Party envy: Extreme NPIRL Rules of Conduct

NPIRL'er artoo Magneto continues to horribly disabuse me of the notion that I might be hip. A few days ago I shared the following with the NPIRL clan...

~tp to THIS! instant cool by artoo~
I'm writing this blurb while sitting on the uber hip, uber tech anyMOTION sim... this is artoo Magneto's world, a mix of NPIRL with a hint of Teletubbie chic (don't let this put you off!)...


Toys and architecture with a James Bond-ish sensibility and brio.

Music varies from luscious Billie Holiday grooves to broadcasts direct from DJ Deep Mix Moscow Radio

Epicea Eilde hangs here...

and... well... I am wondering if I'm hip enough/cool enough to pull this off...

This is a place you will want to wander around *completely.* Don't miss the Trash Palace shop even...


Merchandise selection is a blast. Amidst the items for purchase there's artwork everywhere... just cause... like this VisualWall by Dave Attenborou.

This place is not yet finished... a few weeks away from completion. AM Radio... thanks for introducing us to artoo :D BTW, you guys, if you can persuade artoo to give you a ride on his speed boat... you will be in for some serious SL fun.
SLURL: artoo, anyMOTION
***
Then yesterday, artoo put me in my place again (coolness factor: left-of-zero) when he tp'ed me in to a party at the residence of the rezzidents. There's no butler or bot here to announce your arrival. Rather, you are transported (and here I apologize for how dark this pic is) via a bubble down a slot...

I cannot even offer you a slurl or landmark because...

It was here that I found artoo Magneto. He wasn't dancing. He and his friend were... um... I'm searching for the word... beaming?

Artoo glides...

Meanwhile, up in the air, there was another NPIRL'er, AM Radio, (shown here on the right) taking a break I guess, from making the astonishingly beautiful things that we so admire.

The thing of it is... this isn't about grandstanding. It just seems to come naturally to them, and it is fun to see.

Note to self: Rethink the boundaries of everything you do.

Karma in Second Life is certain: Whatever you don't do, won't come back to you - Thursday's Fictions

NPIRL'er Gary Hazlitt's new sim, Thursday's Fictions, raises the bar for everyone on how to plan before you rez a prim. This is also a highly recommended visit for a very new kind of experience in SL.

[18:21]  Gary Hazlitt: The build (so far) was done very quickly in about 5 days, but so much thought was put into it. As director of the Australian Laboratory for Advanced Media Production, I get to work with the best writers and thinkers in this area. The original idea for the piece in SL came from Richard James Allen who wrote a book, which then was a stage play and then a dance film.
[18:23]  Gary Hazlitt: The (piece is about) this person who only lives for a day, and keeps getting reincarnated.
[18:24]  Gary Hazlitt: So it was a wonderful opportunity to experiment a little - not just with the idea - but with entrenched ideas already in SL. Second Life, by implication, is about reincarnation, or at least a parallel existence that you can go in without context ;-)

[18:26]  Gary Hazlitt: The work is planned but not yet finished. There will be 7 more lives created and the team has already planned the themes. The fun part comes in implementing them with an SL context, but also keeping true to the original story.

[18:28]  Gary Hazlitt: But the karmic themes are most suited to something that feels in turmoil. Purgatory is a waiting room so the main hallways are places where you consider your life.
[18:29]  Gary Hazlitt: so it works way beyond just the stories of the characters - you are the one who has to asks questions of yourself and the surreality of the environment is meant to make you feel a little uneasy and want to stop and think, question mortality, transhumanism, your own psychology, spirituality and so on.

[18:31]  Gary Hazlitt: The other lives will be very exciting, partly going into someone else's mind, and some will be quite 'challenging' in setting difficult challenges so you can be reborn again. I think films like Wings of Desire, Waking Life, Waking Life, Defending Your Life, What Dreams May Come, and others like that will be reflected, too.

The four laws of Karma are:
1- Karma is certain. 
2- Karma expands. 
3- If you 'do it', it will come back to you. What you sow, so shall ye reap.  You can't plant a tomato seed and expect to get olives.  
4- If you don't 'do it', it won't come back to you.  Everything that is happening to you is a result of your past actions."   
 
Creators: Richard James (Jiva Allen in SL) and Screendance Allen (SL)
SL designer/builder: Gary Hazlitt (SL) 
Story consultant: Rock Sonic (SL) 
www.thursdaysfictions.com

SLURL: Thursday's Fictions

Burning Life with soror Nishi - Just a peek

Say hello to the kid in you and visit soror's idea of what a forest should be.

Slurl: Event has ended!

Burning Life with Lucinda Obviate (and Brunehaut Merlin) - Just a peek

While Lucinda created this head, it was Brunehaut Merlin who rezzed it here, buried halfway in the Playa. Sometimes (always?) it's not just a matter of how well you make it, but also how well you use it. In this case, I think the two made a good team.

Slurl: Event has ended.

Arcadia Asylum's inventory... it's gone: asset server issues are calamities

October 1 addendum: Thanks to the prompt efforts of Kona Linden who responded to NPIRL'er Ponk Bing's request, we have been able to verify that Arcadia's inventory is in place and appears to be fine. For more information, see the 16th comment to this post. Thanks Kona and Ponk!

Arcadia Asylum is the self proclaimed queen of trash in Second Life - and no, we're not talking about smut... she's strictly PG. Arcadia, whose first SL rez day is imminent, is peerless in giving a place that "urban decay" look. You see, it was Arc who built the now defunct Slum City, and Rags to Riches as well as the Pawn Shop at the Hobo Village Infohub.


I haven't finished introducing you to this feisty steam-punk urchin unless I also mention that she is resolute in her belief that all creations in Second Life should be open source and free. Her profile reads, "If you payed (sic) for anything made by me, even for L$1, you were SCAMMED!!!" Arc's made a pile of freebies, and they are - every single one of them - full perm.

Anyway, I got word on Saturday that the contents of her inventory had been wiped. If you know Arcadia and her builds, then you will probably agree with me when I say that this is a tragedy. (P.S. - In Arcadia's very, very special case, most everything she created is "out there," so her builds are still there. So are many of her textures, which she freely gave away when Slum City still existed. However, rebuilding your tools from scratch can't be anything more than a downer and a drag.)

Arcadia's vehicles can be found all over the grid.

Arc's reaction to the situation was to say that she was going to move on to other virtual worlds and go make her freebies there. We haven't heard from her since.


Hobo Village Infohub is a mess. An intentional mess. After the demise of the gambling industry in SL, Arcadia tossed slot machines in the bonfire there.

This got me mulling over the implications of lost assets. There are a handful of people in Second Life whose inventories contain one-of-a-kind treasures, not just of their making, but that of many other creators. What if their inventories were vamoosed?

I logged in last night and posted a question to the knowledgeable crew in the First Look group: if LL wanted to, could they back up a specific person's assets? "Probably not," was the reply.

Darn. I had hoped to propose that Second Life set up a program whereby, on an annual basis, a few people's inventories were given the designation of "Second Life Treasures," and then promptly backed up in order to preserve these repositories as living patrimony.

I realize that this would not be an easy program to implement. Beyond the technical difficulties, the selection criteria for whose inventories are the most valuable would most assuredly be a controversial and political Waterloo, but I still maintain that it would be worth the trouble.

Meanwhile, we are still Arcadia-less. For days now and every few hours I receive an IM from one great builder or another that begins "Arcadia's inventory is lost," or "has anyone heard from Arcadia?" The Friends of Arcadia clan, which is evidently enormous, is fretting. Is demoralized. Misses her... a lot.

Here, Arabella Steadman is wearing Arcadia's backpack... so complete with goodies, it might as well have a kitchen sink hanging from it.

Arc, if by any chance you are reading this... please come back. I hereby promise to give you anything from my humble inventory that is transferable. I think it is safe to say that so would scores of others.

Dear fashion designers of Second Life... we are desperately seeking fashion that would not be possible in real life

I understand that there is a solid market for clothing that emulates what we wear in real life, but aren't you a little bit tempted to really explore the possibilities that only the metaverse affords us?

Take this outfit - Glass House Mary - by NPIRL'er and designer/creator 3star Tyne, for instance. Every time I wear it, I am bombarded with requests for the name of the maker and the landmark. For this photo, I added a black modesty top, and omitted a couple of optional pieces. 3star Tyne's work is sold modifiable. Yusssh! *whistles and claps for mod perms!* I especially love the scripted bursts of stained glass shards that surround me when I wear it.

Click for close up
If you have an outfit that would not be possible in real life, please allow us to consider it for exposure to our group.
Slurl: 3star Land

The Interdimensional Alien Flying Circus

This is Part II of a notice that was issued in-world to NPIRL members on September 7th

A NPIRL Preview

NPIRL'er Cube Inada (Larry Rosenthal IRL) tp'ed us in for a preview of his new "Interdimensional Alien Flying Circus, which he created for the Starbase C3 online Sci-fi world project.

With this build, Cube takes Lucas' concept of a grimy, used universe "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." and pushes it into a darker place. Cube is quick to point out that the designs and the world of Starbase C3 are wholly original and unlike the other sci fi in SL.

Run by Mon-ti (play on Monty Python?), a multi-legged snake-oil sales-alien from parts unknown, the space station is a throw back to the road show carnivals and circuses of old earth in the 1800s.

The multi-tiered space station will offer boxing matches between known and heretofor unknown species, a dance club worthy of any Wookie or Ewok, and shopping areas for...um... strange things. Vendor areas are just becoming available.

Slurl: Interdimensional Alien Flying Circus

Burning Life 2007 - the weeklong burn has begun

As the sun set last night, the lamplighters donned the traditional robes skirted with orange, red and yellow flames, and moved across the Playa, their lamps swaying to and fro.

The time-honored procession culminated at Center Camp with a happy and boisterous party; everyone dancing to the beat of the drums. While the Second Life version of this annual event is closely aligned with the ideals of the much celebrated Real Life Burning Man, the metaverse is a platform from which a myriad of things that would not be possible in real life can take place.

Second Life's art M.O.M gets new digs; parties on...

It's not M.O.M.A.... it's M.O.M. Yep, the Crescent Moon Museum, the longest-continously running art house in Second Life (ne February 2005), is the true mommy of art in the metaverse. In fact, many Not Possible in Real Life members' works had their first showing at this venue.

And this weekend's festivities are all about giving the Crescent Moon a house warming worthy of this beloved art institution, which has moved to its new, much larger location at the Fairchang Village Island.

So pay your respects to M.O.M. - and Tayzia Abattoir who founded her - and get your handsome tushies over to the Crescent Moon today at 5pm SLT, when saxophone player Anakin Gallacher will perform, followed by a 6pm SLT performance by pianist Enniv Zarf (yesh, he's that art champion from Krystal Epic y'all know and love). And... Random Calliope will make available and free to all his "Dedicatory Gatsby" pearls!

Then tomorrow, Sunday at 10am and again at 5pm SLT, Random's gonna release hundreds of those butterflies that often contain pieces from his stunning Ode Collection.

But partying aside, come and see the new and one-of-a-kind pieces that Tayzia's rezzed, including the El Catrin, a bass-relief painting located just behind the grand piano by Red Randt, the Multiple Bag of Secrets by Elros Tuominen, the amazingly built/textured Marat by AM Radio, as well as the Tree by Kalt.

Me? I'll be the one shamelessly waving her butterfly net up and down the sim. Advance apologies for the all the bumping that is sure to take place.
Slurl: Crescent Moon Museum - that's M.O.M. to you!

Three Starax wands + Light Waves + a bare sim to play in = surely the most "WOWS" "ooooos" and "ahahahas" ever recorded in Second Life

NOTE: Most everything Starax created was not transferable, including the wand. Even Light Waves' wand by Starax is no transfer, so lamentably, this wand is no longer available for purchase/sale.

Considering the circumstances, the events of this afternoon were without precedent… a Not Possible IRL extravaganza... simply the wildest and most electrifying hour of entertainment yours truly can recall.

There stood Light Waves – the man who was once known as Starax - on a brand new barren island - holding what is widely considered the most celebrated object ever created in Second Life, the Starax wand.

Nearby... two of the original members of the Magic Wand Society, Ravenelle Zugzwang and Dirk Talamasca, their own wands at the ready. The rest of us: one blissful bunch of NPIRL'ers, there for the unimaginable romp that ensued.

A handful of extraordinary people hopped on the same wavelength to pull everything together in a couple of days for the merrymaking:
* Our warmest gratitude to you, Light Waves, for playing with us today even though you had a cold! Thank you for your wizardry and for creating the happy and heartbreakingly-beautiful things we so enjoy. *Hugs*
* We missed you, Larry Pixel! Wish we could have tp'ed you away from that RL plane and right onto the simulator you and the NMC so generously lent us for this special occasion.
* Ravenelle Zugzwang, also of the NMC… you didn't leave one thing to chance. Thanks to your skillful coordination, it all went off without a hitch. I don't envy you your wand. I'm so glad to know that someone as nice as you has one.
* Tayzia Abattoir, is there no end to all the joy you bring us? Thank you for helping us to find all the right people to make this happen.
* Bebop Vox, can't wait to see what you caught on video!
* Dirk Talamasca, you know that wand like the back of your hand. Loved the way you played with it.
* Finally, Wellington Bahram, thank you so much for taking the time to capture these super photographs in spite of the mayhem!

And without warning, things began to happen! Here a huge greenhouse appears... suddenly the glass is shattered; shards of glass falling all around you. Also rezzed here: a rhino, a crying baby, a revolver, and Homer!

There was the flying pig...

The wand makes things appear whenever they are mentioned, even in casual conversation! If you say "hello," giant letters forming the word fall from the sky. Then there's this giant green Cthulhu! Look behind him to see a flying pegasus with lovely flapping wings.

Dirk hopped on board the pegasus and flew away!

This girl's bubble grows and grows and grows... until finally it topples her over!

We were too busy having fun to photograph everything that materialized before our eyes... a sim-wide buffalo stampede, trains, Lear jets taking off, buses running over us... I especially loved the giant eagle, and the animations! Wow!

Mention Kong, and woalla! The giant ape appears, complete with his beloved Ann Darrow.

This rocket took off so high and so fast, I was unable to follow it with the camera after it ascended several hundred feet.

Beyond the brilliant scripting and the major-league sense of humor behind his work, Starax/Light Waves' staggeringly beautiful sculptures take center stage.



Uh oh! Santa overloaded his sled this year?

Not shown here... but when giant electric fans appear, their generated wind blows you away! Also, some things will set the avatars in their path on fire... here is one way to put it out!

This one is actually scary... O.o Wicked souls afire... rush screaming out of the devil's door.

Here Light Waves is caught in the eagle's talons and taken away! Riding that eagle is one of our newest NPIRL'ers, Kid Kuhn.
Ever so *many* things are not pictured here. We were too busy having fun! :P

This was one NPIRL exclusive that will be talked about for months and years to come.