Beautiful Second Life Machinima Inspired by Snowcrash & Thoughts on Humans & Being Virtual

This is a beautiful SL machinima by Spiral Silverstar shot in the UTSA sim (direct teleport here), the UT San Antonio ArtSpace that features a 3D interactive tribute to Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, which in turn, gave us the word "metaverse", and helped inspire the creation of SL itself. (Even though, ironically, Stephenson has never been to SL himself.) In it, Silverstar also incorporates some great quotes from anthropologist Tom Boellstorff, who's done some of the most interesting academic writing on SL. In fact, I love one passage so much - "The virtual is essential to the real... Since humans are always crafting themselves through culture, they have always been virtual" - I'm going to macro that sucker:

Suitable for framing, or maybe as a screensaver!

Comments

[Stroker]

Breathtaking! I couldn't stop watching it!

[Jjccc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRgmZKqvoqA&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6KhJN26Pss&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cL7vekK0So

These are 3 other links to the snow crash machinima competition that i no of, I wouldn't want to think that this blog is being biased by only reporting on one of the competitors in this competition or maybe it is, i think Spiral Silverstar has produced a great video but everyone else also deserves a fair crack of the whip to

[Ash]

That lovely lady who provided all the audio is a secondlifer too. ;)

[Tom Boellstorff]

Thanks for the shoutout! I had no prior acquaintance with these folks until they did this, and I'm just so flattered that they did it!!!

[Spiral Silverstar]

To clarify, Zefora, (Ashling Alchemi in Second Life) did the Vocoder reading in the film. She also wrote the original version of the song, Sirens, used in the film. She is an excellent musician in her own right. :-)

[Hitomi Tiponi]

The UTSA sim is a lovely place to visit - and so inspiring. If you ever feel SL is getting bland take a trip there.