Fishy Mardi Musicky Stuff

Snapshot taken during contest courtesy of Grey Nacht

With the success of my first 7Seas fishing contest held at The Starship Diner, a chapter has either ended or opened up.  Hard to tell which, but it's nice to have seen how this works.   Will make trophies for level up and 13th place at some point, and if there's a gap or two this weekend I'll announce more contests.

For now the focus of building will be for New Toulouse. Some of it's art, but with Mardi Gras weeks away I want to get some nice stuff together.  Will Cap'n Shinez return to Second Life with his crew of bead-throwing noobs?  Never can tell!

This Saturday are two interesting things.  First at 1pm SLT the theme for New London's weekly event at 1pm slt is "Come as your alt" which should bring in some interesting strangers.  Snurky Snoodle will be playing the tunes; don't worry, she's got my collection at her disposal, provided she doesn't dispose of anything. 

Later at 7:30pm SLT is A Taste of Bay City.  I'm hosting this week on the Artspace level of Cartoon World Gallery.  Music will be old jazz, big band, neo-swing and rockabilly.  Dress in your 30s-50s fare and be ready for some fun.

Er, anybody got a couples danceball with jitterbug and foxtrot loaded that I can borrow?

Between these two events will be Bacchus from 5:45-7:10pm SLT.  The kids are busy with Hard Knocks winter camp for the rest of the month, then - from what I hear - resume fishing at Cheep Cheep Landing on Livingtree in February one hour earlier at 5pm SLT.

To Feesh or not to Feesh

This MLK Holiday Weekend I've got some "test Fishing contests" planned.  By then everything will have been set up and ready.  Even now the customs box is at Hydrangea; the fishing server's already been there going on 2 years this spring, so the fishing area is up for all your Dalek-catching needs.  Seating for those who want, music's usually KONAstream by default.

Have to test the jackpot thingie.  At first the secondary display board wouldn't work in the lot in back of the diner.  Suddenly last night it worked fine.   If things pan out, I'll be able to hold impromptu contests anytime I want, perhaps DJ during those times.

Trophies...  I got plans for those.  Top five, an arbitrary standing, a bounty, and a level up.

I think being a diner you can imagine the type of trophies I have planned.  Think I'll display them on a menu.

I wonder if it's overkill to bring out The Dog n Hog Snackbar to house trophy and customs displays?  Hmmm of course it is.

Someone recommended an inworld sculpting tool which could come in handy.  Eventually.  Right now I'm desperately in need of RL funds to catch up with maintenance.  It's been one step forward and two steps back for some time.  I did say twoish years ago that I'd auction off some Burning Life art, but that interest is gone and not likely anyone would buy my art at this stage in the game.

The snows have melted on SkyBeam and spring looks just great. I take everything back. It's a great look, with blossoming groundcover all over.

Testing Blogger App

Oh this sucks

It seems the best course of action to compose on the Blogger app is to compose it outside, then paste it in. The damn thing doesn't have landscape capability.

New Year Mumblings about things Grid

New Year's Eve was busy busy, with THREE events.  First was New London.  I played Auld Lang Syne into the European New Year, the  handed the stream off to the next DJ, who rang in the UK.

Sunday night was interesting in New Toulouse.  They've grown considerably in the short time I've been there, and recently revisted the notion of a working railway for their northern sims, or so it appears. Seeing this and how it would affect my  location in Algiers, I checked out the other sims and found a perfect alternative in their flagship region.  I spoke with landlady Gabrielle Riel and in a short time was transferred.  Probably for the best as it will give them more freedom to terraform that area without restrictions.

Tuesday night they had teatime, which is basically a community meeting.  Nice to be in another of these :)

Meanwhile, I find myself in the equivalent of the French Quarter and closer to my roots.  And - let's face it - I'm a cityslicker at heart.  I'm in my element, and with more room (now that I've forfeit a porch).  I can include a sitting area etc. amidst a small gallery and a more ornate shop of knick knacks.


Will I still be able to call it Maison Bleu?  Who knows?  Maybe it should be called Tchatchkes or something. Update: Guess it's still Maison Bleu, thanks to the Moles' Nautilus City texture pack.

This is on the heels of a fishing area I'm planning for Hydrangea.  There are many times when there is no fishing contest and people are in limbo.  The Retro Metro is part of a group beautification project, with most would-be prim availability assigned to other builds.  It's not possible to add a contest board, contest pot or more chairs.  The alternative is hold it near the diner.  Even using my primmiest TARDIS console there's plenty to spare when I don't have a big build project planned.

So 77m up, I've drawn a kind of pool of chalk on the asphalt.  Tonight I'll have time to put down those growy chair prims, also drawn on the asphalt with chalk.  I have a contest pot prim somewhere that I bought almost 2 years ago after checking out the creator of Razzap's back on Blaksleeworld.  If it still works then great.  If it can be set to reverse payout then so much the better.  That means of the top 5  the fifth place gets the highest amount.  Custom trophies and a custom bounty would be nice.  And a custom level up prize maybe?  Yeh, all for impromptu contests.

 

 SL9B... I wonder what the theme will be?  I may be counting chickens but a head start would be nice.  With advanced warning I could schedule some more time and present more detailed art and builds instead of rushing. 

Which reminds me (speaking of things which delayed working on an exhibit last Jul-Sept), I have another surgical procedure on my hand scheduled next Monday.  It's been easy to function with the injury this time around since it's not as essential as a  thumb, but because I compensated so much in the summer, the middle finger's now affected.  Thing is the bandage will be right in the middle of my fingers.  Maybe I should make an appointment for the index finger while I'm there?  Took 2-1/2 months this time around.

iTunes, why do you thwart me so?  Most songs I look for are either nonexistent or sung by other people or on Karaoke collections.  I am stuck to purchase a CD for one song, which means I'll never get around to purchasing those kinds of CDs.  If only I could trade in my vinyl for the same things on CD at half price.  Except Japanese pressings, colored vinyl and picture discs.  They should yield higher return.

Interholiday Round-up

Many Tardis products which rely on rezzer positioning are broken in Second Life. 

Apparently they work by virtue of a fault in LL sim technology.  A parameter which was necessary for a myriad of extended functions but which shouldn't be possible. A blessing in the guise of a bug. 

The gridwide upgrade this month caught and fixed it, slamming and damning folks such as Novatech, makers of Horizons systems.  Several TARDIS brands including, Bad Wolf Corp, New London Systems, Hands of Omega, and Cheshyr's own Novatech were hampered by this fix. 

Basically anyone rezzing an affected product will be subject to the land properties set at 0,0 on that sim.  If you're subject to a no rez restriction, there will be complications.  For some a portion of the build does not rez.  For me, depending on the build, the main portion rezzes in position and other linked parts rez offset or way out of position, with the false alert in chat that I've rezzed too close to a property border.   I spoke with the owner in the southeast corner of Hydrangea.  The land there is a rental and it wouldn't be fair to them or their renter to change the settings.

Not everyone will notice it of course. Sim owners, protected land and so on shouldn't get in the way of precision rezzing.

According to the JIRA for this break, there is a new LSL parameter which will be added in a scheduled deployment in January. Novatech and those who utilize the Horizons system for their products will apply in upgrades.  

I can't imagine Horizons being unique.  Rez Foo and Rez Faux users may want to check for updates when the time comes.  Meanwhile, my elaborate Smith grade control room won't be happening.  I look forward to its return. It's still my favorite.

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-7265

Mesh. 

I can't make fun of Mesh anymore.  If anything I'm fair, and with Phoenix' latest update, most of the grid now has a choice over whether to use a V1 or V3 type interface and see full content.  Imprudence still holds back lag the best (even Emerald - Phoenix' predecessor - was a memory hog for Windows users), therefore I continue to use that.  I hope whatever they need to clear to move forward with multiple attachments and mesh rendering gets resolved sooner than later.  In the meantime I'll hold my tongue about your invisible torso and that woodgrain donut on your arm.  IMHO viewable or not, if you have to let some clothier redefine your body to such a degree, you're neither you and those aren't just clothes anymore. Note if your face is covered by a rogue prim, it's likely that I won't acknowledge you. It's just rude to appear that way; at least my friends know how I'm viewing them and haven't obscured their faces.


New Toulouse had a dusting last weekend.  It reminded me of how New Orleans often experienced frozen ponds and puddles in winter, spending time before 1st grade chopping at the white spots in the ice with our heels until the bell rang.  One year though we had a serioso blizzard (before I started going to school) which allowed me to experience snow for the first time.  Dad was stuck home and we made a snowman in the parking lot.  Before that I had no idea snow was cold or wet.  It all looked like soap flakes on TV.  Probably were...

Unfortunately the beauty I've enjoyed - although not enough - is coming to an end on Skybeam.  The snows will thaw to an early spring following New Year's.  Not quite the Imbolc I looked forward to with the coldest month not yet upon us, but it's not my estate.  I'll change the tree from snowy branches to bare at that time - too soon for blooms before Ostara.  After going to college in SoCal I resolved never to live where the seasons were not defined.  It was just too disconcerting.

On the plus side, I'll be DJing at Bacchus on the Beach on New Year's Eve, then going to The Stardust Diner to host the East Coast Countdown as usual.  DJ GoSpeed Racer will be playing the tunes.  I haven't had a party in some time, so it will be nice to have one again.  This has been a perrenial since 2003 in Cybertown.

An Open Letter to Steven Moffat

Dear Steven Moffat,

Thanks to you, I'm watching Doctor Who. I watched Eleventh Hour and my mouth was ajar the whole time. Here was just a television show which was easily worthy of a cinematic release. Some 32 years since I first heard of Doctor Who, I was finally brought into the fold.  This means that Matt Smith is my Doctor. As with many of my contemporaries, I started collecting DVDs for Series 1-4 to bring myself up to date. It made your taking over as head writer seem all the more a blessing.

However I have to say that the executive producing thing has taken its toll on your storytelling.  We'll never see another The Doctor Dances or Blink (personally I felt The Girl in the Fireplace was what you'd call rubbish, so I don't count that among your gems).  There's something inspired about those great stories, a go-for-it spirit, an surge of energy behind what made them possible.  Even series 5 was one big inspired story arc, the likes I hadn't seen since Back to the Future trilogy or Buster Keaton's The Cameraman.  I don't know if it's having to divide cleverness and plot between Doctor Who and Sherlock, but as marvelous as individual stories have been throughout series 6, the big one with River Song which you orchestrated was forced and contrived.  An organized religious order after The Doctor?  Yeah right.  Sex between humans in the TARDIS imbue offspring with TimeLord DNA?  900+ years you'd think by now he'd have switched gears and lured people in for centuries just to rebuild his race.  It's a bit crazy that he didn't know, unless it was made clear that the TARDIS intentionally caused Melody's enhancement, which hasn't been implied in any way. And still there's the question of how The Silence knew in the first place that Amy was carrying a part Timelord fetus? How did they know conception in the TARDIS would cause this if The Doctor himself didn't?

Can't say divvying up mental resources hasn't told on Sherlock.  After a great start, Pretty in Pink had a copout ending.  Suddenly Sherlock stopped what he was doing like someone holding up a shiney before a crow.  No one who doesn't care what people think about them would stop to play ego footsie without bluffing, and he wasn't bluffing.  That's too gullible for a walking analytical machine.  It was a kink in the chain for the series IMHO.

Anyway, wrap it up.  Cut the crap.  No contrived endings. Bring back Wilf before Bernard Cribbins can no longer do the role.  Let his best friend back in 2009 know he's okay.  Forget a multi-Doctor reunion and stick The Doctor in that parallel universe to contend with a deadly and corrupt and overzealous Torchwood and half-human David Tennant, Pete, and Rose (there you have it: a sort of not quite tenth Doctor that won't slam The Doctor's own timeline). 

Of course you won't be doing these, even if they serve as closure to the fans and that we see this as one all-encompassing show and deserving of some crossable barriers.

Oh and please PLEASE ask BBCAmerica to stop the hell altering the opening sequence.  It's bad enough they take 25% off specials and two parter episodes that they have to further insult our intelligence with namby pamby content.

Thanks and here's to some real juicy storytelling for series 7 and 8! Make it worth the wait for a double series for the 50th. Hopefully - if the planet still exists in 2014 - we're back to starting on Easter.

Fishstock on Borrowed Time

The 7Seas Fall Fishing Festival was idyllic.  Just a bunch of people with a common pasttime sharing laughs and creativity.  People in boats, hanging from fishing lines, perched on amazing builds... No politics,  no ego beyond pride in a job well done.  Looks like most everyone wanted most everyone's custom catches too :).

For me the added perspective of having "worked" while meeting some of the more hardcore fishers and now marathon fishing with them along with friends and long lost acquaintances.

Spent the first couple of days at 7Seas' build - a giant pile of books and art supplies - catching their myriad of exclusive stuff and scoring free bait.

 Then making Hall of Fame. At the beach Dat and I would rib eachother that one would get there ahead of the other.  We decided to time it so we both made it at the same time.  Our announcements came within about a minute of eachother in a highly populated area. *heh*

As always the creativity of people is a neverending source of amusement, with people happily collecting from several creators at once while others collected theirs in another part of the three sims.  It was neat seeing people collecting Daleks and wearing Angry Turkey shirts, mismatched pajamas, etc.

 full house on friday for a series of mini-contests

We had one more official day on Monday, then borrowed time.  These festivals last basically until Linden Labs reclaims its rental sims.  In past years this meant a few days.  Last year's Fishiversary lasted to Wednesday.  They've gotten more efficient though.  Today logging in at lunch my place was returned. Some places were still there, others partially returned, still others gone.  Fishers were riding boats looking for survivors in the waters, others huddled on Celeste's remaining pillars waiting for the inevitable.  A free boat I was riding on to survey the area derezzed as I rode it.  It was like the universe was being sucked into an unseen black hole.

salvage manifested into funny fishing vehicles

But no harm done. We're all in group chat, and I'll see some at Bacchus on the Beach when I DJ or fish there, at other locations when I'm off and have time to kill, or happen to hear of an impromptu contest at Grey Nacht's estate.  Many new customs will find permanent homes at regular fishing locations (in fact, tonight I need to add the two new Daleks to Retro Metro before DJing).  And there's next spring's Fishiversary to look forward to.