Jul

17

My Island Home

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My little hideaway and the setting for a few private weddings.

Clancy of the Overflow gets a small spot in this. He’s a young dog, and trainable, like all of the fabulous dogs from the Virtual Kennel Club.

Jul

16

Quinquereme of Nineveh

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There I was, wandering through the Sahara without a care in the world. Or a sunhat.

Even a wild Taureg would have admired my derring-do, and approved of my sombre black garb.

But, as I turned the corner of a sand dune, I spotted this. A Quinquereme!

Though what it’s doing in the middle of the desert is beyond me.

Quinquereme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine

Fortunately someone has dug a canal of sorts to moor this magnificent ship. With a whole half sim for it to sit in.

The Sahara is an amazing space. It truly is a desert (apart from the aforementioned ancient war galley). Nothing but sand, sand and lots more sand.

Not a camel caravan in sight.

I was told there was an oasis somewhere, and date palms. A small tent prepared for guests with soft many-tasseled cushions, red gelatinous sweets, chilled orange water and a hookah.

No such luck. All I could see was sand.

You can click on the pictures for larger images.

SLURL : Sahara

Jul

13

Phat Cat Jazz Club

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There used to be a great number of awful clubs in Second Life, each and every one of them out to take money from unsuspecting newbies.

There was a lot of gambling in those days.

Maybe getting $5 a night from a greenhorn doesn’t seem like much, but you multiply that 100 or 200 times, (some clubs had 500 people through every day of the week), and that adds up to a lot of cash. Solid US dollars.

Fortunately, the gambling was jumped on and banned from the grid leaving the real residents (as opposed to the rip-off merchants) cheering with relief.

But you can still find clubs of course. Good clubs, clubs for dancing, clubs where like-minded people gather for their favourite music and friendly chat.

Phat Cat’s Jazz Club is such a place.

At Phat’s you must observe the Dress Code and behave accordingly or you won’t even get a foot in the door. So, best togs on! That means formal gowns for the ladies and evening wear, or tuxedos, for the gentlemen.

Sometimes I’m able to get away from the nervy brides and fretting grooms to relax a little myself. Of I go to Phat’s and have a little slow swing dance or just sit and listen to the music of the Dorseys or Ella Fitzgerald.

The photo is of Phat Cat’s popular hostess and hot-jazz trumpet player. Twinkle Littlething.

Slurl : Phat Cat’s Jazz Club

Jul

10

Google and Second Life

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My beady eye was caught by an interesting post on zdnet with a title about SL

Google’s secret project turns out to be Second Life

“The concept behind the service is neat. You can create a virtual chatroom that goes way beyond the traditional, and post it on any website. Your visitors can then actually interact with each other rather than just type

Garett Rogers goes on to say

“Unlike Second Life, I suspect the currency will be real dollars, not something that’s made up.”

Of course if Garett came in-world to SL he would quickly find out that Lindens are worth real money.

(P.S. The programme, Google Lively, like the Vivaty on Facebook, needs Vista tbefore you can use it.)

Jul

7

Abandoned at the Church

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Again! this is the second time in 3 weeks that a wedding has been canceled and no one remembers to inform the poor old pastor.

There I was, waiting at the altar, ceremony all prepared, going over the last points to myself, checking everything was in place and watching the clock tick by. I was pretty bright eyed and bushy tailed too, considering it was 6.30 am on a wintry Sunday morning.

But where are the guests? And more to the point, where is the Groom?

When I tried to contact the Bride she wasn’t answering, although I saw her pick up a notecard from me. I messaged the 2 bridesmaids and both were offline. The Best man was also offline. Cripes! I double checked both my diaries, in-world and off-world. Yes, I had the right time and the right date. I was in the right place too.

After a few frantic IMs from me, the Bride finally answered and told me the wedding was off. Groom had done a bunker. I don’t know why she could not have answered my first notecard and saved me 20 minutes of sheer panic.

I am charitable enough, I hope, to overlook an incident like this, but sometimes I swear I will ask for 50% deposit in future.

Another Not Nice

The wedding which was canceled a few weeks back - 10 minutes before the starting time - was an entirely different kettle of fish.

That couple took the ceremony I had so carefully written for them and yanked in someone else to read it. For one third of the price which I charge. Not nice at all.

Why would someone do this? At least I don’t give couples the full Service that I have written for them. They get an Order of Service with the main layout and opening words. The specifics, not the rest of the words that I have written so carefully.

In any case, apart from being rude and vulgar, how much money would they have saved? $ US 2.40. There are certainly some odd people about.

Still, these things are rare and I have a handful of weddings with really lovely people in the coming week. But why are these canceled events always scheduled at the most inconvenient time for me?

Jul

4

Dancing the Charleston

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Second Life dance animation by Maar Auer. Absolutely fabulous!

In SL, this animation (and more) can be found in Metaversal Arts Shop along with more dance animations, art etc

Slurl : Metaversal Arts Shop

Dancers: Yolanda Hirvi and Lord Lisle.

Jul

3

Bless you, Animoto

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I found this super little programme to make a music video. I can’t believe it’s so easy!

Animoto is an online tool where you upload your images and either use your own music, or theirs.

Here’s my first, 30 seconds of Just another day in Paradise. We all have to start somewhere.

Jun

26

Comung to you on SLCN.TV

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I’m so excited! I’m going on TV! Not just any old TV of course, but the incredible SLCN.TV itself!

Well, I must be really truthful and admit I have been approached about appearing on SLCN.TV. (Fingers crossed)

If you don’t know SLCN.TV, you’ve been missing out. It’s the premium television of SL. You can see the screens at various places, the big screens in nightclubs and in shopping malls. I will whip up a list of the locations a little later.

But SLCN.TV has an even better feature, a little beauty. You don’t even have to be logged in to view a show. You don’t even have to be a resident of Second Life to view it!. Anyone can enjoy the world’s first virtual TV network. My favourite programme is Tonight Live with Paisley Beebe, that’s her photo up there, I’m a big fan of Paisley.

Tonight Live is a weekly half hour chat show every Sunday 6pm – 6.30 filmed in SL in front of a live studio audience. It is a P.G show, streamed live to screens across SL, then uploaded to the web and videocasted for later viewing.

Here’s the web address for Tonight Live show replays I will let you know when I have the date of my appearance. (Fingers and Toes Crossed)

Oh my word! I hope I don’t have to pass a screen test.

When I told Sarai about it she didn’t believe me. More to the point, she didn’t believe that SLCN.TV transmitted inworld.

She’s an avid viewer of the Music Channel and swore until she was blue in the face that videos are made in RL then streamed into SL. “Yes,”, I said. “But not SLCN.TV. It’s live.”

She immediately wanted to go and have a look at the place. She’s like that.

Here’s the web address of SLCN.TV

SLURL = Tonight Live studio at SLCN

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