Friday, October 31, 2008

WB (Welcome Back)

Welcome back to me! It did take nearly two weeks for my computer to return from the shop and I missed my Second Life® the whole time. But I'm glad I can wish all of you a Happy Halloween! Here is one of the many holiday outfits I banked up and never got to use but maybe I can flit about in them for a few days.

Look for more posts coming soon. I'm catching up on all the news I missed including the price increases on Open Space sims (Web), fun for bloggers (Web), and issues upon issues (Web).

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Up and Out

Got the computer running after a dead spell but she's being taken in for service anyway. Warranty is up next month and the hard drive or the controller is going bad. Click Click Click upon waking up or booting and I get a question-mark-on-a-folder icon. I'll probably be iRL for a week. Gonna see if someone will buy me an iPod Touch so I can at least have e-mail. Huggs. Back ASAP.

Friday, October 17, 2008

The Zen of In-World Vocabulary

Kneeling to enjoy the sunset at Samurai Edo (SLurl) I let my mind wander and it alights upon a recurring thought ... where am I? Many in Second Life® refer to being to being logged into the service as being online. I prefer to call it being in-world. When I am in-world I am in a different place very much like where I am physically, yet intensely different in so many ways. This is not being online. This is not a chat room or a Twitter conversation or a downloaded podcast. Being in-world is an experience. The waves wash ashore at my knees, dampening the remains of an abandoned boat. Part of me is sitting in a reasonably comfortable chair behind a plastic table that holds my iMac iRL. Most of me is on this beach. I'm in-world.

iRL? That is in Real Life. The physical world. Meatspace. Most people use all capital letters, but I like the unique elegance of a lowercase i followed by capitalized RL. It probably doesn't matter. But nomenclature in part defines one's being, whether it is iRL or in-world.

In-world, I am (today, at least) a katana-weilding, blue-skinned explorer with a few super-human abilities, resting on a Japanese beach. iRL, I am an unembellished, anthropophobic girl with a computer somewhere in the Pinetree State.

In-world is nice.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Prim Doodles

On May 9th of this year I posted this picture with some commentary (Web) about the build and some of my philosophy of building in Second Life®. I have come to think of this building without a clear purpose to be Prim Doodling (hmmm let's copyright that). Much like one might sketch aimlessly on paper (or a desktop ... remember your school days?) I tend to do the same thing with prims, the materials that comprise in-world objects. Prims are my ink and paper.

This one finally became useful, though. While a a friend was doing some remodeling at the Isle of Lesbos beach I whistfully placed my pool at the edge and she decided it looked right there. Just a little tweaking of the land and of the build itself and it became (IMHO) a nice part of the land.

New Avatar: MummiFur from Lost Furrest

Look at what I picked up at Rocket City Fur Meet! This avie soooo rocks! The detailing and textures are superior making this one of the best produced avatars I've seen. Full copy/mod, too, so the user can add thier own creative touches. For example, I changed the eye color and added 'glow' to it as a start. I'm thinking of giving it some faux Ancient Egyptian jewelry, like a pharonic cat.

Actually, my first mod was to remove the BlaBlaBla animation and voice script from the lower jaw. With those in place the avie stopped "typing" during chat and instead waved about drunkenly the way those that have Voice gestures (Web) activated move.

There is no Animation Override (AO) but if I let my sub collar replace part of the neck wrappings I can activate the Zombie AO so that I can stumble around, arms stretched forward like the zombies you see in cartoons.

Of course, Lost Furest always has nice stuff. The Lost Crypt collection my Mummifur avie came from looks very impressive. Click this picture for a closer look or just visit the store (SLurl).

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Bloodlines & Me

My reply to a New World Notes post (Web) about the Bloodlines role play phenomenon in Second Life®:
Bloodlines has me conflicted. I feel it is impolite to not ask permission before animating anyone for anything other than a hug, but that goes against the role play required for the Bloodlines game. A 'surprise' invite to be bitten is annoying, but you don't see vampires in fiction asking politely.

Just by wearing neko bits, or a tiny avatar, or some other-than-human elements I am inviting others to participate in my personal role play. "Hey, look! I'm a parrot! Now I'm a gleaming dragon!" So who am I to demand that others stop their role play?

What we all need to rely on is common sense. Visiting a business to bite people because it is a popular place is as un-cool as me showing up at an in-world church as a topless belly dancer. Common sense tells me don't do it. Do the undead have such conscience?
Maybe this Peanuts® cartoon sums it all up:

n00b Man

Many residents are familiar with the "n00b man" avatar that proliferated in Second Life ® prior to the introduction of new avatar choices at sign up (Web) and the "cloud" avie for residents that haven't all all their appearance data moved with them (Web). Recently an excellent rendition in prims of this icon has been popping up all over the grid (including the offices of several Linden employees in Longfellow, like Prospero's land (SLurl). I was sad to learn, however, that the full-permissions copy I have is "stolen" (Web).

I have seen "him" made into a target for push weapons, a giant statue, ammunition for a different push weapon, a lollipop, and at least a half-dozen other things. In this picture he is an attachment with hover text stating "Lookin' for SEX with a Lesbian" over his head. Now he follows me on patrol at the Isle of Lesbos. He's a sad reminder of many men I have met in this virtual world that still display real world insensitivity. Maybe the medium makes it easy. Just as easy at it clouds the minds of some to intellectual property rights.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Bare Rose Prize Winner

[20:47] ::: BareRose ::: Raffle Item Orb shouts: performance2 Tester has just won a ::: B@R ::: Camo Pants just for being here!

Any avatar with the last name Tester is a 'bot, a resident controlled by artificial intelligence, not by a human at a keyboard. Well, not always. Torley Tester is an account run by Torley Linden and his intelligence isn't likely artificial. However, the performance series are automatons that roam the grid testing performance. You may see them attach a torch or a popgun before sinking into the ground.

Or you may see them be random enough to win a prize at Bare Rose.

Uni-Jetstream Fun

Some time ago (last May to be exact, but I did write about it for the Lucky Kitty Crew blog at the time) I had planned to profile the Jetstream Pavilion in Ginza (SLurl) for it's great freebie and clever build but time gets away from me and I totally missed. But this is a must-see place for those who like to explore. The entrance is pure corporate vanilla, but still tasteful and attractive, and doesn't give any hint as to the fun inside. Go up to what looks like an empty elevator shaft and 'sit' to begin.

You are quickly whisked through a tunnel, banking and arcing along with a series of pens. "Aha!" you say to yourself. "Jetstream is about writing instruments!" Some very clever scripting has the pens writing around you as you fly.

The end of the ride drops you at a sales showroom. You can't buy the pens here, but you can learn more about various models and about the Uniball company. If you can read Japanese. With English as my only language I simply satisfied myself with looking at the well-made displays, silently complimenting the skilled builders. There is a great "cutaway" view of the product that describes in English and in Japanese how the pen functions.

Exploring around I found my way to the roof where I eventually figured out how to get a freebie flying-pen-surfboard-thing that is a blast to use.

The flying pen vendor actually has instruction in English.

It is good to cam around. The builders are very good and the design is very attractive. I wish more corporate sites in-world were this good. I learned about the product and came away with a positive feeling toward the company.

And I got a great pen I can fly! Go get yours. I checked today and the site is still there. Use your new pen to fly around the sim to visit some nice stores and other attractive builds. Maybe pick up the freebie tattoos in Lovely Hearts (SLurl).

Saturday, October 11, 2008

New Tip Board Texture

This is my major accomplishment for the day: a new texture for my tip jar. It uses a border I created for use with signs I'll make for the Isle of Lesbos from now on (if Miss Jane approves). Over time I've been standardizing fonts, colors, sizes, and such to provide a more polished, unified appearance in Isle communications.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

New Blog Layout

Except for spending time with Threshin (the Bestest Big Sister a Girl Could Have) and friends, today was pretty much a waste of time as far as Second Life® was concerned. I did learn that I should use ® instead of ™ when referring to Second Life®. I figured all that out when spending time reformatting my blog template. A bit of a learning curve there, but I figured it out. I got this new one from BTemplates. It is called Cool Water. Guess I was tired from setting up the Halloween hunt at the Isle of Lesbos.

Anyway, as of now the Archive is missing. I hope to get that back soon. Blogger was throwing errors left and right. And some side column content, like news headlines, is gone. Lots of changes, but if you know me I don't sit still long so change is inevitable. Probably the next thing to be changed is that Edit button at the top. No idea what that does.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

What's up, Pussycat?

So an idea struck me and I got all naked. But since I couldn't follow up on that idea I just sat down to make some Devil Cats. These critters will be hidden around the Isle of Lesbos and Mall for the Halloween hunt. Another five will not have prizes. Talk about evil.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

A-Mazing

One of my latest projects: A Maze. I used Apotheus Silverman's Maze Generator (Web) to create a template then built the final product over a 40x40x0.5 mega-prim, added entrance and exit cupolas, and a mega-prim roof.

I would have modified the automatically generated maze but it seemed to have a 'die' script in each prim so any part taken into inventory and then rezzed later disappears. It would have been easy to edit the script out, I guess, but I didn't bother as I wanted to make the walls thinner and higher. Laying out my own prims over the 'template' also allowed me to make changes. As the textures are all gloss-black with a 'lava' textured floor and ceiling, the original maze was a bit too hard ... especially as I placed it in the cloud layer. Extra paths help make the going easier.

Prim.Docker (Web) was handy in setting up the final product. Next time I might try adding the alignment script to the prim used by the generator so creating from the original would be easier. Then I could make some mazes to sell. There are a few for hundreds of Lindens on XStreetSL but I think that might be a bit over priced considering how easy mazes are to make. It is the customizing that should make the difference.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Stealth

I am very hard to see when wearing a Nomine Aether - Midnight skin (SLurl), a black leather outfit from Danika Designs (Web), Hydra hair in Midnight from Discord (SLurl), primOptic's Finesse glasses (SLurl), Pirate boots from Illusions (SLurl), a TalTECH Black Thunder black pistol (SLurl), and my beloved eCollar (SLurl) in black leather ... so NO Sneaking into the Isle of Lesbos. I'm there, seen or not.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

BIG Teddycello

Many Linden Lab© employees with a presence in the Second Life™ (SL) world give away teddy bears that they have made. I have a few and sometime last year I made a teddy to give away in much the same fashion. Since that first bear I've made several to give away at the Isle of Lesbos or for other reasons, but I've never been quite happy with that first bear.

Sure, it had a nice hug animation, but it was really a rather basic effort that more or less duplicated a Linden bear design and not too fancy. So yesterday I got working on a new one that would better reflect me and here it is. Well, this is a giant version over 20m tall. The one I'll give away is about one meter tall. But both reflect what I love to do in SL: Build. This one is working on a slightly tortured prim with my state of Maine vehicle license plate "name" texture.

At 173 prims I don't see too many folks rezzing it for extended display, but this one is me. She is even wearing what I often wear (dang! I should have changed for this pic!).