Tuesday 30 June 2009

Control

I have a good friend (Bill Ellis) who did a great image on a T-shirt showing a chair turned upside down.

Under, it read, "Guilty Of Art", which was a slogan I used in conversation with him at a time when we founded Pullit, an art collective in the early 90's, (subsequently closed by the authorities.)

This came to mind reading Botgirl's blog where she brings up this question of protection of children, far more clearly than I ever could, (no surprise there).

I was taught at college that the politics of power normally goes, broadly (understanding that there are all shades of grey between black and white), that the Right Wing is fearful of the Mob while the Left Wing is fearful of the Individual. Following on from this it is necessary for governments (and here I include LL in this grouping as they are a governing body) to curb the power of Individuals and Mobs as much as they can.

Protection of children and "homeland security" are just two very good excuses used for curbing of civil liberties, as to disagree with these lofty principles would be like siding with paedophiles and terrorists.

Now the reason I mentioned Bill Ellis' T-shirt is because there is something innately anarchistic about art, artists, designers,... in fact the whole creative process.

Mob and Individual are what built SL and the Internet. Neither was created by respecting traditional values, they are in essence revolutionary.

Revolutionary Councils, when they take power, have as their main aim... to stop further revolution, thus becoming Institutional Hypocrites.

But when those in power, whether it be the Australian government or our own LL government, try to control the uncontrollable there are only two outcomes.... one is that they fail, and the other is that they fail.

The creative anarchy of the human condition is revolutionary and irrepressible.

If LL stifles SL in its feeble attempts to control ("clean up"..."protect children"....etc) it will merely be sponsoring OpenSim. If the Australian government thinks it can censor the Internet.....hahahaha.........fools.

We are all Guilty of Art, and proud of it, it's in the genome.

:)))

Friday 26 June 2009

The Little Prince vs. The King

Second Lifers, maybe more than many others, should have some idea of just how complex the human psyche is. Avatars, Alts and Humans all displaying different nuances of the same being. No surprise then when the personna (your job, status,standing in the world) is at odds other parts of the psyche.

Michael Jackson had, probably, very bad luck finding fame and fortune at such a young age. This exaltation of the personna to King status is surely a tricky situation for anyone to handle, most of Jung's clients were rich and famous, successful people who had lost some part of themselves when the personna dominated and stifled the psyche.

This doesn't explain why some find the loss of innocence so difficult to handle. Many people lose their childhoods and don't necessarily spend their whole lives trying to re-find it. We are all thrown out of Paradise and have to cope. The combination of his Peter Pan complex and this extreme fame, however, made it impossible for him to accept.

The world is always poorer when someone dies and our own mortality rears its threatening head, but we can also thank the gods that we have been entertained, enriched and enlightened by great artists and sponsors (MJ sponsored some great video artists, musicians etc) and enjoy their contribution to our culture.

Seen in this way MJ was a great cultural icon, his anger and sorrow at the state of the world was funnelled into a massively creative body of work.

His creativity even extending to his face and colour in a way that avatars understand..... altho the RL success of this particular venture is questionable.

One of my very favourite sayings is Bhudda's Diamond Sutra "goodness is just another name" ......these words could just as easily be paraphrased......"it don't matter if you're black or white."

I wrote recently..." I am totally disinterested in whether the artist is a fascist mass-murderer or saint." and I stand by that.

byeee xxxx

:))

Thursday 25 June 2009

A good night out.




Dancing the Lime Jelly with Ceorl, Daveypup, Betty, Morgoth, and Delphina....




...with Crazod giving us an example of flora that escaped SL6B's regulated biodomes...

Now thats what I call Art.

:))

Tuesday 23 June 2009

SL6B.



This is my latest piece, its called Asteroid Indigenous Flora and is on show at SL6B on my plot .....here

So pop over if you are in the neighbourhood..:))

:))

Monday 22 June 2009

Aurakyo Insoo... a last chance to see....

Aura, like a lot of us, is finding SL a very expensive hobby. She is closing her land on the 28th ...so its a last chance to see her builds in place.
Luckily we won't be losing her.
Aura, for those of you who don't know her work is a great sculptor and texture artist. Her builds are thoughtful and well built and definitely worth a visit.
Her textures are a treat.







These two are from a tiny part of her build called Temple of Hearts Laughing...




...this one small image from Inner Garden




...and this beautiful piece is one of many things to see and enjoy at !Gitano Park

Do pop along if you can....you will enjoy it more than SL6B which opens tomorrow....:))


:))

Saturday 20 June 2009

Goats in the machine, or pizza....

Hmmm, well, i was in the middle of selling some stuff when I got thrown out along with 50,000 other people, wow, LL sure knows how to treat its customers....and couldn't get back in, it's no wonder I'm a bit pissed with LL at the moment...still I guess it's loads better than it used to be, in the good old days.

Got in eventually, sent, bald, to the Grey Party as my region was as available as a Utility Company call line (on hold).
Korea, well, why not, never been here before.....south korea hopefully....

After all, LL bombed, so I shouldn't need to be....?



Not really much point tho when you can't tp anywhere, or find your hair...(In the good old days you knew exactly where your hair was...:))))

So while I was waiting there...this came up on chat....
[15:38] Mommy-to-be Hallie Torricelli: 's baby is due in: 35 week(s) 6 day(s) 6 hour(s) 43 minute(s)
and, I'm sorry to say, I find it all rather sick. I know people have children in their invents etc, but I can't help thinking its just sad.
It seems to me there's enough people in RL who have children for the wrong reasons, (like status and to complete the "happy life" picture) I just don't feel good about it even tho I know it's a free world......it's like an Object... doesn't feel right.




Went round to see Aliz's new commission build last night and, standing under 4 meters of water, the word immersed was appropriate for once.....:))))

Well up to her high standards.

and....got an early night as everyone was still offline, figured I might as well....

:)))

Friday 19 June 2009

clarification ... SL6B and institutionalised urbanism

If you are not a regular reader of these pages then my post on SL6B may have caused some confusion, and, reflecting on what I wrote (as I do), I decided some further clarity was needed.

My lecture at the LandExpo was meant to show, politely but clearly (questionable, in the end, how clearly the point came across) that, compared to the energy and manpower that has gone into the development of avatars from the duck-footed Ruth to the current day, Flora has been left a bit on the side-lines.

3 photos on a stick still is the current offering in the Library to newcomers as “tree” whereas all manner of dodgy avatar costumes are provided.

Second Life has a bias towards the urban sprawl, and Public Works sees the provision of roads, for example, as an improvement to the environment.... Bay City is another poor example, the assumption being that Mock Human housing is what is needed.

So...we come to SL6B.
An asteroid where vegetation should be caged... Flora is secondary in Second Life (at best). The ‘story so far’ could just have easily involved the destruction of all biospheres as suggested by Barney, or the terraforming of the asteroid shortly after its colonisation. Escaped plant species could have morphed and colonised the entire surface, leaving little space for buildings...
Any number of alternative stories could have been envisaged where Flora was not relegated to glass jails, but, they weren’t (envisaged).

Why? Well...this is where I shouted “stupid”, (to clarify), because this nonsense is so ingrained in LL that it is “institutionalised urbanism”.

Now, for 4 million or so years we survived very well on this planet as a species without roads, dodgy architecture, in harmony, more or less, with the natural world.
This connection with nature is deep in our individual and collective unconscious, thats obvious. Not in SL tho. Thats the stupid part.

Stupid not to use vegetation as an important part of the SL experience, but to relegate it to second best, symbolised by the caging of plants at the sixth birthday.

Six years and still no real change in attitude to Flora.

:))

Thursday 18 June 2009

SL6B.... nearly there....

Well, having thrown all my toys out of my pram, I knuckled down and played by the stupid "narrative" rules. My build is mediocre and probably not worth a visit unless I get inspired.

Seems to me tho that "presence" (according to Frank Biocca) is not really dependant only on surroundings (if it was, LL could do with providing a better terrain texture...like something that resembled rock, for example.).

"Presence" is what most of the rest of the world call that feeling of "being there" (immersive is a term used in SL mainly, from what I have seen)....and, as a book can be immersive, and as not one single sim in SL is NOT immersive, its one of those misuses of words that annoys me no end. Like narrative not meaning "having a story"...eeek. It reminds me of Newspeak... the Ministry of Peace being the War Department.

Hype and Spin are really just lies. Well, thats how I was brought up, anyway.

Anyway, having thrown a paddy and apologised to Toxic for criticising his English (seems like he was not proposing an engagement between my build and my visitors) I have built some glass panels, and taking Barney's advice (thx...xxx) built a broken bio-dome (still a waste of prims I think)....

Still really its my fault cos to box in a bit of landscape is weird, and as I'm principally a landscape artist, I should have just said no.... oh well...you live and learn.

Otherwise, I'm still grappling with plaster in RL, and filler and ceramic clay...I'm building my first RL soror Nishi tree ... it'll take ages, but it's fun, (and small)... will post photo when I get that far.

...and I finished my 79th ancient...its called Asteroid Indigenous Flora, it was built partly because Alexander needed another tree to go with the Chemistree and the Steam funk Tree to make a trio for his land, and..... cos it fits in with SL6B I planted it there.......but its a bit sqeezed in on that small site....so if you want to go see its in Moldorf where it has some room to breathe...

:))

Tuesday 16 June 2009

SL6B stupidity

Now, I am very aware that I could be accused of always complaining...:)).... but

I applied to LL to get a spot at SL6B, even tho I had been thoroughly underwealmed but what I managed to see last year partly due to the lag, partly due to the art ghetto nature of it all.

I thought it would be good to get my stuff out and about.... and, even tho I knew landscaping without megas would be tricky...I went for it.

I got a plot, 2048 m2...not bad.....400+ prims...(a bit mean, I thought, I had 750 at LandExpo)... still...I got on with my job.

My plot and my application were called/are called...Flora Virtua Exotica. I got on with it and only managed to offend one Important Person in the first 5 minutes of being there... (I simply asked in chat what the story was with the ugly, out-of-focus terrain texture.....lol..... in actual fact...it is worth going just to see this tex)..

so, today I got this notecard...

"Hi all .. to paraphrase the welcome newsletter:

800 Light Years away we are spiraling through outer space on a Meteor disovered by Space Explorer Ghorman Dallier in 2499 while searching for new worlds to inhabit! Although we're too far away from the sun to see it and any flora has to be kept in an AEC (Artificial Environment Chamber.) we still know how to throw a party!

This means that woodlands settings and overt garden environments must be housed. As you can see, dotted around the SL6B sims are various types of biodomes and housing for plants and vegetation.

We really want visitors to be able to enjoy an immersive experience, so we'd like everyone to adhere to this policy.

While we don't we don't want to have to become the garden police, we will be asking you to add this theming to your exhibit if you don't already have it.

We have a great looking SL6B so far, and these finishing touches will bring the immersive nature of The Rock to life and will engage visitors to your exhibits.

Thanks for understanding and for building us such a great set of exhibits!

Best,

The SL6B Team"

Hmmmm.... well... try building a bio-dome with no Megas and only 400 prims.....what is a girl to do? Immersive, narrative (or not, maybe Concept?)... I actually most felt like screaming. I am amazed at this and so totally frustrated at the sheer stupidity of it all.....

oh, well...I did try............SL6B is maybe not such a good idea after all.

:))

PS..." engage visitors to your exhibits" is pretty weird english

Sunday 14 June 2009

epiSTEMS










These are all taken at Snowy's place....see below for SLURL.

:))

Snowy Hoobinoo

http://snowyhoobinoo.blogspot.com/2009/06/and-so-it-starts.html

Welcome and all respect to Snowy...as his post details he has started on that difficult path of trying to pay tier on a regular basis.

There are so few, Snowy, Pixi, Jedda and of course others who make the occasional plant, and me... a small group of people trying to breed and rear Indigenous Virtual Flora. Snowy is a real asset and we look forward to seeing what else grows in his nursery.

You can tp directly here and enjoy the colours and shapes.

Welcome.

:))

Saturday 13 June 2009

The Trouble with Linden Labs.

Well, the Art World will no doubt breath a sigh of relief that I have stopped, temporarily, expounding my half-baked theories of What Is Wrong With Art Today, not because I have run out of things to say (surprised?) but because having already alienated my builder friends by telling them how much I dislike Mock Reality Housing for Mock Humans, and I am in danger of alienating the few Art orientated friends I have left. There are already places where I am as welcome as a Mexican with a cough, i.e. Caerleon....but, hey, ...there 28,000 sims out there...:))

No, today, I was asked to participate in a survey. Pink Linden and Colossus have sent me a survey to fill out, and, tho I don't have a brain the size of a small planet, I do spend more time In-World than most Lindens, (well, I do before the grass court season starts) ...so I am happy to help.

This survey was designed to find out how they can get the likes of me to sell stuff thro XL Street (or whatever its currently called) so they can get a bigger share of the little business I do. Fair enough, market research is almost like "listening to the community" except, of course, you are restricted in the answers you give. ...e.g.... when they ask "how much do you spend on advertising ("Classifieds") you have have to say Zero, rather than "as much as LL"....smart-alec remarks aren't allowed.

So, some questions, like.. how can we sell you more land?... you have the opportunity to say "Other"...then elaborate..."lower tier"...well.......they haven't worked that out yet, then I am pleased to help...after all they are probably mainly geeks. Funny that they still use the word "sell"...they really have come to believe their own hype. This is a common problem.....for, tho I am a Marketing Idiot (tongue-in-cheek is a permanent fixture with me), compared to some...the Marketing Geniuses start to believe their own Hype, and then, whether you are Hyping formalism or land sales....you lose track of fact.

But....bare with me dear reader there is a point to this little tale...... some parts, one in particular in this particular survey, do not allow you to slip past or say "other"... This particular part made me list, in order of importance a set of criteria that I believed would help the retail process.

By this point my interest level had fallen to approx. minus 190%.... so...I could just throw the whole thing in the bin...or lie. I didn't have the option to say..."this interests me less than Gordon Brown".... I had to comply. So I lied.

Now....here we come to the interesting part of this tale (IF there is one!) because....surveys produce false statistics. False statistics produce Policy. Policy gets Implemented and Linden Labs continually fixes Things That Aren't Broken.

So...thats the Trouble With Linden Labs.... :))) Scientific Survey Statisics steeped in stupidity are called "listening to the community"... DUH! read a few blogs and comments instead!!

Give us scalable mega prims, give us shadows, give us flexible sculpties ....advertise SL in RL ... lower tier.... stop fannying around.... any one of those would be cool......with the amount of (my) money they have ...all of them are possible.


:))

Thursday 11 June 2009

Art

Hmmm.. well.. I am not really very qualified or educated in the current terminology and theory of art to make any extremely salient comments on art as it is presently "understood", but.... (hehhehee).... I tend to state my case even when my views are as welcome as a mole on a golf green.

I saw a piece of art last night (and hope that the maker does not mind me singling out this experience for purposes of illumination, if he does...tough) and it was a piece I may have enjoyed if it had been in RL, it was made of lead and feathers and butterflies.... I MIGHT have enjoyed the MATERIAL nature of the piece..... I thought it rather corny.

The thing is that in SL there are, as far as I can see...only.... Texture, Shape, Script and Composition.

If one or two of these elements are outstanding, I will enjoy the piece, and gain something from the experience.

If the only thing the piece has going for it is "concept"...i.e. some half-baked pseudo-philosophical bullshit.....I will get really irritated.

There is nothing wrong with PRETTY.

My eyes should be able to enjoy the experience and my mind take enough for its own amusement....(without an "explanation").

I have no interest in questions like "and what do you think the artist was thinking ......?" any more than I am interested in what colour shirt the artist was wearing.. when he/she made the piece. I am totally disinterested in whether the artist is a fascist mass-murderer or saint.

It is surely the Product we are (re)viewing. In RL it would be materials, technique, composition, that please me or otherwise, but these criteria are, I would suggest slightly different in SL, as I have said .....being...Texture, Shape, Script and Composition.

Context... I also believe to be important...i.e. I am viewing this in SL...does the piece take advantage of this or is it simply a piece based on RL criteria?

No "concept" (which is normally quite stereotypical and superficially philosophical, i.e. no real understanding) is gonna make me forgive poor texture, boring shaped, unscripted pretension.

Ugly is ugly as I have said before, and "clever" ugly is still not something I wanna spend my time with....dumb ugly makes me fume.

:))

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Talk by Soror Nishi at LandExpo...

OK, so this is the chat log of my talk....slightly chaotic, but thats Slife...:))

[14:03] soror Nishi: Hi...:))
[14:03] Nadir Taov: hello :)
[14:03] Mellifera Szondi: hello!
[14:03] Betsy Linden: Hi Soror
[14:03] soror Nishi: I'm soror and I am the next "turn"...:))
[14:03] Kirstyn Meredith: hello :)
[14:03] Teresa Weatherwax: hello Sonor
[14:03] Betsy Linden: Nadir, mellifera
[14:03] soror Nishi: This talk will be carried out in text Chat only..
[14:03] Aiko Serrao: i believe you are the coloud
[14:03] Mellifera Szondi: oh..okies
[14:03] Aiko Serrao: clloud
[14:03] ReSoarces Andel: OK
[14:04] Joppa Linden: i hope i'm not sitting on someone
[14:04] soror Nishi: is everyone near enough to hear?
[14:04] Nadir Taov: sorry i can't see a thing here! ))
[14:04] Al Supercharge: anyone know "The Indigenous Flora of Second Life" with soror Nishi Wed, June 10, 2pm – 3pm is ?
[14:04] Joppa Linden: let us know when you start talking and we'll know if we can hear you.. hehe
[14:04] Teresa Weatherwax: Im sorry but I cant hear you Soror
[14:05] pao Homewood: i can't hear too
[14:05] soror Nishi: anyone at the back??
[14:05] Al Supercharge: Soror ur not setup for voice
[14:05] soror Nishi: are you getting this chat??
[14:05] soror Nishi: This talk will be carried out in text Chat only.
[14:05] Mellifera Szondi: I think you need to shout it
[14:05] ReSoarces Andel: YES
[14:06] Joppa Linden: aha.. in that case i don't need voice on :)
[14:06] Gambino Amsterdam: yes its cool
[14:06] Kirstyn Meredith: soror you might have to shout or use a mic since it's corners of 4 regions
[14:07] Vanillitavia Hellershanks: /ao off
[14:07] soror Nishi: OK
[14:07] soror Nishi: well, i'm going with this...:)) hopefully its OK
[14:07] Garrett Ceriano: ok
[14:08] soror Nishi: excuse my back...some og you...":))
[14:08] soror Nishi: I will not take the time to introduce myself and what I do, those of you who don't know me can find out easily afterwards..... basically I landscape :))
[14:08] soror Nishi: so.....
[14:09] soror Nishi: In the beginning the grid was created.
[14:09] soror Nishi: The decision was taken to separate the sky from the sea and the land rose out of the sea.
[14:09] soror Nishi: Sun and moon were created.
[14:09] soror Nishi: This was not the only possibility, but the way that was deemed to be the most useful.
[14:10] soror Nishi: This gave rise to a number of consequent decisions,and to the path of Mock Reality which, then as now, influences so many design choices of both LL and the individual players and creators in Second Life.
[14:10] soror Nishi: Ruth arose from the pixelated dust at the Virtual Dawn of Time, a flying being who walked like a duck but looked like a Human.
[14:10] Mellifera Szondi: omg...ruth!.
[14:10] Zaphod Theas: RIP RUTH grhs.
[14:11] soror Nishi: This sketch shows, in a limited manner, the evolution of Ruth and the almost obvious way she and her kind have developed. It is not an exhaustive or scholarly diagram, I have neither the information or the anthropological interest necessary, simply an illustration of growth.
[14:12] Zoya Writer: waiting for the sketch ...... ??
[14:12] Zoya Writer: tah duh .... :)
[14:12] Mellifera Szondi: ✯*¨¨*✯◑◑ GASP ◑◑✯*¨¨*✯
[14:12] soror Nishi: sorry
[14:13] soror Nishi: rezzing is a bit slow
[14:13] soror Nishi: :))
[14:13] soror Nishi: This, I would suggest, is a “Natural Development” of an idea. This is how things develop. A core idea/creation is accepted as the starting point and, through constant “customisation”, branches develop which are more or less successful.
[14:13] soror Nishi: Now there are all sorts of things you could learn from thinking about this, but it would go beyond the scope of this talk to venture into, for example, the poor Architectural provision of the multi-species inhabited environment.
[14:14] soror Nishi: The diversity of species living in Second life, if history is to be understood, is likely to grow no matter how much the Establishment concentrates on Mock Human lifestyles and housing.
[14:14] soror Nishi: and the same I believe to be true with Flora
[14:14] soror Nishi: So, with these thoughts as a preamble...I would like to talk about Flora Virtua Exotica.
[14:15] soror Nishi: our native flora
[14:15] soror Nishi: When the Olympian programmers and designers had finished with Ruth...they turned their attention to the flora of SL. ...
[14:15] soror Nishi: well, maybe they had run out of time or energy or...interest, (?) maybe they were mostly city folk.
[14:16] Mellifera Szondi: lmao
[14:16] Ali Akami: hehe
[14:16] soror Nishi: They stuck 3 photos together at 120 degrees and called it a flower.
[14:16] soror Nishi: The first trees were simply 3 photos stuck on the top of a stick.
Then the stick got a flexible script....and thats how most of Second Life have remained to this day.
6 years development has passed the main (mass) Flora by.
[14:16] Zaphod Theas: ★ '||' ||''|| '||' ★
[14:16] Zaphod Theas: ★ .II..I II..II .II..I ★
[14:16] Zaphod Theas: :)
[14:17] Zoya Writer: wow
[14:17] Zoya Writer: :)
[14:17] Milolin Spore whispers: 6 years that's pretty long time
[14:17] soror Nishi: When I arrived in SL, just before sculpties were made available two years ago, I was lucky enough to meet the man who made this.
[14:18] soror Nishi: still rezzzing no doubt
[14:18] Joppa Linden: yup
[14:18] soror Nishi: His name was Kaltusaran Moonsoo.
[14:19] soror Nishi: ....and this changed the course of my Second Life, but that is personal biography, charted in my blog.
Flora became my main interest,
[14:19] Joppa Linden: oh wow.. here it comes
[14:19] Mellifera Szondi: =^.^= PurRRrrRzzzZZZ =^.^=
[14:19] Mellifera Szondi: ~Melli PurrZZzz with PleAsUre~
[14:19] soror Nishi: the problrem with replicating RL trees is obvious really
[14:20] soror Nishi: trees have 100,000 leaves
[14:20] soror Nishi: so abstaraction is the only way forward
[14:20] Ali Akami: and they all fall in my back yard
[14:20] soror Nishi: or photos on sticks..:))
[14:20] Joppa Linden: text
[14:20] soror Nishi: :)))
[14:20] Franchella Milena: is there voice or just text?
[14:21] soror Nishi: text
[14:21] soror Nishi: There aren’t that many people involved in the development of Flora in Second Life, compared , for example, to clothes makers.
[14:21] Franchella Milena: Thanks!
[14:21] soror Nishi: There are a few different directions that the development of Flora has taken over this past two years, and I would like to show you some, to give you a taste of what, I believe, will become more commonplace.
[14:21] Teresa Weatherwax: wow that is cool looking Soror
[14:22] soror Nishi: These are three methods of depicting a more "indigenous" flora for Virtual Worlds.
[14:22] soror Nishi: 1) The total abstraction of the tree or flower shape into a feeling of movement.
[14:23] soror Nishi: This piece is by White Lebed, one of our best “prim benders”. She has sought to capture the beauty of Natures ‘lines’ without resorting to copying exact shapes.
[14:24] soror Nishi: 2) The scripting of alpha-textured prims to allow movement to dominate.
[14:24] soror Nishi: This piece by Glyph Graves shows how unfolding and blossoming as action give us the feeling of nature, again, with no attempt to copy.
[14:24] luce Laval is Online
[14:25] soror Nishi: 3) The use of particles to denote the multiple nature of the flower, or tree.
[14:25] soror Nishi: Many builders use particles and forgo the attempt to imitate , but give the impression of movement and multiplicity, growth and blossoming, like this piece by Jopsy Pendragon.
[14:26] soror Nishi: and...there are, of course all sorts of combinations of these techiques.
[14:26] soror Nishi: hopefully those are rezzing Ok for you
[14:26] Ali Akami: yup
[14:26] Pell Juran: yes and they are fantastic
[14:26] Aiko Serrao: it's awesome soror
[14:26] Nadir Taov: spectacular
[14:27] soror Nishi: yes...three talented builders
[14:27] soror Nishi: Now, a lot of things will change when flexible sculpties and shadows finally arrive.
[14:28] soror Nishi: Firstly, flowers made with flexible sculpted prims will be the most ‘realistic’ flora to ever hit Second Life. They will be flowers that cast shadows and sway gently in the breeze.
[14:28] Ali Akami: any time frame on that?
[14:28] soror Nishi: we hope
[14:28] soror Nishi: hmmm....on their way i believe
[14:28] sensory Hax: le ombre saranno sia per i prims che per gli av?
[14:28] sensory's translator: the shadows will be both for prims that for av?
[14:29] soror Nishi: shadows can be seen already with Kirstens viewer and flexible sculpties are under development
[14:29] soror Nishi: The photo flowers and photos-on-sticks trees will not cast shadows, alphas textures won’t in general.... this will not be seen as a problem initially..... but the fact that they don’t measure up to the new standard set by flowers will soon change peoples view-point.
[14:30] soror Nishi: The diagrams I showed at the beginning of this talk referring to the multiple developments of types of beings is relevant also to the Flora of Virtual Worlds.
[14:30] soror Nishi: We can quite safely predict that flora will develop in similar patterns to the avatar and RL evolutionary models, that is to say that different "branches" of flora will evolve and specialise.
[14:30] soror Nishi: Compared to avatar development little effort is being put into developing flora so changes will take longer to become mainstream. Relatively few prims, grid-wide, are used on Flora.
[14:31] soror Nishi: But, as a means of enhancing an environment and contributing to “presence”, Flora is totally unmatched in efficacy.
[14:31] Ali Akami: mmhmmm
[14:31] soror Nishi: I recommend you think of this when planning your next development or build.
[14:32] sensory Hax: come si può visualizzare ombre soror
[14:32] sensory's translator: as you can see shadows soror
[14:32] sensory Hax: ??
[14:32] sensory's translator: ?
[14:32] soror Nishi: that is the bulk of what I wanted to say, I have also a few thought s on Natural Selection
[14:33] soror Nishi: sensory...IM me...
[14:33] sensory Hax: ((sorry))
[14:33] sensory's translator: ((sorry))
[14:33] Flimsey Freenote is Offline
[14:33] soror Nishi: In SL the spread of a species is very dependent on its prim count
[14:34] soror Nishi: Low prim flowers and, especially mushrooms spread fast
[14:34] soror Nishi: mushrooms are spreading very quickly thro the grid..... this is mainly because they are normally one prim, and present a stong impact in a landscape.
[14:35] soror Nishi: However, longevity may well be determined by totally other factors. I would think that some pieces of Flora will be looked after and guarded for many years, even in the face of "newer" plants. It will be interesting to see.
[14:35] soror Nishi: Maybe a museum would be a good idea?
[14:35] Ali Akami: yes!
[14:35] Muruku Mureaux: And a bonfire
[14:35] Aiko Serrao: like fanstany world ?
[14:35] soror Nishi: Thank you for listening to me.
[14:35] Ali Akami: hehe
[14:35] soror Nishi: :)))
[14:36] Milolin Spore: Questions session?
[14:36] Garrett Ceriano: arboritium
[14:36] soror Nishi: I would be happy to answer questions now, or by IM if that suits you better.
[14:36] soror Nishi: yes
[14:36] soror Nishi: ask away
[14:36] soror Nishi: :))
[14:36] Milolin Spore: If I want to turn off the tree or plants, those prims won't be part of it, right?
[14:36] Ali Akami: soror i have been using the new ,ultifacetted scuplties a lot - do you have any comments or tricks in using them?
[14:37] soror Nishi: milolin...I dont quite understand
[14:37] Kirstyn Meredith: No milolin, that's only Linden plants
[14:37] link: BB I luv ya
[14:38] soror Nishi: ali....building techniques may be a bit specuialised for right now
[14:38] Pell Juran: do particle based flowers put much of a load on the sim or the client?
[14:38] Ali Akami nods
[14:38] Garrett Ceriano: there should be some sort of way for linden labs to make it possible for content creators to make their plants be able to toggle on and off just like linden plants
[14:38] soror Nishi: well...I dont believe so
[14:38] soror Nishi: I have many on my sim and they dont appear to lag much
[14:38] Garrett Ceriano: because if these types of plants begin to spread, as lovely as they are, they will cuase much more lag
[14:39] Pell Juran: thanks
[14:39] Roadkill Parx: This isn't so much of a question as it is a comment - as far as I know Kirsten has stopped supporting/working on her shadow client. The newest SL RC Viewer has experiemental shadows that I think is the most stable of all the shadow viewers.
[14:39] Milolin Spore: Advanced > Rending > turn off those features.
[14:39] soror Nishi: well..I'm sure there are experts here who can answer that better than me
[14:39] soror Nishi: are particles very laggy???
[14:39] Muruku Mureaux: Particles lag only the client
[14:40] soror Nishi: i simply adjust that in my Edit
[14:40] Milolin Spore: Particles does laggy on my side.
[14:40] Roadkill Parx: All depends on how good your graphics card is - you can boost your particle count waaaaay up if you want to.
[14:40] Milolin Spore: Yea
[14:40] sensory Hax nods
[14:40] sensory's translator: / me Nods
[14:40] Nadir Taov: Do you have any suggestions or thoughts about Terrain? I think a lot of the grid is covered with library textures ... is this important factor when selecting the right flora?
[14:40] Garrett Ceriano: well, I have a pretty good graphics card and all is well
[14:40] Muruku Mureaux: But flexi prims are very laggy ... flexi sculpts .... Arrgghhh.
[14:40] soror Nishi: i do have thoughts about terrain
[14:40] soror Nishi: I do not own a whole sim
[14:41] Garrett Ceriano: but one has to think of others that might not be as well equipped, like potential customers etc, you dont want them to crash as they tp in lol
[14:41] soror Nishi: so I am stuck with very poor grass and sand
[14:41] Nadir Taov nods
[14:41] Milolin Spore: Soror, what's address of your sim, can I check it out?
[14:41] Roadkill Parx: Another thing I dont see used much are Oblong Sculpties with plants. You can create a massive amount of leaves, or an entire set of branches in one sculpt - instead of using the regular 32x32 sculpt map, try a 16x64.
[14:41] Garrett Ceriano: look at picks, might be in there
[14:41] soror Nishi: I use large stones and rocks to hide a lot of poor grass
[14:42] soror Nishi: all my places are in my Picks...sorors beach
[14:42] soror Nishi: it would be very nice to have a possible selection of terrain textures
[14:43] soror Nishi: currently you have to own a sim to have that privaledge
[14:43] soror Nishi: :))
[14:43] soror Nishi: I find large ponds help
[14:43] soror Nishi: :))
[14:43] Joppa Linden: (definitely check out her place(s).. a lot there is what i thought SL could blossom into.. such as flora that's indignehous to SL)
[14:43] soror Nishi: :)) thx
[14:43] Joppa Linden: surely :)
[14:44] Ali Akami: there is a new gadgets out that will custom make a sculptie to match any terrain and then you can texture it - it works really well
[14:44] soror Nishi: ahh...that sounds great Ali
[14:44] soror Nishi: very useful
[14:44] Muruku Mureaux: Yes - terrain texture distortion on gradients is terrible.
[14:44] Ali Akami: it is
[14:44] Garrett Ceriano: someone mentioned the RC viewer having supporting shadows? where do i turn them on?
[14:44] Roadkill Parx: Ah yes, I used that in my own sim to make a corner "swampy"
[14:44] Ali Akami: solves all the ground problems
[14:45] Ali Akami: i used it for a beach with SAND
[14:45] Nadir Taov: neat, thanks for that tip Ali
[14:45] Ali Akami: most welcome
[14:45] Roadkill Parx: You can also see that used in the Malady Bog sim, the entire sim is covered with sculpties that "hug" terrain. The texture is a very faint glow overlay of sawgrass that looks great in all times of the day.
[14:45] Muruku Mureaux: Who makes the gadget?
[14:45] soror Nishi: ahhh...thx...thats great
[14:45] Ali Akami: hmmmm i don't rember right now
[14:46] Roadkill Parx: I wish I knew, I had to do some voodoo sculpt tricks and practically choke my brain with math to get it to finally work - I don't think I could do it again myself.
[14:46] Ali Akami: i'll look it up
[14:46] soror Nishi: landscaping doesnt get the attention it deserves....I dont think theres a catagory in the Linden prizes for landscape
[14:46] soror Nishi: it is something that could be better promoted
[14:47] Milolin Spore: It should be, promote eco movement.
[14:47] Roadkill Parx: A friend of mine also owns the sim Hambone Slash - its a massive desert and he used those same sculpt tricks to "hug" the terrain and bake shadows onto the sand.
[14:47] Garrett Ceriano: I think when i entered SL it was one of my main interests, I have not created anything yet but I am hoping to, I am a landscape architecture major in rl :P
[14:47] Ali Akami: https://uncensored.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1328306
[14:48] Joppa Linden: sounds like a good Jira Feature Suggestion..
[14:48] soror Nishi: excellent
[14:48] Roadkill Parx: thats the one!
[14:48] soror Nishi: well...I have started a small group if anyone wants to join...its called "A Freak of Nature`"
[14:48] Roadkill Parx: Never knew there was a tool for it, but that tool can do great things. It's like custom texturing your land. You can practically paint the ground
[14:48] Garrett Ceriano: well, I think it should be more recognized, landscape is like 30 percent of the user experience
[14:48] Ali Akami: Garret i have lots of land if you want some practice my black thumb has followed me here to SL
[14:49] Garrett Ceriano: lol
[14:50] Garrett Ceriano: I would like to join soror
[14:50] soror Nishi: ok..well...Like I said...thank you for listening to me...I hope you all have fun in your SL gardens.
[14:50] Nadir Taov: thanks soror!
[14:50] soror Nishi: pleas do, garret
[14:50] Ali Akami: thanks!
[14:51] Joppa Linden: thank you so much, soror!!
[14:51] sensory Hax: thanks very much
[14:51] sensory's translator: thanks very much
[14:51] Roadkill Parx: Thanks for bringing some light to the environment - it's often totally neglected how important it is in SL.
[14:51] soror Nishi: I'm off for a coffee...:)))
[14:51] Roadkill Parx: (*still waiting to be able to set the default windlight setting for his estate*)
[14:51] soror Nishi: but will be happy to talk more in IM iof anyone wants to
[14:51] Joppa Linden: take care
[14:51] soror Nishi: byeee
[14:51] Milolin Spore: Thanks, Soror. It's inspiring presentation.
[14:51] soror Nishi: :))
[14:51] Aiko Serrao: thanks soror
[14:51] Joppa Linden: i'm off to other adventures
[14:52] Roadkill Parx: Thank you soror!

Tuesday 9 June 2009

LandExpo and lecture.

OK...so the little build I have done at the LandExpo is here....

and, Wednesday at 2PM SLT.... I will be giving a lecture entitled.. "The Indigenous Flora of Second Life" and it will take place ....here at the lecture hall.

You are welcome.... if you can't make it, I will post chat notes on this blog later.

Now....what shall I wear....

eeek

:))

Pirats Art Network and Hyperformalism.



Aliz and I went to check out Pirats. This is "instability", an interactive piece by Selavy Oh. The Slurl is.. this....well...that gets you to Oberons platform...see below...and you can tp from there.




This is by Oberon Onmura...




and this piece is by Comet Morigi.....

Full Marks on a couple of points...practically, first. 100% full marks for signage. Easy to navigate I wish, wish, wish, people would learn how to make seeing art this easy instead of banging into walls trying to find stairs etc. in Galleries designed by stupid people.

Full marks also because it is all OPISL art (only possible in second life)...:))

Hyperformalism, however, is exactly the sort of "branding" that drives me nuts, (see previous posts)..and... although I can agree to a certain extent with a statement I heard once...(something like)...that anything that sets out to be art is gonna fail.....I would also wonder that anything that sets out to avoid being art is in trouble too.

What am I talking about?

Well, the purity of the prim, where no textures are applied, is a strict parameter which can work very well.... but I am minded of my previous post about mistakes and I wonder if a piece is perfect, because it is basically pure script (which tolerates no mistake)...isn't it just an intellectual piece of machine function??
Now, because you can interact with Selavy's piece...that gives it an infinite range of possibilities.... but the other two pieces made me wonder. These are just functions ...like watching my car engine turn over....(not, dear reader that I have ever done that).... and, well, why?

Is there any aesthetic in 'non-aesthetic' art, or, more interestingly, is there any point??

:))

Saturday 6 June 2009

Bad Bots.

It was in November last, dear reader, that i first bought up the bot question... and mentioned it a couple of times over the past 7 months..... now it seems that LL have finally got round to making a decision..

This is from their blog (the Linden's, not the bot's), six months (more) later....

"Almost everyone agrees that using Bots to manipulate traffic (and therefore Search rankings) is unfair. Not only with respect to Search itself but also due to the load on Mainland Region resources and how that can impact other Residents in the area.

Therefore we are setting policy that attempting to gain an unfair Search advantage, by the use of Bots to inflate the Traffic for a parcel, will be considered a violation. This policy applies to both Mainland and Private Estates as both are represented in Search."

YAY!! good.... not a speedy reaction....but a good one.

boo bad bots bugger off...

:)))

Alizarin's new build

Well, this is definitely one to see....I had a sneeek preview a while back and I just loved it.

You can get full details here which is Aliz's blog...or just IM her or me for an LM. It opens properly today, Sunday. Go!!

I'm not even gonna post photos cos its one of those large builds that you have to enjoy from the inside, as with her previous stuff.

I really have a problem with the word immersive... I used to have an immersion heater, and it reminds me of that. Also..... everything is immersive if you are in the right frame of mind....it's called "presence" and that describes it far better than immersive, after all a book can be immersive. (I hear people screaming at the computer screen??? I know....I just get a bit screwed up by people misusing language and inventing new meanings for words, just because they have a thesis to write or product to sell..... although my problems with "narrative" are genuine, my problem with "immersive" is just me being stroppy. I screamed at the TV yesterday...:)))....a stupid advert said..."Suzuki....A Way of Life"....and of course, its not, its a motorbike...:)))

Oh and while I'm talking about adverts on TV ...lol.... I think I may start selling car insurance, everyone else is.... and....new business idea.... a website for comparing the comparison site sites called "Compare the Comparers.Com".... lol...I'm too bored to continue....:)) may start selling electricity too...seems like everyone else is, along with the car insurance.... Nishi Car Insurance, (with free electricity), save, save, save....yawn, yawn.

Will be watching Swiss man beating Swedish man with a small yellow ball tomorrow, or, of course, the other way round, and playing with Plaster of Paris.


:)))

Friday 5 June 2009

tittle tattle

yes...just bits and bobs

A friend wrote a rant to me about Blue Mars... elitist as I expected it might be....seems like no Macs get online [unable to confirm as yet] the person was trying to register as a developer...but ran into problems with having a Mac. If this is true...then this decision may have been made, as my friend suggested, by someone with "s**t for brains".

Talking of brains...I love the brains that put this together.....Big Game Hunting as detailed in NPIRL blog. Wonderful. Giant squid in the clouds.

and talking of squid.... hmmmm...no......... Adult content fiasco reaches new low. JIRA had gone to 4418 votes, which...(cos its a bit of a nightmare to navigate?) ... is a huge number of people to vote on a JIRA....well...its been closed..:)) democracy is an uncomfortable thing.

and talking of democracy, our Prime Minister (who no-one voted for), has been taught how to smile. He now doesn't look as glum as he did....he looks like a serial killer instead...very spookie. Seems like he may go out before UK peeps have a chance to vote him out...ahhh the joys of the "Free World".... Democracy...hmmmm. Well, I'm sure they'll find someone else to rob us in his place.

This little blog has sailed past its 10k mark which, to be honest, is astounding... but I get translated into all sorts of languages... welcome all non-english speakers where ever you are... it warms my heart.

and.......on the gossip front.......my love affair with Plaster of Paris has been rekindled.... expect off-spring...:))) still secret tho...don't tell anyone.... .. eek...gotta start preparing my lecture for Wednesday......details will follow, assuming the French Open finishes on Sunday as it should. (very glad to see the last of Dementieva's terrible dress... I mean...I hate pastel shades, as you may have guessed....but pale lilac is the worst, I think).

:)))

Tuesday 2 June 2009

New build



Well, the work on my little patch at the land Expo is nearly finished.. pop over if you want a sneek preview ...here because the Boys were a bit mean with the plot, and the prims, I had to go up... so this is the scene at the top



and this is the pond at the bottom....maybe not my best ever build, but it gives people an idea of what I do....[.hmmm...managed to get those two photos the wrong way round...still....you know what I mean.]




and...lovely tho it was...I had to put my Eshi in the washing machine...I had been wearing it for weeks, and was v bored with my looks...

I have this brace to keep my brain in place... should help.

meanwhile..... well... its all a bit laid back and summery all round really.... not being very productive at anything... but I am making plans (she said secretively)...... of course, lots of things never get off the drawing board.. so we'll see... oh yes...and I'm giving a talk next week... no idea what to say yet, will post details, Wednesday 10th it will be....heheheh...the title is ...."The Indigenous Flora of Second Life"

:)))

Monday 1 June 2009

Aliz and a dance

Aliz has a new show.. and I particularly like her new Pink Piece, its the sort of art that is going eventually to be seen and recognised (for those that are into that sort of fame) as being unique to Virtual Worlds, simply cos you can't make this at home with some egg cartons and an empty washing-up liquid bottle.

It is worth a visit, as usual.

I did fly around the sim as she recommended but I just get annoyed (surprised?) by this methodical building of RL Architecture and imitation RL... its such a painful waste of prims, seen from my view point.

RANT WARNING....There is a direct correlation between EASE and QUALITY, that is to say...the easier something is to do, the more people do it indiscriminately..... and quality goes thro the floor....
For example...... before printing....only books that were worth copying by hand were copied...the effort involved was major....now I get spam of such inane quality...lol
Music..... now everyone can make crap on their computers at home, the world is drowning in dodgy efforts (which is OK for the most part cos I don't have to listen to it)...
BUT... as it is very easy to build in SL ...well...lots of prims get turned into poor copies of RL objects, which I do have to live with and Galleries get filled with photographs that should never have seen the light of day..:))))
Of course....I am just teasing ..(?).... its great on the other hand that everyone has a go at something creative...:))).... its just that a lot of the products of this endeavour would be better composted on a great prim compost heap.



Got out for a dance too, yesterday, for the first time for (seems like ) ages... at Eifachfilm Vacirca's build....I went simply cos it was called Fruit Penetration... didn't find any fruit, and luckily (unfortunately??) no penetration...but

enjoyed the dance....

:)))

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