Bubbled

This is the story of Susa Bubble

who went to bed single and woke up double.

Woke up as two in a single bed,

"who are you ...who are you?" she said.

"It's not my fault, I'm not to blame,

.. blame her and her and her...we all are the same..."

Rose Borchovski

A lot of things worry most of us when we go to bed. Did I remember to turn out the gas, or only the cat; is all this snow really a sign of global warming, what will tomorrow bring, it that a freckle or a mole...  but rarely if ever do we feel struck to the heart by the fear of ...waking up double. Or at least I didn't, until I went to see Rose Borchovski's fantastic show at Arte Libera on sim Nonsense, run by simba Schumann and  Storm Blauvelt.  At Arte Libera, I ran into simba and Rose's collaborator, Vive Voom, and I asked Vive how their connection works.

Vive Voom: Rose and I have imaginations that border each other. We continually find inspiration by just watching one another's work, and in that sense, it's a never-ending process. The work here is all Rose's, I feel I'm very lucky to be associated with it...

A sort of twinning of souls, then. I wondered if that meant Vive felt doubled.

Vive Voom: For me, this virtual existence means having the tools to get deep inside the hidden parts of ourselves and to become what we refuse to be in RL but what we wish we could be, and in the process, we free extraordinary energies, we can learn how to grasp new definitions that are more complete, more true, simply because we're able to look inside of ourselves without fear...

This is Fear of Sleeping. In a waking dream of fractured identity, the fantastic clockwork mechanism of blame and retort are given voice and form, through the china blue eyes of a little girl... or is she a doll? or is that voice merely an echo of the one within us all? Susa is doubled and doubled, odd and even, falling and multiplying in a world of whisper and lullaby as enchanting as it is disquieting.

The chilling story unfolds through sound, installation, image and the written word on a wintry platform, fringed with dark, bare trees, and includes artwork by Igor Ballyhoo. Step in through the archway, and you will find underfoot not snow but a handwritten page - a letter penned long ago, or the notes of an observer, perhaps even Susa's diary - adding to the mystery of the montages and pictures. Poses and dioramas allow you to become part of the deliciously ghoulish story, walking among the briers, and right through the teardrops, where you can study the mysterious fire under those watchful blue glass eyes.

This is just part of the story so far: you can see other chapters, including The Last Susas, Fear of Falling and Time Passing at the Gallery of Fine Arts. My personal favourite,the spectacular Frozen is at Angel of the Mysts Gallery where I took this picture of Rose. There will be all kinds of multimedia events springing from this wonderful concept, so join Rose and Vive's Fish group inworld to keep yourself apprised.  Rose plans to continue adding chapters to the Art Landscape, and one can only wait with a sense of sinister longing to see what her little brain child will do next...

I'm going to shut up now, because Iono Allen, the machinima god (his BL offering Love is the Answer and A Prim's Happiness with Adam Ramona are just two of his other amazing pieces) has made a really beautiful presentation of Rose's work... here it is.

Di notte prima di prendere sonno, vengono in mente tanti pensieri, tante paure.. avrò lasciato acceso il gas?  esiste davvero l'effetto serra? quel rumore sottile, è il gatto oppure un ladro? abbiamo un gatto? ma scommetto che, non ti è mai capitato una notte in bianco, pensando alla possibilità di svegliarti doppiato... finora. Rose Borchovski ci presenta, con la storia di Susa Bubble, uno straordinario concetto interpretato tramite immagini, testo, musica e istallazioni a Arte Libera di simba Schumann e Storm Blauvelt.
A Arte Libera ho avuto il grandissimo piacere di conoscere non solo la meravigliosa simba ma anche Vive Voom. Ho chiesto Vive di raccontarmi un po' la sua vita di creatore insieme a Rose. 

Vive Voom: Io e Rose abbiamo immaginari che confinano l'uno con l'altra. Troviamo ispirazione in tutto quello che vediamo fare dall'altro, e in questo senso la collaborazione non termina mai. Le istallazioni qui sono frutto dell'arte di Rose. Io sono un privilegiato...

Un gemellaggio di anime, dunque. Ho chiesto a Vive se si sente raddoppiato, come Susa...

Vive Voom: Be', essere virtuali vuole dire avere uno strumento per scendere nei posti più nascosti di noi, e diventare ciò che rifiutiamo di essere ma che vorremmo, e in questo modo liberiamo energie straordinariee, possiamo imparare a cogliere nuove definizioni, più complete, più vere, perché non abbiamo piu paura di vederci dentro...

La storia di Susa è in ogni senso costruita a strati, da scoprire in momenti e in modi diversi; il paesaggio artistico conta già quattro capitoli, questo, intitolato Paura di dormire si svolge in una specie di giardino invernale, per terra non la neve, ma un foglio di carta, sulla quale si intravedono le righe di una lettera... o è un diario? o gli appunti d'un osservatore di questo strano fenomeno, la piccola Susa, dagli occhi spalancati anche lei un mistero : è una bambina o una bambola? Quale forza oscura opera in lei o su di lei? La poesia dice che cade... dove e come? Attraverso le sue lacrime, il suo lettino, e le stupende foto, e altri tesori creati da Igor Ballyhoo, le risposte forse ci attendono qui a Arte Libera, e per approfondire, è consigliabile anche una visita agli altri capitoli The Last Susas, Fear of Falling e Time Passing alla Gallery of Fine Arts e il mio preferito, Frozen a Angel of the Mysts, ma attento : Susa ti tiene sott'occhio...

Cantastorie: Marjorie Fargis

And who can sever love from charity?

        Love’s Labour’s Lost. 

Fake sickdays are the best ones, also leading to the possibility of attending events that rl work (shakes fist) would not normally permit, like this afternoon, when I went to Jack Davies' place Astral Dreams and finally heard a concert and presentation by Alessio Santacroce and his band La Quarta Vita. The show was elegantly presented by giovanna Delphin of Immersiva who organize and stream on their .ning lots of live events including the hugely successful 'Scienza on the road' a series of lectures by physicists, doctors, psychologists and others designed to make science more accessible and fun. And don't say to me 'oh but it will all be in Italian, I won't be able to follow,' go see for yourself, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Events are advertised in the usual way. Meanwhile back at Astral Dreams, Alessio's presentation revealed a surprising and delightful twist. He's in it for the money, but in the best possible way... money from the CD and from his book (called I Giudici, a short novel about four very different people who get stuck in a life together) go to a charity called Anthropos that helps people in Southern Sudan: thanks to contributions, including Linden love, they have already built one school in the area, and are working on a second one. A very worthy cause; for more details, IM giovanna Delphin or go to Alessio's Facebook page and take it from there.
The show was a really well put together mixture of songs, readings, interview and sandy beach. I sat with Marjorie Fargis, whose delicious decollete delights all the boys (she paid me to say that). Later in the evening she gave couple of readings from the book. She has a warm, lively voice, and it was lovely to hear it. I asked Marjorie how she got into the live reading and presenting side of SL.

Marjorie Fargis: I started in SL in 2008, and at the beginning spent time in voice mostly chatting with friends, but over a period of time that turned into invitations to be reader and presenter at all kind of things, from fashion shows to art openings. I remember very well my first proper event: it was an open mic evening on the theme "The Uselessness of Art" It was supposed to get people thinking and talking and in fact a number of really interesting comments were made, but things didn't go exactly smoothly. After a while the discussion got onto the topic of religion, and the situation got pretty tense. I had to really bend over backwards to get back control of the evening, but in a way, that made it an even more pleasant experience, I felt like I'd really been able to handle the situation, and I'd had a lot of fun doing it too. I really love working with Talete Flanagan and giovanna Delphin of Immersiva, and one of my fondest memories is the evening we did a film quiz night. There were loads of people present, and giovanna and I improvized sketches for the audience to guess, it was hilarious. But I am also very committed to being part of Immersiva's remit to make science and culture accessible to all. Since most people consider this a platform for entertainment, it's really something of an achievement when we talk about subjects that are a bit more meaty, and manage to make them appetizing. It gives me a lot of satisfaction when people keep coming back for more. True, sometimes things go wrong, voice fails or there are other technical glitches, but I love to rise to the challenge, that's part of the pleasure of hosting: my attitude is 'The show must go on'!
I wondered what advice Marjorie would have for anyone considering a similar path in SL.
Marjorie Fargis: When you host an event, you have to have a global understanding of what is going on around you. Choose your venue wisely. Think in terms of occupancy, lag, security and traffic rather than just the look of the place on the screen. You need good people around you, the kind of people who are willing to give the best of themselves in the moment. Getting your event noticed is also key, advertising it on social networks like FB and getting a plug on various blogs helps a lot. Researching and rehearsing the event is essential too... at the end of the day, it's a lot of work, but it pays off! The only way to make it work it by being patient and willing to work hard... and the payoff will come.
Marjorie's not a builder, she sees herself as an observer, a raconteur rather than a creator, but she believes very strongly in the educational value of the metaverse, and tries to bring inworld many of the artists that thrill her in RL. I asked her who she'd pick if she were going to make an Arts Park.
Marjorie Fargis: That's a hard question. I see myself as a storyteller - in Italian we say cantastorie a story singer: I don't build, but I'd like to make a Burning Life style sim where artists could interpret their favourite RL works - art within art! If I had to pick a single person, it would be  actor and director Kenneth Branagh. I've always loved the way he reinterprets Shakespeare in his films with originality and imagination. I would have a sim-stage, where avatar actors could perform in plays in Branagh's style, and the production could really go wild with imaginative scenery that would transcend place and time. I am thinking of it as a global work of art, where musicians could provide and play original music, creating a truly immersive experience for the audience, who would be a part of the action, where voices in many languages would join together, acting, singing and improvising. It would be a sort of infernal circle for virtual souls where the parts of actors, creators and spectators become fused and bring into being new art...that unique and exclusive expression that only the metaverse makes possible.

Libera per una volta di entrare in SL in un orario inconsueto... e di sentire per la prima volta la musica di Alessio Santacroce. Alessio, livornese, è scrittore e cantautore, ha presentato a Astral Dreams la land di Jack Davies. Il nuovo CD di Alessio si chiama La quarta via, come il suo band, e l'ha presentato  insieme a un nuovo libro. S'intitola I giudici : quattro estranee si trovano bloccati in un ascensore - la brava Marjorie Fargis ha letto per noi un paio di brani di questo breve ma avvincente romanzo, davvero bello, acquistarlo significa non solo poter conoscere la finale imprevedibile del libro, ma anche contribuire a una buona causa, la costruzione di scuole nel Sudan, un'iniziativa di Anthropos. 
Sentendola leggere cosi bene i brani dal libro, ho voluto sapere cosa significa fare la presentatrice in SL, e ho chiesto a Marjorie di raccontarmi un po al sua storia. Si trova in SL dal 2008; inizialmente frequentava una piccola land dove più che eventi si tenevano delle chiacchierate di confronto tra amici, poi con il passaparola iniziarono a chiederla di presentare serate di ogni genere in diverse land. Ero curiosa di sapere se si ricordava la prima esperienza da presentatrice metaversale.
Marjorie Fargis: Oh sì che la ricordo! Decisi di organizzare una serata sull'arte, usai come tema un intervento che avevo scritto per la RL e che si intitolava "L'inutilità dell'Arte", volevo provocare una discussione. Intervennero persone diverse fu molto bello. Ma non andò tutto liscio. Ad un certo punto qualcuno cambiò nettamente il tema della discussione portandolo sulla religione e la situazione cominciò a farsi tesa. Feci davvero i salti mortali per riprendere la conduzione della serata. Poi però si concluse tutto per il meglio. Mi sentivo bene. Sono esperienze che vivo anche nella RL e che mi portano una grande carica. Poi quando finiscono c'è lo scarico della tensione e quella nube di stelline che ti girano intorno alla testa attribuendoti un'espressione molto buffa di soddisfazione. L'evento che ricordo mi ha divertita di più è stata una serata ad Immersiva. Presentammo un quiz sul cinema a cui parteciparono in molti. Sul palco eravamo giovanna Delphin ed io e trascorremmo tutta la serata a divertire il pubblico con degli sketch improvvisati.  Gli eventi a cui sono più affezionata sono quelli in collaborazione con giovanna Delphin e Talete Flanagan. Ci occupiamo di divulgazione culturale e scientifica. La bellezza sta proprio nella difficoltà di affrontare degli argomenti seri in una piattaforma originariamente dedicata al gioco. La soddisfazione si raggiunge quando il pubblico conferma il proprio apprezzamento ritornando più volte ad ascoltarti. Infatti personalmente quasi non credevo di riuscire a tenere sveglie tutte quelle persone parlando di scienza nella letteratura.
 E quando SL non vuole collaborare...?

Marjorie Fargis: A volte ci sono problemi con il voice, che per presentare è fondamentale e la maggior parte delle serate sono dominate dal lag che impedisce di svolgere le presentazioni con una certa armonia. Ma sono una donna fortunatamente dotata di spirito d'iniziativa e al minimo problema..cerco sempre di andare avanti con l'evento inventandomi qualcosa..."Show must go on!". Questo tipo di lavoro richiede una conoscenza a 360 gradi di tutti gli aspetti che compongono l'evento. La ricerca del luogo dove si svolgerà è vincolata non solo alla bellezza o meno della land, ma soprattutto alla sua capacità di ospitare avatar e alla sua frequentazione (problemi di sicurezza o di di poco traffico). La gestione dei collaboratori che devono poter dare il meglio nei momenti che dedicano a SL. La divulgazione dell'evento in SL e fuori con una campagna mirata che vada a toccare i maggiori social network e i blog che parlano di metaverso. La verifica e supervisione dei contenuti...insomma è un lavoro...vero e proprio! Consiglio a chi vuole organizzare eventi in SL di armarsi di pazienza e buona volontà.
Marjorie si definisce osservatrice, cantastorie, non builder, ma crede fermamente nel potere educativo e divulgativo del Metaverso, e cerca di portare inworld gli artisti che conosce in RL: le ho chiesto che tipo di Arts Park creerebbe se avesse la possibilità.

Marjorie Fargis: Domanda impegnativa! Mi piacerebbe riunire degli artisti in una sim vuota tipo quella del Burning Life e dar loro la possibilità di creare opere all'interno di un ambiente da loro stessi ideato: arte che contiene arte! Se dovessi scegliere scelgo Kenneth Branagh, il regista/attore, che seguo da anni nelle sue assolutamente fantasiose rivisitazioni delle opere di Shakespeare. Pensando a lui immagino una land palcoscenico dove si possano rappresentare con gli avatar le opere di Shakespeare e dove la sua già fervida immaginazione si possa sbizzarrire a creare scenografie virtuali per commedie e tragedie traslate di tempo e luoghi. Penso ad opere d'arte virtuali realizzate per dar vita a queste rappresentazioni. A musicisti che realizzino accompagnamenti atti a rendere il tutto assolutamente immersivo per gli spettatori, che verrebbero a far parte loro stessi della rappresentazione.  A voci in tutte le lingue che si intreccino per recitare, cantare ed improvvisare. Insomma una specie di girone infernale per anime virtuali dove i ruoli di attori, creatori e spettatori si confondessero per dar vita ad arte nuova... quella espressione unica ed esclusiva che solo il metaverso concede.

Weekend in New England

There once was a girl from Nantucket...

No, nothing rude, although I'm arguably under-dressed for such an occasion... my point is, this weekend there's a 19 hour musical event going on at Nantucket Village Square that's Second Life New England... a 65 sim zone I only heard of recently - how embarrassing! - run by the lovely Becca Horsforth and her talented team. The LSNE site will put you on to the many things there are to see, especially Mystic of course (stop by for a pizza, but Don't miss the photos of RLNE by acclaimed photographer Evad Slade. The money they're raising is to help Haiti, so visiting and contributing is good for your soul as well as your whole...

Take a pics few of your own... and if some pesky item won't rez, is ugly, or plain annoying (it works for avies also) just make it invisible! I (lame as ever) only recently discovered this lovely feature, thanks to my favourite photo people, Koinup. I expect you already know  how, but if not, here's the link.

Hope you soon get over to spend some time in New England, among the long rocky beaches, as Barry Manilow sang - but also to the village, the shops and the open air Theater and share in their culture, their chowder, and of course their great cause.

Wall to Wall

Teacher: Get on with your work.

Pink Floyd, The Wall.

About an hour north of Beijing, draped along the the dry mountain ridges of Luanping county, is the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall of China. In the 1500's, under the watchful eye of the great General Qi Jiguang, tireless militarist, writer and poet, the wall was reinforced and manned by soldiers from Zanjiang by the South China Sea, where the winters are mild and the summers are long and languorous. So far from home, guarding the Northern Frontier from the Mongol hordes, the soldiers renamed the towers in memory of their home, and retold the legends of this most ancient borderland, legends rich with the threads of history, spread out across all the space and time of real history and into the virtual world of myth. There is nothing new under the sun.

Second Life's Great Wall is part of the Hosoi group of sims, and as you would expect, is beautifully crafted. The Welcome area is heavy on ads for modular and light on interpretive material, which is a shame, and if you're tall like Thirza you may have trouble getting through the doorway (I ended up flying over the wall, very Crouching Tiger). Not unreasonably, there's lots of non-realworld ocean around - I like to call it the Metarranean - but that just makes the photos pretty in windlight. Despite the proximity to the always busy sims of Hosoi Ichiba and the Edo period village on Japan Kansai, sim Mao has captured limnal loneliness one associates with the Great Wall, or even Hadrian's little version: it is easy to imagine a melancholy watcher up here, waiting for the action to start: speaking of that, at another wall...

This time at Diabolus, where Josina Burgess, Velasquez Bonetto and the rest of the C.A.R.P. gang are into their third incarnation of The Wall, the original soundtrack, with, and I quote, " an extravaganza of sound, light, dance, giant animated puppets, effects and many other surprises". The Wall is the rather miserable story of the descent into madness of a failing pop star, whose childhood, wracked with troubles - open vowel syndrome has always been, to my mind, at the heart of his problems- is brought to the brink through a series of flashbacks and fantastical set pieces... first an album, then a film with the Great Unwashed Bob Geldof, now in gorgeous virtual splendour and judging by the texture-rich set you see here, one can hope for much more than a Saaf-of-the-River accent, and smashed up Hampton Suites.

This pic is borrowed from Josina, for I fell off the sim before the show got underway, underlining once again the huge problem of lag. I know LL want to go in lots of new exciting directions, like getting behind the newish social networking site for avies of all worlds, AU, but really, solving a boring problem like lag would be much more valuable use of time and effort. Anyway, The Wall will be repeated every Friday at 2.00pm SLT for a few weeks, so hopefully we can go and see it in the near future... TP me if you get a good seat!!

Speaking of carp, once kicked from Diabolus, I ended up at another smashing show, by graphics tablet artist Alizarin Goldflake over on one of the Pirats sims. Isn't that a brand of tropical fish food? ...may be where she got her inspiration for these wonderful piscine specimens. You can admire her scales and fins, even swim among them: there are games of proportion and perspective to be played on both sides of the perspex. Visit Alizarin's studio to get the full picture, or if you're in the mood, take the Youtube complete novice tour, it's always fun to hear someone explain prims to the uninitiated. Her "Real identity" site is www.marthavista.com. OK now I suppose I put this all in again in the Other Language...

A circa un'ora da Pechino, disposta come una boa gigante sulle aspre montagne del Luanping, è la parte della Grande Muraglia denominata Jinshanling. Dalle belle torri di guardia oggi sono i turisti a sorvegliare la panorama ma nel '500 erano i leali soldati del Generale Qi Jiguang a tenere alta la guardia contro le incursioni mongole. Erano ragazzi nati nel lontano Zanjiang, una terra lambita dal Mar Cinese, non lontano dal VietNam. Queste secche rocce devono aver provocato una forte nostalgia nei cuori du uomini destinati a lavorare con grande disciplina e progetto per il loro Generale, poeta, docente di storia militare e arti martiali. 

C'è poesia tra queste mura: e se ti fermi e ascolti bene, forse sentirai le leggende del Imperatore di Giada, e del Maestro Ubriaco. Qui alla versione SL della Grande Muraglia si sente quella nostalgia, e il vuoto nello stesso tempo sprigionato e confinato che può esistere solo in un luogo liminale, come qui sulla frontiera... o nel cuore d'un uomo. Qui a pochi passi degli altri sim di  Hosoi Ichiba (da non perdere anche il paesino di epoca Edo!) è possibile trovare la serenità d'un mondo passato ma sempre presente,  dove in un certo senso il muro siamo noi...

...e da un muro ad un altro, la nuova produzione CARP Diabolus Josina Burgess, Velasquez Bonetto

e i loro collaboratori hanno perfezionato la loro versione del musical The Wall, di Pink Floyd, la storia della tragica esistenza d'un rock star Pink, drogato e sull'orlo della follia. Prima un album poi un film, ora rinato in SL con pupazzi giganti come vedi in questa foto. Tantissmi presenti per lo show di venerdi, non sono riuscita a rimanere al mio posto, ma spero di tornarci presto - la notice promette una replica ogni venerdi alle ore 14.00 SLT.
Fa meditare su una nuova versione del ritornello fanciullesco di The Wall, 'We don't need no education', forse se cantiamo ai Linden, con quello stesso accento orribile, 'We don't need no lag' si arrenderanno e risolveranno il problema, invece di perdere tempo promuovendo iniziative carine ma inutili come Avatars United.

Infine, una visita a Pirats dove non manco mai, e alla mostra di Alizarin Goldflake. Bravissima artista digitale, crea con Corel immagini molto delicati, e anche divertenti, ha portato in SL deliziosi pesci e piante acquatiche, grandi e piccoli. Puoi nuotare nel acquaio o semplicemente studiare lo squame da vicino... per conoscere meglio tutte le opere di Alizarin sia su Youtube che al suo studio inworld, basta un clic. Uffa... che voglia di fish and chips.....

        

Quick Lit

I am part of all that I have met...

Alfred Lord Tennyson

What a fab day in SL... there was a mind-bending session at Tuna Oddfellow's regular mindbendathon, - I gots me a free hat, too - then it was off to Bookstacks to be part of the audience at Kghia Gherardi and Simeon Beresford's fascinating podcast about publishing - they interviewed the RL team who run Jackson Street Publishing. It is also available on Radio Riel, as you probably know, so you can listen from the comfort of your own octopus. After the show, I went to another favourite haunt of mine, the inworld studio of  Patrick Faith, in SL Kolor Fall. He has a new dancing primmobile that allows you to float purposefully around the canyon and waterways of his beautiful wilderness at KolorFalls, and he let me take a test ride: no pictures, I was showing my knickers in an unseemly manner. Oh well, what the heck, you've no doubt seen worse. If you've not been to  KolorFalls and its sister sim Kolor
yet, well, you should go, but I'd have to say pants are a must. To take the ride, click on one of the cubes rising from the water near the waterfall, also look around carefully and you'll find little gifties by Kolor, 'drawable' earrings, that you'll love.

More about Tuna and his magic music mixes in a future post, this man's Got Talent (and a million bucks...) Other adventures followed, but one of my best 'discoveries' of the day was the new Inksters website, they have abandoned Blogger for the much more swanky Wordpress site Virtual Literary Salon - stunning photos supply the visual imagery intended to cue literary inspiration ! Even if you aren't able to join in the writing competitions, you'll love their photos, they made me realize for the nth time how many places I've not yet been inworld...

wow so many more parts to be part of... and so little Sunday in which to do it!

Fruit of the Boom

Ever had something just show up unannounced in your inventory, and, in a moment of multitasking meltdown, found your finger hovering above discard? To dismiss or not to dismiss, what adventures might await...This is one of those stories, an unsolicited LM that opened a new horizon of art and friendship. The NitroglycerinE art gallery is the home of the fantastic Natsha Lemton, French artist and inspiration, and her band of friends including Loki Glas and Casta Oh.

It's a sandy, oceanside sort of a place, perfectly in tune with Natsha's personality, in RL she lives in Brittany, just metres from the sea shore. Her pictures are both beautiful and edgy, an explosion of colour and questions, under a glorious sky full of bright flying objects and meteors raining down. The first thing I noticed here was the Barbie theme, in my schoolgirl French (alas the only part of me still resembling a schoolgirl) I asked what that's all about.

Natsha Lemton: It's a bit complex. It all started one day here when a girl was treating us like Barbie and Ken, and I thought to myself, that's a concept that really works in SL- it's full of Barbies and Kens, when you stop and think about it. I realize I'm sort of like my avie, I dress her up and I do her hair, but behind her (and every other avatar) there's a real person bringing it to life. It's a theme I've been thinking about a great deal recently, so you'll see a lot of it here.

Natsha, whose been part of artistic initiatives like the Chaos project at Pirats has in turn given space to artists on her island paradise, including Bustabugsmetropolis Robonaught (known universally as Sam, thank goodness!) and Andromeda Klees who writes poetry - beautiful, melancholy French poetry which is displayed in the most original ticker-tape form at NitroglycerinE  in these interesting poles on the seashore. She's on show at PiRats and also has a furniture-and-more shop is called MandMM Exclusive Land. Camming around the land, I admired Loki's work, and got this gallantly Gallic reply.

Loki Glas: Merci, moi tout ce que je fais c'est pour ma Natsha... she is the one who encouraged me to make art. Natsha makes art in RL too, but before I met her I was mostly in SL involved in role-playing games. Now I know everyone can make art... tout le monde a un artiste caché en lui.

Natsha Lemton: I love that. I really believe everyone can create something artistic, and I am always glad to help and nurture that in others, like Loki, to find within themselves the creative force, and let it express itself. For me art is not just pictures, whether paintings or photography, it is all art, it is all possible here, poetry, and music are just as important to me as the figurative and abstract work I have made. We are art ourselves, our avatar is the first work of art we make in Second Life, and so from the very start, we make interactive art...

The nurturing has borne fruit. There's so much to choose from here, you just have to TP over to get the full effect. NitroglycerinE is more than an art gallery, it's Loki and Nat's home, and a hangout for their friends. They have two 'boites' or clubs, if you will, one like a greenhouse, where Casta Oh's fiery artwork shoots overhead, and another underwater lair 'un endroit pour les garçons' Loki says, which has a 'seventies warehouse-psychadelic look, and lots of erotic SL art on the walls, pictures taken, Natsha told me, 'in some of her favourite places in SL'. Soirees and contests are held down here, although they didn't tell me what kind of contests, hmmm... something very French I bet. Boom boom.

  Ti è mai successo, arriva all'improvviso e da fonte sconosciuto un LM, e non sai se accettare oppure cestinarlo... oggi racconto uno di quelle occasioni in cui ho detto sì quando il primo istinto era un 'no' secco... Mi sono tippata a NitroglycerinE la land di Loki Glas e Natsha Lemton e i loro amici tra i quali anche la bravissima fuocoartificiera (questa parola l'ho inventata io) Casta Oh. Natsha in Real è francese, della Bretagna, figlia del mare; in RL non si definisce artista, anche se ha studiato alle Belle Arti, qui in SL ha creato molte belle opere, esposto anche a Chaos di PiRats e altrove, la prima cosa che ho notato era una spiritosa polemica su Barbie... ma siamo o no delle bambole Barbie? ho voluto sapere di più.

Natsha Lemton: Nasce questa mia piccola ossessione con le bambole da un incontro con una ragazza che ci ha definito Ken e Barbie, ho pensato che è un concetto per SL - infatti ne è piena. Trovo che io assomiglio a una bambola, la vesto, la concio - ma dietro ogni pupazzo c'è una persona che lo fa vivere. Penso molto a questa idea di recente, e viene rispiecchiata nei pezzi che ho scelto di esporre in questo periodo.

Sulla land, una serie di isolotte tropicali immerse in un mare limpidissimo, troverai anche le opere di Casta Oh, Bustabugsmetropolis Robonaught (meglio conosciuto come Sam) e la brava Andromeda Klees Oltre al suo negozio di mobili e articoli da sogno, MandMM Exclusive Island, Andromeda si occupa di poesia, (anche a PiRats ) e troverai i suoi versi esposti in maniera molto originale a NitroglycerinE... direi quasi occultati in piena vista dentro i pali piantanti nella che si vedono nella figura sopra. La land di Natsha non è solo galleria, ci sono anche due locali da ballo, uno come una serra gigante, l'altro sottomarino, une 'boite' suggestiva dove fanno feste e tengono gare (di che tipo non ho chiesto!!), le pareti sono piene d'arte erotica, fotografie scattate nei posti più amati di Natsha.
Con il cam ho visto anche le opere di Loki-molto belle.

Loki Glas: Merci, moi tout ce que je fais c'est pour ma Natsha... è stata lei ad incoraggiarmi a creare. Lei è artista anche in Real, io invece creo soltanto per divertimento. Prima di conoscerla facevo parte di giochi di ruolo, ma ora vivo SL in maniera diversa... grazie a lei ho capito che come dire... tout le monde a un artiste caché en lui.
Natsha Lemton: Questo mi piace moltissimo. Ci credo davvero che c'è un artista in ognuno di noi, e sono molto felice quando riesco a spronare e coltivare il talento in altri. er me l'arte è esprimersi non sotanto sulla tela, amo molto la musica, la poesia, e circondarmi da tutte le forme d'arte come vedi qui a NitroglycerinE. Se ci pensi, ciascuno di noi quando siamo nati in SL abbiamo subito cominciato a fare arte, creando il look del proprio avatar... una forma d'arte interattiva, unica, stupenda....

Not Kidding About Writing

The best books... are those that tell you what you know already.

George Orwell

I dropped in at the Virginia Woolf House the other day, it's by Written Word, the well-known group organized and built by Hastings Bournemouth (pictured below in his trench coat and looking very film noir) and the lovely  Jilly Kidd, in RL Adele Ward MA  an author and freelance journalist, shown here on the set of her podcasting show, Meet the Author - drop in to be part of the audience, or check out archived episodes at Treet TV. Adele's poetry collection, Never-Never Land, was published last year, she's working on a novel, and  she also runs the writtenword.ning, a social network for writers.

Outside, a flamboyant garden hedged about with Slprivet softens the flinty Kentish brickwork of the old oast house, an essential part of the scenery in any interpretation of the Garden of England, not to mention a key element in the making of that most important writerly fluid - beer. A few metres away, the sun shines on a perfect sea, which if you squint could almost be a July day on the English Channel. Inside the cabin is a very large table set with conference chairs, and the first'edition covers of Woolf's books grace the walls, along with several photos of Virginia, while the fabric on the sofa is a texture designed by the writer's sister, Vanessa Bell. I asked Jilly what made her choose this theme for the cabin.

Jilly Kidd: This is one of three author-themed cabins we've made Woolf is such an important novelist, one of the main Modernists and also a good example of somebody who started her own press with her husband to write in the experimental way she wanted. The George Orwell House was the first building with an author theme we built at Cookie, Thinkerer Melville's sim. We built a copy of it at the LSJ sim - they also have a a cabin themed around the work of F Scott Fitzgerald, and the rooms are used for distance learning by the school.

All three are icons of 20th century literature, and if the current style of use to which these rooms re put would seem to preclude a more adventurous or interactive  interpretation of their books, the front covers certainly liven up the board-room appearance of the cabins. The photo above is of the Woolf cabin, this one below is of the Orwell House. Like everything in SL, this is a work in progress, and Jilly's keen to bring more materials into the project, so that visitors can get an even better idea of the work, life and times of these important artists.

Jilly Kidd: George Orwell's message seems very relevant to Second Life, his vision of the future in the novel 1984. Big Brother watching everybody seems very apt in a virtual world where everything we do can be observed by others or by the admins. We have a community of equals at the Written Word where I like everybody to join in and use the area how they want to, so that also goes with Orwell's message. The issue of copyright is very important. I'm developing resources in the author-themed buildings to let people read ebooks via sources like Project Gutenberg and Virginia Woolf Society on Facebook.

Jilly Kidd: The writing community and projects have really flourished during the 3 years I've been here. Good writers like Casey Simpson and Dennis Tafoya get noticed by publishers, in these two cases, by Wild Shore Press and St. Martins respectively. I give publishers free space on our areas to make it easier for them to justify staying on SL. Good writers can use SL to improve by sharing their work and overcoming stage fright - important since publishers expect us to be able to perform our work these days. There are all standards of writing here, just like RL, but I find the SL open mic events more international; people are lively and they're fun, with a good mix of ages - and no-one is excluded, since you don't need to leave your home!

There are a lot of reading and writing groups in the metaverse, and I've noticed a wonderful sense of camaraderie and sharing among them, which keeps multiple notices to a minimum, and offers a clear panorama of literary events going on during the week. There's so much to choose from, it's a real source of education on every level!

Jilly Kidd: SL is excellent for education. Voice events makes it ideal for lectures, workshops and tutorials. The London School of Journalism came inworld in 2008, they provide excellent free lectures by RL faculty members, and recently I began managing the sim myself which has involved rebuilding the island and organising new events. We have fiction workshops led by published author Rae Lori on Saturday and Sunday now as well as the free lectures, and also an exhibition of authors, publishers and publications in a space station above the island. We'll be having an Author Convention and Exhibition in a few months. Organizing events is a lot of hard work - in many ways off-world social sites like our .ning are more effective for our members. Also, I'm very interested in the Save The Presses project, designed to help writers beat the recession. Witten Word's group meeting place is at Muse Harbour - but we're very happy to be part of the family of writing groups in SL. Now that writers are so well catered for with so many events and venues it doesn't matter if we get a big crowd or a small one. The important thing is that writers can find what they need, whichever venue they choose to go to. I'm in this for fun and to help writers.

La tragica e brillante Virginia Woolf  fu una delle più brave scrittrici del ventesimo secolo, e sono andata a vedere la Virginia Woolf House questa settimana, per vedere come è stata interpreta nel metaverso da un gruppo di scrittori, appunto il Written Word... la Parola Scritta. Il build è stato eseguito da Hastings Bournemouth  sfoggiando, come vedi nella foto, uno strano capotto che ricorda i gialli degli anni trenta, insieme alla attuale manager del sim della London School of Journalism, Jilly Kidd, in RL Adele Ward, scrittrice, poetessa (suo libro Never Never Land è uscito l'anno scorso) e impegnatissima organizzatrice di eventi inworld, interviste con autori metaversali e un sito .ning dedicato alle opere del gruppo.
Jilly Kidd: Abbiamo scelto di dedicate tre case, che sono in effetti aule per lezioni  di giornalismo, a tre grandi autori di lingua inglese. Ho voluto avere una casa Woolfe, perché la ammiro molto e anche perché lei ha voluto aprire una casa editrice proprio per poter sperimentare con un tipo di letteratura nuova, era una pioniera. Tra le foto della scrittrice, e le copertine dei suoi libri, ci sono anche opere d'arte eseguiti da alcuni suoi amici, persino lastoffa del divano ha una fantasia disegnata dalla sorella di Woolf, Vanessa Bell. Abbiamo anche una casa per il grandissimo scrittore statunitense F. Scott Fitzgerald. L'altra casa è per George Orwell, anche questa è una oast house una tipica costruzione del sud dell'inghilterra, parte integrale della produzione di quel liquido tanto amato dagli scrittori - la birra... Orwell l'abbiamo voluto non solo perché ammiriamo molto il suo stile, ma anche perché ci sembrava opportuno ricordare il papà dell'espressione Grande Fratello - ricordiamo che in SL tutto quello che si fa e si dice può essere osservato da altri. Infatti ci sono due copie identici della George Orwell House una sul sim Cookie, di Thinkerer Melville, e l'altra sulla land della LSJ.  Siamo molto felici di portare anche le opere fuori copyright alla attenzione dei nostri visitatori, tramite fonti come Project Gutenberg e la Virginia Woolf Society on Facebook.

Ti stai forse chiedendo,  ma come può un mondo virtuale - un 'gioco' come SL aiutare autori 'veri'? Jilly ha messo spazio a disposizione di varie case editrici, e tramite questo luogo d'incontro, scrittori come Casey Simpson e Dennis Tafoya ora sono pubblicati. SL dà anche la possibilità di presentare le proprie parole ad un pubblico accogliente e pronto ad aiutare con suggerimenti - e dà anche l'occasione di leggere ad alta voce, in preparazione per quelle reading in RL che seguiranno il tuo successo... le serate open mic (= aperto a tutti) in SL sono belli perché ci si trova uin gruppo animato, internazionale, di tutte le età, e sono alla portata di tutti! I gruppi dedicati agli scrittori e lerroti di lingua inglese sono tanti, ma sono ben organizzati e communicano tra di loro con un minimo di rivalità e questo vuol dire che i notice sono molto ben gestiti, e puoi sempre trovare qualcosa di interessante da fare, partecipare a una discussione in voice, ascoltare poesie, oppure la lettura di un racconto, leggere un brano tuo, o l'incipit di quel romanzo che volevi finire, oppure semplicemente stare in compagnia con persone intelligenti e colte. Jilly organizza molti eventi, sia a Muse Harbour  che nella land della London School of Journalism, che di tanto in tanto propone discorsi gratuiti pronunciati da veri professori RL. Ci sono corsi di scrittura, e c'è anche una mostra dedicata agli scrittori di SL... chissà un giorno ci sarai anche tu!

Shortlist, hard workers

In praise of hard workers.

With the festive season behind you, the new year beckons full of promise and surpises, and what better time to stop and remember all the hard-working individuals who provide so much delight. Below are just some of the people and places that have caught my eye, I bet you can think of many more. Why not drop me a note inworld about your favourite place or group, so we can give them a shout-out here on SLArtsParks? Prefer to leave a comment? You can do so at the bottom of this post, or go over to our ning site and join us there!

First call, the incredibly hard-working Madmaninc Zapatero, seen here in his green lenses.

Do not miss the Festival of Short Film at Phantasmagoria Theater  GOING ON RIGHT NOW! Madmaninc has put together an extraordinary display of talent. Dozens of new short films, from mystery to docu-steampunk, to animation, to abstract art, the choice is yours, 24/7. What a treat! It's a brilliant way to see new talent and expression in bite-size form. You might also want to check out Phantasmagoria's presence on myspace  and at blip.tv(where you can see a video of their New Year's Eve party - these people know how to have a good time!) or subscribe to the podcast at itunes. (Make sure you have the latest Quicktime download, other wise you won't see anything.)

 On the musical front,  Nasus Dumart and the team over at Molaskey's Pub have put on some wonderful music, including the great Frets Nirvana and the past few months have seen a return to the music scene of my personal music-god, Von Johin.

May his tunes last forever!! Thanks to Votslav Hax, BobbiJo and the rest of the Symbiotic team for their unceasing efforts to bring us great talent. There are dozens of gallery owners who deserve praise, I'll just mention PiRats' super-duo Newbab Zsigmond and Merlina Rokocoko, supercool Zachh Cale over at project Z and the truly tireless Lion Igaly whose Diadem gallery just found a new home at sim imparafacile.

In the literary world, the variety of venues, genres and types of activity open to readers and writers is really breathatking, and the amazing work of people like Kghia Gherardi, Harriet Gausman, Jilly Kidd, JJ Drinkwater and the beautiful people over at West of Ireland deserves a standing ovation (though they might prefer a nice sit down and a cup of tea). Much praise goes to the hard work of the team behind the Antica stamperia Il Faro, which produces virtual books in Italian, and the fascinating series Scienza on the road, presented by Giovanna Delphin who, together with Marjorie Fargis brings many an Italian event alive with professionalism and good humour. Not always easy to do with the vagaries of SL performance!

Such a short list, for every name here mentioned there are dozens more, I'm aware... who springs to your mind? Let me know! Links, landmarks, hints and ideas all gratefully received! and with your contributions, what an exciting new year of discovery it's going to be!