"SL is killing me"

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

One of Second Life®’s greatest creators wrote me an IM a few days ago - out of the blue - that read simply “SL is killing me.”

I knew exactly what this person meant. Whatever you do in Second Life, whether you are creating or building community, if you do it with passion and long enough, you are bound to feel consumed by your own creation at some point.

Bloggers will know what I’m talking about. It’s 1am and your blogpost isn’t anywhere near ready and you promised whoever you are writing about that you’ll have it up in time for the opening of their installation or event.

Artists, architects, scripters, builders… often find themselves working against impossible deadlines to have something ready for a show, but the dog needs a walk, the pantry is empty, and your sister’s birthday is tomorrow. Worse yet, the curator hasn’t set the land permissions right, your client keeps crashing, and your Real Life client is expecting that paper in 8 hours.

Is it a midlife crisis? If we abdicate, will we have missed the opportunity of a lifetime?

About a year ago, I shared my feelings of burnout and my inability to satisfy everyone’s expectations with my virtual sister Tayzia Abattoir. My own little success had become a monster that was eating me alive. Tay, who rezzed in 2005 and has seen many friends go and also die, gave me two sage pieces of advice:

* Set yourself to "busy" most of the time (particularly good advice if you lead a very public life).

* Don’t “quit.” Just leave if you have to for a month or two. Second Life will still be here when you come back. Tayzia was right.

A few more thoughts:

* Go to edit > preferences > communication and set your IMs to go to email. Encourage people to communicate with you via email so that you can handle their requests or information at your own pace.

* Give yourself a break and realize that you don’t have to answer every IM as if it is a house on fire. Think of it simply as if someone is adding a file to your in-box.

* State your preferences and limitations everywhere possible: in your profile, your notecards, your profile picks, your blog, and all your social networking sites. Then, if people choose to ignore them, it’s their own damn fault. You can’t please everyone all the time.

* On his blog, ArminasX Saiman wrote about his fatigue and an unexpected resurrection when he shared the story of how a simple animation and his willingness to surrender to it RESET his view on things. Surrender to the fun again.

Speaking for myself, I need to find ways to cut myself more slack and reset my own Second Life. I need to stay focused on the big things and stop letting the many distractions steal my energy and love for what I do. As for my friend who wrote to say that SL was killing them? I shared Tayzia’s advice but added one more thought. “If it really is killing you, it’s not worth it. You deserve better.”

I also have to admit that I need all the advice I can get in this regard. Balance is something I'm not good at. How have you rebuilt the fire of your passion? How do you cope?

Not Possible IRL + Koinup = Not Possible IRL Safaris: First stop... the world of Tayzia Abattoir

The Not Possible IRL and Impossible IRL groups are partnering with Koinup - an inclusive social networking site for all Virtual Worlds that permits storage and sharing of imagery: photography, Machinima, and "storyboards" - to host a new kind of joint monthly event called the Not Possible IRL Safaris.



Among the Virtual Worlds you'll find images of on Koinup: Second Life®, World of Warcraft, Lively, The Sims, IMVU, vSide, Kaneva, There, and more.

Koinup's CEO Pierluigi Casolari and I agree that the convergence of media from all these worlds will expose Koinup's members to new ideas and stimulate an appreciation for new lands, as well as heavy crossover. Speaking for myself, I hope that crossover will funnel thousands of new members to Second Life, where user content creation and creativity are not only possible, but the future of the 3D web. I also see it as a way to promote and showcase top-notch creators and their quality content.

To that end, the first Not Possible IRL Safari will be hosted by the ultimate aggregator of art in Second Life, Tayzia Abattoir, on Saturday, September 13th at 6pm SLT, starting at the Crescent Moon (teleport directly from here).

The first Safari: The World of Tayzia Abattoir
Tayzia founded the Crescent Moon Museum - the longest continously-running art house in Second Life - back in February 2005 and her inventory (over 70k items and practically all of it art!) is probably the richest in-world repository of one-of-a-kind sculptures, art installations, paintings and photography in all of Second Life. In addition to running the Crescent Moon, Tayzia also curates the New Media Consortium's (NMC) Kirsti Aho Museum , and Ars Simulacra, the NMC's Second Life artist showcase island.

About a year ago, Tayzia took me under her incredible wings and gave me a crash course on art and artists in Second Life, leaving my own life and virtual dreams forever changed. Tayzia rezzes art that no one else possesses, and knows more about how each artist got started, who's work they were influenced by, and what they are up to, than anyone else on the grid. It's simply the best way to kick off the Not Possible IRL Safaris with our new partner, Koinup.

Later and once a month, NPIRL and Koinup will offer Safaris and tours with many of Second Life's best content creators, exposing the participants to new sims, new content, and new ideas that are leaving the old world behind and breaching the future. See you there!

The Not Possible IRL (NPIRL) and Impossible IRL (ImpIRL) groups are dedicated to identifying and sharing well conceived and realized content creation in Virtual Worlds which would not be possible in Real Life: architecture, landscaping, art, animations, fashion, particle effects, building tools and scripts... show me, I'll show you.

VeGeTaL PLaNet

Via Tayzia Abattoir, owner of the Crescent Moon Museum and curator of the NMC's Aho Gallery, we learned of vroum Short's VeGeTaL PLaNeT. While vroum hasn't been in Second Life® more than a handful of months, his use of scripts to execute imaginative kinetic sculptures (not shown here) is noteworthy.

vroum's abstract virtual nature is reminiscent of sea kelp and is also kinetic.




Teleport directly from here.

Unexpected objects

"Recent works," which will open this Sunday, is a bit of a meditative walkabout with surprises around each bend in your path. Created by Mencius Watts and Taggert Alsop, and curated by Tayzia Abattoir, this kinetic light and sound and space installation invites quiet exploration, and while much of it - if not all - would be possible in Real Life (PIRL), the cost of mounting such a show would be prohibitive unless you happen to be one of the ten or so names in the art world with the proven ability to pull in some very serious money and support.

It works well in a virtual environment, and realism is achieved with these unexpected objects in unexpected places by breathing life into them through the use of video, light, movement, and live feeds.

One exhibit works interactively with Flickr. You type in any word, and it pulls and displays approximately thirty photographs that are tagged with that word. For this video, I typed "NMC," which stands for New Media Consortium, the organization that is hosting the show. Another installation displays RSS news feeds. The works are proximity triggered, so you must get close enough to set them off, or alternatively, turn your media on.


Filmed and edited by Bettina Tizzy
Sound files produced by Taggert Alsop

Mencius Watts is the "artist" account for an American with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Intermedia and Video Art. Using another account for his "day job," he heads up a research group that works exclusively in virtual environments, including Second Life®. His professional focus resides with interface design, social engagement, virtuality and simulation.

Mencius Watts: We work a lot in Second Life these days... art mostly. We do museum kiosks... gesture-based, touch screens, etc.

Does that carry over in the art that Mencius does?
Mencius Watts: Yes. I reinvent a lot of my Real Life works. I am a video artist... do installations. I collaborate with scripters, composers, etc.

Who are your collaborators?
Mencius Watts: A group of Real Life artists and programmers. The main avatar is Taggert Alsop.

Ah, not in world...
Mencius Watts: Well, we are in Second Life, too. All blurry. Taggert does most of the scripting and most composing for the works. I do the 3D and media concepts. For me and our group, (this show) is a wonderful opportunity to explore virtual art and showcase the intersections of art and technology. (There is) a lot of content in the works, but some pretty hefty back end know-how driving it (and) making it work. For the user, a direct experience with the work... not clunky. The aesthetic experience is the most important. The technology behind it should disappear.

The collection of works will open to the public beginning Sunday and will be up for a month at Ars Simulacra, the New Media Consortium's (NMC) Second Life artist showcase island. Teleport directly from here.

Crescent Moon Museum showcases Cheen Pitney's privately-held cache

Canadian sculptor Cheen Pitney's new show, The Sin of Commission, at Tayzia Abattoir's Crescent Moon Museum, features only those works that he has created on commission for private clients. This is a rare opportunity to see, in one fell swoop, many sculptures that reside mostly in private settings and in Cheen's inventory.

Cheen works with traditional prims to create these beauties, and has been sculpting since he arrived in Second Life on 7/9/2006.

On Friday, April 25th at 6pm SLT, Cheen will give a talk about this art and his personal evolution and exploration as an artist in Second Life, also at the Crescent.

I especially love what he has done to the entrance of the museum. Teleport directly from here.

Time Out!

By golly, a new record... my fourth blog post of the day and so much to say!

NEW WINDLIGHT VIEWER WITH FIXES!
Get that baby here now, and like Pastrami Linden says, if you have an ATI card, be sure to download the latest drivers.

SPECIAL REQUEST TO ALL INVITATION MAKERS
If you are seeking wide distribution of your invitation, kindly make the invitation and all its enclosures (notecards, landmarks, etc.) full perm so that they can be distributed via notice.

SPECIAL REQUEST TO ALL ARTISTS:
Whether you sell your art, or give it away, collectors will bless you many times over if you *add your name* to the name of every art piece you ever make. It's a misery trying to find things with obscure names in inventory.


That said, let's talk art...



If you like sculpture - and I do mean really_great_sculpture - I highly recommend that you make your way over to the Time out of Time show curated by Tayzia Abattoir at her Crescent Moon Museum. It has a very short run... opened yesterday, and ends this Sunday.

I've just been and there were three important pieces by Starax that I had never seen before: Rivals, Sore Love and his Clock. The more I learn about his work, the more I understand the depth of his legacy to art in Second Life. The Crescent Moon now sits on a Havok 4 sim, which seems to be disagreeing with the script for the clock, but it was behaving when I was there.

There's one incredible piece by Savi Seyes (look for it on the top of the little mountain just outside the museum). I understand Savi died last year and that some were not aware of her passing. If you are learning it here, I am so sorry.

Look for several sculptures by Bryn Oh. This new artist has me in a tizzy... her clockwork mechanisms and insects! I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more from her.

I found two works by Cheen Pitney , just outside the museum to one side: his Sax Man - featured here earlier today - and his Bear Dancers.

There are only two copies in-world of Fire 'n Ice by Aiden Seraph, and Tayzia has rezzed one of them.

So many other inventive, special works, many new to me... a gorgeous sculpture - Bold Caution - by Lash Xevious, Stella Costello's Primolution, Sorrow by Androclese Antonelli, and Determination by Neobokrug Elytis... many more. In fact, I think I need to go back and look again!

Again, recommended. Teleport directly from here.

Forget Snow White's apple. For righteously grim fruit, turn to Nomasha Syaka

In addition to making highly detailed guitars that would have made Stevie Ray Vaughan or Hendrix proud, Nomasha Syaka famously creates things of classic or natural beauty. There's his first-rate take on Michelangelo's David, and the sculpted prim horses we now all have in our inventories by default, and of course, his life-like animated tigers.

But it turns out that his endlessly inventive mind can take some interesting detours... To begin this five minute stop-over, teleport directly from here, and follow the trail of apples.



Select "eat me" on the last apple and enjoy the ride.



I won't show you what happens next 'cause it would spoil your fun. Suffice it to say that Nomasha's morbidly playful creation forces you to become both the observer and the victim as you watch yourself being blended and broken up into bloody bits, all the while blithely scoring the cinematic experience with the cheerful tune, "I'm sitting on top of the world..."


Here, White Lebed is in for a surprise.

Nomasha thoughtfully provides a hospital bed for you to rest and recuperate after the joy ride.

Thanks to my sis, Tayzia Abattoir, for sharing this delightful horror with me.

Virtual friendships are jewels in the hands of Random Calliope

Ever wonder how your relationships in Second Life stack up against your Real Life ones? How meaningful are they, really? It seems you are in good shape if you are friends with virtual jeweler extraordinaire, Random Calliope.

I attended the gala unveiling of Pretty in Prims - a retrospective of his work - at Tayzia Abattoir's Crescent Moon Museum last Sunday. A master of micro-prim manipulation, Random's jewelry is the most coveted and prized in virtual worlds; his limited edition sets often selling at auction for $50,000L or more. Every piece of jewelry is 100% prim work. No textures, no scripts... just hundreds of beautiful prims placed with precision and an artful eye.

While Random's jewelry is, more often than not, Possible in Real Life (PIRL), it's how he goes about releasing it into the world that makes it Not Possible in Real Life (NPIRL). Consider how his fan-base obsessively attends Random's butterfly hunts, where hundreds of the butterflies - not all! - contain pieces of jewelry from the Ode Collection. And there was his Winter Solstice release of the Amandote! collection, costing exactly one hug, a price everyone can afford.

For the retrospective at the Crescent Moon, and as a memento, Random gave each attendee a set of his newest collection, The Pearl. I eagerly unpacked my set and then stopped in my tracks when I read the accompanying notecard. I invite you to share this with every friend on that list of yours whom you value. It's a gem.



===The Pearl===
by Random Calliope

Sometimes I'm a idiot.

One of my best friends, whose time I can't seem to get enough of, is Italia Villota. Tali is an energetic DJ seeking opportunities to do what she loves. She and I have grown closer as friends over the months, and I thank Jacks, her boyfriend, for being both understanding and trusting about that.

In early December 2007 Tali came to me excited with some news. She said she was SL pregnant! She said it in such a way that I knew she was very excited, but also tentative. Her friends began giving her a hard time about it. Tali has never been a mother in RL, although she has dedicated her profession to children.

Just like everyone else in SL, I have been in groups where SL fetuses announce to the world that they are pressing on their mommy's bladder, or want apple juice, and I found it as annoying as the next guy or gal.

My reaction to Italia's news was exactly what she didn't need. It was not the reaction of a friend who understands her excitement, rather one who prepared to be annoyed by chat messages from her belly.

Tali was understandably upset with me. She had already become very sensitive as one after another she received the same reaction from her "friends". She stopped communicating with me. I mean she stopped really communicating, although she would speak with me she stopped sharing her thoughts like we had come to do.

I knew I had some growing up to do.

Why, I asked myself, would a young lady want to be SL pregnant? What is it about the experience that is so important to them that they'd risk snide comments from friends and strangers? The moment I asked myself the question the answer was obvious.

A woman's entire body is dedicated to the creation and nurturing of children, of course their mind and instincts would be also. SL is a place to try what you haven't ever experienced in RL.

I immediately made my apologies to Tali and let her know that I not only understood, but also deeply respect her decision. Of course she accepted my apology, but it didn't go far in helping me make amends to myself for my immaturity that caused a friend discomfort.

Although I realize that as a man I can never quite fully comprehend the pregnancy experience (nor would I want the reality of it wreaking havoc on my body), I began talking with my friends who have young RL children about what it's like to make a life.

Harper Beresford gave me an outstanding explanation I listened to intently and thought about for hours.

Alanna Vantelli created an experience on the posing stand as we talked about the instincts and feelings she has for her son, and what it was like for her to be pregnant with him. How the work connected to itself took shape.

My main goal was to try to capture the glow that women have when they are building a life. As Alanna stood there she mentioned that her mother knew she was pregnant before she did by the glow in her eyes.

To me, the glow is pearlesque, which shines from within and only appears through the surface. As I built the piece, I tried to describe both men and women, the emergence of matriarchy from novice motherhood as love matures into pride, the constant evolution of generations, the glow of the woman whose entire being is made to create what she is creating.

The necklace was modeled to exactly match the dip of the collar in front of the neck where the heat from the body lights up the face as if it were an uplight. Over the shoulders where in the piece individuals become anticipating couples, I draped the necklace to highlight the shoulders there.

In the back the necklace ends with two more glorious pregnant bodies laying down across the back of the shoulders at such an angle as to bring attention to the curves of the back. In this way hoping to explain that a woman's entire body - front, back, top, bottom, mind and soul, are dedicated to the task of creating life for us all.

And they glow naturally, even when there's a tiny elbow pressing on their bladder. There is no ring or bracelet. She would only have to take them off because of the swelling.

Tali, I understand and not only respect your decision and your new experience, but I also hope your SL pregnancy has given you the experience you are looking for.

Thank you for clearing my mind up on the topic of SL pregnancy. I think now I understand better.

You can see The Pearl, as well as Random Calliope's entire collection - every single prim beautifully displayed - at the Crescent Moon Museum now through Sunday, January 20, by teleporting directly from here.

Random Calliope's Worthwhile Gallery can be visited by teleporting from here.

The fertile mind of artist and writer elros Tuominen

I've spoken before about prolific artists in Second Life, but none that I know of produces a steadier stream of new creations than the Basque sculptor and writer elros Tuominen (aka Antonio Alza).

Every morning when I log in, there is a notecard waiting for me from elros containing a brief and beautiful piece of prose, always written in first person to a woman he unquestionably adores (not me, mind you :). Here is one example:

Good morning, new morning day, such a beautiful and almost perfect day. Time's stopped, time's over, time's far far far, time's a painting, an invention to organize our little walking through life, time belongs to the old days, time's a beast, it keeps on eating human minds, but time's days are falling down, it's turning into a hurt black bird, still looking for meat, fresh and bloody meat.... but time is hurt, it won't last too much..... time, just like a dying star, it will just eat itself, faster and faster and faster, they will be hard days I know, but time will leave us alone, at least, alone; of course, we will walk like lost children through the ruins of time, with no direction, it won't last, we won't remember what it was, and time will be just dust floating on the sky, pieces of dark feathers going up and down, little and dirty feathers, time... who will remember then... Good morning, new morning day, good morning heart, are you feeling alright? the world is going round and round, good morning heart, isn't it sweet, isn't it amazing, life's making sense, life's giving us jewels... no more black birds...

Good morning
elros Tuominen

elros also creates a new piece of interactive art or jewelry about every two days. 2D photography does not do justice to 3D interactive art, but I hope the following snaps will entice you enough to go and have a peek at his work. Two good places are Tayzia Abattoir's Crescent Moon Museum (teleport directly from here) and Morris Vig's Oyster Bay Gallery (teleport directly from here). You can actually purchase his work at elros' store, the Tubular Gallery (teleport directly from here), or online.


"Multiple planar perspectives" switches from blue to pink to aqua to purple.

Just before the holidays, elros generously offered two of his gorgeous kinetic sculptures to NPIRLers as gifts. I asked him if he wanted to issue a notecard as well, and he replied, "yes, but first I need some Floyd." After further inquiries, I came to understand that he was going to listen to some Pink Floyd for inspiration. I wish music had such a powerful effect on me!


This swirly thing is called "Dancers," and spins very gently on its axis.

Yesterday, elros sent me an unannounced landmark. I don't usually receive landmarks from him, so I immediately popped in for a look (see below).


His newest, very large piece is called "inside road to ovetum" and is made up of megaprims. It is rezzed in the sky. There's another large piece just above it. Simply fly directly up.

Most of elros' sculptures are low prim, and every single one of them is in constant, fluid motion. One can only imagine what elros' reaction was when he first realized that he could add movement scripts to his art work.


This piece is quite large and a good example of a running theme that elros has been exploring that I am simply wild about. Stop by his shop (teleport directly from here) to see his "teardrops in the rain" in-world. I can almost guarantee that you will be wowed.

Several of his sculptures gracefully "fade in/fade out," such as this fan-like piece called "Playing Harp."



Finally, I discovered this Machinima interview of elros by Magellan Egoyan, which makes it much easier for those who are not in-world to grasp what we are talking about when we refer to elros' interactive art.

Lash Xevious' La Reve - a Flickrite's delight

Couple Lash Xevious' new purplish eye candy "La Reve" sim and Windlight and you have a photographer's feast on your hands. NPIRL Flickrites... show us your stuff! Here are my own sorry pics, without the benefit of Photoshop.

La Reve is a full sim featuring narrative sculpture and moody virtual nature.



Teleport directly from here.



The very lovely Lash dates back to May of 2004. On her blog, she speaks of La Reve as her virtual canvas. I look forward to knowing her better. Many thanks to my mentor and friend, Tayzia Abattoir, for pointing us to Lash and her work.

Strawberry Holiday' sends us on our journey

It was a pretty invitation... luminous, with sweet particle stars.



"On Their Journeys" by Strawberry Holiday - which opened today - is a girlish, diaphanous installation that encourages daydreaming. Teleport directly from here.

The pathways are interactive... you might be enveloped in a translucent cloud, or see the steps twinkle beneath your feet.



Her "fractal trees" will surely please fiddling Flickrites as much as they did me. I don't have PhotoShop... yet... but this is one place that begs playfulness with the resulting photographs.



Here is the raw pic... Heh, as you can see, I still have a looong way to go before I can call myself a photographer.



The colors, particularly from this perspective, made me think that we need a recreation of Monet's garden at Giverny in Second Life.



In a few weeks, "On Their Journeys" is expected to join other interactive art at the much anticipated opening exhibition for the new NMC Aho Museum, curated by our very own Tayzia Abattoir.

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.

A butterfly hunt that results in fabulous jewelry = charming NPIRL, the Random Calliope way

A few days ago Tayzia Abattoir - NPIRL'er and the gentle lady general of SL's first museum (etabli August, 2004), the Crescent Moon, as well as curator of the Aho Museum on the NMC campus - introduced us to a delightful gentleman, Random Calliope . He is the artist and creator behind the most exquisite 100% prim based, untextured jewelry, all of it originally designed. Calliope also reigns supreme over what is undoubtedly Second Life's highest fashion house of jewelry, the Worthwhile Gallery. Slurl: Worthwhile Gallery.

Naturally, we hastened to join him to our group on the spot. Welcome, Random!

Soon after, Random kindly extended an invitation to the NPIRL'ers to participate in the Ode to Caledon Butterfly Hunt on the estate of the Duchess of Loch Avie, Her Grace, Eva Bellambi. This lovely, very Victorian, yet NPIRL thing to do which took place Wednesday last, was an homage to the once very popular community butterfly hunts of days gone by, but the virtual twist was that hundreds of the butterflies - not all! - contained pieces of jewelry from Random's Ode Collection. Oh oh oh!

Unfortunately, yours truly was too caught up with the excitement and completely forgot to photograph the event, but here is a pic of another butterfly hunt, to give you some idea.

While there, we spotted several of our members, including longtime Caledonian and adventurer Hotspur O'toole.

If you are short on funds but still appreciate beautiful things, Random offers a collection of over 190 pieces, all of the best quality, free of charge, to visitors of his fine establishment.

Top 10 Art Installations of Second Life, and more

Make no mistake. We are on the prowl for all the greatest Not Possible IRL builds, and if someone beats us to the punch on something truly splendid, then we will hand them to you on a silver platter, as we must today.

NPIRL'er and New World Notes' scribe, Amalthea Blanc, blogged the very fine and challenging article Top 10 Art Installations of Second Life yesterday, featuring several of our members and a couple of tremendous people we've missed along the way.

Tayzia Abattoir... (insert hand wringing here) you were so right! DanCoyote Antonelli's new show is... is... Well, I missed the boat and cannot justifiably blame it on absent LMs. Everyone, get thee over there and do as DanCoyote recommends: change ALL your settings with wild abandon and discover this vertical masterpiece.
DanCoyote Antonelli's Arts and Letters show

More than one of the individuals featured in Thea's piece are artists-PLUS. They stand for something even greater than their own art work. Case in point: Keystone Bouchard. His Gallery of Reflexive Architecture is at the apex of of the NPIRL experience and invites the avatar to move through, over and under his undulating, interactive sculptures.
Gallery of Reflexive Architecture



But perhaps even more exciting is his use of Second Life to plumb what he calls the "3D Internet" to virtually and collaboratively design via Open Source Architecture, or Wikitecture 2.0.

And get this... if ever there was an activity that underscores our collective shout that SL "is NOT a game," Keystone's RL architectural firm constructs buildings in-world first, allowing their RL clients to log in and experience the build before brick meets mortar.

This week's notice to you Busy People

This notice was issued to NPIRL members on August 10, 2007, in-world.

* NOMASHA SYAKA'S BLENDER
We are lucky lucky lucky to have Tayzia Abattoir in the group. What a treasure trove. She giggled when she learned that I had not experienced Nomasha Syaka's Blender. Take a friend (and maybe an enemy, too ^.^) and follow the trail of apples to the last one. Touch and "eat it."
Nomasha's Blender
~ Nomasha... welcome to our group! I'm afraid I drooled a little bit over your guitars and sculptures, too.
~~ Nomasha owns the group "I use my nose to type..."

* URASIMA CLOCK ISLAND
Dali-esk, monochromatic, other-wordly, and definitely NPIRL. Numbers dash about and squeal.
Urasima
All the info is in Japanese... so I watched the video at Crazy-Genius . Anyone know these builders?

* JAPANESE STEAM PUNK + fusion
Can steam punk - in its varous SL manifestations - ever be NPIRL? Sound off on the blog. But first check dis place out. Later, you can take the hot air balloon, and lazily work your way down to the diff levels. Teleporter in the cafe, btw, is the cardboard box. This visit will take a bit of time, is well built, and is a pleasant way to unjangle your nerves after a hectic day.
Forbidden Island

~~ time sensitive! ~~
* Juria Yoshikawa's "Blink" is having a closing party tomorrow, Saturday, at 2pm SLT. He's also been fiddling with fire... take a look...
NO SLURL as the event has ended

Here's the video of the closing party - fun! - featuring the music of AldoManutio Abruzzo

~~ fyi ~~
* Some NEW excellent things at the Greenies Home Rezzable, created by NPIRL member Pavig Lok and team.
Greenies Home Rezzable

Welcome to our new members:
- Amalthea Blanc
- AngryBeth Shortbread
- Avi Arrow
- Felix Wakmann - thanks again for the fab SLBrowser freebie, Felix. You guys gotta check it out. Really.
- Finny Yates
- Jurin Juran
- Matthew Kidoman
- Nomasha Syaka
- Scope Cleaver

Fondly,
Bettina Tizzy

All your LMs are belong to us

This was issued in a notice to NPIRL members on August 3, 2007:

THE BLOG

Thanks to Corporate Jay for his help with the management of this blog.

~~If you are an NPIRL member and would like the rights to initiate a post on our blog, please contact me in-world.
~~Anyone can comment, though.
~~All back notices will eventually make their way into the blog. This way we can share our finds with the rest of the metaverse, and have a handy archive, too.
~~The blog will always be one week behind in-world notices so you will always be the first to know....
~~Unless something riveting is going on, NPIRL notices will be limited to once a week now: Fridays

THIS WEEK'S FEATURES:

* SKINS. I suppose this is possible IRL, given the right cosmetic surgery, but the pain, the cost, the vanity! We've all shopped for skins, but just for sheer comedic value, check this one out: Limited edition skins for 20,000L. Yes, you read right. TP to the skin section and look for the LTD Edition corner. What do you think?
CryoGen Cloning Facility Skins

* CLANGER'S INVENTIONS:
This is not a new build but possibly one of the earliest attempts at NPIRL stuff in world? A sim of textures and shapes gone wild, by Clames Clanger:
Clanger's Inventions

More Clanger stuff; newer. He won't let you create an LM on his land, but you will spot his stuff right away when you land here. Alternatively, just look in his picks for the Gilum parcel stuff:
More Clanger stuff

* ARTIFICAL LIFE IN-WORLD
This bizarre sim is an experiment in artifical life where plants and animals interact with each other and evolve:wiki at SL Ecosystem
Terminus

* SLONOPOLY: A CELEBRATION OF CAPITALISM
When Akasha Wachmann handed me this LM, I envisioned a giant interactive monopoly game. Almost right. It's a new shopping mall in the sky. Talk about location, location, location. And yes, pick out your token and surf your way to Park Place. Not sure if you get $200L for passing go.
SLonopoly

WELCOME to our newest members; we are better for knowing you! Thanks to Douglas Story for all his help here. Check em out.
* Tayzia Abattoir
* Tom Bukowski
* RawMilk905 Kline
* Arcanus Projects

Keep those LMs coming!
Bettina Tizzy