Inworld exploring – 2007-03-17

More places I've been, things I've done, people I've met recently…

Teen Grid aka Teen Second Life standout Aesop Thatch recently got transferred to the Main Grid, aka "that place where people over 18+ are". In fine suitable form, he took quickly to drawing from all the new choices, and even brought over some inventions from his TG comrades, like these chairs by Dolus Naumova. Also look closely at how his facial hair matches his head hair well (that's harder than it looks, folks!).

I got to see Aesop's architecture portfolio; he's made productive use of his time, and now a broader range of people can be exposed to his talents. For anyone looking to get work as a Resident developer and wondering how to amass and present your creations, look, learn, be inspired.

Azure Islands has one of the more eye-catching roadways you'll see in Second Life: it looks like a deformed polygon. The angles remind me of the Pentagon, or maybe government facilities where they're holding aliens and transporting them in 'specially-refrigerated trucks. I didn't actually drive on them.

More fun can be had by deliberately inducing lag on your end by downloading other things and saturating your network connection; thus, scenes load slower, ego, you can easily take pictures of land with holes, as shown.

The Rift is an evocative build. Reminds me of the Adventure Construction Set cover…

which in turn brings to mind 70s prog rock art. Said Rift has got a black lake at the bottom, and while in actuality it's just prims covering up some declivity, you really want to believe it's a portal that's started to suck the mortar out of this would-be flying castle, transporting it in pieces to another world. Whether it all ends up neatly assembled, I don't know, but I'm game for the journey.

I originally found out about The Rift from Kean Kelly. Onsite, I selected clumps of prims and used Client menu > Rendering > Hide Selected, which is a nice trick for temporarily making eyesores vanish. Now, I hope some brilliant Open Source contributors will come up with a better client-side filtering mechanism, shades of #905.

And local lighting? Always a must-do.

Mmmm fresh sushi. By Nylon Pinkney. I've always liked finding prim sushi. Part of the Sushi Roller Disco, three things which should've been combined decades earlier; the exterior looks like a water tower in Tableau, which also hosts a neat underground tunnels (leading to an alien experimentation area). And on the surface, you'll find a cactus with signs. Which is a lot more organic and lively than most sign directories I've come across.

Barnesworth Anubis and Ingrid Ingersoll are building the Violet Infohub/Welcome Area (they're synonyms, no real difference). So far, it's shaping up to be a gentle, Japanese-themed affair, with a sloping tree, a spacious courtyard, and a Zen garden. Hence the Karate Kid pose. Ahhhhyesrelax. I also sent Barnes a set of official Linden kiosks to arrange — email me if you want a set too, you can mod the shells. Looking forward to seeing it populated by an influx of new Resis!

Furry Vermin Island — "We'll roast your melons!" Caught my attention.

Marbles Tokyo puts SL into perspective with his giant living room with tiny snowglobes. Click through for SLURLs and see how you size up. I blogged about him earlier; a thrill for me is seeing the growth (literally) of when a wide-eyed Resident comes in, starts making cool stuff, shares it and shows it off, visitors come, and there's a feedback loop of discovery.

Larry Pixel's long-lost son, Mason Dixon? The resemblance is uncanny.

Siyu Suen doesn't just have a talent for making masks and hats, she's also started up a blog. That dual-purpose approach is just my kinda thang, and I got this top hat and recolored it to taste. What's neat about it is it feels like a dynamic flow; generic top hats in SL often consist of 2-3 cylinders: 1 for the flattened brim, 1 hollowed for the bulk of it, and maybe another for the hat band. But this looks more organic. I found a small gap in it, tho quick resizing (it's moddable + copiable) saved the day. Maybe you'll see me wearing it soon.

Proper thanxies are in place for those who came to visit me during my inworld office hours! While you know my specialties, I don't confine to a single — or even several — topics, and my mode generally consists of encouraging whatever comes up, then relating it to whatever else comes up. The freeform discussion may seem antithetical to a structured talk (which some fellow Lindens are more into), and I really believe it's important to delve into the flowing, spontaneous bursts of info that can come out of any corner.

I also often like to ask my guests about their avatars, origin stories, and other points of observed interest. If you're avid about connections as I am, come on over. It's nice to have a place to stay grounded, as during most of the week, I'm teleporting like mad. Speaking of, if you have landmarks you'd like to share, feel free to drop 'em in my inventory and I'll check those places out in future jaunts!

Tagged as: General, Inworld Exploring, Pictures