HBO acquires machinima "My Second Life" - Molotov Alva's video diaries

HBO announced today that it has aquired a documentary that was filmed entirely in-world.

Our very own Orhalla Zander, founder and King of the SecondLife Hobos group (more of a tribe if you ask me, and I'm happy to say I'm one of them!), has been working for some time now as art director and assistant director on the 7-episode Machinima "My Second Life."

Here is a somewhat blurry version with Portuguese subtitles, so please do realize that it is best to view it directly from their website.


The virtual biopic narrates the story of Molotov Alva - played by Douglas Gayeton, director of the pixelated documentary - after he disappears from his home in Petaluma, California. You will all recognize many SL locations that have been used for the shoot.

Hamlet Au of New World Notes was the first to break the news, and subsequently Reuters has carried the story worldwide.

HBO is owned by Time Warner, Inc. and the piece is slated to air sometime in 2008.

We asked Orhalla today how he thinks the mainstream world will react to My Second Life, and he replied: "I'm certain the documentary is going to be very educational to people who know NOTHING about Second Life. It's not tutorial at all. It reminds me of a documentary about the culture of SL. And for the people who are already residents of SL, they will certainly love the film."

He added, "I think it is becoming fairly natural to have crossovers from the virtual to the mainstream media realm; they have already happened. You have Frogg Marlow and Jaycatt bringing their music inside SL. Then you have Anshee Chung who founded virtual real estate. They were the first of the firsts... and I think that while our crossover may not be the first, all sorts of people will find something tantalizing about the documentary. It just captures so much of Second Life's culture."

We're immensely proud of you, Oz.