Tyrehl Byk and a glimpse of his Event Horizon show
I recently caught a performance of Tyrehl Byk's Event Horizon show in Second Life, invited at the last minute by Delinda Dryssen. (I was still in Princeton at the time, and it was faintly odd to log into the metaverse from a pre-Revolutionary home a block away from Einstein's old house.) And despite the huge enthusiasm for the show in Second Life, I was a bit skeptical going in: Wouldn't it be a glorified light show, sort of like those Pink Floyd laser light dealies they used to put on in planetariums? Especially because Tyrehl auto-locks your camera once you sit down in his auditorium, which essentially limits you to a 2D view?
I quickly realized my worries were unfounded -- Tyrehl Byk's show is euphoric and amazingly cool, not just because his particle effects are far more impressive and involving than anything a laser show could cook up. The whole process of going into the auditorium, meeting and chatting with other patrons beforehand, creates a sense of 3D of presence that sticks with you even after your camera locks, and the show starts. (My pal Pema Pera, the Princeton astrophysicist who makes light shows of his own in SL, suggested to me this would be the case going in.) So the overall effect feels less like passively looking at a light show, and more like floating within it. Literally floating disembodied through Tyrehl Byk's constellations of light and color. (That's when the euphoria kicks in, at least for me.) Pretty damn amazing.
Which is a long way of saying: Experience it for yourself! There's a lot of machinima recordings of the show out there, but you're really not going to get the full effect by just watching those. To get a list of upcoming show times, go to Mr. Byk's auditorium and click on a sign: Direct SLurl teleport here. Tyrehl Byk also has a Twitter account with more updates, and hopefully future event info will be posted there too (hint hint.)
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