B. Kiddo (Simspremiere) - previously mentioned with her machinima The Cats Will Play and Surrealia Antanine (OneJovialSim) - also see link above - have another joined project: neko’s breakdancing and spinning ’round in the virtual subway on Timberland’s ‘Bounce’. B. Kiddo: ‘OneJovialsim and myself got our heads together and each of us shot and edited the same the video puting our own spin on this piece.‘ Take a look, and decide for yourself, which one you like the best:
B. Kiddo - Bounce
Adviced to click the ‘watch in high quality’ on it’s youtube page.
Surrealia Antaine - Bounce
But admit it, no machinima or music video can be bad if it features nekos & tails? ;)
M. Linden on the official Linden Blog says we - err.. Linden Lab & the grid - are doing fine: ‘All are indications that Second Life is becoming more relevant, more usable and more reliable.‘
We should be delighted about:
Peak concurrency of 71,232. (+38% compared to 2007)
Daily user-to-user transactions in Linden Dollars continue their steady climb.
Viewer crash rates have declined.
Database/network/simulator outages are down substantially.
Promises & upcoming releases:
A viewer that is new user friendly. (Let’s hope they took a look at the User Design Interface contest submissions.)
The Department of Public Works will continue to spend our taxes.
By the end of the year, the Second Life viewer will be fully localized for all the major markets.
Product focus. (On what did not get mentioned. Neither what the actual ‘product’ is.)
Things M Linden forgot to mention:
Communications towards users are down substantially.
SLim.
Philip’s hair did not get fixed. Land prices.
Age verification and it’s status & the Teen Grid’s future.
Anything else - positive or negative - M missed? =)
There are some clichés that always make you laugh - or at least grin - like the ‘you know you are addicted to…’ lists: You know you are addicted to Second Life when…. It’s funny because they are bound to contain some ’similarities’ to you own behaviour, be it often less extreme. But what if we reverse this game? What on earth would we, worried avatars, say about our humans, when they are playing outside - yet again?
I recently had to remind my human she’s playing to much Real Life lately, so I’ll kick this one off:
You know you are playing to much Real Life when…
… the propositions you get IRL are actually less honourable than those you get in Second Life.
… you claim humans can’t fly.
… you say ‘but people can’t help the colour of their skin’.
… you think that acquiring land is actually worth something.
… you are surprised you can hear through walls.
… you think people are born with genitals.
… you believe in monogamy.
… you are sure breasts are supposed to be round in stead of square.
… you say it’s impossible for man to influence the position of the sun.
… you forget to take your SwimmingHUD on holidays.
… you tell everybody plywood is a limited natural resource.
Oops. That’s 11. Which one should I drop? ;) But, dear fellow avies, share your opinions! Anything other signs of RL addiction we’d better warn our humans about?
For those curious, this is how the human looked like a few days ago. Really, can you imagine, she almost has a tan!!!?
A first in Rezzable’s ‘15FPS of Fame’ machinima series: machinima footage from the ‘Passions of Black Swan‘ fashion show last week. Catchy tune, lovely models, large crowd, great designs, … what would one want more?
The blip.tv version is of a bit better quality, but YouTube is that handy for embedding. *lazy avie here* If you’re curious about the shots I took at the fashion show, take a look on Flickr.
Maybe to much, maybe not enough, but that we complain about Second Life is a given fact. We complain about the inventory loss, the downtime, a low framerate, high resolution snapshots not working, … . And if all that is solved, we find other things to complain about: people are to shallow, SL is full of griefers, we don’t like our neighbours, there’s to much sex in-world, or… not enough. Human nature is to always find something to complain about.
But after testing a abundance of other so called ‘virtual worlds’ or part-of-the-metaverse-wannabies, I still have not discovered one that’s actually better than Second Life. Less buggier, more freedom, more options, less heavy, fewer crashes, friendlier folks, more fascinating locations? Nope! So, I guess, for now, we should stop complaining, and make the best out of our Second Lives? No irony here! ;)
Oh, the tons of ‘loading’ prims is a bug actually encountered when trying ‘Just Leap In‘. It took me 2 hours to rezz that pile of ‘loading’ blocks, and the room still did not appear. I gave up for that night!
For some strange reason, I’m incredibly happy with how the cover for Foolish Frost’s newest release ‘Prim in my hand’, a Second Life builder’s song. I already loved his ‘Avatar Song’, so I was honoured he was as lazy as to let me do the cover for this one! I already had a ’sneak prehear’ and the lyrics are - as usual - hilarious. Together with ‘Prim in my hand’ (listen and/or download) , Mr Foolish will bring an ‘updated’ version of the Avatar song which, I promise you, will guarantee you at least a few chuckles over the added lyrics. The Second Life God reference? Now, c’mon, who has not heard from Mr Foolish yet? The official invite:
Those that know the ‘Avatar Song’ by Foolish Frost will be highly delighted - and those that have never heard of it should urgently check out avatar.rezzable.com - to hear that Foolish Frost - for the GMF festival - will perform ‘Avatar’, a revised version ‘Return of the Avatar’ and his newest release ‘Prim in my hand’ this Friday, 26th of September, 2PM sharp at Crimson Shadow. All invited for the release party this Friday!
More on Foolish Frost and the gig over at the ‘invitation blogpost‘. The Avatar Song is already available for watching, listening, reading lyrics & downloading at avatar.rezzable.com. We’ll publish recordings from ‘Prim in my Hand’ and ‘Return of the Avatar’ after Friday’s release party at music.rezzable.com. If you - or your human - use facebook, feel free to RSVP here (yeah, Vint testing social networking skills! ;)).
My apologies to:
Michelangelo: For ripping off God’s hand, rotating it, and recolouring it. But guess if virtual worlds existed in M’s time, he would have loved them!
Foolish Frost: For adding that cute pink flower coming out of the prim. I know it’s not really your style.
Prad Prathivi’s ‘Second Life Keyboard’ is to hilarious not to plug it in here. Behold, look at the big size and roll over the floor laughing your pretty ass off. This will surely win him a nomination for SL’s hottest avatar 2008.
Most useful buttons? That will probably be ‘No, I don’t want to send a bloody crash report‘, ‘increase FPS‘, ‘random outfit‘ and the shortcut button to your ‘drama friendlist’.
Second Life creator Linden Lab has filed a Petition for Cancellation with the USPTO seeking to cancel registration of ‘SLART’. Linden Lab’s core argument is that Minsky made a series of misrepresentations to the USPTO in order to secure registration of the mark and so Minsky ‘is not entitled to Registration No. 3399258 because committed fraud in the procurement of the subject registration.’ More on this over at Virtually Blind.
How infringement on ‘SLART’ is handled, for now…
Minsky asked for - and was granted! - a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that obliged Linden Lab to ‘stop hiding the identities of users of its service who infringe on the SLART trademark‘. Auwch. That far for SLanonymity. This was reverted by the judge though, and LL & Minsky agreed on the following process:
If Minsky - in good faith - thinks somebody is violating his trademark, he drops an email at removals@lindenlab.com (“Notice to Linden”).
LL then has 2 business days time to alert the ‘infringing user’ via his (or hers) registered avatar email address and warn him to take the content down. LL will confirm Minsky via email that & when the user was notified. If three business days after the notice the user did not remove the ‘infringements on Minsky’s SLART trademark’ him/herself, Linden will do so.
If the infringing use is not exactly the use of ‘SLART’ as one word, with all letters depicted in a uniform size, font and colour, LL may refuse to remove the content and/or warn the resident avatar. LL should notify Richard Minsky of this. If Minsky still wants it to be removed, an U.S. Magistrate will determine if this is needed.
In understandable - but still - legalese, more at Virtually Blind.
SL & other trademarks up for opposition
Linden Lab filed several trademark applications for which you can still file a Notice of Opposition, or a Request to Extend Time to Oppose with the USPTO for the next two weeks: SL ,YOUR WORLD. YOUR IMAGINATION. , SECOND LIFE GRID , SL GRID , SECOND and 2ND LIFE.
Parties who feel that the mark would be damaging, cause confusion or be otherwise invalid by, for example, being ‘merely descriptive’ rather than uniquely identifying the originator of goods and services; or by being somehow generic. Opposition based on descriptive use or genericity can be rather tricky, unless you’ve got a good case. Damage, that is costs or other difficulties, that arise from allowing the registration of the mark are the most straightforward to demonstrate.
For those who wonder how one could try to trademark ’second’, it is only in limited ‘fields’:
Software that is used for providing multi-user access to an on-line 3D virtual environment; computer 3D virtual environment software, namely, software for use in creating, manipulating and participating in 3D virtual environments.
Communication services in the nature of text messaging and electronic mail services used in an online virtual environment
Computer services, namely, hosting an on-line 3D virtual environment featuring a wide variety of user-defined subject matter, and hosting an on-line 3D virtual environment featuring a wide variety of user-defined subject matter that may be accessed by means of communications networks; design and development of multimedia and three dimensional virtual environment software.
Torley shares with us a list of 9 sublime cyberpunk songs you need to hear. Torley’s take on what makes a good cyberpunk song: ‘best cyberpunk music is at once mechanical yet human, living paradoxes which bridge the best of different worlds together‘. I must admit that my thoughts on cybermusic aren’t that deep, but there are some songs I absolutely love (and remind me of the metaverse):
1. Welle:Erdball - Monoton + Minimal (C=64er)
Together with ‘Die Computer verlassen Ihren Welt’ and ‘Lass uns ein Computer sein’, Monton + Minimal from Welle:Erdball describes best the virtual nature of our - computer generated - worlds: ‘Es zählt nur JA und NEIN!’ Whatever is at the basic, it’s either TRUE, FALSE or a bug. Way less ‘maybes’! (Until you ask someone if it will work, then you get a ‘maybe’. ;)) Please sing along: ‘Es gibt keinen Kompromiß. Es zählt nur JA und NEIN. Wir sehen wie es wirklich ist. Wir denken minimal… Es wird nicht dekoriert. Die Welt ist schön genug. Denn wir sind programmiert….
2. 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor - Living in Cyberspace
Although mainly just a catchy tune & simplistic lyrics, Living in Cyberspace from 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor will always be a classic. The uberly cute voice distortion effect in combination with lyrics such as ‘Close your eyes and come with me, Enjoy your interface, Your digital fantasy’ I think it’s still perfectly fit for describing SL. Of course, we need to work on that love for the interface a bit more still! ;) (Cover from Trans-X’s Living on Video.)
3. The Orb - Blue Room
Where as ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ makes me think of WindLight settings, The Orb’s Blue Room instantly makes you feel all ‘cyberish’ when listening to it. It’s delicate, ’spacy’ and triggers curiosity. As it evokes feelings of the unknown, drifting & floating, new worlds & possibilities opening up, Instant Metaverse hit, imho!
4. Daft Punk - Technologic
I assume Technologic by Daft Punk does not need much explanation. Catchy, and all to familiar lyrics on the fast pace that technology causes for today’s society: ‘Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, Trash it, change it, mail - upgrade it, Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it, Snap it, work it, quick - erase it, Write it, cut it, paste it, save it, Load it, check it, quick - rewrite it, Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it, …‘.
5. Avatar, A Rockstar Parody - Foolish Frost
As previously mentioned, Foolish Frost’s I wanna be Avatar is one of the best Second Life parody songs around. (Closely followed by Rich Palmer’s ‘No Copy, No Mod’, Jeremy ‘Froggs’ Works’s ‘Ain’t no woman (in SL)’ (both available for listening on T61) and The Alienthearts’ ‘The Little Newbie‘.) What’s great in those songs, that often, they aren’t as far from the truth as you would guess: ‘I wanna be loved like I’m a part of the FIC, Power like Anshe Chung Without all of the dick, Have every single newbie Tell me how great I’ve got to be…‘ ;)
6. Astral Projection - People Can Fly
Knowing this song way before ever having heard of Second Life, first time I ‘flew’ my avatar around on the grid, Astral Projection’s People Can Fly came to mind: ‘When you dream there are no rules, people can fly, anything can happen. Sometimes there is a moment as you are awakening when you become aware of the real world around you, but you are still dreaming. You may think you can fly but you do better not try.‘ Well, we’re doing the flying part just fine!
7. Sigur Rós - Hjartað Hamast
Part of the soundtrack for ‘Immortal Ad Vitam’ (based on Enki Bilal’s - awesome!!! - graphic novels), Hjartað Hamast by Sigur Ros is just totally moving & beautiful. The fact that I don’t understand the lyrics (one bit) adds to the mystery feeling of the song. Definitely listen to this song, watch Bilal’s ‘Immortal Ad Vitam’ or even better, get his graphic novels! Awesomeness²! ;) (PS. The Lady in Blue - aka Jill Bioskop - does remind me of Dandellion a bit! ;))
Honourable mentioning in Vint’s cyber & metaverse music song list:
RezTown - Rez a Life in Second Life! - ‘RezTown, the perfect combination of an online social network and a Massively Multiplayer Online Game.’ <- or so they say. ;) The Sims Online meets Second Life. I wonder if anybody I know plays?
SLprofiles becomes ProfilesLive - Apparently, Linden Lab does act upon their trademark: ‘Because of the the recent trademark changes within Second Life, we have been requested by Linden Lab to change the name of our site to prevent brand confusion.’ New one: profileslive.com
From scratch to baby avatar in SL (creation process) - Ok, no age play drama on this one. It’s fascinating to see the creation process of a ‘baby avatar’, regardless if you like them or not. Especially a must click for those who don’t have a clue how an avatar gets made! ;) (But I dare to bet it’s not as easy & fast as the video makes it look.)
LSL Convention 2008 (Japanese) - Ok, you won’t understand much (well, at least I don’t), but each year, this is an interesting convention to stroll, and look at nifty examples of LSL use. Best go there with a translator on your side, if you really want to know the details! ;) Saturday October 18th, until Sunday November 2nd. Deadline for submissions: Sept. 26, Japanese Time.
MetaLife Press Release - MetaKiosks - MetaLife - MetaMart, amongst others - is releasing the new MetaKiosks, which hold all their products/services into ‘one’. They are giving out only 300 for now, to do some thorough testing on stability, so if you want one, be quick!
For some strange reason, I’m incredibly happy with how the cover for Foolish Frost’s newest release ‘Prim in my hand’, a Second Life builder’s song. I already loved his ‘Avatar Song’, so I was honoured he was as lazy as to let me do the cover for this one! I already had a ’sneak prehear’ and the lyrics are - as usual - hilarious. Together with ‘Prim in my hand’ (listen and/or download) , Mr Foolish will bring an ‘updated’ version of the Avatar song which, I promise you, will guarantee you at least a few chuckles over the added lyrics. The Second Life God reference? Now, c’mon, who has not heard from Mr Foolish yet? The official invite:
