Art Box - A new way to become the art in Second Life®

Now you, too, can be a part of Banksy's "Pulp Fiction," complete with a banana gun


Posted by Bettina Tizzy

This is the second piece in a new ongoing series on how and where to regain our "fun," in Second Life®, when so many of us are hard at work and living two full lives.

A summer rite of passage for many Southern California residents is to attend the Pageant of the Masters at the Festival of the Arts in Laguna Beach. The show is the presentation of a series of recreations of works of art brought to life as living pictures or "tableaux vivants" using heavily made-up and costumed people to portray anything from human figures to a piece of Wedgewood china.

Tickets cost anywhere between $20 to $50 and then you must drive there (traffic is a nightmare), park (another nightmare) and devote at least 45 minutes to walking to the venue and finding seating. I'd recommend doing this once in your lifetime, but even though it's impeccably realized, I must admit that it actually gets a tad boring after 20 minutes, let alone an hour. Once I got over the shock of how perfectly they had recreated an image, my mind began to stray towards thoughts of dinner and the guaranteed traffic jam home.

Much more fun is to be had simply by logging in to Second Life and spending an hour or two with friends hopping from one virtual destination to another, turning our avatars into art.

This notion of becoming part of the art piece is not new in Second Life, as we have seen with AM Radio's Death of Marat, and Robbie Dingo's staggeringly beautiful Starry Night video (do NOT miss this if you haven't seen it already). Then there was yet another virtual Starry Night created by Tr3ssis, and of course, the delightful and surreal freebies that four Yip was giving away when we first discovered her.

Thanks to a fellow by the name of Frankie Rockett and his Art Box, there is a new way to become a living part of classic or contemporary paintings. Art Box employs Holodeck technology to rez a series of famous illustrated, painted or photographed backdrops on demand, and then makes a number of props available to you, including clothes, a sandwich, a banana gun and what not, to complete your "picture."


"Son of SL Man" by Frankie Rockett

You may have seen this machinima of Frankie's that takes place in his 3D recreation of Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks"...



That Nighthawks set is now available to you and your friends, free of charge and with lots of cool props, as well as backdrops from Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World...



As well as the amazing photograph of workers taking lunch a top a skyscraper construction site by Charles C. Ebbets...



Or become part of the ad "blown away..."



Or scream...

Edvard Munch's The Scream

There are over a dozen choices of sets to rez and Frankie tells me that more are on the way. Fun! You can visit Art Box by teleporting directly from here.

Chortle, chuckle, grin and guffaw - Smile, you are NOT on Candid Camera, you are in SL + Your homework assignment

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Fun! Where did it go, oldbies? The more we chat about our Second Life® experiences, the more I hear that you are too busy wheelin' & dealin' or providing customer service or rushing on a build, and too too busy to laugh it up anymore.

Well here's a first in what I hope will be many installments and refreshers on how to stop taking your Second Life so seriously while doing something inane and delightful. Remember how good it used to feel? Remember the first time you saw that jello avatar? Remember when you floated on a giant mushroom in the sky with a bunch of friends, with tears in your eyes from all the giggles and snickers and snorts? Remember?????

A few days ago, artist and Hotel Dare curator Gattina Dumpling encouraged me to do just that when I commented on her shot of Rachel Breaker as Bacon Blingtard. "Bettina! We need to blingtard you! It is the most fun you can have; totally makes you see how most of SL lives, and is truly amusing for a total of about 3.8 minutes! Set your torso slider to 100 and get some bad freebie hair and orange skin!" Have I done it yet? Nope. But I need to. Does that count?

Speaking of Rachel Breaker - who's profile reads "I can do anything I want, and so can you," this woman seriously knows how to whoop it up.


The real Rachel Breaker

It's reflected in her creations such as the Blinkin' Wonka Chimney Hat...



...and her AMAZINGTOPHAT!



Teleport to Rachel's shop directly from here, and yes, it really is inside that mound :D Touch the door to get in.

She might not be in as she is given to sneakin' next door to her friend Daniel Luchador's shop...



On Flickr, Trilby Button writes, "Just a silly little video of Lette (Ponnier) and I having lots of absurd fun in the Fotoscope sim, where just about anything can happen if you choose to float in space. We were eventually killed by the Big Giant Head (what is he from??)."



Photographers Squishypaint Aabye and Korgi Lerwick created Fotoscope for photographers. The island has a variety of locations created with photoshoots in mind, as well as two galleries and a professional studio with hundreds of poses, lights, backdrops. What interested me though, was this bit of folly in the sky that's featured in Trilby's machinima: The Freefall Fotosphere.

Teleport directly from here and look for the local teleporter.

~*~

So kids, your homework assignment for this week is... have AT LEAST one break a day lasting a minimum of 3.8 minutes (per Gattina's prescription) of simple, stupid fun. I'm going to practice what a preach, too.

Hotel accomodations to dance about

Given the choice between a five star chain hotel and a smaller, stylish home-away-from-home, I'll go for the latter every time. Conceived and built by Gattina Dumpling, Hotel Dare is the grid's only chic boutique hotel that I am aware of, and with several unique rooms designed by artists, there's something for everyone and every mood.

The room designed by Amsterdam-based illustrator (click this link, click this link!) and artist four Yip, is pure, undiluted and chocolaty fun.

Take a shower and you will find yourself dancing, have a friend hop on a pillow opposite you and you'll mirror each other's antics, jump on the bed, have a pillow fight, dance - like Cinderella - with your ballgown, and munch on some chocolate flowers (white or milk), too. And you get to take many of these goodies home with you! Now tell me, how many hotels let you do that? Four tells me that lots of people assisted Gattina with the creation of Hotel Dare, including Meat Carver, Mijn Boa, Teddy Whitefield and more.




Teleport directly from here.

Show and Tell - Get thee some input, some laughs, and some new people to admire

Update! The Show and Tell show is still going on every Sunday at 2pm, but it has moved to Avaria, which you can reach by teleporting from here.

I'm racing to get my chores done right now so that I can attend an innovative and fun event that many had told me about but that I only just last week experienced. Doh! I can only wonder how much I've missed!

For over a year, and today and every Sunday at 2:00pm SLT, dozens of avatars gather together at North Lummerland for one hour to share, review and discuss newly created content. That content can be anything at all that you made in-world (no 2D items, though) and all levels of experience are invited.

Up to nine people (first come, first served, but none after 2:30pm) may submit and unveil their work to a growing crowd of mostly supportive and entertaining audience members. Quips, questions, zany remarks and lots of encouragement are generously doled out to each of the presenters who rez, demonstrate and explain their creations.

And then there is a vote...

And all the participants win! The audience kicks in tips and these monies are distributed amongst the presenters, with higher amounts going to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places.

Among the many builders and artists who have presented at this Show and Tell are Pandora Wrigglesworth, four Yip, Bryn Oh, and Crap Mariner.

Founders and hosts Barney Boomslang and florenze Kerensky keep the event on its toes and moving at a good clip.

"It is a fun event, especially since you get to watch builders grow. We have had a few builders who have stuck around, repeatedly showing, and so you get to see the works getting better with every piece," said Barney Boomslang when I spoke with him earlier this week. "It's tremendous fun to see what kind of things people come up with building. We once had someone who made a toothbrush and toothpaste complete with a tooth brushing animation. Totally useless in Second Life®,, but still - great idea just to _do_ :)"

Teleport directly from here, but do keep in mind that sometimes the sheer number of attendees makes it necessary for the entire assembly to move to another location for a smoother performance.

Please remember to remove face lamps, high prim clothing, high prim hair, and all those nifty attachments so that everyone can have a pleasant time. Last week, Pandora gave away many items from her Curio Obscura store to the individual with the lowest Avatar Rendering Cost (ARC) rating. I didn't qualify, of course, but I am learning! I think I will go bald today.