SecondLifeCasinos.com entrepreneur SL Loonie is launching a new way to screen your real life and SL movies into Second Life - by paying for them. In a world of cheap server space and free hosting options for Quicktime movies, such as blip.tv, I have to wonder how she plans to profit from this venture. Her prices range from 5 dollars all the way up to 80 dollars USD for 30 days of viewing. In addition, she has hosting and sponsorship options for parties. Maybe she didn't get the memo that residents have been doing this for free since the movie stream was introduced?
On the plus side, she's also hosting a contest where you can win L prizes and free screenings of your film. They are looking for the Tube2SLYouTube Film Producer of the Year 2007. What does this mean? They will take your work, which has already been compressed down to a low quality flash file and download it, then re-encode it to Quicktime format. I see Oscar potential. Or do I? The quality is pretty bad so I can't actually tell.
I'm all for showing off your hard work in Second Life, but I simply cannot endorse a pay model when there are so many other choices out there. If you're genuinely interested in earning the 25,000L price and seeing your movie highly pixelated on the big screen, you can get the rules and info here. The contest ends on September 14th, with the winners being announced on the 29th and 30th. Will you be participating?
(I've been thinking of a way to approach this subject delicately because there's no easy way to put it. I welcome all opinions and comments regarding the subject, so please weigh in.)
When I rejoined Second Life in December of 2005, I had no idea that I would be known for anything. Pretty soon I was making lots of friends and having the time of life. So much so, that after spending $185 USD in a single month on virtual shopping, it was time to get a job in SL. I asked around and ended up promoting Machinima.
While many people still have no clue who I am, I was very surprised to see the reception to me at the Second Life Community Convention (SLCC) in 2006. Everyone wanted to hang out in such a short time and, for the most part, I was able to. Then I stepped into an organizer role for SLCC 2007 and things went downhill from there.
After putting much thought into this, I'd like to address the rumors surrounding me. People have been saying that I was a bitch, or unapproachable, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I also hope that this helps you reconsider your initial meetings with all of the virtual and REAL celebrities that you may have negative thoughts about.
Read on to find out my thoughts on virtual celebrity ...
I'm going to file this one in the "too good to be true" section. One resident has decided to take SLCC to the next level, by anonymously cruising for sex. All that's known about her is that she is newly single, a larger woman, and ready to take action. She even has a system worked out. After exchanging emails, if it goes well, she'll approach you and whisper the password in your ear.
While not many in the thread on Second Citizen have taken her up on the offer yet, she has upped the ante by posting *ahem* a picture of her nether region. I'll just let you find that one yourself. This certainly raises the stakes for SLCC. If you are interested, send her an email.
With that said, what are your intentions for going to SLCC? Are you attending for business, pleasure, or ... other? Leave a comment!
Second Life Relay For Life was a roughly 21 hour event, but combine it with sweet tea and you have a full scale emergency. Partway into the Luminaria Ceremony Walk, I really needed to use the restroom, but since I was filming and auto-walking, I couldn't leave my post. That's when I noticed my mom getting a drink in the kitchen ...
I gave her simple instructions to just let my avatar do the walking, and when she comes to a turn, use the left and right arrow keys. No sooner than I got in the restroom was she calling out to me in a panicked voice. I couldn't hear her, so I hurried back, and noticed my avatar in the water. She repeatedly told me that my avatar wouldn't turn. I just accepted this news and moved on.
While that's funny in itself, I reviewed the footage last night, and it tells a completely different story. I won't give away what happened, but needless to say, my mother will never be trusted to steer my avatar again. Do you have an avatar disaster story involving a parent or sibling? Leave a comment!
There are just 14 hours of Relay For Life left! I can't believe seven hours have passed already, but they have. The statistics so far are very impressive, with avatars growing by something like 100 an hour! Laps, however, aren't growing as fast. Take a look for yourself:
Current Count:
Avatars:1085 1101
Laps:639 664
Distance:7,748,841m 8,057,561m
Lap Leaders:
13 laps: DeltaDharmaDawn Aubret:
13 laps: Cubey Terra
11 laps: Marissa Goodliffe
9 laps: Lyr Lobo
9 laps: DrFran Babcock
The Luminaria Ceremony is up next at 9pm SLT/PDT. After that is a fireworks display put on by RacerX Gullwing. Don't miss it!
(I changed the figures because they updated right as I posted.)
The Survivors Lap was held at 3pm SLT/PDT. Residents were asked to line up alongside the road and observe about 30 minutes of silence in honor of the survivors. This year's lap was done a bit different in that their caregivers were also able to take the track. As the last survivor passed forged on, we were able to follow them and complete the lap.
Since W-Hat built the Ceremony Centre sim, a group of them lined up in formation to salute the passersby. There were so many! I was able to capture footage of a bunch of them coming through, by walking, running, rollerskating, particle floating, and flying. I hope you're as touched by the Lap as I am.
(Edited to change wording for more sensitive wording.)
There are a lot of residents cheering on specific teams, but with 32 sims, the campsites may be hard to locate. Christopher Sterling has provided me with a map of the locations, which I've deciphered and SLURL'd for you! Please keep in mind that the sims are listed in the order that they would go around the track, and the teams listed left to right, top to bottom.
Please read on for the complete listing of team locations ...
Second Life Relay For Life has only been open a short few hours, but already it has been marred by attacks on the 32 sims. It started about two hours before the event when a whopping *12* sims were down for the count. According to the Security team, they may have suffered an attack and asked that build be turned off. A short time later, all sims were back up.
That did not stop griefers from attacking the Ceremony Centre during Jade Lily's opening speech. Suddenly she was enveloped and standing on a mound of earth, instead of the stage where she had previously been. A creative individual terraformed the sim to raise and lower land. At this time, W-Hat is fixing the land since Lindens weren't available to roll it back.
Please don't let this stop you from visiting SLRFL! Hopefully that was the last of it as all precautions have been made to prevent further attacks. I hope to see you there!
The Pixels in Pink ladies are at it again! They've designed their campsite, appropriately named PiP Film Noir, to be a brilliant mix of greyscale and ... pink! The ladies, Torrid Midnight, Zyrra Falcone, Hosequeen McLean, Pukk Abel, Rose Farina, Stella Costello, Fallingwater Cellardoor, Nephilaine Protagonist, and several others, have created an element of mystery and awe that just calls to you.
A very tired, overworked Stella Costello mentioned that she was making a Machinima this morning and I'm sharing it with you! As you can see from the film, there are auctions, vendors, flowers, dancing, a theater, and even PIE! Please stop by and donate or purchase items if you can, as all proceeds go to the American Cancer Society.
Just as a reminder, Relay For Life officially starts at 2pm SLT/PDT today, but the sims are open now to explore.
There are so many events going on within Second Life Relay For Life this weekend that you don't want to miss! The planners, including Fayandria Foley, Timeless Prototype, RC Mars, and Christopher Sterling, have graciously allowed us to reprint their schedule for our readers. Please note that the times listed are SL time, or PDT.
Saturday, July 28th, 2007
Official Opening at 2pm
2:00pm: Opening Ceremony to be held at the Ceremony Centre, including Opening Remarks by Jade Lily, Comments from our ACS Representative, RC Mars aka Randal Moss, and Instructions for the Opening Lap, with Christopher Sterling.
3:00pm: Survivor/Caregiver Lap
4:00pm: Relay Attire
6:00pm: Hats and Boots Lap
7:00pm: Mr. and Mrs. Relay For Life 2007 Pageant (Please note that the time may change, but T1 Radio will notify us if it does)
8:00pm: Barefoot Lap
9:00pm: Luminaria/Ceremony of Hope at the Ceremony Centre, with Poppy Zabelin
9:30pm: Fireworks, provided by RacerX Gullwing
11:00pm: Crazy Hair Lap (Wear your craziest hair, no matter what color!)
Relay for Life has been in Second Life for years now, and for those of you that don't know, this weekend marks the celebration that the fundraising is done for the 2007 fiscal year! After this next week, the sims will disappear and fundraising will begin for 2008. As of 6pm SL time, they've raised L$26,885,975, which is a few hundred dollars short of $100,000 USD!
In the next couple of days, I'll be posting information and schedules for events revolving around SLRFL. A lot of work went into this from many teams. There will be auctions, pageants, and themed laps around the track, which takes over an hour to walk!
The official event starts tomorrow, Saturday, July 28th, at 2pm SL time (PDT), but don't let that stop you from checking it out now! To start your walk through all 32 sims or donate money to the American Cancer Society, head on over to RelayForLife Start.
In April of 2007, Jesse Malthus passed away, leaving an entire community saddened by their loss. He was known for his involvement in libsecondlife, Open Source, and OpenSim. A kind individual often found in #opensl on EFnet IRC, he would help anyone that needed it. His enthusiastic attitude lives on today in those that carried on his work, including his mother, who joined after his death.
That is why otakup0pe Neumann has chosen to nominate Jesse Malthus for Best Open Source Community Organizer. According to him, it has nothing to do with the fact that he is gone. If Jesse were still alive today, he would be nominated just the same. If you were ever encouraged by Jesse, or he helped you in some way, please consider voting for Jesse, leaving a comment, or both to help him get the recognition that he deserves.
[In an effort to keep the real individuals out of this, I'm going to pose a hypothetical question to both bloggers and residents.]
As a blogger, I recognize that I'm not a journalist. I try to follow a code of ethics and extend the courtesy that I am given. If I need a comment on an entry I'm working on, I will send the person a private message, or instant message them somewhere if I know them personally. If an explanation is long-winded, I will ask if I am allowed to call them, but again, only if I know them.
To provide an example, let's say a potentially controversial piece of information was discovered by a blogger, and they felt the need to get a comment RIGHT away. Now imagine being a resident enjoying dinner with friends in real life, when you receive a call to your cell phone asking you to comment on this information.
How would you feel about that? Is it okay for bloggers of SL news publications to phone you for the knowledge that they could receive with an in-world IM or email? Do you feel this violates your privacy? On the flip side, if you are a blogger, do you think it's okay to call for a comment on a story? If so, in what situations would this be okay? Leave a comment!
A number of the SL blogosphere have been up in arms about the Community Standards and the contract for musicians. They've even taken to attacking other planners that have NOTHING to do with the main conference, or the Social track. How quickly people forget that there are *three* other tracks, as well as other activities to enjoy on Friday and possibly Saturday.
Less than two months before SLCC is set to start, it's falling apart, after all the hard work put in by the other planners. It's not some "in" thing for many of us, where we favor our friends over others. We've tried to keep it fair and honest.
Here's an idea. Come to enjoy the convention itself without performing, or just see Chicago. Maybe you could meet with some friends there, since everyone will already be in the hotel. The live music portion is such a tiny part of the entire thing. Don't drag down the morale of the rest of us.
Has the music portion turned you off from attending? Will you be requesting a refund for either issue cited?
Welcome to the thirteenth episode of On the Inside, Second Life Insider's Official Podcast!
This episode features our interview with Spin Martin, also known as Eric Rice, blogger, podcaster, producer, Web 2.0 poster boy. Moo Money co-hosts with me, and we talk about convergence, transliteracy, and, of course, the iPhone. Oh, and a little bit of SL too. As always, feel free to leave your questions and comments!
Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to On the Inside directly in iTunes (MP3) [RSS] Add the SLI Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically [Mp3] Download the MP3 directly
SecondLifeCasinos.com entrepreneur SL Loonie is launching a new way to screen your real life and SL movies into Second Life - by paying for them. In a world of cheap server space and free hosting options for Quicktime movies, such as blip.tv, I have to wonder how she plans to profit from this venture. Her prices range from 5 dollars all the way up to 80 dollars USD for 30 days of viewing. In addition, she has hosting and sponsorship options for parties. Maybe she didn't get the memo that residents have been doing this for free since the movie stream was introduced?
(I've been thinking of a way to approach this subject delicately because there's no easy way to put it. I welcome all opinions and comments regarding the subject, so please weigh in.)
I'm going to file this one in the "too good to be true" section. One resident has decided to take 
There are just 14 hours of Relay For Life left! I can't believe seven hours have passed already, but they have. The statistics so far are very impressive, with avatars growing by something like 100 an hour! Laps, however, aren't growing as fast. Take a look for yourself:
There are a lot of residents cheering on specific teams, but with 32 sims, the campsites may be hard to locate. Christopher Sterling has provided me with a map of the locations, which I've deciphered and SLURL'd for you! Please keep in mind that the sims are listed in the order that they would go around the track, and the teams listed left to right, top to bottom.
There are so many events going on within 
With 
[In an effort to keep the real individuals out of this, I'm going to pose a hypothetical question to both bloggers and residents.]
A number of the SL blogosphere have been up in arms about the 
