Monday 18 March 2013

Answering Berry’s challenge

Are you looking for a way to put off doing something? Because Strawberry Singh has issued another challenge/meme.
Bear and Derry hanging out at Artropolis.

I am not usually much of a joiner, but this one comes on the heels of Berry’s Seven SL facts about me meme and she offers good reasons for starting it: she’s nosy and she is trying to get everyone to procrastinate like her.


And since I can’t resist the temptation to put off writing a story, well, let’s just say it’s all Berry’s fault I got no work done this morning. Copy the questions yourself, and put something important off.

What is the rez date for your current SL Avatar that you use most often?

Bear Silvershade — March 22, 2010?

Where was the first place you made friends as a newb and got to know people in Second Life?

That would have to be the Buddha Centre. I am a buddhist in RL, so I finally wandered in there to attend a ceremony after wandering around for a few days without talking a lot to people — Hey, I am shy. They were very welcoming people, and still are.

Where do you spend most of your SL time now?

I don’t think there is one particular location, since I spend most of my time sailing or exploring. Probably either my home in Fruit Islands or my studio/workshop at Artropolis.

Who is your closest friend in Second Life? (only pick one)

Oh, that’s not fair to just pick one - lots of good friends, but my partner, Derry McMahon, has to rate as closest.

What is the most favorite thing in your inventory? (only pick one)

That great black duster mesh coat I picked up from Deco.

The last thing you purchased in Second Life?

Rain. Aye, you read that right. The Best Rain. Cool stuff and very realistic.

What color clothing does your avatar wear most often?

Black. Grey.

Do you prefer to walk, run or fly?

I generally walk. Flying all the time seems unrealistic, though I prefer that to running when I am in a hurry.

What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done in SL?

Does friending Crap Mariner count? Turns out that’s not so crazy, so I’m not really sure what counts as crazy in a virtual world - maybe the time I armed myself with a teddy bear shooter and joined the Tinys in a battle against the Orks?

Who would you like to play YOU, in the movie of your SLife?

Humphrey Bogart. Or perhaps Cary Grant. No, Bogart.


Sunday 17 March 2013

van Gogh revisited

Torell Nederland

I was pleased to read in Honour MacMillan’s column earlier this week that the recreation of van Gogh’s Arles was back up, though it no longer resides on the Arles sim. It’s a build I have visited many times, but I've never felt that I have explored it as well as I should have, so I was glad for another chance.


The new build at Torell Nederland, a sim devoted to arts and culture, is well worth exploring. While it would be near impossible to recreate the sights and sounds that van Gogh experienced, Mudpuddle Cleanslate’s re-creations gives us a taste of what he might have seen and experienced as he walked through the town and countryside.

Torell Nederland
I was very young when I was first exposed to van Gogh, through a movie documenting his life. At that age, the themes of his troubled mind and instability went way over my head. His art went over my head too. Let’s face it, my experience of art was pretty limited at the time - I remember getting an A for a sculpture out of macaroni and spaghetti in Grade 4 art class, but that’s about it.

But the movie stuck with movie through the years, this portrayal of an artist, so filled with passion that it exploded into his work. That memory never went away, even though my own personal tastes turned to photography and another great and passionate artist, Edward Weston. It wasn't until later that I rediscovered van Gogh, when I got to see one of his paintings -- The Starry Night -- in person for the first time and was struck by the intensity of the work.
Mudpuddle seems to suffer from a similar fascination - as it was in Arles, the new sim is dotted by his recreations of van Gogh's paintings, complete with a copy of the original on an easel.

Like both originals, the new Arles is well worth a visit. But pack a picnic basket and take your time to explore and let the ambiance wash over you.

Thursday 14 March 2013

Experimenting with Happy Mood

Happy Mood
The March 13 Photohunt took us to Happy Mood, and its associated sims, Be Happy and Cadenza

I've visited the sims before, so I took the opportunity to relax and experiment a little in this  feature rich environment. Happy Mood is also home to HPMD, where you can purchase your own copies of  Sasaya Kayo's detailed creations, the lush plants and animals decorating the sim.
Happy Mood

 I fought my tendency to look for sweeping vistas; instead, I concentrated on details, which these sims have in abundance, and experimented with different ways of looking at them.
Happy Mood
One of the rules of the Photohunt challenge is that the image you enter can't be manipulated after the fact, so no true B&W images for me; I do manage, through careful windlight settings, to often present a more limited palette of colours. 

But for this week's entry, since I was experimenting, I decided to go with both full on colour and the theme we were given of "soft." I found this bit of cotton candy in the sky above Cadenza.
Cadenza
The Photohunt challenge takes place twice a week: Monday at 11:30 a.m. SLT and Wednesday at 6 p.m. SLT, starting from our gallery at Afar.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

My Seven SL Facts Meme

Tromp
I liked +Strawberry Singh and +Laurence Simon's (Crap Mariner) Seven SL Facts so well that I decided to jump aboard the meme.

So I moored the Windshadow at Tromp and relaxed while I gave it some thought.

1) Bear is my RL nickname - at least it’s the only one I admit to. When I signed up for SL, I was surprised that I actually had to choose a name for my avatar. I would have used my RL name, except all the last names for Steve were used up.

2) I am perfectly capable of seeing colour, I just don’t want to. 

3) In SL, I have so many sailboats that I have been accused of trying to keep Jacqueline Trudeau in business single-handed. The only time I have ever sailed a boat in RL was when I was a boy scout.

4) I get nervous whenever my inventory exceeds 6,000 items. That’s not a typo: 6,000, not 60,000. 

5) Speaking of typos, I can’t type two words in local chat without making three typos. And yes, I write for a living in RL. I consider myself job security for proofreaders. 

6) My favourite colour is black. And it is so a colour.

7) I do not say “aboot.” The last letter of the alphabet is pronounced zed.