Hearts and Lines

I cannot read them now.

O Gentlemen the time of life is short!

To spend that shortness basely were too long,

If life did rise upon a dial's point,

Still ending at the arrival of an hour.

Henry IV part 1

...avevo poco tempo questo we ma ora ho aggiunto anche in italiano... o quasi... basta scorrere in giù un pochino
So tonight I'm going to see Henry IV at the theatre in RL. I don't really want to go, because Americans doing Shakespeare is always cringemaking, but hey, it's raining and, and if it does turn out to be dire, well, that's what the intermission is for. If that seems anglist to you, bear in mind firstly that nobody actually reads this blog, so I may as well say what I really think, and secondly, imagine Ricky Gervaise playing The Duke in a biopic about John Wayne - that's the feeling we get, seeing you lot do Mister S., however much time and money you throw at it, and I'm guessing tonight's performance will have little of both.

But I digress.

Two inworld thingys for your cultural pleasure: first up, the beautiful Coeur Duchy has a job opportunity, if you're of a literary or historical bent. The Duchy is an anglophone RP land, one of those fairytale collaborations that SL7 promises to celebrate. Graceful francophiles Bedrich Panacek, SkyeRyder Varriale, and TatianaDukochic Varriale, together with baharat Atlas have established a beautiful eleven-region playground, based, the notecard says, on Angelique and  "Pride and Prejudice, originally written in 1796/1797". The 'originally' had me wondering if Jane Austen had been dug up in the late 1890s and obliged to rewrite the book under the supervision of HG Wells or similar, but apparently not, so I am glad I didn't ask them that when this very courteous quartet gave me the tour, or at least a partial one. There is so much to see in Coeur Duchy, one visit is not enough. I recommend the  carriage ride, the palaces, and don't forget to visit the caverns in the Languedoc. I fell into them, it's a long story involving Kirsten's viewer and some funky tping.  

The builders have gone to a lot of trouble to recreate the countryside of France, from the canal du Midi to the drained marshes of the Poitou, and though in the palaces there are an awful lot of textures, it is eminently worth the time it takes to rez to see these buildings. If you ever went over to see the old Versailles sim you'll already be a fan of Tatiana's work, and many of her buildings- or rather, renewed versions of them - are here.
Bedrich Panacek: Angelique was set in the 17th century, but Tat focused more on the Rococo period, Marie Antoinette, King Louis XVI and so on, so we gradually moved to the late 18th century, so Angelique is gone, but we still kept the rural aspect of the duchy. This is the time when revolutionary ideas were taking place. France probably saved the US from the British, and in turn, France loved the ideas of the new nation. So this is a time of great inner reflection, especially with the peasants and bourgeois, and our interest is more with them than with the nobles.We are all interested in history and the art of the time, including music and architecture. Baharat has been working very hard to build up the music aspect, and we have a science academy, and a growing library. 

While you're here, don't miss the beautiful Opera house. They hold regular events here,  including the recent Spring Concert. More pictures below in the Italian bit, if I get round to finishing it, and don't forget if you click on them they get bigger. But not better, There's no cure for that.

baharat Atlas:  This is a typical box seating and you can see the beautiful view of the theatre. For our concert with Mr. Zachh Cale we nearly had a full house, he is a sweet man and great musician, and a great supporter of the arts. There is also a green room in the back that we will be using for discussions.  I love this room. Many times I meet with musicians for discussing performances. They really like this room, and we are planning a grand season next Fall.
The build was carefully planned out, and they have replaced most of the outside items with their own creations over the past two years, but all agree, it's still a work in progress, and one that they all continue to enjoy. With a group membership of over 250, clearly they're not the only ones.

This is the Academie Royale des Sciences built by Skye, in the green dress. Inside is a reading room and the building has side rooms specializing in various branches of science including optics and chemistry. There is also an Art academy, and Bedrich and the team take this business very seriously, so  if you've a special knowledge or interest in either French literature, or in the sciences as they were understood during this time, and can see yourself as a drama-free librarian from the 1780's, you should definitely get involved. 

Here's another opportunity to participate in an elegant ongoing event: the Author Convention and Exhibition at the Ars Poetica Gallery located in the London School of Journalism Space Orb. In her opening remarks, Jilly Kidd explained that she'd kept the search for exhibitors fairly low-key, since she really wanted committed writers to get involved in this exceptional opportunity to be part of a permanent display - heck, the LSJ even pays the upload cost for textures used! Corwyn Allen curated the current work on show, an amazing 226 poems by 48 different poets, and he also opened the event with some of his own work, including the beautiful 'Pearls'.

The downside of poetry in SL  ( blame the pathologically kindhearted) is that there is a lot of reallllly bad stuff being performed. At many a poetry event, you'll find scansion, rhymes, and content that would make McGonagall spin like a top, *is that going to get me banned?* not to mention the mock-coy brigade, with their umming and erring "oh! do you really want me to read something to you? I'm so unprepared!" patter, as they audibly flick through their notebooks. 
Anyway, by a miracle of technology, the LSJ orb was blissfully free of that kind of wannabe rubbish today. Corwyn was followed by Wolfgang  Glinka, seen above, who read a published poem about the sea. He has a voice like a rural Archdeacon, toasting muffins by the fire, so his second piece, a love poem involving grinding crotches and loss was surprising, but not in a bad way. Variety is delicious when it's well done. Just before RL reclaimed me, I got to hear another poet new to me, donjuan Writer. Despite the name, he sounded a bit like Ricky Gervaise and read witty, short poems I loved: 'It's not worth it, thinking it's not worth it,' he declaimed. Might be something in that.
Afterwards, I took a minute to read Ada Radius and Harriet Gausman, and (avoiding the dreadful Sabreman Carter) I found this beauty by DanteOsaka Deschanel. Don't miss it.

Eccoci qua. Ti presento due land, e due occasioni per partecipare nella vita metaversale. Prima, London School of Journalism Space Orb la scuola di giornalismo londinese il LSJ ha una regione qui in SL; dove si può anche studiare la composizione e il giornalismo (c'è uno sconto del 10 percento a chi si iscrive ai corsi attraverso Second Life). Sopra la bella land, c'è una mostra letteraria organizzata da Jilly Kidd e curato da  Corwyn Allen.  La mostra è aperta a tutti gli scrittori di lingua inglese, ma finora la maggior parte degli iscritti sono poeti, e troverai 44 cornici (uno per ogni artista) e oltre duecento poesie. Troverai qui poesie di ogni tipo, belle e brutte, comiche  spirituali intime strane. La mostra è permanente, accettano ancora poesie e anche racconti brevi credo, e il LSJ sostiene anche il costo degli upload dei testi, quindi se hai scritto qualcosa in inglese, non indugiare, fatti conoscere ! Inoltre sulla piattaforma troverai informazioni utili a chi vuole farsi pubblicare in real, e il gruppo tiene diverse riunioni durante la settimana per sostenere ed aiutare gli scrittori di ogni genere.

Per l'inaugurazione ci sono stati dei reading stupendi, tra i quali il bravissimo donjuan Writer nella foto, e naturalmente dopo si ballava fino a notte fondoò io no, avevo da fare in real, e poi nn so ballare. Un gruppo davvero simpatico, dove it troverai subito a tuo agio, te lo consiglio.

Seconda occasione un po' diversa ma sempre allettante per chi ama leggere. Benvenuta in Coeur Duchy una land francese, americofona, storico-romantica, creata da Bedrich Panacek, SkyeRyder Varriale,  TatianaDukochic Varriale, e baharat Atlas. Baharat gestisce il bel teatro dell'opera, (eccoci in un palco - gentilissimi mi hanno voluto accompagnare tutti e quattro a fare il giro della land) non è solo un trionfo di textures, ci sono spesso concerti di musica classica e non solo. Il gioco di ruolo non è obbligatorio per i residenti o i visitatori, ma l'idea della land è di far conoscere l'arte, la letteratura, le idee politiche e scientifiche dell'epoca.

Tutta la land è fatta con prmura e precisione, gli owners sono anche i builders e hanno dedicato moltisismo tempo al look di ogni sim. Lo shopping qui è eccezionale, e ci sono foreste fiumi e zone residenziali tra i più belli di Second Life. Se ami la fotografia, questo è una meta ideale. Ma c'è di più. Per meglio servire i residenti desiderosi di ricreare la Francia illuminista, oppure rivoluzionaria il gruppo ha creato inoltre delle Accademie e una biblioteca. Uno splendido palazzo sulla riva del canale creato da Skye ospita l'accademia delle scienze.

L'accademia comprende una sala principale e otto studioli, dove vogliono esporre articoli e libri scentifici - hanno già un laboratorio chimico e una stanza per l'ottica con dei bei modelli di alcuni strumenti usati per capire la struttura e gli attributi della luce e la percezione.

Ecco Bedrich invece nello studio dedicato alla chimica. L'idea sarebbe di trovare bibliotecaio a tempo pieno,  una persona informata su questo periodo storico, che abbia anche una conoscenza delle lingue.  Troppo impegnativo? Il gruppo invita 'illuministi' di occupare le stanze e di allestire - attenendosi naturalmente allo stile e le maniere dell'epoca - una piccola mostra interpretiva magari su un solo aspetto del pensiero scientifico del sette-ottocento. L'idea ti interessa? Per sapere di più, basta rivolgersi al Duca. Impegnato collaboratore o spensierato turista, scegli tu - ma questa land vale la pena visitarla, è bellissima!