Friday, August 10, 2007

Of Second Life art, waterfalls, and tokens

My mood, of late, has not been sparkly and shiny. I have been using all of my willpower not to use this as a forum to whimper. Still, when one is down in the dumps, it is sometimes hard to, "find the joy", as Mykyl likes to phrase it. I shall persevere.

This Sunday, I have been invited to debate as to whether or not there is such a thing as Second Life art. I have, fortunately, been given the side of affirming the assertion. My opponent, a friend of mine from my early days in SL, is a RL artist, and for some reason yet to be identified holds the opposite view. The event is being well publicized, and the very controversial nature of the question we hope will inspire many to watch and participate. My animator has not been in a formal debate since high school. I would be lying if I said that i was not a bit nervous. Nevertheless, my arguments are sound, multiple, and vary from the very simple to the complex. Both my opponent and I are quite certain that the sympathies of the crowd will be with me. Nevertheless, she does truly believe her stance. All she has said to me is that it is a matter of semantics, which it undoubtedly is. I have several theories as to what her arguments will be, and have counters to all of these. It is the possibility of an argument that I haven't thought of that worries me.

It is not just that I have a competitive nature and don't like losing. It is the potential scope of the thing that worries me. If, indeed, this event gets the kind of publicity that we want it to get, we could have reporters there, perhaps even from the real world. Somehow, I feel that I have weight of all of the artists of Second Life on my shoulders. I feel that a "loss" in this instance would be to illegitimise the work of then entire SL art community, and perhaps even illegitimise the very nature of Second Life itself. There are many in RL that feel that SL is a waste of time (certain reporters from Wired Magazine spring to mind). They would love to take a loss in this instance to reinforce their views

So, although I feel that my arguments are sound, I won't let my mind rest with the issue until the debate is over. The stakes here could be quite high. Or not. Time will tell.

In other news, the waterfalls the Princess and I are working on are progressing quite nicely. We found some amazing sculpy water which we are using now for the main basin of the falls, and I have several ideas to make things appear more underwater-like when swimming.

In Everwind, I have contacted my guild leader for instructions as to how to find the token of Castan. Something, apparently, needs to be set up before my quest can begin. I doubt that my adventure will involve the blood of a thousand snakes, but I thank you for keeping some on hand, Mykyl.

Some kind of portal to evil has been opened in the fairy garden in Everwind, and the fairies, quite understandably, are not a all happy with it. It seems to be contained by some kind of force-field at the moment. Ah well, there are those in Everwind far more qualified than I to deal with such things. I'll get my cleric hud as soon as Castan's token. Until then, my powers there are quite limited.

In the mean time, let us continue to hope and pray that the all-mighty Linden gods get their shit together and find a way to stabilize our world somewhat more. Building has been quite challenging of late, and a bearded, bare-chested, Alphonsus Ruth Peck is not a sight that I wish to traumatize my friends with. I have been quite traumatized myself from the view, and I can only hope that the nightmares about it will end in the next couple of months.

May all find strength and beauty in truth, and may the dark evil of Nexxus not sully your doorsteps.

3 comments:

Camilla said...

Aww, Alph. You looked cute with Ruth's bare breasts!

Anonymous said...

/me giggles :)

Anonymous said...

/me thinks it's definitely time for the bare-chested shaven Alphonsus non-Ruth Peck to make a reappearance and "shake his thang" in that pair of Stars & Stripes briefs :P... if he's emerging spontaneously, isn't that a sign that he's been repressed under layers of respectability for too long? ;-)