Thursday 10 April 2014

Emergency Challenge

A Petrovsky Flux
I found myself filling in as emergency host for the Photohunt challenge in Second Life tonight. So with only a few minutes to get set up, I took the crew to the first sim that popped into my mind: A Petrovsky Flux

I gave them Solitude for a theme. This is my personal take on the same subject, though a little more modified than we allow in the contest. 
For those that are wondering, Photohunt is a regular competition in Second Life. Participants are given a sim to work in and an hour to create the best image they can, with no outside modifications (unlike this image). Then we post them and vote to decide on the winners for that session.  
It all happens twice a week: Mondays at 11:30 a.m. SLT and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. SLT., starting from our gallery at Taean.

Tuesday 8 April 2014

To the Noobs, to Make Much of Time

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying.
-- Robert Herrick, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
Relaxing on the deck of Ad Astra (my NY-30, designed by Jacqueline Trudeau) off the coast of Appleberry in the Fruit Islands.
This post is in response to +Strawberry Singh's latest blog challenge, Advice for Second Life Newbies. I admit to having fun with the Herrick poem, but the advice is still good.
-- Don't waste a minute of your time in Second Life. This world changes fast, so there is always something so much to see, so many people to meet and fun to have.
As I thought this over, I realized that a lot of real life advice applies to Second Life.
-- Follow your passion. Search out the things you love, you'll find them in SL, and you'll also find communities of people that share the same passions, whether that be sailing, flying, photography, fashion or... you name it.
But there is advice that only applies to SL.
-- Denoob yourself. There’s nothing wrong with being a noob, we all started out that way. But you don't have to stick with the basic avatar, especially when there are lots of businesses offering freebies for folks under 30 (days, that is), so you take advantage while you can.
Start by getting yourself an animation override. SEmotion and Amacci both offer nice ones. Then think about getting yourself dressed. Berry has a lot of great links on her SL newbie resource page, but I would also recommend checking out Fabfree’s 30 days list.
It's important to remember that there are very real people behind those avatars, but don't forget this is a virtual world.
-- You can't be hurt. If your parachute doesn't open when you are skydiving from 4000 metres, don't worry about it. Just dust yourself off and try again. Try lots of things, even if you are convinced you won't be any good at them - you might surprise yourself.
I don't know if my final word qualifies as advice or is just something to keep in mind.
-- SL is about community. This is shared experience on a big scale, but the virtual world is just a part of it. Dive in. SLifers are present in just about ever social every media you can name: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Flickr and countless blogs.
So join us. And welcome.

Monday 7 April 2014

Single Frame Stories revisited

Challenge 1 - Last Words
"Did you hear the one about..."
Whiskey Monday and Botgirl Questi put Single Frame Stories on hold a while back, but the website and all the images remain, including a few - too few - of mine.

Looking through the images from the 53 weeks of challenges, I thought, why not run through a few of them? So here is my new single frame for the first challenge, Last Words.

It's only about 20 months late. Next challenge is Illumination; let's see if I can get to that one a little quicker.

Sunday 6 April 2014

Flux in Flux

A Petrovsky Flux
I paid a visit to the ever-changing art sim, A Petrovsky Flux today. If you haven't already been inspired to by all the press it has got lately, well, why not?
A Petrovsky Flux
If somehow you have missed the press, I highly recommend checking out Prim Perfect or +Inara Pey's Living in a Modemworld for the current scoop.
A Petrovsky Flux
For some background on this incredible work, try the University of Kansas or Honour MacMillan's 2010 article.
A Petrovsky Flux