Metaversal Arts

My hat it has three corners

2011-07-12T01:30:00.000-07:00

by Lord Lisle

Trasgo Beaumont's hat has three corners....

A very funny Machinima indeed. Fine and artistic interpretation of this folk old song 'My hat it has three corners' that goes back at least two centuries.

Time As A Helix of Semi-precious Stones or Split Screen revisited

2011-07-07T02:51:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

Time As A Helix of Semi-precious Stones

Composition for Kandinsky by Miso Susanowa

The Split Screen Installation Space is part of a sim where artists and builders develop and exhibit a large installation. In general, one or two artists will use the space for two months (give or take), and then another artist will take over. The space is meant for large builds that utilize the possibilities of Second Life as an artistic or immersive medium, such as works that are impossible in real life.

Two artists are building new works at the Split Screen Installation Space which will go on exhibit in August. Please come back then!

In the meantime, we have Miso Susanowa's mesmerizing piece "Time As A Helix of Semi-Precious Stones" here. Set to Midnight, have particles to at least 4096 under Graphics, and turn local sounds on loud (not the music stream). You can sit on the build too!

Miso Susanowa explains:

I decided to reference the work of Mondrian in the quasi-Mondrian Grid Generator - an homage to his Composition 10 and Broadway Boogie Woogie - because Mondrian's work was an inspiration to the early "pointillist/punctualist" compositions of Stockhausen and Boulez, to me one of the main roots of modern "ambient" soundscape/music. The loops in this composition all vary across 1/4-to-1/2-second timings, so the gradual drifting of the emphasis beats takes approximately 30 minutes or so before they end up back in sync (more or less; because of the nature of network lag/packet delay, the loops may never resync exactly, which is fun).

Kandinsky's "upward moving triangle" from Concerning the Spiritual In Art also makes an appearance in this piece. Like his work, Time attempts to transmit an emotional and subjective mood to the viewer through color and movement. The slow shifts and rotations of parts of the colour-cloud provide more time variables to accompany and complement the soundscape.
The outlying cubes are the ghosts of Mondrian's rectangles and squares, the colours escaping from his 2d grid into the 3d surround of Kandinsky's "interior mood".

The title is adapted from the Samuel R Delaney story, "Time Considered As A Helix of Semi-precious Stones," a title which always has invoked for me a mystical, philosophic mood quite apart from the story itself; a kind-of abstract mantra guaranteed to put me in a reflective mood.

To me, one of the feelings in 'Time' is that of... walking in a city in the rain…

Thank you Miso for making it possible for us to admire another piece of your creative and original work, both in Second Life at Split Screen Installation Space Beleza/73/203/1500/ and in the Machinima in YouTube!

SL8B: a follow up

2011-06-24T02:21:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

During my recent visits of SL8B I made a selection of a (small) number of entries which had my personal interest. DO enjoy SL8B as it last, and why not exchange a few words with the exhibitor, if present of course..., or send them a notecard with appreciation.....

Magic in Second Life by Allison Selene

What happens when you log into SL for the first time? It is a vast terrain of green fields, and endless frontier for you to explore... SL8B Spectacular (113, 5, 22)

Magic Lens

In this exhibit, The Magic Lens, aztec Fenstalker aka Michel of Gallery No. 8, showcases several uses of photography in Second Life. SL8B Astonish/39/88/21/

Through the Looking Glass

The fascinating and interesting exhibit by Alexia Cournoyer is well worth a visit. Follow the instructions when you enter the tower, or just click on the pose ball SL8B Astonish/24/225/22/

Shadows and Light

You find the interesting Shadows and Light art entry at SL8B Astonish/66/214/22/

Invisible

The contents of this entry depicts the thoughts and emotions of the creator surrounding the ever unfolding crisis that erupted from the Japan earthquake/tsunami SL8B Astonish/102/231/22/

Dream On V.3

In this entry by caLLie cLine entitled Dream On V.3, you are about the size of a mouse SL8B Astonish/143/218/21/

The 1920s Berlin Project

This entry is a tiny example of the real 1920s Berlin Project. Very high quality and authentic builds with period dressed greeters SL8B Dazzle/76/229/23/

Virtual Field School

A project overview ('snow globe' version) of the Field School Sim of the TXSTATE R&D team at: SL8B Astonish/217/15/21/

Magic Soul of Prims

The Magic Soul of Prims at SL8B Stunning/223/21/21/ should not be missed...

Time

DO NOT dare to push the red button at Captivate/96/173/25/ or the clockmaker will eventually find you!

SL8B: first exploration to the exhibition grounds

2011-06-22T07:14:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle (who gives just his PERSONAL impression and view here!)

The opening

The official opening speech on the first day was attended by numerous avis. This appeared to be, however, as a bit of a disappointment to all because the speech turned out to be rather brief.....

Saffia Widdershins of Prim Perfect and Designing Worlds fame, Captn Wildstar Beaumont, photographer and buccaneer, and myself (in the centre) awaiting the opening speech for SL8B

Magic in Motion

SL8B Spellbound/229/219/21/

An interactive Magical Experience by Calla Cela (Known from her In-World classes and Workshops)

I had a couple of rather nasty experiences at Calla's exhibit when she asked me to volunteer in testing some of her 'Magical Experiences.... Fortunately enough I had my camera at hand to show you some evidence (with Calla evily grinning standing in front). Ohh, and a wise advise: do NOT feed that creature outside, its dangerous and it likely have you for a snack... (err, well done Calla!)

Remember your Magic...

SL8B Spellbound/220/180/21/

The Virtual Railway Consortium

Just hop on the miniature train and see what will happen...an extraordinary SL experience, what one may expect from the VRC...

Virtual Surf

SL8B Electrify/36/62/21/

Surfing your dreams, SL Virtual Surfing

Soaring with Magic

SL8B Spellbound/115/158/21/

A fascinating entry to the SL8B exhibition by Windyy Lane

This is really a must-see. With her entry 'Soaring with Magic', Windyy has created one of the top entries in SL8B (to my opinion..ahem)

Escape the Room

SL8B Electrify/108/28/21/

A Madpea creation

A challenging tasks awaits you if you are silly enough to enter that room. Clues to unlock the door are in the room, along with a free hud.

Honeyswamp

SL8B Impressive/140/24/21/
A marvellous creation by claudia222.jewell

The result as seen on this and the next snapshot are achieved if you set Windlight in your Phoenix viewer in just one click. Follow the advice put on the informative notecard (with gift) which you receive after clicking the painting. Somehow, this entry reminded me a bit to the famous paintings by Hieronymus Bosch...thank you for this experience claudia222.jewell

If you feel mounting one of the giant bee's, here is your chance...I explored part of SL8B riding on one..until I crashed... Visiting her homebase, I was even more surprised to see Parallel Worlds, but that may be in another Blog...

Its SL8B celebration!

2011-06-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

by Lord Lisle

Spanning 21 sims with over 700 contributors, over 300 exhibits, over 300 live performers and speakers with special speeches from Philip and Rod Linden, SL8B is a showcase for the accomplishments and content of all SL residents, celebrating the “life” of Second Life.

On June 23, 2011, Second Life will be officially eight years old. The hard-working team of Resident volunteers and Lindens have been busily preparing for the annual birthday bash—laying down the groundwork (literally) to celebrate. It started 8 years ago as a parade through mainland sims, with Philip Linden giving a speech over their newly connected media stream. Each subsequent year it has become more elaborate, more spacious, more compelling as the technology of Second Life has increased and the creativity of the residents has bloomed. Enjoy this year live musicians and DJs, exhibits, media-on-prim, and machinima.

The event kicks off at 10:30 a.m. SLT on Monday, June 20 and runs through Sunday, June 26 with a glittering assortment of musicians, speakers, artists, business leads, media mavens, merchants, social organizers, and other amazing Residents. The 20-region site is open for another week, so you’re welcome to come and tour the builds at your leisure. The gates will officially close on Saturday, July 2 at 11:59 p.m. SLT.

About the Theme: The magic of Second Life

This year’s theme is the magic of Second Life. No, we’re not just talking about wizards and sorceresses (though of course they’re included). The true magic of Second Life is something different for each of us. It’s all about that moment when we realized how amazing Second Life really is. It’s when we found our own personal connections to Second Life, realizing its potential in our own lives and the lives of other Residents. Whether it’s the social aspect, the content creation possibilities, or unique business and commerce opportunities, we’ve all got a tale of Second Life magic to share.

All event times and locations, slurls, links, social media, etc., can be found on the resident blog: http://sl8b.wordpress.com.

Having applied for a SL8B Press-Pass I had access to the exhibition grounds and allowed to have a sneak preview. Although I will give a small impression of SL8B in a forthcoming Blog, I cannot resist in publishing one snapshot and SLURL of an interesting exhibit: Magic in Motion, an interactive Magical Experience by Calla Cela at Spellbound -6, SL8B Spellbound (229, 219, 21)

Ejoy the celebrations :-)

Journey

2011-05-17T02:42:00.000-07:00

by Lord Lisle

Journey is the title of an interesting machinima created in Second Life. Machinima AND location design are by Yolanda Hirvi. http://www.metaverstas.fi

Yolanda could not have choosen better music for the background of this machinima than "Autumn Boy" by http://www.danosongs.com

Locations where the machinima was taken, and definitely worth a visit are: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sotunki/142/165/26
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Edufinland%20IV/30/137/1489
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Edufinland%20IV/88/20/23

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

2011-02-18T02:18:00.000-08:00

By Lord Lisle

Today I was invited by Celestial Elf (freesky Republic) to view his latests Easter machinima taken in Second Life. Although it is still winter in the northern part of the Old World where I live, viewing this made me smile and kept my mind off the bitter cold weather outside.

Although being set in the Autumn, it also reminded me to Shelley's 'Ode To the West Wind' ...If Winter comes can Spring be far behind?...

I hope that you enjoyed this as much as I did... Thank you for sharing this with us freesky!

The 'Dead Man's Hand' Hunt is on...

2011-02-10T03:53:00.000-08:00

By Lord Lisle

A few days ago I was attended to the 'Dead Man's Hand' hunt created by the MadPea Productions team. Having admired other creations of that team, I became curious; needless to say that it did not took me long before I entered the game!

The Dead Man's Hand begins from a mysterious house of a notorious serial killer. You are supposed to investigate the crime scene and search the house and surroundings for clues. The killer kept all his 52 victims in the house for a certain period of time and each of them has left something behind that gives you a hint where they have been buried. A card has been left behind in the burial places, once you find a card, you will win an instant prize. When you have found all 52 cards, you will unlock a new area and be rewarded beyond imagination. The hunt will run from February 1st till March 31st.

The arrival point: the scene of the crime, here to be seen in the bleak morning hours. The Police has arrived and sealed the entrance of the estate....

Participating to the hunt is easy: at a vendor (the one near the entrance shown above) you can purchase a HUD for 100 L$. Wear it. It will set in its correct position on your screen. The cards will flash images of the clues that you need to search for in the house and in its surroundings. Once you find a clue, you will receive a hint and a SLURL of a location where to go and look for the card. The HUD will keep track of which clues and which cards you have found, simply click at the image for more info

This is a screenshot of my HUD. Here shown are the hearts cards with still 4 clues to be found in the estate, 9 already found and with three (crossed) cards actually found at the vitims burial places

Lord Lisle at the drawing board at one of the places where the bodies were buried. One of the cards is hidden at this location...hint..hint..

Yesterday, whilst exploring the Dead Man's Hand estate for clues, I had the pleasure to meet the founder and director of MadPea Productions, Kiana Writer. I took the opportunity to ask her a few questions which she most willingly answered.

LL: After a few days in this game I realise that an enormous lot of work must be involved in creating and organising it. Did you got help from a team and can you tell how much time it approximately took? (for example only the contacts with 50+ sim-owners must have been a time taking business)

Kiana Writer: The Dead Man's Hand Hunt is certainly a hunt, but it's also an experience and very different to the other hunts in Second Life. It's by no means a new concept, as we have had similar hunts in the past.
MadPea Productions is a team of creative individuals who design all kinds of experiences for people to enjoy in Second Life. We collaborate with rl companies and private persons as well as SL business owners and individuals. We have been creating dozens of games of various genres since 2008.
Our team consists of following creatives: Kiana Writer, Madcow Cosmos, Smiley Dyrssen, SweetDevil Magic, Colin Nilsson, Judi Newall, Allco Nostram and Lorin Tone.
Our islands are owned and generously sponsored by Cha Klaar and Dusan Writer

The DMHH was created pretty fast actually. I can't give you any exact times, since we are always working on multiple projects at the same time. Since we've done so many hunts before, we're starting to be pretty organized with them now. :) Usually the HUD scripting and database creation take up the majority of the time. For this hunt we had Colleen Desmoulins and Shana Pizzaro from the Loft decorating the house and they did a really amazing job with that. The house and barn themselves were donated by Amo Lambeau and Fornicola Butuzov from Pre Fabulous Homes.
We're quite strict with selecting the vendors for the hunts. Above everything else, we need reliability and store owners who are excited about the hunt, instead of just having our hunt being 'one of the hunts'. For DMHH we've really had amazing vendors who have been communicative and supportive, promoting the hunt and helping the hunters. Several of the vendors are even hunting themselves!
The DMHH lasts for two months. We're curious to see if will get enough hunters for the second month as well to determine if that's a good way to go. A week after the hunt start we already have 711 hunters.

LL: The Dead Mans Hand Hunt will be finished at the end of next month, unfortunately. Have you got plans for such an event in future?

Kiana Writer: We are currently planning a sequel to this hunt, where the mysterious Joker will be playing the main role. ;) The new hunt is estimated to begin April 1st.

________________________________________________

Have you become curious? Why not have a look at the the Dead Man's Hand estate at Hoshi Island/111/77/750/

For more info about the Dead Man's Head Hunt see the MadPea website and facebook:
http://madpeagames.com/dmhh/
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/MadPea-Productions/144352134687

Forgotten City....(2)

2011-01-21T06:20:00.000-08:00

by Lord Lisle

Whilst updating my inventory records and profile, with the object to remove the defunct URLs, I noticed a change of URL in the Mechanical Toy Factory. During the update of the new URL in my pick it became clear that Jenne Dibou is creating a new sim entitled 'Forgotten City'.

A short visit to this yet unfinished place showed that with this work of art they surpass their already famous and nearly unlimited creational capacities. It did not took me much time to learn that the new city shall officially be opened on the 5th of February 2011, add lustred to with grand events and mini-games

Readers of the Metaversal Arts Blog are permitted to take a sneak pre-view in the Forgotten City (forgotten city/36/135/47, and to watch the progress of building.

Forgotten City....

2011-01-21T05:25:00.000-08:00

by Lord Lisle

The shape of things to come!

Watch careful for the next update of this Blog when we reveal the URL (with the opportunity to take a sneak pre-view :-) and the official opening day of the Forgotten City adorned with several grand events and mini-games

Rail Jam 2010

2010-08-16T10:42:00.001-07:00

By Lord Lisle

Once a year, many railway buffs of the SLRR Rail groups come together for their annual Rail Jam, a fun rail event. Usually held in mid-August, they show their latest engine (or other rolling contraptions..) on the public Main Line of SLRR starting at Bagha Station and eventually ending at Caletta Hobo Station. Passing numerous sims, this journey takes normally (under the best conditions and depending the speed of the engine) 45 minutes to over an hour. Obviously, with so many engines and avis taking part, during this event the speed was at times much reduced.

About 90 minutes from the start Moundsa Mayo of the Virtual Railway Consortium had counted 30 engines on the line, including 6 without a driver. The following snapshots are giving a good impression of the activity during the event, as spotted from different stations

Behind the steam engine, Stryker Jenkins, secretary of the VRC is driving his tri-wheel rail motorcycle

The first five pictures were taken at VRC Station Athetis, at that time the lag was rather mild and most of the engines were rather close together

VRC Trainspotting Station Achemon. Moundsa Mayo has found a splendid viewing point on top of the observation tower, waving at the passing engines

Close-up view of a brilliantly made steam engine, note the many detailed controls in the driver cabine!

This Roll-Royce was fitted with auxilary wheels to make it suitable for the SLRR track

Caletta Hobo Station: the end of the ride....

ENVIRONMENTAL FLUIDITY COLLABORATION PROJECT

2010-07-17T03:46:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

The Caerleon Art and Education Sims in conjunction with the Virtual Art Inititiave invite you to experience a unique, entertaining and fascinating fun filled adventure at the Enviornmental Fluidity Collaboration Project.
Featuring original art and installations by Alizarin Goldflake, Artistide Despres, Banrion Constantine, Lollito Larkham, PattiAnne Daviau, Pixels Sideways and Wotthe Dickins, the widely diverse exhibits illustrate through numerous techniques the many facets of Environmental Fluidty.

As described by VAI director Georg Janick/Gary Zabel, "Envrionmental Fluidity is one of six aesthetic-technological dimensions that collectively distinguish the art of virtual worlds from earlier forms of art."

Janick/Zabel continues to further define Environmental Fluidity in his Theses on the Art of Virtual Worlds as such: " Envrionmental Fluidty is to the external virtual world what the protean character of identity is to the internal sphere. In Second Life, for example, the environment is constructed from graphical primitives and scripts that can be altered very rapidly. Constancy of environment is the exception rather than the norm. It is in the virtual world that Marx's famous observation about capitalist modernity first reaches fruition: All that is solid melts into air."

The artists of the Environmental Fluidity Collaboration Project set out to incorporate this idea and their own interpretations of Environmental Fluidity with art and installations that take visitors on a journey through environments such as AURALTOPIA that use only sounds as the artists medium to EVOTROPOLIS in which cities and towns change before your eyes to the EXQUISITE CORPSE featuring the PRIMOLATOR -- an interactive collaborative building project in which visitors are invited to participate and determine the outcome that will continue to change throughout the run of the show.

As you explore and enjoy discovering the diverse array of interactive, reactive, kinetic and fluid art throughout the exhibit, you'll find surprises around every corner and opportunities to become a collaborator as well.

Welcome to the Environmental Fluidity Collaboration Project. From this main landing, you begin a journey thru several unique art exhibitions -- many interactive -- that illustrate various aspects of Environmental Fluity. Explore, experience & enjoy! Caerleon Isle/149/150/28/ The EF artists gathered round in a circle, a cube at the center. Additional info and free stuff awaits. Touch the sculpted artists to receive info and witty remarks. :-) Touch the cube in the center to receive a folder of free stuff. Check out the additional information around the pyramid including other Second Life artists' work that incorporates envrionmental fluidity.

As it would take too much space to cover all the exhibits, I just would like to show some items of the RED CUBE: Professor Dickins Amazing Shrinking Machine by Wotthe Dickins

Professor Dickins Amazing Shrinking Machine by Wotthe Dickins: '.. sit on the green ball at the desk...'
.. my avi is shrinking to the size of the artists on the desk...

Assignment: clean LCD. ....at the wrong side of the monitor glass..how to get out?

..to be a sexy pinup, click on the cork board...but this is NOT what I had in mind...

A ride on the mouse is jolly nice at moderate speed..

THIS is what happened later when the mouse went to turbo speed...help!

Eventually I managed to climb on the mouse again and to type the CPU that I want to go down!

The instructions are clear enough: eat cookie to de-shrink....

JUST a final snapshot taken at another exhibit

The ENVIRONMENTAL FLUIDITY COLLABORATION PROJECT opens July 4, 2010 - 12:00PM/noon SLT and runs through July 2010. For maximum enjoyment, we suggest you detatch any worn scripted objects and turn off AO's prior to arrival. CaerleonIsle/150/150/27

SL7B: An impression

2010-07-04T00:26:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

Another Second Life Birthday party is over. I enjoyed myself whilst visiting most of the entries: some were plain shameless advertising for SL and RL services, others hastily put together, but the majority were a pleasure to spend some time and enjoy the wonderful creations. I am certainly looking forward to SL8B :-)

Attending the opening speech by Philip Linden

Philip Linden does not seem to have changed over the years :-)

An impressive sculpture of a Route 66 scene (just look at me standing just beside the biker's boot)

This entry to SL7B was a fascinating creation by Lorin Tone and Madcow Cosmos entitled 'The Sound Garden'. Lorin is standing in the centre of the photo wearing a huge black hat

Another creation by Madcow Cosmos in 'The Sound Garden' at SL7B

A demo of SL 7th Birthday Expo build for 2010, 'The Sound Garden'. Lorin Tone play the garden in an avatar made by Frofidor Niekirk, and it dances pretty well! Just a few of the thousands of musical combinations that are possible.

The 'Bodied Words' entry

'Mermaid Temple', a beautiful display of mermaid sculpties in a large fountain. Note the shoal of coloured fish

On the last day of the opening of SL7B I had the pleasure in attending a classical concert by the Yokohama Marching Band

Courtney Linden admiring a Chinese lantern in one of the many gardens in SL7B

Second Life 7th Birthday June 2010 SL7B

2010-06-21T00:50:00.000-07:00

by Lord Lisle

This week the celebrations for the 7th birthday of Second Life will be held. Spanning 21 sims with over 700 contributors, over 300 exhibits, over 300 live performers and speakers with special speeches from Philip and M Linden, SL7B is a showcase for the accomplishments and content of all SL residents, celebrating the “life” of Second Life.

Sponsored by Linden Lab, this year's theme is “Unexpected Collaborations,” a celebration of the unique character of our special world. With an emphasis on the social networks created through Second Life and the chances for creative and productive collaboration, the celebration will go on from June 21 through June 27

It started the first year as a parade through mainland sims, with Philip Linden giving a speech over their newly connected media stream. Each subsequent year it has become more elaborate, more spacious, more compelling as the technology of Second Life has increased and the creativity of the residents has bloomed. Enjoy with us this year live musicians and DJs, exhibits, media-on-prim, and machinima.

This is the world we've made: let's celebrate!

In a sneak preview I tried to capture a bit of the atmosphere: enjoy your visit, being one of the major events, its almost compulsory.

You may start your visit HERE: SLB7 Welcome Area, SL7B Unique (6, 59, 23)

June 21—10:00 a.m. SLT: Gates open to the public for the opening ceremonies. Scripts and build disabled throughout estates for the duration of opening ceremonies to discourage instances of lag and disruption. They will be turned back on after the opening speech.

11:00 am. Philip Linden speaks, opening the celebrations.

June 23—The Birthday!
9:00 am slt. M Linden speaks.

June 26—Official Closing Ceremony.

June 27—Last day of entertainment.

July 3--Gates close. Sims will be locked.

Useful links:

SL Destination Guide: http://secondlife.com/destinations/birthday
SL7B Flickr Group: http://flickr.com/groups/sl7b
SL7B Koinup Group: http://flickr.com/groups/sl7b
SL7B Plurk: http://plurk.com/SL7B
SL7B Twitter: http://twitter.com/SL7B
SL7B Wiki (rules, dates, etc): http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/SL7B

Trains...a follow up

2010-03-28T03:34:00.000-07:00

by Lord Lisle

Driving on the SLRR track last night I spotted a demo train rezzer near Athetis station on the premises of Rescue Japan at Spini (162, 218, 81) , a build by Myuki Mills, presented by eflora Kidd.

This demo turned out to be a very nice engine with a stable script and more important: once the speed is set there is no need to hold your finger on the keyboard to keep it running. Although it can only be rezzed on the SLRR, it is certainly worth a try!

Still further up the line you can fetch another free steam engine (presented by Myuki Mills) at M's R&D, Neumoegen (124, 208, 66). The effect of steam and smoke whilst at full speed is a nice feature. This is again an engine with a stable script , although you may loose your engine rapidly (no copy, so grab a spare one..)

Trains and boats and planes or The SLRR Railroad Track at Heterocera Atoll

2010-03-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

It was this song performed by Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas (and later by many others including Cilla Black) in about 1963/64 when the Mersey Beat was at its top, which sprung into mind when I made a tour on Second Life Railroad (SLRR) track on the Northern Continent.

During every clearing of inventory (we should do this far more often don’t you think?) I came across that nifty little freebie ChibiTrain steamloc which I really could not throw away, so each time I made a mental note to make a test ride with it.
Whilst making a casual visit to HoboLand and district I spotted a map of the large railroad tracks in SL and in particular the Main Line of Heterocera Atoll and its Branch Lines build by the Virtual Railway Consortium (VRC)

At last having found a good way to make a start, I did not waste more time and rezzed my freebie steamloc at Bhaga Station (Station No. 16 on the map above) and chug-chugged along the whole Main Line which went particularly well through most of the sims (except one place where I crashed and at another place where the funnel of my engine appeared to high for the passengers rail crossing bridge).
Arriving at Tuliptree Station (Station No. 1) I took Jer Straaf's ferry back to Bhaga Station. The latter appeared to be a most relaxing and pleasant SL sea trip.
Although my preference of SL transport is by airplane or helicopter, I am inclined to say that driving a SL steam engine is exciting and very relaxed. Eventually I purchased a new engine (at a reasonable sum which I just could afford) having a different script than the freebie engine which made quite a bit of difference in its stability.

There is of course much, much more to tell about SL railways and its huge community maintaining the tracks. Therefore I only can suggest to obtain a free ChibiTrain personal locomotive at ‘Around The Atoll’ Lunalis (14, 83, 94) at Station 9 (see a picture of the station above) and discover the SLRR track yourself. Whilst at Lunalis, take a free SL Railroad Landmarks notecard, this provides up to date information and LMs of all the SLRR stations, SL railway tracks and other tips and tricks.

You may want to rezz your newly acquired train at Station 16 at Bhaga Terminal, Bhaga (103, 39, 28) or Station 1 Tuliptree (151, 156, 31) but of course any other station can be choosen (I found out that rezzing a train is not possible at some stations)

At the SL Railway Consortium (SLRC), Tuliptree (137, 167, 29) you can fetch an engineers cap from a free SLRC recources kit. Very close to this place at Tuliptree (76, 135, 30) you will find very useful maps on railways (here I found the map depicted above)

This is the freebie ChibiTrain on its way somewhere along the SLRR track

The steam engine I eventually purchased seen high on the cliffs on the SLRR track

This ferry brings you from Station 1 to Station 16. Embarking point is Tuliptree (175,203,22) just click on the sign Boat ride to Bhaga Station. Arriving at Busiris Terminal at Urban Ghetto, follow the signpost Bhaga Station 150M North showing the way to the station.

Have fun and wear a suitable outfit......

Impression of the 6th Anniversary Parade in Nova Albion

2010-03-21T02:45:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

The 6th anniversary of the Nova Albion sim has been celebrated on the 20th of March 2010 with a parade which was visited by numerous avis. Nova Albion was Second Life’s first official city regions to be created on 9th March 2004.

Due to RL commitments I was not able to watch the full show, so here is just an impression of part of the parade and some of the spectators/organisers

The start and finish of the parade

This wonderful creation of Madcow Cosmos, driven by Lorin Tone was tmho one of the highlights of the parade

Pituca FairChang was amoung the spectators

Here I had to leave due to RL and the lag

Report from the Mechanical Toy Factory Racing Track or another delightful race!

2010-02-22T00:26:00.000-08:00

By Lord Lisle

The Second Great Oldtimer Race: an impression

The recent Second Great Oldtimer Race held on the Mechanical Toy Factory racing track at Solution Island has been a great success and a lot of fun for both drivers and spectators. It must be said that more and more (very experienced) drivers discovered these races. The organisation (by the Mechanical Toy Factory's owners Jenne and Mandy) was, as we have experienced during previous races, excellent and anything went smooth and fast.

Here a photo impression of the race....enjoy and probably see you at the next race which might be held in a month or so!

The Mechanical Toy Factory Trophy, waiting to be issued to the fastest racer....

Some of the drivers in their cars at the assembly point

To the start!!

The fist lap, the racers are still close together

Near the end of the race...

The winner of the Second Great Oldtimer Race: Vlk Soyer

2nd place: Steelcobra Calamari (right) 3rd place: Gyuszi Balatron (left). The fastest lap in the race was set by Arta Rosse LAP: 14.687500

Gathering of organisers, racers and spectators at the end of the race

I think that I can speak for everyone who was at the race when I thank the organisers Mandy and Jenne for the joyful event! Until next time.

The Second Great Oldtimer Race!

2010-02-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

By Lord Lisle

THE SECOND GREAT OLDTIMER RACE

The Second Great Oldtimer race will be held on coming Saturday, the 20th of February 2010 at 1PM. Entry is free, a Roadster racing car is provided for the event and for practice racing. The Oldtimer Race starts at 12pm with qualifying races.

Sneak preview: a test drive late this evening on one of the deserted and dark Linden Roads with the ~JD~MTF Roadster. My first impression: a temperamental car, but from a good stable and fit for a fast driving experience. Smooth transmission, splendid headlights, good quality spring seats covered with first class leather, hooter a bit too loud for a real gentleman..

Rules
====

* Race takes place at the Solution Island racetrack SOL Solution Island (145, 115, 580)
* The entry is free, IM Mandy Marseille or Jenne Dibou with your name and your preferred colour of your car
* Only ~JD~ MTF Roadster can participate!! (This is the car type you are given and you cannot bring your own vehicle to the race.)
* There is a maximum of 12 entries
* ~JD~ MTF provide a free car until the end of the event for you to drive

Race format (all times are SLT)
------------------------------------------
* Practice - all day long until 12 pm, but you must have a valid entry, otherwise it cannot be guarantied that you receive your car in time
* Qualifications are held from 12:00pm-12:30pm
- Races 1-3 (if there are enough participants) 1:00pm-1:30pm
- Race 4 (shootout, for last place in final) 1:35pm-1:45pm
- Final race 2:00pm-2:30pm

All races are 5 laps long, except for the final which is 10 laps long.

The winner of the first 3 races (let's call them semi-finals) go straight to the final, while the 3 driver who finished second in Race 1-3 goes to a shootout race. The winner of the shootout too gets into the final.

We reserve the right to change these rules if there are less than 12 entries or some unforseen event happens.

Qualifying
--------------
Start order is determined by a 2 lap qualifying. You run 2 laps and the total time is your qualifying time. The fastest is first and can start from the either the outside or the inside. This decision determines the rest of the starting order.
The start is from standing position.

Other rules
----------------
- Start: when the string/barrier is pulled up, you can start the race.
- Taking shortcuts: your lap will not count.

- Unsportsmanlike behaviour: the organisers reserve the right to disqualify or sanction anyone who intentionally or repeatedly violate the spirit of fair racing.

- It's a fun race, so you can indeed crash into the wall or into the other by accident, but intentionally crashing into the other to force her/him out of the track/race and securing a win this way is NOT ok.
- Using SL editing tools or any other dirty trick is not allowed either. If your car turns over, it will be reset to normal position after cc. 30 seconds.

Prizes
====
There will be prizes for the top 3 finishers and also a prize for the one who sets the fastest lap in the official race.
Are YOU ready to participate to the Second Great Oldtimer Race? Wearing warm clothes and a pair of goggles is strongly adviced.....

Follow this Blog for more information on the big oldtimer race and put the 20th February 1PM SL time in your agenda. You shall not be disappointed if you show up either as a driver or as a spectator...

Another Day at the Races or ‘The First Great Oldtimer Race’

2010-01-20T03:38:00.000-08:00

By Lord Lisle

Last weekend Jenne Dibou and Mandy Marseille, proprietors and content creators of the JD Mechanical Toy Factory organised (again) a very successful and most pleasant race at their now well known ~JD~ MTF racing track at SOL Solution Island/145/115/580/.
This time the race was held with Oldtimer cars, for the race being provided (in the colour of the participant’s choice) by the organisers. In order to get the driver accustomed with the controls and handling of this car (which is quite temperamental in its 3rd gear) the participants could do practice laps at the track until 2 hours before the start, until qualification races were held.

A view through the greasy windows of the repair garage at the JD MTF racing track

The number of participants (the reknown SL champion racer Wildstar Beaumont could not attend due to RL flue) was quite enough to perform a number of races (which were held with three drivers per race, taking three laps).

The winners you ask?
First place: Arta Rosse
Second Place: Tyger Freenote
Third place: Gyuszi Balatron

And yours truly’s rank? Don’t ask, I went there for fun, and I really enjoyed the event like I did more than a year ago when Jenne and Mandy organised a Vintage Motorcycle race at the same track. If you like to be informed about future racing events at the ~JD~ MTF track, consider a free membership of the Mechanical Toy Factory group which is located at SOL Solution Island/181/23/319/

As one snapshot can tell more than 1000 words, I conclude this entry with a number of action photos taken during the event.

I drove a yellow coloured vintage car together with my mechanical engineer/co-driver

Inspection of the engine prior the race. No turbo engine I am afraid...but it has the advantage of three hand operated gears

The first race: due to space limitations the races were organised in batches of three drivers

The organisers and racing directors: Mandy and Jenne sitting comfy at the bridge

Accident at the second lap: turnover of one of the participant's vehicle

...another view of the accident. This may happen if you drive too fast whilst making a sharp turn

Impression of the 4th race, third lap. I was already kicked out of the race at that time

The winners of The First Great Oldtimer Race!

Group photograph of all participants and spectators of The First Great Oldtimer Race

Thank you VERY much for organising this event Jenne and Mandy. I guess that we all look forward to the next race!

The one who loves Xmas in SL - Xmas greetings from Yolanda Hirvi

2009-12-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

by Yolanda Hirvi

Yeah it is me...the one who had once had a dream about huge store filled with antiques. I am still here even though inworld store Metaversal Arts is closed and gone. I have my Oblonski stores alive in Caledon South End and Babbage Square. I do still build..more than ever actually. I work in SL helping Finnish education to build enviroments for virtual learning. It is very interesting task and has teached me a lot.

I am not a big fan of Xmas in RL. But for some odd reason I just love it in SL. And this is my third christmas in SL!

I wish you all the best holidays ever both in SL and RL.

Talented creators of SL (12) The Princess and the Pea and ‘Twas’ by Toxic Menges

2009-11-20T06:11:00.001-08:00

By Lord Lisle

Machinima taken in SL are in many cases rather boring and often I click them away long before they have even ended. But once in a while one come across a pearl of creativity and labour of love. This was definitely the case when I saw (in awe) Toxic Menges interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale 'The Princess and the Pea' (watched on a big screen in Ukanipo, 27, 133, 30)
Apart from very well taken shots, I was particularly impressed by the clear and fine articulated narration of the tale, plus of course the well performed background music. Well done Toxic!

Fortunately for us we do not have to log in to Second Life to watch the Machinima (although it IS much more fun :-)) but we can simply view it on YouTube as shown below!

I could not resist in sending Toxic an IM in which I expressed my very favourite commentary, along with a few questions AND if she agreed that I linked the machinima to the Metaversal Arts Blog.
LL: Are you a creative person in rl and is your daily life or occupation related with media?
Toxic: Machinima and photography in SL are my only real creative outlets, I don't even own a camera (still or otherwise) in RL. My job is in the media, I work for a website as a community manager.
LL: Your voice is well articulated and clear, have you done reading for an audience previously?
Toxic: Not really, although I did a narration for a previous machinima (Mother Nature's Nightmares), I think it's something I need to work on, and become a little more animated.
LL: Do you have any well formulated plans for SL and can we expect more of your machinima in the future?
Toxic: I want to continue enjoying my time in SL, I love making machinima, and it has pushed me to learn a skillset I would never had had the chance to explore otherwise. I enjoy making films for people to enjoy - mostly I am a little selfish, and make them for myself and if others enjoy them that's good. I have to wait to see what arrives in my brain for my next machinima, there is something slowly forming, but it's not something I can force to arrive - but it may well be a take on another well known fairy tale :)

Toxic revealed that she owned the sim (partly rented) Twas 197, 97, 29 which was recently rebuilt and she thought that I might be interested in explore this. I got the advice to take an umbrella as the place is affected by rain and thunderstorms at times.
It was only the next day that I had time to go to 'Twas' but I was not disappointed in what I came across: a wonderful wood (yes, I DID needed my wellingtons and macintosh there, haha), lakes, waterfall, a cave with rare mushrooms, an old castle with a library in the top room, and literally on top of this two floating islands. This rather surrealistic touch reminded me a bit to famour sl creator AM Radio and rl Salvador Dali.... As a few images can tell so much more than a million words, I took the opportunity to take a few representative snapshots which I gladly have reproduced here. Oh yes, put your world environment setting to 'region default' for an optimal 'experience' :-)

A view of the main entrance of the old castle with the wishing well in the foreground

Midnight in Twas. The rain has stopped and a bleak moon is projecting its rays on the largest floating island and the castle

The floating islands are located just above the low hanging clouds. Mooring cables being anchored in the rocks below prevents them to drift away

Thank you so much for sharing this all with us Toxic! :-)

Halloween 2009 or a party in Edufinland

2009-11-01T04:03:00.000-08:00

By Lord Lisle

Invited to attend a Halloween party at the EduFinland sim I hasitated to attend as I really did not know what to expect. That attitude changed drastically when at the arrival I was overwhelmed by the number of party-guests, the music and above all the creation of the venue

The Halloween party venue was a huge converted pumpkin, tastfully decorated with attributes I never had seen before

A sneak view through one of the openings of the pumpkin..note the massive swarm of nasty bats

At my arrival the party was already in full swing, the place was well filled. Anyone had done their best to wear an appropriate outfit

Yolanda Hirvi as greeter and DJ spinning good music (yes, even numbers from my beloved Queen)

A selection of snaphots taken of the wonderfully dressed guests attending the Halloween party

Polonaise at the end of the well organised and most pleasant party. A big thank you to the organisers.

The Haunted House

2009-11-01T02:02:00.000-08:00

By Lord Lisle

The creations and buildings of Yolanda Hirvi are as usual wonderful and well developed, but this time she surpassed herself with the Haunted House, situated in the Finland Edu cluster of Sims
Edufinland IV (94, 37, 471)
No description this time, I want you to find out yourself if you dare……beware it IS rather dark!

Side view of the Haunted House. Just visible is the ubiquitous house ghost. No, she does not bite, just ignore her...

Miauw, the Haunted House stray cat is watching any movement at the front door...

Ohhh dear, what has happened in the kitchen....., there is blood everywhere...

Beware when entering the hall, a pile of skuls may fall upon you!

Talented creators of SL (11): Ainee Kohime’s Sagrada Familia Cathedral and ‘The Chocolate Ghost’

2009-09-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

You may well ask: '..what has a Spanish cathedral to do with a ghost?''..... Well, read on dear follower of the Metaversal Blog and discover the remarkable talents of Ainee.

Travelling through Barcelona during a business trip several years ago, I was alerted to Gaudi’s amazing Sagrada Familia Cathedral, the vast spires of which dominate the city. Unfortunately I had not the time to have a closer look at the place, and never had the chance to come back.

Whilst taking snapshots of Trasgo Beaumont in his sculpting workshop some time ago (see one of my previous entries in this Blog) I noticed familiar looking buildings in the background. Having a closer look after the snapshot session I discovered to my astonishment an accurate Second Life recreation of the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. (Hermetic Palaces/79/94/42)

Gaudi’s cathedral as seen from a distance with a Casa Gaudi Villa and Gaudi’s Tower of Romance in the foreground. The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (official Catalan name: Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia; "Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family"), often simply called the Sagrada Família, is a massive, privately-funded Roman Catholic church that has been under construction in Barcelona, since 1882 and is not expected to be completed until at least 2026.

It did not took me long to find Ainee Kohime, the owner of the sim and creator of the cathedral. She guided me through the huge place and revealed interesting details such as Gaudi's Tomb in the Crypt, the Library, the Ballroom, the Park Guell dragons, and the seating inside the spires. Apart from this masterpiece, she has created numerous Gaudi inspired buildings, but also amazing thatched cottages and baroque villas, low-prim pavilions and palaces. Her most recent works in SL are a recreation of the Versailles Opera House, and of the Petit Trianon, on display in her island with many other treasures.

The Cathedral as seen from the South-East ((Nativity Façade) entrance

The majestic North (the Passion façade) entrance

The North-West (Glory façade) entrance, showing 8 of the 12 spires

A view from the West at roof level.

Another view from the West, the arrow pointing to the completely dwarfed out Avi of yours truly, having found a splendid position for taking snapshots. This shot indicate the huge size of the Cathedral.

Inside the Cathedral, just look at the amazing details of the columns and vaulting

View of the lower levels of the Cathedral

After exploring Ainee’s replica of the Sagrada Familia in Second Life, I have a slight feeling that when I eventually see the original place in RL I *might* be a bit disappointed: in SL I do not have the endure the constant excessive traffic noise, the building activities, building cranes blocking the view, and the inaccessibility of many of the locations, as I can travel freely around the spires in the balloon provided by Ainee. How amazing this Second Life can be…

Ainee laughs in agreement, and recalls how when she visited this cathedral, a winding trail of tourists wandered through the construction site. She stepped back suddenly to admire the vaulting, and a workman’s helmet fell 300 metres from the spire, smashing onto the exact spot where she had just been standing (fortunately, the workman was not inside it)! She declares that she must have been pushed by an Angel.
“As I was working in SL on the cathedral,” explains Ainee, “for three months I dreamed of it every night. As the drawings and plans were destroyed in the Spanish Civil war, it is very hard to discover what Gaudi’s intentions for the unfinished sections were. One useful drawing was found in his pocket after he was killed by a tram. But in my dreams, Gaudi seemed to show me what his vision of the completed structure would be: I finished one section as I thought he would have done it. To my astonishment, a few days later a new tourist photo of that section, completed that week, appeared on the web – and it was exactly as I had designed it! I felt I was communing with Gaudi’s spirit. Gaudi would have loved the medium of SL, and have spent his time torturing prims and twisting toruses… I especially enjoyed recreating in prims the new sculpture which has recently been added to the porticos, simple and graceful after Gaudi’s sketchy outlines. My favourite section? It must be the Tortoise which supports the door pillar in the Annunciation façade.”
Ainee acknowledges her sources: “Without Ariel Erlanger’s wonderful sculpted vaulting, and the very adaptable ‘Vengeance’ megaprims, this design would have been impossible, so I am a convert to the wonders of the megaprim in SL. The vast fountains by Klyks Klees were just as Gaudi had intended, but I bet there is not enough water in a Barcelona summer to power them in Real Life!”
Ainee adds that she is indebted to her Patron Mintz Tomorrow for his support and encouragement: “He is my dream client: he said I could use 3000 prims and the spire tips had to reach the clouds: other than that, he left me alone to work on the Cathedral! After almost two years of specialising in low-prim Architecture and Antique furnishings, this was a fabulously indulgent treat to make! I shall sadly have to demolish the Cathedral on my island soon, to make room for my next project, but Mintz has vowed to preserve his copy as an SL Masterpiece!”

-Ainee’s island is Hermetic Palaces/118/119/26 and

- Mintz’s Sagrada Familia is Meloloona/321/101/22

The Chocolate Ghost

Ainee is gifted writer in Real Life and writes as 'Julia Hawkes-Moore'; her novel 'Dancing in Circles' (Honno) can be ordered from Amazon. Her story ‘The Chocolate Ghost’ has been published (and translated into Czech) in several RL books and anthologies.

At the time of writing ‘The Chocolate Ghost’ has been transcripted into a SL THiNC Press book. The book can be read (yes, even a complementary copy can be taken if you wish) in the real Chocolate Ghost shop created in Second Life (Hermetic Palaces/21/215/25)

The Second Life Chocolate Ghost shop ….The chocolate girls decided that they should buy a shop. They had very little money, so they had to hunt around the market town of Saffron Walden for a long time before they found somewhere cheap and pretty enough to suit their purpose. In a narrow cobbled street just off the market square they found a tall, narrow house squeezed in between two strict Georgian red-brick ones. It was all tottery with carved oak beams, and glittering diamondy window-panes….

Inside the Second Life Chocolate Ghost shop ….the mysteries of jujubes, lozenges, liquorice laces and aniseed balls were there to be explored. Tigernuts, Spanish tobacco, bulls' eyes and sherbet suckers were bought by the pound, whilst jamboree bags and all their hidden surprises proved so popular….

The JD MTF 'Heron' is not a toy...

2009-08-12T05:41:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

Very recently I aquired my first Sea-Plane, often referred to as Flying Boat, supplied by the Mechanical Toy Factory (MTF), SOL Solution Island 181/23/319

(A flying boat is a specialized form of aircraft that is designed to take off from and land on water, using its fuselage as a floating hull. Such aircraft are often stabilized on water by under wing floats -Wikipedia-)

Although sea-planes can be obtained at many other places in Second Life, my choice of the JD MTF Heron was based on previous experience with creations by Jenne and Mandy such as the JD MTF "Celerus" Steamboat, the Personal Copter and of course my much treasured Jenney Mandy'dson 1915 ed. sidecar equipped motorcycle from the early 20th century.

HUD of the Heron, showing full functional instruments: Banline indicator, Altimeter, Airspeed indicator, region display, compass, pitch warning indicator and function button with parachute dispenser, camera view and sound button

Important features of the remarkable JD MTF Heron are the carrying of up to three passengers (in the usual comfy MTF seats hehe) exceptional sculpts and details in an early 20th century style.
It is no wonder that during the few initial flights I was approached via my IM by several people informing where I had acquired this plane.
The craft has only 27 prims, copy permission, 8 menu driven colour schemes plus a high quality HUD (which has a unique banline indicator giving visual and sound warnings) and much more.
Needless to say that the Heron has good flying capacities, not very fast, but what would you expect from a flying boat?
I must congratulate Jenne Dibou (primworks/textures) and Mandy Marseille (scripts/sounds) of the Mechanical Toy Factory on another fine item in their long line of remarkable and always unique creations.

The MTF Heron taking off at sunset from the waters of the West side of Blake Sea for a photographic reconnaissance flight

Gathering more speed before getting airborne

Reaching Second Life cruise level at about 200 meter

Cruising over the Coast of Blake Sea through the evening clouds

Returned and moored after the evening flight, dwarfed out by the huge tri-engine Short Calcutta 1928 Flying Boat owned by Michel Linden. No, that plane cannot fly; it’s just a 170+ prim floating display. (To be seen at Ferry Terminal and Welcome Area, Barbarossa/177/31/21/)

The Cirrus glider

2009-07-30T04:20:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

Since I picked up flying in Second Life I have flown quite a number of planes and flying contraptions, not only differing in appearance, but (more importantly) in their scripting. Very often a well build plane with fine textures, is horrible to fly, instable and the cause of a crash.
Very recently whilst boating in Blake Sea I came to the pier and adjacent workshop/store of Driff Beardmore (Roatan/130/60/21) where I noticed a demo of an interesting looking glider. Although I have a glider in my inventory, this particular plane is almost impossible to keep in the air due to poorly defined control layout, so I was suspicious that this plane might have the same deficiency.
After rezzing the demo, to my surprise the glider behaved exactly as I would like, smooth and stable, and being able to fly at a low speed (as a glider should do) it gives ample time to look around without constantly adjusting your controls. Given the fact that it has a standard camera mode, guest mode, locator beacon and copy/mod permission I bought one after I had flown back the demo model.

Taking off at St. Martin airstrip for a long flight over Blake Sea

For just 150 L$ this plane is a real bargain: looking at the details and perfect scripting this plane is to my opinion a labour of love of the constructor.
To illustrate its stability, yesterday I took off at St. Martin Airstrip (St Martin/68/181/21) (a narrow strip running along a sandbar) and flew via Blake Sea deep into Nautilus at least through 30 sims without a single crash. Of course I might have been lucky that particular day….

Soaring over the West part of Blake Sea

Talented creators of SL (10) Follow up: Trasgo Beaumont, the Sculptor or 3-D art Master

2009-07-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

When I happen to meet Trasgo again last week he surprised me in that he had taken up another form of art and was cheerfully chiselling away in his sculpture workshop. Like terraforming, SL sculpting is a different trade which apparently takes time and patience to master. Needless to tell you that Trasgo’s sculptures are well worth looking at and many copies of his works can be found in the gardens and homes of discerning owners.

Trasgo Beaumont at work in his sculptor workshop in Ainee's Hermetic Palaces (121, 154, 25) (at the landing point, head North for about 30 meters to reach his place)

Although Trasgo kept on working, putting the finishing strokes to his latest sculpture, he had no objection in answering some questions which had come up to me the other day I met him creating the painting with Yolanda Hirvi:

LL The appearance of your avi is stunning, just what we would expect from a Master of Arts…… Did you create this yourself?
Thank you very much (..and here Trasgo smiles broadly, carefully twisting his moustache pointing upward...) I maintained this appearance since a very long period: after wandering around as a newbie I experimented with skins, eyes and yes, my moustache and eventually created my own appearance which I never changed afterwards. I must point out that I had made this appearance (including moustache) before I decided to become an artist, it was probably my fate that I choose this before I knew what my SL future was going to be. And after all, could I really take another occupation with this look?

LL What painting do you consider as the most successful you have made?
This question is difficult to answer... I have a special affection to my 'Return of Spring' based in the work of Bouguereau, a portrait of Malone Sands, suggested by her and who I am very thankfully for it. For its special nature, I have fond memories of the group works: for example the painting with the Old Versailles Court, The Stairs of the Ambassador. This is my most extensive work made in three parts to enable it to be exhibit at the right resolution with the size that was commissioned of twenty meters wide. But I have made so many other portraits and works that I cannot forget, oh you put me in an awkward position if you make me choose - smile - and…could I ever forget my Dolce Far Niente - one of my RL favourite’s compositions from Godward - which I made for Yolanda Hirvi as you know. Ohh is very difficult! – smiles again -

Trasgo Beaumont sculpted work is on display in the garden section (the large glass room) in the Metaversal Arts main shop Cherish (161, 88, 60)

LL With a RL residence in Spain, you have the opportunity to view and admire many originals of famous paintings and other forms of art, including fascinating buildings. Did this influence indirectly the choice of becoming a Second Life artist?
Nobody escapes to the influence of the place of birth, where one grew up and lives and where you can directly enjoy this marvellous heritage. Churches, buildings and streets in the historical centre (where my house is) of the city where I live, Cádiz, remind you any time to this period.
SL offers us the opportunity to revive the best of these creative periods. My aim was to revive the experience and the look for the beauty of an old master of art.
Many people in SL share this view, this perfect feel of beauty, although through different ways - from customizing avatars, building, terraforming, creating furniture or scripted items and so on..: I like to be a kind of mirror (with an old style glass…) that could reflect all this beauty through my portraits!

LL: what is the basic difference between creating a building and a sculpture in Second Life?
Sculpting in SL has two sides I think - the technique, which depends on the software that you use, generally this is not easy to work with because although even if you know some 3-D software, you must adapt to the SL limits.

Making good sculptures is a real challenge and you never finish learning. Although applicable to any creation in SL, the main point is to keep your prims as less as possible; we know of some really very good sculptors - but you need almost the contents of prims of an entire sim to rezz one of their creations!
On the other side, and no less important, is the creation itself - what you design and expect of it, but before anything you must keep the main rule: make all the parts separately and join these in the right pose or shape ... This is not easy, but the satisfaction when you see that your RL sketch has 3-D form and you can 'touch' it ... is something amazing.

Loggia of the Muses Houlihan (47, 137, 72) is Trasgo’s country seat where most of his sculpture work can be admired

The next entry in this Blog, (a second follow-up), brings us to the world of fashion: Trasgo Beaumont, the Fashionable Dress Designer or Lord Lisle’s new dandy outfit

Talented creators of SL (10): Trasgo Beaumont, the painter, or a birthday present for Yolanda

2009-07-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

Not so very long ago Yolanda Hirvi celebrated her RL birthday (no, I am not revealing her age...), therefore Darleez DeCuir and I were desparately looking for a suitable present to memorate this occasion. Finally we came to the ultimate present: an oil painting of her avi, set in an existing old masterpainting of her own choice. There is only one Master of Art in SL who is brilliant in this work: the celebrated Trasgo Beaumont Esq. As we know that the schedule of many SL artists is usually filled, that they are picky in customers, their choice of outfit and accepting a commission only when they are fully happy with their customer, we took the chance and went to his studio in Languedoc Coeur.

In the reception room of Trasgo Beaumont's studio. Replica's of many of his previous commissions are collected here; more are on the upper floor galleries

We were lucky and happen to meet Mr Beaumont which was cleaning brushes in his workshop. Eventually he agreed in a commission of a painting based on Dolce Far Niente (Sweet Nothings) by John William Godward. Fortunately this painting had not been chosen earlier by a customer as the artist consequently refuses to do the same painting twice. A few days later Yolanda went to the sitting for this painting; Lord Lisle was allowed to take a few snapshots of this occasion. And, dear reader of the Metaversal Blog, when you ask me whether Yolanda enjoyed the painting? I can only say: By Jove she did!

The first sitting for the painting. Master of Arts Trasgo Beaumont is making preparations and Yolanda is taking her position as model

Yolanda Hirvi posing in the studio of Trasgo Beaumont, whilst the Master is concentrated in his new work

At this stage most of the work has been done and Mr Beaumont is carefully inspecting his latest creation

Finished! Trasgo Beaumont and his model Yolanda Hirvi in a relaxed mood after the work is completed

This is the final result of Trasgo Beaumont's work, the original can be inspected on the South wall of the Metaversal Arts Office and Theatre

When the painting was delivered and Trasgo and I celebrated the highly successful painting with a glass of Wallop in a local pub I took the liberty in asking to reveal us more of his SL career

LL: You are doing a wonderful job with you paintings, can you tell us please: are you an artist in ‘The Other World’ (as my friend Mykyl Nordwind would put it)?
Trasgo: Thank you for the kind words, but my RL occupation is rather dull compared to my SL activities. I am a marginal sketcher in RL, I like draw and play with colours, but nothing seriously

LL: But are you in one way connected to paintings, or an admirer of all sorts of arts?
Trasgo: Oh, by all means, I do love arts and in particular paintings and sculpture. My taste and interests are very broad and I like different styles and artists. I think that it is important to taste some of the artist’s soul he has put in his work; I do not really care about the technique, life of the artist, his family and so on. I often compare a painting with a good wine: you do not want to know about the harvest, chateau and colour as long as you really enjoy it.
Further more, my work in SL gives me an opportunity to learn more of the work of great painters, hitherto unknown to me. And due to the special commissions of my customers it enhance my passion in arts

LL: It was noticed that you take commissions for new paintings, but as a real Master of Arts you have set certain limits to the donor RL painting. Can you elucidate this?
Trasgo: I try to make exclusive work in SL - I think that like the real paintings is no good to repeat the same donor painting again and again and eventually ending up with hundred portraits based upon the same work but with different faces, all made by me. And like the real paintings, I prefer that only one copy exist, therefore only very exceptionally I produce a portrait with full perms. So my main rule is not make a work twice - based in the same RL painting - granted the exclusivity and originally of my works. My customers could be sure that they are the only owners of the true version in SL from that or this RL painting.
In my more recent works I'm trying to include more of SL, making in this way more original compositions. Based on poses or inspired by RL paintings, but using SL elements, furniture, clothes, landscapes... I want to put in my works more of SL, I think that all this beauty created by the whole of SL designers deserve to be immortalized too, and why not in my paintings?

LL When you decided to enter Second Life, did it took you long to become an artist? Most of us had a hard and steep learning time before even could make up their mind what to do…
Well, I started my life in SL, like many of us, sheer of curiosity in a world without apparent rules. I was amazed of the wide range of possibilities for creating almost anything as far as you can imagine, considering your time and patience to learn. After a few months aimlessly wandering around I got an idea that I might be able to create portraits, based on real life paintings. I made two portraits: one of myself and a second one from an unknown model. Both paintings, along with a portable easel which I created and worn as an attachment, were shown in selected places. Very soon I met people who were interested and I received my first commission for a portrait.

- .-. .- ... --. --- -... . .- ..- -- --- -. -

To be followed by:

Trasgo Beaumont, the sculptor

Talented Creators of SL (9) : Never You Mind Harleywan Haggwood

2009-07-01T23:19:00.000-07:00

by Yolanda Hirvi

Harleywan Haggwood is a young builder and designer who has created his dream in Second Life. His store/home/playground Never You Mind -island is a wonderful example of passion for building in SL. It has not made for making money or for fame in SL . It has made because of it just had to come out..out of Harleywan's imagination. Landscaping is not easy, but Harleywood's island looks perfect to me. Even though he claims it is still in progress. I tried to catch it's feel in the sim with snapshots, but with my skills it just cannot be done. You just have to go and see it for your self. It is rustic, rural, worn out, but very romantic. Along the rustic buildings he has created not-so-usual vehicles like a ridable kite, balloons and sailable bath tubs. He has also made rambling robots and old toys. Sounds like fun? I had a change to spend a morning with Harleywood talking about him and his work in SL.

Y: How did you come to SL and how did you end up to become a builder and a store owner?
H: I was first introduced to Sl about a year and a half ago by my friends SkyeRider Varriale, TatianaDokuchic Varriale and Marin Mielziner. It took me a while to actually come in world and after a few weeks I discovered that i was getting hooked.
My building skills have all been self taught with little pushes in the right direction by friends. I like learning that way and practically everything I've made has been a big, big trial and error thing. After some initial truly horrendous attempts and making some simple things, I got hold of a couple of full perm objects and pulled them apart to see how they were contructed and how things fit together, and things sort of just took off from there. I always test out stuff I make on my friends Tat, Bebe, Zac and Skye and rely on them for feed back, criticism and suggestions ( some of which I completely ignore), but I really do value all of their opinions. Skye and Tatiana are seasoned and extraordinary builders, and even though the look of my rustic things and my building style are completely different to what they both make, they are always more than happy to tell me what they think ,good or bad and I appreciate the honesty.....though I sometimes might not agree :).

I love old rustic stuff, whether it be Country, Steampunk, Urban or just plain used looking :)... and if it has a tinge of humour about it...even better. I opened my 'Never You Mind' world on a 4096 plot roughly about 8 months ago. First off it was just so I could have a go at making things. Its moved around a little bit as I've required more space, and I'm more than happy with the place it is now on a homestead sim that I rent.

Y:What do you like the best in Second Life?
H: Thats a hard question. there really isnt any one thing i like best in Second Life. I love building stuff, but I also like meeting new people and discovering new things. I guess if I had to narrow it down it would be... oh hell I dont know , I guess i like everything...except griefers!

Y: People like interactive stuff. Also I find them fun. I bought your kite. I think it is very brilliant idea, and I have had fun time flying with it. Making those does require some scripting skills.
H: Thanks! I like making stuff that does stuff. :) The kite turned out pretty good I think.... and it drove me up the wall for a few hours trying to get the flight script to work properly. The kite actually statred out as an idea just to have a kite you could attach and carry around that moved in the wind... and it got a bit out of control. I thought wouldnt it be funny if you actually flew it...like really flew it :). Most of the scripts that I use in my stuff are scripts that I have bought and then edited to suit my needs, and I have absolutely no programming skills whatsoever except for little titbits i pick up from here and there. Scripting really does my head in, but very slowly I've been learning the language with mixed... sometimes hilarious... but mostly just bang my head against the keyboard results.

Y: 'Never You Mind' is very carefully landscaped. It seems to be more than just a store to you. Does 'Never You Mind' exist in any form in RL?
H: Ive wanted to own my own island for ages and when someone offered me too much money for my old mainland I decided i may as well look for one. This is all from my imagination. I did grow up on a farm in Australia though, so i supose theres a lot of influence from there. It is my home away from real life home, as well as my store ... and its also my playground.

Y: Who are your 'idols' as creators in Second Life?
H:Wow there are so many! Everyday I find a new place that blows me away with creativity and imagination that makes up peoples objects, clothes and worlds. It would be unfair to mention any one or two people because there are just way too many and the list just keeps on growing every day.

Y: If there will be other virtual worlds competing Second Life that have own economy, would you be interested expanding to the other worlds? Or leave SL ?
H: No! Not at all Im having way too much fun here at the moment.

Our time is up with Harleywan and he has to dash to RL work. I stay to wander around for awhile. I wonder what his next realease will be...Darn, I forgot to ask..

Nerver You Mind :
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Never%20You%20Mind/117/101/23

The Second Life ban in Australia

2009-06-26T06:38:00.000-07:00

By Yolanda Hirvi

I received an unsigned notecard with cry of help form SL Aussie residents. Here it is as quoted. (My personal opinion: censorship is a decease spread by incompetent politicians.)

"As some of you may or may not know - Second Life is to be banned to adult consenting Australian residents, so those of us who have invested a fortune in this beautiful, wondrous land that we all love to inhabit, are to be made refugees and sentenced to mind numbing boredom, not to mention archaic censorship. I urge you all to please make the acquaintance of the person whose details are below.

The Australian Minister - who has been shepherding this ludicrous decision to ban Second Life to Australian residents - I present to you MR STEPHEN CONROY - MINISTER IN PARLIAMENT..

Here's the story :

" The Australian Minister for Censorship has today confirmed what I’ve been reporting for nearly two years: online adult games including Second Life will be banned in Australia.

A spokesman for Censorship Minister Stephen “Goebbels” Conroy confirmed to Fairfax newspapers that “under the filtering plan, it will be extended to downloadable games, flash-based web games and sites which sell physical copies of games that do not meet the MA15+ standard.” In Australia, the MA15+ rating means that the content is restricted to those aged 15 and above. Australia does not have a R 18+ or similar rating for computer games, with all adult games automatically being classified as RC (Refused Classification.)

These games includ World of Warcraft, and Second Life (and I imagine Runescape - for those of you with kids who've invested a million hours to get their levels - I'm a level 116 myself in that game)

Those of you who care - drop him a note.... hell - call him.. !..

Write him letters.

I have and I will continue.

You are here: Contact details
Contact details
Parliamentary office
Suite MG70
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Tel: 02 6277 7480
Fax: 02 6273 4154
Ministerial office
Level 4, 4 Treasury Place
Melbourne Vic 3002
Tel: 03 9650 1188
Fax: 03 9650 3251
Electorate office
Suite 1B
494 High St
Epping Vic 3076
Tel: 03 9408 0190
Fax: 03 9408 0194
If you prefer to email the Minister please include your postal address
with your communication.

Contact details
Stephen Conroy
Parliamentary office
Suite MG70
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Tel: 02 6277 7480
Fax: 02 6273 4154

Ministerial office
Level 4, 4 Treasury Place
Melbourne Vic 3002
Tel: 03 9650 1188
Fax: 03 9650 3251

Electorate office
Suite 1B
494 High St
Epping Vic 3076
Tel: 03 9408 0190
Fax: 03 9408 0194

If you prefer to email the Minister please include your postal address
with your communication.

Please email him on :
minister@dbcde.gov.au "

Piermont Landing presents : The Illusions Ball and silent auction n for RFL

2009-06-13T04:28:00.000-07:00

by Yolanda Hirvi

Miss Breezy Carver from New Babbage hosts the Illusions White Themed Ball for RFL Saturday June 20th 6pm - 9pm SLT in Piermont Landing, Wheatstone Waterways, New Babbage. Silent auction has started and goes on until June 20th 9 pm.. The items auctioned are Shepherdess gown by Kembri Tomsen and Resignation music box by Canolli Capalini. Both items are one of a kind and all proceeds go to Relay For Life. To place your bid teleport to http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wheats tone%20Wat erways/16/37/109 .Also many RFL-vendors located in the area with steampunk and victorian themed items.
*Music by DJ Bats
Event is sponsored by:
*Capalini Fine Furnishings
*House of Rfyre
*Blakopal Designs
*Hatpins

The Oblonski shop in Armada Breakaway or the Booty Room in 'The Black Barnacle'

2009-04-23T04:26:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

For many readers the Armada Breakaway sim is not an unknown area. No one can describe this place better than Loki Elliot in his recent You Tube machina:

In a conversation with Mr Dagger a week or so ago, he told me about the Black Barnacle, his pub and parlor in Armada Breakaway. What is more, I was informed about the existance of a Booty Room in that very pub, the hiding place of a large heap of gold coins.

Becoming interested, and knowing that Yolanda Hirvi had also opened an Oblonski shop in Armada Brealaway, I decided to inspect Yo's shop and have a look in the pub and it's gold....

The Oblonski shop in Armada Breakaway. In the background the Black Barnacle pub

The Black Barnacle pub and parlor is constructed from huge barrels and old drift wood. The Booty Room is located on the first floor

Inside the Booty Room where I discovered rare paintings, treasure chests and a heap of gold Dubloons. Looking at the gold, I felt jumping in it like uncle Scrooge McDuck...

This is a portrait of Yolanda Hirvi, taken and signed by the well known SL photographic artist Mr Skusting Dagger Esq. Do you like his work of art? Why not IM him for a portrait sitting appointment in his studio!

Steam-Punk New Babbage: the new Oblonski shop or meeting Mr Skusting Dagger Esq

2009-04-21T23:58:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

Quite recently Yolanda Hirvi reopened her Oblonski shop in New Babbage at Babbage Square(does that woman really never got enough outlets?). As I had not been in the steam punk community for a long time, I took (after inspecting the Oblonski shop) the opportunity to explore this wonderful steam punk city to see whether there might be new additions

The recently opened Oblonski shop in Babbage Square 144, 200, 105 , just opposite the Electric Theatre

Not very far off the Oblonski shop is the Churchill Industrial Plot 2 with a row of Bessemer steel converters

Further down New Babbage, the Dagon's Pleasure Pier in the Vernian Sea 75, 192, 102 with the entrance to the New Babbage undersea channels

Inside of one of the Jules Verne inspired tubes at 100 meters below sea level of the waters in Vernian Sea

The Nautilus in the Vernian Sea 145, 141, 101 In the background Doctor's Obolensky Observatory

Taking a snapshot of the city below me I noticed a person with a familiar face watching my effords in taking a good position for a picture: no less than the great Daguereteer Mr Skusting Dagger Esq, which I had not spoken in a long time

Meeting Skusting Dagger at the entrance of Serenity Steamworks in Port Babbage

Mr Dagger discovered New Babbage in the fall of '07 and felt at home right away. It was only two sims at the time, Babbage Square and Babbage Canals. He loved the brick and the urban industrial feel. The Victorian era sci-fi and horror elements kept it interesting and kept him coming back.'..... The folks that reside and build in New Babbage are indeed creative. And they love industry. There is also some remarkable role playing and story telling that goes on here. (RP is always optional). You never know what mystery you might stumble upon....'
Mr Dagger continues: - '.......... If you want to explore New Babbage and looking for interesting places, lets go sim by sim, in order of their coming into existance....'

Babbage Square.... The first thing that comes to mind is the Olde Imperial Theater. Built by Loki Eliot, it is the secret hideout of the local street urchins, and the scene of horrible crimes and mystery.The Paleozoic Museum, buit by PRofessor Nareth Nishi, and preserved by Elleon Bergamasco, is a must see. And then there is the Karhuvel Steamworks built by Salazar Jack. There are also many fine stores and shops.

Babbage Canals: The home to my own beloved Ruby's Pub, which I have preserved from its original owner Sir ArthurConan Doyle. more here:The Canal District is also home the the RF Burton Memorial library. Built by Canolli Capalini and Elihu Leominster. It houses and extensive selection of books and features rotating exhibitions. Again, more fine shopping can be found here. And you can go fishing in Shay McDowwll's Steampunk Park

Port Babbage.... New Babbage's sector of commerce and trade. Many many shops, and there is a sunken ship below.

The Vernian Sea... underwater residences. Home to Reitsuki Kojima's Nautilus, the Lotus of the Sea underwater house (built by Kandace Commons and preserved by Breezy Carver), the evil Doctor Obolensky's Observatory and laboratory, and Dagon's Island Pleasure Pier buit by Elfod Nemoth.When the Vernian Sea and Port Babbage came online, the sea level for these two sims as well as Babbage Square and Babbage Canals were raised 100 meters, making the Vernian Sea the deepest sea sim in all of Second Life.

Babbage Palisade.... An extension of Babbage Square, leading to the city wall, beyond which is rural country side. The Wall is a must see. Home to Augustus Dayafter's Gangplank, Bela Lubezki's Her Darl Materials Factory, Viv Trafalgar's Aether Salon, and Beq Janu's recreation of the famous Horta House.

Wheatstone Waterways... Created as an extension of the Canal District. Home to Breezy Carver's Piermont Landing and my own recreation of the Mark Twain Study. Many shops here as well. Kiergarten Manufacturing, parks and cafes and tea rooms.Then there is the newly arrived sim of New Babbage (aka#7) there is an extensive underground sewer network built by Trilobite Zanzibar, and houses the New Babbage locale for Radio Riel, Finely Twine's Iron Bay and Greg Merryman's shipworks

In spite of the heavy industrial activities, with the ever apparent steam and coal fumes, this is a beautiful little park in Babbage Canals, just opposite Rubi's Pub

If you are still not convinced about the fascination of New Babbage, JUST watch this wonderful YouTube machinima created by Loki Elliot or visit:
http://newbabbage.ning.com/forum/topics/january-8th-founders-day

Next time I should like to take you to Armada Breakaway where we try to find the heap of gold, hidden in Mr Dagger's Black Barnacle Pub.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory or a factory in a hat

2009-04-15T01:57:00.000-07:00

by Lord Lisle

Possibly you may have read Roald Dahl's novel 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' or more likely seen the classic 1971 film 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory' starring Gene Wilder.

Our own Second Life star PatriciaAnne Daviau (yes, she was featured in this Blog not so long ago...) build part of the Wonka Factory in Second Life. What is so special about this you may ask? She build the 230 prims factory in a Willy Wonka hat!

The hat with the highly detailed miniature factory can be admired in the Metaversal Arts sim, close to the Metaveral Arts Office and Theatre or in the IBM6 sim

Ohh, before I forget: click on the hat and listen what will happen! Enjoy!

Talented creators of SL (8): Equine McMillan or an engineer at work

2009-03-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

In my previous entry in the Metaversal Arts Blog I revealed that the new premises of the Metaversal Arts Shop were created by Equine McMillan. The new building is not only tasteful, but offers a much more practical arrangement for visitors, customers and shopkeepers. I strongly advice readers to visit the new Metaversal Arts shop, and also to have a look at the range of new items on display.

Aerial view of the new Metaversal Arts Shop, another fine creation by Equine McMillan

Not very long after the opening of the new Metaversal Arts Shop, I noticed an interesting puffing, smoking and spinning object in the North-East side of the building. Getting closer, I saw a beautifully engineered AND most realistic/detailed three cylinder steam engine, build by Equine McMillen.

The steam engine with fireplace, boiler and alternator can be admired in the North-East side of Cherish (187, 228, 60)

I became interested to see whether Equine had created more similar objects and was not disappointed -after I had viewed the picks in his profile ;-) Here a snapshot of the Botanical House greenhouse heating system, Caledon On Sea (243, 204, 22). Again a mechanical and logical correct design

Halfway my quest to investigate his creations, I contacted Equine via IM and asked him to answer a few of my questions, which he willingly did:

LL: Can you recall your original motive to take an account on SL?
Well, this one is rather ironic actually. A friend of mine told me about SL about 2 years ago, and asked me to try it. I was extremely sceptical, thinking that this is a total waste of time. Since then I came to think of metaverses quite differently. I started enjoying my stay, interacting with various people, exploring, being creative, etc.

LL: Did it take long before you felt comfortable and confident to build here?
I quickly got in the hang of building, it was quite intuitive, and I really enjoyed creating things. At first I was just fooling around with prims, and textures. Actually among my first ideas was a skeleton clock (which I did build after about two months of stay in SL), and a steam engine. The latter took considerably longer to get right :).

LL: I noticed that you take commissions, would you reject a project which is against your personal taste and what are projects you particularly like?
To be honest, from experience, I'd say I can find "my taste" in almost any style I do. My real criteria is "doing it right". Whatever the task may be. If your aim is a flowing consistent style, you can pretty much make anything look good. My personal taste is less of an issue.
I've built minimalist type homes, also steampunk builds (more of the latter evidently), and some other looks and feels. I think a lot depends on how much you can sort of see things the way the customer does. To feel what his/her goal is. Sometimes that's quite a challenge of course.
About personal preferences...I'm not really sure! It's a bit like musical taste. I like the variety, there are songs I listen to more often, but depending on my mood I might be listening to something completely different.

LL: The Epona’s Gate suspension Bridge and Greystoke railway station in Caledon must have been a major undertakings, how many hours did you spend in creating these?
Hmm, honestly I have no idea! I never keep track of time while building :). That was a lengthy project for sure though. Throughout the build process I had to coordinate with various people to make sure they like what I'm doing, and putting on their land :). And here I want to thank Desmond Shang for the opportunity of course! He was very supportive, as were all the people I was in contact with there.
Overall that was a rather satisfying accomplishment, I enjoyed building it.

LL: From what I have seen so far, most of your creations are located in Caledon South (except the Metaversal Arts Shop of course). Are you keen to take commissions to build at other places, providing the surrounding premises are not ugly?
Yes most of them are in the southern region of Caledon, but actually I take commissions from any part of SL, and even if the surroundings are not really aesthetically pleasing, making it a bit better is something I'm quite willing to do :).
The reason for most of my builds being in Caledon, is that I lived there for quite a while, from my early days. And here again I would like to thank Viderian Vollmar, and Kamilah Hauptmann, Samantha Glume and all of Caledon for their support. My build talents were developed and nourished there.
Oh and by the way, I also built a couple of things on the mainland, but as rapidly changing those areas are, they weren’t there for long.

LL: As an electrical and radio engineer I am particularly interested in your steam engines and alternators and looking forward to see anything more in this field (yes I would love to see one of those white marble switchboards with fuses, meters, control lamps and switches, hint, hint..). Have you got any building plans of more steam and early electrical machines for the future?
By all means! I am a big fan of "fancy electrics". Until now I mostly took commissions, but I've decided to create a line of products to sell. Of course I don't want to "confine" myself into only one style. One thing is for sure: Engineering has, and will have a very strong influence on what I do in here. I prefer stuff that is, within the confines of SL, "logically correct", though I like to mix that logic with a healthy amount of fantasy. Sort of..."best of both (more more) worlds". My own home in SL though is strongly fantasy oriented. It's more of a sanctuary actually.

LL: When you tell your colleagues and friends about your activities in SL, are their reactions on the positive side?
It depends! Some of my closest friends have second lifes. Those who aren't familiar with it usually have a negative first reaction. After some explaining some of them change that opinion, some don't. It seems when I mention the possibility of earning real money, their ears perk ;). Some even get curious!

Raffles, home to Munro Imaginary Motors, makers of aircraft and airships both practical and fanciful. Her new airborne base in the Duchy of Loch Avie, Caledon Loch Avie (131, 163, 130) was build by Equine.

A long (150 meters) and majestic, low prim suspension bridge (called "Epona's Gate") connecting two duchies in Caledon and part of the new railroad extention was one of Equine's major builds. Conspirators of Caer Firnas, Steampunk Duchy of Caer Firnas Caledon Caer Firnas (85, 164, 44)

Duchy of Greystoke, Caledon Greystoke (138, 165, 43) Greystoke Station along the railroad extension built for Caledon. Most of the tracks are in air partly on the suspension bridge. Caledon Oxbridge University can be seen in the background.

Not very far off the Greystoke Station is Oxbridge University. The majestic clock in the tower was build by Equine, and look at the details! It contains a chime script which appropriately hits quarters, halfs, three quarters and the hour of course. Please do visit it a few minutes before the hour to hear it in action :-). Caledon Oxbridge Village, Caledon Oxbridge Village (13, 136, 21)

Whilst sitting on that clock in Caledon Oxbridge University, I was too busy taking snapshots and I did not notice two nasty flying creatures. Apparently kept by a nasty Dean to keep students IN the buildings and not, as I did, hanging around on the roofs and towers.... Before I knew what happened the most ugly and biggest of the creatures grabbed me in the crutch.

Having the camara still at hand, I managed to take these two snapshots before I was slammed to the ground, not very far off the Oxbridge University Building.....

After rezzing and still a bit dizzy from the wild ride, I looked around. By strange coincidence (was it really?...) I was dropped near Equine McMillan's L'Engle Tesseract Generator in Caledon Steam SkyCity (204, 26, 23) Although I had read in another BLog that the machine was considered as '..dangerous, deadly and evil..', I could not resist in taking a closer look at it.

The prime mover of the Tesseract Generator was at first sight a version of the ubiquitous McMillan two cylinder steam engine coupled to two huge alternators, hmm, interesting so far... A more closer view revealed that this machine is more detailed then the other ones I saw so far.

..... sit on the seat and pull the handle on the switchboard to generate a Tesseract...., said a note. .....(Do this at your own risk, of course :)....I jumped on the chair and pulled the handle. Actually, I should have been more careful after reading the second note, because the engine started running, the sliding door closed and I was pushed upwards in the tower ...

Arriving at the top of the tower, without being able to move, four arms came from the ceiling, forming a cage....

A split second later after the four arms had touched each other, the alternator down in the building made a loud high pitched sound and the inside of the cage bursted out in flames..

What happened next, you ask me? I'd rather not tell, but I want YOU to find out yourself, if you dare!

Thank you, Equine, for this experience!
Keep on with the good work ;-)

The shape of things to come or the renovation of Cherish

2009-03-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

Although the Metaversal Arts Shop staff knew that Yolanda Hirvi was up to something, (well, isn't she always, hehe...) it still came as a shock to me when I arrived in Cherish today and found that the usual landing place had been changed and that there were no visitors and customers around...
It soon transpired that Yolanda took the opportunity of a quiet day to renovate the main shop buildings. As these works are a bit awkward for customers (let alone the dreadful sight of Yolanda hopping around in overalls, pfffff) it was decided to close the sim for the duration.

Yolanda (tagged as Bad Boss) shaping one of the cornerstones of the renovated Metaversal Arts Shop, a dreadful sight, is it not?

A sneak preview of the renovated Metaversal Arts Shop buildings, as seen from the Metaversal Arts Theatre. I am looking forward to the opening shortly! YOU too? I am not allowed to tell you that this magnificient piece of SL architecture is another creation by Equine McMillan...(don't tell that you got it from me, or else...)

Tango Pasión by Maar Auer

2009-03-08T00:25:00.000-08:00

by Yolanda Hirvi

As most of you already know Maar Auer's work is always stunning. Metaversal Arts and Maar Auer are proud to present Tango Pasión; the steamiest dance animation for a couple ever seen in SL. This machinima made by Maar is pretty hot too. *Grins*

Animation and Machinima : Maar Auer
Dancers: Yolanda Hirvi and Lord Lisle
Location : Armada Breakaway
Music : Gotan Project

Prepare to be ashtonished : The Grand Opening of Armada Breakout

2009-02-27T07:19:00.000-08:00

by Yolanda Hirvi

While searching for a location to shoot machinima for Maar's new tango-animation, I happened to land on the very special place. It didnt take me long to realize that Armada Breakaway is a perfect place; for not only to shoot a machinima but for a new Oblonski branch store too. Armada is "Victorian-steampunk-merfolk-pirate" - role play region that seems to have many secrets. Citizens of Armada welcome everyone to join the grand opening festivities March 1, 12.30 pm - 8 pm.

Read more about Armada (and find the schedule for grand opening) http://www.onthebonesofboats.com/

The shape of things to come or filming Tango Pasión

2009-02-25T04:13:00.000-08:00

By Lord Lisle

Those of you who had no time of visiting the official launch of the dance ‘Tango Pasión’ created by our very own Maar Auer, should pull their hair of regret (not a problem in SL, because hair is usually copyable lol). The number of visitors to the Metaversal Arts sim at the release party exceeded all expectations and all agreed that this dance is the best Maar ever created.

But don’t despair: a few days after the launch Maar Auer filmed Yolanday Hirvi and yours truly dancing the Tango Pasión at location at Armada Breakaway, 121, 134, 33 (jolly nice place folks, why not have a look there?)

Hopefully in a short time we may admire Maar’s new Machinima, keep an eye at this Blog!

Snapshots taken during the filming at Armada Breakaway

Tango Pasión Release Party on Valentine's Day

2009-02-11T08:57:00.000-08:00

You are very welcome to dance tango with us at Metaversal Arts on Valentine's Day, 14th February Noon SLT.

You get a chance to meet the amazing animator Maar Auer and enjoy the best tango - tunes chosen and spinned by DJ Soliel Snook from RADIO RIEL.

Wear red or/and black or come as you are.

TANGO PASION DANCE ANIMATION IS NOT FOR SALE BEFORE 14TH FEBRUARY!

You can see a sneak preview of the Tango Pasión in the end of the latest episode of Meta Makeover. Enjoy!

Talented Creators of SL (7) PatriciaAnne Daviau or Gullivers Travels

2009-01-07T02:11:00.000-08:00

By Lord Lisle

Not so long ago I Aianna Oh (RL and SL author and gifted story teller in Second Life) invited me to join her in the IBM 6 Sandbox in order to admire a few very special creations she had seen. Although I rarely go to sandboxes for obvious reasons, I relied upon the good taste of Aianna and arrived a few seconds later at the spot. As anticipated, I was not disappointed of what I saw after rezzing: tasteful arranged villages and scenes from RL, miniaturised to fit into a few square feet (in some cases a few square inches). After Aianna Oh left, I stayed at the IBM 6 sandbox for a considerable time, constantly discovering new details in the miniature towns and other objects. Especially whilst admiring the city of Venice and it's floating balloons I involuntary had to think of Jonathan Swift's ''Gullivers Travels"....

Children's play ground and Bella's place. You may ask, what is so special about THIS build? There are so many places similar to this all over SL.

The beauty of this spot is that it is build on JUST a 2x2ft base, using tiny prims, but when zoomed in they show every detail of a large build.

The childrens play ground and Bella's place are part of a downtown scene of a town called Lilliton. This town is very large with a church, graveyard, park with tents and trailers, town square with a town clock, main street with telephone poles and lines and streetlights, barber shop, grocery store, museum (with pics that other artists donated), city hall, apartment building, gas station/garage, various other shops and office buildings, miniature golf course, hills with cabins for rent, home construction site, a river with a lighthouse and sailboats, water tower with a windmill on top, and a railroad loading dock with wildflower field. Some pics of it (when it was not completely finished) are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/patriciaanne/page4/
Building Lilliton was a very big effort and a hard time finding a place to work on it because of the high prim count.

The next day when I returned to the IBM 6 Sandbox I was lucky to meet the creator of these remarkable miniatures: PatriciaAnne Daviau. She was immidiately prepared to answer a few questions which had come in my mind whilst admiring her work the other day. In addition she agreed to pose for a portrait and a few close up pictures in Waikiti beach. Thank you again Pat, you did a great job holding those miniatures whilst enduring the long winding posing session.

LL: Have you always wanted to build and create miniatures in SL or did you gradually come to do this?
I have always loved miniatures as a child and when I joined Second Life I thought making jewelry was the only way to create 'small things'. As it turned out I was not very good at jewelry designing. I then saw the train in AM Radio's wheatfield and the very cool cafe Tezcatlipoca Bisiani had built and decided to try modeling those. I built rural America around those pieces and had so much fun putting the town together that I kept building more. Always learning and stretching my abilities.

LL: Are good eyes and a steady hand essential for building these tiny objects? Viewing the minute details you have added in your creations is not easy with my standard mouse; I wondered how must this be whilst building?
Oh yes! Good eyes, a steady hand, and lots of patience are a must for creating these tiny builds. With tortured micro prims you have to use your eye to line up textures because the numbers just don't work. I use a standard mouse right now but would love to explore the new technologies that are available.

LL: Are you influenced by the work of other SL creators? (At some distinct views in your landscapes I thought to see a touch of AM Radio…)
I am influenced by both RL and SL artists. And thanks to AM Radio, Tezcatlipoca Bisiani, Spiral Walcher, and others I have learned so much about texturing and scale. When I see a beautiful sim or an awesome build it can inspire me to model it. I think it is so I have a permanent memory of it.

LL: Although your work is currently to admire in the IBM 6 sandbox only, did you ever participate in a more permanent SL exhibition? I mean, it would be a great loss if your work would not be kept!
I had the rural America town on display for a short time on the Brooklyn is Watching sim, and a few of my pieces live in personal residences, but I have not held a show nor are any of my miniatures on display on any sim. The problem with my builds is that to get the detail I want without using textures to create the illusion of shape, I have to use quite a few prims, and not a lot of places have the prims available to support my builds.

LL: Do you have any plans of building more in the future and if so can you reveal anything about the subjects?
I have a few towns like Tokyo downtown,the full rural America town, and the Drive-In Theater, and quite a few musical snowglobes with miniatures in them not on display in the IBM 6 sandbox. I am always looking in RL and SL for things to model or ideas to create new towns. If you have any let me know :)

A Rural USA landscape. Elements from America's past and present tastefully arranged in a tiny, but still great build.

Close-up view of a section of the Rural USA landscape, isn't this beautiful?

PatriciaAnne carrying one of her delightful snowglobe music boxes. In this particular one she has created a miniature, but still very detailed steam locomotive.

What at first sight looks like an obscure unfinished miniature: the 'Tiny simple-life winter' build has remarkable details.

Tiny and easily overlooked. I would not be surprised when most people consider this item as PatriciaAnne's most wonderful creation: The snowglobe music box!

This snaphot of Pat holding a JCB digger and forklift illustrates the extreme small dimensions of her creations.

I strongly suggest readers of this Blog to have a 'Gulliver's eye' look at PatricaAnne's miniatures in the IBM 6 Sandbox and say hi when you happen to meet her.
In the repetitive few days I have visited her display stand, I have seen a constant change of exhibits, so come back from time to time!

It's ice skating time again in Cherish!

2008-11-28T02:10:00.000-08:00

By Lord Lisle

Not very long ago Jokul Frosti, better known as Jack Frost arrived in Second Life and did not neglect to touch the Metaversal Arts Island located at Cherish/159/201/60
The landing plaza was instantly transformed into a nice ice rink where skating is a pleasure under the huge Spruce fir which was planted by Yolanda Hirvi. Expect to find a lot of snow so put on your winterclothes, handshoes and knit muffler.

Three different kinds of free skates and a snowball thrower are available as welcome gifts for those who are keen on skating and for those who want to try the ice for the first time. See ye on the ice rink folks!

Again on ice after almost a year! Apparently Lord Lisle has not forgotten his skills of figure skating (only showoff, its just his skating Hud, ahem)

THIS is what will happen in a moment of absence whilst receiving an IM (or pressing the wrong button on the Hud, hehe)

Sad Days in Second Life

2008-11-10T12:03:00.001-08:00

by Lord Lisle

Although we all know that most Second Life builds last for a short or slightly longer period, it is still a shock when you return to a saved SL landmark and find that a beautiful build place, landscape of castle is being replaced by yet another ugly club, brothel or private estate with protection shields. When you are a bit longer in SL you get used to these phenomena although in every case you feel a bit of sadness.

Some time ago when I still had my little gallery in Faeria, our small community was unpleasantly surprised by a huge orgy hall, build behind tall walls, straight adjacent our old street. This caused much annoyance and eventual resulted in the move of a row of houses and a general shuffle of other buildings. After this Faeria was never as it used to be, I am sorry to say. I shouldn’t have worried as Faeria is no longer and taken over by a dark role play group. Do not look back spiteful, Mykyl Nordwind, Gardener of Faeria, the wonderful memory linger on!

Lord Lisle’s gallery with paintings by Sir Alma Tadema in Faeria

Therefore you may understand the deep sadness I felt after the announcement of the Governor of Colonial Waikiti, Atashi Toshihiko, that 5 of the 9 sims are going to close, including Waikiti Aerodrome and the Mad Governor’s workshop in Tangiwai.

How it was: flying over Tangiwai with Minaki Aerodrome in the background

Fortunately, four friendly and beautiful residential sims will be retained, including the secret caves in Waiki Atoll. The aerodrome will eventually be back but on a smaller size and boating will still be encouraged. I personally felt much the loss of Tangiwai, the hide-out of the Mad Governor under the covert name of 'Trading and Imports'

The Mad Governor’s workshop at Tangiwai: past and gone...

This afternoon I took a farewell boattrip in Sin Trenton’s old but trusty 'Canal Runner' over the sunken land of Minaki Aerodrome, Tangiwai, Murulla, Berala and Ranui, knowing that this would be my last visit to these sims. I was very sad about the loss of the aerodrome, with its wide runway with no obstructions, hardly any lag when flying over the 9 peaceful sims and no griefers.

Boating on the silent and gloomy waters over the sunken land of Minaki Aerodrome at sunset today: my last trip to this place

My next shock came this morning when I landed on Hirvi Estate: all the beautiful trees in brown and yellow autumn colours were gone, as well as the harbour, the houses, stables and all those detailed items which made this place so special and relaxing. What remained was only the bridge and deserted grounds. Of course, Yolanda Hirvi, the owner and great creator of Hirvi Estate should be pitied much more as she will fell the loss of her place obviously much deeper than I.

Hirvi Estate as I found it at dawn today, a bleak and desolate place.

The beautiful harbour and ‘Seaview house’ as it was in Hirvi Estate

I just wonder what will be the next great place which must close its doors caused by the upcoming Openspace price increase….isn't it sad?

A second revolution in Second Life?

2008-10-29T06:46:00.001-07:00

by Lord Lisle

After reading the bad news about the Openspace sims issues and the possible impact on the long term, I talked with numerous SL citizens on this matter. Sin Trenton pointed me at the Massively website: http://www.massively.com/2008/10/28/the-spirit-of-1776-second-lifes-second-revolution/ in which Tateru Nino wrote:

Second Life users are already calling it Second Life's second revolution. Outside of Linden Lab's in-world Land Team offices, capacity crowds of users have been gathered through much of the day, though there's been nary a Linden Lab staffer in sight. People are cursing, newcomers are asking for protest signs, and there's angry chatter in over a dozen languages. There are a lot of Europeans here, which is not unexpected. They have to pay VAT on top of any additional costs.
There is talk about switching the signs and banners for flaming torches and pitchforks, because, if nothing else Second Life users find value in tradition. There are even discussions about picketing Linden Lab's Battery Street office in San Francisco.
All of this started yesterday at 6PM SLT (US Pacific time) when Jack Linden, head of Linden Lab's land team, announced a price-rise to void simulators (known to Linden Lab as Openspace sims). The reaction since then has been ... robust.

I lost no time in having a look at the Linden Lab's inworld Land Team offices and was not disappointed: dozens of citizens posting with protest signs, in the mean time loudly discussing the matter.

At the main entrance of Linden Lab's inworld Land Team offices.

I heard of similar actions being organised shortly; one thing is certain: LL won't get away this this issue so easily. See YOU at the Land Team offices entrance!

Linden Lab - The big scam?

2008-10-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

by Yolanda Hirvi
The dream is over folks.. I am too angry to even write about this so I have gathered quotes from the blog by Atashi Toshihiko owner of Waikiti Island -estate. She really says it all.
This move from Linden Lab is killing SL economy. Not just estate-business..it affects to ALL.
Is this a scam? Or just a huge mistake from Linden Lab.. It is up to you to decide.

Atashi Toshohiko writes:
Linden Lab has a history of making sweeping policy changes without any consultation with their customers, and seemingly without any concern for the consequences. They have a history of deceit, misrepresentation, and general mismanagement. By now, I've come to expect that - it's part of the "Second Life Experience."
....

In March 2008, Linden Lab announced huge changes to their Open Space region policy. Originally, OpenSpace regions were only available in blocks of 4 at a time. They had to be anchored to an existing sim. They only had 1875 prims (1/8 the prims of a regular region, but at 1/4 the price.) Now, you could be them in onesies. They would have 3750 prims. They didn't need to be attatched to anything.

The OpenSpace market exploded. In the first 6 weeks, they were selling thousands of these sims, at $425 each. We bought three of them. It seemed like a great deal.

Then in April 2008, Linden Lab suddenly announced that they were cutting the price of buying a private island. From $1675 to $1000. And Openspace from $425 to $250. The already-flooded land market, was about to get flooded some more. The number of private estates skyrocketed. Now in addition to vastly increased competition on a level playing field, we had to contend with yet more competition, where all our new competitors had a 35% advantage on us in terms of startup fees. Waikiti started to see occupancy drop, and not recover.

Meanwhile, they continued to pump out more and more mainland - including themed areas like Bay City and now the new Nautilus. The price of mainland continued to drop lower and lower, while the map got bigger and bigger. Concurrency however, remained the same. 60,000 people and 30,000 regions.

....

Yesterday, Linden Lab announced another policy and price change: See the blog entry here.

In a nutshell, they a) cut all the big barriers to ownership of Openspace regions, b) doubled the prim allotment for openspace regions, and c) encouraged their use as standalone islands by not requiring them to be anchored to anything. Now they are blaming their customer base for using openspace regions "too much". They claim that they never thought usage of openspace regions would double. This from the people who doubled the prim allotment and cut the purchase price - they doubled the prims and didn't expect usage would double.

So instead of either throttling performance to be inline with expectations, or raising service levels to meet the demand, they have opted to simply increase the monthly fees by 67%, from $75 to $125 / month. Unlike the price increase in November 2006, there will be no grandfathering of rates. Indeed, for holders of already-grandfathered openspace sims, their monthly fees are going from $50 to $125 - a 150% increase.

Somehow, according to Linden logic, this will magically make the problem go away. Of course, the problem will go away with all the estates that go bankrupt or abandon their openspace regions.

You can read the original post here h ttp://www.waikiti.com/cgi-bin/fccgi.exe?w3serverpool=polaris&w3exec=phlog&site=waikiti

Taking snapshots in Second Life or A Few Hints To Improve The Quality Of Your Pictures

2008-10-24T04:33:00.001-07:00

by Lord Lisle

This is not a complete guide for enhancing your snapshots but just a few hints in the direction to obtain far better results with just a bit more effort. Although you may find the number of settings and sliders in the Advanced Sky and Advanced Water menus complicated at first (and you ARE right, they are confusing!), it is really worthwhile to play with them. As an alternative you can try the presets which give in many instances a dramatic effect to your snapshots.

Start with Edit, Preferences and check the Custom box. Set the Quality-Performance slider to Ultra. (Whilst taking pictures we do not need high speed….) Set the Draw Distance to about 256 m (at a later stage you may want to alter this in order to filter out distant objects) and click on OK. These steps will already give an improvement.

Assuming that you have already found a good object for your snapshot, go to World, Environment Settings and Environment Editor. End here the real fun starts: with the three sliders provided you are able to set the daytime, cloud cover and water fog.
Just experiment with these sliders, it’s just a small sample of the contents of the two next menus: Advanced Sky and Advanced Water. In both menus you find lots of sliders, each with the ability to set the time, sky, water, weather to your liking. EVER wanted to see the sun go down at a certain place? No problem with the East Angle slider and Sun Position slider.
As mentioned earlier, you may first want to try the Sky presets and Water presets.
Needless to say that taking a snapshot in this mode takes much time, but the results will be astonishing.

When your photo session is done, do not forget to reset the presets to Default and set the Quality/Performance and Draw Distance to their original (lower) value.
No doubt you find in experimenting with these powerful features a new challenge, although initially taking some time.

I conclude this entry with a few examples I took recently in Hirvi Estate, Fatimas Cherished

'Standard' initial settings

Ultra high quality settings

Manual setting: Sunrise

Manual setting: Sunset

Sky Preset: Gelatto

Sky Preset: Blizzard

Sky Preset: Ghost

Sky Preset: Incongruent Truths

The magic of AM Radio or Talented Creators of SL (6)

2008-10-19T03:11:00.000-07:00

by Lord Lisle

Whilst roaming around in ‘Burning Life’ I came across a fascinating build: ‘Beneath The Tree That Died’, a touch of surrealism (inspired by the work of Dali?) in a wonderful setting with highly detailed objects.
Set under the soil there is a telescope projecting through the grass to the outside world. A long legged chair (this detail reminded me very strongly to Dali) gives you the opportunity to look to the stars in the ’other world’.
It is really a pity that this fantastic build lasted only for such a short while. Therefore I took a quick search for AM Radio to see whether he has created more similar builds. I was not disappointed and the next hours I spend in awe behind my screen, wandering around and taking many snapshots in the wonderful world of AM Radio. As one picture can tell more than 1000 words, I take you into AM Radio’s world by just providing landmarks and associated snapshots
Is it AM Radio’s topics (vintage radio receivers, astronomy, radio astronomy, old books, wide landscapes, surrealistic paintings; all having my personal interest) that caught my eyes? I do not know as I have had not yet the opportunity to have a conversation with this great creator. I really wonder what he had in mind creating these pieces of his world.

Inside the build 'Beneath The Tree That Died', sitting at a table and admiring the detailed telescope, hidden behind the roots of the dead tree. On the table a vintage valve radio receiver and a pair of headphones, objects I noticed in many of AM Radio’s other creations.

‘Beneath The Tree That Died’ as seen from the Other World. An observant eye may see me sitting in the high legged chair gazing stars. Unfortunately this part of AM Radio's world was an entry for 'Burning Life' and lasted just for the occasion.

The Far Away - Dreamworld North (220, 130, 22) - Wheat fields

In the centre of the wheat fields you find another surrealistic element: a rusty old steam engine.

Going ahead to AM Radio’s The Refuge and Expansion, Imperial Court of Wales, Welsh Cove (24, 126, 24) you find a similar theme.

The petrol station in The Refuge and Expansion as seen from the other side of the road. Do not miss exploring AM Radios den, located in the house further on the road opposite the water tank.

AM Radio’s virtual den in The Refuge and Expansion. Note the wonderfully build telescope, a microscope and other small objects on the desk.

Radio Imperial Court of Wales, Radio, Welsh Lakes (135, 129, 24)

The Quiet Terraform By Poid Mahovlich then Very Finely Tuned by Am Radio, Princeton Academic Services, Princeton West (152, 174, 26)

Husk Reboot An NMC sim reserved for large scale art experiments. NMC Arts Lab (154, 121, 21)

Radio Welsh Lakes (135, 117, 267)

I am very certain that you will not regret exploring AM Radio's builds.
Look at what others wrote about him:
http://npirl.blogspot.com/2007/10/wheat-fields-have-secret.html
http://www.artbistro.com/news/5523-looking-at-am-radio-second-life-artist?page=2
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8847718961133488576
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2007/10/die-like-marat.html

Grand Opening of Caer Blanco Today

2008-10-18T04:40:00.000-07:00

By Darleez DeCuir

Caer Blanco is a special sim, created specially for Halloween by Second Life's top designers. There is a fully furnished haunted castle, a witch's cottage, a ghostly ship and a ruined monastery to explore - and more!

All this will raise funds for a small clinic in Lesotho, Southern Africa, through the charity Partners for Others.

And we are planning a series of exciting events too - starting this Saturday - and YOU are invited by Prim Perfect to the Grand Opening!

Date: Saturday 18th 2-4pm SLTDJ: Kiralette KellyTheme: Grand Opening - Dark Victorian ThemeMusic: Dark Victorian and Gothic music.

We'll see you there!

Big Pumpkin Hunt October 11.-12.

2008-10-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

by Yolanda Hirvi

It has started and goes on until Sunday October 12th Midnight in Metaversal Arts. Search for Treasure Pumpkins..they all contain a prize..but that is not all, when you have found all 12 of them you will get a BIG PUMPKIN prize; that is a huge collection of Oblonski furniture and other stuff from our merchants and my creator friends. Welcome and good luck!

Autumn in Second Life

2008-10-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

It's Autumn in many places in Second Life. For some of us the end of a bright Summer and the start of cold and dark days. But would it not better to look ahead and remember what Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) told us in his 'Ode to the Westwind':

O WILD West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being—
Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
-----------------
-----------------
O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

According to Shelley's note, "this poem was conceived and chiefly written in a wood that skirts the Arno, near Florence, and on a day when that tempestuous wind, whose temperature is at once mild and animating, was collecting the vapours which pour down the autumnal rains. They began, as I foresaw, at sunset with a violent tempest of hail and rain, attended by that magnificent thunder and lightning peculiar to the Cisalpine regions'. The complete poem can be found at many sources at the internet for example at http://www.bartleby.com/106/275.html

A bit of the Autumn atmosphere can be found at places in Second life. I can recommend the following two (both by the talented hand of our own Yolanda Hirvi): Metaversal Arts Office and Theatre and Hirvi Estate

The Metaversal Arts Office and Theatre

A typical Autumn day at Hirvi Estate at Fatimas Cherish. The sea beats the quay whilst the storm already has taken a ship aground

The secluded harbour at the other side of Hirvi Estate in the late afternoon

Whilst still at Hirvi Estate, located on Fatimas Cherish, one the Fatima Ur islands, you should not miss an exciting journey over the many waterways of this cluster of wonderful Victorian islands by two person canoe or motorboat. Both can be rezzed for free at The Victorian Village of Fatimas Desire .

If you feel rather lazy, there are free sailing boats at The Victorian Sail Boat Tour at Fatimas Smile sailing a guided tour, giving you ample time to look around.

During this journey you may see Nessie, but beware when it is hungry...

Caledon the Musical

2008-09-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

This amazing music video has filmed all around Caledon and the performers are the residents of Caledon. I think this is just fantastic!

Restoring disappeared textures!

2008-09-21T01:10:00.000-07:00

MoonWhite Nightfire is a new memberof Metaversal Arts and not only he is very talented builder and graphics artis, he also has important notice !

Greetings!
There is a new but serious issue in on the SL Grid. Some textures are simply disappearing from the Linden Labs database. This can cause serious loss to content creators, and those who use their products, because if a texture goes in this way, it will go from the whole grid, though they will still be in the inventory.
There is one known solution for this.
If a texture is lost, you need a person who knows its UUID, and one who has it in the client Cache. That means, you need somebody who still sees the texture on the prim it is apllied to, or in her/his inventory. This person has to search the client Cache folder for that UUID, the file will be named on that name. After it is found, somebody has to upload it as an attachment to the Jira entry above, and in a comment, asking the restoration of that UUID.
The Jira entry is at:
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-3063
I hope this helps!
MoonWhite Nightfire

Talented Creators of SL (Part 5): Autumn Beaver -custom builder and architect-

2008-09-15T00:30:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

You may remember that Yolanda Hirvi took me to the Virtuality Ride in the Music Academy Online-SL (MAO) sim? Eventually I happen to meet the creator of this wonderful piece of SL building, Autumn Beaver, the resident builder of the MAO sim.

Autumn Beaver, her portrait taken on the 16th September 2008

Autumn Beaver has been building in Second Life, the online learning platform, for well over a year and a half. Studying hard, with trial and error, she has become one of the most experienced in-world builders. Because I was very curious about her motivations and background I asked what had driven her to become a builder and architect:

When did you start building and were you inspired by other SL buildings or builders?
When I started SL, creating content was a goal for sure, it gradually graduated to building, and I started out learning to create clothing, learning alpha texturing. The building came when I realized that I could go to a sandbox, and build anything I could imagine. I went to the sandboxes everyday for about 6 months. I just kept building things I wanted, or imagined. I didn’t think enough to explore SL when I came here. I was asked to come here, and no one thought enough to tell me about the TP system, or that there was this huge world to explore. A friend gave me a LM to the sandbox. I was however, inspired at the sandbox; there were some "regulars" who built amazing things. I would sit and watch them for hours.

What do you think are the most essential requirements for a successful and creative builder?
I think you have to keep your mind wide open, first and foremost. I’m self taught, so reading a lot on the forums was helpful to answer a lot of my questions. A very close second is time, I know that dedication of my time and making building here my priority is important for my business. As for Creativity, your mind is the limit; you can create anything you can imagine here, I am influenced by real life all the time. Travel I guess and exploring in SL, generate a lot of my creativity.

Autumn standing before the 'Present Age' building which took her some extra effort to get it into shape as she really had meant to.

I assume you have created your own textures for the buildings you have built? May I ask if you made these from pictures of photographs? Are you a PhotoShop user?
Actually, I do use many that I buy here in SL, I am a huge supporter of our texture artists here in SL. They work hard at their trade, and put a lot into their textures, I’m a builder, not an artist. We all have a part here. Like the real world, a mason would not paint a mural on your wall. That is not to say he couldn’t, I am talented, and creative. But I know the time it takes to make textures, my time is focused on building. I am a PSP9 user, and yes I can create textures. I do create textures for some things that I want but cannot find, and don’t have time to wait for. I will use pictures or Google for images to manipulate. Sometimes I draw them out, but I am left handed. In RL, you try drawing with your right hand with a mouse... not a pretty sight.

Do you feel that good landscaping or creative building is completely different?
Hmm, that question was difficult to understand, I apologise if I’m a little slow today. I do believe that landscaping and building can walk hand and hand beautifully. I however, can build into any landscape, so for me, personally, landscaping is an after thought.

What do you consider yourself as the best you have created so far? (Personally I fancy your Virtuality Ride in Music Academy Online-SL, every time I went back to show it to a friend I see another new detail)
Well thank you so much, The Virtuality Ride is definitely my favourite as of yet, I have new favourites daily... The ride challenged me to think about what someone else was "Creatively" thinking, when he composed a piece of music. It was a challenge, but a welcome one. I love that I got to listen to Benton's ideas on what he saw, but really that I got to run with it, and interpret it to be my own art, a visuality of Amin's Virtuality. This is my favourite one at this time. There are many on the Music Academy Online-SL, that I hold dear, The Rosslyn Chapel.

Rosslyn Chapel in the Music Academy Online-SL

Have you been working on other projects than the Music Academy Online SL?
Yes, in fact I am working on another sim, whose grand opening is coming up soon; it is a classical music sim as well. I am the main architect there. There are many awesome builds on this sim, a tower for one, with a rotating cafe on top. A ski lift and ski lodge. I also have a few other clients I am working with, some are educational sims, and some are not. I also have my own furniture store in Searobin, it was a main focus, when I started building, it is more my hobby now. I make things for it when I can. I focus all of my time on my clients. I live, breath, strive for building by the seat of my pants, so to speak.. I love the challenges.

I would really like to thank you all for taking interest in my builds and the Virtualty Ride especially. I love hearing from everyone how much they enjoy my work. This being my real life job, of course, making a living is wonderful. But the real payment is the knowledge that other people enjoy my work as much as I enjoyed making it. I love building and I hope to be at it for the next 50 years..

In the grotto (Utwig/156/208/704/) of another fascinating tour in Music Academy Online-SL created by Autumn

Thank you very much Autumn, we do hope to hear (and view in awe) more of you and your work in the future, in particular the new sim you are working in right now. If anyone out there have a "dream", an in-world aspiration and need an in-world architect/builder, you may want to contact her or just a have a look at her website www.myspace.com/autumnsdesigns

Pretty and free

2008-09-04T23:18:00.000-07:00

by Yolanda Hirvi
I designed this chest to hold your secrets...Obeys your commands. And you can sit on it too..
Or you can use it as a nightstand.
3 prims, and it is copyable, it is pretty and yes...it is free.

You can find it in Metaversal Arts' Court Yard (next to dance animations).

A Day At The Races

2008-08-31T02:04:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

You may know, dear reader of this Blog, that I am not a biker guy. I must, however, hasten to tell that years ago I owned a (in 1968) already vintage 1952 Piaggio Vespa Scooter, at that time the only motor transport I could afford. Therefore I still have an affection to vintage motorcycles and do enjoy very much the look and sound of (for example) an early twin cylinder Douglas machine. It is therefore not very strange that each time I visit the JD Mechanical Toy Factory that I am attracted to a fine replica of a 1915 motorcycle which is for sale at that place. I never got myself in buying one, however, as I am saving L$ for the purchase of a (to me rather expensive) DeHaviliant Mosquito airplane.

Anyhow, two days ago the announcement of a motorcycle race, organised by Jenne Dibou and Mandy Marseille, CEO's of the JD Mechanical Toy Factory gave me a fair excuse to buy this machine, hehe!

Lord Lisle posing as the proud owner of a 1915 twin cylinder motorcycle standing before the Babbage City Wall, another creation of the talented JD Mechanical Toy Factory owners. Riding in this place he soon found out that this motorcycle was almost exclusively designed for track racing. This beautifully crafted machine has three gears and a very realistic sound. The best thing is that you can take two passengers, eminently suitable for your friends, especially those who are hardly capable of even riding roller skates (!)

The day before the actual race, participants (everyone welcome) were allowed to do a number of practice drive laps, to make themself familiar with the track and the motorcycle. Those who were not in the possesion of a machine were given one on loan. After I few practice rounds I found that gear 3 was the most optimal and releasing the throttle before making a turn is definitely the best if you do not want to crash against the walls of the track. As I had not much time to do further practice, I hoped for the best and went to a quiet place to inspect my inventory for a suitable dress. Goggles and a leather outfit would be the least to wear. Yolanda Hirvi agreed to join me in the race, sitting in the sidecar as co-rider and actively helping not to get the motorcycle overturned whilst making left turns.

A view at the pitstop at the race track of the JD Mechanical Toy Factory

When we arrived at the JD Mechanical Toys Factory race track that day, the pits were filled with busy avi's starting their motorbikes and others turning practice laps.

Leaving the pitstop for our first practice lap. The actual race was to ride 10 laps, an in-world counter measured the number of laps and the time. Two officials (guess who..) monitored whether participants were not cheating or playing dirty tricks..

The race is on!!! Here Yo and I are overtaken by one of the other participants, he appeared later the winner.

Eventually we managed to get the third place in the race. Not bad for an inexperienced driver. Here a group snapshot taken after the end of the race at the winners platform.

From this place I must again say a few words of appreciation to the organisers of the first motorcycle race held by the JD Mechanical Toy Factory. It was really fun for all who joined in and a great pity for those who missed the opportunity to drive an original Jenney Mandy'dson 1915 motorcycle with sidecar, based on a Harley Davidson model. No doubt more races will come in due course..have a look at their place and join the JD Mechanical Toys Factory group, you will be informed in time.

That reminds me of another creation of Jenne and Mandy of JD Mechanical Toy Factory: the shooting gallery, one of which Yo has rezzed on the Metaveral Arts Island.

Here you see the well frequented shooting gallery at the Metaveral Arts Island. This attraction is really very good fun and why not held a competion with your friends? You find the place at the left side of the Metaversal Theatre Can YOU beat my high score?

Music Academy Online-SL A follow up (2) or ..... 'A Night In The Opera'

2008-08-28T01:50:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

Yesterday I spend much of my precious SL time in Music Academy Online-SL. I did not regret this as you shall read in the following lines and in the snapshots I took. Later in the evening (just before closing down) I happen to meet Maar Auer. I showed her some of the attactions in the MAO sim I had visited earlier and she was absolutely fascinated, in particular the Virtuality Ride!

Anyhow, a careful reader of my previous Blog may remember that I was sitting in a leather couch in the Bachhaus..

Sitting in a comfy couch in the JS Bachhaus listening to parts of the Brandenburg Concerto

The JS Bachhaus, Baroque period, a detailed creation of MAO residential builder Autumn Beaver. In this Blog you find more samples of her work.

Starting exactly at the scheduled time (!) and for us living in the Old World at a very decent time of 11.00 PM, I attended “THE MUSIC OF TANKU KALIGAWA (ANTHONY JOSEPH LANMAN)”

During the actual (recorded) music of this composer, (each piece being explained by Tanku via the music stream) the audience could ask questions about his work via chat, really another fascinating possibility of Second Life. Tanku also hosts a live show at the Music Academy every other Thursday called "Guitar Heroes" featuring the greatest guitarists from every genre of guitar music.

Although I had visited this attraction very briefly earlier this week, I took the opportunity to explore BOLERO ELECTRONICA more closely. Ravel’s Bolero performed on 75 years of synthesizers in chronological order.

Amin Bhatia has done a great job in providing an overview of the history of development in synthesizers.

Surprise! One of the oldest electronic music instruments: the Theramin.

Classical Music in Independence Hall, also a creation by Autumn Beaver.

Listening to contemporary music inside the Independence Hall. Note the RL picture of the hall.

Rosslyn, Medieval period

The Borden Home, Romantic period. Music of Mahler can be heard a this place.. I had a little hope to be able to listen to a piece of Richard Wagner (hint, hint… but NO, not the complete Ring please ..lol).

During the day I had the honour to meet the CEO of Music Academy Online-SL Benton Wunderlich and took the opportunity to ask him a few questions:

Can you tell me briefly how the idea of creating the MAO-SL started?

Music Academy Online-SL started in January 2007 as an extension of our RL business, http://www.musicacademyonline.com/. Music Academy Online is dedicated to generating interest in classical music.

I firmly believe that the kind of immersive, interactive, 3D environment that this type of virtual world provides has dramatic implications for those of us dedicated to generating interest in classical music at all levels, including music education, music appreciation, and especially for the promotion of new music and living composers. Imagine being able to talk with a composer, or author, or music educator in real time from the comfort of your own computer. This environment has the potential to reach out to the four corners of the planet and to make the world a better place one friendship at a time.

Did the building of this place take long?

The building is an ongoing process as we are always developing new exhibits and attractions. Basically, the main building went pretty fast, we started in February and were up and running by March. Autumn Beaver is fantastic. She is our builder.

Are you satisfied with the number of people visiting the place and the concerts?

It is always nice to see larger and larger crowds but, we have had a blast with the crowds we have been having. The show is usually less full than we would like it particularly because we have such incredibly accomplished and unique guests.

Do you plan to give more live concerts in the future?

We will be doing a series of 5 live concerts with the ANALOG ARTS ENSEMBLE beginning the 4th of September and culminating on September 12 with a performance of Stockhausen's music in honour of his birthday. These events will be live performances broadcast from the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Are there ideas to expand the place or changing the place?

Someday we hope to have many sims.

Thank you very much for giving this extra information, Benton! I am particularly pleased to see that you manage to have so many unique guests performing at your podium. Living in The Netherlands I find it hard to stay up very late most of the times, so I am glad you organise performances at an earlier time!

Apart from the very interesting and fascinating concerts and the already covered attractions I leave it to you to explore the Music Academy Online-SL, you will not regret doing so!

Music Academy Online-SL A follow-up (1)

2008-08-26T00:09:00.000-07:00

By Lord Lisle

When Yolanda Hirvi asked me to join her on a tour (Amin Bhatia’s ‘Virtuality Ride') in Music Academy Online-SL where the virtual ‘Festival in Two Worlds’ is being held this week, I did not know what to expect.
Seconds after we both seated on a huge laptop (to my surprise rather comfy) the tour started its dazzling ride. Although I have seen many wondrous creations in SL, I must say that the whole tour was really a topper. I won’t reveal much here as you better go there yourself to feast your eyes. I include just a few snapshots as a teaser, although they do not justice to the real thing. I must say it again: you won’t regret doing a 'Virtuality Ride'. Ohh yes, don’t forget to switch on the music and to go to mouselook!

Start of the Virtuality Ride, jump on the laptop..

The 'World Wide Web'

'The need for Speed'

'Inside the computer'

How to get there? First TP to Music Academy Online--Second Life When arrived at the Landing Zone, look for the Teleporter and click on 'Virtuality Ride'.

Occupied by RL matters, it was only the next day that I found time to explore the whole Music Academy Online-SL island and I must say that I have been there each day to find new interesting features.

This is a map of the Music Academy Online-SL island. Just a part as all the attractions are located on (rezzable) sky platforms. At the landing zone there is a Teleporter allowing you to TP to all the places. No harm of course if you just walk to the buildings of the various music periods: Medieval (400-1450), Renaissance (1450-1600), Baroque (1600-1750), Classical (1750-1810), Romantic (1810-1850), 20th Century (1900-2000) and Current Age
In each period building you can listen to selected composers of that era plus information of the music. I particularly enjoyed the contemporary paintings in each particular building, which included many Dutch masters. Even my own favourite; Vermeer’s ‘Girl with Pearl Earring’ was not forgotten.

Today I ended up in listening to parts of the Brandenburg Concerto in the JS Bachhaus. In the second part of this 'follow up' I’d like to attend you to Bolero Electronica, and ‘From Monkey to Mannheim’, the origins of music and a few more interesting spots in Music Academy Online-SL.

Foxtrot by Maar Auer-The Machinima

2008-08-25T05:18:00.000-07:00

Foxtrot is undeniably one of the most popular ballroom dances. It has many variations, both in tempo and style: probably one important reason for foxtrot's popularity is the fact that its most basic steps are simple enough for even a clumsy beginner to learn ;) The version you have here represents the so called 'slow foxtrot'. It is a deliciously jazzy, smoothly gliding, ballroom variation of the theme. You are welcome to test it your self! MaarBaZaar; Maar Auer's Creations in Metaversal Arts!

Yolanda wears "Donna salsa dress" by VictoriaV
Filmed in Rivendell.

How to survive SLag events

2008-08-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

by Yolanda Hirvi

We all know what happens when more than 5 avatars are in the same place. Everything is gray, you can barely walk. You wont even see the people around you if it gets very bad. So here is some advice to survive those events when avatars get together. I got these advice originally from Catty Loon from Hey Girlfriend -group and they are written for surviving the Hair Fair 08 that starts today (ZOMG 87 designers and two weeks! Think about all that HAIR!!!). Thank you Catty..and enjoy your events rest of you!

Ctrl-P to preferences
In network settings...clear cache!! Restart SL so it does its thing.
Also turn up Bandwidth if your connection will allow, I forgot to do this on my laptop, since I recently upgraded to super cable, it helped me greatly turning it up, but ..only do this if you have a very fast connection.

Graphics tab - turn off bump and shiny. Turn off local lights. Move slider bars for trees, terrain, etc down. If you're trying on hair, you might want flex and objects up, or...try on hair later at home when you can turn all your graphics up. Turn draw distance down all the way on the slider bar, seriously, you don't need to see all four sims to enjoy hair fair. Even 128 is good,96 is fine. Also turn terrain detail to low.
These are things I do anytime I go to laggy places. Perhaps other things help too.
You don't have to go bald and naked, find a lower prim hair and shoes to wear, remove your scripted items, they may be turned off on the sims anyway.

Lag makes Crys Mad.

Virtual "Festival in two Worlds"

2008-08-19T00:48:00.000-07:00

Metaversal Arts is a proud sponsor of the 2nd Annual "Festival in Two Worlds" by Music Academy Online. Beginning Friday, August 22 and running through Sunday, August 31, the festival will feature lecturers, performers, composers, and artists from around the world. The events are free for all residents.

This year's theme is "Virtuality" and the featured guest is award-winning composer Amin Bhatia (Flashpoint, Queer as Folk, Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees), who has just released his latest CD, "Virtuality: A Journey Inside Your Computer."

Guest artists include pianists Richard Grayson, Alessandro Marangoni, and Alpha H. Walker; oboist David Weiss; cellist Cary B. Hockett; percussionist Stacey Fox; composers Gregory Hall, Anthony Lanman, Alex Shapiro; lecturers include Mary Ann Clark, Ph.D. and Judith A. Eckelmeyer, Ph.D. For a complete schedule of events visit www.musicacademyonline.com .

Music Academy Online has been developing a classical music presence in Second Life since 2007. Says founder, Dave Schwartz, Ph.D (aka Benton Wunderlich in SL)., "I firmly believe that the kind of immersive, interactive, 3D environment that this type of virtual world provides has dramatic implications for those of us dedicated to generating interest in classical music at all levels, including music education, music appreciation, and especially for the promotion of new music and living composers. Imagine being able to talk with a composer, or author, or music educator in real time from the comfort of your own computer. This environment has the potential to reach out to the four corners of the planet and to make the world a better place one friendship at a time."

Check out also Music Academy OnLIVe; Second Life weekly TV show in SLCN.

1 week to go to Foxtrot by Maar Auer!

2008-08-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

A New Couples Dance Release by Maar Auer at Metaversal Arts: It’s Foxtrot Time!
Maar Auer’s fantastic dance release series continues. After the breathtaking SLindy Hop, she will continue with a smoother, jazzier ballroom groove: It’s Foxtrot time!
The grand release will take place in Metaversal Arts on Sat 23rd August, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. SLT.

Radio Riel will guarantee the party groove by playing foxy oldies – and on top of it all we will
enjoy a live concert by a talented jazz musician Aira Jun.

Prim Perfect !

2008-08-12T03:35:00.000-07:00

by Yolanda Hirvi
Prim Perfect is a magazine for SL homes and gardens. Metaversal Arts team is hounoured to be "the designer of August". http://en.calameo.com/read/0000042342873ca374f5a .
Our designers and merchants vere interviewed for the article that can be found pages 22-25.
The sim of the month is Fatima's Isles, that is close to my heart because I have had my home island Fatimas Cherished in Fatima's Isles for several months now (and I have been building my house for all that time) It is a paradise with my beautiful freasian horses and sailing boats. The whole estate is very lush and defenetely a must see. Read more about in the magazine and be sure to visit. I had a priviledge to work with Fatima Ur furnishing of Build of the month. Now is your chance to win a free month in Fatima's Isles and full furnished house! Read all about it from Prim Perfect!

Jukka Wilkinson's airdances features in the Shakespeare's Midsummer

2008-08-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a production of the Act Up Theatre Company, in association with Ivy Falls Talent, AND the play features Jukka Wilkinson's fairy dances. (Jukka Wilkinson's animations are sold in Metaversal Arts )Check out the trailer!

Director Marin Mielziner has been working with a large cast and crew transforming the bard's famous work into a (virtual) reality.Production manager Rekka Berchot has raised and constructed a large-scale stage that promises to wow audiences during the three performances this show will play.

The addition of voice capabilities to the SL has made possible theatre productions such "A Midsummer Night's Dream", which will feature live actors, connected from around the world, behind each and every character.

Mielziner, an accomplished director in her 'first-life', has been coaching the cast online for weeks leading up to the show, and is polishing their performances as Berchot's construction literally grows around them.

Berchot - an accomplished set and costume designer has created a dark and twisted forest clearing - custom-built using a variety of unique textures, scripts, and sculpted objects, the full extent of which will not be revealed to audiences until the first performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on August 15, 2008.

Performance times:
Friday 15 August at 6pm (full)
Saturday 16 August at 2 pm
Sunday 17 August at 2pm

For more information, sneak-peek trailer, updates, and performance times,and bookings visit http:www.ivyfallstalent.com/midsummer.htm

*Audience numbers for each performance are limited, with August 15 already full to capacity. For more information or to arrange interviews - please contact via notecard inworld:
Marin Mielziner or Rekka Berchot.

SLCN.TV's Live Tonight & SLindy Hopping Machinimas

2008-07-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

by Maar Auer

All rightie! Right after the rezzday party - btw, a HUGE thanks to all who showed up, it was a blast, what a fantastic evening! - I was invited as a guest in Paisley Beebe's Tonight Live Show in SLCN.TV . Now you can watch the entire episode here in SLCN.tv's pages. There was the lag of the century, you remember that dark and stormy night two weeks back... So forgive the at times jittery camera, SLCN staff made miracles just managing to pull the show through *raises her hat in awe*. My part starts a bit after half way point. You will see fantastic dancers presenting first the Charleston and then the brand new SLindy Hop : My favorite 'pas de deux' -couple Yoland Hirvi and Lord Lisle were accompanied by Darleez DeCuir and Davon Westland - and the result is truly a sight for sore eyes... ;)

If you'd prefer to see only the SLindy Hopping part of the show without having to listen to my bizarre finnish-english accent, you can watch a two minute cut here, embedded from youtube.

That's it for now - more machinimas may be coming at some point, consider this a warning ;) I'll upload them in this page in Youtube, if you're interested. CU inworld, have a lovely summer & happy dancings!
--------------------
Dancers outfits were kindly sponsored by Patrick Rotunno / Cartunno Couture (Yolanda's beautiful red flapper dress in Charleston and also SLindy Hop) and Artilleri (all the awesome 50's outfits in SLindy Hop).

New Babbage Machinima by Loki Eliot

2008-07-14T02:32:00.000-07:00

Steampunk and yet more steampunk..The most coolest period sims are in New Babbage. And here is the proof.

You are invited to Slindy Hop into 1950's!

2008-07-04T15:30:00.000-07:00

by Yolanda Hirvi

Now is your change to be one of the first ones ever danced SLindy Hop! (I have danced it already :p that is me dancing in the pic with Lord Lisle). The SLindy Hop by Maar Auer is going to be released 6th July! And we are gonna have a party! And another reason for partying is Maar's first rezday in SL. Congrats Maar!

SLindy Hop is an SL couples dance in style of Lindy Hop swing, that was at its most popular during 1930s-1950s. As the name SLindy Hop suggests, this is an SL modified version of the original dance. It shows clear signs of the rise of rock'n'roll in early 50's, into which Lindy Hop finally assimilated.

And I promise you boys and girls you will FLIP when you try this one!
Maar has worked her ass off with this one, and the result is just.. amazing! If you liked Charleston..SLindy Hop will freak you out!

You are welcome to party with us in Metaversal Arts Grunge Hangar
built by Yolanda Hirvi just for this occasion.
The theme is 1950's ! You can dress up according to theme,
but there is NO dress code. Just show up and do some hop with us!

The tunes are provided by Radio Riel. (And the event is broadcast live).

Bring your friends and neighbours..lets hop the roof down!

Pssst.. Best place shopping for 1950's style clothes is Artilleri .

Are you ready for SLindy Hop???

2008-07-02T06:44:00.001-07:00

GET READY FOR THE SLINDY MANIA!

SLindy Hop by Maar Auer - release date July 6th

Visiting Prim Perfect Halls on the SL5B Exhibition

2008-06-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

by Darleez DeCuir

Happy 5th Birthday Second Life! The SL5B two weeks’ celebration and exhibitions all over the SL5B sims are worth of visiting. The SL5B exhibitions are open until 6th July, so hurry! Well, Metaversal Arts does not have its own exhibition area, but there are lots of fabulous and exiting things to see. We warmly recommend you to visit at least the Prim Perfect’s one at SL5B Hippos. If you look carefully, among other interesting and beautiful creations you might see there something familiar from Metaversal Arts too!

When you enter the Prim Perfect Hall you get an Exhibition Catalogue and a notecard telling all the details about the exhibition and what all the settings are about. In the courtyard you can find a Prim Perfect vendor, just take your own copy of the magazine for free! There is also a wonderful wish fountain, seating arrangements from Maxwell Graf of Rustica and Gwen Carillon of Elements in Design. I have Gwen’s DeVine in my own garden too and I can tell you that this is the seat I sit in most when I’m in my garden.

Metaversal Arts co-owners Yolanda and Darleez in the courtyard, ready to explore the Prim Perfect and Meta Makeover exhibition halls.

Overview to the Prim Perfect Hall. Each magazine issue has its own exhibition stand with sample of work from the designer of that particular month.

Chilling on the Orkney themed stand - in front of the Prim Perfect’s first birthday celebration issue.

Meta Makeover Hall. On the right is the episode 5 stand, the one with Yolanda’s makeover to a cottage on the harbourside in Orkney.

On the other side of the Meta Makeover Hall you can find a television lounge created by The Loft.

In the courtyard café you can relax and have a cup of coffee, watch the Meta Makeover shows on a tv-screen, or try out the popular new dances from Maar Auer of Metaversal Arts - Charleston, SlowOne and Valze.

Charleston!!!!!!!

On the web you can read more about Prim Perfect Publications’ SL5B exhibition halls in the Prim Perfect Blog.

SS Galaxy - Queen of the Sagittarian Sea

2008-06-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

by Darleez DeCuir

SS Galaxy, anchored in the Sagittaria Estate, celebrated its 1 year anniversary in June 21st – 22nd 2008. SS Galaxy is a creation of architect Bill Stirling - it is the only full size, full scaled, and full featured virtual cruise ship in Second Life. It spans 3 sims with more than 8 decks of fun and entertainment.

Read more about the ship and the activities it has to offer on the SS Galaxy website.

As I currently hold a position as a Stage Manager on the Meta Makeover Show (for SLCN TV) production team, I was honoured to celebrate the 1 year anniversary as a VIP Ticket holder on board together with the Prim Perfect Publications staff. Thanks to the whole team for this wonderful experience, and especially to Saffia Widdershins, the CEO of Prim Perfect Publications, Editor of the Prim Perfect Magazine and Hostess of the Meta Makeover Show who invited her staff to celebrate this magnificent event.

Saffia Widdershins, Davon Westland, Kittie Munro, Darleez DeCuir, Matelisse Criss and Perry Applemoore ready to celebrate in the Black and Gold Gala featuring Paisley Beebe Trio.

During the anniversary weekend there were also lots of fun stuff on board; fireworks, skeet shoot competitions, helicopter rides around the ship and more. And what did I dare, yes – take the helicopter ride…

Here we fly and admire the gorgeous views!

Helicopter ride passing the SS Galaxy boarding gangway.

After the helicopter ride I was enjoying a wonderful concert, Mia Maxted playing and singing live in the Zodiac Ballroom.

Mia Maxted’s concert in the Zodiac Ballroom.

Well done Galaxy, I hope many more years to come for this luxurious ship. I also want to thank the friendly and helpful staff I met there. I am so going to visit The Galaxy soon again and encourage you to do that too!

On the stairway to the Zodiac Ballroom.

Jukka Wilkinson lives his fairytale - and makes us dance in the air.

2008-06-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

by Yolanda Hirvi
Not a long ago a country man of mine (I am from Finland) walked to Metaversal Arts. He had heard of our venture and wanted to see how the girls from "the neighbour" are doing. We started to change opinions about SL and as he tryed out Maar's dance animations, he mentioned he has a store and he has actually made dance animations too. For me, everyone who can animate is a next to divine being .I perked instantly and ask to see those. "They are not original dances", he warned me. And yes, they certainly were not.
I hopped on the dance pad and ZMOG..I flew in the air! I swirled and spinned. My hair and skirts flew in the wind.. I laughed like a child as I felt light as a weather. And most of all I felt tranquilty and inner peace flowing in me like a warm thick liquid.
That is what SL is for; to break the limitations of RL. Why dance on the ground when we can do it in the air!

Metaversal Arts is now honoured to bring you the experience of dancing in the air. Just tp to Metaversal Arts and have a try. (You can find them in the yard, near Maar Auer's dance animations)

Jukka says that he made the animations originally for his fae companion Siri. They were looking for dances that would be suitable for faegirl but there was nothing. After the two fairygirl dances Jukka made more..suitable for both sexes and one for mermaids. And currently he is working on airdances for couples! But most of all Jukka thinks that SL should be fun (and not for hard work) and the place where you can live your fairytale. And he is doing that with all his mage's heart. But I honestly hope that he will continue to work with dance animations.

All the new stuff

2008-06-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

by Yolanda Hirvi

There is tons of new stuff in Metaversal Arts Shop. I wandered around and took a few snapshots of the new creations of our talented merchants. Also I some of my new garden stuff and furniture.

Arundel Designs : Victorian gowns. Oh soooo pretty!

More from Arundel; Pirate jackets, hats and boots!

Kheph's Creations : Steam/cyberpunk "Gargoyle" gadgets and acessories

Kheph's Steamlifts, these are so cool..4 different models.

This is my favourite ! Steampunk music box by Capalini.
(The gears move and it plays Russian Lullaby!)

Hanging rosebaskets , potted herbs and garden plaques by Oblonski

Two new fountains by Oblonski

*Oblonski* "Henry" sidetable and washing cabinet

Canolli Capalini; true artisan

2008-05-23T05:11:00.000-07:00

by Yolanda Hirvi

Couple months ago I was strolling around New Babbage and I happened to find a small furniture store in the Babbage Canals. I giggled to the trunk that you can go hide in and admired the fine craftsmanship of the store owner and carpenter Canolli Capalini. What really cought my attention were really detailed music boxes made by her. I listen to every tune and thought that I wish I had the patience to make something like this. Attractive, small and highly detailed. I have a thing to small decorative items, small sculptures, miniatyres, tin toys and yes...music boxes. Now Capalini music boxes are availabe also in Metaversal Arts :)

Canolli Capalini in her store.

Visit New Babbage and Capalini Furnishings

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Babbage%20Canals/76/116/106

Its Charleston Time

2008-05-19T16:12:00.000-07:00

by Maar Auer

And so our dance through times continues! Wear your shiniest shoes, replace the Monday blues with a flirty groove: We have now arrived at the roaring 20's, and the orchestra is playing the juiciest Charleston tune ever. Check out the machinima video below. Yolanda and Lord show us how it's done:

Do you feel an itch in your dancing toe...? Want to try it for yourself?
Welcome over to Metaversal Arts - day or night, its Charleston time!