Yes... I Know... I'm A Dork...

Okay, I officially an uber-geek:

I have a girlfriend in SecondLife!

I've been abstaining from admitting this for a very long time now, because I TOTALLY get how it sounds. But I can't deny it any longer, I'm head-over-heels for a chick I'll never meet in RL, who has a realy life outside the game!

Okay, but before you pass judgement let just give you some perspective...

For the past 9+ years I really haven't been able to "get out there" and try to find Miss Right beause of my going-on-14-year pursuit of a career in filmmaking. And I'm actually okay with this fact. It's a choice, and one I make consciously and consentually: Would I rather spend my time and energy trying to find the woman who will date a broke divorceee who can't afford to take her out and will respect my career as a writer and filmmaker BEFORE I HAVE the career, or would I rather pursue a career as a writer/filmmaker and pray that there will be a woman out there for me when I finally have the money to start having a social life?

The fact is that after 14 years, I don't know how to NOT pursue my dream. I have lost faith in the possibility of it happening, but even then I couldn't stop pursuing it. I am I, Don Quixote...

And this reality is what lead me to the frustrated blog entry around January or February when I wonder aloud why I can't just enjoy a virtual relationship in which I get to enjoy the flirting and the fawning and feel desired and have an object of my desire, even if I don't get the more substantial -- carnal -- bennifits of a relationship. I believe I posited that if I have to wait for another decade, at least I should be allowed to enjoy partial fulfillment.

Well...

Turns out that if you wait long enough in SL... You just MIGHT bump into your virtual soul mate!!!

This woman is just SO COOL!!! I mean, I drive to work now with this big, giddy grin! It's like an actual relationship in many ways!!!

Okay, fine, poke fun. I'm an easy target right now, I know.

But...

Ya gotta admit... This poses some interesting questions about the nature of Reality. I mean, I have not met this woman face-to-face, and yet when she tells me I'm sexy I believe her! (As opposed to when my girl-friends do it: They're basically saying "No, you'll never see me naked, but SURE you're sexy.") I actually believe she means it when she says it.

Now, one could argue that it's easy for a woman who will never see me in person to say that she thinks my pic is hot. HOWEVER... If you dared me to PROVE that she's telling me the truth I would dare you to DISprove it. Her actions (to my knowlege and in my experience so far) support her claim that I am hot.

Granted, all this "evidence" exists merely in the SecondLife... BUT THAT'S KIND OF THE POINT! As far as the reality of SL, she is into me.

But let's say it's just a game: Does it matter? Half a year ago I was talking about how I'd just like to be able to pay a monthly fee and have email conversations, as though I were in a relationship, just so I can get the emotional "sustinance" that the human psyche needs.

Well...

The way this woman treats me goes WAY above and beyond anything I might have proposed paying a subscription fee for! AND... No fee! She does for my psyche (and ego and insecurities), for free, MORE than I would offer money for!

And according to her, I do the same for her!

"Okay," you say, "But it's not REALLY real. It's just an online game."

Sure, okay. But what is REALITY? If I experience joy on a daily basis from this unorthodox relationship, are those emotions not real emotions? A very wise woman schooled me lame dismissal we guys sometimes throw out there of a woman's emotions when we say "I'll bet it's just That Time of the Month." She said, okay, maybe it is That Time of the Month... Does that make the pain or frustration she's feeling LESS VALID? And if so, how is that fair? She's still FEELING those emotions!

So if I'm feeling happy about something that is somehow illusory, are the emotions an illusion? Am I actually not feeling them? And if not, wtf AM I feeling when i think I'm feeling those positive emotions?

Okay, but here's the flip side: I know a lot of Worriers. I know A LOT of people who spend a lot of their time thinking about the negative things that might happen. They experience discomfort and negative emotions because of bad things that have not happened yet (if ever). Some of them cry because of how bad something might become.

This behaviour is not consicered wierd. You yourself are probably thinking "Well, that's just normal. That's just being smart and being prepared for the future and being intelligent." And yet, what about the negative emotions. Extended negative emotion leads to PHYSICAL health problems.

And positive emotions behave conversely -- producing physical bennifits to one's health.

I mean, it's a great deal more complex that that. If you just run through it in your head you'll see that you tend to be nicer to people when you're in a good mood, you tend to be more generous with time/resources when you're in a good mood, tend to sponteneously think of OTHERS when your in a good mood, and thinking about things that make you happy tends to put you in a good mood. Conversely, when was the last time you were in a bad mood and sponteneouly thought "My wife might like some flowers for no reason"? Okay, when is the last time you were in a bad mood and your wife asked you to do something you had already said you would do a week ago, and yet you felt attacked by her when she asked "Are you going to get around to that this week?" And thinking about things that make you unhappy tends to put you in a bad mood.

Prove me wrong.

I'm not really trying to teach a Psyche course here, I'm just trying to make this point:

If it's perfectly aceptable for someone to fret over bad things that might or might not happen and put themselves into a bad mood over them, what is so wierd about me accepting a virtual relationship for what it is and experiencing the psychological, emotional and spiritual bennifits of that relationship?

But if the emotions experienced are real, how "fake" could a virtual relationship be?

What IS Reality? What would define a REAL relationship for YOU? What criterion would have to be satisfied before you could enjoy the relationship as real?

What IS real?

Just Defeated the High School!!!

Had a groovy day today. I build a Moon Base in SL for Brian's, like, 5th store. He really liked it :)

He had build this huge box that looked like you were walking around on the moon, and he wanted to put a store there, but he was running low on ideas. So I created this sort of Retro-Futuristic building with bay windows that looked out onto his moonscape, so that inside it, you get a sense that your actually in a structure on the moon!

Then he and I listend to Allison Dubois' second book WE ARE THEIR HEAVEN together! Some very great stuff in that book that spoke to us personally -- particularly reguarding our late father :)

I spent plenty more time in SL. Got to listen to some FIREFLY while I was in-world as Brian was watching it in the living room... Exposure to Joss Wheadon is ALWAYS a good thing!!!

Brian helped me figure out the next 5-10 pages of our feature screenplay. I kinda knew where I was headed, but he got me there :D

More SL...

Then I wrapped up my day by KICKING LEVEL 7's ASS!!! That's the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER game I'm refering to. I had mastered the level, but it ends with a boss battle. (Evil Anyanka, the vengence demon.) And it's just REALLY a pain in the ass!!!

But Brian watched as I played, and he gave me INVALUABLE tips each time I died, so that I finally was able to beat the level!!!

But then I realized that I had misses one of the 2 secrets!!!

In order to unlock all the extras -- such as interviews with Joss and the actors -- you have to get all the secrets.

So I replayed the level and, like a trooper, Brian sat right there with me and provided moral support!!! (THANK YOU, sir!!!)

And now I intend to fall asleep listening to some more of Mrs. Dubois' wisedom and insight.

:D

I Am Living In A Magical Time

I'm writing this entry for me ;)

I just got off the phone with my friend Kelly in L.A. (actually, my phone ran out of juice and died) and he was telling me about the days he has had working for M. Studios. We were in the midst of a VERY COOL conversation about the new Superman movie, and the previous (donner-directed) ones.

The first time he called I was on the phone with someone special to me.

At work, earlier, I got a call from my friend Kal who is back in Texas for the time being -- he has spent the last several years in L.A. -- which is in really good timing with Tommy and Brian and I shooting this summer's short and next year (hopefully) shooting our first professional feature.

Before that I took a break from work to talk to the above-mentioned Someone Special.

And now, as I type this, my brother's asleep on the couch in the living room with THE TICK on the PS2.

I'm writing this because I will look back on this in a few years with fond memories of "where it all began". Things are coalescing (sp?) in my life, and I can sense it. Puzzle pieces, sought after for more than a decade, are coming together, showing me where they should be placed.

And a few years from now I will ask myself "What was the Starting Point? Where did it all begin to come together?"

And I will have this entry in my blog to remind me.

I invite anyone reading this to examine the quirky details of their life, the last couple of months, and see if maybe they're at an important intersaection of their lives that they may want to remember. You know if you are. Listen to the quiet whispers in your ear and trust what they have to say. Not the noisy cacophony of voices, but the really quiet ones. I'll bet as you read this, events and circumstances are converging in such a way as to reveal a long-hoped-for path that you may not have known you could travel.

Hope you have a GREAT weekend!!!

Vexing Ad Language

I spend WAAAAAYYYYYY too much time airing comercials!!! I work at a TV station, so even though I don't watch TV at home, I'm still bombarded with mind-numbing crap.

Like this one comercial...

You see hot girls wandering around outside and having their pictures taken while hot music plays... Then finally a silky female voice says "Why settle for just 15 minutes of fame? BOGO: Buy One Get One Half Off."

WHAT?!!!

WTF is that SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!!!

Have you seen this? Is this just a regional ad?

How is the act of buying 2 pairs of shoes going extend one's "15 Minutes of Fame"?!! It's like the so-called "writer" of that commercial believes that just buy placing that sentence (well, that clause) behind that question will somehow magically create some sort of logic or meaning!

I mean, don't get me wrong... The BOGO campain has been doomed from the start. The first commercials featured Star Jones (a woman famous for... Why is she famous again?). And even the term "BOGO" shows that the advertising firm is WAY-lazy! "Buy One Get One... half off..."

And when did Dairy Queen become "DQ"?!! I mean, I know WHEN... but did calling the place "DQ" ACTUALLY make it a hipper place to eat? Are Tweens and Teens and College Students suddenly going "I need me a Hungerbuster, Yo!"?!!

And "KFC", too! Are the Cool Kids now hanging out at KFC on Saturday nights because the franchise dropped the "entucky ried hicken"?!!

Another way-stupid name: "Smart Start Healthy Heart"... WTF?!!! The box says it may -- may -- help make your heart healthier. It's a perfectly legal claim that, in fact, promises NOTHING to the purchaser of the product. NOTHING. Moreover, the claim goes on to include "in addition to a healthy lifestyle".

So... If you live a healthy lifestyle AND eat this Smart Start Healthy Heart, then you MAY have a healthier heart.

?!

However, I can make the claim that if you life a healthy lifestyle AND ready my blog religiously, you MAY have healthier bowels. And my claim is ABSOLUTELY AS VALID as the Smart Start Healhty Heart claim.

Advertising language is designed to be sue-proof, and the only way to be completely free from litigation is to SAY NOTHING. If you never want to get sued, don't say, do or think ANYTHING... and you may have a chance.

But what's the point of advertising if you're not really telling anyone about your product?!!

The point is (a) to tell you that the product exists -- and, ideally, tell you while you're riding the high of watching your favorite programs -- and (b) to HOPE YOU'RE NOT LISTENING. Seriously, sue-proof language relies on the assumtion that YOU, the viewer of the ad, is not paying close attention to what is ACTUALLY being said. They want you to hear "healthy heart" and not "may". They want you to hear "get one half off" and not hear "buy one".

There's another one, and I'm pretty sure it IS regional (not national), and I can't remember what they were trying to sell me. But the commerical starts off with the question "Would you like to potentially increase your income by 50%?"

And my response is always -- and sometimes out-loud, 'cause the ad vexes me SO -- "No!"

You caught that, right? "Would you like to potentially increase your income by 50%?"

If they asked if I would LIKE TO INCREASE my income, they might (MIGHT) have my attention. But these wieners don't even have the balls to offer me that! They ask if I want to POTENTIALLY increase my income!!!

Now, the fact that someone paid to have this spot aired a billion times over the next however-many months suggets that they want my money. Somehow, someway, they want me to pay them.

But they're not even offering me anything. ANYTHING! They're offering me the POTENTIAL to earn more money. I can buy a book about business for half price (or less) at a used-book store and possess the POTENTIAL to increase my income by up to 50%. Hell, I can by a $0.25 business book at a garage sale and possess the potential to increase my income by 400%!!!

But you remember what your parents said about potential? "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

So why am I gonna give someone my money for potential? A dollar buys me the potential to become independantly wealthy... Why don't I just sink my dough into the lottery?

Ad agencies believe that the reason I'm going give them my money isbecause I'm going to hear what I want to hear, and not hear "potential". Because I'm a mindless consumer, and I don't understand the language I speak well enough to understand what ALL the words they use mean together.

Blah!

Sorry. I just... This is how I earn my paycheck, listening to this crap for 40 hours a week. And the writing stands out to my ear in particular because when I hear it I'm thinking "Somebody GOT PAID to write those words while I'm sitting here getting paid to listen to them".

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to write for ad agencies. Not that it isn't a noble occupation. Lawrence Kasdan wrote for an ad agency before he wrote RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK -- a screenplay that is STILL studied for it's brilliant and innovative craft.

But I am annoyed that Payless Shoes heard "BOGO" and didn't say "WHAT?!!! Try a little bit harder, you fucks, or we're hiring someone else!" kinda makes me nuts. You know?

I guess what annoys me most is this: If you can't legally make a claim about your product, then DON'T. It's pretentious to try to be all cool and hip, or to take yourself seriously at all!

Before X3, my brother and I watched this GREAT Sprite commercial...

It's many differnt brain-bending scenarios intercut, but one of them is 2 big-ass Sumo dudes, one painted yellow and one painted green. They're in the middle of this obviously fake forrest at night, running in intense slow-motion toward each other. Between them is a Napolean-Dynamite looking dude wearing a powder-blue, Disco-era tux, just sitting obliviously on a rock. These Sumos keep charging each other until, finally, their big ol' Sumo bellies collide... AGAINST THE GEEK-DUDE'S FACE!!! His face is SKWISHED between the Sumo Bellies...

...AND THEN HE'S REFRESHED!!! Having his face pancaked by a giant yellow and a giant green Sumo Stomach refreshed him! WHY? Because this is an ad for Sprite!

And I laughed so hard that a couple of kids sitting next to me asked "Are you okay?" And in a very high-pitched voice between tummy-torturing laughs I said "I don't think so".

But see, Sprite goes "Look, we're not gonna make you healthier, we're not gonna make you richer, but we're Sprite and we want your money. So here, laugh for 30 seconds."

Now, I still drink the generic version because I'm Po' Folk, and I prefer the after-taste of diet colas anyway.

BUT... Sprite's not insulting my intelligence, treating me like some mindless livestock.

Blah.

Okay, I'm done ranting.

Just had to get all that out of my system before it festered.

Halfway There!!!

I have made it through "Downtown Sunnydale" (Level 5) and "Sunnydale Hospital" (Level 6) and am about to enter the "High School" (Level 7 of 12)!!!

I am SERIOUSLY kicking vampire-, demon- and zombie-ass!!!

Life is SO SWEET!!!

OH!!!

And Brian and I saw X-3 last night, too!!! Very cool flick. A thought-provoking end to the series!

OOH, OOH!!!

AND...

We saw SAW 2 the other night! That was really great because Brian and I are working on a horror movie, and the SAW movies are SPECTACULAR examples of how to write horror flicks! Scary and smart! Entertainment with something to say!

:D

This is a GOOD summer ;) Life is happy :) I am fulfilled :D

All of this in addition to a rich and fulfilling SecondLife ;)

Tommy's out of town this week for work, so I don't get to hear what he thinks about the feature film idea yet. But I'm redoing some of the pre-pro stuff on the short, so that's still moving along.

I just kinda feel like I've got all my bases covered!

I wish CLERKS 2, SUPERMAN RETURNS and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST were out already... But other than that, my summer is coasting sweetly along!

Hope yours is going well, too!!!

Squeezing Blood from a PS2

This morning I completed the 4th level of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: CHAOS BLEEDS!!! The 4th of 12!

I'm kinda kickin' ass :)

That means I conquered "Magic Box", "Cemetery", "Blood Factory" and "Magic Box Revisited". Next I'm going to be tackling "Downtown Sunnydale".

I friggin' LOVE this game!!! Somehow it's like being IN the show AND it's like watching a Summer Blockbuster version of the show.

Don't aks me how that makes sense, it just does.

It's DEFINITELY summer, though, because I'm SO jonesin' to play videogames.

Not SL... That really doesn't feel like a videogame to me. that's hanging out with cool people and building stuff. The videogame "feel" is fast and exciting and makes my palms sweat. SL sometimes makes my palms sweat, but for a VERY DIFFERENT reason ;)

Okay, I'm at wor and I should probably get back to it. Just wanted to share my ecstacy with you! yesterday before work I completed the 3rd level and today I completed the 4th. I'm on a roll, baby!!!

The Grail Is At Hand!

Okay, HOW stoked AM I!!!

I've been bangin my head against a wall for some 14 years now, trying to figure out how to get people to pay me to do what I already do for free -- namely, write movies and make movies.

This past week I finally figured out what I was doing wrong...

I've been trying to figure out how to contact the people who have the money to risk in an indpendant feature film. Which is a dificult thing to do since I don't know WHO those people are!

But then I was reading an article in... What was it? OH! It was on the Highland Myst Productions website. And it was about their business team. And I realized that there are some people in the world who enjoy making deals as much as we enjoy making movies. THESE are the people I need to be seeking out! Because these are the people who know who has the money to invest, and what it is they're most interested in investing in.

That's what these people DO! They spend as much time cultivating contacts and revising business strategy as I spend nourishing my understanding of what makes movies great and revising my understanding of story structure. Ted Elliot and Ted Rossio have said on their website Wordplay that we should become screenwriting EXPERTS.

Well...

There are people who devote their time to becoming experts at getting a movie rolling!

So I desperately email my friend Kelly, begging him to tell me how to find one of these experts. He's in Hollywood, that's where the money is -- or at least, the people who know how to get at money for that particular purpose.

It was a long conversation, and Kelly told me everything I need to know to get started!!!

First step, natch, write a fantastic screenplay.

NO PROBLEM!!!

I'm sorry if that seems arrogant, and please believe that it doesn't come from some misguided belief that I myself am some master screenwriter. This confidence comes from the belief in the AMAZING TEAM, of which I am a grateful part!!!

After some of the initial responses for the short we're gearing up to shoot, I'd say that Brian and Tommy and I are the top of our game!!! I'm really proud of the script, but mostly I'm proud at the ideas that make the script a fun read -- most of which, I'm not at all ashamed to admit, came from Brian and Tommy!!! All I really did was find a way to make them work in a single story, and to make sure folks didn't doze off while reading that story :)

So this has been an EXCITING weekend for Ray Jay!!! It's like like running a long-distance race, seing the finish line ahead, and then lloking back to see that everyone is half a mile behind you and losing steam! All I have to do is keep running and I'll win!

But don't get me wrong, I'm sweating buckets and my legs feel like they're about to give out.

I mean, not really. I was extending the metaphor, but it looks like I may have stretched it out so it doesn't fit anymore.

I mean that there is still work to be done before the big First Deal is struck. Like, we need to write a GREAT movie that can be shot for a really small budget.

But like I said, we're in a groove!!!

2006 isn't following the plan I laid out for it at the beginning of the year, but I like the plan it laid out for me a GREAT DEAL better :D

And I hope things are going twice as good for anyone reading this!!!

Just finished listing the following necessities for the flick:

-Characters
-Sets/Locations
-Props
-SFX

Fun.

But useful!!! It's a necessary step. We need to know what all we need so we can start tracking stuff down, or at least form a gameplan as to HOW we will start tracking stuff down.

Anyone in Texas know of someone who owns or manages a rural cemetery with a grounds-keeper house on the premisis?

Couldn't hurt to ask.

Also, I got a glowing review on the script from my ex-wife!!! So I'm stoked about that!

Don't get me wrong, she's always supportive of us and our filmmaking endeavours, and my writing in general. But she's got good taste in movies and books, so if she disliked it I seriously would have taken a closer look. But instead, she loved it!

So YAY!

Now I'm waiting for our writer friends to get word back to me... And their job will be to cut me NO SLACK. So it's REALLY cool to get some ego-massages beforehand :)

Okay, U2 is on Conan O'Brien tonight, so I'm gonna go watch.

Checking In...

I'm working on a new novel.

I had this idea for a while for a novel based on my SecondLife experiences. I was going to sort of borrow the structure of BIG TROUBLE (the movie, I haven't read dave Barry's novel yet) and make it this sort of no-holds-barred comedy aventure thing.

But recent events have made me more contemplative about what SL is, and so the current novel will probably be more like FORREST GUMP (the novel, not the movie).

Thanks to my eMusic subscrition, I now own the first 4 of Lewis Black's 5 cds!

That's really cool! Although his humor is as smart and as biting as George carlin, he's somehow less scary. One night I made an uber-playlist of Carlin's carreer in albums, and by the 4th album I was kinda hatin' on the world. But Black allows me to laugh at our (mankind's/societies) foibles without wanting to slap people around for being idiots.

No idea what that's about, but there it is.

Looking foreward to seeing THE DA VINCI CODE Saturday with my friends Lisa and Regina! That should be groovy :)

Oh, and we -- Tommy, Brian and I -- are working on lists of things we need to make the movie in the next couple of months (actors, locations, props, etc.). So things are moving forward still with the flick!

VERY cool :)

Tons of SL stuff, none of which I can blog about. Which is a little frustrating, because some of it is fairly profound. But all of it involves other folk's lives and stuff, and therefor is not my story to tell. I could simply talk about the impacts of these events on my perspective, but none of it would make sense without the context. (Like when I first started blogging about SL, before I started putting pics up. Ya know?)

Blah.

Soooo...

Not much to tell ya about. But it just feels like I've been away from here for a while.

PEACE, LOVE & HAPPINESS to anyone reading these words!!!

As Of 1:43 a.m. Central Time...

Hola, Peeps & Peepettes!!!

I finished the third draft of the screenplay for the short flick Tommy & Brian and I plan to shoot this summer!!!

YAY, ME!!!

I'd LOVE to say that I finished it in SeconLife, like I did the first draft, but that would be a lie. Truth is I loaded it up Saturday, but I just wasn't feelin' it.

This behavior is what non-writers might call "Creative" -- as in, "No, no, he's not retarded. He's Creative..." -- and writers refer to as "Undisiplined". Or possibly, "a writer". (Apparently Douglas Adams, among others, just "didn't feel it" quite often when he had a novel due...)

So Monday night, at work -- when Tommy and Brian & I were meeting Tuesday -- I finally pulled it up and finished the second draft. Then after the production meeting I wrote the third draft, and now I've got a WHOLE WEEK OFF FROM WRITING!!!

This excites me to NO end!!!

God bless Tommy for his busy schedule! 'Cause Tommy simply can't meet with us this coming Tuesday.

And now the script is in other hands. Tommy sent the script off to two writer members of our creative Core -- Kelly (director, editor, screenwriter in L.A.) and Chuck (Playwright, Actor, theatre director and Theatre Teacher in Florida) and a third set of eyes, a screenwriter he knows, but that Brian and I haven't met yet.

So we'll be getting valuable feedback soon, to help turn our very good script into, hopefully, a GREAT script!!!

Also, part of the reason I didn't do any writing on Sunday is because I was reading THE DA VINCI CODE before the movie comes out! GREAT BOOK!!! Dan Brown writes a lot like Michael Crichton, in that his stories are taught suspenceful action mixed with thought-provoking, fact-based ideas.

I know, YOU'VE ALL read it already. I'm WAY behind everyone else.

That's cool. I don't have any problem with that. I enjoy stuff when I'm "feelin' it" and not before. I didn't get into Harry Potter until the first flick was announced... and then I had 3 novels to catch up on.

I can live with that.

BUT, how many movies are YOU gonna shoot this summer? Huh?

I didn't THINK so :)

*winks*

Pardon me, chat-lingo is seeping into ALL my written communications, thatk's to my SL habit. I now know what "afk" and "rofl" mean!!! (Btw, "brb" and "lol" were the first chat phrases I learned. Followed quickly by "lmao", "omg" and "wtf"... FYI.)

Dudes!!! If you're looking for a good read, may I suggest Kevin Smith's 9-part essay "Me And My Shadow". It's SO worth the read!!! You'll never see Jason "Jay" Mewes in the same light EVER again!!! (Or Kevin Smith, for that matter...) Dude brougth tears to my eyes more than once, and not all not all of them sad!!! You wouldn't think the "Noitch-noitch-noitch" dude could be a hero, but the portait Smith paints of his "boy"'s struggles is both heart-wrenching and inspiring!!!

Then, jump ahead to the May 9th article, "Johnny Rotten vs. Stan Lee!"!!! I would love to have been in THAT room Tuesday night!

Have I meantioned that Eddie Izzard's SEXIE finally came in the mail?!! A couple of weeks ago, but I recommend it to anyone who likes to laugh!!! It's right up there with DRESS TO KILL as some of Izzard's very best work!!! I had to wait, like, A MONTH to get it because I ordered it from his site so it came all the way from England -- which kinda makes it COOLER, you know, in that fan-boy geek kind of way -- and it was SO worth the wait!!!

What else?

Um...

Nothing I guess. I think you're caught up: I've torn myself away from Sl long enough to write 2 more drafts of the short and read THE DA VINCI CODE and listen to the latest Eddie Izzard.

I've slept some, too.

Yep. That's about it :)

Writing at Walden Pond

Remember me mentioning that Tommy and Brian and I are working on a new short? Well I finished the script for it thts past Saturday!!!

Ask me where!

WALDEN POND!!!

Some SL friends created Walden Pond -- immortalized by Henry David Thoreau in his 1854 novel WALDEN -- on their land, as a personal escape for them and an attraction for others in SecondLife. I looked up pics of the place, past and present, and they NAILED! It looks JUST as it did for the 2 years and 2 months Thoreau lived there!!!

The pictures below won't do their creation justice, though. 'Cause this entry's about ME :)

So I know I need to write. And I know there's not much going on for me in-world at the moment. But I'm not feeling the desire to write in my Writer's Pad (my Home in SL).

Despite the RIDICULOUSLY HIGH Pretntious Factor [I've read Thoreau and I, sir, am NO THOREAU], I decide I'm gonna go write in Thoreau's cabin, and see how much work I get done.


Okay, so a screenplay -- even a short one -- has 4 essential components which, for our purposes here, I will arbitrarily call The Open, The Meat, The Climax and The Resolution. If the script is 7 pages long, then The Open might be 1 page, The Meat might be 3 pages, the Climax might be 2 pages and the Resolution might be 1 page. (If the script runs longer, the only component that expands significantly is The Meat. The rest stay comparitively tiny; and I think the Crap Draft of our movie runs approcimately 17 pages, making The Meat closer to 10 pages long.)

I got The Open late, late, late Friday night just before I left work.

So I sat down at Thoreau's table and got started.

The land has its own soundeffects, so as the sun set the chirping of birds faded away and I got to hear the hooting of owls out the window as I typed :)

It was WAY COOL!!!


Now looking at the layout of the cabin, there's a table, a desk and a bed. The table was most likely intended strictly for eating. Maybe reading. But Thoreau was a writer... I'm guessing he did some writing there, too :) (He probably did some writing under a tree just outside, and probably by on a rock by the pond. I mean, 2 years and 2 month? He probably did some writing on just about every square inch of that land, right?)


So I wrote at the very same table that THOREAU probably wrote at!!!

...if he had a computer with a cable modem and an XP operating system....

And there probably wasn't an alien sleeping on the bed next to him as he wrote.

These pics are me revisiting the places i wrote at. At the time I wasn't in picture-taking mode. And Brian's computer takes MUCH better snapshots than mine, so I asked him to come with me and be the photographer for these.

Which means that sometimes I'd turn around and find him in wierd palces.

So anyway...

I wrote The Meat of the script here. And after that 10 pages or so, I felt like I was probably done for the day. So I got up to stretch my legs and IM some friends and see what they were up to, and just generally feel good about myself for having done some good work, and having done it IN THOREAU'S CABIN ON WALDEN POND!!!


I strolled over to the campsite there and sat infront of the fire.

...and discovered I WASN'T spent for the day! I wrote a paragraph that had popped into my head, a piece of dialogue that seemed to come naturally after that...

And before I knew it, I had completed The Climax of the script!!!


So I ran around with my SL friend April and checked out some of the ASTOUDING things she's created in-world, and then I get an IM from my friend Tam. She's dancing at a club (HUGE surprise) and can I come dance, too?

I've done A LOT of good work today (12 or so pages in a day for just about ANY screenwriter is GOOD WORK) so I go celebrate! There are topless women dancing around me, the music is blasting, everyone's chatting to each other, and to me...

And I decide I want to work out this ONE SCENE...


So I turn my music off and whip out the Notecard I've been writing the screenplay on...

And half an hour later I'VE FINISHED THE CRAP DRAFT OF THE SCRIPT!!!

This is PARTY TIME, INDEED!!! Before I was celebrating because I had come VERY CLOSE to finishing the script! NOW I'm celebrating IT COMPLETION!!!

In the pic above is Tempest Jewel, she manages Baby Dollz, the club I wrote the Resolution in. She was there Saturday night, and when Brian and I went back to the club to get a picture, she was there THEN, too!!! All alone, playing music and dancing to it.

And Tommy left about 20 minutes ago. He and Brian and I talked about the script, about what changes we want to see in this next draft.

So I've got more work to do this week/weekend.

AND SECONDLIFE SEEMS TO BE THE PERFECT PLACE TO DO IT!!!

Exhaustive Fun

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.

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!!!

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 :)

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 :)

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!!!

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!!!

:)

Building the Boo-Wheel

OKAY! HERE IT IS!!! This is one of my adventures in SecondLife... With pics! I figure the best way to communicate what's so addictive about SL is to SHOW you.

And to do that, I got Brian to give me a hand with a simple build: I call it the "Boo-Wheel".

Some explanation: Ultimately, I'd love to construct a full-blown Haunted House in-world. But I don't know scripting, and I don't have the (very expensive) programs I would need to create animations that worked in-world. So I need to use the simple scripts available to me, and apply them in simple machines that accomplish a desired result.

My first idea it the Boo-Wheel. It's a large, invisible wheel with a life-size cut-out of a ghost or monster. The wheel is also a "phantom" object -- which means that people can walk through it with out being affected. Also, the monster (in this case, a life-size Freddy Krueger stand-up that Brian made) is a phantom object; so when it pops out at the visitor, it doesn't smack 'em in the face and knock them down.

Now, I know we're talking about virtual people in a virtual world here. But this world has rules, and one of the basic rules of SecondLife is "Don't abuse each other!!!" I don't know that it's ever stated that way, specifically, but if you boil all the rules that get you banned and kicked-out of SL, they all stem from abusive behaviour toward fellow Residents.

So I don't want to build something that abuses my visitors. After a while, they may report me and I may get kicked out. So -- like a RL Haunted House creator -- I want to keep my visitors' safety in mind while I'm designing this.

So, here are the players:



That's us, respectively, Brian (the Grayskin ET) and me (with the blue goatee).

And this is the Project Site:



It's a platform Brian built, set way, way, WAY up in the sky. The location is for privacy, and so we don't disturb our neighbors. The size is use in that it allows more than one of us to create multiple objects at once without getting in each other's way. It also serves as a launch/landing pad for the many, MANY flying vehicles Brian owns. (You can see a small blue personal craft in the pic, but he's got some HUGE ones, and he'll sometimes fly us around, all at once.)



I didn't even have to ask Brian to get started. Before I knew what he was doing, he was already creating the Boo-Wheel. At first, he didn't fully get the concept of HOW I wanted to attatch the Freddy stand-up. I wanted it sticking out, rather than pressed against the wheel.

The next step was to create the wall, so I got on that while Brian was doing his thing.

My job was the easiest, and I was done in no time...



So then we moved the Boo-Wheel behind the Horror Wall (Ya like that? My creativity with the names?) and attatched Freddy.

Then it was time to test it out...







A SUCCESS!!!

That was the last pass, of course. We had to adjust Freddy's proximity to the wheela couple of times before we nailed it.

And what the pics can't show you is that the Boo-Wheel makes a long arch, unseen behind the wall. And every time the Freddy stand-up comes around, he pokes through the wall, appearing to the person on the other side of the wall that Freddy is swinging out to take a swipe at them and then disappearing back into the wall.

The final step of the process was to turn the Boo-Wheel completely invisible. What you DON'T see on the other side of the wall is the Boo-Wheel (which was previously wood textured).



And there ya go... My first guided tour through one of the many, many addictive aspects of SL!!! I hope to take you on more of these tours as my adventures continue.

That is, of course, if I can pull myself out of the world long enough to organize the pics and write the article!!!

Bed Time...

I need to get some sleep now, but I just wanted to record here that I spent more time meeting new people in SL today and tonight than I have in RL in FOREVER!!!

And it was really fun!!!

It started out with me hanging with Brina, then Tommy came along, then a woman I met a few days ago (whom I DO NOT know in RL) and the 4 of us hung out and made stuff and fixed stuff, then I hooked up with another woman I met last night, and she introduced me to her friends...

It's been a REALLY SOCIAL day for me!!! And I didn't leave the house!!!

Now, I get that this is sort of antisocial... Only, it's not really...

I mean, in-world the subconscious can't really distinguish between RL and SL... You're seeing stuff, you're hearing stuff, you're doing stuff....

And the people you're surrounded by are like real people -- because they ARE real people, with their own personalities and preferences, and likes and dislikes...

I'm just trying to wrap my head around this, really...

I mean, for 35 years REAL meant material, physical, able-to-be-measured-by-physics. And I knew that stuff you read, or movies you saw or music you listened to made that idea of "real" a bit more maliable. And then a deeper exploration of spirituality sort of inverted that idea.

But Virtual Living... This must be what people in the '60s who experimented with acid and LSD felt like, kind of! Because Reality is really, really unreal for me!

Am I insane?

Aw, who am I kidding? I'm not particularly concerned about my sanity! :) Experience has taught me that 9 times out of 10, insanity is a LOT more FUN :)