Rest is essential for a happy married life - and you can rest assured that with Patch Lamington's Doris & Rock noSexGen Bed you will enjoy deep, reinvigorating sleep and nothing else!
Another semi-fake commercial. The bed is 20l.
Update: I really messed up the credits. I MEANT to thank Molly Montale for the pink noSex-Gen ad (I monkeyed with it), ahkenatan Grommit for the fabulous Primouth automobile, Cheeky Cow Golf Course, and Enjah Mysterio for going along with my madness and contributing in many ways, including lamps and the rug as well; as acting. Thank you, all!
Labels: yootoob
- A Great Blue Heron just landed on a rotten piling in front of the house (left over from train tracks many decades ago I have been told). It's dusk so I can't see it very well. There used to be one that liked next-door's dock until the house sold and the new people put in a big slide - maybe this one's related or perhaps this spot attacts h... - oh, there he goes.
There's a juvenile bald eagle hanging out in a Douglas fir to my left.
I saw bags of osprey today - also many eagles.
And a mourning dove likes my deck railing, and that Stellar's Jay is on the job eating spiders every day just about.
Oh, I heard some loons, and I WASN'T in SL.
Labels: spiders birds
I have a bazillion viewers to choose from, now, so when Fau IMed with a last-minute request for a video record of a performance (tomorrow) I went to the set and tried on different viewers and made some WindLight settings (I'm not done yet, though). As I told Neal just after I tped back to Bodega: I'm a browser, so having choices is good. I need to get back to my Tiny animation-making; I did a couple that are fun, and have another awaiting upload, if I can work on that for a minute undisturbed.
Just noticed this in the Shadow Viewer a second ago:
Light texture.BTW my head is back in (in the RC, anyway). Were there server-side changes that did that, or was it just a self-healing effect?
The Barcola Zombies Have All Moved To Ambat
A Poem by Osprey Therian
Yesterday from a zombie king a message came that said:
i just got moved to an infohub you made
Punctuationlessly he added: weird
Again this morning news from the aforementioned undead:
We already bought land over there,..
your hub is a bit quieter but novas getting silent fast
so we've decided to hang at your hub more...
I chortled with glee upon hearing what others might truly dread.
if you need anything from us or want help
in trying to make that place have a bigger crowd let me know..
you have a sandbox nearby and that's cool enough..
place looks damn lovely
I haz zombies now in Ambat - rotting corpses of the dead!
Liquid metal cooled by water - a filigree of lead,
Such twists of fate remind me of - now ain't that a kick in the head?
Labels: zombeh
My First Official Shadows-with the 1.23 RC
Bodega looks nice with shadows.
I seem to be caught midway between shadows and alpha avatars - as a novelty I enjoy it, but I wouldn't like to be stuck this way.
I'm glad it's officially out; although it's early days yet for shadows it's an addition that will change SL for the better when it's all settled in with AA and whatnot.Update: my head was back this morning so it either self-healed or there were serverside changes.
Rezday party yesterday for Zayn, who is two :-D Happy Rezday!29 April 2009
Crazy 50s Wallpaper - detail
Originally uploaded by rogerejones
Crazy 50s Wallpaper - detail
He says, "Oh, how I wish I could find this wallpaper pattern today. This was in my parents' bedroom in 1958 (like the photo border says)."
I'm in the process of adding Violet's cushion. I have added it, in fact, but want to make some Tiny anims such as dangling from the sticky-outy metal part after having fallen off, and standing on the cushion looking out with paw-shaded eyes. Since I've never made Tiny anims before this will be fun, and if I were not due to leave momentarily I'd do it right now.
Luxurious interior.Very cool.
Labels: yootoob
Recruiting
Who is interested in joining the team? As I see it we can do some drives around the grid while I get used to the steam vessel before we decide where to go. No set schedule. Frequent stops for tea under shady trees is part of the gig.
So far:
Os: drives everyone to distraction
Violet: makes the tea and reads the future
We need:
A picnologist (Someone who has a hamper, preferably with champoo)
Witty raconteurs (never enough)
Someone who notices odd things that we then have to explore/examine
Expert tracker
Cryptologist
And err... so on
28 April 2009
Yo asked me to respond to Emily Levine: A trickster's theory of everything so I made this a minute ago:
Labels: yootoob
Labels: yootoob
I'm been driving the roads in Bodega, Bolinas, Davenport, Montara, Phobos, Cowell, and so on getting the hang of the 1891 Steam Vessel by ahkenatan Grommet. It's not hard to drive however it IS hard to drive whilst filming, which I insist on doing even after rolling over and off the road and nearly thwacking my head on Yo's house. Ooh... I just had an idea...27 April 2009
Winter: I do hope that LL will give us a way soon to tell "how bad" our own scripts really are. Some kind of "debug" metric we can enable to see script time in an object. I don't think it's a good idea to limit this information to only Estate Owners.
ElQ: I've often thought we'd do quite a bit of this ourselves if they gave us a single sim server scripting sandbox where we could see this information.
Although as we all know my own little adventures in aid of explosion, fireball, and suchlike special effects scripts are very basic, yet even for me the ability to determine if I've made some kind of horrid noobie blunder would be useful. For real scripters I'm sure it would be a boon.
Labels: It Came From the Forum
26 April 2009
The last couple of days my brain has been working, more or less - yippee! It's been a long winter without the use of my brain.
Update: Ooops, spoke too soon, however at least yesterday was good :-D
25 April 2009
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh
A Sekret Show So Don't Let Anyone KnowLabels: Live Performance, TSMGO
Thread In Which People Discuss Their Avatar Script Cost
Somewhat scary, in a way.
Labels: It Came From the Forum
And akenatan sent me the much-longed-for steampunk exploration vehicle, so now I can go and search for Magellan :-D
A: here it is finally, it works like all my other cars , you wear the body and drive the wheels. you can have 4 passengers, poseballs on the couches. click on the wheels for a menu for light controls, exhaust and shadow on/off. Enjoy!
Osprey Therian: mwahhh! I'm excited!
I had a good talk with moo today, too. I hadn't spoken with her for absolutely ages:
[14:15] moo Money: Hey! How did you find my plot? :O
[14:20] Osprey Therian: I yam stalkin' U ;-D
[14:21] moo Money: oh dear
[14:21] Osprey Therian: not really though haha
[14:22] moo Money: I found out because Petgirl Bergman showed up haha
She's setting up Mookanida as a machinima resource place, and I said I'd help if she would like. moo was a big machinimatography supporter but has been absent as her machinima.com duties took her more into the WoW side of machinima. She's back now filming a series, and it's good to have her back.
Working On the Show
Lucy, Karuna, and I rehearsed the tonic act and the doctor sketch earlier, and things are coming along. Timing is working pretty well. I am going to draw out the doctor music again so we don't run short.
I IMed Eve afterwards, and laid my cards on the table about performing again at Earpoint. We discussed the possibility of trying 5am, and she said that funnily enough they'd just had 5 am and 6am events the other day and both had gone well. I asked her if Rich would assess my special effects scripts* just in case they need reworking, knowing that he would as he is very, very kind. She also sent me to Lou, who had me rez and run things on his island so he could view the script times.
[16:28] Osprey Therian: Lou, what do you think?
[16:28] Dentex3: Mmmmm Osprey Therian Fin-Ger Likin Good...
[16:28] Lou: ok, what is see is good
[16:29] Osprey Therian: :-D
[16:29] Lou: your heaviest script was 0.01 ms
[16:29] Osprey Therian: I try to be good about coding but I am a complete dunce scripter
[16:29] Osprey Therian: so it's good to get checked
[16:30] Lou: yes, feel free to come here when you want
[16:30] Osprey Therian: ty very much!
[16:30] Lou: you can also use the time dilataion information
[16:30] Osprey Therian: ok will get out of your hair now, but ty
I had explained beforehand that the scripts are really rather basic, operate mostly on owner-touch, and that I had no reason to think they were a problem - I just wanted to err opn the side of caution. Plus hanging out underwater being attacked by fishes made my skeleton avatar the perfect choice :-D
I'm still on the machinima side instead of bashing my brains out trying to make this happen when it has seemed impossible lately, but it's good to gather information.
*Exploding merry-go-round, fire hoop rezzer, fire hoop which sets Phoebus on fire, fire boxes that are set in the audience and which Phoebus collides with, setting off fire.
Lust, Caution
This really good film by Ang Lee tells a tale of 1940s occupied China and a small group of drama students naively attempting to contribute to the cause of the resistance. Complex in its portrayal of the two people whose lives intersect then join through their need for unrelenting control in order to survive, Lust, Caution has a million beautiful details from the sets to the performances. The ending is the opposite of the romantic films where love wins all; let go of reality for a dream - forget the need for absolute control - and this particular game is lost.
Labels: Netflix
24 April 2009
Blue, Pink, and RedI would've taken better pictures except ahkenatan IMed me right then and told me he is going to equip my expedition to search for Magellan! w00t!
[18:26] Osprey Therian: You scared me. *shakes her fist*
[18:50] Excellent Person: :-O
[18:51] Osprey Therian: I was in at your place in March, then April it was gone and there was A FLOWER IN THE MEMORIAL GARDEN WITH YOUR NAME ON IT
[18:51] Excellent Person: oh man!
[18:52] Excellent Person: no, I just got poor
[18:52] Excellent Person: sorry to worry you!
[18:52] Osprey Therian: I was sad. YOU WRETCH ;-D I forgive you, though.
[18:52] Osprey Therian: You made me come out of my cave.
[18:52] Excellent Person: phew
[18:52] Excellent Person: :-O
[18:53] Excellent Person: *hands a parasol*
[18:53] Osprey Therian: Well, you are most excellent, you know.
[18:53] Osprey Therian wipes her eyes and blows her nose on the parasol.
[18:53] Osprey Therian: night night :-D
[18:55] Excellent Person: good night!
Labels: Adventures in IM
Mookanida
23 April 2009
One Day
On islands avatars are now showing up in Top Scripts if they are scripted to the hilt. Not that I would've known as I am not an island person, but someone reported it on the forum. I think the avatar script limit, whenever it happens to roll into play, is going to make a big difference. I'm always scandalised when I see a screenshot that has two or three HUDs on it - and that's common now. I've never been a MystiTool user (or what was the earlier Swiss Army Knife attachment - forgotten) because I felt that it was killing SL.
I know "everyone" thinks it's an SL must-have - but it isn't. When we were at Spangle I used a radar HUD because I couldn't see people when they landed, but even that went by-the-by when the need disappeared.
From the comments on the forum post:
"I spotted this earlier today on one of our resident's sims whilst checking performance - seems I was taking up 0.315 ms!"
"Yeah mine was 0.460 ms. Time to remove some huds I think lol."
"I tested this and loaded all my huds lol 3.860 LOL."
Hard to have a simple flea circus when so many people are draped in laggy HUDs.
Waiting for AOs incorporated into the viewer or just better default anims, too.
Tiff gave me a mango drink with caffeine in it, and therefore...
I couldn't sleep
...and wound up getting up at 2am (went to bed at about 1 or so), then going back to bed at about 3 or so, then getting up again after an hour or two. I was pottering about on the memorial island (where I ran into a great area protected by banlines, I hope mistakenly), and when I left there and checked the forum I had a pm from Boy asking me to assess the two newest shadow viewers, so I did, with results that might be useful for comparisons, and if not - what would anyone expect since I haven't had any sleep.
Viewers to be tested against one another:
In this corner we have the brand-spanking new SD17, which incorporates the viewer changes of the S16 along with shadows.
Pros: I'm grateful KirstenLee compiled the first viewer with shadows that I ever used.
Cons: Non-compliance with the dictates of open sourcery (and we all know why).
And in the other corner we have the still sparkly-fresh Shadow Viewer by Boy Lane.
Pros: Boy complies happily with open source dictates. She creates viewers (notably the CoolViewer) just for SL, and is enthusiastic and open in her contributions, as well as a constant presence on the forum asking for feedback.
Cons: None I know of.
Puter (was big when I had it built two years ago but is medium spec now)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6700 @ 2.66GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 3326MB RAM
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
Chip type: GeForce 8800 GTX
Display Memory: 768.0 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.8250
Environment
256 draw
Midday
Standing
Ultra settings (everything maxed)
Note: FPS waddles around and I settled on the whole number I saw most consistently.
Far Shot
SD17 ^^
Shadow Viewer ^^--------------------------
Close-Up
SD17 ^^
Shadow Viewer ^^--------------------------
Snapshot
SD17 ^^
Shadow Viewer ^^My Conclusions Based Upon Results Which Might Well Be Very Specific to My Hardware/Location/Choice of Dress
SD17 = ~17fps
SV = ~20fps <---Winner
SD17 = Borked Snapshot
SV = Snapshots <---Winner
SD17 = alpha glitches (inconclusive; to be expected)
SV = alpha glitches (inconclusive; to be expected)
Fair Play Award = +1 point to the Shadow Viewer for Open Source compliance.
Based on this entirely unscientific comparison fueled entirely by a sleepless night, I recommend the Shadow Viewer by Boy Lane, to be obtained by clicking this link HERE.
Another Major Improvement is Nigh
or "Jack Kicks Bot Butt"
Bots have been reassessed and the damaging kind will be counter the TOS.
"This time next week we will begin to routinely look at the Search results and where we find clear use of Bots to gain an unfair Search advantage we will be handling it as an abuse issue. We will not need you to abuse report this, instead we will monitor the Search results. To begin with we will message the land owner to issue a warning, but this will escalate to an account suspension or removal from Search if it persists. The usual Abuse-appeals process will be available for anyone that feels that the decision is unfair."
Excellent. Thank you, Jack.
22 April 2009
Kirstenlee's SD17 is available.I found out on the forum just as Tiff was arriving, so didn't get to test it out until just now. It looks good, but I haven't done much bumping about in it.
GTA Mod
=========:O Very, very cool.
Most peculiar, mama.
Adventures at 0,0 (I presume)
Twice - on Saturday at Spaceport when I right-clicked to fight on an arena for a tournament match, and at the Eleanor on Monday when I right-clicked to climb on a ladder I was building, I was sent to No Man's Land for a period of time. At Spaceport everything went black with a strip of edge-land and me sitting primly on nothing, and I just waited - then I heard Kat say "Good luck, Os," and knew she could see me, so I waited longer and finally snapped to the correct place (time elapsed approximately 5 seconds i.e. a LONG time).
At the Eleanor I briefly went underwater where there was nothing but land, then snapped to the correct place.
Spaceport is an island; the Eleanor is in Phobos (mainland). The look of the brief and odd sojourn is consistent with that for each.
Rezzer Pooferisation
During rehearsal the Heaven set poofed itself, which, in itself is not a very big deal. After that apparently a number of set rezzers just up and ran off - I've asked Enjah to check at Phobos 0,0 for them. Who knows, perhaps she will find HBA's spotlight there.
Back at the dawn of TSMGO I resolutely avoided great gobs of scripted special effects and things as it's GROSS to be standing on a bare stage waiting for something to show up. I made everyone have their set rezzed and just needing to be slid into place. I said I wouldn't do holodecks until Mono.
Fast forward to the last show of 2008, at Earpoint, where everything broke and went wrong (and we were hardly using any scripted objects at all, but things wouldn't rez, talkers wouldn't work, people crashed, people couldn't change, the curtain didn't work, and I think, every single act was totally busticated for no good reason).
Then at Raglan Shire, first show of 2009, using holodecks set rezzers, those worked ok, but Esmeralda's merry-go-round (which a Scripting Dunce programmed to spin then explode on a touch, and which has worked flawlessly every other time) didn't work, and Phoebus's firehoop (likewise Script Dunce-made to catch Phoebus on fire) didn't catch Phoebus on fire a-tall, and nor did the (SD) phantom boxes that rez a 20-second flame ball before dying. It seems as though script response time was just too slow at that moment, and as well as things like collision-detect not functioning in that climate, other things such as the curtain, which don't normally toggle mid-movement, will indeed toggle mid-movement, so a touch, delayed response, touch again, response to first touch followed by response to second touch puts the curtain right back to where it started.
I went through and took out all particle scripts as they are unnecessary, and squinted at them ("rez something then die" is not exactly a tough and complex script, though).
Our troubles happened in unholy extreme lag with incredible spikes - no wonder, then, you say - but I'm just trying to lower any contributions we make to script time lag. We are really stuck with limiting audiences severely. Everyone recommends the very, very oldest of gathering scenarios: "get 2 sims and keep the audience on one whilst performing on the other," but that shouldn't be necessary. Actually, I was offered a couple of free sims, once, but there is no way in Hell I'd be able to make tier on two islands (TSMGO is free). In the past we could just perform right through the worst lag - at the moment it breaks the show.
We really need (possibly) someone much more sensible than I (I score .0000100146 on the Sensiblonometre.*) to do Practikal Arrangments. Although I managed well for the early years I'm not doing too well now [I'm not the director anymore so maybe Group Thought (without GroupThink) will Overcome All].
* Oh, ok, I only score .0000100144 :-(
Labels: Scripting Dunce
Queen Bohemian Rhapsody Old School Computer Remix
The concuctor says:
Atari 800XL was used for the lead piano/organ sound
Texas Instruments TI-99/4a as lead guitar
8 Inch Floppy Disk as Bass
3.5 inch Harddrive as the gong
HP ScanJet 3C was used for all vocals. Please note I had to record the HP scanner 4 seperate times for each voice. I tried to buy 4 HP scanners but for some reason sellers on E-Bay expect you to pay $80-$100, I got mine for $30.
I keep hearing parts of the song are out of tune. Keep in mind the scanner and floppy drive are not musical instruments. These are mechanical devices whose motors tend to drift and can cause some notes to be out of tune.
Labels: ewetoob
21 April 2009
"A Region may be designated PG so long as it does not advertise or make available any content that is suggestive of any (even mildly) sexual or violent themes, or references to social drug or alcohol usage."
It seems as though the mainland should all turn Mature now, since PG is going to be a bit restrictive even for Combat Cards. I suppose hand-to-hand combat to the death could be considered mildly violent, even if the vanquished rise up after having had a short lie-down.
I reckon Raoul might not be welcome in a PG sim. Poor lad.
Along with every other resident of Second Life I wish they'd stop calling it AO. An AO has, for five years, been an animation overrider, and now because of LL it's an animation overrider AND tentacle sex - that's too much for two little vowels.
Just to reiterate:
I did not delete HBA's spotlight.
I never saw HBA's spotlight.
I did not even know HBA's spotlight existed.
I said I hadn't deleted it (two times).
And so I hadn't.
P.S. I didn't delete HBA's spotlight.
Blogging, About the Usefulness of
Candide: i have a new blog!!!
just kidding
me: heh
I need to go dust yer old one off.
Candide: no i'm not
me: ok
Candide: i'm more like a geopard
me: I knew it was wrong but I wrote it anyway. I'm more like a leotard.
Candide: hence why you are a blogger 
me: I am truly a blogger. When my power is out I write blogposts in mah head.
Candide: do you post it in your head too?
me: nope
me: nope
I fergetz the posts as soon as the power comes on
Candide: you should get a laptop
it has portable powers
me: I have always kept journals and thinfgs tho
indeed that is something i should consider
I could be even more out of control
Candide: get one of those OPLC (one laptop per child) laptops that has a mechanical handle you can turn to generate electricity ... then you can blog forever
me: I think those are snazzy
I could pretend I am buying it for a needy child
THEN BLAWWWGGGGG HAHAHAHA cough choke
ok goodbye
Candide: byeee
Labels: ...Is Teh Debbil
20 April 2009
Stephen Hawking is in hospital.
The Second Life Keyboard
Originally uploaded by ::Prad Prathivi @ Amodica::
Ultimate SL Keyboard Unveiled
See in Close-Up for Maximum Joy!
Second Life Quickstart Guide Publish at Scribd or explore others: How-to-Guides & Manu howto fast
La Machine is showing a version of their giant spider in Japan (last time I saw a video of it, it was in Liverpool).
19 April 2009
Hah. Games of the Past and Present
I asked Doc if he thought there were any other trading card games in SL, and he brought up the game that was a winner in the SL Arcadia Games Expo in 2006. I looked it up in the old forum archives (which made me laugh a lot - it could be rough but it was also very funny). I remembered the build but I'd never played - I'd forgotten one of the devs was Grim Hathor, who was a friend (from SimCast) at that time (and who totally unbidden wrote me a second script for the kiosk for the - oh, yes, hah - fun trading cards I was making in early 2005 with Enj. I had asked Jeffrey Gomez* to write the first one, which he did immediately while I waited, he's that nice). I did get a free minion and remember rezzing it next to Bodega Bay one day, but the build had given me the creeps for some unknown reason. Called The Collective, that game appears to be long gone, and I couldn't find the minion in my 17 mile long inventory** (doesn't mean it's not there).
I teleported to Navora to check on DarkLife, which is still there. I stopped playing when it was reformatted, for no particular reason, although I did like the old build a lot as it had a nice sense of place. I am fond of Tedd Tigereye who had built a lot of the original town. He was one of the first people I really spent time talking with. Pirate's Game Ring is still there, giving out Combat Cards info that could use some updating (at least it has Europa landmarked although Spangle comes first). I still talk to Pirate once in a great while.**
I dragged out my Sim Combat katana, which is huuuugggeee - bigger than me. Funnily all the scripts are full perm. /me goes off on a tangent: When I first plonked myself down in SL I used to roam all over looking at every texture that was interesting or had a problem or solved one in the Edit pane, which you can't do now, sadly. It was a great way to learn. And I ripped everything apart and looked at all the scripts and prims and whatnot. It's too bad that had to change; although there are masses of (too many) free things**** it's not the same.
Another game that, I think, is still going strong is Settlers of Second Life, which was made by Lex Neva and my old buddy from There, Sprite Quartermass (who popped up one day in DarkLife as a mysterious stranger and showed me something I recognised, prompting me to yell, "Society!!"). Things were small back then, although SL felt big to me.
* I met Jeff in 2004 because, in that distant time prior to p2p tTPs he had some kind of teleporting scheme involving microplots, one of which was in Bodega Bay. It had a plywood cube on it and I IMed him and asked him to for God's sake make it look better. He thundered over (and was a blue dragon I think at that time), and was exceedingly nice, gave me all kinds of whacky things he was devising, and removed the cube.
** My inventory is like a core sample of the earth, now, with thick and thin layers for busy or idle times.
*** Me: Still in EVE? PC: Not as much. Me: You must've got married. PC: Haha! Almost!
****Maybe things should have a date at which time they will poof; it seems like it would be unwelcome yet we are going to drown in freebies at some point.
"There are two kinds of men. I've joined the planners."
I'd wanted to see The Man on the Train for ages but never quite managed it until this evening. It's good. Jean Rochefort and Johnny Hallyday are wonderful.
Also made me think about that Don Quixote-that-never-was film about Terry Gilliams ill-fated attempt, called, perhaps, In Search of Don Quixote or something. Was interesting in a tantalising kind of way.
Labels: Films with Rocker Actors, Netflix
The Path from Tale of Tales
I stupidly missed the special ABIOGENESIS festival in The Endless Forest - they said, "Meet us on Twin Gods Hill at 9 PM (time in Belgium)." I went in later but couldn't connect, so the server might've been offline by that time. Still, I got my ToT fix from The Path, which is a new but long-awaited horror game that, like all Tale of Tales work is art in game form.
18 April 2009
Postcard from Second Life.
Originally uploaded by Vivian Oblivion
Postcard from Second Life.
Originally uploaded by Vivian Oblivion
Postcard from Second Life.
Originally uploaded by Vivian Oblivion
Uh... where was I... I think Aggro...
Candide sent me this link to a beautiful little game:
The Scarygirl Game
16 April 2009
Looks good: the graphics for Borderlands are nice.
15 April 2009
Only 50% of the Usual Laughter Today
A couple of months ago when I made an appointment with my beloved hair cutterers I knew it'd be easy to remember as it was on tax day. Sean even rang me this morning, which was nice, although unnecessary. They were having a frantic thing going on with their accountant and so we didn't have as much rolling on the floor with laughter as usual. When I saw Frank it was a bit more subdued than usual, too.*
SJ rang me with some sobering news, so it seems today is just lacking in glee and overloaded with lugubriousness.
* However, on Monday when I saw him we laughed so hard we couldn't even see straight (more typical).
Labels: Beloved Hair Cutterers
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
This is a documentary about the unthinkable. It's well-made and absorbing, and deals with both the best and worst in human behaviour.Labels: Netflix
14 April 2009
Bastige Eagles
The stupid eagles are always attacking the osprey, and although the osprey can twist and turn to keep the eagle from stooping, it is alweays touch and go. Just now I saw two rotten old eagles gang up on a (vituous and brave) osprey. The osprey had to drop its prey in order to make an escape, and an eagle swooped down to steal the fish (dunno if the bird got it or if it sank). Eagles are stupid but powerful. Osprey are all things good, and they never wander around the lake making unsuccessful grabs at fish over and over again like some large black and white birds I could mention.
Thank you very much, Michael and Brent!
The bridge is back! Brent had to clone a backup of the region and replace it hastily as he had not got much time. I'm quite jazzed.
Thank you, Jack!
Metaplace Diversity
I do stand corrected in saying Metaplace has no diversity, as I saw when I wandered around last week. Here is a sample:
Utopika
Utopika is very rich-looking.
Lovebug
Lovebug is a cute but limited construction paper world (I don't know if it is in process or finished).
DrTeeth
DrTeeth is, I think, the beginnings of a dental hygiene game made by a dentist (I might be wrong about that but it was my impression). I should go back in and ask the man. /me goes back to DrTeeth.
Ostherian: Dr R, are you a dentist?
KStarfire: he is
KStarfire: actually working on a patient right now :)
Ostherian: This looks like the beginnings of a dental hygiene game - yes?
KStarfire: yup :)
Ostherian: Thank you for talking to me :-D
KStarfire: sure :)
KStarfire: welcome to Metaplace
Ostherian: When will it be usable as a game, any idea?
Ostherian: TY
Ostherian: I wonder if something like this could catch on in dental offices around the world :-D
KStarfire: well.. hopefuly with another week or two
KStarfire: its almost playable now actually
Ostherian: I can see this being latched onto by other dentists if they learn about it.
KStarfire: grins yeah hope so
KStarfire: hes got some big plans for it eventually :)
Tarot Garden
The Tarot Garden is a nice way for the builder to showcase real-world wares that are buyable through links to a website.
Although it doesn't rival SL, Metaplace has far more scope than I originally stated, and it is, after all, quite new. Alas I've spend just a few minutes on my worlds; once terraforming came in my enthusiasm rose a lot, but I'm spread too thinly to do too much I think.A thin but approximately 12"x18" piece of ice just came whizzing off the roof, to thump itself into shards below. There's snow on the hills.
Labels: snow
ElleCoyote pointed out this video
which she found on Pink Tentacle:
13 April 2009
Bridge-napping in Barcola
From Zip to Lisa to Os: reports of the missing bridge flew across the grid. I wasn't sure what to do but knew a rollback on the mainland is unlikely and that the moles couldn't help, so I asked Jack Linden if he had advice on our bridge-napping. He indicated he would assign someone to do repairs, which is wonderful.12 April 2009
Bad Os
Had visitors and drank a lot of champagne and didn't make it in to SL until 2:27pm (the event started at 2).
Labels: ...Is Teh Debbil
11 April 2009
Awaiting Shipment of Distraction
Shipment Unaccountably Delayed
I told Candide I wanted to distract myself by buying a new Roomba and he told me that since he wanted to get rid of his distractedness we could exchange mental states and everyone would be happy. Yippee!
My old Roomba croaked years ago, and I haven't bothered since then, but lately I've been thinking about getting a new one. What was a drag about the old one - recharging it by having to plug it in, mainly - was changed long ago, and it's an engaging little beast that always made me feel as though I had a pet horseshoe crab. It doesn't have anything much to do with a mad desire to keep carpets clean, I have to admit; I could well do without it, but I might get it anyway just because it is phun.
Why can't we have carpets that look like sand and Roombas that look more like horseshoe crabs? Why are walls so... underconsidered? Why is everything this way? Feeling restive :(
10 April 2009
Janis Joplin on a 1969 Tom Jones television show.
Labels: yootoob
Great Niece and Nephew
Anji writes, 'he received a certificate for “very good listening in class”. Ironically at the assembly his name needed to be called three times to go and collect the award. HMMM. In the past has always been very concerned about having flat hair, and he would rage if his hair stuck up at all. A change of attitude has suddenly taken place and now, every morning before school, he now has to put gel in the hair and have the ‘a la David Beckham’ Mohawk. It’s become quite an obsession. I’m thinking there’s a girl behind it all.
At times the weather has been quite intolerable for a 6 year old to deal with: “I wish I could live in an ice cube”.'
My great niece "has signed up for the school musical called ‘Kids at Sea’. She has been cast in the chorus as a hippy mermaid. So aside from her having three afternoons of normal dance lessons, she now has to fit in an afternoon and a morning musical rehearsal. The social life of a 10 year old is much more interesting than that of the rest of the family. Off to dinner for a friend’ birthday…off to the school disco…off to the shops, off to dancing, off to here there and everywhere.
The year 6s went to the city on the train for an excursion to the science centre. They are learning about inventions this term and figured the science centre is related. Each kid had to invent something for a project. She has invented the ‘Automatic Food Stirer’. Sounds intriguing ay."
Labels: Australia
Crowd exchanging chat between Metaplace and SL.*I should point out how exciting it was to be talking to Metaplace from SL*
Jade said: This event will be held simultaneously in Metaplace and Second Life. I will be in both virtual worlds simultaneously, but chatting (via text) through Second Life. Raph will be chatting from Metaplace. Adri will be chatting from Second Life. Attendees will participate from both virtual worlds and will include both people working within the virtual world/gaming industries and consumers interested in emerging trends in game development.
I'm just a know-nothing* wanderer, but I did say a few things, and asked, "Is there any other place where, like SL, there's a diversity of style possible? All the places I can think of have an overriding style to everything."
[12:20] CB: [Metaplace] Raph: Osprey, other than Metaplace? :) I thin kmost businesses are finding that strong branding and commonality of style helps garner audience.
To me Metaplace has no diversity of style. I'll have to go in some more with that quest: find something that looks different. That whole idea of no overriding style is of paramount importance to any artist, actually. It's the difference between having a pencil and a piece of paper, or using pre-printed stickers.
*I actually wrote no-nothing first - I think my SL habit of misspelling everything on purpose is starting to make me misspell things inadvertently.
I registered on the ReactionGrid and got a prize for being their 1000th sign-up :-D09 April 2009
A First
I don't like Stellar's Jays particularly because they are raucous, but there has been one hanging about, hanging about (me: Go AWAY. - it: SWWWWWWK) and just now it leapt onto the railing with a great fat spider in its beak, and swallowed it with relish. If that's what it's about then I'm (belatedly) behind it 100% as this house is very spidery both inside and out. The other day whilst outside cleaning my windows (doors, actually) a ginormous specimen nipped onto the far side of the screen, which made me decide not to leave open that one as it would've then been in the house.
Meanwhile osprey are back, and hummingbirds, which need to eat every .0000613 second, have been finetoothcombing the deck looking for hummingbird feeders or flowers, neither of which they are likely to find.
Labels: spiders birds
08 April 2009
Drawn! today features a new blog called The Tools Artists Use, which is an engrossing read for artists (I don't know if anyone else would be interested).
Labels: Art
07 April 2009
Postcard from Second Life.
Originally uploaded by Vivian Oblivion
Patch's no-sexgen bed.
Just can't shake this headache, sorry!
Postcard from Second Life.
Originally uploaded by Vivian Oblivion
With HBA at the Museum of Robots
Postcard from Second Life.
Originally uploaded by Vivian Oblivion
With Enj at the Museum of Robots
Postcard from Second Life.
Originally uploaded by Vivian Oblivion
Todd Borst gave me this nice hamster yesterday. He does all kinds of things including fly around with a balloon and exercise on his wheel (right on my shoulder, heh).
I named him Snaskers de la Rue temporarily until I think of a better name.
Don't Be Koi
Postcard from Second Life.
Originally uploaded by Vivian Oblivion
Lost in the briny deep.
That crashed pilot has company, though.
06 April 2009
Postcard from Second Life.
Originally uploaded by Vivian Oblivion
A different view ;-D
No Fighting at School!
Originally uploaded by Vivian Oblivion
Miss Therian catches Michalius being naughty.
My electricity was off for four hours yesterday, and off until 11 am today :( sux
Labels: Electrizities
05 April 2009
UGH UGH UGH
Talking with SJ just now about cadaver art* and I was trying to think of the name of a photographer whose work, with (unheeded by me) warning signs at the entrances to the galleries, is effing burned into my brain. I can see absolutely clearly and I don't want to. It's been - twenty years?
SJ: There is an amazing artist in Mexico City who took incredibly beautiful pictures of cadavers after autopsies. The bodies were mostly of the homeless - no one claimed them. Her study truly captivated me. Look her up on the internet: Teresa Margolles.
Me: Ugh - remember that photog (b&w) who took pix of dead people in a kind of still life way? Can't think of his name but the images ARE BURNED INTO MY BRAIN. I saw them at THE HENRY. (pre-SJ version). Gawd what WAS HIS NAME? Didn't you have a friend whose job was photographing dead babies in a hosp or was that Lucia?
SJ: My friends name is B. O’B. Was the Henry show the same one I remember photographs of bodies from wars in Guatemala etc. I think it was Time magazine photographers. Any way PBS is on part two of Little Doritt.
Me: No, different show entirely. Joel Peter Witkin.
ugh
*washes brain with bleach*
It's indelible, I'm afraid.
This conversation has done it - now I can smell formaldehyde :((
I remember many moons ago in Australia seeing several pieces that were created from meat; ugh and the rot continues past Damien Hirsh to those statues of people skinned with pig by Heide Hatry. Ugh.
I haven't seen very many dead people and I would be super happy if I never see another - can you imagine chosing dead flesh (be it human or animal) as your artistic medium?
*As in here, or here, or here.
The forecast for tomorrow is sunny and 72° - and I can still see a bit of snow on a hill to the south. Yesterday the snow was on all the hilltops. /me changes gear directly from winter to summer. Or wait - perhaps today is spring! I opened the (dirty) sliding glass doors.
Labels: snow
Hamlet posted about Losin' It, performed by Fau Ferdinand and Lizsolo Matilde of the Second Front group. I did the machinima record of the performance in January. Thank you Hamlet, and Bettina for pointing it out.
I filmed an earlier piece for them called Haledol Dreams of the Minotaure, a performance by Second Front for Dorkbot Paris, curated by Evo Szuyuan.
I have also filmed a performance piece by Nathalie Fougeras called Second_Skin.
"An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to an
island in Antarctica has snapped."
04 April 2009
"Bondage Expo 2pm today"
Labels: It Came From the Forum
Notice of the day from Twitter:
You have blocked UvulaFruit.
Sounds like a diagnosis.
03 April 2009
It was tough playing both parts and filming AND using the Shadow Viewer, which didn't render my hair close up (that's why the camera stays back). I made a couple of animations for it, but the shoes/girdle/stockings are from 1-800-Bettie, and the hair is from Betty Doyle. The Trickster creature is from Grendel's Children. The weapon is from the old Abraxas game in SL by Bedazzle (might be by Crystalshard Foo, I think).
Joh's Motion Rewinder is a fun gadget that records your movements and plays them back when you press the left mouse button.
Labels: Introduction to Time Travel
Candide* sent me the link to Postcards From Yo Momma, which contains pearls of wisdom, startling conversations, and caustic retorts.
Sample:
Mom: How do I unfriend on Facebook?
Me: What, you only have like 8 friends, who do you want to get rid of.
Mom: That’s really none of your business, and I have 40 friends thank you very much.
Me: That’s right, Dad has 8 heheh
Mom: Not for long!
And:
Backstory: My mom was a kindergarten teacher in a bad part of town.
Mom: It was a rough neighborhood. The kind of place where the men would come to the playground and let their snakes out of their bags.
Me: Ew! Mom that’s so gross.
Mom: I know. I hate snakes.
Me: Wait, that was a euphemism for something right?
Mom: No! They had real snakes! We had to go check the playground before recess to make sure they weren’t slithering around by the swings or anything.
02 April 2009
Wow, I was searching for my flamethrower and found these:
I would guess that's the date I answered a call on the Game Dev group chat for someone to help test Sim Combat at the Kill Club. /me looks at the time... well, I might've got that AFTER the first time I played the game. Who knows. There are weird old things in my inventory, though.I can remember going and fighting by choosing moves from a blue menu. After that I'd drag Enj over there every once in a while.
Note: Sim Combat turned into Combat Cards.
Labels: Dept of ZOMG
I'm wandering through some old Hi8 tapes and found this of my roadrunner. I was staying at Judy's house in Albuquerque and rescued a roadrunner from her horses' water trough. Every evening after that he came to the house. I filmed this the day I left - the next shot is the airport. After I got home Judy sent me a feather she found on the grass that he had left "for me."
01 April 2009
Lucia's New Book Came Out Today
I took a few pictures for her as she told me if sher came in SL she'd be a gorilla (good choice - gorillas are tops).
The cover was changed, she said, which is too bad (maybe - I haven't seen the new one).
This was shot at Fotoscope, using the SD2-4 because in editing the attachment I kept hitting Appearance and crashing* in the SV. I didn't actually need shadows and might've been better off with AA, but you know what I'm like.* So many times that Lisa Juran IMed me and said, "Wow yr a revolving door tonight!" I haven't had Friend notices on for years so I forget that my comings and goings are subject to blue notices.
From the Shadows
I'm still using Kirstenlee's Special Shadow Draft 2-4 as the SD5-R1 didn't render alpha right for me, and it still works as well as ever, despite being somewhat hoary. Now Cool Viewer developer Boy Lane has come up with another shadow viewer called Shadow Viewer :-D It's to be had HERE, and I just spent some time wandering Kubrick in it. I was going to take comparison pictures in the same spot but I got sidetracked - maybe I'll do that now. Or, er, in a minute ;-D
Oh, OK >:[
Round One
Same spot on Kubrick, Ultra settings with 178 draw, 1280x720 window, 5:10 pm default sky.
Snapshot taken with Kirstenlee's SD2-4-------------------------------------------------------
Snapshot taken with Kirstenlee's SD5-R1 ======:O
Screenshot taken with Kirstenlee's SD5-R1-------------------------------------------------------
Snapshot taken with Boy Lane's Shadow Viewer 1.23*I dunno what that distorted shadow triangle is under my left foot.
I think Boy won that match, which is very good as that's the new one, and Boy is actively developing for and enthusiastic about SL. Note: I did copy over the short list Boy specified of nondistributable components, of course, because I ALWAYS FOLLOW WHAT I AM INSTRUCTED TO DO (yesterday my doctor, who I hadn't seen for four years, upon hearing me say that, did a very theatrical and expressive non-verbal movement to indicate how true he believes that statement to be i.e. not at all :-D)
The SD5-R1 might run better for me if the right setting were tweaked; I haven't fiddled with it for ages but I did try a few combination including fast alpha, I think, with no solution to the problem which is solid alphas. I would've banged on it harder if I hadn't had SD2-4 all working and shiney and nice.
I did notice that when the snapshot pane is open fps drops by about 10 or 15. I suppose not too surprising.
Round Two
Same spot in Bodega, Ultra settings with 178 draw, 1280x720 window, default sunset sky.
Snapshot taken with Kirstenlee's SD2-4This was very interesting - the outside of the skybox is solid, the inside a kind of filigree texture. Kirstenlee's viewer rendered it as it logically should be rendered.
Screenshot taken with Kirstenlee's SD5-R1Alpha textures are teh whacky for me. The shadows render as I'd like inside this box, even though it's solid on the outside.
Snapshot taken with Boy Lane's Shadow Viewer 1.23Unsurprisingly given that it's the hot off the presses version Boy's version works very well. I should be fair and point out that initially some of the alpha textures showed up opaque, however that sorted itself after a few minutes. Fps FTW, too.
IMPORTANTISH
One thing I just noticed: I crashed a couple of times entering Appearance, then got into it and saw there are no underpants - I'd been trying without luck to get my underpants off my gorilla* avatar - and this explains why it didn't work.
*Lucia's book came out today and she wanted a picture of a gorilla avatar with the book. Makes perfect sense!