Quoth Thoth

And again, unto me spoke the Seven, saying:

Child of the LIGHT, O THOTH, art thou,

free to travel the bright path upward

until at last ALL ONES become ONE

The Emerald Tablets of Thoth, The Seven Lords

Open Habitat is a sim and a group of about 700 oriented around science, philosophy, critical thinking, and the arts owned and founded by Maria Blaisdale. She was involved with the original Open Habitat, a project by Oxford's philosophy department to explore how SL could be used for teaching, etc. Maria took over the sim when the "experiment" ended.
Thoth Jantzen is an advisor and instigator to the group, his build "Cosmique III" is part of the 'art' angle. It's a unique place for people to go for some fun, and to help raise funds to defray the cost of the place. Philosophy and science have been the main focus of most of Open Habitat's events - some of them streaming a live debates from London. Philosopher Stephen Law came into SL to discuss a book of his, and they hold weekly discussions on philosophy, psychology, and and science led by professors and working professionals. For art, there's some work there by the likes of Artistide Despres and Glyph Graves. The Cosmique III are consists of various goodies, like the ground-level art gallery, which has Thoth's sculptures and a nice installation on a King Tut theme complete with a Mask of Tut that comes from the lost and lamented Rezzable show. You can TP to the Kaleidoscope, to the media active gallery and other places, from a Stonehenge portal system (it's like falling through the Time Tunnel!) Since names were being dropped, I asked Thoth how he picked his own...
Thoth Jantzen: The metaphor associated with the ancient Egyptian gods Thoth and Anubis tie together in different ways to a lot of interests I have; science, philosophy, linguistics, the arts, and I'm a bit involved on some community projects relating to those topics. About three years ago I started Thothica SL, an SL community focused on science, the arts, and philosophy, which is still going strong under the guidance of some friends,who have done most of the work, I'd say it's my "best" creation in SL.
We went to the nth dimension dance cubes, where "The Carnival Is Over" by Dead Can Dance was playing; all the constructs and sculptures are in sync with whatever is playing in the parcel at the time - can you imagine the chaos if it were otherwise? - but that particular song was so perfect for the visual effects, it was mesmerizing. All this tp-ing and bright lights, half the time I didn't know where I was, but that's how I roll. There was what I took to be Cirque du Soleil and Elton John live... it's very Vegas, ideal for such a big energy rich immersive experience. Staring at dear old Sir Eltie doing his thing all over the globe, I asked the usual question and after some 'Oh, there are so many to choose from' hedging, Thoth came up with two artists he feels worthy of being imported, interpreted and generally feted in Second Life.
Thoth Jantzen: Albert Einstein and Leonhard Euler. The formula's they've given the world embody SO much that's so deep, so important, and so simply and elegantly that in addition to the scientific value, there's a deep beauty that, I feel, certainly qualifies as art. As for how to best represent them in SL, I have zero clue...

Well, that's OK, I have no clue who Leonhard Euler even is.
We went to the media active art gallery and I admired the unique pieces by Feathers Boa, Glyph Graves, and 9-volt Borkotron. I asked Thoth about artistic collaboration in SL.
Thoth Jantzen: It means that some really good artists who'd otherwise not have much exposure get a chance to have their work seen by a lot of people. I've been involved in some groups and collaborations, including Diabolus and Caerleon. Collaboration in larger groups is sorta like herding cats when you talk about artists, and while the results can be great, the process can be...difficult, shall we say! Anyway, I see myself more as a builder. In a sense, all I really do is create a canvas on which the real art paints itself - in my case, music videos. When I came into SL, i had no idea I'd do much in the way of actual building, let alone anything resembling art. I was more interested in learning and community building. I sort of fell into the kaleidoscopic, 'media-active' stuff fooling around with some video screens one day. I felt that the normal flat screens were boring, and that was the start of what you see here now. The V-Max is possibly my favorite piece in SL, but the "Octoscope" on ReactionGrid is the newest and, I think, the nicest thing I've built so far. Working with the Caerleon Art Collection on the Reaction Grid - is great - sort of like 'pioneering', as Georg Janick likes to put it. The folks who run RG are great, very responsive, and despite a lot of unexpected "learning moments", it's been really good so far there. Places based on the OpenSim software, like ReactionGrid, SpotOn3D, and OpenSim, are growing in numbers and in size, and offer options to everyone, from artists and educators to businesses and institutions, and the casual user. I've recently begun to spread my 'virtual wings' to other places, and from what I've seen, it'd be a great idea for others to do it, too. Being 'virtually mobile' doesn't mean you have to abandon SL, but it does give you more options to explore things (waves hand) 'out there'...

Evora Story

If you had to sum up your Second Life in a single word, I wonder, what would it be? For Thirza, it is simply Evora. Everything that matters in her existence started and ended here, among these pixels. It has gone through myriad changes of fortune, and now jupyter Lecker has turned it into Castle Tale. I am utterly and unashamedly, foolishly in love with it, the narrow stairs and the mysterious rooms and passages, the balconies, the windows, the mist and the shadows. And the dragon. Jupyter's work is matched only by his generosity of spirit, and he has allowed us to fill the castle with some of my favourite artists, curated by Lion Igaly. On show are pieces by Aloisio Congrejo, Cristian Rexi, Feathers Boa, Igor Ballyhoo, Katy60it Cyberstar, Kicca Igaly, Kolor Fall, La Baroque, Lion Igaly, Lookatmy Back, nessuno Myoo, Shellina Winkler, Solkide Auer, Tani Thor, and Zhora Maynard. Personally, I prefer to explore the rooms slowly; the castle's bliss is the wanton difficulty of moving about the labyrinth, making discoveries as you go, taking your time. If you need to speed things up, however, you can click on the names above to go directly to a piece by each artist. You'll find a full list of LMs available onsite, which is helpful if you get lost or stuck... again thank you Lion for making this invaluable notecard. The credit for the show goes entirely to the generous creativity of all the artists, the amazing hard work of Lion Igaly and the dark talent of my beloved jupyter Lecker. We now have a .ning sister site, where you can find an absurd number of pictures of Evora, as well as the blog and other stuff, but it would be sweet if you came over to see the castle for yourself. The current artwork will be on display until January 15th. UNA FRASE PER DESCRIVERE LA TUA SECONDA VITA: quale ti viene in mente? La storia di Thirza la si può raccontare in una sola parola, Evora. Tutto per lei è nato qui - il bene e il male - , e ora, Evora è Castle Tale, opera del builder jupyter Lecker. Un castello difficile, misterioso, all'antica, un labirinto avvolto in ricordi sussurati, textures cupe di una bellezza fredda, pieno di giochi di ombra e luce, immerso nella nebbia eterna. L'adoro, specialmente il drago.Ora Evora è anche mostra d'arte. Curatore Lion Igaly ha organizzato l'esposizione di artisti meravigliosi quale Aloisio Congrejo, Cristian Rexi, Feathers Boa, Igor Ballyhoo, Katy60it Cyberstar, Kicca Igaly, Kolor Fall, La Baroque, Lion Igaly, Lookatmy Back, nessuno Myoo, Shellina Winkler, Solkide Auer, Tani Thor, and Zhora Maynard. Hanno abbellito i cortili e gli stanzoni con foto dipinti poesie e sculture. Se hai il tempo, il modo più suggestivo di visitare Castle Tale è a piedi, navigando per le scale anguste. Cliccando sui nomi qui sopra ti porterà subito alle opere principali, ma nel cortile troverai una dettagliatissima nota con LM in ordine alfabetico (grazie Lion!) molto utile se ti perdi nei sotteranei... ti invito anche a visitare il nuovo sito ning di ArtsParks, dove troverai una quantità assurda di foto di Evora, ma anche machinima, musica e forse qualche nuovo amico... ti aspetto.

Assisi as pie

RL Assisi is a beautiful hilltop town, full of light and fresh air and tourists. Religious, artistic historical, it brings in the crowds every year, all year, enchanted by the idea of 13th century mysticism, values of peace and love, and an escape from the materialism that pervades every age. The Basilica of San Francesco was finished in around 1280, and is probably best known for the frescoes of Giotto and Cimabue, the Godfathers of Italian painting. Hundreds were left homeless and the church was horribly damaged by a series of earthquakes in September 1997, when much of the timpano, the curving roof of the nave, collapsed onto the floor together with its priceless artwork. It turns out, previous anti-seismic 'improvements' - metal braces in the vault - increased the weightload on the fragile roof and actually made the disaster worse than it might otherwise have been. A phenomenal amount of work went in to making Assisi SL, but RL Assisi is tech savvy in its own way. The mayor of the city, Claudio Ricci, regularly and 'openly' comes into SL, and has in the past used it as a forum in which his constituents can approach him with questions. SL Assisi is pretty much a relic too, since it was built in ye olde 2007. That was the year SL exploded onto Italian consciousness, a time when lots of politicians, entrepreneurs and social thinkers came inworld bringing with them hopeful adherents of every kind. Much of the progressive spirit turned out to be either too pedestrian or too rarefied to survive the rigors of 'real' Second Life, but from that classic italianate fizzle, some quality remains... tee hee, I won't put that in the Italian bit, but it makes Assisi Sl even more interesting for its stamina, especially when you sit down and watch the footage of the earthquake, and start to grasp what the restoration process has involved.

I brought artist Kolor Fall to see Assisi with me, he looks like the Silver Surfer's beefier, brighter brother, he also has a better sense of humour. If you haven't seen Kolor's 'hands on' art, go over to his sim/studio and see/hear the new Lashes of Earth installation... among the magical elements, there are free 'drawable' earrings to be had. Must be worn to be believed.
The inworld Assisi build can be credited to, among others, quozar Winx, Sarg Bjornson, Whinge Languish and Oliver Wombat. There's a little Youtube machinima about the build also. I wanted to know how SL Assisi came about, so I talked to Simone Brunozzi...

Simone Brunozzi: I was born and grew up at Assisi and I've always been in love with the idea of love and brotherhood as expressed by St Francis, even though I consider myself an agnostic. I felt that SL would be a good way to bring Assisi to the many people who have never seen it in person. This is not a 'take' on Assisi, it was my intention to make something as close to reality as possible. There were a lot of technical difficulties to overcome: first of all, we had to keep the whole build to under 15000 prims, the presence at one time or another of as many as 90 people, and the fact we were trying to re-create a huge and irregular building complex. It took five people five months to put the whole thing together. We included a HUD in the build because, obviously, SL is open 24/7 and we can't always be present to give people the tour. My favourite part of the build? I'd have to say the upper Basilica. From both an artistic and architectural point of view, it's a masterpiece without equal.
At $L300 the HUD is way too expensive for my travel budget but if you are thinking of investing in it, you can get a preview by going to the Assisi blog. The sim may seem slightly underused; Simone told me he has no events planned - but he's a busy man, working as an 'evangelist' for Amazon in Luxembourg - a job he got through an inworld job fair, no less! Getting the job couldn't have been easier or less serendipitous. If you can read Italian or are willing to brave the hilarity of the translator, go and check out the adventure of his life clicking here.

Sembra quasi superfluo parlare con te di Assisi, una delle città più belle d'Italia, località di pace, di arte, di fede, di turismo. RL Assisi è San Francesco, è tradizione, è speranza, ma anche metaversalmente evoluta... il sindaco Claudio Ricci, si è fatto un ufficio e un avatar in SL - mi dicono una riproduzione fedelissimo della sua persona - per poter meglio communicare con i cittadini della sua città. Anche Assisi SL si può definire un monumento venerabile, esiste nel metaverso dal 2007... una sopravvivenza notevole. L'edificio virtuale è di un gruppo di collaboratori tra i quali quozar Winx, Sarg Bjornson, Whinge Languish e Oliver Wombat. Troverai qui una Youtube machinima francescana... ho chiesto a Simone Brunozzi l'owner di SL Assisi, quali erano le motivazioni dietro questo bellissmo build.
Simone Brunozzi: Sono nato e cresciuto ad Assisi e sono sempre stato innamorato delle idee di pace e fratellanza di San Francesco, nonostante mi consideri tuttora un agnostico. Ho pensato che SL potesse essere un modo per far conoscere Assisi alle tante persone che non l'hanno mai vista dal vivo. Lo scopo della Basilica di San Francesco di Assisi in SL è proporre alle persone una rappresentazione realistica, non una interpretazione. Le sfide tecniche sono state molteplici: il numero di prim inferiore ai 15.000, la presenza in alcuni momenti di oltre 80-90 persone, la riproduzione fedele di un edificio molto irregolare e gigantesco. Cinque persone in gamba per cinque mesi, questo è stato il costo dell'operazione. Il HUD serve come una sorta di visita guidata interattiva, utile perchè SL viene usato 24 ore al giorno, e noi non potevamo rimanere online sempre, per questo motivo abbiamo pensato di creare un HUD. La mia parte preferita del build? Sicuramente la Basilica superiore, che dal punto di vista pittorico ed architettonico è un gioiello ineguagliabile.

A $L300 il HUD, in vendita in piazza e in varie parti della basilica, è un pochino caro per chi girovaga in SL senza reddito, anche se il prezzo equivale solo a un euro, per 'vedere prima di comprare', basta andare al Assisi blog.

Eventi ad Assisi in questo periodo sono pochi anche perché Simone è molto occupato. Lavora a Lussemburgo come 'evangelista della tecnologia' per Amazon, e questo bel lavoro l'ha trovato proprio qui in Second Life... per sapere come ha fatto, vai a leggere la sua storia, cliccando qui. Ho fatto il giro della basilica con il grande artista Kolor Fall, è stato per me un privilegio fargli conoscere le opere di Giotto e Cimabue... ha messo un po per capire che non si trattava si San Francisco, ma poi il boy, con l'avatar da Silver Surfer dopato con forti steroidi e dotato di un ferocissimo sense of humor, per non parlare del suo canale YouTube, ha rezzato e ha potuto godere appieno questo pezzo d'antiquariato virtuale. Se non hai ancora visitato il sim di Kolor, non è da perdere l'ultima istallazione Ciglie del mondo su sim Kolor - ci sono anche i suoi originalissimi orecchini scripted gratuiti!

Troy Story

I have watched the pleasing strife

Within thy tender bosom, have inspected

Thy young ideas teeming into life,

Thy mind with wonder, joy and awe affected.

For when before thee lay the mighty tale

Of great Achilles' wrath and Hector's doom

By turns elate with joy, with pity pale

For varying passions scarce thy mind had room.

On her first reading Pope's Iliad, Arthur Henry Hallam

Pointless mooching rocks. Whenever I do it, I always meet the best people. This time, Troy. It's one of an archipelago of RP sims offering combat in ancient times, from Persia to Mongolia to Scandinavia. There's advice, attire and freebies, including combat HUDs on offer here; the group uses the DCS combat system and also support compatible weaponry, so you might like to pull out your Gorean Quiva (hmm how did I...?) and show us what you're made of in the bloody arena.
Being a scribbler, not a fighter, the combat element isn't my cup of tea, but it was fascinating to see how other people have fun. Troy is run by Lew Nightfire, Ricard Collas, Sheema Rae and Yumi Acker. It is a place much frequented by newbies for some reason, and the more experienced players can often be heard pleasantly explaining how to 'Stop all animations'. The sim offers not only a fabulous arena but also palaces, a wooded hill with nice places to relax, ot to mention this fantastic Wooden Horse.

There were four people combatting in the arena when I got there, Rock Aquila, Anubis Guisse, Mor Lannock, and Trojan Hoplite strelnikov Dubrovna. This is them, from left to right. I was very jealous of strel's tusks but was too shy to say so at the time. I got them to stop for long enough to take a photo, which proves they have infinite patience. That surprised me, I don't know why but I imagined them a more fighty and less welcoming crew, but the notecard is enough to show how wrong I am: "we are a sim where all avaters will try to help you get started with no experince in combat, or role play. Lessons are held to guide you of the ways of roleplay conducts. Everything is easy, hard thing is to take first step, we will guide and help you through everything." And yes, I know fighty is not a word. Or wasn't. I went exploring among the palaces and managed to break into the Blacksmith's bedroom - don't ask - and take the photo seen below. After a bit, Mor Lannock came over to have a word. She asked me if I had seen the Library ... I said no... and so off we went.

Mor Lannock: I built this library, or rather, when it is finished it will be better... maybe over the holiday I'll have time. I am going to add many other characters from the story, Paris, Helen, Menelaus, Achilles and so on. The uniform over here is a Greek one, made for Achilles. You can see the leaders of the Greek army on the left, and the Trojan commanders on the right. Did you know the city of Rome was founded by a decendent of Prince Aeneas, a survivor of the Trojan War? His name was Romulus. I have here the Iliad in many different languages, and there are books, maps, busts in the room, if you pass your cursor over them they give you information about the person or place.

Thirza Ember: why did you want to make a library?

Mor Lannock: To inform people. For me, the sim is like a poor man's guide to history. I know many people have never read the Iliad, but many people are curious. They can come here and read the notecards. Maybe they won't read them all, but they will just learn a little. It's my goal to pique and cultivate their interest in the subject.

Delight and inform... a warrior princess after my own heart. See, mooching around pays off... HO FATTO UNA PICCOLA GITA A TROIA OGGI. Di solito i sim di combattimento e gioco di ruolo non mi attirano molto, ma avevo voglia di vedere qualcosa di diverso. E poi hanno un cavallo di legno, chi di noi sa resistere alla tentazione di vedere un cavallo di legno, magari portarlo in casa.... Ed eccomi a Troy la città - anzi l'impero - di Lew Nightfire, Ricard Collas, Sheema Rae e Yumi Acker. Il cavallo mi è piaciuto molto e sono graziosi anche i palazzi (ci sono case e stanze in affitto, io un po' stanca dopo tutte quelle scale, mi sono intrufolata nella casa del fabbro di Troia, e ho fatto un pisolino, non so resistere ai mobili altrui... Ssss non c'è bisogno che tu gli riferisci la mia piccola invasion of privacy... Quando mi sono alzata ho fatto una bella passeggiata nel bosco, e infine sono arrivata all'arena dove combattevano quattro guerrieri. Eccoli qui, sono: con il martello Rock Aquila, accanto a lui vestito di nero Anubis Guisse, Mor Lannock con la corrazza d'oro, e infine, con i denti strepitosi, Trojan Hoplite strelnikov Dubrovna.

Ho fatto due chiacchiere con la bellissima Mor Lannock, una ragazza che per fortuna parlava italiano. Mi ha chiesto se avevo visto la Biblioteca ... Abbiamo fatto un salto insieme e mi ha mostrato le carte geografiche, le pergamene, il busto di Omero e le immagini di altri famosi scrittori e pensatori dell'epoca classica.

Mor Lannock: La biblioteca l'ho costruita io. Veramente non l'ho ancora completata....quando completa sarà meglio. Ho altri personaggi da mettere, come Menelao, Elena, Paride, Achille ecc. Questo uniforme greco, di Achille, l'ho fatto io. E qui, vedi i capi dell'esercito ... quelli greci sono a sinistra, quelli di Troia a destra. Sapevi che un discendente di Enea, un sopravvissuto della guerra ha fondato Roma? ... Si chiamava Romolo... ops scusa certo che lo sai!

Le ho chiesto perché ha voluto creare una biblioteca in Second Life.

Mor Lannock: L'ho costruita per informare la gente. La sim è come un guida alle persone non disposte a leggere un libro. Così posso informare tutti i curiosi in un modo leggero e anche divertente. Non tutti hanno letto L'iliade, e magari non leggono tutte le cartoline ho messo ma almeno adesso sanno cose e magari posso stuzzicare e coltivare interesse...

Bella, brava, coraggiosa e intelligente... insomma un'eroina per tutti i tempi!

Face Facts

If you haven't been over there yet, make sure you don't miss the new show at the Woodget Gallery on sim Phasma. The gallery itself is a really nice place to hang out, there's the skyline of Tokyo to admire through the big windows. This latest show is called PersoNation and features ten fantastic portraits by, among others, Miabella Foxley, Rob Danton, Maguire Smit, IsabellaGrace Baroque, James Schwarz, Sennaspirit Coronet, Cienega Soon, and Zap Zhong. As she stood before this remarkable picture of Keiko by the insanely talented four Yip, (OMG you have to see this animation) I asked Siri Woodget why she had chosen this theme for her show.
Siri Woodget: Historically, portraits represented the authority, lineage or religiosity of a person, but in SL, a portrait is an articulation of identity in a realm where identities are much more fluid.
The pictures Siri has chosen to put on show are almost breathtakingly different one from another, glimpses into lives, and eyes, that enrich our own. In their variety, the ten portraits, as the notecard says, 'express the unique intersection of artist and subject' - take a moment to read the notes that go with each portrait, and you find yourself in the presence of twenty interesting people, all talking at once, and no-one minds if you eavesdrop... more than that, you'll get lots of valuable landmarks to see more work by the artists you most admire. I really liked Aaren Reyes by Kasabian Beck it's from a series of pictures called Stem Cells, Kas' approach to what he defines as a 'pop art' series of portraits is very interesting, I leave you to go and read his card. The effects and manipulations speak for themselves, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of the series. More portraits, but on a very different scale, can be found on Portrait Island an initiative of Australia's National Portrait Gallery of Canberra - doppelgänger. There are five installations here, ranging from the naughty animated avatar statues of Gazira Babeli to Cao Fei's melancholy machinima, Man Michinaga's 'last supper' of code portraits (confused? and see yourself) and Autoscopia by Adam Ramona, Christopher Dodds and Justin Clemens.They all rock, but my absolute favourite though is temporary self portrait in preparation for the singularity by Nonnatus Korhonen (in RL Andrew Burrell). It is, to my mind, the closest way to illustrate how thought, and by extension, self, is made: little whirligigs hover close, quietly muttering their stream-of-consciousness, while transparent elements of knowledge, fantasy, feeling and experience intersect within a giant cube, around which an avatar flies, helplessly and endlessly observing the narrative being played out below and around him, bringing into question the location of self itself.
Doppelgänger will be on Portrait Island until March, don't miss it.

It takes one to tango

El tango es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar
Enrique Santos Discepolo

Oh for the joys of the tangueria ... the smoky atmosphere of the milonga, the flickering lights, as the milonguero catches the eye of a beautiful woman, and nods, offering the cabaceo, or silent invitation to dance... a dance, or a date without small talk, where all is in the eyes and the body language, a date lasting the length of a tanda, three or four songs; they say that a tango song without words is romantic, but a tango with lyrics is full of feeling ... and after the dance, on to the next connection, or perhaps not, but be careful, too many dances in a row with one person, and you will both be counted as off limits to other prospective partners... Some say Argentine Tango's true origins are in 1938 - 1940 with the legendary Carlos Gardel, its Golden Age took place in in the late 1940's and early 1950's, when some of the classic tango songs, singers and orchestras were put on vinyl by an amazing range of recording companies in Buenos Aires. Tango reflects the world view of its inventors, the most macho of the milongueros, the compadritos. If you like to read, try Rick McGarrey's online book Tango and Chaos about his adventures with the Tango and other Argentine delights.

Where can you enjoy all this in SL? To my mind, the best tangueria in SL is the Arrabal Tango Club where, thanks to the exclusive music stream created by Favio Piek, you can dance the day or night away using their excellent dance animations, enjoy wine and song, and perhaps catch one of the live performances inside the club. Want to know more? Favio Piek, Ludmilla Writer, and Zonja Capalini's group will keep you updated. I asked Craig Altman of Bits and Bobs animations what it takes to tango in SL...
Craig Altman: I make couple animations myself in Poser and in the case of the tango I was specifically asked for it, to which I replied - sorry but I'm not a dancer, I don't know how it goes, the steps etc. I prefer making up dances as I go along, like my slow dances, I'm then free to decide what I think looks nice. Making a strict dance you kinda can't do that, it's why I've only done that a couple of times. This guy came back to me a few days later with a video he had found of the tango being performed, I watched it and decided - yes it looks like something I can make. It took about 150 hours, about 5 hours to make each second of animation, then another 3-4 days to make the animation work in SL, because complex animations from poser always need a lot of tweaking and reuploading to make them look right on SL AV's. Because the anim is made for two, you cut it in half, upload each partner separately, make sure the upload settings are exactly the same and get the script to start both parts at the same time.
For anyone who's ever had a tender moment ruined by jumping on a poseball and finding themselves in a very unattractive sitting pose instead of the one they were expecting, Craig has an answer.
Craig Altman: When you use an animation set for the first time, the sim downloads it to your cache and then plays it, this is why in a laggy sim, you might 'sit' for about 5 seconds before the anim starts, you may even see the other person start first, this is because their animation was downloaded into your cache and started before yours was. This is why with the best will in the world, the animation of the two partners will not start at the same time even though the script has told them to, most people when they see this, jump off the ballset and jump back on, this works is because by then the animation has been downloaded into both people's cache, so when the script tells them to start again, no downloading is needed.

Craig Altman: Think of it this way. You go to a shop and buy 6 of the same film on DVD, you then post 5 of them to your friends and tell them to play it when they get it so you can all watch it, what chance do you think there is that all 6 of you will be seeing Darth Vader kill Obiwan at the same time? Your friends will receive and play the DVD at different times due to delays in the postal service, they will all see it but it will be out of sync with the others watching it. To fix this, you could phone all your friends, tell them to stop their DVD players and all start them at the same time. That is what resync does. After about 30 seconds, my dance sets stop and restart. By this time the users and those who were watching have the anim in cache, Now they'll see it start at the same time and it will look right, but it will still of course look wrong to anyone who TPs in after this.

So that embarrassing moment where you're sitting in midair instead of in the arms of your hottie is on you, not on the ‘bad’ script. No less cringe-worthy, but now we know. Is this unique to SL?

Craig Altman: No, all online games work this way, it's a common misconception that we are "sharing the same world", we are not really, what is "going on in SL", is essentially your own personal film, exclusive to you.

I always knew you were a movie star....

El tango es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar

Enrique Santos Discepolo

È arrivato l’inverno, è ora di sognare un luogo dove si respira un’aria esotica, passionale, caliente... magari una milonga argentina, sotto le lampade fumose, tra i tavolini fragili, l’aria densa di profumi e desiderio. Il milonguero incontra lo sguardo di una bella donna, senza avvicinarla, con un cenno, il cabaceo, la invita a ballare, un’appuntamento senza parole in cui il discordo si tiene nel linguaggio del corpo, tramite il lessico degli occhi e dei passi, un’ ballo che dura quanto una tanda, una serie di tre o quattro canzoni... si dice che la melodia d’un tango è romantico, mentre le parole infondono nella musica i sentimenti veri... e dopo questi dodici minuti d’intenso contatto, si passa al prossimo partner, o forse no, forse il ballo continua (scorrettissimo abbandonare il partner prima del termine della tanda) ma attento, se balli troppo con la stessa persona, vi renderete ‘off limits’ ad altri possibili incontri...

Gli origini del tango argentino risalgono agli anni trenta e il legendario Carlos Gardel; l’età d’oro del ballo è stato durante gli anni 40 e ’50. A quell’epoca a Buenos Aires furono incisi molti dischi in cui si sentono le orchestre e i cantanti più significativi del genere. Tutt’ora, le canzoni più amate del tango sono di questo periodo. Il tango nasce da balli precedenti, ma è l'invenzione ironica, lirica, prepotente, si dice, dei più macho dei milongueros, i compadritos... E il tanguero più bello di SL? Per me è Arrabal Tango Club dove, grazie a l’esclusivo stream musicale di Favio Piek, e le eccellenti poseballs, insieme alla persona dei tuoi sogni, nell’infinita sera torrida dell’emisfero meridionale del metaverso, puoi ballare tutte le tandas che vuoi.
Ho chiesto a Craig Altman di Bits and Bobs animations cosa significa creare un tango in Second Life.

Craig Altman: Quando mi hanno chiesto di creare un tango all'inizio ho detto di no, io non so ballare in real, non conosco il tango, e poi preferisco la libertà di creare un balli lenti con le pose che più mi piacciono. Ma poi ho visto un video del tango e ho voluto accettare la sfida di ricreare un ballo formale con il programma Poser. Ci sono voluti circa 150 ore in tutto per creare il tango, 5 ore per ogni secondo di movimento, e poi altri tre o quattro giorni per perfezionarlo in SL. Essendo un ballo di coppia, l'animation va tagliata e caricata in due parti e ci vuole tempo per assicurare che le due metà una volta nel metaverso si combaciano.

Se ti è mai capitato di finire su un poseball che 'non funzionava' rendendo goffo quello che doveva essere un momento, e ti sei chiesto ma perchééé... Craig ci dà la spiegazione.

Craig Altman: Quando usi per la prima volta un'animation, viene caricata nel tuo computer, diventando parte delle tua cache. Ci vuole un momento per questo - in un sim con lag, forse anche 5 secondi, ed è questo che crea l'effetto 'sit' ... di solito le persone si staccano dalle poseballs e riprovano, e la seconda volta 'funziona' perché nel frattempo il computer ha caricato l'animation. Ma in ogni caso è impossibile che due persone possono iniziare insieme la stessa animation, e per questo esiste 'resync' - la sincronizzazione dell'animation. Funziona così. Se tu comprassi 6 copie di un DVD e li mandassi a 5 amici, dicendogli di guardare il film appena ricevuto, quali sono le probabilità che tutti voi 6 vedrete nello stesso momento la scena in cui Darth Vader uccide Obiwan? Impossibile, perché la posta porterebbe il DVD ad ogni persona in un orario diverso. Ma per risolvere il problema, potresti telefonare gli amici in conference, e dirgli di spegnere e poi riaccendere tutti insieme. Questo è il 'resync'. Dopo 30 secondi, uno script ferma l'animation e fa ripartire le due parti 'insieme'... Questo è un effetto che si riscontra in tutti i giochi online. Spesso dimentichiamo che il mondo che noi vediamo non è 'SL' una esperienza in comune, ma invece, ognuno ha la propria versione, influenzato da fattori tecnici unici. Siamo, si può dire, protagonisti di un nostro film personale...

A volte tragico, a volte comico, ma sempre avvincente. Se vuoi allontanare questo inverno prima che ti abbia del tutto tra le grinfie, prova il tango al Arrabal. Sarà forse un capitolo indimenticabile del tuo capolavoro...

Scripted weekender

Imagine a thousand cubes, each reacting to SL clouds directly overhead, getting lighter and higher as the cloud density increases, creating a dynamic multidimensional map of our random sky, softly mutating with the movement of light and shade. If you imagined it, good! but you're too late to invent it, which, on the whole is also good, because you can effortlessly go and enjoy the excellence of Storm Cells by Oberon Onmura showing at project Z on sim Cetus.

Storm Cells is interactive, you can fly around on a vehicle, hang out on the central platform, or go for a wander in flight or on foot. If you stand on any one of the cells for a bit, they adopt your name so folks will know you passed this way. Like a lot of big art, you need to give this time, it's a good place to stand and chat, hum, or think while camming out to a vast horizon, and allowing the weather to overtake you. More Zachh, he is playing his piano at Solace Beach at 3 pm SLT where there is also a "Live Music Treasure Hunt! And no, I have no clue what that means, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go and find out. See you there!
Also on Saturday,at noon SLT, Good music and a good cause, with a French accent: at the Monet sim Giverny . Soleil Snook let me know about this wonderful-sounding classical baroque concert! Swiss duo Tom Dowd and Françoise Pronguét will be performing 15th Century music, streamed inworld in aid of the Pancreatic Cancer Reasearch Fund UK, so another for your weekend calendar, at trip over to the Bistro Le Chat on sim Giverny.

The eyes have it

A recevoir tant de cervelles estrangeres,
et si fortes, et si grandes,
il est necessaire que la sienne se foule,
se contraigne et rappetisse,
pour faire place aux autres.

Montaigne 1:XXIV

It's always been a weakness of mine, a man in a kilt, or rather, commenting on a man in a kilt. The possibilities for humour are almost endless. Last night these was just such a specimen at the opening of the black and white photography show of Newbab Zsigmond at Tanalois. Newbab's photos are just splendid, real-world pictures with that otherworldly aura only black and white can reveal, the veiled spectre of feelings frozen in time, in a face, in a landscape. It is hard to believe it is his first solo photo show, he and partner Merlina Rokocoko are stand-out talents in their own right, as well as generous patrons and enthusiastic promotors of art in and off-world via the PiRats sims and their excellent website which, for some bizarre reason, I'd not thought of adding to the 'Other Blogs in English' list to your left. Until now. He has a wonderful eye for a landscape, and the portraits, many of them Merlina in RL, are just beautiful. Really worth checking out.
The man in the kilt was Igor Ballyhoo turned out to be more Bosnia than Bannockburn, if you know what I mean. And, yes, apparently it is airy down there. He did the usual wordskirimishing when I asked him if he was a producer or consumer of art, which is understandable, the word 'artist' is so loaded these days and few wish to come off sounding precious, even though they are rightly proud of their accomplishments.
I thought I remembered the name, and then he mentioned his Gargantuan Uterus /me clears throat and quotes from notecard:

"Welcome to the Gargantuan Uterus! It is made with only one idea - recreation of most important moment in universe ! All of us that come here have been already in this situation in RL, some time ago. So, my plan is simple: First, join Pirats group so you can rezz here !Grab for free the two vehicles here, (sperm-mobile and eggcell-mobile) rezz either of them - never mind which one, we are all made of both of these, sit in it and drive around bumping in other vehicles ! That is moment of creation of life !"

In the picture, that's me wearing egg and sperm at the same time (oooh! miracle of life!) as I wanted you to see how fun both vehicles are, and I was by myself... hey, who're you calling hermaphrothingy... The vehicles, are copy /transfer, but note the notecard warning: "If you sell it for money, God give you hemorrhoids!"

Meanwhile, back in the gallery... Igor offered to show me his 'axis of life' which turned out not to be a kilt-related offer but an Actual Thing Worth Seeing, on sim Salmo, one of a number of places the Itinerant Igor graces with this creations. Here it is, the axis mundi the centre of the universe, the point in which all the good and evil of the metaverse come together in mirrored glory. The next words out of my mouth you already know... but you get a better look at the bird bit of the installation down in the Italian blurb. And no, it's not my crappy camera, he really has no eyes, he told me he doesn't need them. No eyes, no trousers, we may have a theme developing here... Turned out, there was more - a whole platform of other sculptures including these two magnificent angels, and a very disturbed half-child... the top half, with tentacle arms that Igor said wants to embrace the world... if I were the world I'd stand well back. You can see what I mean down below.Back in his castle, next to his large fire and little scissor table (don't run with it) Igor told me of his love of classical music - witness the very nice chairs are upholstered with the score of Bach's Kunst der fuge (that's Laibach's version of it). As a final treat he showed me his pièce de resistance.... a magical music box that plays Für Elise or, as we used to call it when I was a child at piano lessons, furry knees. Anyway he made all of it, the beautiful carillon sounds, the moving parts, the textures, it is just beautiful! I'm hoping when he reads this he will give me one. Oh come on, what is it with you today? the box, I mean. Bellissime le foto di Newbab Zsigmond in mostra a Tanalois questa settimana, foto bianco e nero di RL; paesaggi misteriosi e ritratti luminosi frammenti di una vita reale ricca e nostalgica. Impossibile credere che si tratti della prima volta che il fondatore di PiRats, uno dei gruppi artistici più prestigiosi di SL, abbia voluto condividere con noi le foto della sua Francia e i ritratti della sua bellissima moglie Nathalie in SL Merlina Rokocoko.
Mentre ammiravo le foto ho notato una persona senza occhi e ...senza pantaloni e naturalmente mi sono presentata. Ho riconosciuto il nome, si trattava di Igor Ballyhoo ormai famoso a PiRats per il suo Utero gargantuo.... guarda meno brutto di quanto può sembrare, ci sono piccole navicelle, uno spermatozoide, e un... vabe' non sarò certo io a spiegarti come funzionano queste cose...

Igor mi ha proposto una visita al suo axis mundi e non ho saputo dire di no... ed eccolo il punto d'incontro tra il bene e il male, il positivo e il negativo di SL, come due piante che si rispecchiano un'infinità di rami e uno stormo di colombe, anzi due, uno per ogni albero: in un mondo fatto di tante sfumature creative e emotive qui la certezza del bianco e nero. Mi è piaciuto molto. Igor mi ha voluto mostrare altre altre sue sculture aprendo anch'esse una finestra sulla spiritualità dell'artista. Angeli, monaci e forbici cedono spazio a una figura un po' sinistra, il 'figlio' di Igor ma un bambino a metà, con dei tentacoli al posto delle braccia.... vuole, secondo il suo creatore, avviluppare amorevolmente il mondo; fossi io il mondo mi guarderei bene da un tale abbraccio... Dopo a casa sua, un castello tetro, ci siamo accomodati accanto al tavolino con le gambe a forbici - letteralmente - su queste splendide poltrone ricoperte da una stoffa sulla quale puoi vedere lo spartito del Kunst der fuge . L'artista ama molto la musica classica. Mi ha fatto ascoltare quella versione della fuga, e poi mi ha fatto vedere il tesoro a mio avviso più prezioso della sua collezione, una scatola musicale o carillon davvero strepitosa. Ha creato tutti i pezzi, persino la musica - il per Elisa di Beethoven.

Dalle immagini stupende d'un mondo bianco e nero di Newbab, all'intricato meccanismo del carillon di Igor, il metaverso - o meglio, i creativi del metaverso - non finiscono mai a stupirci, e chissà quante altre preziosissime sorprese ci aspettano ...

Lion Heart

Meet Lion Igaly, artist, builder, gallery impresario, and all round good guy. Lion's often described as a tireless worker for his family of artists, some of them new, others well-known names in the SL art world, like Shellina Winkler, Gleman Jun and nessuno Myoo. Lion had only been in SL for a few days back in may of '07 and was in search as, he puts it, a 'reason for being in SL' when he noticed how many creative people were producing beautiful things but had nowhere to show their work. With a background in IT, building had been the first thing that drew him into the virutal world, in fact, he confessed to me that he had learnt how to make furniture before he figured out how to fly. Being the son of artists, and having also married an artist in RL, this area of our culture was the one that attracted him most and so quite naturally it occurred to him that this could be his mission in the metaverse, to put together a gallery and make exhibition spaces available, spaces that he thought about intensely before building, coming up with a design which is both functional and elegant, a literal showcase, which he called Piramide. The original building has undergone some changes, but that first construction, made in the sandbox at Secondlearning Italy, immediately became a place where many of his regular exhibitors within the group known as Orion Tales. Like Lion, many of his artists began their first experiments in primsqueezing in this very sandbox - you can see a photo down in the Italian part - and Lion stil regularly drops by to check out newcomers and invite some to put their work on show in his gallery. Secondlearning Italy is owned by an elearning company based in Florence, INDIRE and they eventually made available a space on the same sim for the Piramide gallery, just a few meters away from the place where it was first created. True to the spirit of italianate philanthropy, there are links and information boards designed specifically to help newbies through those first essential steps of grasping the fundamentals of SL. Lion has also created a teleport link to a number of other galleries, cementing the sense of alliance and community that are so important to his vision of the metaversal art world.Lion's own home reveals his sentimental side, it's the first house he ever made and he has never really changed it, apart from adding art work, of course. Like a lot of people his first attempt were hampered by not really understanding tools - he subsequently attended some classes on the same Secondlearning sim - but considering this was a true newbie effort, the result is rather handsome. The showroom on the same same site is worth a visit, nowadays Lion makes particle effects, fireworks and fountains and thanks to the income from this, is able to fund much of his gallery work. He put on a fireworks show for me while we talked.I wondered if it is difficult to keep everybody happy - artists and primcounts often can cause problems.
Lion Igaly: The first gallery quickly proved to be too small for all the artists and the pieces I wanted to show, so I got involved with another gallery, and found pieces of land to rent here and there. at one point I was running no less than four separate galleries. As far as prims are concerned, the temprezzer has really solved that problem. Any work that is more than 50 prims in size goes in a temprezzer, so no artist needs to feel he or she is limited by the primcount in the gallery or the size of other people's work.One of the most difficult aspects of running a gallery is finding appropriate and reliable sims on which to set up the gallery. The Diadem, my other gallery, was on two different sims, one of which disappeared in the night taking with it all the art, the hopes and the hard work involved in putting together an art show. This version of the Diadem was also on a sim where the owner appeared to have abandoned SL altogether, and in face just this week it also went to the bottom of the metaversal sea along with all our art. It's really frustrating when owners don't trouble over their tenants and their needs.

In his kindly manner, Lion often refers to his artists as 'ragazzi' or kids... I asked him why and he pointed out that SL has a rejuvenating effect on many participants: older people feel a new lease on life and a creativity that would not be thinkable in the hidebound lines of everyday life in the real world. He feels responsible for them, to some extent and that sense of community is very important to him, and when I asked him about the choices he makes among artists and art (I see an awful lot of genuinely horrible art in my wanderings, I can only imagine the stuff he must wade through) he gave me a very diplomatic answer, pointing out that the artists vision doesn't always transmit into the product they place before the public, and that in many cases it is a question of time and experience, not talent, that holds them back from showing something magnificent. He even managed to restore the reputation of the dreaded Slow Rotation Script, by pointing me in the direction of some magnificent sculptures that use it. Well, a little bit. I was really saddened to learn that the Diadem had disappeared, of course, we all know nothing in SL is forever, and the actual structure with its wonderful disappearing walls and floors, remains in Lion's inventory ready to be set up in its next home, but the work involved in reorganizing all the art, well, we're all familiar with the concept; those hours of care are gone for good, except that a trace remains in the appreciation his artists, his ragazzi have for Lion.

Lion Igaly: It's essential to keep moving forward. In my field, keeping updated with new techniques and improvements is the only way to survive: he who does not update is lost. I see SL as an intellectual challenge, much like a good book; if the mind is the only part of the body that never really sleeps, which is a great thing, since that constant striving for new developments and inspiration is what prevents boredom from setting in. One way I keep myself on the cutting edge is by running a course on particles. It's a free, two-part beginner's class in particles which has just been held at AdOpera, another Italian sim owned by Adamo Grau. Rather than simply presenting the same course over and over, I try to rethink it each time.

Lion is also an artist and the Tanalois gallery recently hosted a retrospective of his sculptures including the humourous Cubistic temptations on Love and Psyche of Canova shown at the top of this post, and a small but fascinating immersion piece called Electronic inside, there's a photo of it down below, which makes you feel like an electron, a tiny powerful force operating in a sea of dynamic energy, brilliant fascinating almost to the point of exhaustion a perfect metaphor for SL creatives. Check out all the photos from the show on his flickr page.
Lion Igaly: Of course, there are times when the daily grind involved in the business side of SL can be a bit tiresome, and like everyone I have my days when the prospect of coming inworld and dealing with it all is unappealing. But on the whole SL has brought me into contact with a community that I have been proud to serve, in my own small way. It has enriched my life. It's hard to imagine my life without the friendships have made here, close friends, partners in work and play; I never imagined this was possible before I came into SL, and now, I don't think I'd like to live without it.

Thirza Ember: So would you pixellate yourself if it were possible?

Lion Igaly: Well who knows? Now it looks like people are going to live to be well over a hundred years old, who can say what the future might bring? And perhaps it wouldn't be a bad life, as long as the lag stayed at a minimum. It might be a fine life...at least until the first systemwide failure at Linden Labs...

Appena dopo pochi giorni il suo arrivo in SL, nel maggio del 2007, Lion Igaly ha visto tanti creativi senza fissa dimora che avevano cose molto belle da mostrare senza un posto dove farlo. Era in cerca di uno scopo per stare in SL. Ha pensato che fare una galleria e mettere in mostra quelle belle cose poteva essere la sua missione in SL. Andava a piedi all'inizio perchè non sapeva volare, ma aveva già imparato a costruire salotti !! Essendo un po' figlio di artista, ama l'arte da sempre in SL, come in RL. L'ha pensato intensamente, l'ha immaginato funzionale per quello che doveva essere una vetrina per gioielli da mostrare e così ha immaginato e costruito la Piramide.
Accanto alla sua casa, negozio ha una attività commerciale, vende prodotti come i fuochi d'artificio visibili nella foto qui sopra nella parte inglese. Con i proventi delle vendite di SL porta avanti la sua attività di gallerista senza troppi sforzi. Costruire questa casa è stato emozionante, era alle prime armi anche con quella : non l'ha mai cambiata, ci è affezionato. Lion Igaly: Le difficoltà? All'inizio per me erano immense, non conoscevo tools per costruttori e allineavo i prims a occhio e con grande fatica e tempo. Poi ho seguito dei corsi a INDIRE e le cose sono un po' migliorate... Una volta finito di fare il palazzo ero letteralmente circondato da amici nella sandbox di indire che esprimevano molto bene la loro creatività e li ho invitati a esporre. Ho affittato un terreno, ma era troppo piccolo, ne ho affittati altri intorno per farli esporre e abbiamo creato la prima collettiva artistica, ho fondato il gruppo Orion Tales che ancora oggi espone in permanenza alla Piramide di Indire

Lion Igaly: Qui siamo a SecondLearning Italy il sim di una società pubblica di elearning di Firenze che si chiama INDIRE. Il gestore mi ha affidato uun pezzo di terra per far vedere le possibilità del building artistico. Qui ho esposto tutte le locandine delle precedenti edizioni della piramide nell'ordine.
Lion Igaly: Questa invece la sandbox di INDIRE, sono nato praticamente qui, in questo angolo. Thirza Ember: La disposizione dello spazio espositivo come la gestisci? voglio dire, puoi ospitare un numero limite di artisti e ad ognuno presumabilmente vengono concessi un certo numero di prims... litigano con te a proposito??
Lion Igaly: Con i temprezzer non è più necessario litigare. Oltre i 50 prim li facco rezzare a tempo, cosi abbiamo sempre prim a sufficienza, e ne avanzano. Lion Igaly: Cerco tutt'ora spazi espositivi per far esporre i miei ragazzi attuali e futuri. Come ti dicevo non so che fine farà questo spazio, l'owner se ne sta disinteressando, quindi sto cercando un altra sede. Hai voglia di fare un po' di scale? C'è anche l'ascensore, ma le scale sono un altra cosa, arrampicarsi in mezzo all'arte appaga gli occhi. Abbiamo anche un teleport che unisce diverse gallerie d'arte italiane, una mia iniziativa... Si sono ritirati coloro che pensavano di fare sim commerciali in SL. Avevano sbagliato l'approccio puoi fare sim commerciali, ma in modo collaborativo e alla pari senza fare il proprietario e basta SL è una comunità, prima di tutto non bisogna urtarne i sentimenti. Qui c'è di tutto: come in RL, ma bisogna dare spazio a quelli che meritano e provare a far giudicare al pubblico. Cerco solo di escludere quelli che in modo palese non hanno mezzi espressivi sufficienti a creare quello che hanno in mente. Per loro ci sarà tempo in seguito per migliorare comunque credo di avere scoperto ed aiutato ad emergere molti dei talenti italiani che ora hanno successo nel mondo di SL più internazionale. A molti dei miei ragazzi arrivano oggi tanti riconoscimenti da tutto il mondo artistico di SL e si stanno facendo valere ti faccio dei nomi: Daco Monday, Zhora Maynard, Solkide Auer, Shellina Winkler, Nessuno myoo, Kicca Igaly, Gleman Jun. In genere li cerco io, li guardo creare nella sandbox, osservo le loro opere quando le rezzano e poi propongo a loro di esporre. Qualcuno è venuto da me, qualcuno l'ho dovuto respingere, altri sono stati molto interessanti e hanno esposto le loro opere nelle mie gallerie, che fino a poco tempo fa erano tre anzi quattro, considerando anche La T&S gallery che avevo in gestione, è stato emozionante scoprire talenti come nessuno Myoo, si sono dimostrati fin da subito un passo avanti. Ci vuole indole e talento e prima o poi il talento vero sboccia come un fiore. Ho assistito a tante fioriture che solo al pensarci mi vengono i brividi è affascinante vedere emergere il talento, che a fatica si fa strada tra i pochi mezzi che l'artista all'inizio ha a disposizione. Un paio di anni fa, quasi spinto dal loro entusiasmo nel creare, mi sono fatto prendere da quello stesso entusiasmo e ho cominciato anche io a cercare di creare qualcosa che trasmettesse emozioni, visioni e simbolismi della mia mente. Dopo il primo anno di esposizioni nella Piramide sentivo la necessità di un palazzo più grande dove ospitare più artisti e più opere e più grosse e ho costruito il Diadem un palazzo che nello stile vuole essere anch'esso una vetrina ideale.

Thirza Ember: Trovo che spesso la teca - il palazzo, la galleria - chiamiamola come vogliamo, nonostante le infinite possibilità di SL, rappresenta una sfida, una distrazione dall'arte.

Lion Igaly: Sì purtroppo, ed era quello che volevo evitare, distrarre il pubblico anzi volevo condurlo a vedere quello che conta: le opere poi nella mia mente un palazzo esposizioni non deve nascondere i suoi contenuti, li deve mostrare, soprattutto qui in SL. Il Diadem era ospitato in due sim differenti, una delle quali è scomparsa improvvisamente per mancato pagamento dei fee dei suoi owner, con tanto di mostra attiva! Fu un dispiacere, vedere tradite le aspettative di tanti ragazzi che avevano posto lì le loro opere al vaglio del pubblico, ma questa è SL, un po' leggenda, un po' prosaica, un po' instabile. Anche il Diadem che rimane corre il rischio di scomparire, l'owner se ne sta disinteressando della sua sim, anzi ne ha messa in vendita una metà... Infatti proprio in questi giorni il Diadem è sparito... e si va alla ricerca di un nuovo sim dove possono essere ospitati sia le opere d'arte che il bellissimo palazzo di vetro. Ho notato che Lion parla spesso dei 'ragazzi', ed alcuni senz'altro sono minori di lui in anni real/sl, ma ho chiesto a Lion... tu li vedi tutti così?

Lion Igaly: Sono tutti ragazzi ai miei occhi perchè per stare in SL bisogna essere ragazzi dentro, e spegnere la serietà che RL ti impone di ossevare nel mondo del lavoro. Conosco amici che in RL sono molto anziani, che quando sono in SL volano con la fantasia come quando avevano 15 anni. SL è un motore per la creatività e la fantasia...

Thirza Ember: Quindi il futuro artistico di SL come lo vedi? Ci saranno sempre piu' opere interattive e (parola frusta) " immersive " ...abbiamo superato (io spero) l'epoca del slow rotation script e nasce il movimento tutto particelle, sculpties, audiovisual...

Lion Igaly: Sì, l'abbiamo superata nella media, ma alcune opere tipo quelle di nessuno, giusto per capirci, continueranno ad essere slow rotation e per fortuna. Il futuro lo vedo sempre più interessante come utilizzo del mezzo cresce l'esperienza di chi è rimasto dentro, producendo arte e questo permette di raggiungere livelli impensati per il passato. Le installazioni immersive e reattive sono sempre più numerose e ben fatte ma anche le foto e i quadri sono bellissimi... io come sfondo del mio pc, in questo momento ho una foto al tramonto del Diadem. Dirai che noia, ma per me è un ricordarmi che anche qui dentro in SL qualcuno mi aspetta e conta su di me; è la molla che mi fa andare avanti oltre le crisi di noia o repulsione che a volte mi vengono da SL, specie quando vedo le cose trasformate in routine e business. Mi piace stare in SL e trovo il modo di affinare la mente anche qui, oltre che col leggere un buon libro. Stare qui è una sfida alle proprie capacità intellettuali, la mente è l'unica parte del corpo che non dorme mai, e per me la mia non deve dormire, deve sempre correre sullo sviluppo di qualche cosa altrimenti si annoia. Adesso, per esempio, sto preparando una replica di un seminario sull'uso creativo delle particelle, ma non mi limito a replicarlo, sto lavorando per migliorarlo in modo che gli artisti che lo seguiranno possano trovare maggiori spunti per le loro opere e se poi le loro opere saranno migliori grazie anche al mio seminario, io ne trarrò grande soddisfazione - e poi ci sono i nuovi progetti che mi permetteranno di avere nuove sfide davanti a me e di accontentare quella testa che porto sul collo che non si vuole annoiare... anche io ho fatto.Di recente a Tanalois c'è stato la presentazione dell'opera omnia di Lion, e mi ha portato a vedere la mostra uno dei pezzi più bellis l'umoristico tentazioni cubiste su Amore e Psiche del Canova... altre foto e più belle delle mie le troverai qui.
Lion Igaly: Ora ti mostro la più curiosa, a mio giudizio. Prova ad entrare. Si chiama electronic inside, ti sentirai come un elettrone... Sono entrata, l'effetto era davvero molto curioso sembrava il circuito stampato di tutte le cose che avevo in programma di fare questa settimana... curiosa, ho posto a Lion questa domanda

Thirza Ember: Prima di SL, sentivi il desiderio di avere un gruppo di collaboratori cosi? immaginavi questa possibilita'?
Lion Igaly: Io non avevo la minima idea di quanto bello potesse essere il vivere la comunità di SL in amicizia, anzichè come una esperienza da mettere sotto la lente e basta. Ora lo so, e non voglio rinunciare a questo tipo di vissuto.
Thirza Ember: vorresti anche tu pixellarti? a me ogni tanto torna la voglia...
Lion Igaly: capperi, qui c'è il caso che si viva anche oltre i 100 anni a cui tendiamo su RL, fino al primo crash irreparabile dei server della Linden però, non oltre ahahahaha
Se hai o conosci qualcuno che desidererebbe ospitare questa magnifica galleria, non esitare di contattare Lion Igaly de persona. Sarai ben felice di avere tra gli amici questo bravissimo gallerista dal 'cuor di leone'...