2nd Week Of The SL12B - Part 2

As promised yesterday, here is the continuation of my SL12B gallery. Some of the buildings you can find there belong to the finest you can find in SL - and outside of it.
Of course building quality isn't everything. Some exhibits impress with clever ideas, making extensive use of the possibilities virtual worlds do offer - others look just damn cool!

Not a borg-anthill: Astonish DJ Stage

2nd Week Of The SL12B

After the busybusy preparations for SLB, I spent most of the last week strolling around there (which is quite a task for itself - it is 15 Sims!). Well ok, I also finished building a new vehicle, which I will present soon. But for now, lets have a look at SL12B and some cool exhibits!

Nanscapes

SL12B! Tomorrow! Yeäh!

The recent days were busy busy busy for us. Getting our infernal machine ready for the exhibit, working on the hunt gift and a few other things, which will hopefully be finished in the next days - yes, I must be mad to do all this stuff...

Do you dare to turn the dream generator on? I bet you do!

Many many thanks to my lovely partner Emma who spent her spare time this week scripting all the craziness I was building! (and it became more and more) You are the best dear!

Also big thanks to Professor Wickentower, who provided me with some of his cool steampunk airships for my exhibit. They do look fantastic, don't they?

Now we can finally relax and wait for the big opening. I can't wait to see all the other exhibitions and the events. It's going to be a pretty cool time!
Please note, the events will be held in the first week, starting tomorrow, while the exhibits will be around for another week, to give everyone the opportunity to see them.

Speaking of seeing. My exhibit made it into the Destination Guide! I am happy, very happy. And yes: quite proud too.

These links will provide you with everything you need:

The Dream Of Steam Exhibit

SL12B on the Destination Guide

SL12B Blog and Timeline

I hope you have a great time there!

Getting Ready For SL12B!

Yes, it is that time of the year again, when the grid celebrates the birthday of Second Life. Its the 12th already - time flies! 12 years are quite a steep age for the internet. When SL started, there was no Facebook, Amazon mostly sold books and even Google was still rather a novelty.
I personally didn't experience SL until 2007, which also is an appalling while ago already! So I got spared from all that mayhem of the grid's early days - and experienced instead the regular mayhem we more or less still have today!

Over the years I learned a lot here. About people, myself and last but not least building. When I started with SL I had absolutely no idea about building or even meshes, textures or scripts. I actually didn't dare to touch the build window until being 2 years on the grid - and promptly messed a nice set of wings up!

Well, things have changed. I can mess up the things I have built by myself now! Yay - achievement! But seriously: I am very happy for what I have learned and for the creativity inside me I could unleash via this lovely and messy and laggy digital world called Second Life.

In the recent years I also went more and more into attending events. First as visitor and blogger, but more and more also as exhibitor and this year's SLB will be very special for me in this regard: I will have my own exhibit on SLB!

I was busy building my exhibit most part of last week, taking my inspiration from various directions, added with a good amount of madness and megalomania. May I introduce: The Dream Of Steam!

I bet you don't guess where I got the idea for the building from. 

The exhibit features the most sophisticated steam- and tesla-technology. With lots of rotating gears (ask Emma, she had to script them all!), discs, glowing tubes and tanks and lightning and whatnot, to spread funny and crazy steampunk dreams into the world. Likely without causing permanent physical or psychological harm - yay!

No, it's not a doomsday-machine. Well, at least not quite.

The 16 SL12B sims will be opened on Sunday, June 21 at 12 PM SLT. The first week will see plenty of events. More info about this on the official SLB blog.

And here is a direct-link to my exhibit. The best way to start exploring SLB anyway, if you ask me!

Have a wonderful time!

Never Drift Opening Party Sunday 12 PM!

The all-brand-new-shiny-and-steamy Sim Never Drift by my friend Prof. Zen Wickentower has its great opening party tomorrow!

A sim waiting for being discovered: Never Drift

You are invited to celebrate this special event with us at the Cog and Kraken Pub. There will be two shows there. First a dance performance by the Beatniks, then the famous Clyde Barrow (not the one from Bonnie and Clyde though) will sing his jazz-tunes!


Here are the event details:

What? Sim opening Party, dance performance by the Beatniks & live concert with Clyde Barrow
Where? Never Drift
When? Sunday 14 June, 11:30 AM (Beatniks), 12 PM (Clyde Barrow), SLT

See you there!


*** Edit: Sadly the Beatniks won't be able to perform today, but Clyde Barrow will! See you at 12 PM for his show! ***

Too Much Reality!

If you ask me about the aspect I like most in Second Life, my answer will be "the sheer endless ways to be creative".
And really, there is hardly another medium which combines so many ways of expressing yourself: Change your appearance as you like, do photography, tell stories (role-plays, machinimas, book-readings, comics...), perform music, build whatever weird thing you want to build - virtual worlds consisting of user-generated content are the definite way to create and publish your ideas in the digital age.

Live your dream - with cheese and bacon!

However, having this thought in mind, I am sometimes quite surprised how much SL tries to copy reality, where it doesn't really have to. Of course, there are some really exciting Sims around, which create their own crazy worlds: Insilico, The Wastelands, Forgotten City, Flotsam and New Babbage for example. Each of them is a pure joy to explore, but they are just (partly in a very literal way) islands in an ocean of reality-mimicry. Most of the things you will find in SL are copies of what we know and see in real-life.
I don't say that is bad, but real-life designs are usually a compromise. They have to be designed to be mass-produced, follow limitations in costs and safety-regulations and pesky laws of physics.

The nice thing with building in SL on the other hand is that you can let go. You don't have to bother too much about the laws of physics, or safety regulations or whatever. As long it looks good and plausible enough, it works.

A big part of being creative is to put rather common things into a new context. It is also fun ;-)

As a builder of creations which are usually not based on real-life examples, I enjoy the freedom to not have to worry too much if that thing I just put together would really fly (or even fly well), but I try to make it at least look believable ("it could fly, you know...").
On the other hand it is of course helpful to look at real-life creations and take elements from them - fair enough. You don't have to invent the wheel again - its more fun to put it in a new context and create exciting new things!

Visiting the Z&A Shop at the Indulgence BDSM & Kink Fair

Our friend and regular party host Antony Fairport from Z&A-fame is currently taking part in the Indulgence BDSM & Kink Fair - a more than good reason to hop by and do a visit!

The store from outside. I am pretty happy with the look of the buildings on the fair. Very tasteful choice!

Some new releases inside.

Pretty comfortable releases!

At least as long you are on the right side of the bars!

A generous selection of freebies.

Always fun at parties: a punishment picker!

Sadly lag was hitting me pretty hard outside of the Z&A shop (I am currently not at the most powerful PC, you see). Otherwise I would have made a few more shots of the rest of the fair. But might give it another go in the next days though.
Anyway, the BDSM & Kink Fair is definitely worth a visit and best you start with Antony's store!