Dante, Virgil & Hell in Second Life

Rebeca Bashly's Inferno on LEA 6  (moderate)

It's the time of year when "dark" becomes attractive to most of the population - not just those who indulge all of the time.  This is not my favourite time of year to be honest but it's growing on me.  I realized that people assume around now that my weird look is just a halloween costume and don't think anything of it. :)

If you really want to get in the mood for horror then visit a realization of Dante's vision of hell in Rebeca Bashly's Inferno on LEA 6.

Rebeca Bashly's Inferno on LEA 6  (moderate)

The Roman poet Virgil is your guide through the nine levels of suffering.  He's the one who glows - I guess since he's been granted visiting privileges they want to ensure he doesn't get caught up in some of the gruesome drama.

When you've had enough of the pain and torture on any level just touch him to get his attention and he'll move you along to the next.

Rebeca Bashly's Inferno on LEA 6  (moderate)

I don't subscribe to the notion of "hell" and certainly not the medieval view that Dante examined.  I guess if I had to pick a description I could accept it would be Jean Paul Sartre's "Hell is other people" from Huis Clos.  There's less brimstone that way.

(As a side note, when I was much younger at University, a group of us drove across the border to see a pron movie - very daring at the time.  I realized part way into it that the script was based on Sartre's book and decided to consider it just a field trip for my french literature class.  I can rationalize a lot of things.)

Rebeca Bashly's Inferno on LEA 6  (moderate)

If you survive the sight of all the trials, tribulations and tortures you will find yourself in the ninth circle.  As gruesome as I found everything else this section affected me the most and it was because of the big guy.

Yes Satan is here, with all three of his heads, but what really really bothered me were his wings.  They are the creepiest things I've encountered in SL.  The texture, the movement and the sheer menace in them both surprised and intimidated me.  Go visit Inferno for yourself and see what I mean.

Rebeca Bashly's Inferno on LEA 6  (moderate)

A Moment of Serendipity in Second Life

DH Lab2  (moderate)

This might happen to other people a lot but, for the very first time in my Second Life, I teleported onto a sim and landed on the back of a giant butterfly.

This flock of birds is heading somewhere.  I might follow. :)

DH Lab2  (moderate)

Following The Path in Second Life

The Path - Bryn Oh  (moderate)

It took me a few days of trying to write this post because it's all about the images and the art and I couldn't take a half decent photograph no matter how hard I tried.  I finally decided that I was so caught up in the experience that I couldn't step back far enough just to observe.  This morning I put on my coolly dispassionate hat and tried again.  They aren't great but at least they shouldn't insult the artists.  Too much.

If you've been under a rock and missed it, The Path is a collaborative art project at the Linden Endowment for the Arts curated by Bryn Oh.

The Path - Colin Fizgig  (moderate)

I could try and explain what this is about but I think Bryn's own words would be more appropriate.

The Path is an immersive project based around the exquisite corpse concept sometimes used by the Surrealists.  Essentially, each chosen artist adds to a composition in sequence. Eight artists were invited to stand upon one of eight different coloured boxes I had set up. Once all had chosen a box to stand on, a chart was rezzed which listed the order of colours which would hten dictate the sequence of artists to compose the scenes for a narrative.

The Path - Marcus Inkpen  (moderate)

So if red was the first colour on the chart, then the artist standing on the red cube would begin the narrative.  If blue were next then the artist on the blue cube would continue the story after red had passed their part on to them.

The artist who goes first composes a short start to a story.  They then pass on this segment to the artist who is next on the list.  That artist would then write up a continuation of the narrative and pass it on to the third artist.  This would continue until reaching the eighth and final artist.

The Path - Desdemona Enfield/Douglas Story (moderate)

What those words don't convey is the magic and the wonder of an interactive experience created by eight immensely talented artists. Dali's head in a jar is just the starting point. You follow The Path created by them for a group of characters and for yourself.

There are mind games and puzzles and superb visuals.  Video is used and objects appear and disappear and the world changes suddenly and without explanation.

Much like our physical life paths.

The Path - Maya Paris  (moderate)

I've been thinking about life paths lately.  The choices we make or that others make and how they alter our intended course.

I'm neither egotistical enough nor insecure enough to think everything is always all about me. :)  Even if our lives are impacted by others - and, after all, it would be very sad if they weren't - it doesn't mean we were the focus.

Things would be a whole lot simpler though if we could have total command of our lives and what happens to us.  Yeah I know, I also wish for an unlimited supply of dark chocolate to suddenly appear with the same amount of success.

The Path - Claudia222 Jewell (moderate)

I should say something profound and inspirational about "paths" and the journeys we are on.  All I can think of though is "Don't Litter".  Make of that what you will.

A better idea would be for me to quote that great philosopher Douglas Adams' character Dirk Gently:  "I rarely end up where I was intending to go, but often I end up somewhere that I needed to be."

The Path - Scottius Polke (moderate)

Go see The Path.  Think your own thoughts as you explore and at some point give thanks to the Pixel Gods that the LEA exists and that Bryn Oh and Colin Fizgig and Marcus Inkpen and Desdemona Enfield and Douglas Story and Maya Paris and Claudia222 Jewell and Scottius Polke and Rosa Rochovski got together and created this fabulous surreal story for us.

PS.  One of my favourite machinamists (jjccc) has made a video of this great installation - go watch it!

The Path - Rose Borchovski (moderate)

Wherein the Intrepid Explorer Creates a Halloween Costume for Second Life

Well I like it .....

You probably already know this but it always comes as a shock to me - there's an obsession with sliders and skins and the choices people make when creating their avatars.

I love grey and painted skins.  I figure some people are pale and some are tanned and some might be mahogany and I just happen to be grey.  There are those, however, who insist I look like the undead.  sigh

This is not my only crime.  For a variety of reasons which I won't blather on about I choose to keep my sliders to the left.  Honestly anybody who hits on me would probably hit on a park bench - they just want something to jump on the sex balls with.

I can remember an encounter with a grid famous artist who could only talk about my lack of butt.  Seriously? Of course the bust is the big obsession and I was counselled to fix that.  Fine.

Fine I'm pink .....

The shape isn't a big change and it's one I can live with.  The skin is an old one I had - at least it doesn't make me look 17.  I'm not about to go skin shopping just because people have a fear of zombies so great that innocent aliens are targeted for disdain.

However, since Halloween is approaching the discussion gave me an idea for a costume.  I don't really have the wardrobe to pull it off but I decided that just moving that one slider would take me far into the realm of "make believe" that all good costumes require.  Nothing however can make me go shoe shopping!

There but I'm not oiling them .....

I don't understand the obsession with my body parts and I won't change my look just cause other people have deep seated issues (/me grins at the outspoken critic of my choices) but I'll try change and if I can live with it then I'll adapt.

To be honest though I really think the best thing might be if I choose an avatar without slider or skin options that offend delicate sensibilities.

This seems safe

Seanchai Library brings War of the Worlds to Second Life

The family gathered around the radio ....

It's October 30, 1938 and you and your family have gathered around the radio to listen to the Mercury Theatre on the Air because that's what families did.  There was no television or internet.  You'd listened to your old lp's over and over but the radio was better.  It was exciting and most everyone was doing the same thing.

Suddenly a news bulletin interrupted the broadcast and you listened in shock as the newsman described explosions on Mars.  Then, a little later, you heard that something had landed in Grover's Mill, New Jersey.  What followed was horrific.  Reporters risked their very lives to cover the story of the century - aliens had landed in the United States and the military was fighting back.

Zain Ruins (moderate)

It wasn't true of course.  It was a radio play adapted from H.G Wells' novel The War of the Worlds.  Orson Welles made his name with this broadcast and angered a lot of folks.  You see there were no commercials in the show - the "news bulletins" seemed very real to a lot of people reading newspaper stories talking about war preparations in Europe and already anxious and afraid.

Many woke up the next morning expecting to find the common and familiar gone or at least badly damaged.  Little grey men were expected at the door any minute.

It's hard to imagine today, with our myriad of information sources and instant access, but many were fooled into believing the play was reality.

Zain Ruins (moderate)

Fast forward to the present and the Seanchai Library has received permission to use the original radio play as the script for a special story telling this October 22, 23 and 26.  "All Seanchai presentations are read live in voice.  All the performers are volunteers and donations are accepted to support established charities around the world.  In 2011 these have included Habitat for Humanities, The American Heart Association, Project Children, The American Red Cross (Tsunami & Pacific Earthquake Relief), Water for People, Heifer International, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Seanchai's War of the Worlds features the voices of Shandon Loring, Bear Silvershade and Kayden O’Connell. Add in the voices of Elder Priestman, Caledonia Skytower, BigRed Coyote and others and this production promises to be a treat for the ears."

It's no more possible or plausible today than it was back then of course.  Although I did stumble on something  strange as we cleaned up the playa this afternoon.

I'm sure it's nothing .....

I'm telling you all this now so you'll plan your time wisely and make it to one of the readings.  Make a note in your calendar - that's correct, I want you to write it down.

Saturday October 22 a 5 p.m. performance at Blood Evolution Kingdom

Sunday October 23 at noon on Haunted Fruit Islands

Wednesday October 26 at 7 p.m.at Seanchai Library

I plan to attend at least one of the performances and I'll be imagining people all over the grid huddled around their radios.  Just like families used to do. :)

He wasn't there when I took this photo .....

A Very Windy Aerie in Second Life

The Aerie by Cherry Manga (moderate)

One of the exhibits I missed recently was Maya Paris' installation at Per4mance MetaLES and I feel terrible and apologize to her and to you that I didn't share it.  I was determined not to miss the current work by Cherry Manga.

The Aerie is situated on a windswept marsh at the rocky edge of the ocean.  Almost everything seems to be in motion from the huge number of birds to the marsh grasses.

The Aerie by Cherry Manga (moderate)

The sim suggests you use the Torley windlight setting of Midday Touch o' Purple which I did.  Normally I mess around with my settings but I was obedient today. :)

The landscape is very dominant when you first start to explore.  But look closely. There are a myriad of details and every object has more to it than you might realize with a cursory glance.

The Aerie by Cherry Manga (moderate)

The colours are pale - and not just as a result of your environment settings.  But there are colours and there are surprises.

It's very soothing somehow to stand in the moving grass with birds swirling in the wind around you.  It doesn't feel warm here but it's not cold or unfeeling and there is great beauty.  It is, as have been all the works I've seen at Per4mance MetaLES, exquisitely done and a departure from what I've seen before.

The Aerie by Cherry Manga (moderate)

I had trouble capturing the feeling of  The Aerie in these photos.  Luckily for you  jjcccc has made a video of the installation.  Watch this and then go visit for yourself.   Take a sweater though - the wind is relentless.

Through The Lens of Dreams & Being Boswell in Second Life

Through the Lens of Dreams at Art Screamer (moderate)

I'm gradually surfacing from the past few weeks and months of focus elsewhere and I'm determined to go around and find some of the things I've missed so that I can share them with you.

My first outing was to Art Screamer which is a very cool sim offering different artists' installations over time. The current one is by two of my favourites  - Madcow Cosmos with sound by Lorin Tone.  Called Through the Lens of Dreams it's a fabulous landscape you complete as you explore.  In their own words:

(it) is an exploration of the transformative nature of dreams, where each new setting may emerge from the last and seems continuous while we're experiencing them.  The only truly consistent part of a dream is the viewer, that's you.  Thus as you walk through the installation you help complete the piece, good work.  The piece is more a series of doodles that flow from each other than a single large composition so it seems somewhat sprawling and busy.  Just relax and enjoy your own little piece of the whole.

Through the Lens of Dreams at Art Screamer (moderate)

While I poked and clicked and circled around some of these wonderous objects I was thinking about a conversation I had yesterday with a dear friend.  I care about him a lot which makes it easier not to be shallow and hate him for being unreasonably talented in far too many areas.

It made me think about this world and how it attracts wonderful artists and musicians and builders and designers and fashionistas and storytellers.  It wouldn't be the same without them and I appreciate what they do for me.  I mean I can't do what they do so I'll just take advantage of the fact they do it to be entertained and inspired and provoked and touched. But there's a tiny little bit of me that's jealous.  I think most of us want to contribute not just consume, certainly I would like to feel like I was adding to the world somehow.

Through the Lens of Dreams at Art Screamer (moderate)

I convince myself that my photography is getting better.  I'm out of practice as these pictures clearly demonstrate but I'm a great believer in continuous improvement.

My photos aren't art though.  I'm not creating anything new and when people like them they are responding to the content.  Don't get me wrong - I don't have a problem with that. If people like my images it means I've captured something I was trying to share about something I saw. That's really all I can hope for. The wonderful photographers who use lighting or special effects or post processing to tell a story or create something new are artists.  I'm just recording moments.

Through the Lens of Dreams at Art Screamer (moderate)

Someday maybe a fairy godfather (cause I'd rather look at great abs than boobs) will appear and I'll suddenly create something magical.  In the meantime I'll photograph what I find and share it with you.  This world needs Boswell's too - and it's certainly easier than what people like Madcow and Lorin are doing. :)

Go visit Art Screamers and walk Through the Lens of Dreams.  Make your own memories and take your own photos.  Feel like a participant in this process.

I'm heading out to find some more products of the amazing talents we live with in a virtual world.

Through the Lens of Dreams at Art Screamer (moderate)