Nexeus Fatale, DJ Extraordinaire, has hit upon a great way to give back to the community. His 'DJ For a Cause' mission is to donate his DJ services to anyone, individual or organization, who fits the requirements: Their event must be philanthropic in nature (such as fund raising) and has to embody the Holiday theme of giving to others.
I see this as a great way to promote SL's philanthropic nature, which is embodied in its residents. These days, most of the press goes to sensational events, and not enough to the altruism that I see so often in-world. Nexeus is on the right track with this, and hopes that others will follow this example. You can read more of this here.
Carl Linnaeus is a personal hero of mine (and probably every other biologist in the world). He's responsible for developing the structures of taxonomy in biology, the thing that makes humans Homo sapiens sapiens, and the MRSA a multi-drug resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus. The Swedish Embassy in SL is expanding its presence and activities with a permanent exhibition about this famous citizen, which will be inaugurated with an event on Friday (November 2nd) with a couple of competitions (best 18th Century costume, build a plant) with cash prizes as well as information books in a variety of languages. Read more about it on their website.
If you're not sure who Stephen Fry is, can I direct your attention to his blog and his wikipedia page. He's a quite famous comedic and serious actor, appearing in Blackadder amongst other famous shows, and he's also famous for his erudition as the host of QI.
I've been a fan of his blog, which is relatively new, and his "blessays" and "blisertations" - his blog is not something to skim quickly, but is clever, fun, and interesting as well as blogging his life as an early adopter of technology - something dear to the hearts of many of us.
I have the thinnest of excuses for posting this. In his latest entry (also printed in the Guardian on Saturday) he admits to having a private existence in SL too. I'm not going to try to expose him further than this, but to say a public hello to him.
When you live in San Francisco, every day is Halloween. I've had this holiday sneak up on me so fast my head spins like Linda Blair's. So it was with some pleased surprise that I found the house shown above, and wanted to share it with you all 'cause you're just so swell. Believe me, this shot does not do it justice. I won't link without permission, though, so if the owner is reading this, drop us a comment!
With that said, October 31st is coming, and I know some of you are planning parties in SL to celebrate it. Some of you are even decorating especially for the holiday. Let's see what you got!
If you have a build you'd like to receive some attention, send me your SLurl and I'll come get some shots and post them here. I believe there are many great things in SL that most people never get to see, and that's a damned shame. So this is my contribution to builder culture; send me your stuff!
[UPDATE: Turns out this is the infamous Bates Motel; how could I not recognize it? It was built by Furiae Blackthorne, and many thanks indeed!)
I'm quite a fan of 2 of the 3 CSI shows, and the games offered here (there should be more to come) work quite nicely. You do have to wonder if the shows would be as compelling if all the clues were highlighted when you arrived though. For those of us outside the US, the fact that one of the mysteries ties in directly to tonight's show might be a bit tricky unless we manage to download a copy of it from somewhere. Is CBS sure that's what it wants?
The game play uses video streaming to relay information about the clues and interviews with the suspects, but there is a text sidebar too for those, like me, that struggle to hear what's going on. The text is rather slow to load though, sadly.
It was a fun way to spend 20 minutes. I guess it will take longer than that for the expected hordes of newbie CSI fans though, as they also try to get used to moving around in SL. It will be interesting to see how many convert to long term users after this, but they will use a fair amount of SL skills, so they might.
I've never been to New York, but exploring New York virtually on this scale was fun!
Oh, if you use their viewer, you can't right click the CSI toolbar - but you can in a normal viewer. This is to stop newbies getting lost and detaching them by mistake according to one of their greeters, but it's annoying if you're used to SL.
Abraham Lincoln that is. The Alliance Libraries have secured funding for a "Land of Lincoln" immersive sim that will recreate Lincoln's birthplace, his Springfield house (please resist comments about Bart!) and will also look at his White House time.
This new area will run on a similar basis the Renaissance Island which looks at Tudor England, and is inhabited by volunteers who largely dress and talk in appropriate period style, as well as having the period setting. Land of Lincoln is still at the planning stage, if you would like to be involved please join the google group for discussion.
As Akela previously indicated, a new book on Second Life's virtual community is scheduled to be published in the spring by Princeton University Press. U.C. Irvine Professor Tom Boellstorff presents "Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human". His experience in SL as avatar Tom Bukowski has culminated in a promising introduction to the culture developed in this novel space. Through the involvement of the community in preparing his book for print, he has shown an appreciation for the creativity of Second Life residents and displayed a deep respect for the existing social guidelines.
Read on to find out how the cover art for the book was chosen.
Hugh Hancock, coiner of the term "machinima", sent me this tidbit about his production company, Strange Company, premiering their feature film cut of their BloodSpell series. BloodSpell is a punk fantasy action-adventure movie filmed in NeverWinter Nights that has been written up by the BBC, the Guardian, Suicide Girls, Boing Boing, USA Today, and a slew of others. For those of you keeping tabs on machinima, there aren't many feature-length films produced in this medium.
That's why he's inviting everyone to be a part of the screening that will take place on Hathead Island on Sunday, October 21st, at 11am PDT, or 7pm GMT. There will be interviews, a special intro, and tons of awesome extras. After the screening, keep your eyes peeled for an interview here on Second Life Insider! Hope to see you there.
* I almost forgot to include a disclaimer about the violence that appears in this film. When I premiered the final episode of the series some time ago, many in the audience complained of the gore. Keep in mind that it's just pixels. If you have a strong stomach, come on over!
When awoman named Thursday finds out she is going to be reincarnated as Tuesday, her attempt to cheat the cycle of reincarnation unleashes a terrible beauty that leaves the other days of the week in turmoil.
Thursday's Fictions, a 52 minute surreal dance fantasy film with Edwardian Gothic stylings, has won three awards, has been a finalist for four more (and the book for the Kenneth Slessor Prize), and is tonight a finalist for "Best Experimental" at the 2007 Enhance TV ATOM Awards, taking place in the Plaza Ballroom, Regent Theatre, Collins St in Melbourne, Australia.
In the mode of 'Any publicity is good publicity', we have popular webcomic Diesel Sweeties throwing out the standard poke at SL involving Furry sex. Fortunately, the character who said it gets his in the end, so I feel avenged (and I've never liked that guy anyway). But it does make me wonder. I've never seen a reference to There.com or Active Worlds or Kaneva in a webcomic. So is it actually true that if you're big enough to lampoon, you've arrived? Is there a way to take that happily?
Literature Alive! (disclosure: I am an owner of this group and have been involved in these developments) is running two events over the next few days.
On Saturday at 8am SL Time students from De Sales University will be judged on their material for the "Literature of the Progressive Era" display in a funfair on land contributed by Finger Lakes Community College. From tomorrow you can judge which of the elements you find meets the criteria best - you are not judging the build (most of it is bought from in-world or created by people other than the students), but the content in terms of how well it teaches you about the era in question - a era of significant social change. You have the chance to vote for the best group, who will win a RL cash prize and leave feedback for the groups via an anonymous web-form.
Literature Alive! has also converted the British Gothic Literature classroom into a haunted house, with some help (and extra prims for a while) from out hostess, the Alliance Library, on Eduisland 3. As well as giving you the chance to learn more about gothic literature and the British authors, there is a hidden red cauldron. Find this to win a small L$ prize. There are other games and activites too, and no commercial activity, just fun for Halloween.
The rhetoric of Art is fascinating to me, and always a little beyond my understanding. My understanding of the Triglav exhibit is imperfect at best, but it centers around the three instances of the depiction of a three-headed being, itself a commentary upon Slovenia's Mount Triglav, which translates as 'three heads'.
You can find the explication of the 'controversies and problems' of this exhibit at its site, but more to the point, Noema, the digital art gallery, has created an area in SL that provides several photos of the Triglav exhibit, as well as old black-and-white footage of a showing in actual Slovenia itself. Go with a friend, and discuss among yourselves what it all means. Like all good art, it inspires and provokes.
Zak Claxton was a man with a lot of space on his hands, and nothing to do with it all. Exploring in-world a bit, he discovered there was no Neil Young-related content, so he made it his mission to develop some. The result is as you see in this gallery: the Neil Young Archive, a gorgeous homey build featuring information about the Canadian American and all of his musical endeavors.
The Archive features every album cover of every group Neil's ever been in, as well as faithful replicas of his instruments, and a stage upon which Zak and friends play Neil's music. Zak writes "It's not the most impressive build in SL; hell, it's probably not the best build in my sim. But from fans of Neil Young, I've received boatloads of compliments. Because of the parcel being featured on several Neil Young fan sites, I've had 10-20 people join SL specifically to check it out and hang out there." You couldn't ask for more than that. Go check the place out!
Mashup Islander, or Christopher Dodds in real life, unveils connections between literature and real-time 3D art through his virtual moiré sculptures. His exhibit opened recently among a sea of enthusiastic visitors who immediately began exploring the interactive pieces. You may experience the work yourself on Info Island until November 15th, 2007.
Many thanks to Daruma Picnic, Elizabeth Rookwood, and Rookie Voyager for showing me around!
Kirk Claymore and Maddox Dupont, of KMADD ENTERPRISES, are providing a much needed service for men in Second Life. Tonight, at 7:30 pm PDT, they are opening their new sim, Kmadd Enterprise, to the public. In the sim, you can find men's shapes, skins, and clothing from over 35 designers in one convenient spot! Previously, guys had to travel all over the grid to get their shopping done.
In addition to housing menswear, there will be a Center for the Arts, where SL artists can showcase their work. If you can't get enough of a fix tonight, they will be holding a fashion show tomorrow, October 14th, at 5pm PDT. I encourage the ladies to bring a few male friends, or alts, along, and I hope to see everyone there!
Nexeus Fatale, DJ Extraordinaire, has hit upon a great way to give back to the community. His 'DJ For a Cause' mission is to donate his DJ services to anyone, individual or organization, who fits the requirements: Their event must be philanthropic in nature (such as fund raising) and has to embody the Holiday theme of giving to others.
If you're not sure who Stephen Fry is, can I direct your attention to 
I'm quite a fan of 2 of the 3 CSI shows, and the games offered here (there should be more to come) work quite nicely. You do have to wonder if the shows would be as compelling if all the clues were highlighted when you arrived though. For those of us outside the US, the fact that one of the mysteries ties in directly to tonight's show might be a bit tricky unless we manage to download a copy of it from somewhere. Is CBS sure that's what it wants?
Abraham Lincoln that is. The Alliance Libraries have secured funding for a "Land of Lincoln" immersive sim that will recreate Lincoln's birthplace, his Springfield house (please resist comments about Bart!) and will also look at his White House time.
Hugh Hancock, coiner of the term "machinima", sent me this tidbit about his production company, 
