I LOVE the Rabbicorn

Love, love love the Rabbicorn. I WANT the Rabbicorn. I NEED the Rabbicorn. I tried repeatedly to steal the Rabbicorn from the exhibit. I told Tez and Bryn that I wanted a gift shop at the end of the exhibit so I could buy my own Rabbicorn and take her home with me. *grin* Merchandising IS where the money is, no? Oh yes. And I LOVE Bryn Oh and I LOVE Tezcatlipoca Bisiani.

This is MY blog so I get to talk about the exhibit from my point of view. *grin* First – if you like total surprises, stop reading now. I will do my best not to tell/ruin the story, but you may get hints anyway. Second, I want to tell you how powerfully the exhibit affected me and so it will be “about me”.

I confess – I didn’t want to go to the opening last night. I’d spent the RL day down the shore, soaking up the sun and the surf. I was TIRED. I was also a bit “put-off” by Tez’s description of the exhibit: “Bryn Oh’s new build The Rabbicorn tells the melancholy origin story of the title character, an original robotic being in the Bryn Oh universe.” I am NOT into “melancholy”. I’m really not into “Art”. In my family – I am definitely the Philistine, the one on whom great Art is wasted. I am that horrible person: I know what I like. But when I IM’d Tez to make an excuse, I realized that I was going. Jonah had aleady said he would like to go too, so I pinged him and said “We’re on, kiddo.”

We tp’d to the landmark. It was sparkly and noisy and dark and confusing. I am easily confused in SL. I never quite understand directions that are, apparently, obvious to eveyone else. I don’t see what I am supposed to touch, where I am supposed to tp, where to position my camera. As an example – I had to ask Bryn, who was greeting arrivals, how to even get out of the entryway and to the start of the exhibit. *grin* Other people seemed to be finding their way with no trouble. Jonah had to come back and practically drag me to the first stop.

I hated the first stop. I already hated being confused, hated being tired, hated the constructs which looked creepy. I didn’t realize until after I struggled to read the text on the table that I could have TOUCHED it and read it with no trouble. (After a year, in SL – wouldn’t you think I’d KNOW that?) I hated the story. It sounded creepy and violent. I already had “melancholy” stuck in my mind. So I whined at Jonah, he gave me explicit directions on how to find the teleporter and we went to the 2nd stop.

I still hated it. Same reasons as above. And it was TOTALLY black when we arrived. Sigh. I fixed that by turning around. But at least I was beginning to figure out how to move about, where to find the storyline, what I was supposed to be seeing in the build. At least I was no longer totally baffled. Just cranky and anticipating melancholy and misery. Then we got to the 4th stop. Where I finally SAW the Rabbicorn (she’d been there before, you know. I simply didn’t recognize her). I understood who the main character was, what she looked like – I finally started to connect. I have to say that I’d been IM’ing poor Tez as well as Jonah. I begged Tez back before the first stop for clues on how to navigate and an explanation of WHAT I was supposed to be “getting” out of this. But here at this stop- I began to “see” the Rabbicorn.

The Rabbicorn is adorable. I love her. I looked at her face, her ears, her horn, her legs, her feet. I love her. It was that simple. Now as we moved through the story I got ANGRY. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to MY Rabbicorn. I IM’d Tez and warned him that if Bryn allowed anything bad to happen to the Rabbicorn, I would NEVER go to another Bryn Oh exhibit. Ever. Tez merely sent back a non-committal emoticon. I raged at Jonah. I don’t LIKE bad things. My Rabbicorn was endangered. Oh SPARE me that a good story line needs conflict, suspense, tension. Don’t hurt MY Rabbicorn!

Bryn herself appeared at this point. We told her how much we were enjoying the build. I told her that I was going to be extremely unhappy if anything happened to my Rabbicorn (yes, I did indeed have the effrontery to call her MY Rabbicorn. I don’t think Bryn minded.) Bryn told me to have faith. THAT did indeed pick up my spirits. I trusted Bryn. I lost the last lingering crankiness ( I really did NOT want to be manipulated into “bad things”). Poor Jonah. I became totally immersed in the story. Poor Tez as well, who was also suffering a running commentary.

I took dozens of pictures. *grin* Jonah and I spent hours in the story, talking and exploring. At one point when we couldn’t find the Rabbicorn (and be glad I was NOT IM’ing YOU at that point) we had to fly, cam, search hunt, I went a little, um, extreme. *grin* I bet that surprises you. The build is so clever – until you found the Rabbicorn – you didn’t find the tp to the next spot. Without Jonah I’d never have found her. I had the right idea, but didn’t take it far enough. For those who like me need help – think UP. WAY up.

At the penultimate stop, there is a TV. Click the TV to get the backstory (part 1) of “The Rabbicorn”. It is a short video – less than 10 minutes. Bryn told us that The Rabbicorn is part 2 of a 3 part series. I can’t wait. I love The Rabbicorn. It is a wonderful, exciting, joyous, fulfilling experience. It took me out of cranky reluctance into refreshed joy. Please go. I will be going back and back and back again, taking all of you.

Thank you Jonah, for being such a fantastic companion. You are patient, good-humored, fun, clever and you put up with my dramatic proclamations and exclamations. It was a better experience for being shared with you. LOL. I’m not sure that YOU can make the same claim.

Thank you Bryn. Thank you Tez. Thank you for sharing your visions, your creations, for making the effort to bring art and beauty and fantasy and vision to everyone. Thanks to the IBM Exhibition Space. Without such sponsorship, there cannot be art for everyone to enjoy.

THE RABBICORN by BRYN OH

Let me confess right up front – I am lifting the details about the exhibit from my friend Andrew Sempere (Tezcatlipoca Bisiani). Andrew is an artist in his own right, with many RL exhibits around the country. But as usual with the friends I mention here – Andrew is much more than that. He is intelligent, funny, kind and generous. He has a passion for the arts and for making art available to the rest of us, who may not be as connected or as informed. He serves as curator for many institutions, including the IBM EXHIBITION SPACE (IBM 3, Secondlife). The IBM space (for which Andrew deserves a great deal of credit for both the concept and the actuality) opened last month with a stunning exhibit by Glyph Graves – truly phenomenal. I mentioned it here and I do hope you saw it.

Friday, July 10, 2009, the second exhibit opens at IBM 3 (slurl IBM 3 (55, 50, 23)), Bryn Oh’s The Rabbicorn. “The Rabbicorn tells the melancholy origin story of the title character, an original robotic being in the Bryn Oh universe. The Rabbicorn exists in a world of poetic narrative, subtle ambient sound and beautiful visual artistry, part Gorey, part Poe, part Velveteen Rabbit, but with an original take that is uniquely contemporary, and uniquely Bryn.” Andrew’s post has more details about Bryn’s style and technique. I urge you to click through and read it.

I am including the publicity photos, courtesy of Bryn Oh and Andrew. Thank you both very much for providing/sharing the photos.

I was totally blown away by the first exhibit. Jaymin and I had a wonderful time exploring that together. I cannot wait for tomorrow night to see Bryn Oh’s work and lose myself in the art and the story. Ping me and let’s explore this exhibit together. It’s more fun with friends. *grin* Always.

New Creations

I’m a tad frustrated. Work is going great. We had a concept. We made a demo of that concept so that we could show it to other people so that they could say “Hey! There’s an idea here!” We have found people who do indeed think we have an idea and maybe even more than an idea. We may actually have something that could become something REAL. *grin* You need to know something about me – well, if I were a REAL person, and not a construct of an imagination (please see the disclaimer in my profile. LOL). I have been in a group that brings products to market. I LIKE selling real products to real people for real money. *grin* So it’s incredibly exciting to me to think that yes, we may indeed have something here. BUT. I can’t tell you about any of that. Probably I shouldn’t even admit that we have an idea. That is why I am wearing aluminum foil on my head – so that you can’t beam your mind-ray machine at me and see what it is. So I can’t tell you about what *I* am doing. What I am creating. Go back and look at pictures of my office. That’s all I can share.

What I CAN do, however, is share what my friends are doing and creating. I’ve told you all about Honour’s Drama Dolls. Have you gotten YOURS yet? I’m sure that sometime in SL you encountered DRAMA!

Bailey Longcloth is also creating. She has a business, Longcloth Ltd. for furniture, animations and homes. If I say Tony, Jeannie and Howard – do you know who I mean???? Either you are showing your age or your predilection for old TV. *Grin* Whereas Jeannie’s home was made from a Jim Beam liquor decanter which was simply painted with gold leaf, YOU can do better than that! Bailey has made a genie bottle that is much more elaborate and detailed. It is beautiful and fun. She sent me a photo while she was building it. I immediately started smiling from the sheer fun of it all. She is selling it through Xstreet. I have already curled up in MY bottle. It’s cozy and snug and I feel like a little-girl’s fantasy come true. Okay – I’m wearing my silks from Beautiful Sin, so maybe I look a little like a big boy’s fantasy. But it’s MY bottle and I’m not inviting anyone to join me. Even though it has a couple pose. I’m not telling who is in the picture, either. If you REALLY want to know, contact me discreetly. LOL.

Sigh. Maybe soon I can tell you what *I* am doing…..

Happy 4th of July!

Today is a day that REQUIRES bling. *grin* If you AREN’T wearing something that is blinging – you are seriously misguided. This is an outfit I got last year at NCI. I think it was my very first beach blast party at NCI. When someone passed me this outfit, I felt so included, so part of the crowd. *grin* It was great fun. I always had a wonderful time at NCI and still send many newbies there today.

I have nothing insightful or even amusing (well, amusing to me) to write today. So I am pointing you to two other bloggers. Dale Innis is touching on the lighter side of the holiday – showing off 4th of July outfits, poses and locations. *grin* Dale is always ‘in the know’.

I am going to post the link to Cris Lefavre’s blog, but I know many of you never click through. So I am going to copy and past the part that I found especially relevant and, yes, profound. I urge you to click through. It is a very short post, succinct and to the point. Pithy. Trust me – maybe one minute to read it. But you will like it and think.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happyness.”

Happiness? How come that is lifted up as being equal to Life itself?
It can only be because those that wrote the declaration knew that we do not live just to live; we live our life with a purpose, even if we do not always know it. We do not have a right to be Happy. We have a right to pursue Happiness. In real life. And in SL.

So Happy 4th of July to you all, from me, Mallory, Drake, Bill and Frenis (who doesn’t quite understand yet the concept of group photos)!

Celebrating Drama Dolls

Thanks to Jonah Svoboda for posting here today! I was too busy partying last night and asked Jonah to cover for me! *grin* It’s always good to have responsible friends.

Celebrations! We all love them, and last night we had two great reasons to celebrate. We did not loose the opportunity either.

First, the amazing Honour McMillan unveiled her incredible Drama Dolls. These delightful animated and scripted dolls are available in multiple languages and sure to please anyone who has experienced “drama” in Second Life and needs resolution!! They are fantastic and you owe it to yourself to take a look. The dolls are adorable, scripted beautifully, and there is nothing mean or cruel or hurtful about them. They will make you smile and feel good about life. Scripter Cris Lefavre explains on his blog the care and thought that went into making the Drama Dolls a positive experience.

Second, it was Canada Day – the day we celebrate Canadian independence. There is a long tradition of understated celebration for this event, and we did not miss that opportunity either.

So what do we do to celebrate? Honour got friends together to help, and we had a party. Set up in the Taylor Bay sim, where Honour has her dolls for sale, the extremely talented Von Johin provided not one, but two concerts of two hours each, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The blues rang true for hours, and the dancing was wonderful. Friends enjoyed each other, and partied.

A good time was had by all. This is the SL that many of us know and love – friends working together, celebrating accomplishments, clever work, excellent music, and just plain fun. Thanks for work and the party, Honour!

DRAMA DOLLS are here!

Today is the day!!! Now you can have your very own Drama Doll. Or two. Or three. Because, you know, DRAMA happens. What is a Drama Doll? A Drama Doll is your way to get satisfaction when someone in SL “does you wrong”. Read on as I plagarize the DD notecard:

Did somebody cheat on you? Were you insulted or offended by another SL resident?
Did you experience DRAMA?
It happens unfortunately.
Well Drama Dolls is here to help you get a bit of what you deserve in return – at the very least you are owed an apology!
Pick a Drama Doll that you can use to represent the individual who did you wrong. There are different price ranges, levels of detail, number of animations, types of dolls – something for everybody.

We have macho types, the girl next door, elves, vampires and more! We even have Fuginistas – you know …. those people who like to make fun of you on their blogs because they don’t like your skin/shape/clothes.
We have the Doll you need to get closure move past this traumatic experience!
Take your Doll home – you will find detailed instructions and 4 copies of the Doll in your inventory. 3 of those Dolls are fully scripted and will give you the acknowledgement and apology you so richly deserve. Once the Doll has apologized it will disappear – quite dramatically!
The 4th Doll is not scripted but you can keep it as a reminder of your apology.
Please note that all of our dolls are multi-lingual and will operate in English, German, Spanish, Japanese, French, Portugese, Italian, Dutch, Russian and Norwegian.

Dale, Oura, Chestnut and I broke into the warehouse last night – we couldn’t stand to wait anymore. We wandered about ooo’ing and ah’ing and laughing. We each found a dozen dolls we HAD to have. So – when we shove you out of our way when we go to buy OUR Drama Dolls – you will need to find your own DD version of us to make us apologize. *grin* That’s the way it works!

But there are not just Drama Dolls. There are DollCozies also. Honour gave me a Doll Cozy as a rez day present. I love her. Oura and I took her fishing last night after the break-in.
Do you know somebody who needs a hug?
If you are looking for positive Drama (because it does exist) we have DollCozies. You can purchase a Doll, name it and give it a message you’d like to pass to your friend/lover/partner/spouse. Your Doll will give them a Hug and your message.
Some DollCozies have flowers in their hands. Your folder will come with a pot of matching flowers you can also give your recipient.

The store opens today (11:00 am SLT) with two parties to celebrate, featuring brilliant blues man Von Johin. The first show is at the Euro friendly time of 11:00 am SLT. The second party will start at 6:00 pm and rock on for 2 solid hours. Honour is a proud Canadian and tomorrow is also Canada Day so if you want to join us for that reason alone please do! TP from this link.

It’s Almost TIME!!!!!!

Tomorrow!!! Tomorrow Honour unveils her new product line. It is fantastic, humerous, and, I believe, something new under the sun. My new friend Faust was doing last minute testing and let me watch. Like I gave anyone a chance to keep me out of the testing process. I was literally screaming with laughter at some of it.

So be there bright and early tomorrow to get your own……. *grin*……. did you think I would slip NOW??? I’ve kept this secret for four months!!! Be sure to watch Honour’s blog for the big launch announcement on Wednesday, July 1!!

And be sure to catch the wonderful music by Von Johin – 2 shows: two concerts on Taylor Bay. The first from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm SLT and the second from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. LOL. Yeah, I am going to try to sneak in for that first show for sure. LOL. /me schedules a meeting on my work calendar for 11am SLT.

July 1st is Canada Day – also a good reason to party!!! See you all there!!

Chestnut’s Magic Build

Chestnut transformed Thornbridge into a magical wonderland.

Chestnut made the most incredible build for my rez day party. Gorgeous. Magical. FULL of flowers (because I really like flowers). Beautiful trees too (Chestnut, unlike SOME of us (me) KNOWS how to make a tree). Colors and flowers and lights and flowers and a moon and more flowers. Did I mention that there were lots of FLOWERS??? She turned Thornbridge into the sort of fantasy that makes SL so special. It was breathtakingly wonderful and happy and light-hearted and magical. I guess, really, the only word that truly describes it is “neat”. LOL. Okay – there is someone now reading this and blushing like crazy. The rest of us are laughing. Ches unveiled the build to a friend and asked for feedback. *grin* The verdict? “Neat.” /me rolls eyes and starts laughing again. Ah Chestnut – it was so far beyond neat – it was everything I could have hoped or wanted. I loved it. Every single prim. I don’t know how long you can leave Thornbridge like that, but we need to go back and picnic and meditate and chase butterflies and stretch out on a blanket and simply revel in the beauty.

My rez day party was fantastic. The build, as I said, was neat. No – you will NEVER live that down. But Chestnut had the best possible music as well: Kyle Beltran. I LOVE Kyle. I have posted about him before here. He puts on a fantastic show. He sings, plays the piano, covers other people’s songs as well as his own compositions. Kyle is so witty and articulate and funny. We were laughing the entire time. I love Kyle’s shows; I was delighted at how many of my friends were IM’ing me to tell me that they, too thought he was great. That even though they really needed to log, they couldn’t because they didn’t want to stop listening to Kyle. If you’ve never heard Kyle – remedy that. He has CDs for sale, performs regularly in SL and is a wonderful talent. Thank you SO much, Kyle, for agreeing to perfom. I had a wonderful, wonderful time listening and laughing with you. *hugs*

Thank you to all my friends who were there to help make the party special. I was so touched and honored that you came. I love the work I do in virtual worlds. I love the mental stimulation, the challenges, throwing myself under the bus again and again. But mostly – I love you. I love laughing and talking and sharing our lives. I know that for so many of you it was an effort to be there. Natalya and Hell – you are amazing. Staying up til 2am your time to come party with me. You are wonderful. I know at least 2 of you were SUPPOSED to be working. *grin* So I won’t mention your names, but you know who you are and so do I. To all of you – thank you and thank you again. Seeing you and partying with you was the best rez day present I could have. *hugs* to you all.

I took a million pictures. Okay, about 60, I suppose I DO tend to exaggerate on occasion. *grin* They are up on Flickr, of course. I am including several of them here as well. This way you can see the gorgeous build, and my wonderful friends. Hell also took pictures. He has a wonderful one – imaginative angle, framing. Check it out. That is how SL photography SHOULD be done. Thank you, Hell!
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Chestnut – you are simply amazing. Thank you my dear dear friend. You went so far above and beyond anything that I expected. You created a magical SL wonderland. You found the best entertainment. You even put out food!!!! *grin* yummy! I think this may have been one of the most special, incredible things anyone has ever done for me. Thank you. It was perfect. I love it. I love you. I am so glad that we are friends.

Shades of Beyond Blogging Conference

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I gave Oura a copy of my “dancing in my chains” ribbons and she did me the great compliment and honor of wearing them. And Calli, beautiful Calli. It was SUPPOSED to be all about ME. ME = Ahuva!!!!! LOL. Your dress was stupendous. Breathtaking. We all inspected the information and did a search on the creator. *grin* We will all be Calli-wannabees.

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Of course, after the party, I had to relax and go over the whole thing again. So I stretched out on my carpet, pose courtesy of the talented Bailey Longcloth, wearing my new teddy bear slippers from zazek, and discussed the party, art, life and SL with Oura and Calli. All in all – a perfect perfect night.
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Beam Me Up!

Beam me down, too. And across! *grin* I woke up this morning thinking “teleport system”. I have been wanting one since I was at my friend’s house this winter and saw hers. She owns a whole sim, and could teleport all over. She modeled the device to resemble the physical layout of her sim. I was totally impressed and envious. I tried to hire someone to do the same for me. He left SL and has never returned. LOL. Sheesh – am I THAT difficult an employer?????

Anyway, this morning I woke up and I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted. I thought “I can DO this”. Dark and Honour and Shenlei and Hell have all taught me to torture and shape prims. I didn’t want anything complicated. I had a vision. I had a script I used for work. So I got up, logged in, headed to Frenis, the ducks and the beach and began shaping a prim. *grin* It was great. I did what I wanted. Learned a bit. Built my transporter. Chadd dropped in just as I finished and helped me test it. It works!!!! I did have one typo which I fixed. There is something I want to add to it as well, but that is a “bell and whistle” as the saying goes. I do have one question about something, but I think I KNOW the answer – I just need one of my script masters to come around so I can confirm my theory. Or learn the real answer.

Here is Ahuva’s teleporter. Each color takes you to a different location on my property: the pool, the beach, the back yard, the front door. There is a teleporter at each of those locations, although some are less easy to find than others. *grin* I have my reasons. But I did it. A great way to start my second year in SL. Building, scripting, doing it myself.

I am One

*GRIN* Happy Rez day to ME!!!! I am one. What a great year it’s been. But I have SO many ideas for this next year – LOOK OUT!!!! Classic paintings/metaphors revisited and revised. A GREAT party idea – check those inboxes for your invites! Mixing business and pleasure to profit both. Oh yeah – we will rock this year too!