Oh yes! It's naked time!

Marnix started a blog meme wherein he asked people to post "nekkid but tasteful butt pics."

I have a real funny feeling about posting this naked picture of myself, but I am going to do it anyway. Because in true Chestnut-style the simplest things make me think and ponder and in true Chestnut-style I am not going to do that alone. Oh no. I am going to blather on here on teh intranets so hopefully one or two of you will nod your heads and think "that woman is nuts" or "hey that woman might have a point."

So for your gawking pleasure, here is my naked behind wearing skin by Curio, hair by W&Y, and a tattoo by Aitui. I am pretty sure the pose is by LAP, the sim is Oubliette and I used a Torley preset, a tiny but of PS, and a few minutes of my time. My point in listing all of the creators is not to pretend that I have suddenly become a fashion blogger. My point is everything you see in this photo is bits of code resulting from creative work done by a lot of people. And yet? It feels like I am posting *my* naked body and now *you* will see the image as Chestnut's naked body. It's pretty, no?



I remember way back in the dark ages when I played Tiny Empires. (haha - dark ages - get it? I crack myself up.) JellyBean Madison was Queen and I was in her line. There was a lingerie party because, of course, partying in your underwear was a very normal thing back in the Dark Ages. Ok, probably not. I think it was because the dude who threw the party was looking to hook up so he invited everyone to his castle so he could see all the women half naked. I remember being totally uncomfortable being in a large group of people wearing lingerie, dancing and joking as if it were a normal evening.

Why *is* that? Why does sharing my pixel body make me feel uncomfortable? It really is the strangest thing isn't it? It just goes to show how much we humans identify with our avatars. The subject of avatar identity is so complex and, for me, endlessly interesting. So tell me, do you prance around naked without a care or does pixel nakedness feel vaguely uncomfortable for you as well?

Is that what you had in mind Marnix? How did I do?

Seasons of Peace, Seasons of War

From PookyMedia

Season of Peace, Season of War marked a deeply felt Memorial Day event which had moving performances by Strummer Swansong and Shannon Oherlihy. Commemorating the moment by bringing together many, this is captured on film as a tribute to those who have served fighting for their country.

The Theory of Everything by Gary Kohime

I had the pleasure of touring Gary Kohime's installation "The Theory of Everything" last evening. When I got there Gary happened to be around and offered to give me a guided tour, which I willingly accepted. I loved Gary's work and his explanation of the images, symbolism and inspiration was compelling. Go visit for yourself while the installation is still up. Gary will be taking it down soon as the tier on the space is costly. Drop him a few lindens if you are so inclined.

Here are some words from a notecard Gary shared about his work.

My build ....... addresses the power of speaking. Steven Hawking does not have the last word. Truth, is not what we are told, but whats in each one of our individual hearts. No one.. can truly say what is, or even why it is.

The full blue part of my creation is the Nothing, the one with the apple in it. The other side, or main entrance to my build is Everything. I re-named the part that's up at 1000 meters. Its called the Beginning and End. At ground level its called the Future, and was a dream I had when I was very young; I've never forgotten it. I have dreams that come true, this is why dreams stick with me, I guess? lol :) I also set the sim to land at what I consider the start point, which is Everything.

You could say the eclipse of Venus, is an eclipse of love, since Venus is a symbol of love. Love comes and it goes, parts of it can be hurtful/dark, others its light and bright. Water is emotion, the flags are the basis of life as we can see it; Red, Green & Blue. Flowers to me.. is Truth, as the only real truth is beauty and thats whats in all our hearts. :)

After I left the installation I got to thinking generally about the interaction between artist and audience. I have not studied art so this is probably a very elementary thought and I am not likely to express it as well as people who are actually educated on the subject so bear with me for a second.

Here is my question. Is it important for an audience to know the symbolism and meaning behind an artists work? Is it critical that we experience the work the way an artist intends us to see it? Or is it perfectly ok for the audience to be blissfully ignorant of back story, symbolism or the artists intent and instead draw their own conclusions as to the meaning of the work. Does art even necessarily have meaning?

The truth be told, I tend to wander around art exhibits alone. I like to move at my own pace and be left alone to think and feel whatever it is the work evokes. I admire the work, fully immerse in the installation and feel the art viscerally. Because this is my preferred way of experiencing things, especially in Second Life, and because I do not have a strong background in art I am sure I miss the artist's intent more often than not.

Virtual art is one of the great joys of my Second Life. I find I can completely enjoy art without fully understanding an artist's intent. Having said that, I do think understanding the broader meaning and context certainly enhances my enjoyment and appreciation of the work.

Hmmm....I guess there really is no question in there. But I do wonder what others think about this subject.

There is no reason to be bored in SL. Break out of your box!

For those of you who are not members of the ImpossibleIRL group I am posting "The Manual: Second Life Edition" which was sent to the group today. Read more at the NPIRL blog. Enjoy.


The Manual:
Second Life edition

Use the Twitter tag #manual to share any outcomes from these micro-projects.

1. Fill in your profile.

2. Sit on the ground in a circle and play word association with some friends. (e.g. Say a word in response to the word just spoken by the avatar on your right.) When you get bored, look back through the chat window and copy your favourite two words. Build a chair or chairs based on these words. Use for meetings.

3. Go on an outing. Hit the mainland with friends and pretend to be tourists. Find a beach and relax. Buy some souvenirs, take some snapshots and put them on your mantle-piece. If you haven't got a mantle-piece, build one. And a fire place.

4. Gather at 8pm this Thursday night. Dress up in suitable attire. Share any drunk animations that you have in your inventory. Search for a disco event and hit the town.

5. Find some gesture animations and practice using them somewhere on your own. Work out a physical comedy routine and perform it to your friends.

6. Find a freebie stall on the mainland. Grab 12 small objects that have something in common. Arrange all of your objects into a sequence.

7. Build one or more of the following:
The beginning of the world
The end of the world
A self-portrait that includes your full body
Something that happened at breakfast
An image from a recent dream
Something that has yet to happen to you

8. Start a cult. Establish rituals. Create a meeting place. Meet.

9. Take 10 close up 'crops' of your friends and make into a mini-exhibition.

10. Keep a journal of your dreams. Recreate your favourite ones.

11. Bake a virtual cake. Have a tea party.

12. Ask ten questions of everyone you meet.

13. Make an optical illusion.

14. Design a hat for the 21st Century. Design one for the 1st Century. Have a hat party.

15. Invent the Second Life equivalent of Mornington Crescent.

16. Build one or more of the following types of tree:
realistic tree
surrealistic tree
typographic tree
tree of life
family tree
naughty tree
musical tree
people tree
tree for sale
fruit of knowledge tree
tree into toe won't go
tree of oblivion
tree from hell
symbol tree
science fiction tree
love tree
snakes and ladders tree 
monkey puzzle tree
idolatree

17. Think of a word.
Google it.
Click on the most intriguing link.
Copy the most intriguing word on that page.
Google it.
Click on the most intriguing link.
Copy the most intriguing word on that page.
Google it.
Click on the most intriguing link.
Copy the most intriguing word on that page.
Google it.
Click on the most intriguing link.
Copy the most intriguing word on that page.
Google it.
Click on the most intriguing link.
Copy the most intriguing word on that page.
Typeset all 6 words and apply them to each side of a movable, physical cube.
Repeat the above exercise so that you have 2 dice.
Invite some friends over and throw the dice. Have a conversation based on the two words that face up.

18. Make a time-lapse film of a busy sim.

19. Start a political movement, or join an existing one.

20. Ask a friend to describe their earliest memory.
Build something which illustrates this memory and show it to your friend.
Ask them to rate it on a scale from 1 to 10.

21. Open any book and randomly point to a word. Start building something in response to that word. Make sure each object in your sculpture has full copy & modify permissions enabled. Select all of the objects and take a copy. Open the profile of one of your friends. Drag your object from your inventory onto your friend's drop box. Send them an instant message asking them to modify and add to your sculpture and send it back to you. Modify it and send it back to them. Repeat until you feel the object is finished. If you do not know how to do any of these things, then find out.

22. Create a 6 object sequence relating to the word 'Red'.

23. Meet up at dawn.

24. Make a 10 second film entitled 'Panic' using snapshots taken in-world, and some video editing software. If you need actors, use your friends. Publish it on YouTube.

25. Using freebies found on the mainland, create an assemblage to illustrate the title 'Home'.

26. Interview and take snapshots of a strange avatar. Get their permission to copy the chat-log and use their image. Create a square portrait using one of your snapshots and a square typographic piece using the chat-log text. Apply to either side of a square, flat prim. Drop a copy to your subject.

27. Go to your bookshelf and pick up a novel - any one - don't think about, just reach and grab. Open to the first page and the first line. Read it and then go into SL and take a snapshot to illustrate it.

28. Over the course of two weeks, collect all of the packaging from the food you have eaten. Photograph or scan this packaging and apply each texture to flexi-prims. Litter the land with them.

29. Take head and shoulders 'straight on' portraits of your friends. Using PhotoShop, swap their facial features around to create five new characters. Invent a name for each new character. Add the name to the picture and apply to a prim.

30. Collect all of the menus that come through your door, and all of the flyers that you get handed over the course of a week. Photograph or scan and apply to prims. Build a door with a letterbox. Arrange them on the floor next to the door.

31. Build a sculpture which demonstrates the connections between you and all of the people you know. This may represent hierarchy, age, relationships, commonality, geography or something else. Include your Second Life friends.

32. Build something that represents one or more of the following words: Ouch | Clang | Sizzle | Squeal | Bump | Thwack | Smash | Oof | Screech | Bang | Crunch | Splat

33. Go somewhere on the mainland and draw what you see (with a real pencil on a real piece of paper). Apply to a prim and display it in public.

34. Volunteer to help an in-world charity. No need for any output. Just feel good about it.

35. Build the story of Jack and Jill.

36. Take an album cover and reconstruct it using objects. Take a snapshot of the final outcome and format it as a 12 inch album sleeve. Display it next to your objects.

37. Invent a game that can be played by avatars. Display the rules next to this game. Play the game with your friends.

38. The tangram game: build a tangram animal out of prims.

39. Find out the first jobs of your friends. Create the outfits that they might have worn. Change into a different outfit each time you log-in.

40. Decide on roles and titles for each of your friends. Some suggestions: Leader | cleaner | handyman | builder | spokesperson | clown | baby | alpha male | alpha female | whiner | Dad | wino | Mum | cook | etc. Make outfits that suit the role and wear them.

41. Make a gallery. Display your 'real' work, whatever that might be.

42. Google 'How to make a t-shirt in Second Life'. Make a t-shirt. Give a copy to all of your friends.

43. Find a virtual train on the mainland and take a ride. Take snapshots of whatever catches your eye.

44. Build a house. Rent out rooms to friends who can't or won't build their own house.

45. Find the oldest object you can, and take a photograph of who made it. Walk across the old mainland, taking a photograph of each sim you cross as you do.

46. Go to the mainland and find someone. Ask them to suggest somewhere better to go than where you are. Teleport there. Take a snapshot. Find someone else. Ask them to suggest somewhere better to go than where you are. Teleport there. Take a snapshot. Find someone else. Ask them to suggest somewhere better to go than where you are. Teleport there. Take a snapshot. Find someone else. Ask them to suggest somewhere better to go than where you are. Teleport there. Take a snapshot. Find someone else. Ask them if this is the best place in Second Life.

47. Make a hexagon with only two prims.

48. Make a sphere smaller than 0.01m3.

49. Who can fly the highest? What is a 'Flight Feather'?

50. Use every single attachment point.

51. Find somewhere in Second Life that you know in Real Life. Take two identical photographs.

52. Take a photograph of another avatar from the other side of a sim.

53. Go and find the Crooked House.

54. Attend a musical event. Attend a talk. Attend a fashion show. Go to a toga party. Attend a '101' class.

55. Find a piece of work by two of the following artists: Seifert Surface | Robbie Dingo | Starax Statosky | AngryBeth Shortbread

56. Take a panoramic photograph.

57. Take exactly the same photograph every day for a week.

58. Find the oldest person you can. Interview them as if for one of the following: Heat; Maxim; The Guardian.

59. Recreate a movie poster.

60. Get a Linden Bear.

61. Pretend to be something you're not. What will you choose? Why? Does it matter? What's the reaction of your friends? Document what happens.

62. Get a pet. Make a home for your pet.

63. Why doesn't it rain?

64. Make a typeface using as few prims as possible. Typeset the first line from a novel with it.

65. Recreate an Escher print.

66. Get your photo taken with 100 other residents.

67. Convince someone else to sign up to Second Life.

68. Make a poster advertising an event.

69. Make as accurate as copy of your bedroom as you can. Spend all day in it.

70. Build and set off a domino run. Film it in progress.

71. Make a digital clock (that works).

72. Take a building and make an accurate copy. Demolish it.

73. Create 4 cube prims and use them to illustrate the following words: order | playful | tension | congested | increase | bold. Take a snapshot of each configuration.

74. Play primtionary - the prim version of pictionary.

75. Make a newspaper about what you did in a week. Make it as high-brow or as low-brow as you like.

76. Change your skin, change your gender, change your species. Buy a skin and a shape of the opposite gender or a try something more left-field - a furry, a cartoon character? Dress yourself well. Pick five words to describe how it feels.

77. Buy a pose - a posture - something you would not normally adopt in RL. Now go out and drop into conversation with another avatar. Adopt the pose. Did you get a reaction?

78. Take a snapshot of you and your friends using 5 modes of transport in Second Life.

79. Find or create a series of poses for the following words: grovel | fight | caress | migraine | hallelujah. Go out and start a conversation. Drop each word subtly into the chat and use the poses.

80. 24hr scavenger hunt. Find as many of the following items as you can: a fish | a beachball | a megaprim of any kind | some bubblegum | scissors | an elephant | a shiny skull | buddha | a gun | a working cog array | an EU flag | a number of ducks | a sheep | a rocking chair | seven dwarves | a violin | Constantinople | a trampoline | a clown | the pyramids | a human brain | a book you can read | ten pins and a bowling ball | a chess set you can play | identical twins | a cup of tea | a map of Swansea | George W. Bush | a 17th century wig | a Pina Colada | a folding chair | an interactive whiteboard | a girl called Linden | Second Life | bookshelves | a key | Batman | a die than you can actually use | a working clock | an apple | Tuesday | a small dog | a shop mannequin | a wheelbarrow | an abacus | an escalator | an aeroplane | a cloud | headphones. If you can't find them, build them.

81. Subvert your profile.

The Manual is a collection of micro-projects created by lecturers from the School of Contemporary Art & Graphic Design at Leeds Metropolitan University. This version was adapted for Second Life by Ian Truelove as part of the JISC funded Open Habitat project, and includes contributions from:
Aidan Winterburn | Jen Conway | Jessie Young | Dave Beckitt | Jo Hassall | Margarita Perez-Garcia | Ian Truelove | Andrew Wilson-Lambeth | Clive Egginton | Casey Orr | Mick Marston | Grieg Johnson | Liz Noble | Liz Stirling | Chris Bamford | Johnny Briggs | Ben Hall | Graham Hibbert | Steven Warburton | Marion Harrison

The Manual: Second Life edition is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 license.

This edition released February 2009. View the latest version at cubistscarborough.com/themanual

Where does the time go?

It has been a week since I last blogged here.

A month since we bought our land in Marawa. (The park is looking good - please stop by!)

Five months since I started writing for New World Notes.

A year since Zha and I partnered.

Close to 2 years since I first logged in to SL.

Four years since I accepted my current job and I still love it.

Close to 10 years since I have worked for my employer.

Seventeen years (and one day) since I married the best husband in the world.

Twenty years since we started dating. (Don't do the math. I will save you the effort. I am older than you thought.)

How is any of this possible? I have no idea.

It has also been over a year since I last saw Grace McDunnough's performace of Musimmersion and last evening I was able to rectify this situation.

I admit to being a field tested Grace Groupie. Collaborating with Salome Strangelove on many compositions, Grace's songwriting is pure poetry. Her song interpretation is intelligent and touches my heart. On top of her incredible musical talent Grace is a fantastic person so I was predisposed to love Musimmersion. Still, I was not prepared for the sheer sensory joy brought on by the combination of all original work, moving between fantastically detailed sets designed to enhance and illustrate each song, an intimate crowd that included some of my favorite people on the grid, all topped off by Grace's rich and soulful voice. < Insert happy, happy sigh here>

All I can say is you need to see Musimmersion. The show last night was a preview and the next few performances are limited to Grace's group. Soon enough there will be regular shows and when the schedule is available I will certainly list it on New World Notes or you can find it yourself here on Grace's page.

Great photos from last night's preview are starting to show up on Flickr so check out the Musimmersion photostream here.

Happy Anniversary to Us

One year ago today I got an email from Second Life. It said:

"Dear Chestnut Rau,
You have received a Second Life partner proposal from Zha Ewry. Please
visit the link below to view the proposal."

(Yes I saved it. Call me a dork if you like.)

I wasn't surprised by the email -- we had talked about partnering and what it would mean for us both in SL and in RL. We always meant to have a party to celebrate but we never actually got around to doing that. Instead, we have quietly spent our time together building, exploring, enjoying music and art and sharing the day-to-day of our lives. We have had moments of drama but for the most part our partnership is a quiet, consistent friendship.

I think there are lots of partnerships like ours, despite the popular notion that SL partnerships flash and burn quickly. Yes, there are lots of SL weddings and often people don't stay together for a long time. And yes we have all known people who seem to be serially partnered and don't seem to stay with the same person for long. Dramatic love affairs, lavish weddings and disastrous break ups are all too common. But, just like in the real world drama makes headlines. People don't usually have much to say about happy stable relationships.

In any case, Zha and I agree. One year is a good beginning.

The One About Privacy Wherein Chestnut Ponders Internet Deception

When I was pregnant with my son I joined a mailing list comprised of moms-to-be, all due within the same month. More than 11 years later some of us are still friends and keep in touch via facebook.

As we got close to our due dates, one of the women delivered much too early and her baby died. It was incredibly sad and frankly it was terrifying for the rest of us. Imagine being big with child and hearing that one of your confidants was suddenly no longer pregnant and had lost her child. It was awful.

Over time the rest of us delivered healthy babies and continued to share our lives. We talked about the sleep deprived days of early motherhood, the coos and urps of our infants. After a year passed some became pregnant again and we all shared in the joys of subsequent pregnancies. The woman who had tragically lost her infant -- lets call her Sarah -- was pregnant again and we were all overjoyed. Some of the pain of her loss would be soothed by the birth of a healthy infant, surely.

One day there was terrible news. Sarah had another miscarriage. What are the odds? How horrible! The poor woman! As some of the (clearly naive) members of the group began to pull together a care package we were contacted by a trusted member of our group who had done some research. Apparently Sarah was a very disturbed woman. She had, in fact, lost a baby late in pregnancy -- years before. Since then she had been trolling the pregnancy boards and faking the death of her "baby" when in fact she wasn't even pregnant. She did this over and over, victimizing various groups of women over a period of years.

I learned a few lessons from this experience. First and foremost there are sad broken people out there. People lie and deceive others and they inflict pain for their own selfish and sick reasons. The internet makes this kind of griefing incredibly easy to do. I also learned I am more trusting than is probably appropriate. I believe the stories people tell me until I am given a reason to disbelieve. This is probably not the smartest or most self-protective way to be when one has an online life, but it is part of who I am. (Griefers and con artists please take note: I will not help you move your father's estate out of Nigeria.)

It doesn't take much to figure out it is my nature to take people as they present themselves in SL. If you say you are a warrior princess when in reality you are a geeky guy in your mama's basement I really don't care. Circumstances outside the bounds of our relationship are not of concern to me. We are all entitled to privacy and if that includes keeping your RL a mystery to your SL friends I respect that choice.

The events of the past few days got me thinking and I recalled my experiences with Sarah. In pondering RL/SL death I have come to believe personal privacy trumps the need for others to know what is "true." I prefer to trust people and chance being burned now and then rather than go through my days fearful, cynical and jaded.

A Map of the SL Grid

I was wandering around Bay City this evening to take a photo for a very cool event you will learn about on Thursday in New World Notes. Bay City is really pretty. I had never explored this area much but I like it quite a bit.

As I walked I came across this enormous map of the SL mainland continents. You can teleport to the map at this link. It was really very interesting to be able to see the world on a map. I am so used to flying and TPing I have no sense of the way the world is oriented at all. This map helped. Click through for a larger view if you are interested.

Tragic Death and SL "Will Your Work Day"

(Self portrait by Rheta Shan)

This morning I learned someone I loved died. You can read the full story about the tragic death of Rheta Shan here.

Rheta was loved by many and tributes to her are starting to pop up all over. I want to add my voice to the choir. Rheta was a kind, giving and loving person with a quick wit. She would have been the first to call herself a drama queen, and often did. Rheta was very open with her love and her pain, so call that drama if you will. I know when I needed a friend with a strong shoulder to cry on she was there for me in a way I will always treasure. My heartfelt condolences go out to Rheta's RL family and her SL family.

I can't help but link Rheta's death to Bettina Tizzy's call for all of us to "Will our Work" on May 18th. Please take a moment to think about this difficult issue and take the actions you think are appropriate to protect your work and the people you love.

Motivated by the untimely death of virtual artist Vanfarel Kupfer, Bettina Tizzy created a flickr group called "Don't let your virtual creations Die -- Will your Work Day." Here is what Bettina says,

Dear fellow photographers of Second Life:

About two weeks ago, virtual artist Vanfarel Kupfer died. Had he not left copies of most of his work (no trans, no mod) with his virtual girl friend, Native Aeon, his only legacy would be what is currently rezzed today.

Avatars in Second Life devote thousands of hours to creating content, and all that work is LOST when they die. Yes, even if they backed up that work by giving it to an alt. Even if they gave their account password to someone. When you die and unless you have taken appropriate measures, no one, not even Linden Lab, can legally access your work. It is simply lost forever.

I have been in communication with Linden Lab regarding the correct procedure for "willing" one's artwork - or for that matter, any assets - in SL. Legally, the correct and ONLY procedure boils down to this: support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=441...

In a nutshell, I propose that we establish one day a year, May 18, to encouraging content creators to "Will your Work."

The goal would be to celebrate Van's art while at the same time encouraging people to either give copies of their work to one or more avatars (not their alts) whom they trust, or add them to their Real Life will.

Also on May 18 and for one week, and working with his beloved Native Aeon, Vanfarel Kupfer's work will be exhibited at four locations: his former home sim, EnLuminaria, the Crescent Moon Gallery, the Blackwater Gallery, and Chakryn Forest. Understandably, Native is still very much in mourning over her loss, and when I asked her how I could help, she stated that her greatest wish is that Vanfarel's work become known throughout the grid. So be it.

I am asking all my fellow bloggers, photographers, community leaders and more to join me in writing about and promoting May 18th - on Monday, May 18th - as Will your Work day, to generate awareness of this important objective. If you speak more than one language, please help us to get this message out to your fellow residents in their native language. Won't you please help?

Feel free to create your own artwork. Help us to get the word out with your powerful images.

Here's to enduring great virtual content!
Bettina

The "I made a tree" edition, wherein Chestnut uses a Wizard to create a Red Bud

Yes! I made a tree! Go me! It is the pink tree on the left in the photo below. See?



Ok, ok. A little full disclosure is in order, I suppose. Yes I rezzed the prims and yes I placed them one by one -- all 30 of them -- to form the tree you see here. Did I painstakingly make the textures in Photoshop? No. Did I make the sculpted prims in...umm....however it is people do that? No. Clearly I did not make a shadow like the one on the tree on the right, which is totally in the wrong place given the direction of the sun. Now that I look at the photo the shadow, lack of shadow and sun placement is bugging the hell out of me. But I digress.

I took prims and textures made by someone else and placed them in a design of my own creation. I invested not an insignificant amount of money in the tool I used, The Tree Wizard by Tu Dae. I took some time to figure out how the tool works, tried out different combinations of trunk, branches, foliage. I spent time working on the basic shape of the tree and then silly amounts of time indulging my OCD need to fiddle with prims so the alignment looked right to my eye.

So you tell me. Is this tree my creation? Or, does the use of components created by others make this tree something less than true content creation?

I always thought in order to legitimately sell things in SL the whole design had to be your own, from textures to prims. Lately, I have been questioning this belief. In RL my husband is a carpenter and he uses wood milled by others and fastenings forged by others as well. Using tools and parts that are not his creation does not lessen the value of his work. So, why would using components made by others lessen the value of virtual goods?

What do you think?

(Disclaimer: I do not intend to sell this tree or anything else I build. Ever.)

Harbinger's Haven is a Fantastic Place

I am a slow builder. I think and think, ponder, wait, walk around, stand there, go shopping for hair, stand around staring at the water. Then I build whatever it is in short order. Either I am waiting for inspiration or I am perking ideas. Not too sure what is going on in my head but that is usually how building works for me.

Today I was engaged in the standing around and shopping part of the build process. I started thinking about textures and ended up at Harbinger's Haven. It occurred to me that not everyone knows about this cool place and you should. I think learned about Harbinger's Haven via a Torley video. I can't really remember but since I learned most everything from Torley video's when I was new and I have known about Harbinger's forever, I am going to make that leap. Not that it really matters.

When you go to Harbinger's Haven you will find tutorials on content creation in different formats in addition to step by step instructions for a variety of projects. There is a great sandbox that has been quiet (read no griefing or idiots) every time I have been there. My favorite reason to visit Harbinger's Haven is they have tons of free, full perm textures. From fabric to wood, stone, brick, house parts like doors and windows to crazy sci fi textures you will find them at Harbinger's Haven. Its just a great resource for anyone who builds. So, if you didn't know about it before, now you do.





One more thing -- if building gets frustrating and you need to relax for a while you can get out your fishing pole. Perhaps you will catch some inspiration for your build.

Honest Feedback in SL

I think being open to constructive criticism is difficult. Having people pick apart your work, your behavior, your performance or whatever you do inspires fear in most of us, no matter how healthy our ego. In SL, where so many of us are engaged in highly personal creative work, I think constructive criticism is especially difficult to hear. Having said that, I know I have grown and improved when I have really listened to people who critically evaluate my work. And believe me, for every cheerleader there are about 50 critics who are incredibly quick to point out my errors no matter how big or small.

Over the past week or so I have experienced and observed a number of situations where honest feedback was offered with very mixed results. Because I am feeling a little sassy this morning I thought I would offer up Ches' rules of engagement for offering and receiving criticism.

For the Critic

1) Pick the right time and place

2) Offer thoughtful suggestions, not impulsive bashing

3) Be direct, yet sensitive and kind

4) Be specific and descriptive

5) Do not use criticism as a weapon


For the Creator

1) Listen

2) Don't get defensive

3) Ask questions

4) Read between the lines

5) Act on the criticism only if you think it is valid and will help you to achieve your goals.

I am not offering anything that has not been said a thousand times, by people far more eloquent than I am this drab Saturday morning. Sorry about that folks. Let me just say this -- please correct me when I am wrong. I am harder on myself about my mistakes than you could ever be so don't hold back. If you could refrain from calling me names I would appreciate it, but I appreciate feedback.

I have friends who are designers as do most of us who have been in SL for any length of time. When they drop work on me and ask for feedback they know I will be honest about what I like and where I think the work can be better. Its actually fun to work with people in this way, especially when the relationship is based on trust and mutual admiration.

ETA: The photo above is from our new build. There is a grouping of huge flowers that have sweet sit animations built in to them, scattered in a field of meadow grasses and floral ground cover. I had to add soft floaty particle stars and the bird cage. Of course the bird is sitting on top of the cage as I could not bring myself to lock him up inside. Stop by and tell me what you think!