Song ‘Speeding Cars’ by IMOGEN HEAP (used with permission of the artist)

Medium rez 48MB MP4 download here

Special thanks to

• Song: IMOGEN HEAP
• Animations: Sinewave & Abramination
• Dance consultant: Richard James-Allen Physical.tv
• Nevada timelapse footage by Gary Hayes & Nadia Warner

Machinimatography, editing, avatanimation & concept by
Gary Hayes

LYRICS by Imogen Heap

Here’s the day you hoped would never come
Don’t feed me violins
just run with me through rows of speeding cars.
The papercuts the cheating lovers
The coffee’s never strong enough
i know you think it’s more than just bad luck

There there baby
it’s just text book stuff
it’s in the ABC of growing up
Now now darling
oh don’t lose your head
cause none of us were angels
and you know I love you yeah

Sleeping pills know sleeping dogs lie
never far enough away
Glistening in the cold sweat of guilt
I’ve watched you slowly winding down for years
You can’t keep on like this…
now’s a bad a time as any

There there baby
it’s just text book stuff
it’s in the ABC of growing up
Now now darling
oh don’t kill yourself
cause none of us were angels
and you know I love you yeah

it’s ok by me..

it’s ok by me..

it’s ok by me..it was a long time ago

it’s ok by me..

it’s ok by me..

it’s ok by me..it was a long time ago

There there baby
it’s just text book stuff
it’s in the ABC of growing up
Now now darling
oh don’t lose your head
cause none of us were angels
and you know I love you yeah

There there baby
it’s just text book stuff
it’s in the ABC of growing up
Now now darling
oh don’t kill yourself
cause none of us were angels
and you know I love you yeah

A two world machinima I did this week exploring the themes of a cross-world quest for love, mixed-reality and online game relationships. The song ‘The Soul of Icarus” was composed and sung by Gary Hayes © Cubrisound 2004 and a special thanks to my co-star, SilkCharm for her patience and WoW’ness. There are some nice Flickr film stills here too! and I am really spoiling you now a selection of video sites with the film on here – YouTube, Metacafe, Google and Blip.tv

“Come to the edge. We can’t. We’re afraid. Come to the edge. We can’t. We will fall! Come to the edge. And they came. And he pushed them. And they flew”. – Guillaume Appollinaire

Credits:

• Filmed in World of Warcraft and Second Life sims:
• CityScape from NBC and Marni created by Gary Hazlitt.
• Medium rez download (85MB MP4) available here.
• Machinimatography and editing by Gary Hazlitt © JustVirtual 2008

“And once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return…” – Leonardo Da Vinci

I created a temporary Burmese themed altar, a place to mourn and share in my build of Thursday’s Fictions, for my friend RichardJamesJiva Allen to give a moving recital to around thirty five avatars in memory of those murdered in Burma. Here is a short machinima I also made of the ninety minute event. More below:

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvl9RrBLHEM[/youtube]

A Prayer for the Burmese Dead – To honour the souls of Buddhist monks and others who have perished in Burma in these last days, Dr Richard James Allen (Second Life: RichardJamesJiva Allen) read from The Tibetan Book of the Dead in the build of Thursday’s Fictions in Second Life on Friday October 5, 2007.

The Bardo Thodol, or The Tibetan Book of the Death, is a text traditionally read to the dying and the dead as a guide in their passage through the ‘bardo’ or intermediate state before they are reborn. Thursday’s Fictions in Second Life, an immersive space explores ideas about reincarnation and karma, will offer a place for people from all of the world to meet virtually and pray. SLURL here.

Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inside Second Life © 2007

• Listening to greatest hits (WinAmp Windows LiveWriter Plugin)

As a belated follow on from the previous article you may recall Polly and Steve about to get married. Well a couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of committing the event to video and subsequently editing it and adding some of my music. The YouTube embed I think captures the key moments of the three hour event as two people give their vows of love and commitment in front of friends and family. I copy below some textual elements from the video (which deliberately scrolls past or is on screen for too short a time – you are encouraged to hit pause on the first three busy text screens). This opening statement is from Annie Barnard who ran the proceedings

Greetings to all of you that have gathered here today to acknowledge and celebrate the love and joining of the hearts of Scubasteve and Pollyanneke. They have invited all of you, friends and family, to witness their declaration of love and commitment. They have asked me to pass you a message today … They would like you to know that their friends are a big part of second life. They know that you are all here for them and helped keeping them together in the hard times. Second Life is never easy for relationships but with good friends like you they know they will make it. I am sure that you, dear family and friends know far better than I do just how strong their love for one other is.

Often people feel that when they meet it is by chance. However, I do not feel this way and for Scubasteve and Pollyanneke meeting was not by chance. They met each other in a pond building area in April 2007. together they like to laugh, explore second life, find places to ride their horses and making a nice home at Vero Beach. Alone Scuba likes to come up with surprises for Polly and Polly like to find cozy spots for them to come back together to visit. Polly likes to call scuba ghost and subca like to call Polly Muse. Their persistence and determination to not be over come the forces from within and outside SL that would otherwise stop them from seeing each other had made the relationship resilient and magical in every sense of the word. One day they will even find the answer to the ultimate question in every avies mind can sluv conquer lag? Only time will tell.

This text is the actual statements and vows during the actual ceremony, again captured in the video, but may be too fast for some to read as it crawls across the screen in the romantic middle section.

Steve: Pol.. from the moment we met my sluv for u has grown and grown and together we have overcome so many hurdles together and now that we have a beautiful son together, my life is truly fulfilled, u are and always will be my sl babe we are synergy and u are truly wat sluv is all about. Everytime i see u it takes my breath away and leaving u each day is so so hard ur my angel, my ladyhawke and i’ll be ur Navarre together forever… eternally aprt. I so sluv u Pol

Polly: Oh Scuba i so sluv and adore you. You are so patient and kind especially when i am trying to build You make me laugh all the time… more than anyone I have ever met sl or rl. I adore every single second i have with u and i want to be with u forever. I so so sluv u

Annie: Scubastive and Pollyanneke, as you slip on your rings, notice that they are a never-ending circle, as your love is for each other. The rings have no beginning and no end. They come together as a symbol of your love for each other. Polly, please repeat after me…

Polly: I, Polly. take you Scuba, to be my husband. I promise to love and support you, to honour and respect you, to make you laugh, and to explore with you not only the beauty of this world around us but the beauty that lies within your heart as well

Steve: I, Scuba, take you, Polly, to be my wife. I promise to love you and support you, to honor and respect you, to make you laugh, and to explore with you not only the beauty of this world around us, but also the beauty that lies within your heart as well.

and the final decree from Annie telling the SL world that these two are now a couple…

Annie: Scubasteve and Pollyanneke, you have declared your love and commitment in front of your friends and family today. If you agree with this union of your hearts please respond by saying I do.

Polly: I do

Steve: i do babe

Polly:

Annie: Scubastive and Pollyanneke, as you have declared your love and promises today, and by the powers vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. Fill each day with love, laughter and light. Dear friends and family, I am honored and pleased to introduce for the first time as Husband and Wife, Scubastive and Pollyanneke.

It was a great celebratory event for all concerned and since then Steve and Polly have been contacting me with more information on their plans to use Second Life as a force for change in many worlds. The text below is from both of them detailing how one area, namely SL couples adopting Real Life children will work and some scripting help they will need. Good luck to them and this initiative.

As a couple in SL, Pollyanneke Pera and Scubasteve Canning decided to have an SL baby.
what we deicided to do though was to make a real life difference in the third world
by sponsoring a child through World Vision. In this was, we share the joy of having
a virtual baby together, but also are making a real life difference to a boy in India.

We want to share that experience with other couples in SL who are thinking about having
a SL baby together. That way, thousands of needy children will benefit as a direct
result of couples in SL. Here’s what we are proposing; Couples in SL who want to have a baby (and there are thousands of them) currently can do so through a couple of options….

1. they can get a scripted object that comes with an hud to interact with the mother the object will whisper phrases such as need changing or feeding etc.
2. they can ‘adopt’ a child which is an adult who role plays as a child for a couple which a monthly fee is paid to the ‘adopted child’.

The concept of an SL child is a means for a couple to share their ‘sluv’ for each other
on a higher level. However, our thoughts are that this could be better served by
making a difference in the real world. Hence we felt that a donation to a children’s charity
would go that step further in making a difference. In that same vain we wanted to give
something back to the couple in return for their donation. The best way is a symbolic
gesture such as a scripted object not unlike the scripted SL babies that currently exist.

Specifically, it would work like this.

1. Couple goes to a SL ‘maternity hospital’ and chooses a baby. the amount would be the equivalant of $40 US. when the couple touches the object to pay, the money is transferred to the charity via a URL link. The charity can then convert the Lindons into US currency or if possible the money is automatically converted via a Lindon exchange and the US dollars deposited directly to the charity. The URL for the donation is http://www.christianchildrensfund.org/donate/donate.aspx more specifically, we have chosen the Child Alert Emergency Fund from Christian Childrens Fund.
2. When the donation is made, the couple recieve a scripted baby object as a symbol of their genoristy and sluv.
3. The couple can choose to go back to the ‘hospital’ in a few months for a ‘check up’ this would give the couple more options for their child such as being a bit older, the ability to walk etc. this would require another donation to the charity to occur.

Therefore, we need some scripting help with this project. firstly to provide a scripted baby object, then the URL link to convert the payment into US dollars which would automatically go direct to the Christian Childrens fund. Finally to provide additional scripts for the growth and walking etc.

This is the organisation that we would like the money to go to.

• Christian Childrens Fund. More about this charity at http://www.christianchildrensfund.org/content.aspx?id=104 The specific fund within the organisation would be;
• Child Alert Emergency Fund. Wars and natural disasters create emergency situations that put already vulnerable children in grave danger. The ChildAlert Emergency Fund helps CCF act quickly to provide for the immediate needs and long-term recovery of children in emergency situations, whether natural or manmade. Recently, our Child Alert Emergency Fund has provided resources to help thousands of children affected by the Asian tsunami, the India earthquake, Sudanese refugees living in Chad, and other emergencies in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Afghanistan.

This is purely non-profit but a way in which thousand of children can be saved through scripting in SL. IM Pollyanneke Pera or Scubasteve Canning if u can help us to help thousands of needy children.

Posted by Gary Hazlitt inside Second Life © 2007

I have the good fortune of meeting and getting friendly with a wide range of people in my capacity of creating many large ‘environments’ across the Second Life grid. I often get invited to engagements, weddings, parties and a couple of funerals. A few months ago I noticed a couple riding horses around the Pond cobble lanes and then befriended Pollyanneke and scubasteve. They have many friends and are about to get married in Second Life (a 2nd attempt – story below) which I will video for them next week. To demonstrate and be more committed in world they are doing a potential world first – sponsoring a real world (read: developing or troubled world) child as a virtual couple inside Second Life. I interviewed them at their large mansion house inworld to understand their motivations and how significant this could be.

Could you tell me a little about how you met

scubasteve Canning: We never planned to meet, I was learning to build and Pol came up to me and asked me to teach her.
Pollyanneke Pera: It was a rainy day for me in real life and thought why not for a day. He kept tp’ing (teleporting) me to teach me. I had zero interest really.
scubasteve Canning: Yeah no intention of ever getting together but we had so much in common and we know each other so well.
Pollyanneke Pera: But…the pull. We are an odd couple as it has turned out.

So you dated or just grew to know each other through buiilding

Pollyanneke Pera: Not through building, he would’ve ditched me. We found at we had a lot in common, like horses and causes.
scubasteve Canning: We both have horses in real life.

So how long exactly have you known each other

scubasteve Canning: We met in March 2007
Pollyanneke Pera: I think I met scuba his first day (rez day), he was such a cute shy newb.

And how long after SL dating did you connect in real life

scubasteve Canning: Well probably after a month, but we have never met, just on phone.
Pollyanneke Pera: We shared photos too he has a great voice though.
scubasteve Canning: But we are together forever.. eternally apart
Pollyanneke Pera: It’s weird when u know someone in one medium and then you get to talk, the voice will be different.
scubasteve Canning: But we know each others voices and I love talking to her at work and trying to make her laugh.

Why did you decide to get married in Second Life

Pollyanneke Pera: Scuba asked as a joke initially and it butterflied from there
scubasteve Canning: Just a crazy idea at the time lol
Pollyanneke Pera: He likes a challenge, must be a build thing?
scubasteve Canning: For me its was after the first time Pol left me in Second Life and then I felt that I really like this girl. I took a pic of her that nite and we will always remember that nite she went away.
Pollyanneke Pera: That was awful nite, I didn’t know my password was saved to laptop. Oh real life sometimes doesn’t like second life to begin with until all is understood.
scubasteve Canning: We will always be locked apart, we will always be together in Second Life. Together forever.. eternally apart.. thats us.

So how do you think your relationship will change after the wedding next week. Also how big is the wedding? How many people coming to it?

Pollyanneke Pera: we already are committed
scubasteve Canning: as hard as it is we can never meet in real life
Pollyanneke Pera: well we can, but we won’t!, too perfect as it is. Sluv is a word scuba created… best word to describe how I feel about him.
scubasteve Canning: we got at least 100 that i know of coming to the wedding and the list keeps getting bigger

So you have taken a big step of adopting a real world child from within Second Life. Whose idea was this?

Pollyanneke Pera: Well not really it was not a big step. It was a very easy one…
scubasteve Canning: it just made sense to us to do this. We had to find a way to declare our sluv for each other
Pollyanneke Pera: i saw the posters of madeleine mcann and I thought wow, what a medium for lost children. Then World Vision was having their 10000 appeal for one month and i thought hang on.
scubasteve Canning: we so hope that others will follow us and show their sluv for each other as we have done
Pollyanneke Pera: World Vision are one three aid based Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in Second Life at the moment I believe. They need to look at Second Life in a big way I think. So many great people and from fairly secure lives.

So do you think you are the first to do this? And how will the child be made aware that he/she is adopted by virtual couple!

scubasteve Canning: yeah.. Pol had this great idea.. never been done before
Pollyanneke Pera: hmmm, another good question… Oh I have had World Vision children for years and no I don’t do that its seems so patriarchal somehow. Scuba and I just want to start this we are not an organization but we are so committed
scubasteve Canning: We are two kindred souls who wanted to make a difference because we so care about each other and want to use our feelings for each other to help others
Pollyanneke Pera: My 1st sponsored child was from West Bank in Gaza. Her name is Abeer Mahmoud. She sent me one card that totally changed me last Xmas, it said ‘I love yo\u forever’” – and she doesn’t know me, she doesn’t need to.
scubasteve Canning: we shall have a pic in the house here of our child

A little bigger picture. What is your opinion of the virtual world sponsoring the 3rd world

scubasteve Canning: We hope to get tip jars that can transfer money direct to World Vision and we have hundreds of friends in Second Life
Pollyanneke Pera: yes and sponsor children worldwide
NOTICE: Second Life: Second Life will be closing for a scheduled update at 6am PDT. Watch the blog for details.

At this point the second life grid closed for its bi-monthly update and the interview was sadly cut short. I will try to catch up with Polly and scuba at a later date, perhaps post wedding, to see how things are progressing. For now some information about World Vision.

Change the life of a child
The best way to change a child’s life is to change the world in which they live.
By sponsoring a child, you will help to bring about long-term benefits to the child, their family and community for just $43 per month. Your support will help to fund vital development work in the child’s community, such as digging wells, improving sanitation and building health clinics.
This work ensures that the community will be able to provide the children with the basics they need, which helps them to grow up in a healthy environment and have the chance for a better future.

Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inside Second Life

I was lucky to be contacted by my friend DanCoyote Antonelli to go along to the last two performances of his invigorated ZeroG SkyDancers as part of Second Life’s 4th birthday celebrations. After my popular one take video film and article “The Organic Beauty of Hyperformalism” from last year I had a much deeper understanding of the group’s vision and this time, 6 months later, captured what I believe to be film that ‘really’ gets under the surface of these wonderous experiences – but thats just my opinion. I edited the film out of order from the original performance to hopefully enhance the structure of the piece, to make it build and grow and look forward to DanCoyote’s take on it. It is very hard to put these immersive surround experiences into a 2D linear environment – but I am getting better and about two and a half minutes in things start to happen!

The ZeroG dancing troupe are now a year old and it showed with much greater synchronicity between the the music, the voluptuous large scale hyperformalist moving art and the flying dancers – the flyers particularly demonstrated amazing feats of acrobatics and sublime balletic motion than in previous performances. Anyway the video goes some way to capturing the “oh you really had to be there” statements, while I was filming this and travelling along through the air with the dancers at high resolution, it really felt like I had a privileged glimpse throught the matrix to the next level, I was ‘dancing with angels’.

Credits approved by DanCoyote from the video.

ZeroG SkyDancers Spring 2007 Production June 29th 2007 at Ars Simulacra, NMC Art Showcase in honor of the Second Life Fourth Birthday Celebration and the ZeroG SkyDancers 1st year anniversary.

Created by DC Spensley

Produced and Directed by DanCoyote Antonelli

Machinamatography and Editing by Gary Hazlitt

Original Score ZeroOne Paz

SkyDancers:

Assistant Director Anhinga Chaika

Assistant Producer Callypian Christianson, Deborah Stranglove

Prima Tatiana Kurri, Angelique Menoptra, Lina Lageos, Kensai Uriza

House Manager Onyx Bijoux

Technical Director ZenMondo Wormser

Costume Designer Sabine Stonebender

Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inside Second Life

It’s been over a month now since myself, Jjason Jedburgh, Adam Ramona and Mashup Islander bought a sim together. It is called Marni and is attached to the south of Esperance and is now growing to be a great hive of artistic, business and social activity. I terraformed the island to give the four of us a great environment and some privacy for our various expoilts.

I have talked before about Jjason and his splendid architectural visions so now I wanted to interview Adam and Mashup (whose quarter sim plots are visible above) about their work and passion, real-time spatialised sound sculptures. I have been watching with glee as both of them get used to the possibilities in this world being relatively new to Second Life and create what I regard already as major, innovative pieces. Firstly a little about the Metamatic Collective piece.

Cantata Park 1 by Metamatic is an interactive, spatialised sound sculpture built in Second Life. The sculpture is made from 256 individual nodes in a 16 x 16 grid. Each node is embedded with a single word, triggered by a participant’s movement through the work. Each participant creates a random narrative, assembled on-the-fly, and in real-time. The work explores the possibilities of metaverse art, limitations of Second Life’s construction tools and scripting language, and the ability to appreciate conceptual art by proxy of an avatar. Cantata Park was produced in December 2006 Copyright 2006, Metamatic Collective

Adam and Mashup collaborated on this piece which is the first part of the interview below and then I met with Adam seperately to discuss five of his other works. We were also joined by Lisa Dapto, who is a close colleague of both of them. We met firstly at the site and then inside Adam’s self made garden retreat.

You: Who is the collective and what brought them together

Mashup Islander: The collective is Adam and myself for the moment. Adam was doing some funky 3D art on his land and I was inspired by this. I guess we found (Adam and I) a similar liking for abstract real-time art and decided to work on a project together

You: You mentioned that there are limitations to achieve what you want to in this world could you explain what these are in more detail for the readers

Adam Ramona: The technical limitations of Second Life are significant but this makes it a challenge, and often the best work is done in restrictive environments

Mashup Islander: It helps define boundaries for the work too

Adam Ramona: Relatively speaking the scripting language is an impressive achievement

You: And what are the benefits of this world for contemporary expressive 3D art?

Adam Ramona: Given the environment, collaboration is also a major plus of this space

Mashup Islander: Also the audience is large and open to new forms of expression

You: Yes I was going to ask about the methodology of collaboration how did it work for you both on the Cantata Park piece for example

Mashup Islander: It was really easy actually. Adam and I seem to think the same thing at the same time.

Adam Ramona: There are the usual teething problems getting used to the process but its a joy to be able to work collaboratively *within* the environment that the work will be consumed in.

Adam (left) and Mashup pose inside Cantata Park 1.

The work is now permanently installed on Mashup’s land and there are already many word-of-mouth visitors coming along to try the piece. I list some direct SLURLs at the end of both interviews for you to pop along yourself. I asked more about the background to the work.

You: What actually inspired the creation?
Mashup Islander: I was fooling around with basic prim sculptures and getting off on the whole ordered nature of basic 3D design. After a visit to an early version of Adam’s Bell Park, I saw a possibility to incorporate spoken words into the architecture. The randomness of each participant’s experience excited me and we explored some possible narrative structures before settling on a Burroughs piece, which was appropriate given the subject matter.

You: The 256 spoken fragments triggered by motion through them? What is the intention behind that and what experience is it meant to invoke?

Mashup Islander: Its a fractured narrative inspired by the Beat poets of old the actual passage is a Burroughs piece appropriate given the context

You: Each person has a different route through the piece of course – do you think there will be any shared experience?

Mashup Islander: Yes, the participant makes their own narrative and it was interesting just then with four users simultaneously that a layered narrative with many intersections can result. In specific answer to your question, I can’t put feelings into other people’s experience. Its up to each person to explore and take away their own assumptions

Above Lisa Dapto flys above Cantata Park 1 while Adam and Mashup introduce Pix (a visitor) to the piece. We talk more about the narrative, semantic elements of the work.

Adam Ramona: people make their own narrative always, and probably people who have similar outlooks will create similar experiences?

You: But presumably given that it is Burroughs excerpts there must be a common narrative that everyone can take away? Not completely random fragments

Mashup Islander: Burroughs believed all narrative had hidden meaning, each iteration of disassembly can provoke further insight and messages

Lisa Dapto: He and tristan Tzara before him were the lightning rods for the cut-up technique

Adam Ramona: Tzara was definitely about disassembling the dominant narrative

Mashup Islander: From paper, to tape recorder and now real-time 3D

You: I wonder if you see a kind of art renaissance developing in this world?

Adam Ramona: The art itself is thoroughly contemporary for me, it is a matter of using the medium for its strengths, and not trying to have it imitate some other medium. A new technology is always used first to do something that can already be done. Going with the native strengths of the medium as the basis for the formal decisions which makes it very simple to process. It’s the same thing with Hyperformalism if i understand DanCoyote Antonelli’s work correctly, it is using the ‘native’ qualities of the medium to make the formal decisions

Lisa Dapto: the involvement of the “audience” as co-authors of the work makes Adam’s and Mashup’s work fascinating and challenging, it reflects the ultimate potential for users in this world to generate their own scenarios

Adam Ramona: One of these “native qualities” of which i spoke is indeed the interactive nature of the audience/residents and this art is ‘for’ those people

You: Are you going to allow people to come and explore the work/s at this stage? If so can we publish the SLURLs?

Mashup Islander: Absolutely. The work is open for public viewing, with more on the way. Metamatic as an experimental playground for our artworks and we’ll be cycling new installations across both Adam’s and my land as they unfold.

So just for readers of JustVirtual a world exclusive a direct link to Cantata Park 1. Marni 205,53,25

Adam’s Place

I went back the next day to Adam’s quarter sim (which is actual adjoining mine), to talk to him in more depth about some of his latest pieces. I am particularly fascinated by the strong primary colours developing ‘over the hedge’ and the strange, exotic sounds floating on the wind across to my place. Adam has a rather unique appearance that I will save until another post, but below you can see him posed by his latest and greatest creation Anahat, The Mute Swan. You actually enter all these pieces by either teleporting in or just walking through and The Mute Swan is interesting in that it morphs from being attactive sculpture into a full surround sound and phantom prim experience. But I will let Adam explain.

Adam Ramona: The four pieces completed here are: The Bell Garden, Pure Absence, Anahata the Mute Swan, and the Blue one. (there is also a white one recently finished)

You: What would you say are the common elements between them all?

Adam Ramona: As we talked about yesterday, I would say their commonality is that they use the ‘native’ qualities of the medium to suggest the formal considerations of each piece.

You: As these are more sound and music orientated than Cantata Park 1, are there any common elements in the way you use sound in the pieces

Adam Ramona: Generally, I try to approach the work as an ‘audiovisual’ piece, and wherever possible apply the same formal rules to the sounds as to the visuals. It is not always possible, so sometimes the sonic formalities are decided through real life (ed: bio world for regular readers) considerations of a ‘music’ or ‘sound’ basis. For example, the Bell Garden is in the key of E flat Major, just because I think that is an excellent key for a bell sound Once I’d decided that, then the manipulation of the sounds was the same as the visuals – no textures, just the geometry so to speak, which in sonic terms means a very dry synthesised, unadorned sound. I think it works well in the Bell Garden (ed: night pic below)

You: One of the remarkable things about all the pieces is the synergy between the visual and the sound – in that they are inextricably linked and reinforce each other. Could you talk a little about that process?

Adam Ramona: Yes, well I have always (since 1996 when I was first introduced to real-time 3D art) thought of this medium as a “composition” medium – in that previously when I was “writing” “music” I would have a very similar sort of thing happening inside my mind as a real-time 3D scene. I would have particular shapes with particular colours making particular sounds which were animating around in the space and when I saw VRML, i thought “yay, this is the medium for me!”

You: I notice that the five pieces here are all based around subtle variations of the same colour or tone – based on primaries like blue, red, white. Because you have graduations of that one tone is this because you don’t want the visual to overpower the sound?

Adam Ramona: Yes, this is the way I work. I think of each piece as a “song” if you like and just as you don’t put every note or chord into a song, similarly, the sounds suggest the colours (and vice versa) and they always end up being like this – graduations.

You: You have your pieces on show in a wonderful zen like garden and the works are indeed very powerful but meditative and tranquil to a great extent. Would you say you are about the balance between visual and sound so they are both, equally important.

Adam Ramona: Yes indeed, I would go further and say that I don’t really recognise any distinction between sound and vision

You: Ah very interesting and that would include I suppose the amount of authorship you give the participant in your pieces so they travel the sound and visual journey on their own path?

Adam Ramona: Yes, that is definitely part of the rationale of the work – these things exist almost independently of their consumption, a little like theoretical physics or something, and therefore, any mode of consumption, temporal visual sonic is valid.

You: We talked earlier also about many of these pieces being 4 or 5 art forms in one piece – sculpture, surround installation, performance piece, interactive and even architectural. Is this intended or a by-product or the medium?

Adam Ramona: That is this medium (RT3D) – these distinctions are valid in the real physical (bio) world, but not so in RT3D, so in that sense, I guess it is a by-product, but it is also an anticipated, welcomed, part of this medium in fact. That is one of the very main reasons why I like to work in this medium.

You: To discuss a level of detail. What is the difference in your mind between a piece that is triggered by the audience or one that they just move through picking up variations in sound level and direction, without triggering the various components within?

Adam Ramona: Not really any difference, other than a pedantic one in fact, you could say that a piece that is constantly sounding is actually only sounding when an avatar moves near it and in that way it’s always triggered by an avatar, but that is true of this entire medium.

You: If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a sound?

Adam Ramona: You are right when you call it LOD, it’s the ultimate practical existentialism, because it literally doesn’t exist (for you) when you are not looking at it, unless the LOD has been coded badly

You: Very true! I always ask this next question and it is difficult to answer but are there any specific emotional responses that a viewer may get from some of these works. I noticed for example in the Mute Swan I felt much more relaxed and quite passive after a while whereas Pure Absence with it’s strong reds and high pitched sounds quite confrontational.

Adam Ramona: Good, interesting, difficult question. I definitely aim for an emotional response because I am emotionally engaged with all of my works and that is what leads me to create them. But as for audience response, I think it is tricky to second guess, but there are probably certain things you can aim for. For example, I am glad that you felt that about Anahata, the Mute Swan, because that is what I was aiming for, emotionally, an attempt to invite the audience to reflect on the nature of silence. In fact that piece specifically asks the question “If there is a sound playing when you are born and after you die, would you hear it?”

You: I was particularly struck by the combination of words and sound in that piece and it had more impact perhaps than the Cantata in the Park work because the words were more subtle, enigmatic and mysterious?

Adam Ramona: I’m very happy to hear that. I always try to keep them impressionistic, or as you say “equal to sound”, so that they represent more the signifier of meaning rather than meaning itself, and then the listener will more than likely provide their own meaning

You: One thing that you haven’t yet incorporated into your pieces and in this world it is a significant layer of course is our beloved ‘chat/IM text’ – is there a reason for that?

Adam Ramona: Yes, I did that in a bio piece, Scorched Happiness (2004), which was a multi-user VRML piece, where the chat text was typed live by the performers based on excerpts from the work by Julia Kristeva that formed the basis of the work. So, I am definitely interested in it, since it is a part of the medium but I would rather work out a way to make it similar to the way I use words that we discussed before, IE, without actual meaning, which is harder to do in text of course. But, now you’ve mentioned it I’ll get onto it straight away

You: Finally Do you think it easy to explain or recreate these works outside our environment or is that the basic point of formalism, that they are rooted here and here only.

Adam Ramona: Absolutely the latter in, of and for this medium. However, it doesn’t mean SL specifically, it means multi-user real-time 3D, of which SL is a very, very good example and one that is very popular and therefore provides and audience.

You: Finally, finally. If you had 3 ‘sound feature’ wishes from Linden Lab (our creator!) what would they be?

Adam Ramona: Ah, yes, the first one is easy and obvious: generative sound synthesis in the SL engine should be simple to do, since they’ve already using Havok for physics. Second would be 5.1 out (as we mentioned before). Third would be increase the sample time limit to *at least* 60 seconds.

You: Totally agree with all of those and maybe much more control over sound spread. Adam, for now thank you, and as we are neighbours I don’t really need to say goodbye, rather look forward to hearing from you again very soon.

Adam is also happy for visitors to come and explore and discuss his works. This SLURL drops you in the middle of the Zen sculpture interactive garden and next to some teleport points to take you to the skybox creations. Adam’s place can be found at Marni 220,199,23

Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inside Second Life

We are down to the last three contestants in the Big Brother event that has been running in this world since December 1st. For those who don’t know there is apparently a popular show in bio world where people are locked together for weeks on end in a house and then one at a time voted out, until there is one winner. I have been visiting Kingdom of Media Island every two days or so over the last four weeks to track who and what is going on. The running of the event has left a lot to be desired, especially as regards promoting it effectively in this world, but with a prize of an Island (paid up for a year) most contestants were happy to overlook the rather weak production management. Going back in these last few days (Thursday is the final evictions) it feels quite sad and empty – all those early housemates are now gone, and there is a sense that the friendships that have developed may dissipate once those thrown together are far and asunder. Luckily my two favourites Golda and Lillani (on the horses above and who I talk to lower down) are still in there, with the third being Madlen Flint. In my opinion it is a two horse race, but Golda and Lillani don’t rule out Madlen’s chances. Here is the final voting board.

There have been some great moments in the house of the past weeks. One that stood out was when all fifteen collaborated on a wonderful christmas scene in the picture below and the result was put up for charity. To quote Lillani at the time “I think this charity thing is worthwhile…probably one of the best things I’ve been involved in in SL”.

There were also some great times when the sim was actually full to overflowing and all the contestants were lobbying for votes. Some played it straight and got together groups of friends of friends, others tried dirty tactics and slurred others in the competition and some even resorted to buying votes. Lillani’s blog covers much of the intrique over the past few weeks.

The contestants had to stay inside their ‘glass pens’ for eight hours per day. Some improved themselves getting good at scripting and building, others sat around complaining but most were very friendly to all the visitors that passed by. Warda on the left (in the pic below), the ‘shapechanger’, was very friendly but sadly she was on a different time zone and missed most of the ‘voting’ crowds, so was evicted early.

There were some characters too like Diva and Simone who knew how to woo the crowds, but some of their tactics I think rebounded on them in the end. Others like Simon Walsh, in his wheel chair, had to bow out for other reasons. It was interesting how each persons character came through and developed as we, the audience, got to know them. A friend in the bio world has put up some of the photos I took, on flickr.

Golda is the only furry in the running and it is no surprise she has managed to last out the weeks as her supporters are very active in getting votes and she is one of the most friendly ‘rats’ you are ever likely to meet.

I asked her how she will feel when it is all over

You: Seems like a long journey
Golda Stein: It has been. I am afraid i’ll go through culture shock when I get out of here, a lot of people have had that problem

At the moment, as you can see from the horse picture at the top, Golda and Lill are together in the same room.

You: Will they be putting you in different pens?
Lillani Lowell: Split me and Golda up? No way!
Golda Stein: We are together by choice
You: I think you both should win half an island each
Golda Stein: But that wouldn’t make for good television

I noticed while I was there earlier that Lillani was surrounded by demons, Goths, Gors and other in that ilk, and naturally wondered if there had been this world ‘identity’ groups who were now congregating towards the three that are left.

You: So the Goth vote has come through! Who do you think your core fans are Lill a mix of certain factions of SL
Lillani Lowell: I think I have a wide mix of factions. From Furries to Goths to Goreans……
You: I wonder if that will now split. Won’t all furries go for Golda? and all Goths Gors etc: for you? Or is this about personality vs identity group?
Golda Stein: Gary, lil has loads of friends all over, and i would expect them to vote from their heart
Lillani Lowell: People vote for a billion different reasons. Some because they know us…. some because they were brought to vote. I don’t think any one reason stands above any other.
You: But I am interested if there are allegiances between types that would be interesting in this last stage as we have a three way between SL identities
Lillani Lowell: It’s a difficult thing to unravel, Gary. But really, you can bet…. the core of the vote…. comes from the loyalty and closeness of one’s friends.

An earlier shot of Lillani riding one of her scripted reindeers – what happened to these BTW?

Almost on cue we started to talk again (it has come up in many conversations with all the contestants) about how things could have been improved.

Lillani Lowell: I think if they had wanted to make BB a little more interesting…They should have streamed it to a website. And let the (bio) world vote.
You: I actually thought that was the plan but never happened, would have been great
Lillani Lowell: Well, Fox Diller has a system for streaming live from SL to websites. I’m wondering if Big Brother will do another.
Golda Stein: i think they need to find a different format, there are too many holes here
You: There is the possiblity that anyone can start something like this as a new format. Perhaps one of you guys on your new island!
Lillani Lowell: Well, again…this isn’t the first time someone has done a contest like this. Fox Diller did his own SL ‘House’ a couple years ago. He gave away 4,000,000 L as the prize. About 14,000 USD at the time. SL wasn’t as large back then.

I asked about the voting numbers which are in four figures and wondered how many are doing multiple votes:

You: I wonder if in fact only 20 real people vote – each with 100 avies
Lillani Lowell: LOL, that wouldn’t surprise me. I don’t know how people keep track of so many characters. I barely have time for me. There’s only one Lillani Lowell…. if I split my time, I lose money and I’m not rich enough to afford time off yet.

As you can see from the above the ‘build’ assignment this week is to make an object of your choice that symbolises your new ‘dream’ Island. In the above and final picture below someone has built a very nice motorbike, someone else a lighthouse and a third one a female, symbolic monolith. It is anyones guess whose is whose, I have my idea. The big finish is next Thursday and I was curious to find out what goes on during New Years eve and day.

You: What are the rules for new years eve here are you allowed to drink champers? Or ahve the day off?
Lillani Lowell: No day off I imagine. I’m wearing all white New Years. I wore all red Christmas Day. A nice, big red Christmas dress. Very classy.
You: Now thats what BB should be about Classy dressing
Lillani Lowell: Hehe, classy dressing would kick me out. I’m 99% catsuit.
Golda Stein: and I like my jeans and T-shirts

Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inside Second Life

ZeroG SkyDancers – ZeroG VIII. Wednesday, November 29th, 2006. Created, Produced and Directed by DanCoyote Antonelli

I was lucky to be one of the select few that were invited to DanCoyote Antonelli’s SkyDancer performance on Weds evening this week- seating is limited to 30 seats per show, SkyDancer shows are always sold-out, reservation-only events. Also very privileged to have my photo taken (above) with the taltented troupe of dancers, musician and creator. DC has become synonymous in this world with large scale live performance works that combine sublime evocative music, acrobatic aerial dance and incredible organic art. I have been in contact with Dan ever since I asked him to temporarily install a large piece on Esperance several months ago for some design students to investigate (and to whom he gave an impromptu lecture). Also I did a visitor report immediately after his first set of performances in August and about his installation works at New West Exhibit and the Sixth finger installations close to Esperance. It is great to see his work going from strength to strength and his vision become more refined. I attended the middle of three performances a couple of eves ago and although the piece only lasted around thirty or so minutes I managed to take some stills and capture (in one take and without any rehearsal of course) a short six minute film that hopefully gives you a feel of what it was like to be there.

[youtube]k3tLwkBNTE4[/youtube]

Four (sometimes five) talented avies, Anhinga Chaika, Deborah Strangelove, Callipygian Christensen, Tatiana Kurri, Queue Marlowe, sky danced in a massive 400 meter cubic volume performance space, 600 meters above the Learning Sim part of the NMC campus! The musical score by ZeroOne Paz was a perfect accompaniment to the spectacle in that it was ethereal, minimalist yet had just enough variation and rhythm to move the performance forward. I particularly loved the harp-like sounds employed, being an avid harpist (naturally – just like all black angels) and the long sustained string sounds and pulsing rhythm that melded perfectly with the swooping flying loops by the dancers.

Visually the event was stupendous. To be sat inside a living, moving piece of gigantic art (that at times felt generative or self evolving) we felt like we were the first and last ones to see these combinations of organic shapes and colours, spontaneous and unique – of course with DC at the controls. It was difficult to decide which way to look at times, especially as many of the ‘organisms’ actually passed through us, the audience at times and the dancers were always drawing our attention too. (Of course I was also busy taking pictures and filming!). The wonder of these pieces is the sense of awe that you get seeing the avie embodiment dwarfed by miraculous, before unseen forms and the shared experience with thirty or so friends all who understand and appreciate the emotional statement being made. It is very experiential, poignant and escapist without being ‘space cadet’, meaning it never feels like gratuitous eye candy, for eye candy sake, DC strikes a fine balance.

The audience awaits with bated breath as the intro music reaches a crescendo.

Switching our time to midnight enhances the experience.

As regards context here is some hyperformalist background info from DC (which are partly echoes from my earlier posts) that provide some background to the images and video embedded in this page.

“Hyperformalism is derived from the combination of the words Hyper and Formalism and is being used here to describe aesthetic self expression without anthropomorphic, or representative context. Hyperformalism is an aesthetic philosphical construct that may be employed by to describe a late 20th century, early 21st century mass art phenomena consisting of scores of users generating abstract, often spacially unique artworks. Hyperformalist are creates a unique continuum of reference; a rearrangement of photons to illuminate alternate worlds of form, shape, color and space. At times hyperformal art may resemble natural formations or even employ naturalistic algorithms.”

I had a brief chat with Dancoyote a few days after the performance. He was already secretly preparing another performance for December 15th of which I had a sneak mini preview, but I tried to keep the interview brief…

Gary Hazlitt: What are you learning from the performances you put on the other day and could you tell us a little about the production process?
Dancoyote Antonelli: It is the second season so naturally it includes the research from observing the first show. We flew about two dozen shows for the 2006 season. I learned many things such as the tendencies for this world, Second Life, to under load. For starters I try to find the edge of the technical capabilities and work the edge and not to be too radical.
Gary Hazlitt: Which of course means limiting guest numbers?
Dancoyote Antonelli: Not really. At this sim there is no other load so it is ideal. But even an ideal situation can only have about 40 guests since my crew is nearly a dozen
Gary Hazlitt: How did you respond or adapt these new performances in regard to audiences reaction to the first ones? In particular ‘how do you want them to feel’ or react to your work. At an emotional level or is it more about your own self expression?
Dancoyote Antonelli: Not directly but I didn’t change certain mood intentions. There is an intent to set a mood of affirmation of wonder and immersion. It is the job of the contemporary artist
Gary Hazlitt: In terms of hyperformalism are you evolving it at the rate you would like to in here?
Dancoyote Antonelli: I would like to lose the limitations of audience. Three hundred people would be nicer. The audience at the moment is too small
Gary Hazlitt: Is sharding is an option? Having a parallel, duplicate mirrored performance such as the NBC XMas event a few days ago across 18 sims reaching say 500 avies at once?
Dancoyote Antonelli: But SkyDancers are not mass marketed yet
Gary Hazlitt: They should be! I have read that hyperformalism is rooted in organic paradigms. But organic surely refers to the biological world? How do you deal with that paradox being in a digital world?
Dancoyote Antonelli: The organic is rooted in the inorganic and at base everything is elements. I don’t worry about organic or inorganic.
Gary Hazlitt: OK to put it another way, are your creations a representation of the biological world? Or is the goal to be completely removed from the bio world?
Dancoyote Antonelli: It is not a representation of anything in real life and no the true goal is discovery and wonder for me and for the viewer. It is to push forward into new territory of reactive environments. I wish this world had a null gravity sim for example!
Gary Hazlitt: Do you think that your very experiential works can be enjoyed as linear pieces on two dimensional video?
Dancoyote Antonelli: Only to a certain extent. I am having problems transmitting the idea to curators for instance who simply scratch their head when I show them video
Gary Hazlitt: So can it leave this world and be experienced elsewhere?
Dancoyote Antonelli: I think it can with the proper context until people become aware of this continuum
Gary Hazlitt: Regarding that do you feel you lose control if too much spills out of this world via the social web?
Dancoyote Antonelli: I want it to spill and populate and I always appreciate any help to help me contextualize it.
Gary Hazlitt: Will do my best. Well look forward to new show if I get invited. Many thanks for you time DC I will leave you to prepare

The talented troupe again.

A final reminder in the cold light of day of the scale of this piece.

Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inside Second Life (pictures and film by Gary Hazlitt with kind permission of DanCoyote Antonelli)

Been away from SL for over a week and thought I would bring you all up to date with the bay area I live in.� The changes, the new residents and so on. (Here is a bio flickr set with on-going tracking of this Second Life neighbourhood evolving from nothing to very crowded). Firstly, and sadly, Heather and Max have moved to new pastures as the escort agency (see below) that moved in nearby was too much. She kept getting asked about her rates! But I am staying in touch with them as they have found a great new patch in Hokkaido. Anyway, so what is new in my patch – as if your really interested. But I did promise to keep you in the loop as the area developed from nothing a few weeks ago, remember, good. Well lots of new folk are moving in. Attracting a good wide selection. Sadly a club. No malls yet though. I did a quick Sunday morning one hour fly around (snoop) to see whats around and said brief hellos to those who were in-world – many are happy to do longer interviews later. Keep watching.

Close to me. Yes thats my place top left, is Koko and Ice. They weren’t around but in this world one can find much about the people via their profiles attached to the land. So a big traditional house of Ice Franchini and Koko Blackhawk. They met in SL and got married on the 19 Sep – will catch up with them later. For now

“Koko you gave me the most precious gift there is to give a person, your love and your heart and i will treasure them both till the end of time. You showed me I can love again and i do baby i love you so very much. My love for you will far out last this game in my heart you will forever be mine.”

awww. So a good traditional couple – at first glance. Anything is imaginable here. More later perhaps. At the other end of the spectrum we have a traditional escort agency. Xposed Escorts and their slogan “When you want only the best”. Ummm. Here is a pic of their boat and ground build. Wish some folk would finish the ground before they do the sky! The ubiquitous sky club pic follows.

Something more interesting is a very secretive build going on right in the bay below me. Under the water and a strange blue boxey thing growing on top, lots of furious build activity. Home to Inaria and the Avariel Winged Lords. Their mission and convenant.

Fun and Flight. Love and peace. To roam the skies. Rarest of the elven races, the avariel, the winged elves, live a reclusive existence, seldom seen by outsiders. Such is their scarcity and seclusion, that their status is almost that of legend. Despite an aloofness that can astound even other elves, avariel rarely exhibit the haughtiness and arrogance many have come to associate with elvenkind, though they pity all races lacking the ability to fly. They have little to do with other races.

As I write, Inaria Oranos (the Speaker of Winds) and builder friend KiVanyel Adria are busy designing a turret or two sticking out of the water. Like the furries (Kitsu’s) who built their underground burrow these Winged Lords are after a quiet underwater existance and I didn’t venture into their underwater lair just yet as they seem a private group. More about Inaria

“Daughter of mermaid and Avariel Lord. Raised on cliffs over-looking the seas. Apart of two worlds and made the most fun of it. Resides on the winds and in the water. Willing to help any soul who asks.”

To add diversity to this little patch we also have the lesbian (escort?) world of Olivia Marquette (sky platform above). She has built a tasteful, ancient garden with elements of Trompe L’oeil to add space. I said hello she is happy to do a long interview later. They also have a strange black sky platform, antithesis to the open gardens below. Now what secrets in there I wonder? For now here is Olivia’s profile to give some insight and a picture of the garden afterwards.

“I am a passionate, loving and caring Mistress. My heart is full of love and tenderness and I give this to my girls who deserve all the love I possess. Sometimes a switch, I can be delightfully submissive in the right hands. I have collared the beautiful and sexy Amelia Hainsworth (first girl), the lovely and adorable (beloved pet) Stacy Fuller, cute and sexy Kitti Meek and poetic Satsuyo Kinsei. They are my girls and I protected them and love them. Any problems with any of my girls IM me.”

Most of the above is very close to me, within 500m and on adjacent blocks of land. I have been lucky so far that my block of land (what some call a sim) has been quiet. Well there have been some additions on the far edges. First some furries I actually recommended this area too when they were looking around (have some pictures somewhere), Kitsu’s Korner, the furries on hill. They spent ages building a burrow so from the air you couldn’t work out there was actually a large space underground, see photo to the right. Then they built a castle. Still havent had chance to catch up with them, they are behind me over the hill, but perhaps some furry/vamp thing happening here?

Literally on the opposite end of the land I am on we have Ellies Home. Elly Crispien has set up a rental business for either the tudor mansion, a range of houses or the castle from $800-3000L pm. Good deal and a community spa! Not too laggy too. Lots of trees and no animations to see.

Finally just down the bay and on the peninsula we have a lot of activity. I will explore another time as my alloted hour is up for this but lots of people to speak to and exciting stories to tell. Obviously I need to get a life A third life perhaps…although still uncertain of what a 1st life is? Here is a pic of more to come, all further along the shore front in view of my once peaceful, uncluttered view.

Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inside Second Life