After I profiled "alsarmady Eel", the Second Life name of an arts professor who lives in Babylon, Iraq, I promised to send him a copy of my book. This turned out to be way less difficult than you might imagine-- basically, you just fill out the same international customs form you'd use for sending US mail to any other country, give the parcel to the carrier, pay your money (about $15, as I recall), and you're done. The only additional twist: the Iraqi address must include the recipient's mobile number, so the postmaster there can call and tell them a package has arrived. (This is actually the second Second Life-related parcel I've sent to Iraq; in 2005, I sent one to Dane Street, the Marine brother of legendary fashionista Mistress Midnight.)
In the several weeks it took for the book to make its way from San Francisco to the Middle East, Professor Eel was keeping busy promoting his theories of Second Life, which he sees as the penultimate art form. Here's a YouTube copy of him on Iraqi television, on Kab Kosin, a program devoted to philosophy and the arts. "I talked about [my ideas] and Second Life and Philip Rosedale," he tells me. (If Arabic-fluent readers wish to offer some translation in Comments, I'd be grateful.)
When I tell people that one of Second Life's most passionate advocates is a professor in Babylon, the most common response is total disbelief. So when alsarmady Eel told me he'd received the book, I asked him to take a photo of it from his city. This is him on 40 Street. "Everyone in Iraq knows this [place] because this is the best street in Babylon," he tells me. He shaved his head, he adds, so that he more closely resembles his avatar.
And here they are together:
My original request was for him to pose by a famed Babylonian landmark, and he suggested the Lion of Babylon, a black rock sculpture from 600 B.C. This turned out to be less feasible than originally planned.
"I try to take with Babylon Lion," he e-mailed me, "But the USA Army there have a camps, so it's hard."
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