So for this next Gary Hazlitt machinima I fiddled with SilkCharm‘s avatar (or is that SilkCharm herself?) uploading some portrait faces to map onto the face & body and equipped her with suitable running attire fore this ‘Run Lola Run‘ lookalike (and big soundalike thanks to Twyker’s music). The film features Franka Potente running around the backstreets of Berlin trying to get some money for her criminal boyfriend (and goes back in time twice). SilkCharm though was just getting some exercise…or as she suggested in the comments on the video ‘in desperate search of chocolate’ ! Enjoy…oh before that one interesting effect in here. At one point in the recording I fell off the world and started hurtling south/down or just out of the sim – the running SilkCharm began to ‘break up’ slowly. As I still had the record on you can see the effect at the start and end of the movie which is quite an attractive ‘inworld’ effect

A Machinima by GARY HAZLITT starring SILKCHARM
‘Run SilkCharm Run’ Filmed in the Beta Virtual World TWINITY (Alpha City Berlin) – more info on the Twinity site

MUSIC “Believe” by Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil Feat: Voice of Franka Potente from the film ‘Run Lola Run’

Filmed & Edited (in 3 hours) by GARY HAZLITT

Shot in the ‘massive’ Berlin simulator in Twinity featuring areas around Brandenburg Gate and Alexanderplatz

Many thanks to SilkCharm & A ‘New World’ Twinity

© JustVirtual Productions 2008
http://www.justvirtual.com

Now I have had some time back in Second Life nice to visit a very special build, hat tip to Bettina over at NPIRL. As well as being inspired to pop over to this wonderfully rich sim designed and built by Baron Grayson I joined in the challenge of photographing it in stills (flickr set here) and video. Some of these are below and of course the video is a quicky mostly single long shot using the space navigator – of course, what else

So video, then description followed by some more nice stills

A Space Navigator Machinima by  GARY HAZLITT. Second Life Island Creation by  BARON GRAYSON. Steinway Grand Piano and Martin Backpacker Guitar One Take Improvisation by  GARY HAYES © 2008. Medium quality (69.5MB mp4 available here

“filmed in one take, then re-edited, vignette and desaturate filters added in places. Most of the playback made twice speed to improve smoothness as sim had quite low frame rates during capture. Enjoy” The wonderful Second Life 3rd generation sim, Templum ex Obscurum by Baron Grayson, machinima by Gary Hazlitt in one three hour session.

and a reminder of what it was like in its opening glory

I ventured into fifty of them to review and sample the culture, creative, business and educational potential. On my travels I got out my virtual camera and decided to capture a bunch of small vignettes which quickly turned into a body of audio visual delights – so decided to create a nice seven minute video for posterity.

With over 300 million frequenting or registering for the non-game based worlds and millions of new investment in 2nd and 3rd generation services there seems to be no stopping them…Enjoy

75MB MP4 Download available at http://www.justvirtual.com/SVWS_2008.mp4

Here is a list of the worlds featured in my video in order of appearance:

• Kaneva
• YoVille (in Facebook)
• RocketOn
• Prototerra
• Gaia Online
• HiPiHi
• Google Lively
• Habbo Hotel
• Laguna Beach (vMTV)
• Whyville
• Twinity
• Cyworld
• Football Superstars
• Weblin
• IMVU
• Second Life
• Club Penguin
• Active Worlds
• vSide
• A Tale in the Desert
• Barbie Online
• Amazing Worlds
• Webkinz
• Worlds.com
• Spore
• Exit Reality
• and 15 others including SpineWorld, Stardoll, The Manor, There.com, Vastpark, Qwaq, PS3Home, GoSupermodel, Grockit, Croquet, Metaplace, Coke Studios, Dreamville, Dubit, Mokitown, Moove, Muse, The Palace, Playdo, Sora City, Voodoo Chat, TowerChat, Traveler, Virtual Ibiza

Video details:

The ‘Social Virtual’ World’s A Stage
A Film by Gary Hayes © Personalizemedia 2008

http://www.personalizemedia.com

“This is not a Game” – Music composed and performed by
Gary Hayes http://www.cubrisound.com

Another Gary, a bio one , managed to take over four hundred images plus hours and hours of sound so I could recreate what it is like to be out there, with you folk in one of your most popular cities. Umm very cramped I must say. Anyway as you can see below it generated lots of Second Life press interest and it was fun creating a few token, Second Life not possible in real life elements.

Here’s a SLURL too. and a load of links…

SL News – Australian city Melbourne Laneways comes alive in SL

Australia SL News Source SLOZ – Virtual Melbourne has arrived

Shhhhhhhh – melbourne laneways in second life. NOOOOOOOO

Second Life Insider – Melbourne Laneways comes to life at ABC Island

Victorian Government – Victoria – Would your Business benefit from a Second Life?

TheProjectFactory – Melbourne Laneways Come to Life for Multimedia Victoria

Boxxet Second Life – Melbourne Laneways comes to Life

Multimedia Victoria – Virtual Worlds (Melbourne Laneways Case Study)

GDay World – Melbourne Laneways in SL

Mal Burns Annex – Melbourne Laneways Comes to Life

Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inworld © 2007

Listening to unforgiven (RealPlayer Windows LiveWriter WordPress Plugin)

The Pond Bong Overload 07, originally uploaded by Gary Hayes.

When I built the Pond islands over 6 months ago I intended this area to be the most organic of all the spaces on the then three Pond islands. This area was also designed to provide a gateway to the outback and Uluru and the juxtaposition of busy bar, social space and real open space (a whole sim for the outback) was planned. That zen like combination is important, psychologically we like to be on the edge of wilderness – facing open sea, deserts and mountains. The call of the wild. Some other parts of the islands were not rich, social and detailed (due to other forces) and that is reflected in how popular they are. Anyway.

The bar itself was roughly designed on my own memories of Queenslander and Western Australia shacks and bars in the outback. I had to use some Western USA textures on the walls etc: due to time contraints and the whole thing took about a day to do – plus a few extra hours later on the internal details like the beer pumps and original seating.

I noticed after a couple of weeks that people were also gathering outside the bar in front of the Pond so I quickly added a fire, bbq and seating plus extra flooring. This has now become one of the busiest 4000sqm areas in SL. The area at launch was supposed to have live bands, singers, streamed music and so on. These are still being planned but it is slow to materialise on a commercial sim, as it costs real money plus a bunch of legals – yet I am amazed that avies still gather and meet here in such large numbers. Less to be entertained but more to socialise, get away from the less aesthetically designed sims and gather before heading off elsewhere.

The other night we had over 60 avies all gathered in this small area after a TV programme in Australia. The top picture is a shot I took of that. Below are other images that give a feel for what takes place here including floods, small battles and endless winged flirting. Quite a few folk are already creating deep stories and role playing in this space which is great and there are many secret places for the initiated, the pash room for one

Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inside Second Life

Second Life Gary’s Sim Marni 10, originally uploaded by Gary Hayes.

I have been so busy since October last year that I have completely forgotten to mention the island I bought. I did the sums and it actually worked out way cheaper for me to buy and island and divide it into four with three other friends. So Marni was born. Marni is an aboriginal word meaning welcome.

I terraformed the island with a large central and shared mountain space with 80m waterfalls with rivers and smaller hills separating the four quadrants. It is a very tranquil area and the images here are some building designs I did over 6 months ago! I hope to get time to finish some of them and add some more architecture in the ‘Sci-Fi Persian’ style.

The other three folk on the island are a wonderful immersive sound sculpture artist, a designer with his own company and an SL entrepreneur. I am sure they won’t mind you looking around.

Please pop along and have a look around. I am unlikely to be there most of the time, but you never know. In any event you are very Marni (Welcome). Heres the SLURL

Posted by Gary Hazlitt from Inside Second Life

Sistine Chapel in Second Life 02, originally uploaded by Gary Hayes.

I had a day to relax and travel the grid to look at a few things. Luckily this day saw the opening of the Sistine chapel on the grid. I took a range of pictures that are getting lots of hits on flickr. I spoke to the builder Stan Frangible who told me that the whole thing was done in a couple of weeks and that all the images are trawled from the web. The hardest thing he said was actually the floor tiles as hardly anyone photographed that and put them on the web. The curved alcoves (lunettes) at the top were also very hard to recreate, he said. Bret Rydell the owner of the island, said they were in respect of the space start to operate a terms and conditions entry system so the sanctity of the area is not ruined by griefer types. Here is a description from Wikipedia of this spiritual and decorative space.

“The Sistine Chapel (Italian: Cappella Sistina) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope, in the Vatican City. Its fame rests on its architecture, which evokes Solomon’s Temple of the Old Testament, its decoration, frescoed throughout by the greatest Renaissance artists, including Michelangelo whose ceiling is legendary, and its purpose, as a site of papal religious and functionary activity, notably the conclave, at which a new Pope is selected.”

Been a strange, busy day today. After a games console launch at Reuters (a news agency in this world) I then got caught up in an bio ceremony for something called Christmas, on the NBC island. I was later then on the VIP list for an amazing performance by DanCoyote and the Skydancers over on Learning Island (I will talk about this amazing experience in the next post).

Yea things are getting busier this time of year but back to the ceremony. The Rockefeller Center (a famous square in a bio city called New York) is one of the most amazing builds I have experienced so far and it was great to catch up with SNOOPYbrown Zamboni, In Kenzo and others ice skating at the start, on a rink next to a great coffee shop. An accompaniment to this, a live band, namely Jaycatt Nico and Frogg Marlowe, playing some great piano, guitar music and interesting songs. There was NBC branding everywhere.

Here I am checking out the relaxing piano music as DestroyTV wanders around again broadcasting anything and everything to the bio world (pic at end) – she gets about a bit! The snow-avatar was dancing by the way as the snow fell around us. It was a bit chilly, and luckily there were free gift boxes with scarves and wooly hats scattered around. Thanks to Aimee Weber for those winter warmers and who, along with Beddazzle studio, built the amazing city scene.

There was a countdown to the switch on of the Christmas (still dont know what that is) lights and In Kenzo and I decided it needed some angels on the top, so we naturally volunteered. Not sure a green and black angel was keeping with the spirit of the event, but the avies 30m below seemed to like it.

After the ceremony we were encouraged to go and explore the Top of the Town, Rainbow or Peacock Room (?) at the top of the Rockefeller Tower. It was a long way up and many didn’t make it as the elevators were not working properly and most avies can’t fly above 200m or so.

Having jet wings helps a lot and here I am 250 meters up gasping at the view of the most famous of bio city nightscapes. One thing that was also very very strange here was reflections. You can see in this picture the walls and tables all have a mirror image in the floor that moves as you move. It is so odd to see things reflected like this. On investigation I discovered there is an inverted replica of every single item under the floor which is semi-transparent, but that would spoil the fun if I told you that

Back down on the ground that band sang a few Christmas Carols (still no nearer an explanation) and there were some rather cold women hanging around for presents.

and finally what the bio world saw through the website – there is me waving in the background. Thanks to anonymous for sending me that through the digi/bio portal.

Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inside Second Life (using inworld email, wp postie and a crontab)

1. Black Library – Literature, arts, games, and more. (They told me they are moving soon so keep an eye out for the new locaiton). Click here to go there

2. Dragon Moon Resort – Relaxed atmosphere. Regular concerts and events. Click here to go there

3. The Cliffs of BonnyDoon – Newly opened build in Liferain Park. Majestic falls, towering cliffs, a treetop village, and subterranean caverns. Click here to go there

4. Galaxy Sci-Fi Sim – Join Starfleet Academy. The group has regular role play events, tactical training, bi-Annual Banquets and more. Click here to go there

5. Gris-Gris Land – Stunning futuristic architecture by Milo Bellow. “Mad Gods and Englishmen…” Click here to go there

6. Intermundia – Art Space of Nebulosus Severine. Evolving installation work. Click here to go there

7. Little Silent Hill – Re-creation of locations from the survival horror game series. Click here to go there

8. Mars Japanese Gardens – A wild and romantic Japanese park style garden. Click here to go there

9. Nakama – A huge Japanese city, divided into different anime themed regions. Click here to go there

10. Nexus Prime – Vast cyberpunk city. Lots to explore and hidden areas to discover. Click here to go there

11. The Port – Arena for projects which create new links between first and second life. Click here to go there

12. Pot Healer Adventure – Immersive game of exploration and puzzles. Click here to go there

13. Sci-Fi Geeks Museum – Full size starships, interactive holodeck, movies, events, fan art, and more. Click here to go there

14. Suffugium – Dystopian future city with cyberpunk influences. Click here to go there

15. Svarga – A fully functional artificial ecology system. Click here to go there

16. Voted 5 Group Land – Caution! Ego-free zone. Sense of humour advisable. Click here to go there

17. Avalon Island – Beautiful architecture and one of Second Life’s best cinemas play host to a variety of real world companies and organisations. Click here to go there

18. Shiny Things – Shoes and jewellery designed for the most discerning residents of Second Life. Click here to go there

19. Support for Healing Island – offers nightly depression support groups in beautiful surroundings. Click here to go there

20. Sick Cat – Art installation exploring the possibilities of mind uploading. Click here to go there

Some other places that I like visiting

Of course if your passing pop in for tea and see my place – who knows I may be in Gary Hazlitt’s Angels Nest in Blueberry, Click here to go there

Esperance – The AFTRS Island, where I work, some nice art developing Click here to go there

Amsterdam – apparently like some bio place? Click here to go there

Camp Darfur, it makes me sad, confused and angry when I go there Click here to go there

Shivar, Mont Saint Michel au Per – lovely atmosphere and medieval buildings Click here to go there

The Lost Gardens of Apollo – very romantic and special vegetation Click here to go there

Social Simulation Cyber-Research Lab – fun interactive games Click here to go there

Phoenicia Center for Contemporary Art – great 2D art gallery Click here to go there

Other places to be added in upcoming posts from the other side include the Sci-Fi sim (my neighbour), NMC campus then my fav shopping places, great art places, best interactive spots and the hottest clubs – not that I do them a lot – must be my age

Posted by Gary Hazlitt inside Second Life