New World Notes

Open Forum: What SL Events Are Happening This Week?

Charlanna Beresford's weekly round-up of Second Life events...

Seasons greetings to all!  No matter what holiday you celebrate this time of year(if any...), there are plenty of good tidings and fun to explore across the grid.  Like many of you, I continue to juggle lots of different things and we're listing just a few events and asking people to share their favorite upcoming events in an open forum.   Here are just a few of the great events happening this week:

• From midnight to midnight on Saturday, December 27th, the Lindens are hosting a 24-hour music festival as part of Winterfaire.  Come enjoy some great music!  In I-World Island (click here to teleport.)
• At 4 PM on Tuesday, December 30, NWN partner Rezzable is having A Greenies Life: Fun on a Gigantic Scale.  This is an opportunity for a guided tour to see the Greenies up close and personal and to win some Greenies gear.  IM Duda Poulot or Angelina Rhode for more information. In Greenies Home Rezzable (click here to teleport.)
• Ring in 2009 aboard the RMS Titanic!  Starting at 9:30 PM on Wednesday, December 31, the RMS Titanic is hosting an extravaganza with music, dancing and fireworks.  In Titanic (click here to teleport.)

I know this is just an tiny bit of what is happening on the grid this week; do you know of fun and interesting SL happenings going on in the next few days?  Please post a description with day, time, and place (ideally with a SLURL) in Comments, and we'll feature as many events as we can.

A Second Life Christmas Poem

On the blog of NWN partner Rezzable, Foolish Frost and Botany Black have a friggin' charming metaverse-based spin on the famous Chrismas poem, which begins:

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Sim./Not a Avi was stirring, nor even a prim./Only some few were online, for friends and for pals,/And were gathered in just a few such locales...

The Lindens were nestled all snug on their land,/While peace filled their servers, no one to be banned./And Bot in her Lifetree, and I with my staff,/Were settled with family, for a good evening's laugh...

Read the rest here. Image credit: a Greenies Christmas card by Vint Falken.

Open Forum: What's Your Favorite SL Christmas Gift?

There's a bit more than 12 shopping hours before Christmas, and if you need last-minute virtual gift ideas for your favorite avatars, check out New World Note's "Most Precious Item In Second Life" series, with suggestions ranging from high-end jewelry to Summer villas to flying submarines to ancient dragons. (At left, Iris Ophelia featured with some adorable puppies programmed with AI behavior from A.I.F., in a Sorrow Marionette avatar from The Abyss.) 

After you've looked through our series, tell us: what did we miss that you're getting for loved ones these holidays?  (Or hope they buy for you?)

The Hottest Male Avatar of 2008: Bone Mosten

Exclusive to NWN, Iris Ophelia's ongoing showcase of all things stylish in SL

The Hottest Male Avatars of 2007 were a great start, but this year we really upped the ante. After three weeks of semi finalist voting and a top eleven, there was still one thing left to do, and that was to crown the Hottest Male Avatar of 2008, based on a reader poll of ten finalists. With Prad Prathivi coming in 3rd place and Dpende Control coming in 2nd, Bone Mosten was crowned Hottest Male of 2008 in style at Seven Ultra Lounge, and even CNBC blogged the story. Bone's more than a pretty face, though. Read on to get to know Bone a little better.

Interactive Sculpture Responds To Second Life's Virtual Wind

In this latest machinima video podcast from Dizzy Banjo, the metaverse musician visits the Total Wind Sculpture of Glyph Graves.  As the title suggests, Mr. Graves has created an interactive installation that responds to the wind in Second Life by emitting a symphony of musical notes, light, and color, all according to the vectors and strength of the random air currents flowing through it.  I just briefly visited, and it's heart-achingly awesome.  In fact, maybe it's a better idea to visit it first-hand, and then watch Dizzy's excellent interview with Glyph, to fully appreciate the math and artistry that makes it possible.

This is a direct SLURL teleport link to the Total Wind Sculpture of Glyph Graves.  If you can only go one place in-world this week, you may very well want to make it here.  (Much mahalo to Mr. Banjo!)

Explore Venice In An OpenSim Project Called New World Grid

Pierluigi at NWN partner Koinup has been excitedly sending me images from the new OpenSim channel on his virtual world social, and I have to say, the content keeps getting more impressive and diverse.  Here's a photo by Olish Newman of "Venice, Italy", a region on an OpenSim project called The New World Grid.  (Now featured on New World Notes.)  We already need a comprehensive, descriptive directory or wiki to keep track of all the OpenSim mini-metaverses out there-- anyone want to volunteer?

In any case, see much more from many OpenSim worlds on the Koinup channel.

Eshi Otawara Gets A Green Card!

Here's some great holiday news: one of Second Life's most admired Residents is finally a Permanent Resident of the United States.  Last Summer, celebrated metaverse artist Eshi Otawara was seemingly days away from being deported from her adopted home in the US, a victim of the so-called "widow's penalty".  Fortunately for her and us, she was assisted by an informal coalition of Second Life Residents who came to know and love her-- including some who were able to provide legal support.  In tribute of that, I asked her to whip up a mixed reality green card, above.

"I was lucky, again, to have been in Second Life where I met people who wholeheartedly helped me, " she tells me.  "Harper, Mike, Tab, Crap, Bettina, Lauren and many others... all of my customers in SL who literally put food on my table. I don't think I ever would have pulled through these two years of being on hold without Second Life community who took me for who I really am, not my widowhood or the fact I was not American, as I was often judged for that in real life."  Then again, she also noted there are others who are not as lucky as her, still struggling against the widow's penalty-- here's a site explaining and advocating their cause.

As for Eshi Otawara, "there's still a lot to do for me, a lot of gaps to fill... but at least I feel like finally nothing can separate me from the memory of Glenn and the fact that this is home."

Weblin Exports Second Life Avatars To Web Pages (Join Me Here On New World Notes?)

Starting today, you can often find Hamlet Au not just in Second Life, but right here on this blog.  That's thanks to Weblin, a fairly cool widget that adds avatars not in a virtual world, but on the web itself.  Normally you'd choose an avatar from the program, but last week, the developers made it possible for Second Life users to export their avatar from within SL.  To do that, you first download and install the widget, then log into SL, and travel to the small Weblin office located in New Berlin.  (Direct SLURL teleport at this link.)  There, a bot photographer with a guitar and a giant 'fro will take screenshots of your avatar in a series of poses, then upload those images to a Weblin server, where your avatar is recreated for the web.  (This whole automated process is impressive in its own right.)

When the images are uploaded, you're given a link to your Weblin profile, to complete the process.  Once finished, your SL avatar is available to interact via chat and gestures with any other Weblin avatar on the same website.  I've always wanted to link the actual Second Life experience with the community on my Second Life blog, and with enough interest, this might be the best way.  If I see a decent number of other SL avatars regularly puttering around on the bottom of this web page, I'll definitely keep it going.

New World Notes em português: Perfil de Mixed Reality: Laurah Oh, designer gráfica e artista do metaverso

Tenho orgulho em apresentar o New World Notes em português, uma experiência destinada a alargar a leitura deste blogue entre os muitos Residentes de Portugal e do Brasil.  Para verem mais posts como este, por favor enviem este link -- Hamlet Au (tradução de Tonjampae Amat)

Last Week In New World Notes...

- I offer five reasons why Sony Home will probably fail.
- Vidal reviews the "Combat Cards" strategy game.
- A brief visit to the new home of that steampunk masterpiece, the Bogon Flux.
- The Lindens defend the inclusion of bots in their "Residents Online Now" stat.
- Is the metaverse ready to adequately educate us about the Holocaust?  I visit an SL memorial to Kristallnacht, and come away with a mixed opinion.