The resident traders and entrepreneurs of Inworldz sold 8,000,000 Iz's (not sure how that should be said....it sounds like Iziz in my head but I guess it could be Eyezes... no matter) which is the local currency of the Inworldz grid, in the last three months.. ...and amount of currency bought... 2 million odd in July, 4 in August and 6 million odd in September, which points to a healthy and fast growing economy... well done peeps. Full details .. here.
[stop press.... Nishi develops Bloglexia.....sorry..
"Elenia said...
Quick correction Soror... 8.8mil I'z sold in one month, so a little over $17k USD went back to our residents who cashed out. While roughly a little over 12mil I'z were bought by residents which equals roughly $25k USD in the month of October, once again, doubling purchases of I'z from Sept to Oct. :) Just thought I'd make sure that was clear!"]
(In addition I did an experiment selling some Iz's and some L$ at the same time through Paypal.... Inworldz got cash to me in 20 hours, LL took 52 hours.)
Having been criticised for not being Hypergrid enabled, Elenia defends her position in the same blog. Chosing between security and "freedom" it's obvious that, having the responsibility for protecting IP rights, it is wise to err on the side of caution. Maria has written a fuller post on the pro's and con's ...here....
...and, talking of Hypergrids... a staunch supporter (and general Good Egg) namely Pathfinder Lester has joined Reaction Grid ... in his words...
"As of October 27 20101, I’ve joined the ReactionGrid team as Director of Community Development. My broad focus will be on improving the use of ReactionGrid’s tools and service across all user groups, and helping cultivate the communities using those tools and services. I’ll be representing ReactionGrid at conferences and public events, as well as working closely to support all of our clients. There are many educators using ReactionGrid, so I’ll be spending a big chunk of my time working with those folks to learn about their specific needs and help them succeed."
..now... I think this is great news. Pathfinder seems to be a soul inspired by the possibilities inherent in virtual worlds and their inter-linking. It's good news for VWs in general.... more here...
This connects with a Tweeted news item from yesterday about a Cross-Platform mesh format......what does that mean??.....well...the idea is that if the file is the right format then you could rezz a creation on different types of 3D platforms. This has been developed from the Collada files (which SL will also be using) by an international collaboration of universities, colleges, research institutes, consortia and companies who call themselves The Immersive Education Initiative... full details here.
In unrelated news....for those of you who are Imprudence fans, like me... more news on the future viewer...Kokua (not sure about that name, really...OK so it's hawiian...so what? Still sounds like cock-oo-errr in my head.)... details here.
...and lastly...extremely unrelated.... a bit of hardware news for geeks... from Ars. Its the new hard drive thingy used in the Mac Airbook to save space.... and altho I know nothing it seems like a new format drive which comes on instantly and is small... (did I hear you yawn?)....:)))
Ok....more coffee...
ooo... carrot cake...
:)))
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Monday, 8 November 2010
Weekend Round Up..
Петро́вский флюс (a Petrovsky flux) from Toxic Menges on Vimeo.
The Flux has gotta be one of the most popular builds this weekend, and this video by Toxic Menges does it proud.. well worth a trip... here.
...and on the subject of machinima, tho maybe not the same class of build, my Tree of Trees at IBM has been extensively videoed by JADENE India....
...she has uploaded 8 machinima of the build to YouTube.
The build will come down on the 13th (that's Saturday night for those that need to see it) after having been featured in an RL conference called "Images Moving Across the Arts and Disciplines" at the 12th Laterna Film Academy – December 9 -13 - 2010 Pécs Hungary, subtitled "operations of the virtual within the Medium of Second Life" by Pixel Reanimator..
Otherwise...
This is my latest tree which is just finished in InWorldz, I'm calling it Medusa's Redemption which is a tad classically pretentious, but hey, ....so....
Popped over to UWA to see some of the entries and ended up talking to stones..(only in VWs !!!)... and they didn't exactly hold a conversation, but reacted and gave me a bit of amusement. I must be mental. It's by Wolk Writer.
Lea Supermarine and Jarapanda Snook have built this great organ thingy with classic fairground tunes...
I managed to catch Selavy and Arahan as they took part in Changing Room, a mixed reality project devised by Michael Takeo Magruder...details here....the general idea being that a series of artists are given 128 prims in a room to do with as they please... and the results are documented... machinima and photos..
Chairs flying round the room and videos, looked like a late night brawl night at a minimalist film club...:)) v cool..
In other news.... well, Kirsten closed Megaprims SL, but got so many emails and IM's that she reopened it... seems like she's being harassed by Devs from Phoenix... and...Imprudence say that they are going to incorporate the best of Viewer 2.2 UI in their next release.. (I didn't know there were any good features worth incorporating)...
LinseySL has had to close her shop as the Display Names is a nightmare with people impersonating her...tweeted.."Who was the retard at LL that deciced that Allowing people to Impersonate others was a good idea? Fire their fucking ass.".... but many have ???? as friends it seems....with ???? as display name too.
...and there have been comments about 2.2, both bad and good. Seems like, as Wizzy found out, changing between the two loses some of your current outfit...
Music listings are messed up ...if you are hosting an event on a Mature or Adult sim it won't get listed for the casual user, unless they know to check the Mature thingy on search. I guess LL wants to make sure no-one hears the word Arse in case they think it's a song about Arse Linden.... good to protect the innocent, bad language is so fucking corrupting.... and nipples, as we know, are plain dangerous.
On a bright note...two things... OpenSim for Mac on a stick...hmmm..it's been a struggle to get a local sim, one which I have failed.... help is needed..
and....Thirza Ember reports a visit to Oberon in his cellar... sounds interesting...well, Oberon managed to punch a hole in his firewall big enough for visitors, in this case Thirza. This is probably how it will all work in the future...its free!!
..and...as rain washes work away, I get another day online.. winter has its advantages...
:)))
.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
The Language of the Victim
I am fully aware of the fact that language changes over time and that this phenomenon is a intrinsic part of communication, but that doesn’t mean that a trend in this change should go unnoticed.
It used to be molars (teeth) that were one of the few things that were described as Impacted, now that this adjective (become verb) is used universally to replace the word Effected, everyone is Impacted, the poor, the rich and every other individual or group is suddenly Impacted. The media loves to use this word, Impact, as it sounds more like someone has been hit by a meteorite when compared to the perfectly serviceable word, Effect.
Disorders and Syndromes are thought up, diagnosed and become the subject of dissertations and Doctorates with no one in the media interested in debating with a qualified Specialist.
Well, that’s never stopped me.. and my subject today is.... Behavioural Addiction.
Wikipedia has this to say .. “Behavioral addiction (also called process addiction or "non-substance-related addiction") is a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences, as deemed by the user himself to his individual health, mental state, or social life. Many such processes within this concept are not harmful or deviant by themselves, but become so when they result in these negative consequences. Frequently discussed examples include gambling, sex, eating, and internet usage.
The applicability of the word "addiction" to these conditions is controversial, and there is not a universal consensus as to the most appropriate phrase used to describe these conditions as a class.”
Now, as far as I know this is the only diagnosis where the individual himself/herself is the one who defines the illness... “ ...harmful consequences, as deemed by the user himself to his individual health, mental state, or social life”... it is ‘user defined’.
Nightflower, a person I respect and whose posts I enjoy, has defined herself as a recovering addict in her recent post ...here.... and maybe I should just let her get on with it... except it effects the way people think of their computer usage; this negative self-categorisation rubs off on others.
Sex, gambling, eating and computer usage are the activities which are subject to this self diagnosis I am very suspicious of all four of these being defined as addictive behaviours.
Sex... now I don’t know any boy between the ages of 14 and 40 who has not been, or is not, addicted to sex. Obviously, by the definition of this type of addiction it is self diagnosed, so it will depend on the positive or negative spin the ‘user’ places on his sex-drive. If a man shags, or tries to shag, everything that moves it is, of course, easy for him to turn round and diagnose himself as an addict.
Sex, gambling and food are all subject to Greed. Now, we can allow greed to become an addiction, especially if it is self-diagnosed, no one is gonna say “I am a greedy person and I am too weak to rein myself in”... much more socially acceptable to talk about my addiction. I distance myself from the responsibility for my behaviour.
The computer falls outside of this Greed classification.... and it is extremely doubtful, in my mind that one piece of machinery can be singled out for an addiction. When it is a relatively new piece of equipment that makes me even more suspicious.
No one claims they are addicted to the telephone, tho I know teenage girls who are almost never off the phone. Their bills certainly effect their financial stability and their social life is via this piece of equipment. No one has ever claimed to be addicted to letter writing as far as I know.
The computer, at least in the way it is used to play SL, is a communications device. It is a way of ‘being with’ friends. If you are addicted to a person, it is normally called Love if it reciprocated or Stalking if not.... and there are times when you can’t drag yourself away from a good party and end up staying the night... in SL (as Wizzy remarked) you simply end up with j k l imprinted on your forehead. Falling asleep in front of the TV is surely now considered to be ‘normal’ behaviour....
The behaviour which Nightflower describes in her post, including Lying and Subterfuge, sound like the behaviour of illicit partners in an extra-marital affair rather than any activity which could be called addictive.
There is angst connected with this type of activity which I have written about before, and it has much more to do with our classification of this recent machine and associated behaviours than it does with the Addictive Nature of the Evil Machine itself.
So... to get back to my starting sentences... this type of behaviour used to be called Bad Habits.... lack of self discipline, lack of self control, poor planning, lack of balance.
Obviously this is not the fault, in any way, of a machine or software, this is a phase of psychic development, a growth to maturity, taking responsibility and saying... “OK, no drama, I’ve been getting into bad habits and need to pull myself together”....
I don’t believe it needs a special classification, just a self examination of motives, of what is being avoided and of why you feel so guilty.
...and don’t misunderstand me, I have spent 20 hours a day in SL, as noob, but I don’t think I have been Impacted by Addiction.
Passion is good, better than being luke warm.
:))
It used to be molars (teeth) that were one of the few things that were described as Impacted, now that this adjective (become verb) is used universally to replace the word Effected, everyone is Impacted, the poor, the rich and every other individual or group is suddenly Impacted. The media loves to use this word, Impact, as it sounds more like someone has been hit by a meteorite when compared to the perfectly serviceable word, Effect.
Disorders and Syndromes are thought up, diagnosed and become the subject of dissertations and Doctorates with no one in the media interested in debating with a qualified Specialist.
Well, that’s never stopped me.. and my subject today is.... Behavioural Addiction.
Wikipedia has this to say .. “Behavioral addiction (also called process addiction or "non-substance-related addiction") is a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences, as deemed by the user himself to his individual health, mental state, or social life. Many such processes within this concept are not harmful or deviant by themselves, but become so when they result in these negative consequences. Frequently discussed examples include gambling, sex, eating, and internet usage.
The applicability of the word "addiction" to these conditions is controversial, and there is not a universal consensus as to the most appropriate phrase used to describe these conditions as a class.”
Now, as far as I know this is the only diagnosis where the individual himself/herself is the one who defines the illness... “ ...harmful consequences, as deemed by the user himself to his individual health, mental state, or social life”... it is ‘user defined’.
Nightflower, a person I respect and whose posts I enjoy, has defined herself as a recovering addict in her recent post ...here.... and maybe I should just let her get on with it... except it effects the way people think of their computer usage; this negative self-categorisation rubs off on others.
Sex, gambling, eating and computer usage are the activities which are subject to this self diagnosis I am very suspicious of all four of these being defined as addictive behaviours.
Sex... now I don’t know any boy between the ages of 14 and 40 who has not been, or is not, addicted to sex. Obviously, by the definition of this type of addiction it is self diagnosed, so it will depend on the positive or negative spin the ‘user’ places on his sex-drive. If a man shags, or tries to shag, everything that moves it is, of course, easy for him to turn round and diagnose himself as an addict.
Sex, gambling and food are all subject to Greed. Now, we can allow greed to become an addiction, especially if it is self-diagnosed, no one is gonna say “I am a greedy person and I am too weak to rein myself in”... much more socially acceptable to talk about my addiction. I distance myself from the responsibility for my behaviour.
The computer falls outside of this Greed classification.... and it is extremely doubtful, in my mind that one piece of machinery can be singled out for an addiction. When it is a relatively new piece of equipment that makes me even more suspicious.
No one claims they are addicted to the telephone, tho I know teenage girls who are almost never off the phone. Their bills certainly effect their financial stability and their social life is via this piece of equipment. No one has ever claimed to be addicted to letter writing as far as I know.
The computer, at least in the way it is used to play SL, is a communications device. It is a way of ‘being with’ friends. If you are addicted to a person, it is normally called Love if it reciprocated or Stalking if not.... and there are times when you can’t drag yourself away from a good party and end up staying the night... in SL (as Wizzy remarked) you simply end up with j k l imprinted on your forehead. Falling asleep in front of the TV is surely now considered to be ‘normal’ behaviour....
The behaviour which Nightflower describes in her post, including Lying and Subterfuge, sound like the behaviour of illicit partners in an extra-marital affair rather than any activity which could be called addictive.
There is angst connected with this type of activity which I have written about before, and it has much more to do with our classification of this recent machine and associated behaviours than it does with the Addictive Nature of the Evil Machine itself.
So... to get back to my starting sentences... this type of behaviour used to be called Bad Habits.... lack of self discipline, lack of self control, poor planning, lack of balance.
Obviously this is not the fault, in any way, of a machine or software, this is a phase of psychic development, a growth to maturity, taking responsibility and saying... “OK, no drama, I’ve been getting into bad habits and need to pull myself together”....
I don’t believe it needs a special classification, just a self examination of motives, of what is being avoided and of why you feel so guilty.
...and don’t misunderstand me, I have spent 20 hours a day in SL, as noob, but I don’t think I have been Impacted by Addiction.
Passion is good, better than being luke warm.
:))
Friday, 5 November 2010
Craft World
As the Omniverse develops we will, of course, see more and more Boutique Grids arising, catering to specific groups of people with one or another feature distinguishing them from the larger grids.
In a continuing Grid Hopper Mode, and tipped off by Wizzy, I popped over to check out Craft World. Opening up Imprudence I just typed Craft Grid and http://craft-world.org:8002/ into the login URL...and hey presto..
This is the tp station for the freebie areas and, like everything on this largely Italian speaking grid, it is well made, textured and thought out.
The freebie areas are set away from the main arrival point and, partly due to this and the fact that it has just started up and has few users, my fps shot up over 60.
Over 30 different free hair styles and as many shoes (I found a pair I love) with a male section that is not badly stocked either. I thought this was maybe the most chic freebie area I had seen.
It's all very well laid out, classy and sophisticated, not a trace of that dodgy Open Sim Look..
So...I popped over to check out the Museo del Metaverso... and found some of the best landscaping I have seen for a long time.
The museum is no pokey little hut...it's huge and clearly going to be a major contribution to the metaverse. I can see this as a common hypergrid destination once it all starts to fill up with the best of what the other grids have to offer.
I found I already had two friends there, Roxelo and Luce, and Wizzy has registered. Tao Quan greeted me when I arrived and was very welcoming. I saw Artee's sculpture as well as I flitted around.
Now, tho there are only 60 regions and 120 users at the moment, this is a grid that will grow, quickly, I think. Quality is obviously something they care about and I didn't see anything nasty, which, as I am such a visual perfectionist, impressed me a lot. The stylish builds and freebies will appeal to all those that love Italian type style and good design.
One to watch, for sure.
:))
In a continuing Grid Hopper Mode, and tipped off by Wizzy, I popped over to check out Craft World. Opening up Imprudence I just typed Craft Grid and http://craft-world.org:8002/ into the login URL...and hey presto..
This is the tp station for the freebie areas and, like everything on this largely Italian speaking grid, it is well made, textured and thought out.
The freebie areas are set away from the main arrival point and, partly due to this and the fact that it has just started up and has few users, my fps shot up over 60.
Over 30 different free hair styles and as many shoes (I found a pair I love) with a male section that is not badly stocked either. I thought this was maybe the most chic freebie area I had seen.
It's all very well laid out, classy and sophisticated, not a trace of that dodgy Open Sim Look..
So...I popped over to check out the Museo del Metaverso... and found some of the best landscaping I have seen for a long time.
The museum is no pokey little hut...it's huge and clearly going to be a major contribution to the metaverse. I can see this as a common hypergrid destination once it all starts to fill up with the best of what the other grids have to offer.
I found I already had two friends there, Roxelo and Luce, and Wizzy has registered. Tao Quan greeted me when I arrived and was very welcoming. I saw Artee's sculpture as well as I flitted around.
Now, tho there are only 60 regions and 120 users at the moment, this is a grid that will grow, quickly, I think. Quality is obviously something they care about and I didn't see anything nasty, which, as I am such a visual perfectionist, impressed me a lot. The stylish builds and freebies will appeal to all those that love Italian type style and good design.
One to watch, for sure.
:))
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Stability
I am a very content at the moment, and I put it down to a feeling of stability that I have.
Grid stability is not something that really effects me, I started in SL years ago when the grid was down at times and everything got so frazzled before the release of a new viewer that everyone knew it was coming. Friend's openings and parties were often abandoned because we couldn't get online. It didn't worry us that much.
We didn't know how long SL would last in those days, I was advised against buying land because SL could disappear overnight.. it didn't. It did let land prices fall through the floor tho, a major mistake in my opinion, but it stayed the course and is still struggling along.
So, the stability that has brought me some contentment over the last few months is more a stability that comes from the feeling that my future is secure. That may not be in SL but I have found I don't really care. The future is : I will always be able to find a grid that I can create on and, very importantly, the community of people I know online will be around for many years to come.
The recent offering of a 10$ sim is a natural progression, Maria writes very thoroughly (as usual) about it .. here. This is not a freak occurrence but an expected development of virtual worlds entrepreneurialism. It basically means that I can rest assured that whatever my personal financial situation, I will find a home.
This, then, has a knock-on effect for LL. They are no longer the only game in town... and with the current level of ill-will they have generated, they are no longer perceived as the best game in town, either.
Mesh is gonna bring chaos for a while, and the advantages will be preceded by viewer problems and crashes until it all settles down. In this period we will see another surge in people trying out some of these new grids and I hope to have friends established in different parts of the Omniverse as the new year progresses.
The hypergrid will make grid hopping a little easier ... I expect to go visiting more often. Those that are worried about having their creations stolen will have to grow up, or stay at home... they can copy your stuff, but not your talent...so relax.
More and more people are generally coming to the realisation, too, that Virtual is as real as Real, (another good post by Botgirl) which I find very pleasing, I do believe in a sort of autonomy for Avatars, tho I realise we are just at the beginning of very long path.
I am hopeful that this shared experience, this Culture, will mature and I am excited about that.
.... all is fine in the Omniverse.
:)))
Grid stability is not something that really effects me, I started in SL years ago when the grid was down at times and everything got so frazzled before the release of a new viewer that everyone knew it was coming. Friend's openings and parties were often abandoned because we couldn't get online. It didn't worry us that much.
We didn't know how long SL would last in those days, I was advised against buying land because SL could disappear overnight.. it didn't. It did let land prices fall through the floor tho, a major mistake in my opinion, but it stayed the course and is still struggling along.
So, the stability that has brought me some contentment over the last few months is more a stability that comes from the feeling that my future is secure. That may not be in SL but I have found I don't really care. The future is : I will always be able to find a grid that I can create on and, very importantly, the community of people I know online will be around for many years to come.
The recent offering of a 10$ sim is a natural progression, Maria writes very thoroughly (as usual) about it .. here. This is not a freak occurrence but an expected development of virtual worlds entrepreneurialism. It basically means that I can rest assured that whatever my personal financial situation, I will find a home.
This, then, has a knock-on effect for LL. They are no longer the only game in town... and with the current level of ill-will they have generated, they are no longer perceived as the best game in town, either.
Mesh is gonna bring chaos for a while, and the advantages will be preceded by viewer problems and crashes until it all settles down. In this period we will see another surge in people trying out some of these new grids and I hope to have friends established in different parts of the Omniverse as the new year progresses.
The hypergrid will make grid hopping a little easier ... I expect to go visiting more often. Those that are worried about having their creations stolen will have to grow up, or stay at home... they can copy your stuff, but not your talent...so relax.
More and more people are generally coming to the realisation, too, that Virtual is as real as Real, (another good post by Botgirl) which I find very pleasing, I do believe in a sort of autonomy for Avatars, tho I realise we are just at the beginning of very long path.
I am hopeful that this shared experience, this Culture, will mature and I am excited about that.
.... all is fine in the Omniverse.
:)))
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Viewers, art, shops...and blogstuff.
Well, the news this week has been about viewers... Imprudence, and Phoenix and Kirsten, all trying to incorporate the Viewer 2 code into their TPV so that mesh doesn't end up looking like flat prims, unreadable by the 1.xx code...
Kirsten says its not that easy...for those that have any idea of what she is talking about..."Here's the catch, proprietary libraries :/
Now with LLKDU its ok because someone had the good sense to build in a fall-back in the form of Openjpeg. However it's not the case with the meshy stuff. It needs a convex decomposition library.
Anyhoo Long story short.. that's going to take some time to get working ( understatement of the year ). And may even take longer on non windows platforms. Im sure other TPV's are currently trawling various resources like Physx and other such fun places."...
OK I didn't get a word of it either, but if Kirsten finds it tricky....well...it's gotta be hard.
DON'T PANIC as the famous book said....it seems very unlikely that Phoenix or Imprudence is gonna be as stupid as LL and use the Viewer 2 UI, no-one would be that daft. In fact Phoenix is actively asking for emailed suggestions on the new viewer.... here... and if you have a spare hour to read the comments you will find that ...if the viewer looks like Viewer 2.2 , no one will use it, so that's unlikely to happen.
I have loads to say about this attitude, this enquiring, asking what the end user might like, as opposed to LL's famous quote... "If it’s a feature you really want, gather votes for it in jira and we will reconsider it at a later time."...i.e. we couldn't give a shit...you do the work and we''ll think about it, maybe.
Anyway.... in other news......
Nessuno Myoo is an artist I have talked about before, he has a piece on show at Pirats that I went to the other night...
"For the occasion show one of my last unpublished work called 'Life Again'
and dedicated to the delicate and difficult theme of Holocaust.
Thank you for your attention, I hope to see you, goodbye. "
It didn't have a particularly depressing feel to it, as a piece and reminded me a little of Bryn in some way... you can see for yourselves...here.
Ed Hinterland has finished his new shop, Werk, which is built in Inworldz on his sim called Hinterland.
What I like most about this is that this is exactly the sort of classy build and classy furniture which helps lift the grid from a purely pioneering stage...to... well, something a little more sophisticated. Well worth checking out.... if you have a home in IWz.
As far as my product news goes....
I have now got the Candy Tree in SL, though it isn't available, well, it's available but not rezzed anywhere....just IM me if you can't do without it...:))
...and InWorldz now has the Happy Tree and my fine railings, which I will hope to incorporate into a new idea I have. I will also sell them 'loose', copy/mod.
...and...welcome to Nazz, who has a platform high above soror Nishi Island (IWz) while he gets acclimatised...
Well, time for a coffee...so I'll continue another time.
:)))
Kirsten says its not that easy...for those that have any idea of what she is talking about..."Here's the catch, proprietary libraries :/
Now with LLKDU its ok because someone had the good sense to build in a fall-back in the form of Openjpeg. However it's not the case with the meshy stuff. It needs a convex decomposition library.
Anyhoo Long story short.. that's going to take some time to get working ( understatement of the year ). And may even take longer on non windows platforms. Im sure other TPV's are currently trawling various resources like Physx and other such fun places."...
OK I didn't get a word of it either, but if Kirsten finds it tricky....well...it's gotta be hard.
DON'T PANIC as the famous book said....it seems very unlikely that Phoenix or Imprudence is gonna be as stupid as LL and use the Viewer 2 UI, no-one would be that daft. In fact Phoenix is actively asking for emailed suggestions on the new viewer.... here... and if you have a spare hour to read the comments you will find that ...if the viewer looks like Viewer 2.2 , no one will use it, so that's unlikely to happen.
I have loads to say about this attitude, this enquiring, asking what the end user might like, as opposed to LL's famous quote... "If it’s a feature you really want, gather votes for it in jira and we will reconsider it at a later time."...i.e. we couldn't give a shit...you do the work and we''ll think about it, maybe.
Anyway.... in other news......
Nessuno Myoo is an artist I have talked about before, he has a piece on show at Pirats that I went to the other night...
"For the occasion show one of my last unpublished work called 'Life Again'
and dedicated to the delicate and difficult theme of Holocaust.
Thank you for your attention, I hope to see you, goodbye. "
It didn't have a particularly depressing feel to it, as a piece and reminded me a little of Bryn in some way... you can see for yourselves...here.
Ed Hinterland has finished his new shop, Werk, which is built in Inworldz on his sim called Hinterland.
What I like most about this is that this is exactly the sort of classy build and classy furniture which helps lift the grid from a purely pioneering stage...to... well, something a little more sophisticated. Well worth checking out.... if you have a home in IWz.
As far as my product news goes....
I have now got the Candy Tree in SL, though it isn't available, well, it's available but not rezzed anywhere....just IM me if you can't do without it...:))
...and InWorldz now has the Happy Tree and my fine railings, which I will hope to incorporate into a new idea I have. I will also sell them 'loose', copy/mod.
...and...welcome to Nazz, who has a platform high above soror Nishi Island (IWz) while he gets acclimatised...
Well, time for a coffee...so I'll continue another time.
:)))
Monday, 1 November 2010
Shapeshifters.
When it comes to festivals linked to certain seasons it is useful to think how and why these things came about before houses , for example, existed... yes, I do believe most of them are that old.
Mankind's place in the cycle of nature is the generator of these celebrations, and Halloween is no exception to this.
As trees and plants die back, at least in this part of the globe, there is little wonder that a festival around the concept of death should have arisen. Before central heating, and even now, a higher proportion of humans would have died in this period of the year than average.
Now death is the greatest transformation that a human would have experienced and that may still be true, seen in nature or in a fellow human it is always a striking event which never becomes mundane. The transformation of one state of being to another is a mystical event and, really, one we still have little understanding of.
The aged female in a primitive group had, maybe still does in some cultures, a closer connection to the cycle of birth and death in smaller social groups than the maiden, bride, wife or any male archetypes, so it is not surprising that she is chosen as the figurehead of the mystery of transformation. This figure has become Disneyfied to the Witch.
The Avatar is the greatest disguise anyone can adopt as far as I can see. We are all shapeshifters in a way that is unparalleled in history.
Previous tales of shapeshifters that have been witnessed, allegedly, have involved possession of the individual by another 'being'... tho this is technically incorrect, as it is an autonomous unconscious element within the individual's psyche which has in fact taken over while consciousness takes a back seat, letting the unconscious do the driving..... a bit like your red ink cartridge bursting in your printer and flooding every image with red.
With an avatar I can shapeshift while 'fully' conscious and don't fall down in a trance when I log off.
This puts us all in a transformative situation, we are all witches and wizards, potentially. The transformation which we are all involved in, know it or not, like it or not, is that which Jung calls Individuation. We are all working towards becoming more human, more complete as humans. The fact that Virtual Worlds can help us on this path is why I have often said that we are all undergoing therapy..
...and it's fun. Mostly.
Happy (not solstice) CrossQuarter day.
:))
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
stat
Posts
