When Bettina Tizzy wrote about the waves Naiman Broome had made, I had the skepticism of an island boy who'd grown up not half a mile from Kailua Beach. So I took the teleport trip to the Second Life isle of Las Arenas Rosadas, where Naiman peddles his waves, to see for myself. A woman named Justyna Lundquist was already there by the seaside, playfully dangling her feet in the lapping water. And just as Bettina promised, the waves were more vivid and real than anything I'd seen this side of the digital divide, with white foam, ripples, and around us, the steady but gently soothing roar of the open ocean. The larger waves are a touch less successful in my view, because they have a necessarily "canned" aspect, but the subtle give and take of Naiman's tide is a valuable contribution to making Second Life's shoreline breathe. See Bettina's video documentary, and visit the isle of Rosadas (a lovely vacation spot in itself) for a first-hand swim. (Direct SLURL teleport at this link.)
Comments