Kowloon

Kowloon iSL: it's easily the best long-term build I've seen that I can't support by renting there!   The sim is Chinese-language only to live or rent a shop there, and that makes it the closest thing to a RL Chinatown that I can imagine.

Based on an old PlayStation videogame that apparently had no U.S. release, Kowloon's Gate, the sim is a labyrinth of alleyways, shops, neon signs, and beautifully crafted surprises around every corner.

Visit there, shop there, RP (without weapons) there, and ideally, dress more appropriately than my created-thanks-to-Rudi surfer-girl avi is dressed.

Great shops, beautiful artistry

The feeling is like being in a mostly deserted San Fran or NY Chinatown

Where are the almond cookies?  Anyone see a bakery?

When is the dragon parade?   Yikes, I'm sucha tourist.

A less sinister feeling than Midian City to me, but that's not for lack of dark alleyways.

The gate: open due to a resident having recently arrived.

Interesting sign for a shooter-videogame-based sim.

Mmmm the sweet smells of an incense shop.  Great for my Dia de los Muertos alter in NOLA next year.

Artful builds within builds.  On the left is the original notecard; on the right is a Google translation of the text.

Links to more about Kowloon

• in the destination guide
• as blogged about by Raul Crimson
• as blogged about by Chestnut Rau
• as blogged about by Wagner James Au

"The Path"

L and I have been talking about getting to this art show,

and we finally found the time to make it happen today. 

This is "The Path," a show curated by Bryn Oh for the new LEA project.

Politically support it or curse it, it's giving some of my favorite artists a few prims and

a little recognition (VERY little: where's the Linden love again?).

My heart goes out to Miso who has not been feeling well lately;

she remains my favorite artist working in SL.

But "The Path" allowed us to see new work from Bryn, Scottius Polke, and Rose Borchovski,

and introduced me to some other folks as well.

Read a great account of the show here at Prim Perfect by Rowan Derryth (my kin folk! :)

Colin Fizgig as usual creates NPiRL mind/body confusions.

Maya Paris added animations to make spiders even more fun than they normally are.

Rose's work rarely makes me feel on the edge of the world.  On edge, yes, edgy, yes.

I loved playing with L in these crazy falling animations in Rose Borchovski's contribution.

Gorgeous gorgeous show.  Great narrative and solid experience.

UPDATE 3 NOVEMBER: At TreetTV

"Host Tricia Aferdita takes us to "The Path", a collaboative art installation organized by Bryn Oh and the Linden Endowment for the Arts. We meet artists Colin Fizgig, Marcus Inkpen, Douglas Story & Rose Borchovski; four of the nine artists involved in the narrative."

http://treet.tv/shows/metaverse-arts/episodes/path 

Bryn Oh's "Family Unit"

Always get these things posted too late to act as an advertisement,

but Bryn's curating a new show for LEA going on right now. 

These pictures are from the "Family Unit" show at MiC - Museums of Rome Capital from late September.

Power of perceived kinship?

The path through the marsh has fallen away;
we slog through unknown depths to get we're not quite sure where,
feeling very very small.

Distracted by the beautiful scripted insects.
They are comforting yet too potentially powerful because of their size.

Okay, Alda, I'm right behind you.
No, really.

What a long past you have, Madam...

Yes, it is important to get it as straight as possible,
although none of us will ever tell the story
just exactly right.

As I was getting on (what I later saw was) the elevator to ride up to the first level of Heaven (maybe), Alda abandoned me for sleep.  

I bravely continued on, despite the elevator muzak... 

(gorgeous touch:: it's soooo the little things that count.)

The Big Picture: not quite turtles all the way down.

The challenge: to get to Heaven

The ball drops.

Texture thriller allure.

The sun's going down -- not much time left -- 

To stand between worlds

*~~*~~*~~*~~*

I deliberately did not take any photos of what lay beyond this door because those of you who couldn't make it up thru the tunnel don't deserve to see it, lol.

Thanks, Bryn, for another awesome show and an amazing SL experience.

Miso Susanowa at burn2

Miso Susanowa's House of Cards at burn2

I was over at sororNishi's blog yesterday, thinking about taking a break in my work to go into SL and check out burn2 (go!! go!!:  Here's Miso's map!), and lo and behold, soror is talking about going to Miso's installation there.  Of course Miso has an installation there, I realize, and soror too (I would put this together after a few more minutes' time!!) but this is the curse of the SL noob (I'm still one month away from being a year old: 20 November will be it for me): I just don't think about all of the cool things happening in Second Life until I remember to start looking to see some of the cool things my friends are doing in Second Life.

And the only thing better than going to one of Miso's installations is going after you've read about what she's doing in a piece.  There is almost nothing better (with the exception of maybe 4 poseballs in the known universe) than chatting with Miso about her work, but if you can't catch her online, her blog posts capture a small shiny shard.

Miso Susanowa's House of Cards at burn2

Miso's show took me into a transpondence of emotional sound.  I was there for at least an hour.  I don't know how she so well stretches the limited resources of SL looped sound and scripting languages, but the effect of the recordings was hypnotic and mind-altering.

Be sure to click around on things when you go: there is nuance of sound to be discovered.

I have to go back for soror's (???? link to work inworld? ) tonight.

(*apologies to Bau for my current "look" -- I've recently begun wearing skins and shapes like they are clothing.  And the mood I've been in lately... well..)