My hat it has three corners

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

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

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

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!

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

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?

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...

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)

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....

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