Summer & Winter's Second Life Rezzday

Last Friday the twin sisters Summer and Winter had a ball for their rezzday. I must say, a totally different approach for having a party. And a party is what it was.
With some classic music and Frank (Sinatra) , we danced and had fun for quiet some time, although I did not understand a word from the Portuguese language, but then again, neither did they from my Flemish.))

Fortunately I had another Belgian to talk too, and we could take revenge by talking Flemish. Largo was his name, and was Winters' boyfriend.
Thank you Winter and Summer for the invitation, it was a great party, you both were "Sissy" for that night.;))

Snapshots in Second Life : Art or just pictures?

post processed image

I have been taking snapshots in Second Life for several months now, because I like doing it, and I wanted to learn in how to post process the snapshots afterwards.
After all these months, I was wondering where to draw a line between nice snapshots and beautiful images, post processed by someone who knows what he is doing in Photoshop or so. And the competition is growing, I can tell you that.
Now, I am very pleased with what I learned, and I use the skills already in RL, in my daily job.
But I am wondering what is suppose to be art in Second Life.

No post processing (just the name added)

I use to make snapshots, and try to make them as nice as I can, from different angles, with a special view etc....and use the post processing just to blur a bit, or to manage the colors or the contrast a bit more. But these pictures are not comparable with images, which are post processed, and where the post processing makes the image.
Now, pictures, which are not heavily reworked are to me, or could be, art as well. And here I want your opinion.

just adjustment of contrast,name and frame added

Could snapshots, made without or just a little post processing, be art or not?
As example I have put some of mine pictures here, but these are not here as a standard.
Once you have decided which pictures are art to you, the next question will be, is this art also art in RL? Would there be a market for this kind of art?
These questions are perhaps not very important to you, but could be decisive for me.

Second Life Art : Cieniega Soon at the Avatrait Gallery

From today on, Cienega Soon will have an exhibition at the Avatrait Gallery. I can only recommend to pay a visit to the gallery, because this artist has a way to play with colors. Just magnificent.

Second Life Viewer Susceptible to Quicktime Security Flaw

ALERT !!!

I post this original message for should you read this blog before logging into Second Life.
This is from the official Linden Blog.
When you log in, you will get the message, first to read the official blog for this message.

"We were alerted a short time ago that a QuickTime exploit has been discovered which may allow an attacker to crash or exploit the Second Life viewer. The Second Life viewer uses Apple QuickTime to play videos and streaming media. This exploit affects QuickTime usage on every platform that uses it, and to date, Apple has not released a fix for the exploit.

At this time we advise that you disable streaming video playback in the Second Life viewer except when you are attending a known and trusted venue. To do this, just open the Preferences dialog, and uncheck the “Play Streaming Video When Available” checkbox on the “Audio & Video” tab.

We do have the ability to turn off all videos on the grid, but have instead chosen to respect the existing in-world content and experiences which rely on streaming video, as we know that many of you enjoy these. We do recommend that you employ caution when using QuickTime in Second Life, only enabling it in environments that you trust, and are familiar with.

We are able to track attacks, and rest assured, if we discover a malicious stream, we will vigorously pursue the attacker. This will include account termination and legal action if appropriate, as well as the appropriate assistance for affected Residents.

The bug is in QuickTime, and not in the Second Life viewer. When Apple has submitted a fix, we will integrate it into the viewer as quickly as possible, and will notify everyone once this has been done."

How to make money in Second Life?

The slide share embed below is called How to make money in Second Life, and it is kind of funny, it still has references to casinos and shows a Ginko Financial terminal in the next to the last shot. Don’t do it buddy!

Apparently this slide show is made by one of my best friends in SL, Coolz0r Courier, and was made 10 months ago, so before the Ginko and casino story.
I still thought it was nice to post it.

| View | Upload your own

Found on Smartlindens.

Betrayal or not in Second Life?

We are all having fun in Second life, in one way or another, otherwise we wouldn't be on the grid, I assume.
In those several months that I am a "player" in Second Life, I hear more about people leaving SL, due to their relationship in RL.
I have lost already some dear friends, because their real life partner had found out some actions on their PC, which were not "proper". And with these actions I don't necessarily mean SLex, but just having good times with an avatar of the opposite sex, by talking or/and accompanied.
The question is, are we betraying our partner in RL, by just having some unforgettable times, by just being able to forget the RL problems for just a little while?
Because, let us be honest, we all have some troubles in RL, minor or big, and SL is helping us to forget them just a little bit. We are able to find new skills, to explore the wonderful world of SL in all its means etc..., and that is a lot more amusing, to do with a friend.
And if it happens to be with an avatar of the opposite sex, would that mean that we are betraying our partner in real life?
To my opinion, most of the time, the partner does not "play" in Second Life, and that is why they don't understand what is going on, and what real friendship means in SL. And yes, that can be a bit more than saying "Hi" and "Goodnight", but is that betrayal?
But everyone still have feelings, and those feelings are of course also there with our partners, only...they don't know about Second Life. And if the first life is difficult enough, than why making it more complicate than it already is?
So at the end, we are not helping ourselves by running towards Second Life, we are creating more difficulties. Instead of finding some peace in SL, we will not be able to forget the problems from real life.......we are creating even more problems.
Conclusion of it all: stay out of Second Life!!;))

A Second Life Avatrait

On November, 20^th, the postman was at my door, but, as like most of us are working during the day, I was not able to receive a package that he had with him for me. He left a note in the mailbox and, as most of those post offices are only open on the same hours that everyone is working, it is difficult to find the right time to get that package.

Nevertheless I managed to find the time, I had to quit the office in time, and get there before closing hour.

I was expecting a package from Illinois, but was already waiting for so long, that I did not thought that this would be it. You can imagine my curiosity to open the package once I saw that it was from Avatrait.

I have to admit, it was worthwhile waiting. It is even more beautiful than on the screen. The colors are so true.

It is great to actually have a piece of your own from Second Life in RL. It is hanging right in front of me, against the wall, so when I am working on my PC, I see this piece of art, and with art I don’t mean my picture, but all of it, the frame with the picture.

I had no intention to make a free advertisement with this article, but when something was promised by a company, and when those promises are actually met, and how, I can only recommend the Avatrait Gallery, when you would like a picture from Second Life hanging in your RL room from the best artists on the grid.

And in fact it is also a little advertisement for my pictures too.;))

You can find all about the arts and artists of the Avatrait Gallery here.

New Second Life “SLURRENCY EXCHANGE™” to offer best rates, preferred programs.

Evanston, IL – 11/26/2007

Virtual world developer Simuality.com announced their new venture
into the world of Second Life currency exchanges, with the opening
of the SLURRENCY EXCHANGE™,whose main office is located on the
Simuality island.

Simuality founder Antony van Zyl (Hendry Goldkey in-world) was quoted:
“moving into the exchange of Linden Dollars for other currencies is a
natural outgrowth of our efforts to bridge the gap between the real and
virtual worlds”.  Initially, all transactions will be PayPal based,
allowing for the greatest flexibility in transactions for Second Life
users world-wide.

The SLURRENCY EXCHANGE™ promises to have the best rates, set daily,
for both those buying Linden Dollars and those looking to cash
out their in-world earnings.  In addition, there are “preferred customer”
programs for regular users, with separate structures for frequent buyers
and sellers.

Live avatar attendants are available at Simuality’s SLURRENCY
EXCHANGE™ to help with customer transactions during official hours of
operation at the island offices.  Eventually these hours will expand
to 24/7, and access will be available from kiosks throughout Second
Life.

Located at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Simuality/195/205/2
in theNortheast corner of the Simuality sim, the SLURRENCY EXCHANGE™ is
currently open for business from 11am till 3pm SLT seven days a week.
Second Life residents are encouraged to visit and get details about
signing up for the Preferred Customer programs. 

Winter at "Doornroosje"

Despite the lower traffic at Second life's Doornroosje, the seasons are not standing still. Eagle may have found another spot to build a wonderful castle, with lots of surprises, until further notice, Doornroosje is a place where we all have nice thoughts about. As already known, the months in Second Life seems in fact as years, and we all regret that the former "Roosjes"group has split, for many reasons, but they all are still present in SL. We hope sincerely that once Eagle's castle is built, we all get together again like in the old days, and have some fun. Sorry........not some fun, but a lot of fun. There are already some of us, who can actually confirm, that the new place has everything that it takes to make Eagle's nest to a friends gathering place, where we all can do what we please to have fun.
In the meanwhile we see the snow falling at Doornroosje, a Christmas tree is standing in all it's glory, the first present already waiting under the tree.
For a lot of us, and I think for all of us from the "Roosjes' group, it will be the first Christmas in Second Life.

Update: Career makers in Second Life (part 2)

Yesterday evening I visited the store of PatrickHufschmid on Second Life. I just wanted to have a quick look, but did not expect that Patrick Hufschmid himself would be there actually. This was of course the ideal opportunity to know what he is doing in SL.
In his store in SL, he creates originals, which he can make later as an exact copy of those guitars in RL. Some of them are limited editions, scripted with rooth prims. It is amazing what he does with his guitars, not only in RL, but in SL as well.
I was lucky yesterday, as he had taken a day off in RL to update his guitars in SL, and so I was the first one to see his latest project in SL, also a limited edition, a "waterguitar", scripted of course.
After I said that I had published an article about him on my blog, he started to explain, with the exact copy of his handmade built guitar of "After Forever", how and what these guitars could do in SL. How you can play them, how you can test them.
This original is only recently available in SL, and he gave me a link to a website where an article was written about this SL guitar.
"Patrick decided to give After Forever some Second Life promotion, and it's awesome to see that it actually works out, I think he's one of the first guitar builders to do it in this unique way. He's created an After Forever guitar that you can actually buy and use for your second life character."said Sander Gommans, After Forever guitarist.

By visiting PatrckHufschmid's store in Second Life, you get a "Funny Guitar" for free with his signature.
We played a bit around with the guitars, and I tested the features in this "Funny Guitar". A real "must have" for a laughter at parties!
And finally he let me play his piano in SL, the HufPaull.