Light Waves' statue at the Garden

June 27 Update: Seems polysilox Apogee had also discovered Light Waves' sculpture, way back on May 17th! polysilox had been photo blogging and was checking for the names of content creators for attribution when she made the discovery.

Every time I think about Light Waves, I find myself grinning. There is something about his personality that simply inhibits any other reaction. Beyond the fact that he is the creator of many, many of the creations we most admire in Second Life®, including his groundbreaking (sometimes literally!) sculptures...


This photo of Starax statues taken by Amalthea Blanc

...and the magical wand - and everything it rezzes - back in the days when he was known as Starax...




These photos by Wellington Bahram

...to the lovable Greenies at Greenies Home Rezzable when he emerged as a new avatar by the name of Light Waves...


This photo, "Bella meets the Greenies," by Bella March

...and his elegant and mysterious Black Swan sim today...



Beyond all these staggering accomplishments, it turns out that Light Waves is quite a likable dude. Yes, I don't think I'd known him but a couple of minutes before I'd called him a curmudgeon, but he always cracks me up and always keeps things in perspective. What I'm trying - badly - to say here is that, despite the fact that he is quite possibly the most revered artist and scripter on the grid, Light Waves is a grounded, earthy kind of guy. Some might (do!) call him crusty :P

Anyways... a few days before the Garden of NPIRL Delights opened to the public, I IM'ed Light Waves asking if he'd like to make us a little something for it. The next day, you can imagine the extreme rush of pleasure and excitement I felt when there was an inventory offering from him waiting for me called simply "Something for the Garden."

Did I have to go to a sandbox just in case it was very large, I wondered? I couldn't wait. I rushed to my inventory and rezzed it - quite breathlessly - to the ground... and waited what seemed like an infinite number of seconds for it to rez... Later, Light Waves told me he had wondered if I was going to laugh or cry when I saw it, LOL.




I guess I did a little of both... the crying and laughing, I mean. I know that Light Waves is very busy these days, so I was astonished to receive anything at all. But this little naughty gnome! Taking a tinkle on our Garden, no less! Harrumph!

Fact is, I'd give my right arm to be able to make anything as well done as this just once... and to think that he made this simply as a joke. What a talent!

My brewing mind quickly came up with a plan: I'd extend the joke to everyone who visited the Garden. Knowing that I'd be taking a break from Second Life for several weeks, I shared the news of the gnome with the very talented Nectere Niven and entrusted her with it, asking that she move it around, if necessary, to keep people looking for the famous "Light Waves" sculpture. She did better than that. She rezzed it in plain view and even created a little park-like setting around him.



Later, I added a few of artoo Magneto's surreal 3D trees...



... and there he sat, for the duration of the Garden. The only person I know who found him was Selavy Oh.

Hehe... and so it goes.

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.

The King is dead. Long live the King! Starax Statosky is gone, but Light Waves carries on

Someone needs to say it, so I might as well be the first, and I do so after careful consideration and with great admiration for the man in question. Like the Phoenix - that mythical bird that dies in flames and is reborn from the ashes - Starax may be gone, but in his place stands the extraordinary Light Waves.

I spoke at length today with the British man behind these two avatars, and found him to be warm, approachable, and unpretentious... not at all like the sardonic fellow I'd read about.

Light Waves has already been in touch with several of the most dedicated collectors of Starax sculptures, as well as many, if not most of the owners of his legendary magic wand. These people have kept quiet... have been walking on eggshells, out of respect for their monarch of builders, and possibly a fear that he might disappear again. I think that is a safe assumption. I hope I'm wrong, but I propose that we enjoy him and celebrate him while we still have him within our sights.

At any rate, it is all true. The man who was Starax and is Light Waves today told me that he closed Starax for many reasons and that, despite rumors to the contrary, the wand had been just one of them and not even the most important one.

What is all this fuss about, you might be asking yourself? A little history for those who, like me, were born in Second Life after his abrupt departure...

Many people have come and gone from Second Life and more than a few have been missed by the friends they left behind, but when Starax Statosky vanished mysteriously in June of 2006, hundreds of people grieved. In fact, his departure cast a pall over the art and builders community of Second Life that is felt to this day.

As of this writing, when you Google Starax, you get back 25,200 hits, and there is only one Starax that comes up. The Friends of Starax group in Second Life pays tribute to him even now - 15 months later - and their charter reads "because Starax was so beloved, we form this group in remembrance and appreciation of his unique gifts and talents."

Note that this shrine to Starax sits on Governor Linden's land.

Starax Statosky was born in Second Life on December 23, 2003. His profile reads: "Nice weather out!" The only group Starax is still a member of is the Magic Wand Society.

In October of 2006, the NMC held a retrospective of art by Starax, which can be seen in this Machinima produced by RacerX Gullwing.

Then, on July 25 of this year, Morris Vig's Oyster Bay gallery and NPIRL'er Tayzia Abattoir's Crescent Moon, the oldest museum in Second Life, launched Hidden Starax!, "a spectacular rotating exhibit that celebrates the Second Life of the master of SL sculpture, Starax Statosky." The show presented 20+ rare Starax pieces over the course of 6 weeks and free, copiable editions of some of his works were also rotated, encouraging visitors to take copies for their private art collections. I've made a point of dropping in frequently, and now own four sculptures by Starax.

Fact is, Starax made prims do unnatural things. He took the unwieldy cubes and spheres and molded them as if they were putty in his bare hands to create sculptures that take our breath away.

And then there was his wand... Aenea Nori did a great job of documenting both its capabilities and the things it rezzed on this slide show.

Speaking for myself, I was introduced to Starax's wand in April when a pair of young boys showed up at Hobo Village on the Calleta sim and put on a show that I shall never forget. As I told Light, it was a transformative moment. As far as I am concerned, a person's Second Life can easily be split by the BW (before-wand) days and the PW (post-wand) days... or that moment when you realize what SL can be like when taken to the maximum of its potential.

Most everything Starax created was not transferable, including the wand. Even Light Waves' wand by Starax is no transfer, or so he says.:P In fact, Light Waves was quick to point out that he doesn't own anything by Starax.

So there you have it. I think we can all now conclude that Starax's creations are the true artifacts of Second Life.

"Any chance you will make another wand?" I asked hopefully, to which Light Waves replied, "I doubt I will make another wand. It was just too expensive. I felt uncomfortable selling it to people who didn't really feel it was worth it, or to people who couldn't really afford it."

So how did I find out? I won't tell all, but really, if you look hard enough, the bread crumbs leading to Light Waves are all over the place. I will say this... getting to this point, this conclusion to my quest, has been more fun and intriguing than any Myst game could ever be!

Aenea Nori was on to something when she blogged about some of the things found at Greenies Home Rezzable, saying they were built "by an av named Light Waves (whose profile appears to be that of an alt, and may or may not have been Starax — hence the discussion of whether he-who-has-disappeared has returned."

While our very own Pavig Lok is the lead creator of Greenies Home Rezzable, working together with NPIRL'er LittleToe Bartlett, it was Light who made the graceful ballerina, the fanciful canary escaping from its cage, and it was he who begat the very droll and adorable Greenies.





So what is Light up to today? NPIRL'ers had a preview yesterday of a whole new sim which he began less than a week ago. Dearest readers... the beauty of it brought tears to my eyes! It is everything you would expect of a builder of Starax's stature and more. I won't give out the landmark nor publish photographs of it until it is complete, except for these two pics. For those who knew his work, the whale and the bird here are testaments to the fact that Starax and Light Waves are one and the same.


And what does Starax look like now? Well... the day I met him he looked sorta like this - a greenie! - though obviously this isn't him:

Finally, I had to get his opinion of sculpties. "They're umm... okay, I guess :) A bit wobbly and a lot of hard work to make. But then everything is hard work to make these days. People expect so much more. I miss the days when I could just make something from raw prims and people would like it," was his reply.

Light shared that he is using Mudbox, Cinema 4D and Maya and then he added, "but I've just seen Modo 301. That looks rather nice, so maybe it's time for a change :)"

I would have to agree with you, Light. I'd say it's definitely time for a change. And Light? Welcome home! Want a cookie? A glass of milk?