Boobs Fall-Out

Well, Emeraldgate has not gone away, the Boys are thinking of welcoming the Viewer back into the fold under certain conditions. In the name of transparency these conditions were secret....then, the Boys changed their minds, and decided Emerald could tell us about the list..... who cares...I've personally passed thro disinterest into comatose...

Of course, if you can't log in.... then this whole thing may be more important... "In the coming days, some of the older versions of Emerald Viewer may be blocked from logging in at our request, this however will not happen until updated versions are made available on our website." ...so keep up, you Emerald users with the latest....

Boobs, however, are a different matter for many. Wizard Gynoid, who's name figures large reporting the whole debacle, was the Tweeter who came up with this bomb shell. Apparently the Boob Dude, the sole boob coder in Emerald, has left before finishing the job, leaving the project for boobs, hanging..... so those who adopted Emerald for the flexi mammaries may feel 'screwed by Boob Dude.'

Emergence, a new viewer has, well,...emerged as having most of the features Emerald has, but Imprudence seems to be gaining respect.... meanwhile, we are all looking forward to adopting Annoyance, the new V.2.987654132. from the Boys.




Finally, I have been given the keys to the sim at IBM ( C) which I will be transforming into something or another for your delectation ...the working title is, currently, Tree of Trees, now that Glyph has left the (IBM) building...

I'm all set to get my hands dirty and my brain fried...

:)))

Nishi Disposals

Juanito Deharo has been so kind as to offer me some prims to put out some trees and things for sale. I have changed permissions to make almost everything copy/mod and should you need anything....... just pop over here.














Meanwhile, in InWorldz, I have set out a small oak forest and some few trees at Angel's Loft....



Jeri Rahja who owns Angel's Loft has some spare prims and would like to sponsor anyone who makes quality stuff with some space as she hasn't used up her 45,000 yet...so...if you need some space to set things out, or display some art, get in touch with her, or talk to me first.

This would be a good way to get a bit of a foothold in IWz...... after all, fast, easy, fun might get a bit much .......





Miso, Wizzy and I solving the worlds problems by the light of the moon last night....

all cool..


:)))

etshirts.com

Well, a while back I won a part of the monthly competition at UWA, namely, for best textures, and, as part of their ongoing sponsorship of the arts, UWA in conjunction with etshirts awarded me the prize of a t-shirt printed with one of my own designs.

I chose this one, from a painting I did before I discovered SL, it's called The Glade.




Well, my t-shirt arrived, having been hijacked, I believe by rogue kangaroos who stole the post van, parked up for a month while they drank the postie's tinnies by the side of a billabong before their little marsupial consciences got the better of them and they handed themselves in to the nearest police outpost.

Post is like that, little eddies in the main stream of postal flow sometimes capture the flotsam of our communications and delay it somewhat.... still such a nice surprise when it does arrive. I had a friend who got a post card 8 years after it was posted.

Anyway... this is the RL thing, hanging under the RL painting (for sale..)

If you like it enough to get a copy... you can talk to the nice people at etshirts... here.. and they will make you a soror Nishi T-shirt..... or, one of your own designs.

Now, the more observant among you may notice that it is far too large for my svelte little form, but that's because I am planning on wearing it as bed attire. Not wishing to be a tease, I don't want you to think that is all I wear in bed. I also wear a lunghi (an Indian sarong, worn by about a billion people on the Sub-continent), and bedsocks. They come off when I warm up, the socks that is.

Now, I can feel a small rant coming on against the terribly poor choice available in the shops of cutsie pajamas with teddy bears, fluffy cats and pink hearts, which, in my opinion should never be seen on anyone over the age of 12 and even that may be too old. So...now that is all too much information and may have lowered the tone of this (occasionally) intellectually stimulating blog, but ...well.. [/me thinks of a way to finish this sentence, but gives up as it's Friday and reaches for the glass of wine instead.]

oh yes... thankyou to etshirts....

:))

Allsorts

Maeve and I spent several hours transferring prims and linked groups in what has to be one of the most boring jobs we have to do as builders. I fail to understand why there can't be a mass transfer possibility, like somewhere on the land file..."all prims owned by..... transfer to......", well, just one of those things and we were mainly successful just a few sneeky little prims hiding out somewhere to be discovered at another opportunity.

Well, you know a job is nearly at it's end when that happens, and Maeve is very pleased with the outcome as I am. No doubt there will be a possibility of visiting when the place is ship-shape. She owns some nice pieces by Glyph which will really look great in the new underwater habitat.





I was very happy to see my favourite Pixi Cosmos online again after a while (hibernating, no doubt) and we sat down with a friend of hers, Grey to play Uno.





I won one game which had Pixi dancing on the able while I searched my invent for dances...


Juanita posted an amazing image on her blog....here... of a RL/SL interface. It makes you think.


Botgirl has issued a "wake up!!" post for anyone considering using Google Buzz viz.... "Google Buzz Overtakes Facebook in Race to Bottom of Privacy Barrel".... certainly has a bearing on previous posts which she, Lalo and I have written concerning privacy.



...and this from SL's most controversial artist SaveMe Oh, and maybe one of the funniest too.... one of those Public Information adverts.... you add the ending...

Breath from SaveMe Oh on Vimeo.

I have seldom had as many long comments as I did on my Koinup post about her and her vid Fuck the Swiss... but...well..that's the joy of SL, it takes all sorts to make a world.

My best friend (RL) is an artist and he has spent a lot of time abroad (i.e. Europe) as he currently lives in Paris. He has always been seriously shocked by how serious Serious Artists have to be on the Continent to be taken seriously...

No wonder SaveMe winds some people up, iconoclasts (why aren't we all?) have to be disrespectful, it's their job..


:)))

Busy and slack...

Been busy building bogs but blog's been a bit bloody slack...so sorry....

So... see above pic of a part of the island I have been doing with Maeve, who owns the joint....It's getting near finished and I have started helping Mab a bit on her :::soup::: sim, she needs some brighter trees as the previous designer was a bit vampirey...

Had an absolutely terrible weekend, and today wasn't much better. Part of the code that recognises passwords on my home Mac is borked and my File Vault is locked against me.... tried everything short of a large hammer.....hmmm.....had that idea too at one point.

Anyway...weird as it may sound, SL is a safe haven as all my work is in my invent, well, while it lasts.

Looks like I have a million friends I never met "uniting" with me on UA...to what avail I have no idea, but I guess when I get kicked out of Facelift I will have others to send me fluffy things. Botgirl is right...I don't pull the plug because I might miss out on something, like a kid that wants to be the last one to bed.... sad. Socially sad.

So, the upshot of all this is that I have been working very hard and hoping to put a few pennies aside for a new machine, hoping mine holds out for another wee while. Then we get to the difficult philosophical bit about how we choose to spend our cash as it seems to be the only real democracy we have. Should I go with Linux and a cheap machine because I believe in the idea of freeware and that stuff...or a Mac because they are better made and therefore more environmentally friendly (lasting 10 years?)... sorry...Windows isn't on my radar....

Anyway, that final decision is still a way off... my heads a mess....may have fried my bio-card......:)) but OK...

:))

ColeMarie and other stuff

Well, it was after I was in this machinima shoot which Cole was doing that she told me she was gonna do a blog, and I was very pleased. She’d had trouble with people telling her what she could and could not write if she was gonna write for them and so she’s started her own....its here... Its a MUST read.

....and I’m very happy to have a soul sister who isn’t frightened to call crap “crap”...cos it’s important that the rubbish gets pointed out and the positive gets praised.

And....I am VERY glad she’s done a wonderful post on Bryn. Bryn has been on my mind a lot recently. She is one helluva builder, a real SL genius and, altho she doesn’t need anyone to tell her that, I haven’t been able to really give her the credit she’s due, simply because melancholia and I don’t mix. I guess it’s a temperament thing, it just makes me giggle (unrepentant shallow fool). soo.... excellent post on Bryn...here.. well done Cole.
I’m the sort of person who would tell Van Gogh he was doing it wrong, I guess......

In other news..... well.. Jung’s Red Book has sold out of it’s first edition ...so if you bought one....it’s now worth twice what you paid for it...

I have put in my January competition entry at UWA, and, showing what an amazingly discerning person she is.... Juanita told me how much she loves it....well, good someone understands me.

I’m working on two new trees at the moment too... getting stuck in between moments of clarity.

and....I’ve been looking into switching to Linux if/when I get a new machine, and have joined the SL Linux Users Group.... and what a thoroughly pleasant group of people they are.... 38% of my readers are Mac users...so I apologise to the faithful, but the price of machines may turn me traitor...

...and I start work tomorrow on a peat bog....for a friend/commission....v interesting...

Last but not least.... Botgirl is two.... congratulate her here...

:)))

A good start...

Well, it was less than an hour after I wrote the words...."A movie like Avatar has a more powerful effect than we currently can envisage.".....

......Wizzy turned up at the sand pit where I am working on a Norwegian Stavkirke...(a sort of post-and-beam wooden church common in Norway , built a bit like a ship)....looking very different to how she is normally dressed..:)) and, slightly inspired I went off shopping. There are a number of shops now offering avatars and clothes which have been inspired by the movie, and a whole new sub-cult of Na'vi's.

I am all for this divergence from the strictly human-based avatar, although I have not yet practised what I preach, being more human than I would like to be, but I guess I will find my niche eventually.

....and within minutes of this event, ColeMarie sent me this link to art21...sort of underlining my words (the ink was still wet)...
"I do think, and, as you know, I’m an optimist, that the art of SL will start to have an effect on the RL art world more in this coming year. We saw the start of this already this year and that will grow. Art magazines and media in general are always looking for the next big thing, and we are that."

...so...if you fancy adding a few comments to this ladies' piece about SL, I'm sure it will be noticed..

:))

2010

Well, it’s the end of the year. 2010 is a strange sort of a number it sounds like ‘the Future’ and brings with it all sorts of expectations. As we know tho not a lot changes, small steps lead us from one future to the next.

Second life isn’t about to look like Avatar (which I haven’t seen yet as I’m waiting for it to come round to the cute little cinema near me) neither our computers or ISP are ‘man enough’ as yet.

I do think, and, as you know, I’m an optimist, that the art of SL will start to have an effect on the RL art world more in this coming year. We saw the start of this already this year and that will grow. Art magazines and media in general are always looking for the next big thing, and we are that.

A movie like Avatar has a more powerful effect than we currently can envisage. I have already spoken to one man who has come back to SL after having seen the movie. He knows SL isn’t like that, but knows that one day it will be.

LL could do well to remember that too. I have very strong doubts that the prospect of recreating RL in SL is gonna wow anyone. It is surely all the things, experiences and events that can’t happen in RL that are gonna, in the end, be what draws people to, and holds them fascinated in VWs.

Building housing ghettos, roads and dodgy landscapes is not gonna wow anyone. Business uses are not gonna save SL. The core is the creativity. If LL concentrates on the talent it has and smoothes the way for those creating content it will continue to flourish. Business users come and go, there’s no real investment, no soul, that a company puts into SL that can’t have the plug pulled from one day to the next.

Losing Orange this last year is a case in point. We lost good friends connected with that too, but Orange can make a board room decision, and, byeeeee.

I was sad to see the end of Angelgate in 2009 too. The work that White had put in, and I loved the layout of the gallery, well, we still have White..

UWA arrived tho in 2009 and have been an unexpected bonus. Neither they, nor us, could have foreseen the huge popularity of their monthly competitions. It’s become like the biggest “show and tell” in SL in very few months. .... and their ‘secret’ is... well, just let creativity shine. Simple..... oh, yes, and be pleasant...

Koinup has surprised me too, Pier has really decided to go for it. It’s become a fairly comprehensive blog and I’m happy to play a small part in it. While still mourning the loss of the NPIRL blog, which will never be replaced, I fully understand the huge commitment Bettina would have needed to put into it on a daily basis. It needed a sponsor really.

And Bettina’s ‘travels’ are quite symptomatic too. There are many people I know now who are looking around, not to escape, but to expand... It seems the question is, if SL is gonna take another 5 years to get to where I want it to be, what can I do in the meantime? Friends of mine are looking to RL now, not for inspiration but for new sales opportunities.. we have become expansionists. Today SL, tomorrow ...The World... hehehehe.

So, 2009 has been a ‘slow’ year, both in terms of sales in SL and expansion of SL, life in RL has been hard for many. Hopefully we have turned a corner and ‘the only way is up’... as long as LL don’t shoot themselves in the foot too often, I am looking forward to a bright new year.

...and, the thing that fills my life with joy ... my friends, and you, dear reader ... may the metaphysical sun shine down on you all and brighten and warm your sweet souls.

I love you all

:))

Christmas Recipe

Well, if I get any more advice on how to bake the perfect roast potatoes from the radio and TV I will probably scream, and I really don’t need to know about some idiot who has made brussel sprout ice-cream which tastes like crap, but, hey, it’s Christmas.... and in an obviously slow news week I am informed that my turkey this year should:
1. be free-range
2. organically fed
3. have been on holiday for two weeks expenses paid
4. have had the benefit of a private education
5. be humanely killed, though I seriously doubt that the turkey is in any state to care, I mean, really, that has to be one of the decades oxymorons.

In other strange events I was given another panettone, this one is bigger than my kitchen, I smiled and said thank you, it’s not good form to say, “Wow, what a crappy present.” I might save up for a few years and build the worlds first panettone house.....

This all might sound like a bit of a “Bah, humbug..” but really, I have honestly ended up in bed one year on Christmas day from exhaustion and that is never gonna happen again, likewise spending several hours in a car is not my idea of a holiday...so I will be chilling..:))

I had cause to read last years Christmas blog, which is slightly more intellectual for those of you that missed it... it’s here.

..and I would, of course, like to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas, but some years you have crappy ones so don’t worry, enforced jollyness can drive you insane......oh, yes and fuck the roast potatoes, make some sandwiches.

:))

You gotta laugh, they say.

Well, couldn’t really resist, as everyone else has something to say on the subject, thinking a bit about Copenhagen. It’s pretty obvious to me that having a nice little holiday in Denmark was a very nice break for those thousands of delegates and, as the world sinks or fries, their decision to do it all again was really bound to happen.

The people who make decisions about our lives are, after all, the people who want badly to be our friends. People who’s main talent is baby-kissing are always gonna shy away from telling us to stop spending and reduce our afluent lifestyles. Safest to “keep talking” and leave the hard choices alone as much as possible.

..and, nice for the protesters too, knowing that any windows they break will be recycled and that, as they crumple under the blows of a policemans trungeon that it is almost certainly made from wood from a sustainable Scandinavian forest. “Prevention detention” reducing their hotel bills too ....... double whammy.

The carbon footprint of rioting thus reduced the moral high ground is theirs.

I have an intelligent boiler that heats my house, it's so intelligent it doesn't let me decide when it should come on. It's decided I should reduce my carbon footprint too... and won't listen to me no matter how much I curse or belittle it with sarcastically cutting remarks.... it has the moral high ground too. I am out-smarted by a boiler.


I was told this week by one of my clients, in totally unrelated news, about an incident they had with their young son (8?9?) at bedtime. Always interested in the more macabre sides of existence the talk turned to the praying mantis.

“Yes”, the mum said “the lady praying mantis does eat the man after sex.” Somewhat pleased to be able to confirm educational facts of the natural world to her offspring...

“But, Mummy, if they are lesbian praying mantises......” (mummy blushes and gulps)

"......... who eats who?” the little boy wondered.

Mummy managed to get out of the door before she collapsed in hysterical fits of laughter.

Ahhh...... the benefits of a modern education.


:))

Manning the life boats...

I got a huge kick today when, following Wizzy's recent success at exporting her stuff I decided to give it a go, too.

I downloaded Emerald which I am happy to say still caters for my neglected PPC Mac, unlike Apple...and within 5 minutes I was exporting like a mad thing. I currently have 33 of my thingies safely installed on my Little Lappy and it feels very good. It's like an emancipation, I can go and plant up any world I want to now, and Nishi Land moves a step nearer to being a reality.

The way things are going we will all be zooming around the Metaverse, only popping in to SL for social stuff, seeing old friends and the like.

Thoroughly behind this new venture Transworlders....see the little thingy at the top...

..otherwise all is quite well really... I'm working on a Norwegian Troll avatar, probably the most sensible northern enterprise this week as the rest of this part of the world has totally lost it...

This week sees thousands of people burn a hole in the ozone layer over Denmark, eating enough food to keep a small nation fed and feeling bad about it as a sort of balance to their rambling self importance. Bet the weather's crap, it normally is... even when the climate isn't changing... (/me tries to think of when climate doesn't change.... draws a blank...)...

Scandinavia seems to be hosting the Ridiculous Front of Reality this week with Obama using a few hundred tons of fuel to get an award for sending 30,000 more troops to rearrange rocks in Afghanistan in a previously unknown definition of the word Peace. Well, the award is given by an explosives manufacturer...

...and they think we are weird....lol....

:))

Cappuccino

This is my latest flower to go on sale at the shop....



It's called the Cappuccino Vine and natives use the beans to make a wonderful drink...


In other news, (lots of small bits)..... Magoo..... last chance to see over the next two days, I think it's going on Wednesday.

AND a new sim with work by Muskat Qinan, Frigg Ragu and myself, opens on Tuesday....details to follow.....

Bettina Tizzy is gonna be blogging for NWN.... thats great news... we all look forward to that, although I could suggest to Hamlet, not that he necessarily reads this rag..... that sometimes it's better not to post...

Cole Marie Soleil, one of the most all-round talented artists in SL is now offering her services as a video maker and will be taking commissions from interested parties.... here

Isabella Alphaville had a rocking party on Saturday which was attended by the famous and trendy.... it was a social highlight.

Alizarin Goldflake.... I blogged her new piece for Koinup... check it out...

....and......UWA, voting begins for the November People's Choice award.....

" UWA 3D Art & Design November People's Choice: The November People's Choice board is up - so come on over and vote for your favourite of the 58 (yes 58!) entries we have had in the imagine Challenge this month. Make sure you have a good look at each and every one of the Imagine entries and check out the Flagship builds via the TPs on the platform next to the landing area."




You will arrive ...here

............. the Pseudonymity discussions continue......with supreme clarity on Botgirl's blog and a good piece by Lalo Telling...

no wonder I'm frazzled....hehehhehe...

:))

Halloween

Well, I got mugged by 5 year olds at my own front door for stuff.....accompanied by their Dad, but didnt really feel like giving them sweeties, didn't have any in the house anyway so put some cash in their mugging box. It's all foggy outside like autumn is really here, we've had quite mild weather this last week or so. Fireworks going off every night now...so....winter approaches and I am definitely not wearing warm clothes in SL. Think I'll wear my bikini all winter...(may have said that already here...new brain, please...).

Oh, yes...thanks to Jeannie Nishi for my skin and Alpha for the BL cape ("Hermit")...went to UTSA for a while with Wizzy and just chilled.....working on a new tree which is reminding me of those pineapple chunks on cocktail sticks they used to have at parties many moons ago... not sure if it will pass the rigourous quality control officer (me) or end up composted, it's at that sort of in-between state at the moment...

Otherwise, heard that Inworldz are offering 5000 prims to builders for just 20US$ per month.... interesting.... and went to see Selavy's new project which I will blog when she gives me the nod, maybe next week. Also next week we expect to hear about the Nebraska deals.....these are stand-alone solutions for Companies who don't wanna get too near to SL...like afraid of infection from us natives...:)) I don't think they'll be a big thing. Not much going on in the world of blogs at the moment.....

This blog hit 1200 visits this month with approx. 1.5 pageturns per visit.....so thats 1800 pageturns.....wow.. and Hi to whoever reads this blog in Russia...



...and... 38% of you are Mac users....hehehhehe....i like that...

:)))

Sunday stuff after a busy week.

Well, this is how the last few days have gone.... I caught a show by nessuno Myoo at the Crypt (hope thats the right Slurl) which is open til the 10th. There were a number of pieces that I liked which is uncommon for me at a show as you may know, being a very critical person (of my own work too).

He doesn't have such a distinctive style as AuraKyo or White Lebed, but his prim-bending skills are pretty obvious. His piece "Wind Emotion" is very Futuristic (that's a style not an emotion) while his piece called "The Old Guitarist" is reminiscent of Russian Constructivism. The piece "Crazy jazz Sound OK" is a very complicated and well composed piece.

I look forward to seeing where he is gonna take his skills. Worth checking out.








The University of Western Australia had me online before breakfast on Friday to witness the launch of their SL campus where I have built a little bit of garden squeezed in between Glyph Graves and Quadrapop Lane.

It was a well organised and atmospheric event, the people involved (Jayjay Zifanwe at their head) were obviously keen and excited about this new facility which was very nice to see as we (oldies) can get a bit "w h a t e v e r" about this new frontier. I have a very good feeling about this place because the people involved seem so genuinely pleasant.

They are hosting regular monthly competitions, amongst other things, and I recommend all builders to enter something.


Then.....Friday night had be back at Magoo and the Temple of the Prim for a preview for the NPIRL friends thanks to the continued interest Bettina has shown in my blossoming skills.





Squiffy Rogozarski entered into the spirit of it all, having arrived as a furry, and nearly drowning, she adapted well, in true Darwinian style, and morphed into a croc. Don't you love it when people use SL for pure performance art.





More performance from the hysterically funny Ichabod Cealach. Though his papermache Help Desk finally dissolved in the acid waters of Magoo, he had me in fits of laughter.





Magoo's lovely sponsor and I found we had a lot in common, particularly in regard to Art In SL and just, well, common sense...:))





So....Doubledown Tandino played a great set at the opening, thats him on the right (Miso on the left..looking bright and cheerful, and very amusing) hovering over the waters to keep his electrics dry. There was a steady stream of people popping in and saying nice things and it just worked out fine with the Av limit, seems like no-one got shut out.

The Forest of Light got blogged by Ziki, thank you....hehehhe...
....and Mab blogged Magoo, as did astrid....thank you all for your kind words.





so..... the Day of Rest will be spent at the Space Convention Centre where I am doing a little something for Deutche Info Welt....... more on that later when I know when it's opening. You may recognise a piece from SL6B, but it is much improved....its grown...hehehhhehee...


:)))

University of Western Australia

Hmm...well, I am indebted to Isabella, who told me, cos my messages were capped by the Boys, ....THAT..... the opening of the University of Western Australia...(UWA)... is tomorrow.... I am loosing track which is, of course, not brilliant for a blogger...altho most of them have lost it already, I guess.....

Glyph Graves, myself and quadrapop Lane have pieces on display.....


"The hosts for the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge
would like to invite you to attend the launch of
The University of Western Australia in SL
by Professor Alan Robson, Vice Chancellor of Uinversity of western Australia

This will take place in RL and SL simultaneously.
In SL at midnight SLT 1st October 2009
(RL 3pm WAST/+8GMT 2nd October 2009 on the University of Western Australia, Crawley Campus)

Live video footage of the RL opening speeches and displays will be shown in SL.

Special effects, music and dancing will celebrate the opening in SL."



lol....sorry I published this under Koinup, maybe no-one noticed....


:)))

Magoo and I

Well, had such a hectic SL weekend that I didn't get to post anything yesterday, I was a bit burned out having spent too much time online for my sanity...:))).

I did get round to making a new headdress tho, but it's not on sale yet, unless you IM me.

I've been making the Boys a bit richer this weekend, apart from tier, I've uploaded far too many tex, and I've got another dozen to upload when my Human has had something to eat. ..... Oh well, it's cheaper than oil paint, but doesn't smell as good. hmmm....

The trouble is (with building stuff) that RL gets in the way, yes, my Human lets me down, eating, drinking, sleeping when I could be building. The Human is the weakest link in the chain, maybe I could hire a team...that would be good....they could do a shift system....

Had to turn down the Texas people, lol, what is their hurry?? Just a week in SL and they have to have an art opening on the 9th October....lol....I bet they took longer than 2 weeks to decide to come in..... anyway, I'm not gonna be hurried into reproducing fast crap..
As a free (gratis) labourer, which is how some people look at artists, I'm not gonna be exactly unemployed am I??

Maybe I should go for charitable status....

:))

Jeanni Nishi skin

I really love this skin by Jeanni Nishi, a virtual sister, its got a pale green hue, quite subtle and, of course, I blogged the free eyes which you are welcome to help yourselves to....

The headdresses have sold well, and it's time for me to make some new. The hair is Deviant Kitties... slightly messed about with by me...

:))

Phew.....

Well, its really good to be back.

Just started a couple of new things, a tree which will probably end up on the compost heap, and a flower which has a long way to go still...

It was great to see people I had missed in the brief 8 days, it's surprising how used you get to seeing some people every few days online.
Botgirl, a really regular read for me, posted "from wow to whatever" and as usual she has hit the nail on the head.
It's a normal part of my life to meet these great people online now and not anything WOW!!, just a part of my everyday. I like that.

Isabella Alphaville and I were talking about how strange it is that your RL friends won't even try SL and how she thought it shows a certain closed mind attitude when life is so short anyway. Not that there aren't closed minds in SL......of course there are too......but some of my best friends are real gems and some of the art in here is just mind blowing...:)) Hurrah for SL!!!

I have a little Widget now (this is Mac owner stuff) called iStat, and it shows me how hot my poor lappy is getting, so hopefully i will be able to keep my eye on it. For those of you with Macs ...its available here for free...so... go get it..

Hope to be able to get around and do some stuff tomorrow and get back on the blogging front with some stuff for you, poor neglected reader...xxxxxxxxx


:))

Koinup photo comp.

Yes, there's a Koinup photo competition...and....you'll have to do better than this, which isn't too hard...I am not a good photographer, but I thought I might as well upload em anyway.

Nice thing about Koinup, as opposed to Facebook, is that they welcome avatars and don't get all "real" like Facebook.










then Wizzy popped over ...its ages since I saw her. she has had great success with her E8 thingy is for sale in RL, so she's beaten me to market by months. I am, dear reader, also trying to bring my trees to RL, but it's a slow process....:))

So... this is her in front of the Wizardfruit Tree, named after her.





Not much in the way of other news, been RL sculpting and sheltering from the rain.

Oh yes.... Angelgate...the new show Soleil opens soon and I have a piece in it....not sure when it is....will get back to you on that.

:))

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.

:))