Upstairs Downstairs

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

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

“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...

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.

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!

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

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!