoot.

Who are you?

2008-01-26T07:08:00.000-08:00

My friend Achariya posted an entry about how she tends to maintain an association with her real life appearance…With so many creative possibilities and original intentions to explore the world as a furry or dragon, I’m surprised that I’ve tended to stick with a conventional self. I have a folder full of furry avatars but have I pulled them out yet? What you see is what you get – sans wrinkles and a few gray hairs, eyebrows nicely plucked, blue eyes instead of brown depending on mood...hmm...

There are a plethora of phd candidates out there working on theses related to avatar preferences. Who would you choose to be?

Ultimate Frontier

2008-01-21T16:54:00.000-08:00

For a tethered-in-real-life adventurer like myself, sl provides ample escape. Privateer Island is vast and fascinating and will ensure carpal tunnel syndrome in my typist. Created by Aley Arai, it’s an environment that includes, in a nutshell, a future earth that has been scorched into a desert, as well as space stations and surprising mysterious portals.

Teleporting there, with my pal Yireh, I found myself on a space station and was asked almost immediately to don a space suit. We hopped into a shuttle and toppled off immediately into an asteroid belt. Though compelled to travel up I navigated down towards a distant outpost and landed gently on one of four docks. The dark starry surroundings and hulking metal structure overhead would have made me feel bleak and lonely if it weren’t for Yireh, who conjures up a sort of Pig Pen swirl of energy wherever he goes. The outpost floats delicately on one leg that serves as the elevator into a series of round pods that balance, erector-set-like.

Our boots echoed along the bracing of the first passage. We opened a heavy door to reveal a most unexpected and beautiful art deco interior. We had reached the “Hotell New California”, a point of respite for the traveler, complete with sleeping nooks and a bathroom. I felt energized and giddy, eager to open every door and to spend time taking in the narrative of the place. Unfortunately, my adventure stopped right there. Yireh, being a bit of a rambunctious fellow, managed to accidentally-on-purpose drop a bomb and got himself banned from the island. Fair enough - Privateer Island deserves utmost respect.

Privateer Island: (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Privateer%20Space/141/127/639)

Next time: chess in Versailles