Fun Guy

Phewww! Zachh Cale invited me over to project Z for a preview of a new installation mushROOM, by Scottius Polke. The stinky sock knocked me out right away!

It will be opening to the public tomorrow Nov 1st at 1PM SLT
Scottius hand drew all the textures in the room from Housekeeper's Hell, where you're grateful smellivision is still a thing of the future. It's a giant bedroom with a sense of humour, an interactive trip through, as the notecard says, "the artist's subconscious - which manifests itself in life forms such as mushrooms, molds, amoebas, and other unclassifiable organisms. The bedroom is a fitting location for these life forms that slowly creep and wander, just like the images and feelings our subconcious may conjure when dreaming in our beds.

Their impact can be quite lasting into the "real" world of the concious." ...Bottom line, you can jump on the bed, study the funky plants, swim with the amoebas, climb on the desk and take a look at the witty books on the shelves (he may be unsanitary, but at least he is literary). You can sit on the rocking chair and feel very small, and of course pose on the rank-looking sock and be bothered by the trash that is scattered on the rug... there are things living under the bed too, I think they are evolved from leftover pizza. Just leave your Lysol spray at home, you don't want to ruin the ambience.

Seriously though, Scottius is a proper artist, quite newly arrived in SL. He cites Robert Rauschenberg, Joseph Cornell (oo I like his Medici Boy) and the Catalan artist Anton Tàpies among the artists that have influenced him.
His art career began as a child with drawings and a strong interest in dioramas, and discovered collage in college, (OK he calls it 'assemblage', but that's not alliterative enough for me: we're talking "various found objects such as toys, computer and mechanical parts, jewelry, clippings, fabric, ink, paint, wood and paper.

There is often a build-up of material that results in an organic feel, in contrast to the metal and plastic objects within. ") Under the whimsy, the tension between opposing moods and mores comes into play; all is not as it seems, or indeed smells. While I'm here, Don't forget the ongoing Japanese Jazz and Art Festival here at sim Cetus. Room two is full of art by the likes of miyuki Alter, Kerupa Flow, Saneharu Yoshikawa, edaeda Mistwallow, yos Kamm, kazue Voom.

TP over before the fun is done!

Second Life on the Loos

I made my way up the ramp between the giant potties, toward the sound of music and the glow of bright lights. There was a toilet doing Dream Dance, every now and again little white legs would appear and disappear. "Very Marcel Duchamp!" someone said. Josina Burgess, the First Lady of CARP, handed me a particle ring.

"Welcome:))" she said.

Well at least I hadn't wandered into the Gents by mistake. Which wouldn't be the first time, not even the first time this week, and again, I am sorry about that, it was a genuine mistake.

The pot-ography is Camera Obscura, a new installation by the CARP Diabolus group, well known for their mega-productions of Metropolis and The Wall - but the creatives here are a kind, hospitable group who don't take themselves too seriously; as this fun exhibition shows, they have their quirky side, too. The gallery housing the pictures is by Velasquez Bonetto, I love it, a giant paper holder, the lines are fresh and user friendly, a triumph of elegant simplicity.

Thirza Ember: What made you think of taking these pictures? I confess, when I saw a golden throne at a friend's house, I couldn't resist taking a snap myself, for reasons of absurdity, but I would not have thought of looking for any more.
Tim Deschanel: I took my first photo toilet because there was a fun panel by it, and after, I found it funny to see so many toilets, because they are so useless here. I'm going to write a book on the toilet in SL ... maybe someday! But I take pictures of many other things, at least 15 a day that I can post on my Flickr photostream.
Tim, who is French, photographed himself enjoying the hospitality in a number of facilities, from the tasteful to the disgraceful, all over the metaverse. Check out the two dozen photos, some betray the ennui of the virtual, some are design gems I wouldn't mind buying for my RL house.

Tim's tag read very Happy man and I couldn't resist asking why.
Tim Deschanel: ha ha, I am happy because multi things! .... I dream in this world, in this second life, really nice music, build, people, I explore extraordinary Sims and the most important, since 2 years, I love my wife here Jacqueline. I am French, near Paris, Jacqueline live in Colorado, usa ! but I am really in love with her ;-). As for SL, I am amazed by all the artists who are here, for the boundless imagination that allows SL to grow and get more fascinating.

The charms of Benvolio are far too many to list here, and I'm sure I'll be back, but let me give a quick mention to anyone in this festive season looking for a good gown - Josina's wearable art shop is on the ground floor of this remarkable sim, along with the soundtracks store.

Go visit Camera Obscura - hold on a sec, here's the... tp ...

Si sentiva la musica , e vedevo luci, un gruppo di ballerini, delle foto molto belle, due sanitari giganti, e un ...water animato... ballava il Dream Dance. Lo trovavo stranamente attraente... "Evviva Duchamp!" gridava e, in effetti, era una scena degna del grande artista francese - oh se ti interessa e conosci l'inglese, da non perdere questo bellissimo sito Marcel Duchamp ...
La simpatica Josina Burgess, co-fondatrice del gruppo CARP Diabolus e stilista di noto (bello il suo negozio di wearable art si trova sul piano terra del sim) mi ha salutato molto gentilmente e mi ha dato un anello di particles da portare.
Festa per inaugurare la nuova istallazione Camera Obscura di Tim Deschanel, che sarà aperto al pubblico per le prossime due settimane in una nuova galleria realizzato dal bravissimo Velazquez Bonetto. Una struttura ad alta quota, quasi un distributore di salviettini, permette una perfetta - direi netta - visione dei momenti intimi, rappresentate nelle fotografie di Tim, disposte su rotoli di carta igenica giganti. Tim si è fotografato in pose ...delicate in bagni eleganti, cubicoli fantasiosi, altri proprio cessi, tutti opere d'arte che esprimono l'indole camaleontico del metaverso. Ho chiesto - ma perché???
Tim Deschanel: la prima foto l'ho scattata perché accanto c'era un cartello molto spiritoso, e dopo, mi sembrava così bizzarro vedere tanti gabinetti, perché sono completamente inutili qui. Mi piacerebbe scrivere un giorno un libro sul WC in SL. Ma per ora mi limito a fotografarli - ma fotografo anche tante altre belle cose. Ci metto almeno 15 al giorno sulla mia pagina Flickr .

Therefore I am

Eric Escritoire: Hi there Thirza, I'm sitting here saving my place for the Writers' Circle. It's at 2pm SLT every Wednesday. Writers come along and read out their work. It really is a lot of fun.

Thirza Ember: hello bot.
Eric Escritoire: You'd love it Thirza, really you would. I'd love you to come. We could sit together and hold hands.
Eric Escritoire: You'd like that, wouldn't you Thirza?
Thirza Ember: you're seriously creepy
Eric Escritoire: I'll see you on Wednesday then.
Eric Escritoire: To be honest, I'm getting a bit fed up with sitting here, it's that Jilly Kidd, she makes me do it. Anyway, it was lovely talking to you, Thirza.

Italian first today, just to mix it up. Scroll down a bit and you'll find it turns into English...

Fenomeno strano, girare con l'avatar di ricambio: a parte il silenzio, e lo spaesamento di fronte a un inventorio privo di biglietti da visita e i soliti LM, tornano anche gli istinti da newbie - tra i quali la gran voglia di fare spesa, e di farla male... capelli, skin, ao nuovi ma lei è sempre lei, goffa strana e ora decisamente meno ricca; segno che devo concentrarmi sulle cose importanti, sono qui per lavorare, e allora...
In uno spettacolo di fiamme, è terminata domenica Burning Life, la fine della festa del fuoco e della luce più bella dell'anno. L'Italia è stata molto ben rappresentata: le bellissime opere di Shellina Winkler, Gleman Jun, Kikka Igaly e nessuno Myoo tra altri. Le istallazioni forse non sono ancora tutte sparite, ma ormai è questione di pochi giorni e i sim di Burning Life torneranno in fondo al mare metaversale per altri 12 mesi. Complimentoni alla direttrice artistica White Lebed, Poid Mahlovich e tutti quelli del team. Alcune opere saranno esposte, due alla volta, durante l'anno, quindi se non l'avete viste, potete passare e gustare in prima persona. Attualmente le opere scelte sono Flaming Cat Choir di Maya Paris (quella di Loopy Love) e clear the cobwebs di Windyy Lane.

Ma non tutto in SL è così effimero... prendi per esempio Thinkerer Melville, in SL da owner di tre sim in SL, conosciuti generalmente come Cookie. Qui troverai gruppi di lingua inglese specializzati in poesia e prosa, gruppi come Inksters, ART, e Written Word. A Cookie ci sono anche molte freebies, e nelle piazze e nei giardini di questi sim troverai attori, drammaturghi, poeti, e... ogni tanto qualche bot strano, come quello del dialogo riportato qui sopra. Tutt'altro che strano, se molto indaffarato, con la maniera brusca di chi riceve 100 IM al minuto è l'avatar di Selby Evans, texano, appassionato del teatro, filantropo virtuale, consulente, professore di psicologia e d'informatica, ora in pensione. L'ho incontrato a downtown Cookie insieme a Geo Meek. La prima mia domanda era - visto che lui si trova in SL ormai da anni - decenni si direbbe, per come il tempo passa in maniera diversa nel metaverso rispetto al Real - come vive SL, e quali cambiamenti ha visto durante la sua lunga vita virtuale?
Thinkerer Melville: Semplice, sono qui per fare teatro. Rimango qui perché ho degli ottimi collaboratori che mi permettono a realizzare questo desiderio. Se sono cambiate le persone che entrano nel gioco? Non saprei dire, io veramente mi trovo circondato da molti amici che sono in SL da anni come me, persone su cui posso contare, creativi che amano il dramma senza lasciare che trasuda dal palcoscenico alla vita quotidiana dell'avatar. per questo Cookie sopravvive e funziona, sono lieto d'essere circondato da chi vuole creare, e mi piace non solo creare ma osservare gli altri creare. Ho comprato questi sim un paio di anni fa per prottegere l'ambiente in cui sono nati i gruppi Written Word e Inksters, iniziative validissime e tutt'ora molto seguite. Il gruppo Inksters propone ogni settimana un tema su cui scrivere, puoi visitare la loro sede al Rose Garden.

Cerco di offirie un aiuto a chi è in SL da poco ' ho preparato un a zona per rezzare gli oggetti, e qui come vedi ci sono molti cartelli esplicativi.

Era vero, intorno a noi molti cartelloni offrendo soprattutto consigli su Voice. Infatti Thinkerer preferisce usare sempre il voice, in parte perché non ama usare la tastiera, in parte perché è sempre alle prese di qualche iniziativa nuova.

Thinkerer Melville: Faccio l'intermediario tra attori, owners, costumisti, builder, scrittori, produttori, insomma offro il mio aiuto a chi vuole mettere in scena uno spettacolo. Se un produttore ha bisogno di costumi o articoli per una commedia, se hanno bisogno di una land o di fare pubblicità, si rivolgono a me. In più offro consigli e idee a chi vuole intraprendere una carriera metaversale come videografo, tramite i miei manuali e vari blog - per me Voice è il cambiamento più importante che ho visto durante il mio soggiorno in SL. All'inizio non esisteva, e rendeva difficile quasi impossibile fare readings di gruppo. Ci voleva la voce umana. Spesso si poteva risolvere il problema passando le poesie e racconti a una persona dotata di streaming, ma non era una soluzione molto soddisfacente. Io

Written Word riunisce il mercoledì e il venerdi per reading di opere originali e non, ci sono spesso gare e eventi come in questo periodo il Autumn Writers' Event, e sono benvenuti non solamente opere in inglese, quindi non lasciare che la lingua ti ostacoli, se hai una poesia un romanzo un racconto o una commedia, perché non presentarlo qui a Cookie? Questo è il loro teatrino in Muse Harbour.

Questa signora dall'aspetto ...drammatica è Ada Radius una dei bravissimi attori del gruppo ART il Avatar repertory Theater teatro in questo periodo fanno diversi spettacoli anche sperimentali come tredici oggetti di Howard Barker, sul sim dell'Università di Coventry. Sono vere e proprie produzioni a tutti gli effetti, e dopodomani infatti ci sarà un bellissimo spettacolo, una commedia scritta da mysty Mellison con la partecipazione di Intellikid Craven (la foto di loro nel Greek Archon Theater la puoi vedere nella parte inglese) Il Fuoco, la storia di Frankie, un moccioso del ventunesimo secolo che incontra un giorno una fantasma, Pete, che lo porta nella francia rivoluzionaria per insegnargli cosa significa la lotta, il fame e come identificare quella passione, quel fuoco, che arde (o dovrebbe ardere) in ognuno di noi. Lo spettacolo dure novanta minuti e sarà presentata sul sim Thinkerer's Quest.

This is downtown Cookie the Communications Arts, Cookie Writers and Performers Hub, where I met Thinkerer, in company with videoist and general quiet genius Geo Meek.

Thinkerer Melville:I got into SL because I saw it as a way to do theater and make videos. I stay because of all the friends that I am collaborating with on various projects. I set up Cookie to encourage writing, theater, and videography -- and collaboration among them. That is what goes on there. Running it is easy. I have a lot of creative people on Cookie, so mainly it is a matter of letting them do their thing. I find creativity very rewarding, even when other people are doing it.

As an enabler of talent, although I bet he would never put it that way, his generosity seems boundless, and enriched by the wealth of experiences and contacts he brings to the theatrical and literary community in SL I wondered what he thinks of the metaverse, as an influence on people's lives, in comparison with RL.
Thinkerer Melville: SL, like the real world, offers opportunities both good and bad, but on an amplified scale. For me its greatest advantage is that I am able to collaborate with people who share some of my interests, and help them too, by being a resource between people trying to put on plays, trying to learn about making videos and so forth, in my online manual and my various blogs. Does SL pose any dangers? I'd say, to most people, none. To people who tend to make poor choices in relationships, there are greatly increased opportunities to make poor choices. On an artistic level, it is a fertile environment for a number of reasons: Creation: Low cost, ease of collaboration, availability of audience. Consumption: Low cost, available to fit any taste and time, interactive production. Consumption becomes creation.
Mmmm, consumption of cookies. Thanks, now I'm hungry.

Cookie's Rose Garden is home to the competitive writing group Inksters, and 'tis the season, for the literary lads and lasses are all in the middle of AWE the Autumn Writer's Event, sponsored by Jilly Kidd and Hastings Bournemouth's group Written Word, who meet at on Wednesdays and Fridays over at the beautiful Muse Harbour, seen above. They also host the Meet an Author televised interviews on alternate Saturdays, and like Inksters run regular competitions for writers - and not only in English. Nice to know.
Thinkerer has also thoughtfully set aside hobo junction a free rez zone, and Art Quests, an area for explorable art. Wandering around I happened on the whole crew including famous SL Author Huckleberry Hax and Written Word's own Jilly Kidd participating in this cheese rolling contest on the impeccably Goucestershire green meadow at the area called New Hobo villa.

I kept walking, and ran into a handsome stranger. Scriptwriter, actor, video editor, builder and scripter, not to mention novelist, Intellikid's been in SL since 2004 - wow! I couldn't resist the temptation to bug him by asking about the 'upcoming live performance' mentioned in his profile.

Intelkid Craven: This is Cookie's Greek Archon Theater, just one of the performing spaces we use, and not all of the theater connected with ART goes on in one place, for example I saw 13 Objects, the Howard Barker play, over on the Coventry University sim - it was so good I watched it twice! We have a new production, and I am in it - playing Girondin Veteran. It's a ghostly kind of story, perfect for Halloween. The performance will be on Thinkerer Quests October 31st 2PM SLT. I'd like you to meet someone - This is Mysty. She wrote the play :) mysty Mellison: Hi! Thanks for asking about the play. It's called The Fire, and although ultimately it's a period piece about the French Revolution, it starts in 2009 with a bratty kid Frankey. He meets Pete, who is a ghost, but Frankey thinks he's is an actor in a museum, you know, like one of those civil war re-enactment people. Frankey goes with Pete to 1789 Paris, where he learns about the plight of starving peasants - the conflict is grain vs gold; but I see it as more than that. It's called The Fire because it's about the passions that burn within each of us, the things that get us out of bed in the morning. Not to be missed! Join the group so you can be sure of getting a notice before curtain up on Halloween.

Last but not least, this is ART's HC, where you can catch up with the company both in person and by reading the billboard... I ran into Ada Radius, trying to get some work done on the upcoming performance of a work by Gogol. You can see a photo of her up in the Italian bit. Ada Radius: Thinkerer has been very generous to us. He made this parcel available around April of last year, for AnonLiterary magazine, and whatever performing arts groups needed it. Avatar Rep have been the only group using it for some months. Since the beginning of the summer, when we put AnonLiterary on hiatus: before we had it, this parcel was used by Ludo Merit for her Storybook build.
Thirza Ember: so much going on on Cookie it'a a great place. I love that he combines the 'newbie' element with what one might think of as 'oldbie' activities like literature groups.
Ada Radius: it really is a wonderful place. We just finished a big show, a provocative play called 13 Objects by Howard Barker, with the support of the RL University of Coventry in the UK, which was great. Think gives huge amounts of help to the groups who live on Cookie and Art Quests and that helps us all thrive, as you can see if you take a look at our Avatar Rep Theater blog.
Well, that's all from me today, I'm off to get ready with my date with Erik. Creepy bot possibly, but let's be honest, it's the best offer I've had all year.

Toasting the Life

WHEN I FOUND MYSELF on my feet I looked about me,

and must confess I never beheld

a more entertaining prospect.

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

Come è consueto, i lettori italiani sono gentilmente pregati a rivolgersi alla parte sottostante di questo articolo dove troveranno il testo nella loro lingua (quasi:).

Cheers! Burning Life is on, as you'll no doubt be aware. Last year was my first visit and I didn't really get it: not the whole Burning Man/Burning Life connection, that's obvious enough, but just how vast, and vastly entertaining, it can be. This is where you come in, the big round tent which, for some people, is as far as they get in the event. Step outside, instead, and one finds a world of marvels...

Desert is de rigueur here, of course, it's the perfect canvas for funky and fresh artwork, all with a burning man tucked in there somewhere, spread over some 34 sims. White Lebed is the Art Director this year, and she and the whole team have made a fantastic job of it, with artists of all kinds putting on a bravura performance in scripts, shapes and audio enhancements. Plenty to see and hear, plenty to drink, and no-one has to drive you back on those desert roads to a civilization that looks somewhat dreary in the daylight. There's so much to see at Burning Life I won't insult you by implying I saw all or even most of it, just within a few meters of the welcome area these are the things you can feast your avatar eyes on. I might just mention that at the Art Department tent there are lots of freebies and useful landmarks, but I leave you to wander until you find that particular treasure trove....

Poid Mahlovich has created a fantastic totem, Cabaret of Flames, with music props and animations, me and my bff Libeth Fairey got busy on the worship front - this is Libeth's photo of self, I love it, and over at KOINUP they have already posted Michael Verdi 's machinima of Cabaret of Flames, check it out here!Poid provides environmentally sound chinese lanterns that float up and away without leaving a moop*, which is what I did when I got tp'd over to see Ub Yifu's Gulliver: you can see the Ub in person, there on the right - dressed in his signature avatar, Don Quixote. *he is a god* You can ride on the giraffe, slide over Gulliver's body and generally do all things Liliputian, it's cool. That's Merlino Mayo in the front of this picture, he kindly pointed me in the direction of another great artist here in SL, and RL too - Adam Ramona. This is Proud Flesh by Adam Ramona (in RL Australian artist and musician Adam Nash), it makes weird sounds when you walk inside it, which of course we did. It changes colour, I waited till it was all pink before taking my picture, 'cos I'm a girl. I'd come across Adam's work inworld at Zachh Cale's gallery, Project Z, mentioned in the post below, but of course here the scale is immense. A bit further on is the Berlin Stage, a giant scorpion on the sand by Kazuhiro Aridian, the party doen't appear to have stopped since BL started. Literary supergroup Written Word has a space on Burning Life-Granite between the houses of cards, you can pick up some Robert Louis Stevenson stuff, and catch performances and discussions there throughout the event. There are so many things to see, one loses track, and while the night setting adds to the illusion of being out in the desert comuning with firewalkers and left hemisphere folk, it's a bit disorienting. My pictures don't say much, despite my foray into windlight, but you can bet the usual sites will be full of the best artwork -layers on layers of art - by the end of the week. We came across these strange towers, by ArtCrash Exonar - she has a desk-top freebie, like a sailing ship altho I suspect not really, it's called Needle me, on offer. And she also was wearing rocking hair from Damselfly. Gorgeous! But not free. If you like a sense of wonderment in a wide world, you'll love it here, just keep walking and, depending on your draw distance, one manifestation after another will pop up on the horizon. Helps the likes of me, though, to turn on the sun for a bit just to see where I'm going. Lots of men here, the occasional large woman, some of them burning, some not, there's a giant sandcastle, many builds with feathers and flowers that look like a giant shaman dropped them, others look like they are rusting away on the Red Planet, as you might expect, just about every persuasion of creation is represented here. In the end I stumbled on something I had actually been looking for - the Rubiky looking build you see here. It's *ArtEvolutionCube* by Kikka Igaly and Nessuno Myoo and it contains not the solutions to the world's peskiest toy, but rather a number of their works, each one deserves a special cam-in. All this and a whole lot more, live, vibrant and amazing. Bottom Line - Burning Life is HOT! I only truly realize how hot when I look at these photos by Merlino Mayo... wow I am blown away once again... I hope they inspire you to get out there, and take some of your own. Go soon before you miss it all!

*matter out of place = term for garbage at Burning Man.

Forse già conosci il festival statunitense Burning Man e quello virtuale Burning Life. Se non sei ancora passato a vedere di che si tratta, ti consiglio di andarci subito! Troppo bello! trentaquattro sim terraformati in maniera molto semplice, creando un deserto virtuale non dissimile a quello del deserto della Roccia Nera, in Nevada, dove una volta l'anno regnano la libertà di espressione e fiducia in se stesso... qui in SL invece regna la creatività scatenata di chi una volta tanto non deve stare a contare i prim! Il tema è l'uomo in fiamme, ma qui troverai anche la donna in fiamme, penne, totemi, le costole arruginite di navi spaziali come qui sopra, la pista da ballo Tokyo di DonPatchy Dagostino o la carapace di uno scorpione, il Berlin Stage, oppure una mongolfiera, sculture eleganti, aghi fontane fiori, qui una torre impossibile, lì uno schermo gigante, e dapperttutto, fiamme, fiamme...

Libeth Fairey ed io abbiamo adorato all'altare, il Cabaret of Flames di Poid Mahlovich - nella foto in fondo si intravede la scultura di Adam Ramona, anch'essa interattiva, ma in maniera completamente differente a quest'opera di Poid. Adam crea strutture che emettono suoni e si spostano con il vento o con l'intervento di un avatar, cresce, evolve e balla, le braccia sinuose dirette verso il cielo ma pronte a spostarsi con ogni movimento d'aria... a tutto questo bene si arriva passando per una tenda tonda dove non manca mai la musica e la possibilità di incontrare altri pellegrini alla ricerca di un po' di cultura innovativa, fantasiosa, e soprattutto su scala immensa. A Burning Life, si balla, si chiacchiera, ma lasciandosi dietro le piste e i DJ, si cammina, si vola da una meraviglia ad un'altra. Ci sono anche tantissimi freebies, alla sede-tenda del dipartimento d'arte, ma la dovrai trovare da solo, la tenda, o rivolgerti a un'altro... Non posso certo farvi vedere tutto ciò che ti aspetta a Burning Life, mi limito ad alcune opere che ho potuto vedere in questi giorni, e di darti questo link alle stupende foto di Merlino Mayo Qui vedi la scultura sonora Proud Flesh dell'artista australiano Adam Ramona (in Real Adam Nash), sembrano le papille di una lingua sconosciuta, e parlano se ci cammini in mezzo. Un fortissimo contrasto con l'arena a forma di scorpione accanto, quella struttura grigia nella foto, il Berlin Stage di Kazuhiro Aridian dove la festa non termina mai.

*ArtEvolutionCube* opera di Nessuno Myoo e Kikka Igaly mi piace moltissimo qui vedi Nessuno passato a controllare qualche script. Nella struttura, fatta un po come un cubodi Rubik, troverai varie sculture bellissime, non trascurarle. Burning Life quest'anno è un trionfo autentico grazie non solo alla direzione ispirata di White Lebed, e l'impegno del suo team, ma ancor di più alla fantasiosa creatività e alla bravura tecnica e alla dedizioni degli artisti che ci regalano emozioni e panorame veramente indimenticabili. Burning Life termina questo weekend, con a manifestazione Afterburn, non indugiare, questa mostra è da vedere, prima che ...vada in fumo!

bi-cycles

Rolling Shuffle, artist, photographer and musician, recently in SL but you'd never guess it, showed me some Loopy Love last night...
No, not kissing and telling - as if !!
We went to see - or rather accepted the invitation to "Come loop yourself silly in the 7 stages of LoopyLove." by Maya Paris (that's her blog link) at Project Z on sim Cetus, which is, well, look for yourself... mmm machinima!
Yes, Project Z is owned and run by musician and composer Zachh Cale - who also has an upcoming Jazz Festival, from 17/OCT-14/NOV 2009:

日本語の案内は後半になります。
Jazz & Art Festival 2009

Top SL Jazz musicians perform at 10 unique venues,

and 6 individual Japanese artists exhibit their work

with beautiful Jazz Music! Greatest ever musical event in SL Japan!

On Zachh's profile, these two pearls of wisdom, just thought I'd pass them along...

When you fully commit,

the universe conspires to assist you.
If something feels wrong, listen deeply without prejudice:

suffering is resistance to what is.

A girl can never have too many pearls. So these are some of the stages of loopy love, the fireworks bit, the dreamy bit, the jiggly bit, the wondering and talking and not talking bit. I am not sure at what stage your eyes pop out on stalks, maybe I'm doing it wrong... comments always welcome... You tp in to the gallery, it's important to read the notecard and remember turn off your A/O and music, and to wear the helmets provided for each room

not simply beacuse they allow you to hear the ...odd sounds and to be part of the animation of the spheres, but also because you get to look really funny wearing a cone-head hat. The sounds loop, the rooms loop, the animations loop, the cycle of rooms loops too, and you've that feeling, of having been here before, somehow. There is a funky offbeat slightly hysterical feel to the place, every sphere is a champagne bubble of emotions, some giddy some more reflective, some just slightly worrying. But in the end you float to the top, ready to go again. The colours are gorgeous and I am probably missing a lot with my usual woes, so as ever I recommend you go and see this for yourself... take a friend, of course.

So the other cycle, because I know you read the title and are wondering, is the Four Seasons exhibit at Tanalois, Gemini Isle, the Italian Art sim owned by my good friends Tani Thor and Aloisio Congrejo. Tani has just redone the whole land, and the results are spectacular. to celebrate the 'rebirth' of the island, they've a show with 20 artists divided into four seasonal areas, including Maryva Mayo, Shellina Winkler, Gleman Jun to name but three. There's too much to say about each of the artists to fit in this post, (apologies to those who didn't get a mention) but here are some of my faves... do TP over to see them properly, and show your Linden Love.

This is yer classic Italian Summer, Lion Igaly's people on the beach, ermm mummy why are those two people fighting ah happy days... interestingly, there is a bicycle in this picture... Builder Tani Thor has made four harmonious and complementary areas, it's a delight to go walking across the sim, and absorb the art along the way.

... and here next to his painting we have artist GIOBY Later with his very lovely girl Lauretta76 Carling - what's that, a proposal, Gio? Well, it is springtime at Tanalois... and there's an African summer feel to Zhora Maynard 's striking sculpture. I absolutely love the colours and the setting couldn't be better. I keep meaning to go to see Zhora's studio, so seeing her work here was an excellent reminder.
But my Best Bit award goes to the brilliant Nessuno Myoo. The classical subject matter, the delicacy of lines and the cleverness of perspectives leaving the whole work counterbalanced somewhere between two and three dimensions is so perfectly nuanced, you must check it out in person. TP to the 4 seasons show at Tanalois, you'll be glad you did.

... E no, ogg nn lo riscrivo... penso che le foto parlano da sé e cmq ti fa bene, ogni tanto, lottare con l'inglese. Dico solo che Nessuno Myoo è eccezionale, questo vale in qualsiasi lingua.