The Grand Odalisque - a sculpture by an unknown artist

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Most everything that Rezzable Productions showcases has an element of mystery to it, and today's first look and reveal to the members of the Not Possible IRL and the Impossible IRL groups was no exception.

All photographs have not been retouched.



New and completely unknown Rezzable artist 3D Soup has created an immense sculpty sculpture called the Grand Odalisque: a hyperrealistic sleeping female nude, complete with stretch marks, pimples and calluses on her feet. She is lovely and endearing and we all know someone like her in Real Life. In fact, she probably looks like many of us do in Real Life.



Reminiscent of the works of Lucian Freud or Ron Mueck, the Grand Odalisque marks a leap forward in content creation in virtual worlds... an exacting portrayal of, and the embracing of our very real physical qualities.

As RightasRain Rimbaud (aka Jon Himoff), CEO of Rezzable commented, "It's really about realism, isn't it? It's an amazing piece. Gives you another dimension and level of access. At the same time, this piece makes you wonder why the avatars haven't changed or become more realistic on the Second Life® grid."


New media rockstar Gazira Babeli admires the Grand Odalisque

When I inquired further about 3D Soup, RightasRain stated that the artist believes that the piece will speak for itself, and is not taking any interviews. Of course, most old timers who remember the groundbreaking work of a certain Starax Statosky who later became Light Waves, believe that he is the only person capable of doing this quality of work. Coincidentally, Light Waves worked for Rezzable Productions until he left the grid, creating the startlingly poetic, very majestic sim Black Swan, which will be leaving Second Life at the end of August, to be re-rezzed on Rezzable's own OpenSim grid. Light Waves was also responsible for the creation of the Greenies sculptures and avatars, and the Ballerina which is currently rezzed at the Greenies Home Rezzable.

You can view the Grand Odalisque, rezzed at Black Swan, by teleporting directly from here, and then walking through the door on your right and down the pathway.

The apogee of fandom: Kevlar Keen breathes life into Bryn Oh's art

Posted by Bettina Tizzy


Kevlar poses for me at Immersiva

Kevlar Keen was so captivated by Bryn Oh's story and art for The Daughter of the Gears, that she created an avatar in tribute. Yes, friends, this is an avatar, and not Bryn's much admired virtual sculpture. It seems that Bryn approved, too.

Imagine how you would react if a piece of artwork at your local museum suddenly came to life and walked up to you. That is precisely how I felt when I glimpsed at Kevlar as the "Daughter" out of the corner of my virtual eye. The resemblance is perfect, right down to the beanpole legs and knobby knees, plus the "face" can be opened to reveal... ah, you will have to hunt Kevlar down to find out! This is a one-of-a-kind avatar, too. What must Bryn have thought when she saw it?!

Bryn developed both the character and the concept for the Daughter of the Gears when Rezzable Productions invited her to create an installation for the mysterious and poetic (and hallowed) Black Swan sim. I get a lump in my throat when I think of it, but we've learned that Black Swan will soon be erased from the grid. It seems it has less than one month left. However, you can now visit the piece on Bryn's own sim, Immersiva, by teleporting directly from here and looking for the tower.

Bryn Oh: It is a story about a mother who watches as her daughter becomes sick. And as her life begins to fail she transfers her daughter's soul into a vessel. A machine. When the townspeople find out what she has done they come to take the daughter. They see her as an abomination against all their beliefs and to all they hold true. But to take her daughter they must first get by her.

The mob climbs the tower and reaches the top. The mother fights them and wins. But is mortally wounded. And as she lays dying, she realizes that her daughter will now live forever alone and lonely. A girl in the body of a machine in a hostile world. So the daughter of gears goes into stand-by mode like a computer. And in stand-by she dreams of her mother for eternity.

As with every Bryn Oh creation, there is always a bit of poignant sadness, and also discovery. You can read the accompanying "machine" poems on Bryn's blog.

More coming soon on Bryn and her latest: the Rabbicorn Story.

Own the universe - and a piece of Second Life - in Real Life

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

This mathematical structure - known as the E8 Polytope created by Wizard Gynoid in Second Life® with the guidance of renown physicist Garrett Lisi (and sometimes avatar, Garrett Netizen)... is now available for purchase in Real Life.

The virtual version consists of 6,672 prims that were generated via script by Wizard with the assistance of Desdemona Enfield and Nand Nerd. Given its complexity, it seemed unlikely that its recreation in Real Life would be possible, barring enormous expense.

Now art, math and 3D printing artist Bathsheba Grossman has done it.


The 80mm glass cube will cost $72 USD and will be available as of July 10, 2009

Batsheba used Wizard's mathematical data for the crystal visualization and explains: "This 3D projection is notable for showing all 240 vertices, arranged in the concentric circles that appear in the common 2D "spirograph" rendering of this polytope." She adds that if Garrett Lisi's unified field theory is true, it "would mean that it explains most aspects of the observable universe. Here's a handy model for pondering the possibility."

In Lisi's seminal work from which these mathematical virtual creations stem, "Theory of Everything," the E8 Polytope may at last reveal the link between gravity and the other fundamental forces of nature.

"It has all 240 vertices and if you look straight down from the top, the zenith downwards, you will see a hole through the middle. If it were flattened, it would form the perfect spirograph," Wizard explained.

Here is a TED talk recorded in February, 2008, in which Lisi unenviably attempts to get us up to speed on his unified field theory in just 18 minutes.



See also:
Universe in the Metaverse by Hamlet Au, New World Notes

Like springtime blossoms, art is thriving at Brooklyn is Watching

Try as I might, I can't keep up with all the new artists and artwork on display at Second Life®s acclaimed art critique Mecca, Brooklyn is Watching (BiW) (teleport directly from here).

I dropped in yesterday and the place was bursting at the seams with mega sculptures. From left to right: That big brownish thing looming in the sky by DanCoyote Antonelli; like a burst of champagne fizzies, Juria Yoshikawa's piece invites you to drink it in; and a new artist discovery for me, Werner Kurosawa's rockin' spinning-prim sphere.



Not in this photo but well worth checking out, Oberon Omnura's kinetic forest.

Never heard of Brooklyn is Watching? Here's the 101, plus info on how you - and your art - can be a part of it.

Wizard Gynoid: "I think it's important. I have an intuition about it"

Posted by Bettina Tizzy


Could this be the shape of our universe?

This is a favorite blogpost of mine by Hamlet Au of New World Notes in which he describes the October 2008 unveiling of a virtual E8 Polytope created by Wizard Gynoid with the guidance of renown physicist Garrett Lisi (and sometimes Second Life® avatar, Garrett Netizen).

Today, Bryn Oh teleported me to see what Wizard calls "the best representation of my previous work. The previous E8 Polytopes were like sketches of this." The new mathematical structure consists of 6,672 prims that were generated via script by Wizard with the assistance of Desdemona Enfield. "Desde's giving me a crash course in quantum physics," laughed Wizard, but those of us who know them both realize that this is exactly what is happening.

In Lisi's seminal work from which these mathematical virtual creations stem, "Theory of Everything," the E8 Polytope may at last reveal the link between gravity and the other fundamental forces of nature.

"It has all 240 vertices and if you look straight down from the top, the zenith downwards, you will see a hole through the middle. If it were flattened, it would form the perfect spirograph," Wizard explained.

Here is a TED talk recorded in February, 2008, in which Lisi unenviably attempts to get us up to speed on his unified field theory in just 18 minutes.



I wondered outloud if there is a benefit to realizing an E8 in-world. If it can be realized in CAD, then isn't that enough? Why here? Why now? "This is going to sound paradoxical, but somehow it's more real here. You can almost reach out and touch it. You fly around it and bonk into it," she replied.

Wizard was unaware of any Real Life reconstructions of the E8, and believes that it would be a hugely expensive proposition to try to construct the same sculpture in Real Life. Indeed. Faster, cheaper, easier to create in a virtual environment, and people from all over the world can visit it and share it simultaneously from the comfort of their own homes.

Had Dr. Lisi been involved in some way with the creation of this newest model? "He kept giving me hints and guidance," said Wizard. Did she mean the he wanted her to figure it out herself? She believes so. "I think of him as a mentor or teacher."

Wizard's parting words to me this afternoon about this work brought it all home: "I think it's important. I have an intuition about it."

I like to think that she is right.

This latest E8 is due to disappear any moment, along with the sim it is sitting on. If you hurry, you might still catch it by teleporting directly from here.

Real Life inspires: Theo Jansen's "Beach Monsters"

Powered by the winds, Dutch engineer and artist Theo Jansen's kinetic sculptures are, quite simply, breathtaking.

"body parts" : Virtual lovers are star-crossed islands

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

“body parts,” Alpha Auer’s fittingly poetic contribution to the new Poetik sim, is an installation that consists of several monochromatic and nude human bodies heaped upon each other, and an offering of unusual skin outfits (both male and female) to be worn by its visitors. Poseballs scattered around the bodies invite visitors to become a part of the sculpture. In the accompanying notecard and on her blog, Alpha bemoans the lack of corporal love in our virtual environment and asserts that avatars are ultimately alone.

While Alpha’s work in Second Life® is often playful, this is no puff piece, and it opens up the conversation about the compromises virtual world residents make when we dedicate so much of our time tethered to our computers, manipulating our human simulations, but never actually making contact.



Virtual lovers are star-crossed islands but… are we not beautiful to look at? Like hothouse petals, translucent “body parts” emanate from the wearer, pining for, reaching out for, but never touching. Romantic? Yes... but also quite sad.

One might argue that physicality is not essential to love or to friendship, and most assuredly, it is not. But it is the deepening of that exchange between two people that gets hobbled and can go no further in pixilated form, no matter how ardent or tender the feelings. Intimacy is the casualty, and any participant in “body parts” is sure to face his or her demons.





Alpha was intentional in creating a colorless piece, but “body parts” plays well with Windlight. The installation can also be found on her own gorgeous sim, Syncretia, where it resides behind a cinematic wall of creamy nudity.



In addition to creating art of staggering beauty (or hilarity), Alpha Auer (aka Elif Ayiter) also blogs here on Not Possible IRL.

You can visit "body parts" at Poetik by teleporting directly from here, or at Syncretia, by teleporting directly from here and looking for a creamy globe some meters above ground. While the lighting at Syncretia is set to "sunset," Alpha has also created a Windlight preset for "body parts," which is available here.

Many thanks to Naxos Loon for posing for these photographs. Because Alpha is a mix-master when it comes to avatars and clothing, I knew she wouldn’t mind if I adorned my avatar’s body with Hern Worsley’s hair.

Viva la Vida: A video of AuraKyo Insoo's epic installation on the highs and lows of being human

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

It no longer exists, except in memory, but AuraKyo Insoo's soulful and sculptural Viva la Vida breathed earthy life and passion from every prim. An enormous installation that was truly impregnated with Aura's distinctive and immediately recognizable style, it required a good hour to take in. I shot the footage for this video weeks ago, and it wasn't lack of interest but the usual series of interruptions that held back its completion. I'm afraid I've done a shabby job of capturing the entire story and the enormity of it, but hopefully a glimmer of its effusive spirit is evident. If you missed it, I understand that Aura will have an opportunity to re-rez the show soon.


Shot and edited by Bettina Tizzy
Music: "Between two floors" by Five Star Fall
If you find that it is running slow, you can view it here.

Viva la Vida is a Spanish-language expression that loosely translates as Hurray for Life. The show - sponsored by Rezzable Productions - transported the visitor most elegantly through nearly every phase of life, beginning with a birthing and ending with peaceful and loving human interaction, but also touching on war (never more), cruelty, courage, fame and solitude.

In conversations with Aura, I have come to know her as a woman who embodies and lives by her own mantra, viva la vida. An Argentinian by birth and an artist in Real Life, Aura is also a poet and an activist. Viva Aura! We want more, and more can be had. Aura is currently showing at the Human Rights Festival in Second Life®: Reconstructing Rights; Humans in Process, which you can visit through January 20th by teleporting here.

Prim Abuses: Gore Suntzu at Chakryn Forest

C-beams

Gore Suntzu says: "... My abuses are unreal prim sculptures made with sculpties (mostly) , and with a lil scripting to make them alive. The best word I can use to describe them is "pulsating." Do they have a meaning? Boh! I dont know, but if the music is nice and the moon is full, sometimes it can happen that they catch the mood of the people that are looking at them ;) ..."


Metaverse Pulse.


Tornado of Souls


Phoenix Rising

I do not know if Gore Suntzu's kinetic light sculptures were made with Chakryn Forest in mind, however since they were placed there I think it has to follow that they should be taken in within that context. Unlike art work displayed in a neutral gallery setting, site specific art needs to strongly take into account the setting within which it is placed.

The less bright the more powerful, the more secluded the more revealing, Suntzu did succeed in integrating a good portion of his work with the challengingly beautiful eco-system that is Chakryn. The more that these works blend into the forest the more powerfully they revealed themselves to me. Thus I found myself drawn to pieces such as Phoenix Rising and Fall Away, while some few others sadly did not achieve quite the same effect, I felt. A good example to the latter would be E Pluribus Unum. Far too bright and beyond the brightness there also seems to be a problem of the shape of the structure not really belonging to that environment, as indeed is also the case with Fluxus Kinetikos. However, back to the ones that worked for me I would have to mention C-Beams for one and Tornado of Souls for another. And then, oddly enough, "Spiralidoso", which although highly luminescent does indeed manage to integrate itself into the environment through the usage of sheer contrast, implemented by a shape alien enough to keep me wondering; whereas the spherical/solar forms of E Pluribus and Fluxus have fallen into an ambiguous twilight zone of neither attaining full integration nor sufficient contrast.


Fall Away: When you throw a pebble in the water... This quiet one was by far my favorite.


Spiralidoso

But in the end, Gore Suntzu gets my full respect: The sculptures that do work, that do integrate themselves into the environment, and indeed add to a place which is already so vastly endowed with magic as Chakryn Forest undoubtedly is, far exceed the pieces which fall short of the considerable task at hand. And in my book that most certainly qualifies as success!

Gore Suntzu says: "I have never considered myself an "artistic" kind of guy. Second Life made me discover that part of myself." Amen to that...

To view the sculptures of Gore Suntzu at Chakryn Forest teleport directly from here. You can also see larger sizes of the photos I took here.

Chakryn Forest presents... new works by Glyph Graves

Australian artist Glyph Graves' show, featuring his newest kinetic sculptures throughout Chakryn Forest, will continue to run through October 6. He describes his work as an interplay between structure and texture, as well as the normal digital tools of graphic and 3D modeling programs.


Music: Narayanam, performed by Suchita Parte
Video: Bettina Tizzy

Start at the Stone heads (teleport directly from here). Turn your stream off and your sound up. As you walk along the path, elements of rock greet you... first with trepidation, then with the joy of having you in their midst and finally, sorrow as you depart.

Listen to a song of cello and kalimba. It is for you that they make the song.

Each head has a set of different notes. Each head will play a different note depending on its distance from you. Together they make a song celebrating your proximity.

Now... turn your stream back on and wander the sim for many discoveries.

Chakryn Forest is the creation of Andrek Lowell.

Bryn Oh chronicles the fall of the angels: A story in prims

It is hardly surprising that Toronto artist and painter Bryn Oh’s installation at Second Life®'s answer to Burning Man, Burning Life 2008 which opens on September 27, has many steampunk features, or that it includes dozens of humming robotic insects, for these are acknowledged and signature elements that we have come to expect in her work.

What I hadn’t anticipated were the delicate, intricate details… the lightness that she has given steampunk overall, and I certainly had not expected a story, or one as sad as this artwork conveys.


Better quality viewing is available here

Art: Bryn Oh
Music: Arcadia and Tiny Fuge by Kevin MacLeod
Machinima: Bettina Tizzy

Bryn’s most recent installation at arcspace, the Gashlycrumb Tinies, has already appeared in the hardcover book Bryn Oh and the Tinies by Aiko Aichi and Ritva Nybacka.



What follows are excerpts of a conversation I had with Bryn a couple of days ago.

How long did it take you to create this, and how is it different from previous works?
Bryn Oh: I have been here for about a month. Kind of lonely really, but for me the main difference is the finished piece. I am really happy with it.

Are you going blind? All this tiny prim work! How many prims is this all told and how tired have you been?
Bryn Oh: Very. It’s been a nightmare. This is about 2,000 prims. No rotating textures, just tiny rotating prims. It is shown for one week only :) I hope the music plays okay.

Condos in Heaven is based on a poem she authored for this project. Before she got started, Bryn researched real angels from the Bible. Apocalyptic writings have explored the concept of fallen angels who succumbed to temptation or rebelled against God, and have therefore been exiled or banished from Heaven, but in Bryn’s scenario…


The bee at the heart of the captured angel

This has a new feel about it... more delicate, but also looks more real. It is the closest to real I've seen virtual steampunk get.
Bryn Oh: I was contemplating how angels would appear to us (in the future). Mystical gods… but would that change and would they become less mystical as we became more advanced technologically? They would (ultimately) allow us to conquer them. What would happen if mankind discovered a way to heaven; what would we do? For resources, we will destroy habitats, etc., and drive species to near extinction, but what would stop us? What are our boundaries? So I thought, perhaps, finding heaven would be. I am becoming more and more interested in the narrative, immersing one into a story in Second Life.

Bryn Oh: This is a store that sells accessories taken from the angels.

In fact, the store's “accessories” include the wings taken from Hadraniel, the guardian of the gates of heaven who is five stories tall and Cassiel, the angel of solitude and tears that appears in post-biblical Judeo-Christian mythology, and presides over the death of kings.


Gabriel's wings

Why ice? (Referring to the texturing of the building) Did the Playa have anything to do with your decision to use ice as well?
Bryn Oh: It is what mankind would build in heaven… their idea of what a structure should look like. It is faux ice. It is a way to glamorize the selling of chopped up angels and make it so people are not horrified.

Bryn Oh: I think of the angels as a kind of beekeeper with the human race as the bees but with the ability to sting. I am hoping that people will come in and sense that there is a story to figure out and piece things together. See the little boy and his father who are shopping? The angels have been defeated and their wings are removed and sold as accessories.

The shopkeeper's face... is that rust or blood stains or both? He also looks like a drone.
Bryn Oh: It is rust. I don’t like overt imagery like blood. They are all meant to be advanced but flawed. There is a secret room, of course. (Most of Bryn’s installations include one or more secret rooms). The gramophone plays, too.

There is the notion of artificial replacement... a futuristic selection of the species. You have put the beetles to work.
Bryn Oh: Steampunk insects are not cute, but edgy. The beetles are an idea that I have not put in words yet… a feeling, sort of. So let me try now. I think of them as something made by mankind and brought into heaven, kind of accidentally, much like a foreign bug comes into a country in a crate. They are a replacement to the bug that went extinct, to maintain the food chain. When something becomes extinct, it is replaced with something else to keep things working. The good pyramid. For example, if the fox became extinct, rabbits would overrun the countryside, causing problems for other layers of the food pyramid... so build a robotic fox - a steampunk one :) That is how I see the beetles. They came from earth to heaven accidentally. I think too much.

Do you hope that your virtual work might someday become much more of a full time thing?
Bryn Oh: I see Second Life as a possible new frontier. For example, when I paint in Real Life, I use large canvases to block out the peripheral vision and allow the viewer to come into the painting and become more immersed, but Second Life is absolutely immersive. It is being inside a painting.

Has your Second Life art influenced your Real Life work?
Bryn Oh: Originally, I brought Real Life ideas that didn’t work into Second Life. I guess that right now I have stopped bringing in Real Life ideas and am now exporting Second Life ideas to Real Life. It is reversing. This build, for example… could it be as effective as a painting in Real Life?


Love notes


The baby carriage: The baby’s eyes are watery earth orbs, and the infant holds a praying mantis - The Violinist, a tiny (and musical) robobug – as its toy. Gently floating just beyond the baby’s reach, is a robotic june bug

How does the baby tie into the story?
Bryn Oh: It is the wonderment that he has. Unaffected and still pure, but a product of an advancing human race.


The surgical procedure

The slurl for this installation will be posted on opening day of Burning Life 2008: September 27.

See also:
* Crap Mariner's marathon video session
* Edward Gorey's alphabet gets steampunk'd
* Self-hypnosis and Bryn Oh's "Steamgarden"

Sachiko Kodama - Real Life inspires...

Via artist Nebulosus Severine, I learned about artist/physicist, Sachiko Kodama.




Better quality and other films of her work available here

Funny thing is... I live about five minutes from this gallery.

Grab your recycled shopping bag and head over to Sabine Stonebender's temporary store

October 6, 2008 update: Sabine has been hard at work rebuilding Zero Point. Her permanent store is now open for business (teleport directly from here).

On Thursday, Sabine Stonebender woke up to some dreadful news. Due to a billing error bug, her Zero Point, certainly one of the most admired and NPIRL sites on the grid, had vanished into some database limbo and gone from this...





... to this...



The situation has not yet been resolved. This is particularly painful because Zero Point, which housed her store and an important source of income for Sabine, is also gone. Effective immediately, Sabine has a temporary store and you are cordially invited to shop.

You might pick up an elegant Radiant Nebulae Chamber...



... and by all means, get yourself a proper telehub!



If dancing is your thing, you'll be needing a glamorous floor...


The Psycho Vinyl Dance Floor changes colors


For black tie dancing, I recommend this one prim marvel that brings the universe into your living room


Her lastest release is both a sculpture and a toy


He goes boom


Her dragon sculptures are considered the finest in Second Life®

And here's a sneak peak at something coming down the pipeline...


BIG guns... and if you are in the mood, the whole thing blows to pieces (literally)

Sabine's textures (I own a bunch!) are jewels in the hands of any builder, and there are numerous sculptures, skins, particle effects, vehicles and all sorts of toys, too.

Show the love, why don't you?

New sculpture at Black Swan packs a wallop - You aren't going to want to miss this one

There is something new and so important at Rezzable Productions' Black Swan sim that most everyone in Second Life® will want to see it, and yes, I am aware that Rezzable is charging a $199L admission fee. All the same, I suspect that you will forget your objections and pony up.

The last time Seifert Surface (aka Henry Segerman ) and his younger brother Art Laxness (aka Will Segerman) collaborated together on a project in Second Life, they created an animated series of bots that spell out YMCA with their "arms." That was back in November, 2005.

Seifert - an Austin-based postdoctoral mathematician and lecturer - just got back from Brighton, UK where he was visiting his brother Art, a fine art sculptor and prop designer for theatre and film. Together, they collaborated to create a kinetic, story telling sculpture in Second Life that cycles every hour. I'll get back to you with more on the technical aspects of this sculpture soon, but for now, here is a taste.



Credits:
* Concept and storyline: Seifert Surface and Art Laxness
* Sculpties: Art Laxness
* Scripting: Seifert Surface
* Video: Bettina Tizzy
* Music - Awaiting the Attack: composed by David Flavin, ASCAP and Roland Rudzitis, ASCAP

Teleport directly to Black Swan from here.

Baby found at Black Swan

Rezzable Productions' RightasRain Rimbaud (aka Jon Himoff) sent me an offline that read, "I got a big surprise to show you... you gonna flip really..." Who could resist such an invite? I logged in.

His teleport took me to Black Swan (teleport directly from here), the mysterious and fantastical sim created by Light Waves when he made his re-entry into Second Life® after an even more mysterious and much morned absence. Black Swan has been the center of considerable controversy recently, since Rezzable added an entry area and began charging $199L for admission.



Intriguingly, the creator of this baby is not Light Waves, but Unreal McCoy (rez: 4/29/2004). "Who is this artist?" I asked RAR, as he is affectionately called. There was a long pause before I got an answer. "The artist prefers that the focus be on the art." Oh, I do so love a mystery!

RAR mentioned that the sculpture is on sale and for the special price of $5,000L today. Tomorrow that will go up.

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.

Light Waves' sculpture for the Garden

Update - Hint #2: It is a wee bit naughty.

Update - Hint #1: It is busy.

You still haven't found it, have you? :D

It's in plain view! Hehe.

These are a few of my favorite things...

The Garden of NPIRL Delights - generously sponsored by Rezzable Productions - is almost over... *sobs* The last day is June 23. There are so many little and big things that I am going to miss.

Collaboration is a powerful thing, and dozens of people made enormous contributions that few people are aware of.

One day before the Garden opened, Ravenelle Zugzwang and Soror Nishi helped me landscape it with their exquisite trees and sculptures.


Ravenelle's sculptures range from surreal to breathtakingly beautiful, and they lift the landscape here and there


This photo of one of the many colorful and dreamy trees by soror Nishi by Neon Hammerer

Minutes before the Garden opened to the public, artoo Magneto sent over his phenomenal 3D trees, and elros Tumominen helped me install a few of his flaming sculptures.



I hope Glyph Graves will participate in any project I take on. His flowers! His willingness to work with others!



The Garden is closing... sigh.