Is Second Life the greatest derivative art form? Templum ex Obscurum signifies that it is

See below for a photography and Machinima challenge.

While art is a reflection of its time, it also inherently influences what it seeks to capture. Until I discovered Second Life®, cinema was, for me, the greatest derivative art form... influenced by everything and in turn, influencing everything else. While the notion had been seeping into my thinking for some time now, what I saw last night convinced me that virtual worlds - as a creative platform - will far surpass cinema in this regard.

For many weeks this past spring, I gave my heart and soul to the Garden of NPIRL Delights, and so it was that I ended up spending less than a couple of minutes previewing what was then a new creation on the grid. I probably didn't even have time to rez it all. I've just been back for the first time, and what I saw there astonished me.

Templum ex Obscurum by Baron Grayson - and now owned by Cuwynne Deerhunter - is a place that accomplishes what many have sought to do in Second Life but have always fallen short of... to transport us into a world that is so rich with narrative that we may as well have walked into a Brian de Palma or Visconti movie. Not the set of a movie. The actual movie.



I do believe we will long remember Templum ex Obscurum as being the first to really introduce this new syntax for content creation. For lack of better words, it is cinematic genius... so beguiling and bewitching that I could devote weeks to reporting on its many parts and details.

Instead, I challenge you, the photographers and Machinimators of Second Life, to show us what you see. I would like to feature the best of your work on this blog every week for the next four weeks, beginning today and ending on Sunday, September 14th.

If you would like to participate in this celebration and challenge, please add your photographs to the Templum ex Obscurum - A NPIRL Photographic challenge Flickr group, and your Machinima to the Not Possible IRL YouTube group. I haven't any prizes or awards to offer... just my enthusiasm and eagerness to see what the very talented people of Second Life will come up with. The selection process will be based on the number of comments and faves.

I was so caught up in experiencing Templum last night that it didn't occur to me to take photographs until the last five minutes I was there. The lighting is the stuff of dreams. I must go back, again and again.

Teleport to Templum ex Obscurum directly from here.

I am photographed wearing Eshi Otawara's Blue Tux dress which can be purchased at her Chambre de Chocolat, and a new hairstyle for Hairspray.