: ) BCC

Thanks to a photo by Ysé Ah, I recently visited the sim : ) BCC, created by Daisy (花になろう) (username vitamingirl) and home to her shop, also known as : ) BCC. Three photos won't do this stunning homestead sim justice—this is yet another region that's breathtakingly lovely and provides endless opportunities for photography. Ordinarily I stick with a sim's given environment settings, but here they've changed in the two days I've visited, so I've been taking the liberty of playing around a bit.

The watery landscape is articulated with sandy walkways that lead between the little shop areas. A stranded train that rests on long-decayed tracks stands at the center of the sim, while a beautiful little cottage with a watermill lies at the far northeastern corner. I'll post some additional images on my flickr stream over the next few days.

Dreams

Pho Vinternatt, proprietor of A.S.S., has created an elegantly simple, eloquent and somewhat disturbing installation, Dreams, on the sim Space Illusion 2. Fifteen pairings of photos and text line a simple white space, with a small table and notecard on the far end. The photos are evocative and the texts are deeply private—each of the anonymous subjects shares exceptionally personal thoughts. "I wish I wasn't sick anymore," begins the one pictured above, continuing, "I have a degree in animation that I can't do [anything] with because my hands shake so much..."

"When I started this project I had no idea that peoples' dreams and wishes would be so much scarier, personal and moving than their fears. I hadn't realized how little we speak of our dreams, big or small ones, realistic or not, and how seldom we tell them to others," comments Pho in an explanatory text.

These aren't dreams like, "I'd like to win the lottery." They're far more honest—brutally honest—and as such create a delicate window into the soul of each of these interviewees. When I said it's a somewhat disturbing exhibition, it's because one cannot spend time here reading these stories without being confronted by his or her own dreams. And one cannot help but feel admiration for these fifteen subjects for sharing a slice of their lives.

lippes in smiling mood, kiss akiss after kisokushk

No, that's not a typo. It's the title (thank you Mr. Joyce) of a silly little installation I created for the very short-lived Burn2 event, which opened last Saturday and closes this Sunday, October 28. Some photos are flying about, and you can join in the fun by taking a seat in one of the three chairs, plus you can get a whole grab bag of my junk too. Last Saturday quite a spontaneous party went on for a couple hours, one that reminded me of Second Life circa 2007—"I hope we all go into the same mental hospital," quipped my friend Naxos Loon. One party pic is below and others are on my flickr stream (although you have to be logged into flickr to see those with "moderate" images turned on!).

I'm guilty of not having had time to fully explore the Burn sims—there are six of them and a lot to see. For more on Burn2 visit their website or just teleport to my spot and start roaming.

Special thanks to my friend Caer Balogh for her awesome scripting and to the Burn2 group for all their hard work!

Adieux, Flashmans 3

It isn't the first time it has happened, but that doesn't make it any easier. If you know me, you know that for a long, long time I've loved Flashmans, the venerable establishment originally founded by Martin Ren, who built and then tore down the first place (which was so great) and built a second (also great), and then tore that down and built a third, now in the sim of Esoterica (with current proprietors Phideaux Mayo, Echo Underwood and Niv Bing). Flashmans has changed over the years (and so has its clientele), from a seedy opium den with arm wrestling tables (yes, I knew the place pre-Ziki) to its larger current day dance hall form, but it's always been a warm, quirky place, a watering hole for the intellectual eccentrics of Second Life.

But now it has come time once again to say good bye—something of a Flashmans tradition at this point, says Phi (pictured on the top to the right, with me on the left). She, Echo and Niv are letting go of the Esoterica sim after five great years, and so we bid adieu to Flashmans—but not without a party of course!

So be sure to come on Saturday, October 27 from 2 pm SLT until whenever to say the old girl goodbye. Don a costume if you please (boo!). Niv Bing and Max Blankes will spin tunes, Jonas Lunasea will sing, Phi might too, possibly graced by the presence of Martin himself. Thanks to the entire Flashmans gang for a great couple years in Esoterica.

P.S. All hope is not lost—stay tuned for Flashmans 4 to rise from the dust early next year!

Maps of Second Life

I've always been a sucker for maps. My parents collected maps, and, being the nerdy kid I was, I remember enjoying reading things like atlases (for real). So of course on learning about the exhibition Maps of Second Life at the New Kadath Lighthouse Art Gallery, curated by Juliana Lethdetter, I promptly headed over to take a look. It's a modest but remarkably comprehensive exhibition, and I tremendously enjoyed it.

If you've never seen maps of Second Life from way way back—by which I mean 2002 and 2003, when Second Life started out with all of 16 regions—then you owe it to yourself to see these maps of the infant grid. You'll learn a lot about Second Life history and the growth of the world. But this exhibition isn't just maps of the grid—it features a section on the legendary explorer Magellan Linden (about whom I've blogged), a historic map of the Forest of Kahruvel, maps of Bay City, the Steamlands, Nautilus and the Blake Sea, Zindra, and some curious historic maps such as one by Jack Linden. Be sure to see the map of the Second Life Railroad that's located outside on north face of the lighthouse gallery.

Cica Ghost at LEA13

Something special seems to be happening at Cica Ghost's playful full-sim installation at LEA13: there are always people there—26 as I write this. They're sitting in houses, on park benches, in the grass, chatting, dancing and playing. It's just that kind of place that Cica has created, a black and white world of little stick figures that has an almost cartoonish appearance, totally delightful. Trees wave in the breeze, water ripples on the pond, a figure flies a kite, the wind swirls. Cica has added sit poses to many objects, adding to some fun possibilities for photography.

If you like what you see at LEA13 and would like more, head over to Cica's store in the sim Appalachian, where she has a number of things from this sim on sale, including the star grass, little black roses and street lamps, and all at very affordable prices. (Now I want to go find a great black and white avatar!)

Boobiethon

Bad news first: a few weeks ago, Rowan Derryth and PJ Trenton asked me to donate some artwork to the Fifth Annual Boobiethon—a fundraiser for the Feel Your Boobies Foundation—and I said I would but then flaked out and didn't provide anything, feeling that my work has become stale and boring. So, my bad. But the good news is that the exhibition of works opened today at RoHaus (Rowan's gallery) at Magna Carta, and you can head over there to bid on some artwork for a good cause.

Participating artists include Alana Pyara, Alexx Fenstalker, Bryn Oh, Cat Boccaccio, Cee Edman, Eliza Wierwight, Fuschia Nightfire, Glyph Graves, GM Nikolaidis, Gracie Kendal, Harlow Heslop, Isla Gealach, Jessica Belmer, Nino Vichan, PJ Trenton, Ragamuffin Kips, Rowan Derryth, Scottius Polke, Sledge Roffo, Tricia Aferdita, Wildstar Beaumont and WuWai Chen. There are several unique pieces in the auction, and bidding ends on October 12.

Scribbled Hearts

I love this sim. For a long time I had seen occasional photos on blogs and flickr, but I hadn't ever gotten around to visiting until a couple days ago, when my friend and fellow traveler-of-the-grid M (MissMoe Requiem) nudged me. I was immediately enchanted and couldn't stop smiling as I explored—certainly one of the most beautiful and photogenic places in Second Life. Right now it's unmistakably fall here: a place to stroll, to breathe the autumnal air, to hear the leaves crunch under your feet, and to bask in the orange and brown hues of the foliage.

The island, which was landscaped by Randi Lenroy (with fewer than 3000 prims!), is home to Snowy Melody's *. emm {shop} store and Schmosby (Clementine Ishtari)'s Hello, September shop. The entire area is open to the public, and object rezzing is turned on for two minutes for those photographers who like props at hand. If you're not using a viewer that automatically changes the environment settings, I'd recommend you do—it looks as though the settings here are Meme's Autumn Windlight with a special water setting, too—gorgeously done.

William Weaver at Anita's Artspace

Mr. William Weaver has taken Second Life photography by storm. His unprecedented exploration of light and shadow has produced a striking oeuvre of photographs—many, unlike those of most Second Life photographers, bordering on the abstract—and he has developed a revolutionary set of Phototools and builds specifically designed to explore light and shadow. (Several of William's builds are available on the Marketplace for free.)

Now, photographer Anita Witt came up with the clever idea of rezzing a bunch of William's builds on her sim, and they're available for you to use. (One is up for only a couple weeks—they can be a bit prim intensive.) You'll need a computer able to run high end graphics. (Personally I'm terrible with portraits and marvel at the work of those who excel in that medium (many are in my flickr favorites), but I love playing with windlight and shadow settings in William's builds.) While at Anita's sim you can also enjoy a gallery of her works, and you're welcome to contribute images to a floating gallery of photos created with William's builds.

Gracie Kendal's “Ce n’est pas une peinture”

Today is Second Life artist Gracie Kendal's 6th rezday, and it's also the opening of her new installation, Ce n’est pas une peinture, on LEA15, one of the Linden Endowment for the Arts sims. It's a fantastic world of dazzling color, about 1400 prims with vivid textures towering high into the sky. Enter the exhibition at the top—and there be sure to take the free skins Gracie has designed—and then click on the float ball next to the cake to take a slow spinning ride from the top down into the heart of the build. (If you click on the top and bottom photos, you'll see me as I drift about. Gracie's in the middle picture here wearing one of the skins—can you make her out?)

Gracie said she wanted "to deconstruct one of my paintings/collages into a full sim installation that avatars can walk and fly through and get lost in," and this installation succeeds remarkably—a simple concept executed with brilliant effect. You can read more about this work (and many others) on her blog, Gracie and the Real Girl.