So as of Tuesday Tommy, Brian and I are working on a new short!!! It's been a couple of years, so it feel GREAT to be working on a new one!!!
Monday night after work, I go in-world and track down a TON of free scripts and decide to try to figure them out. AND I DO!!!
Well, to a degree...
I mean, I can't write scripts from scratch, but I can now read scripts a little better than I could before! They make a little more sense to me now :)
So much so, I was able to create some poseballs of my own!!!
Oh... Definition -- Poseballs are these devices in SL that allow Avatars to perform specific actions. Like, if you wanna sit down in SL you click on a sit poseball and it makes your Av sit down.
OR...
Let's say you create a haunted land, and you wanna create little scenes for visitors to pose and take pics of themselves, you might need a die poseball, for example...
Which is convenient, because Brian added onto his biggest store -- Freddy's Alley -- and created a hallway that you can walk down to get to this GREAT GRAVEYARD!!!
But that was mostly Tuesday night. Monday night I explored the Wonderful World of Scripting!
I stay up until 7:30 am or later Tuesday morning, then I wake up Tuedsay afternoon just before 1p. About 5 hours of sleep. But I don't so much feel it because I wake up and hop in-world, and I'm all being productive and stuff!!!
Then Tommy comes over -- just a little earlier than he usually does, even -- and he and Brian and I spend the next 5 and a half hours creating what I think is a GREAT short film story!!!
It was some SERIOUS fun!!!
And then after Tommy had to get home, Brian and I got back in-world and got back to work on the Haunted Land.
I built this box: The walls look like SL woods ad midnight, and the ceiling looks like a starry midnight SL sky. So whatever time of day it is, when you're in the graveyard it looks like it's midnight! Plus, the graveyard actually exists some 700 meters in the sky. But the graveyard looks like it's on the ground, in a wooded area :)
Very cool!
And then Brian made the cemetery (and the "Dark Woods Box) twice as long and set up a 2-story caretaker type house at the back of the graveyard. So if he's in the house and a visitor to the store wanders into the graveyard, he can appear behind a tree at the back of the cemetery and spook 'em :)
I stayed up WAY TOO LATE creating death poses and more poseballs for future visitors. I think I got maybe 5 hours of sleep Tuesday night (Wednesday morning, for those of you who have Normal People schedules...).
And last night at work was TORTURE!!! When I had my work done, I COULD NOT stay awake for my life!
Oh, it SUCKED.
One of my female friends called me and chatted at me for for 4 hours -- until my phone died -- and she was all frustrated because I just WAS NOT myself. Now, part of it was that she was talking AT me... She sometimes just love to tell me what she did with her kids today, and often she'll list things she bought at the grocery store, or list every food she ate at a particular meal... So it's not really like she was talking TO me.
But still, usually I'm MUCH more vibrant and... you know... much more ME.
More than that, this Sleepy-Whenever-I'm-Not-Moving thing seems to have started last week.
I've decided that it must be this: When I'm not at work I'm CONSTANTLY engaged in something that stimulates my interest. Seriously, I wake up and there's SL and/or PS2 and/or email. And when I get off work there's SL, PS2, email, and/or movies until I finally force myself to go to sleep. But work... Except for Fridays, I have a few hours work right up front, then just maintainence-type stuff every half hour.
So my body goes "You're not doing anything, let's have a nap."
And I'm like, "I'm DOING something! I'm working!"
And my body's all, "Nah, we're napping."
And I'm all, "HA! COFFEE! Take THAT!"
And my body's all, "sssslllleeeeeeeeeppppyyyy"
And I'm all "yawn; quit it..."
And my body's all "sssslllleeeeeeeeeppppyyyy"
And then I'm a zombie for the rest of night.
So when I got home last night I'm all like "I'll show YOU" and I went STRAIGHT TO BED, no SL, no PS2! I was in bed by 3a.
But then, around 5a my body's all "HUNGRY" and I'm all "NO! Go to sleep!" and it's all "HHHUUUNNNGGGEEERRRRRRRYYYYYY!" So I'm all "Okay, toast... And maybe something sweet..."
And then I finally crash around 6:30am or 7a.
But still, I woke up when my alarm went of with little hassle.
So I'm hoping tonight I'll be less narcolepic.
We'll see.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Monday, April 24, 2006
Groovin' Weekend
Okay, last entry I gave you the sort of overview og the weekend, but I wanted to go into a bit more detail.
If you're sick of reading about my SecondLife, you might want to stop reading here...
It's just so cool, the way SL and RL mesh for me! I spent all day Friday working and waiting for 2:00 am, when I could go home and get back in-world. When I do, it's like I never left.. only a lot of stuff has happened that I have to hear about.
Plus, weekends LAST LONGER in-world. Days cycle, like, every 2 or 3 hours in-world. So even if I'm just bombing around the world (because all my friends are off-line) on a Friday night/Saturday morning after I get off work, I've seen 1 or 2 sunsets and sunrises. I feel like I've lived an entire weekend before I go to sleep Friday night!!!
So anyway, my weekend begins in earnest on Saturday. I'm meeting Lisa and Regina at the theater to catch SILENT HILL Opening Weekend! This is HUGE for me! I missed STAY ALIVE at the theaters because of time/money/circumstance, and I was a little afraid that I might have to wait for dvd for SILENT HILL, as well. But stuff worked out just fine, and I GOT TO SEE IT!!!
And that's cool enough! But it just so happened that I got to have some cool, intelligent conversation about the movie for a few minutes after, as well!
Then I hop in the car, and I'm on a mission: I need to get in-world in time for the opening of the club I helped create!
Now don't get me wrong, the opening of the club is not my triumph, personally. Tam is the genius behind the vision! And this chick's SMART!!! And then Brian's also a genius, because he was able to physically (in cyberspace) create the building itself. THESE TWO are the heroes in this little story.
But I'm super proud to have been a part of this team!!! And both of them are quick give me props for my small contributions, so I don't feel guilty thinking of the club as "our" accomplishment. (But I have no actual delusions about just how small a part I actually played...)
So anyway...
I totally want to be there to celebrate with my friends!!!
So this is my mission: Get in-world for the Opening.
But...
...I have a side-mission: Brian and I need smokes and beer.
It's been a while since we drank, and I got paid Friday. So beer just seems like a groovy idea for tonight, Celebration night. Then, we need smokes. Brian's low on dough until next week, and we've both been smoking a LOT more than we usually do, so if I score a carton of cigarettes, that'll help the next week go by more smoothly.
Plus, you know... IT'S THE WEEKEND.
Oh, and I have a Netflix movie I need to drop into a mailbox. (Our complex doesn't have an enclosed Outgoing box, and the 2 times I've chanced dropping my movies off in the complex mail box, Netflix didn't get the movies. TWICE in just over TWO YEARS. Coincidence? Probably; but I don't take the chance anymore.)
Okay, so this should be a one-stop trip. There's an H.E.B. just down the street from our appartment... AND there's a drive-by public mailbox in the parking lot!
So first I drop off the Netflix movie, then I roll into H.E.B.. They're having a sale on beer, so I'm able to load up for less than I expected!
But they don't have the smokes I'm looking for.
Scheiza.
Okay, there's a Texaco down the road that I KNOW has the smokes I'm looking for, and plenty of them. It's a little bit out out of my way, and will cost me about 15 minutes. But once I've procured the smokes, Brian and I are set for the weekend!
Now, the weather's all Summer-y, and I've popped in my "Summer Jamz" mix cd, so I'm kind of getting a whiff of some of teen-dom. This, after I've FINALLY gotten to see a good Horror flick IN THE THEATER on OPENING WEEKEND...
I'm having A GREAT DAY!!!
I snag the smokes, roll home, slip into my Comfy Gear and log into SecondLife!
In-world, Brian and Tam are dancing, the club's not packed but it's got plenty of dancin' folk, and Tam reports that she's happy with the attendance tonight.
SCORE!!!
If she's happy with the way Opening Night went, then it was a success!!!
After a little while Tommy shows up and joins the fun! I have IM conversations with him and Tam and a couple other people while Brian and I are laughing and shouting down the hall to each other.
So there's more danincing and chatting and laughing and fun.
After a while, after everyone else goes to bed (in RL) Brian and I go to a screening of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW in-world!!!
I meantioned that last time. But it was REALLY fun!!! I mean, it's 1:30 am or later in RL. Nobody's awake except US at this hour. But in SL, there are some other freaks sitting and watching this movie with us, yelling at the screen and laughing at each other!!!
It's a GOOD life!
Then yesterday, had the Family Dinner thing with Mom, and that was groovy. And we burned some dvds for her, which took up the slower computer -- the one I usually use for SL when Brian and I are both home. So Brian -- generous cat that he is -- pops in BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE on the PS2 (it plays better than the dvd player in the living room) and takes over the burning process, allowing me to use his computer to go in-world!!!
(I WUV my bubba!!!)
So I get to hang with Tam and others at the Shark Pit, dancing and chatting. After the first dvd is burned, the pc decides to act wierd, so I'm sort of in-and-out of Brian's room. But that's cool when you're dancing in SL! To any in-world on-lookers, you're dancing with them. You might be slow to respond to questions, but it doesn't hurt the atmosphere or the vibe any.
Some hours later, the dvds are burnt and Brian has -- VERY GENEROUSLY -- decided to let me continue using his pc while he goes in-world on the slower one -- the living room one!
That means that ANYTHING I do in SecondLife, ANYWHERE I go, the graphics are just about as good as PS2 graphics! I get to experience the world the way the creators intend it to be experienced.
Meanwhile, Brian's such a geneous in-world that he's still wicked-skilled!!! I'm on his computer and he's on the living room computer... He STILL creates circles around me!
He's THAT GOOD :)
[He would humbly argue with me -- something along the lines of "Aw, now... I'm OKAY, but..." -- but he never reads my blog... Too busy in SL :) ]
But it would still be a while before I joined him on our Build Land. I was dancin' with Tam at the Shark Pit :)
Eventually, the later it became, the Pit crew was own to Tam, a woman named Loki and me. The ladies decided to go to another club, so we all teleported there seperately. And it was the COOLEST feeling when we all entered the front door at THE SAME TIME...
First of all, this club is in a city, and the teleport landing spot is ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE CITY from the club. So you have to make your way through (or OVER... you can fly in-world) streets made to look exactly like RL Amsterdam.
And if your TerraWarp Belt is set on 2 (out of, like, 5 -- and Speed 1 will make you shoot around like a rocket), you're gonna bump into a lot of stuff.
Okay, the secondly... You know this sensation, it's happened to you before SOMETIMES in your life:
You're out with your friends, you're running around, having a FANTASTIC TIME (you feel like a teenager again... or like a GOD), and you get seperated momentarily, but you agree to all meet up at the same place. It could be the mall, it could be a dance club, it could be a movie theater. But you're all arriving in different vehicles and you've all left at slightly different times.
Then you get there, and you're walking past the sidewalk, walking toward the front door... And you look over and see your friends doing the same thing at the same pace. You ALL just happened to arrive at the SAME TIME, completely independant of one another! And you feel like a rock star or something!
And none of you says "Oh, there you are" or anything like that. You just notice each other and keep walking, each of you probably feeling that same cool vibe.
And where you're headed is actually quite a bit inside the doorway, so you all just keep walking, and the distance to your destination inside somehow makes you feel like you're a rock star in a movie about being a rockstar, and you've just entered the building and you just keep moving toward the stage, to that crowd that's cheering you on inside...
I KNOW I'm not the ONLY person who has experienced that! Right?
Anyway, that's what it felt like as I'm walking into the club (on a computer that has crystal-clear graphics, even when you're entering a new region [with visual data that needs time to render]) and I look over and see the ladies also arriving at the same time, and then the three of us take our own path through the loby and to the dance floor, and then we ARRIVE... people dancing and chatting to each other, the party that has just been warming up until WE got there :)
Yes, yes, I have a HUGE ego. I've been told this before. But truly, that's the way it FELT.
Better still, we're there only for a few minutes when we hear that it's Pajama Night... :)
You don't need details about this... Just imagine you're in a room with hot women, you yourself are a hot male, and EVERYONE is in their pajamas :)
THAT'S a good room to be in.
This entry's going on FOREVER, isn't it?
Anyway, let me cut to the chase...
So I'm up until 7-ish am this morning, and I set my alarm to 2:00 pm to give myself 6 -- rather than 5 -- hours to sleep. I hit the Snooze a few times this monring (MY "morning", mind you) and then I finally decide to get up and I turn the alarm off.
Then at 3:00 pm, I wake up again...
I had dozed off after I killed the alarm...
I have to jump in the car at 3:30 pm to make work on time...
So I jump into some clothes, throw on my No-Time-To-Make-Myself-Purdy hat, and race to work. In the car, I've still got my Summer Jamz playing :) And I get to work about 5 minutes late, and my boss in in the room when I show up.
He's in mid-conversation, though, so he says Hi to me and continues talking.
10 minutes later, I'm caught up on everything I have to do IMMEDIATELY upon arriving at work, and I'm able to join the conversation.
So for me, this weekend seems to have been about me racing around from one place to the other, conversing and laughing, and feeling cool.
And now it's time for me to race home from work and hop back in-world... and feel cool :)
Here's hoping YOU feel cool very, very soon, too!!!
If you're sick of reading about my SecondLife, you might want to stop reading here...
It's just so cool, the way SL and RL mesh for me! I spent all day Friday working and waiting for 2:00 am, when I could go home and get back in-world. When I do, it's like I never left.. only a lot of stuff has happened that I have to hear about.
Plus, weekends LAST LONGER in-world. Days cycle, like, every 2 or 3 hours in-world. So even if I'm just bombing around the world (because all my friends are off-line) on a Friday night/Saturday morning after I get off work, I've seen 1 or 2 sunsets and sunrises. I feel like I've lived an entire weekend before I go to sleep Friday night!!!
So anyway, my weekend begins in earnest on Saturday. I'm meeting Lisa and Regina at the theater to catch SILENT HILL Opening Weekend! This is HUGE for me! I missed STAY ALIVE at the theaters because of time/money/circumstance, and I was a little afraid that I might have to wait for dvd for SILENT HILL, as well. But stuff worked out just fine, and I GOT TO SEE IT!!!
And that's cool enough! But it just so happened that I got to have some cool, intelligent conversation about the movie for a few minutes after, as well!
Then I hop in the car, and I'm on a mission: I need to get in-world in time for the opening of the club I helped create!
Now don't get me wrong, the opening of the club is not my triumph, personally. Tam is the genius behind the vision! And this chick's SMART!!! And then Brian's also a genius, because he was able to physically (in cyberspace) create the building itself. THESE TWO are the heroes in this little story.
But I'm super proud to have been a part of this team!!! And both of them are quick give me props for my small contributions, so I don't feel guilty thinking of the club as "our" accomplishment. (But I have no actual delusions about just how small a part I actually played...)
So anyway...
I totally want to be there to celebrate with my friends!!!
So this is my mission: Get in-world for the Opening.
But...
...I have a side-mission: Brian and I need smokes and beer.
It's been a while since we drank, and I got paid Friday. So beer just seems like a groovy idea for tonight, Celebration night. Then, we need smokes. Brian's low on dough until next week, and we've both been smoking a LOT more than we usually do, so if I score a carton of cigarettes, that'll help the next week go by more smoothly.
Plus, you know... IT'S THE WEEKEND.
Oh, and I have a Netflix movie I need to drop into a mailbox. (Our complex doesn't have an enclosed Outgoing box, and the 2 times I've chanced dropping my movies off in the complex mail box, Netflix didn't get the movies. TWICE in just over TWO YEARS. Coincidence? Probably; but I don't take the chance anymore.)
Okay, so this should be a one-stop trip. There's an H.E.B. just down the street from our appartment... AND there's a drive-by public mailbox in the parking lot!
So first I drop off the Netflix movie, then I roll into H.E.B.. They're having a sale on beer, so I'm able to load up for less than I expected!
But they don't have the smokes I'm looking for.
Scheiza.
Okay, there's a Texaco down the road that I KNOW has the smokes I'm looking for, and plenty of them. It's a little bit out out of my way, and will cost me about 15 minutes. But once I've procured the smokes, Brian and I are set for the weekend!
Now, the weather's all Summer-y, and I've popped in my "Summer Jamz" mix cd, so I'm kind of getting a whiff of some of teen-dom. This, after I've FINALLY gotten to see a good Horror flick IN THE THEATER on OPENING WEEKEND...
I'm having A GREAT DAY!!!
I snag the smokes, roll home, slip into my Comfy Gear and log into SecondLife!
In-world, Brian and Tam are dancing, the club's not packed but it's got plenty of dancin' folk, and Tam reports that she's happy with the attendance tonight.
SCORE!!!
If she's happy with the way Opening Night went, then it was a success!!!
After a little while Tommy shows up and joins the fun! I have IM conversations with him and Tam and a couple other people while Brian and I are laughing and shouting down the hall to each other.
So there's more danincing and chatting and laughing and fun.
After a while, after everyone else goes to bed (in RL) Brian and I go to a screening of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW in-world!!!
I meantioned that last time. But it was REALLY fun!!! I mean, it's 1:30 am or later in RL. Nobody's awake except US at this hour. But in SL, there are some other freaks sitting and watching this movie with us, yelling at the screen and laughing at each other!!!
It's a GOOD life!
Then yesterday, had the Family Dinner thing with Mom, and that was groovy. And we burned some dvds for her, which took up the slower computer -- the one I usually use for SL when Brian and I are both home. So Brian -- generous cat that he is -- pops in BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE on the PS2 (it plays better than the dvd player in the living room) and takes over the burning process, allowing me to use his computer to go in-world!!!
(I WUV my bubba!!!)
So I get to hang with Tam and others at the Shark Pit, dancing and chatting. After the first dvd is burned, the pc decides to act wierd, so I'm sort of in-and-out of Brian's room. But that's cool when you're dancing in SL! To any in-world on-lookers, you're dancing with them. You might be slow to respond to questions, but it doesn't hurt the atmosphere or the vibe any.
Some hours later, the dvds are burnt and Brian has -- VERY GENEROUSLY -- decided to let me continue using his pc while he goes in-world on the slower one -- the living room one!
That means that ANYTHING I do in SecondLife, ANYWHERE I go, the graphics are just about as good as PS2 graphics! I get to experience the world the way the creators intend it to be experienced.
Meanwhile, Brian's such a geneous in-world that he's still wicked-skilled!!! I'm on his computer and he's on the living room computer... He STILL creates circles around me!
He's THAT GOOD :)
[He would humbly argue with me -- something along the lines of "Aw, now... I'm OKAY, but..." -- but he never reads my blog... Too busy in SL :) ]
But it would still be a while before I joined him on our Build Land. I was dancin' with Tam at the Shark Pit :)
Eventually, the later it became, the Pit crew was own to Tam, a woman named Loki and me. The ladies decided to go to another club, so we all teleported there seperately. And it was the COOLEST feeling when we all entered the front door at THE SAME TIME...
First of all, this club is in a city, and the teleport landing spot is ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE CITY from the club. So you have to make your way through (or OVER... you can fly in-world) streets made to look exactly like RL Amsterdam.
And if your TerraWarp Belt is set on 2 (out of, like, 5 -- and Speed 1 will make you shoot around like a rocket), you're gonna bump into a lot of stuff.
Okay, the secondly... You know this sensation, it's happened to you before SOMETIMES in your life:
You're out with your friends, you're running around, having a FANTASTIC TIME (you feel like a teenager again... or like a GOD), and you get seperated momentarily, but you agree to all meet up at the same place. It could be the mall, it could be a dance club, it could be a movie theater. But you're all arriving in different vehicles and you've all left at slightly different times.
Then you get there, and you're walking past the sidewalk, walking toward the front door... And you look over and see your friends doing the same thing at the same pace. You ALL just happened to arrive at the SAME TIME, completely independant of one another! And you feel like a rock star or something!
And none of you says "Oh, there you are" or anything like that. You just notice each other and keep walking, each of you probably feeling that same cool vibe.
And where you're headed is actually quite a bit inside the doorway, so you all just keep walking, and the distance to your destination inside somehow makes you feel like you're a rock star in a movie about being a rockstar, and you've just entered the building and you just keep moving toward the stage, to that crowd that's cheering you on inside...
I KNOW I'm not the ONLY person who has experienced that! Right?
Anyway, that's what it felt like as I'm walking into the club (on a computer that has crystal-clear graphics, even when you're entering a new region [with visual data that needs time to render]) and I look over and see the ladies also arriving at the same time, and then the three of us take our own path through the loby and to the dance floor, and then we ARRIVE... people dancing and chatting to each other, the party that has just been warming up until WE got there :)
Yes, yes, I have a HUGE ego. I've been told this before. But truly, that's the way it FELT.
Better still, we're there only for a few minutes when we hear that it's Pajama Night... :)
You don't need details about this... Just imagine you're in a room with hot women, you yourself are a hot male, and EVERYONE is in their pajamas :)
THAT'S a good room to be in.
This entry's going on FOREVER, isn't it?
Anyway, let me cut to the chase...
So I'm up until 7-ish am this morning, and I set my alarm to 2:00 pm to give myself 6 -- rather than 5 -- hours to sleep. I hit the Snooze a few times this monring (MY "morning", mind you) and then I finally decide to get up and I turn the alarm off.
Then at 3:00 pm, I wake up again...
I had dozed off after I killed the alarm...
I have to jump in the car at 3:30 pm to make work on time...
So I jump into some clothes, throw on my No-Time-To-Make-Myself-Purdy hat, and race to work. In the car, I've still got my Summer Jamz playing :) And I get to work about 5 minutes late, and my boss in in the room when I show up.
He's in mid-conversation, though, so he says Hi to me and continues talking.
10 minutes later, I'm caught up on everything I have to do IMMEDIATELY upon arriving at work, and I'm able to join the conversation.
So for me, this weekend seems to have been about me racing around from one place to the other, conversing and laughing, and feeling cool.
And now it's time for me to race home from work and hop back in-world... and feel cool :)
Here's hoping YOU feel cool very, very soon, too!!!
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Opening Night @ The Shark Pit
I gotta tell ya about this!!!
I had the COOLEST day!!!
I woke up, did some stuff I needed to, then I went to see SILENT HILL (Opening Weekend) with some friends!
That was cool enough -- I haven't been to the movies in a while -- but then afterward, I raced home to get in-world for the Official Opening of THE SHARK PIT, Tam's club -- which I helped with :) )
I danced and had a blast for several hours! Friends were there -- both RL & SL :)
Then, after things broke up and people went to bed, Brian and I went to an in-world theater showing THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW all weekend long!!!
That's what I'm doing now! Wtaching Rocky Horror with Brian!
Audience participation is a bit wierd in-world... The movie starts when you press "Play" on your "Movie Control", so the movie starts at different times for everyone. And even if you press "Play" at the same time, the speed at which your computer processes information alters the total duration of how the movie plays out.
BUT STILL...!!!
Whatching ROCKY HORROR in-world is just AN AMAZING experience!!!
Rocky Horror has always been a shared experience. And sharing it with both friends and strangers in-world is FANTASTIC!!!
just wanted to share.
I'm goign back to the movie now :)
Monday, April 17, 2006
Sorry it's been a while...
Three guesses why...
So Brian and I have been working on building a club for our friend in-world Tam. She owns a HUGE patch of land, and she wanted a store and a club on it.
We built the shop -- well, Brian built the shop, I built a huge fish tank and bought some fish to put in it. Brian allowed me to help him figure out the color scheme. I'll take credit for being helpful there.
Then, while Brian and I are on this Creation High, we moved on the club. She took us around SL, showing us what she liked and didn't like, then Brian got a picture in his head and built it. Then she recommended changes.
I danced a lot while this was going on.
And did some drinking, too. (Some in-world drinking, and some RL drinking, too.)
I was moral support.
And I actually sort of helped out with the color scheme! Tam changed the colors to match the shop -- located next door -- so I ended up strongly influencing the color pallet of the club!
:)
Unfortunatley, I haven't gotten any bright ideas about my in-world "haunted house" idea!
:(
That concept is still just sort of floating around right now, along with all the screenplays and novels I have yet to write.
Oh, and speaking of screenwriting: I haven't heard from Kelly in 2 or 3 weeks. He's been getting progressively more busy with M Studios [I believe I'm remembering the name correctly, but I can't fins it on Google to verify], his day job. So I'm not actually worried for his health or anything. But I am curious about how I'M going to write HIS movie without him...
I could probably write it myself, but all the really COOL stuff is in HIS head! He came up wih the concept, the characters and the world... So my version of HIS WORLD would, you know, kind of be crap.
I'm not overly concerned, really. Just wondering how this is going to play out.
Plus... you know... I kinda miss talkin' to my buddy...
But Brian and I have been spending A LOT of time together lately! AND I've been seeing Tommy a lot more than usual... In-world, of course... But it still counts to me :)
Three guesses why...
So Brian and I have been working on building a club for our friend in-world Tam. She owns a HUGE patch of land, and she wanted a store and a club on it.
We built the shop -- well, Brian built the shop, I built a huge fish tank and bought some fish to put in it. Brian allowed me to help him figure out the color scheme. I'll take credit for being helpful there.
Then, while Brian and I are on this Creation High, we moved on the club. She took us around SL, showing us what she liked and didn't like, then Brian got a picture in his head and built it. Then she recommended changes.
I danced a lot while this was going on.
And did some drinking, too. (Some in-world drinking, and some RL drinking, too.)
I was moral support.
And I actually sort of helped out with the color scheme! Tam changed the colors to match the shop -- located next door -- so I ended up strongly influencing the color pallet of the club!
:)
Unfortunatley, I haven't gotten any bright ideas about my in-world "haunted house" idea!
:(
That concept is still just sort of floating around right now, along with all the screenplays and novels I have yet to write.
Oh, and speaking of screenwriting: I haven't heard from Kelly in 2 or 3 weeks. He's been getting progressively more busy with M Studios [I believe I'm remembering the name correctly, but I can't fins it on Google to verify], his day job. So I'm not actually worried for his health or anything. But I am curious about how I'M going to write HIS movie without him...
I could probably write it myself, but all the really COOL stuff is in HIS head! He came up wih the concept, the characters and the world... So my version of HIS WORLD would, you know, kind of be crap.
I'm not overly concerned, really. Just wondering how this is going to play out.
Plus... you know... I kinda miss talkin' to my buddy...
But Brian and I have been spending A LOT of time together lately! AND I've been seeing Tommy a lot more than usual... In-world, of course... But it still counts to me :)
Monday, April 10, 2006
REALLY Fulfilling Virtual Weekend
Just logged out of SecondLife...
In fact, I can still hear Brian in his room LAUGHING! We both logged-off, said our Good-Nights, he closed his door, turned off his light... And then I hear laughter from his room! It starts out as sporadic chuckles, then bursts out into full-blown laughter!
I tell him "I can hear you laughing in there, dude," as I'm laughing myself at the surreal evening we've just had.
He pops out his head and relates the visions from earlier that keep assaulting him -- visions of an adorable zombie-bunny hopping maniacly up and down, and Paul Stanley doing back-flips for no knowable reason.
I still hear him laughing in there!
So, this weekend starts out kind of slow... Mostly me wandering around SL, looking for something to do.
In-world, we have a group called WhitelightEnt, which consists of Tommy, Brian and myself, as well as someone we only know in-world, Tamaratee Beeks. Brian and I own most of the land and all of the stores -- so far -- and Brian creates most of the merchandice we sell in-world. (Like, 99% to date.)
But we have plans...
Tamaratee has been asking us if we'll put a shop on her land (she owns, like, maybe close to as much as Brian and I own together!). And she also wants to open a dance club, as they seem to do well in SL.
In fact, let me explain...
Say you're a Resident in SL. Here's how your SL day might go:
You log-in, check your Friends List and see who you know that's in-world at the moment, and IM (Instant Message) your Friends to see what they're up to.
There's a REALLY good chance their (a) shopping, (b) creating/building something, (c) hanging out with people they know, or (d) at a club.
Now, people doing "b" usually have their own land to create on, so if they're creating you probably want to leave them alone. They're busy. They're blissfully making something that they believe SecondLife needs, and their attention is occupied. They may want your opinion of what they're making, or they may be looking for an excuse to take a break. But most likely, they're busy for now, you may hear from them later in the day.
If they're doing "c", then they might offer to Teleport you to where they are. This is cool, because you get to meet new people. And human interraction is what SecondLife is all about. You get to see people as they would like to see themselves -- which is often DEAD SEXY -- and you get to talk to them when they feel as confident as they are capable of feeling about themselves! So they're free, and fun, and OFTEN quite funny!
Now, there's also "a". If you're a guy and you're talking to a woman, there's a good chance she won't mind you tagging along as she shops. I'm not being sexist here, this is my observation. Ladies LOVE to shop! The women I know in-world have TONS of outfits -- because in SL you can actually afford to buy a different outfit for ANY occasion! AND, there are exponentially more occasions in SL than there ever will be in RL!
If it's a guy, and he's shopping, he's probably looking for something specific. he's crerating something, and he's looking for the right texture to make it look real. Or he's just wondering if someone has created a good Attack Chopper, or TIE Fighter yet. But he's busy. He might want some company while he shops, but very likely he's not looking for distractions.
Then there's "d". If someone is clubbing in SL, they're LOOKING FOR social interraction. Their either looking to just spend some mindless, fun time with their friends, or they're looking to make new friends. Either way, clubbers in SL are looking for ESCAPE.
And there are some good clubs in SL.
However, if you have a computer that isn't the newest, most badass computer available today, you might experience a severe lag in you animation.
As a result, many SL entrepeneurs are scurrying to create low-lag clubs, where people can hang out, meet, dance and listen to cool music, and just have a good time, while being able to see what's going on around them.
I say "many". I'm only speaking from my own experience. There are MANY Residents in SL, and I know very few of them.
But the ones I know are working on low-lag clubs of their own.
And that's one of the projects I've got going on right now.
So this weekend was largely about talking concept and theory with Tamaratee on the club she wants to create. A lot of her and Brian and I brainstorming about what makes a good club in a Virtual World, and what's going to draw people there.
Then, there was the Research portion, where Tam and I went dancing at clubs, checking the vibe and the patronage...
That was Saturday :)
Today I spent, mostly, working on a mock-up for the shop that she wants to put on her land. Brian built the shape, and he and I worked on the color scheme and Textures for the place. [Textures are, essentially, closeup pictures of, say, tile or wood or metal or cloth, that is replicated infinitely across the shape of the object you have created. It gives the appearance that instead of making a fence out of CG, you have made a fence out of wood. For instance.]
Late tonight I called in a super-genious friend of mine to have a look at the place and give us her thoguhts.
(I built AN AQUARIUM!!!)
Okay, but here's a reality of SL... You can do ANYTHING!!!
An example:
While Brian and I were in a Texture shop, searching for the right texture for the outside of the shop we're building, he stood in front of some Campers [There are "Camping Chairs" in SL, and if you sit in them, you earn SL money every 10 minutes or so; and so Residents will sometimes "Camp" to make more money.] and began DANCING.
He was wearing a zombie Avatar, with an evil-looking Jack-O-Lantern on his head. So he looked like some derranged escapee from a Halloween nightmare, and he's bustin Wacko Jacko moves for them to stare at in wonder/horror. MEANWHILE, he's using a technique we call Zoom-View to look around the store and examine all the Textures the store has to offer. But the people who are Camping can't see this; they only see some wierd-looking maniac dancing for them.
Similarly, your Avatar can be dancing at a club -- locked into an animation that makes your Avatar move in a specified dance cycle (or "loop") whiule you're Zoom-Viewing THE ENTIRE CLUB, checking out all the people around you and what they're up to. Meanwhile, with computer lag what it is [SL works on what is essentially a game engine, but the possibilities of what any given "game character" will do are limitless, unlike your PS2 or Gamecube, as all the "game characters" are LIVE HUMAN BEING with limitless imaginations] you're also carrying on a public dialogue with any random person who happens to talk to you, and possibly an IM dialogue with the person you're dancing with (because IM textxs can only be read by the two people involved in the conversation; whereas public "Chats" can be read by anyone near enough to "hear").
So there's this MATRIX-like freedom from physics-as-we-know-it to life in SL.
Okay, so tonight, Brian and my friend Kali and I are standing on a shop that BRian built some 700 or so meters in the air...
She gives us some input on what she likes about the shop and what could be better.
Then she busts out this igloo she built. On;y it's too small for me to enter. Now, I know that Kali has a dark sense of humor, like I do, so I put on an Avatar calles "Tiny Terribles Cahtullu" to make her laugh.
...and that was the beginning of the descent into maddness...
She whips on this Avatar that makes her look like a walking skeleton. Brian's already a madman, taking advantage of all the eccentricities that SL affords, and he whips out these dance animations that make his Avatar move in really unappealing ways.
I pop on an Avatar that makes me look like GIR from the INVADER ZIM toon, and Kali pops on this skinless cadaver Av, and starts trying to hump us.
Before I know what's going on, both of them are trying to make a Man Sandwhich outta me, and I get this IM from a complete stranger.
She is organizing an event that someone in SL is throwing, and she needs masks.
Now, I'm technically the owner of one of the stores in SL. Brian actually did all the work, but my name is on the shop and on the land. She must have did a Search for Masks, and my store came up.
Like in RL, she's looking for donations to make this event happen. And I'm not used to being a shopkeep, so I'm trying to figure out HOW to help her out. She wants a number of masks that she can give to attendees, along with my shop's card, so people can visit there. Like in RL, my helping her, theoretically helps my business by spreading my name. But the only masks we sell are Tiki Masks Brian created, and how many does she need? She isn't sure how many will be in attendance, and how many of those will not have their own masks...
Meanwhile, Kali is now a zombie bunny, hopping up and down maniacly while expressing sexual desire. And Brian is this dancing fool, trying to dance me off the edge of this VERY HIGH platform we're on! [In SL you can fly, and you don't die if you splat onto the ground before you can engage the Fly option, but that doesn't make it any less time-consuming or inconvenient to try to navigate yourself back up to where you were. Even SL physics have their drawbacks...]
So I figure out a bassic plan about how to get 25 Tiki Masks to the event coordinator (which is something of a feat, as I've never donated en masse in SL before -- different physics, different problem-solving aparatus) and I'm trying to get some help from Brian, who's busy laughing hysterically at Kali's antics while doing his own strange, mind-bending things in-world...
And I SWEAR, it felt EXACTLY like being at a really great party with fun, drunken friends and loud, loud music, and getting a business call on your cell!!! It felt EXACTLY that way!!!
So I got the help I needed from Brian -- if sluggishly -- and I hooked the person who IMed me up with 30 Tiki Masks (just to be generous, and give her some wiggle room) and she assured me she'd take care of the details, including letting the recipients of the masks know that they were donated by our shop.
And then I put on my Paul Stanley Avatar (that Brian found, bought for me and gave me sometime back) and joined what had now become a very dirty and silly dance party :)
That was tonight!
Did I mention that while I was working on a Phone Booth I had built (from scratch) Brian and Tamaratee chased each other around in Attack Choppers over our land and much of the surrounding land? (I tried to join the chase for a while, but I was on the slow computer and couldn't keep up with them.) (Also, Tam found the Attack Choppers and bought enough for all of us...)
Oh, yeah, and an in-world publication wants to interview me because I live in the featured region of the week.
I seem to have a much richer Second Life than First!
Madness.
It's all madness.
WELCOME TO THE 21st CENTURY!!!
In fact, I can still hear Brian in his room LAUGHING! We both logged-off, said our Good-Nights, he closed his door, turned off his light... And then I hear laughter from his room! It starts out as sporadic chuckles, then bursts out into full-blown laughter!
I tell him "I can hear you laughing in there, dude," as I'm laughing myself at the surreal evening we've just had.
He pops out his head and relates the visions from earlier that keep assaulting him -- visions of an adorable zombie-bunny hopping maniacly up and down, and Paul Stanley doing back-flips for no knowable reason.
I still hear him laughing in there!
So, this weekend starts out kind of slow... Mostly me wandering around SL, looking for something to do.
In-world, we have a group called WhitelightEnt, which consists of Tommy, Brian and myself, as well as someone we only know in-world, Tamaratee Beeks. Brian and I own most of the land and all of the stores -- so far -- and Brian creates most of the merchandice we sell in-world. (Like, 99% to date.)
But we have plans...
Tamaratee has been asking us if we'll put a shop on her land (she owns, like, maybe close to as much as Brian and I own together!). And she also wants to open a dance club, as they seem to do well in SL.
In fact, let me explain...
Say you're a Resident in SL. Here's how your SL day might go:
You log-in, check your Friends List and see who you know that's in-world at the moment, and IM (Instant Message) your Friends to see what they're up to.
There's a REALLY good chance their (a) shopping, (b) creating/building something, (c) hanging out with people they know, or (d) at a club.
Now, people doing "b" usually have their own land to create on, so if they're creating you probably want to leave them alone. They're busy. They're blissfully making something that they believe SecondLife needs, and their attention is occupied. They may want your opinion of what they're making, or they may be looking for an excuse to take a break. But most likely, they're busy for now, you may hear from them later in the day.
If they're doing "c", then they might offer to Teleport you to where they are. This is cool, because you get to meet new people. And human interraction is what SecondLife is all about. You get to see people as they would like to see themselves -- which is often DEAD SEXY -- and you get to talk to them when they feel as confident as they are capable of feeling about themselves! So they're free, and fun, and OFTEN quite funny!
Now, there's also "a". If you're a guy and you're talking to a woman, there's a good chance she won't mind you tagging along as she shops. I'm not being sexist here, this is my observation. Ladies LOVE to shop! The women I know in-world have TONS of outfits -- because in SL you can actually afford to buy a different outfit for ANY occasion! AND, there are exponentially more occasions in SL than there ever will be in RL!
If it's a guy, and he's shopping, he's probably looking for something specific. he's crerating something, and he's looking for the right texture to make it look real. Or he's just wondering if someone has created a good Attack Chopper, or TIE Fighter yet. But he's busy. He might want some company while he shops, but very likely he's not looking for distractions.
Then there's "d". If someone is clubbing in SL, they're LOOKING FOR social interraction. Their either looking to just spend some mindless, fun time with their friends, or they're looking to make new friends. Either way, clubbers in SL are looking for ESCAPE.
And there are some good clubs in SL.
However, if you have a computer that isn't the newest, most badass computer available today, you might experience a severe lag in you animation.
As a result, many SL entrepeneurs are scurrying to create low-lag clubs, where people can hang out, meet, dance and listen to cool music, and just have a good time, while being able to see what's going on around them.
I say "many". I'm only speaking from my own experience. There are MANY Residents in SL, and I know very few of them.
But the ones I know are working on low-lag clubs of their own.
And that's one of the projects I've got going on right now.
So this weekend was largely about talking concept and theory with Tamaratee on the club she wants to create. A lot of her and Brian and I brainstorming about what makes a good club in a Virtual World, and what's going to draw people there.
Then, there was the Research portion, where Tam and I went dancing at clubs, checking the vibe and the patronage...
That was Saturday :)
Today I spent, mostly, working on a mock-up for the shop that she wants to put on her land. Brian built the shape, and he and I worked on the color scheme and Textures for the place. [Textures are, essentially, closeup pictures of, say, tile or wood or metal or cloth, that is replicated infinitely across the shape of the object you have created. It gives the appearance that instead of making a fence out of CG, you have made a fence out of wood. For instance.]
Late tonight I called in a super-genious friend of mine to have a look at the place and give us her thoguhts.
(I built AN AQUARIUM!!!)
Okay, but here's a reality of SL... You can do ANYTHING!!!
An example:
While Brian and I were in a Texture shop, searching for the right texture for the outside of the shop we're building, he stood in front of some Campers [There are "Camping Chairs" in SL, and if you sit in them, you earn SL money every 10 minutes or so; and so Residents will sometimes "Camp" to make more money.] and began DANCING.
He was wearing a zombie Avatar, with an evil-looking Jack-O-Lantern on his head. So he looked like some derranged escapee from a Halloween nightmare, and he's bustin Wacko Jacko moves for them to stare at in wonder/horror. MEANWHILE, he's using a technique we call Zoom-View to look around the store and examine all the Textures the store has to offer. But the people who are Camping can't see this; they only see some wierd-looking maniac dancing for them.
Similarly, your Avatar can be dancing at a club -- locked into an animation that makes your Avatar move in a specified dance cycle (or "loop") whiule you're Zoom-Viewing THE ENTIRE CLUB, checking out all the people around you and what they're up to. Meanwhile, with computer lag what it is [SL works on what is essentially a game engine, but the possibilities of what any given "game character" will do are limitless, unlike your PS2 or Gamecube, as all the "game characters" are LIVE HUMAN BEING with limitless imaginations] you're also carrying on a public dialogue with any random person who happens to talk to you, and possibly an IM dialogue with the person you're dancing with (because IM textxs can only be read by the two people involved in the conversation; whereas public "Chats" can be read by anyone near enough to "hear").
So there's this MATRIX-like freedom from physics-as-we-know-it to life in SL.
Okay, so tonight, Brian and my friend Kali and I are standing on a shop that BRian built some 700 or so meters in the air...
She gives us some input on what she likes about the shop and what could be better.
Then she busts out this igloo she built. On;y it's too small for me to enter. Now, I know that Kali has a dark sense of humor, like I do, so I put on an Avatar calles "Tiny Terribles Cahtullu" to make her laugh.
...and that was the beginning of the descent into maddness...
She whips on this Avatar that makes her look like a walking skeleton. Brian's already a madman, taking advantage of all the eccentricities that SL affords, and he whips out these dance animations that make his Avatar move in really unappealing ways.
I pop on an Avatar that makes me look like GIR from the INVADER ZIM toon, and Kali pops on this skinless cadaver Av, and starts trying to hump us.
Before I know what's going on, both of them are trying to make a Man Sandwhich outta me, and I get this IM from a complete stranger.
She is organizing an event that someone in SL is throwing, and she needs masks.
Now, I'm technically the owner of one of the stores in SL. Brian actually did all the work, but my name is on the shop and on the land. She must have did a Search for Masks, and my store came up.
Like in RL, she's looking for donations to make this event happen. And I'm not used to being a shopkeep, so I'm trying to figure out HOW to help her out. She wants a number of masks that she can give to attendees, along with my shop's card, so people can visit there. Like in RL, my helping her, theoretically helps my business by spreading my name. But the only masks we sell are Tiki Masks Brian created, and how many does she need? She isn't sure how many will be in attendance, and how many of those will not have their own masks...
Meanwhile, Kali is now a zombie bunny, hopping up and down maniacly while expressing sexual desire. And Brian is this dancing fool, trying to dance me off the edge of this VERY HIGH platform we're on! [In SL you can fly, and you don't die if you splat onto the ground before you can engage the Fly option, but that doesn't make it any less time-consuming or inconvenient to try to navigate yourself back up to where you were. Even SL physics have their drawbacks...]
So I figure out a bassic plan about how to get 25 Tiki Masks to the event coordinator (which is something of a feat, as I've never donated en masse in SL before -- different physics, different problem-solving aparatus) and I'm trying to get some help from Brian, who's busy laughing hysterically at Kali's antics while doing his own strange, mind-bending things in-world...
And I SWEAR, it felt EXACTLY like being at a really great party with fun, drunken friends and loud, loud music, and getting a business call on your cell!!! It felt EXACTLY that way!!!
So I got the help I needed from Brian -- if sluggishly -- and I hooked the person who IMed me up with 30 Tiki Masks (just to be generous, and give her some wiggle room) and she assured me she'd take care of the details, including letting the recipients of the masks know that they were donated by our shop.
And then I put on my Paul Stanley Avatar (that Brian found, bought for me and gave me sometime back) and joined what had now become a very dirty and silly dance party :)
That was tonight!
Did I mention that while I was working on a Phone Booth I had built (from scratch) Brian and Tamaratee chased each other around in Attack Choppers over our land and much of the surrounding land? (I tried to join the chase for a while, but I was on the slow computer and couldn't keep up with them.) (Also, Tam found the Attack Choppers and bought enough for all of us...)
Oh, yeah, and an in-world publication wants to interview me because I live in the featured region of the week.
I seem to have a much richer Second Life than First!
Madness.
It's all madness.
WELCOME TO THE 21st CENTURY!!!
Monday, April 03, 2006
Touring Kingstown In SecondLife
Here's another of those entries designed to lure you into the addictive world of SecondLife by accompanying my skillful narration with pics...
:)
[A quick note about pic quality: I didn't take the time to resize all the pics into a smaller size in my previous entry, and as a result my blog page went all wonky. So this time I went ahead and sized everything down. If you don't know SL, you'd be SURPRISED how much detail you loose this way. But this isn't meant to be a photo-album; it's a story primarily. The pics are meant to enhance. So sorry about the quality. Now, moving on...]
So today we're touring Kingstown.
It's a cool li'l berg in SL created by Stranger Christensen. He and his wife are huge fans of Stephen King's work, and this is their tribute to him.
This, as you can see, is ME :) I'm beginning my tour at the campsite. Behind me, you can see a hoovering dreamcatcher, which I'm guessing is a nod to the more recent novel/film DREAMCATCHER. (I could be wrong here...)
I doubt you can see in the above pic, but laying on the rock pit that the campfire is burning in is a stick with a couple of roasting marshmellows! Nice little detail there :)
And behind me in frame is my first stop, the Overlook Hotel. Now, even if you haven't read the book THE SHINING, you have undoubtedly seen either Kubrik's film (most likely) or the ABC TV mini-series STEPHEN KING'S THE SHINING. If not, both are available on dvd. Go rent them and watch them again. NOW!
Unless you don't enjoy the horror genre, in which case this entry may not interest you much. I, however, am a Horror Nerd, so I dig on a town like this!
Immediately upon entering the front lobby, you see a couple of stills from the movie. The famous Bloody Evelvator scene, and a spooky shot of Nicholson's character at the hotel some 40 decades earlier.
(A note about spoiler: I'm not going to worry about them. I am truly sorry if I ruin anything for anyone, but it's not like I'm giving away major plot points here. I'm just touring a virtual town.)
And the further into the lobby I walk... OH! What?! What's that coming toward me?!!! Could it be...
A GHOST!
YEAH, BAY-BAY!!!
When the ghost reaches me, a script in the object corrupts my avatar's built-in animations and my computer crashes.
Just kidding :)
It passes through me harmlessly -- if creepily -- and I proceed to...
...the elevator...
...and the second floor.
Okay, one of the cool things about the Overlook Hotel is that Stranger Christensen designed it so that you can actually rent the rooms!!! Not with dollars, though. With SL's own currency, called "Linden dollars" or "Lindens" (and denoted thusly: "L$").
To give you an idea of the exchange-rate: The last time I bought Lindens, $20 got me around L$5,400. Or something like that.
(But like other all money, the value of Lindens fluxuates.)
A stay at the Overlook costs L$150 per 7 days. (And sinces the transactions are all automated by scripting, you can't haggle. It's take it or leave it. But that's cool.)
And THIS, Room 418, is the room I rented!!!
And this is the view out my window.
At night.
You get a better view during the day... But this being the Overlook Hotel in Kingstown, THIS is really the view you want.
Now, the truth is that in SL there's very little reason to stay in a hotel room. I mean, you CAN FLY in this world. So room rental is really more about bragging rights than anything else. So I spent, maybe, a grand total of 10 minutes in the room for my L$150. But in my opinion: Money WELL SPENT :)
And Brian didn't come with me on this tour, but here's the room he rented.
I actually took the tour on the last day of our stay, and we got notice that we had been "evicted" at midnight (SL Time).
Below is the view from the upstairs deck. (You can see the window to my room to my left -- your right -- and the window to Brian's room to my right -- your left.)
Cool deck, right?!
Returning to the second-floor lobby, you see more stills from Kubrick's flick and...
OH NOW! WHAT'S THAT?!!
Yep, those creepy little chick ghosts!
I jest now, but the first time you walk in and you're not prepared for that, it REALLY IS creepy! And it makes you a lot more careful when you open up doors. Because you didn't even know that was possible before, now you're wondering what other surpises the person who built this might have for ya :)
And if you'd like a souvenier to commemorate you stay in the Overlook, L$49 get's you an "I Survived the Overlook Hotel" T-shirt, with Stephen King's image on the front.
So, natch, I bought one :)
Next stop: The Pet Cemetery!!!
I don't know how well you can read these tombstones in these sized-down pic, so I'll read them to you...
"RAIDER: Nessie Cobb's Best Friend And Only Companion"
That's an allusion to NEEDFUL THINGS. If you're not familiar with that one, I recommend the book over the movie. Although the movie had some GREAT actors truning in great performances, the story is too truncated.
The legacy King will be leaving literature is the richly detailed people and places he invented or modified. King fans are ravenous because they KNOW the worlds King has created -- even if they haven't been to the Real-Life places that inspired King.
So despite the valiant effort made by the movie's screenwriter(s) and director, the book is my humble recommendation. (First, at least.)
"My Poor Dog Lucky Got Hit By A Trucky; Guess He Wasn't So Lucky"
I want to say this was from the book, but I couldn't tell ya for sure. (King books are long, and I'm a slow reader, so I tend not to reread them... Sry. "Jerusalem's Lot", however... I can't quote it yet, but I'm WELL on my way!!!)
"CUJO: My Best Friend Almost To The End"
You get that reference, I'm sure :)
"Here Lies Church the Cat: Born September 1987, Died October 1989, Dies Again November 1989"
If you've seen the excellent movie or read the excellent novel, you get THAT reference :)
This is a wierd energy-ball thing in the center of the cemetery. I believe it's more Symbolic than Literal.
Like the campfire I started out by: It symbolizes the four guys camping out at the beginning of the story, rather than recreating a literal scene from the movie/novel.
Still... It's COOL!
:)
And here we are at Needful Things: A shop built by the Devil to provide you with your deepest desire... For the oh-so-small price of... "a favor." ;)
Here are a couple of items used to procure such favors. Including...
A shard from Noah's Ark!!!
And here's me with Captain Jack Sparrow...
This is actually a life-sized stand-up you can purchase in the store.
No relation to the King novels, but a bloke's gotta make money SOMEHOW, right?
And if you slip into the shopkeep's seat, you find yourself drawing upon the dark energies of the universe...
And don't forget to tip your Host!
I didm't tip when I too this tour, and I was a little wasted the night that Brian and I rented the rooms... But Brian assures me (he hadn't been drinking NEARLY as much) that I was "overly generous" with my tip... In ADDITION TO renting a room and buying a T-shirt :)
(He says that he tipped "just over what the last tip was", so I'm sure he was plenty generous, too...)
And thus concludes your guided tour through Kingstown, one of the VERY COOL places you can visit in SecondLife!
Hope you enjoyed!!!
:)
:)
[A quick note about pic quality: I didn't take the time to resize all the pics into a smaller size in my previous entry, and as a result my blog page went all wonky. So this time I went ahead and sized everything down. If you don't know SL, you'd be SURPRISED how much detail you loose this way. But this isn't meant to be a photo-album; it's a story primarily. The pics are meant to enhance. So sorry about the quality. Now, moving on...]
So today we're touring Kingstown.
It's a cool li'l berg in SL created by Stranger Christensen. He and his wife are huge fans of Stephen King's work, and this is their tribute to him.
This, as you can see, is ME :) I'm beginning my tour at the campsite. Behind me, you can see a hoovering dreamcatcher, which I'm guessing is a nod to the more recent novel/film DREAMCATCHER. (I could be wrong here...)
I doubt you can see in the above pic, but laying on the rock pit that the campfire is burning in is a stick with a couple of roasting marshmellows! Nice little detail there :)
And behind me in frame is my first stop, the Overlook Hotel. Now, even if you haven't read the book THE SHINING, you have undoubtedly seen either Kubrik's film (most likely) or the ABC TV mini-series STEPHEN KING'S THE SHINING. If not, both are available on dvd. Go rent them and watch them again. NOW!
Unless you don't enjoy the horror genre, in which case this entry may not interest you much. I, however, am a Horror Nerd, so I dig on a town like this!
Immediately upon entering the front lobby, you see a couple of stills from the movie. The famous Bloody Evelvator scene, and a spooky shot of Nicholson's character at the hotel some 40 decades earlier.
(A note about spoiler: I'm not going to worry about them. I am truly sorry if I ruin anything for anyone, but it's not like I'm giving away major plot points here. I'm just touring a virtual town.)
And the further into the lobby I walk... OH! What?! What's that coming toward me?!!! Could it be...
A GHOST!
YEAH, BAY-BAY!!!
When the ghost reaches me, a script in the object corrupts my avatar's built-in animations and my computer crashes.
Just kidding :)
It passes through me harmlessly -- if creepily -- and I proceed to...
...the elevator...
...and the second floor.
Okay, one of the cool things about the Overlook Hotel is that Stranger Christensen designed it so that you can actually rent the rooms!!! Not with dollars, though. With SL's own currency, called "Linden dollars" or "Lindens" (and denoted thusly: "L$").
To give you an idea of the exchange-rate: The last time I bought Lindens, $20 got me around L$5,400. Or something like that.
(But like other all money, the value of Lindens fluxuates.)
A stay at the Overlook costs L$150 per 7 days. (And sinces the transactions are all automated by scripting, you can't haggle. It's take it or leave it. But that's cool.)
And THIS, Room 418, is the room I rented!!!
And this is the view out my window.
At night.
You get a better view during the day... But this being the Overlook Hotel in Kingstown, THIS is really the view you want.
Now, the truth is that in SL there's very little reason to stay in a hotel room. I mean, you CAN FLY in this world. So room rental is really more about bragging rights than anything else. So I spent, maybe, a grand total of 10 minutes in the room for my L$150. But in my opinion: Money WELL SPENT :)
And Brian didn't come with me on this tour, but here's the room he rented.
I actually took the tour on the last day of our stay, and we got notice that we had been "evicted" at midnight (SL Time).
Below is the view from the upstairs deck. (You can see the window to my room to my left -- your right -- and the window to Brian's room to my right -- your left.)
Cool deck, right?!
Returning to the second-floor lobby, you see more stills from Kubrick's flick and...
OH NOW! WHAT'S THAT?!!
Yep, those creepy little chick ghosts!
I jest now, but the first time you walk in and you're not prepared for that, it REALLY IS creepy! And it makes you a lot more careful when you open up doors. Because you didn't even know that was possible before, now you're wondering what other surpises the person who built this might have for ya :)
And if you'd like a souvenier to commemorate you stay in the Overlook, L$49 get's you an "I Survived the Overlook Hotel" T-shirt, with Stephen King's image on the front.
So, natch, I bought one :)
Next stop: The Pet Cemetery!!!
I don't know how well you can read these tombstones in these sized-down pic, so I'll read them to you...
"RAIDER: Nessie Cobb's Best Friend And Only Companion"
That's an allusion to NEEDFUL THINGS. If you're not familiar with that one, I recommend the book over the movie. Although the movie had some GREAT actors truning in great performances, the story is too truncated.
The legacy King will be leaving literature is the richly detailed people and places he invented or modified. King fans are ravenous because they KNOW the worlds King has created -- even if they haven't been to the Real-Life places that inspired King.
So despite the valiant effort made by the movie's screenwriter(s) and director, the book is my humble recommendation. (First, at least.)
"My Poor Dog Lucky Got Hit By A Trucky; Guess He Wasn't So Lucky"
I want to say this was from the book, but I couldn't tell ya for sure. (King books are long, and I'm a slow reader, so I tend not to reread them... Sry. "Jerusalem's Lot", however... I can't quote it yet, but I'm WELL on my way!!!)
"CUJO: My Best Friend Almost To The End"
You get that reference, I'm sure :)
"Here Lies Church the Cat: Born September 1987, Died October 1989, Dies Again November 1989"
If you've seen the excellent movie or read the excellent novel, you get THAT reference :)
This is a wierd energy-ball thing in the center of the cemetery. I believe it's more Symbolic than Literal.
Like the campfire I started out by: It symbolizes the four guys camping out at the beginning of the story, rather than recreating a literal scene from the movie/novel.
Still... It's COOL!
:)
And here we are at Needful Things: A shop built by the Devil to provide you with your deepest desire... For the oh-so-small price of... "a favor." ;)
Here are a couple of items used to procure such favors. Including...
A shard from Noah's Ark!!!
And here's me with Captain Jack Sparrow...
This is actually a life-sized stand-up you can purchase in the store.
No relation to the King novels, but a bloke's gotta make money SOMEHOW, right?
And if you slip into the shopkeep's seat, you find yourself drawing upon the dark energies of the universe...
And don't forget to tip your Host!
I didm't tip when I too this tour, and I was a little wasted the night that Brian and I rented the rooms... But Brian assures me (he hadn't been drinking NEARLY as much) that I was "overly generous" with my tip... In ADDITION TO renting a room and buying a T-shirt :)
(He says that he tipped "just over what the last tip was", so I'm sure he was plenty generous, too...)
And thus concludes your guided tour through Kingstown, one of the VERY COOL places you can visit in SecondLife!
Hope you enjoyed!!!
:)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
