DAY OF THE FLYING PRIMS

TWO KNIGHTS IN SHINING ARMOR

(Event occured on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14)

I couldn't have known the enormous mistake I was about to make. The day started out most promising. My friend, Lilia Artis, had offered some wonderful decorating suggestions at the Caravan terminus parcel. Along the ramp, I had 6 very small pavilions which were nearly identical to my Binary Stable (see the original at the House of ACCentaury by the Sea). The wooden sections were dark. Lilia imagined that rustic, but colorful textures could enliven the look of the area, so I followed her advice for a very effective result. She also addressed the three small ramps I'd made leading to the lowest pavilions. Lilia asked permission to build. She constructed three low prim, but very attractive stairways as well as a gangway that runs parallel to the main ramp avenue. Next, she decorated two of the pavilions with her wares (LilArt Creation) while I arranged my paintings in the remaining houses. I should have left it all alone, but an idea for improvement kept nagging me. Wanting to link more land from the adjoining parcel to increase the number of prims we could use, (but not fully understanding permissions and the mathematics of parceling), suddenly hundreds of my prims flew into lost and found. It didn't stop there. Lilia's items were all returned, as well as the few prims Derek Michelson had in the parcel. Approximately 700 prims went missing, and yet Caravan showed that it was full to capacity and I could not return the items in lost and found to the parcel. WHAT to do?

First, Lilia came to my emotional rescue. When she got notices in her email that prims were flying into her lost and found from ACC Alpha, she logged in to see what was happening. She contacted me, and when she learned how extensive the damage was to my builds, she transported immediately to console me. Her presence was a huge moral support. But it was also practical support. She knows that when I obsess about something, I often carry worry into disastrous fixes. She advised me to wait till I could consult with Derek.

Derek Michelson came to the rescue (as he has done numerous times in the past). He instructed me to address ownership of the sim's parcels and to increase the object bonus to ten to make sure no other parcel would return prims from potentially over crowded parcels. In so doing, we could safely restore usable prims to the Caravan Terminus parcel. It worked flawlessly. But because my soft links included various permissions, I had to manually position the large links back to their original place, a process which took two hours. Lilia on the other hand, had more accommodating permissions which got her items back home in only minutes by simply clicking the box: Restore to Last Position.

The moral of the story is simple: Don't be stupid, but when you are, you can depend on friends.

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GRAND FINALE for Second Libations

The time has come to begin preparations for the End of the World... 2012 is upon us. Second Libations will not simply be packed away on Dec 31. No way! Every stage of an exhibit is an opportunity to create something new. So a dramatic climax is in the cards.

The bots offer a final prayer, a ritual to the heavens asking for rejuvenation. Will they succeed?

The lm will take you to the audience platform, where you will be moderately safe, in case of flying debris.

TIME AND PLACE:

DAY: Saturday, DEC. 31, 2011

TIME: 2 pm SL time

CLICK HERE FOR TRANSPORT:

Please come to the audience platform by 2 pm SLT. You may arrive earlier to get a last look at the exhibit. I will be making preparations for an hour before the performance begins. My IM window will be closed as I ready the sim, so if you would like to contact me, please send a notecard which I can read after the event.

FILMS ABOUT SECOND LIBATIONS:

Following, are 3 very talented filmmakers who have presented their interpretations of the exhibit. Please click on the titles below to watch the films.

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Spiral Silverstar > SECOND LIBATIONS

Part One

Part Two

In two parts, Spiral gives a comprehensive overview of the installation. This finely crafted film builds to a most optimistic and engaging interpretation. The adventurous music and exquisite cinematography are masterfully bound.

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Chic Aeon > CHAINED

Click here to watch Chained

In Chic's films, grays become vivaciously delicious. Her lines of poetry recount ageless wisdom. In "Chained", a serious question is asked, one that is rarely heeded. Is the young man in the film capable of answering? Are you?

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Jjccccc > THE WONDERFULL CREATION OF HAVEIT NEOX

Click here to watch the film

Jjccccc uses Second Libations as a canvas, dazzling the screen with awesome added color and blending effects. Chopped into a hundred snippets, he composes a film collage that addresses the overlapping of time.

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New Film about 2nd Libations by Spiral Silverstar

FILM:

The very talented Spiral Silverstar created the film below which takes you on a comprehensive tour of Second Libations. It's in two parts.

Second Libations- Pt.1

Second Libations- Pt.2

DIRECTIONS:

Note that maps of the exhibition are available in distribution box 5, located halfway down the colossus, and also inside the main entry of the Temple of bots. They are handy references for getting around.

GRAND FINALE:

As mentioned before, there will be a dramatic end to Second Libations on New Year's eve, Dec 31. The year 2012 issues in at that moment... is it really the end of the world? Come see. I will post the exact time the adventure begins, but for now, to try to accommodate as many time zones as possible, the show will probably be set at 2 pm, SLT. (SL time is Pacific Standard Time). You may want to be there, and bring your camera :)

Second Libations. Progress on the exhibit. 11/11/11

I'm waiting till 11:11 pm before hitting the publish button for this day's blog. It's in celebration of 11/11/11. Today, in preparation for the Second Libations exhibition, I placed water bearers in the hands and along the arms of the Colossus statue. In addition, I finished sculpting the piece based after the painting 'The Ecstasy of Saint Francis' by Georges de la Tour. Only losely related to the painting, the original being diverted into my theme of bots attempting to resuscitate their human users. It is in the room called Banquet of Artists. Please read the notes below. There is now a film on Youtube titled "Exhibition" which is a preview to Second Libations. There is also an announcement about a dramatic event I'm planning for the end of the exhibit on New Year's Eve. And for now, happy 11/11/11 at 11:11 pm !

Below is the updated information about the Second Libations exhibit:

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“SECOND LIBATIONS” by Haveit Neox.

Dec. 3 - 31, 2011

Sim: at LEA6 (Linden Endowment for the Arts)

INVITATION to participate:

What if all life disappeared from the Earth’s surface? Could the virtual world of the bots* persist?

Have your idea (as a text) included in the ‘Second Libations’ art exhibit. I am most grateful to the LEA (Linden Endowment for the Arts) and the UWA (University of Western Australia) for having granted me the opportunity to show my exhibit in the Art Series. I have been given the month of December 2011 to install the full sim exhibit “Second Libations”. I am planning to display texts contributed by residents of Second Life as part of the show. If you are interested, please submit a paragraph (or more) describing your solution to the survival of the bots and their world. You may also send me a texture if you have something illustrated to accompany your text. The story line of the exhibition is in the following paragraph. Have fun with your ideas, or be serious in your creative efforts. Please send your text as a notecard AND an IM to Haveit Neox. This way I should receive it regardless of SL’s habit of discarding or capping communications.

EXHIBIT SCENE:

The great cosmic storm swept up the last of Earth’s water molecules. On the lifeless planet, the only remaining intelligence flickers on computer screens. In the absence of human maintenance, bot scipters, bot artists, and bot teachers scramble to rescue their resources before the impending threat of blackout.

Like the sorcerer’s apprentice, they begin flooding their world by rezzing buckets of virtual water, hoping to rehydrate their users. Their strategy appears to be failing. Not having been programmed for an unforeseen event of this magnitude, the bots plea for your solution in securing their virtual world.

The Second Libations await your offering. Your participation in the ritual is eagerly anticipated.

For any questions, please contact me. Thanks for your attention,

Haveit Neox

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DATE OF EXHIBIT: Dec 3 - Dec 31, 2011

LOCATION: LEA6 - LEA FULL SIM ART SERIES

DATE DUE: It would be helpful to get texts delivered to me by November 25, giving me time to print them and set up the arrangement.

BOOK: A book covering the event is planned to be published in SL. By sending in your idea, it is possible that your text may also be included in the book.

YouTube FILM:

A short 3 minute preview film is now up on YouTube. It's titled "Exhibition". Please watch to get an idea about "Second Libations" The link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMJd2zBCUgg&hd=1

NEW YEAR'S EVE:

2011 becoming 2012

A dramatic end to SECOND LIBATIONS is planned for new year's eve. Midnight will bring a fiery event to the LEA6 sim that will occur only once during the exhibit. Please check http://accalpha.blogspot.com/ to keep updated. I will be posting details about the New Year's Eve event on that website toward the end of December.

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*Bot (definition): A bot is a robot controlled by a computer program. This is different from an avatar, who is directly controlled by his or her human user.

Truman Capote

From Truman Capote's "A Blue Cove"

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The only scenery that bores me is any that I can't imagine purchasing a part of: usually, if a place provides the slightest uplift, I instantly consider buying or building a house. The hundreds of properties I've constructed mentally!

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Truman, if only you had known Second Life, the hundreds of properties you would have constructed virtually!

A BIT OF DARKRODIN SLIPS INTO THE SEA

July 27, 2011

Since July 25, there have been big changes around the Darkrodin jut. Large chunks of land leading to the pier sank into the ocean. The 1 1 11 Room along with the the pier supporting it crumble into inventory. In their place, rises the new Medusa Pavilion, still under construction.

Currently, the pavilion is around 160 prims in size. The floors are being fitted for shadow and light effects. To create these shadows, I plot the shadow shapes on the floor by way of bars set at the angle of incoming light. This was an idea offered to me by Derek Michelson, and it works quite well. I then take an aerial screenshot of the floor with the bars delineating the coordinates for the shadow. In Photoshop, the next step is to draw in the shadows, slice into as many textures as I will be needing to cover a given area, and upload the alphas into SL.

THE WEEPING GATE & THE LIBRARY OF DARKRODIN

May 17 + 18, 2011

THE WEEPING GATE

The removal of the upper floors to the Library of Darkrodin

Due to the low number of prims available for use on the sim, the upper floors of the Library of Darkrodin were taken into inventory today. The old build had been the first location of hunts on ACC Alpha, housed a display of readable books, and a collection of artwork. The Library which sprawled over the Plateau of Man park, now affords open sky above the gardens.

The complex build of over 800 prims was collected in 31 linked batches for inventory. The original camel tour was also removed. But the price to pay was for a reason. As I’ve been participating in the UWA art challenges, I need the prims for my sculptures. Having rezzed my most recent work on the calm North Shore of the sim, I built a large stone background to help frame the piece. The frame became so intriguing to me, that I kept developing it until a viable architectural build in its own right emerged. The new gate was so large and inviting, that I wanted to see if I could make some interior space for it, even though the structure hugs the side of a cliff. The solution struck me to hollow a tunnel thru the cliff into the interior space of the subterranean level of the Library of Darkrodin. The link was challenging but successful. Terraforming in such a densely developed area presented numerous barriers. There was no land to see over the city when in bulldozer mode, so I had to go to the bottom of the sea. Placing cube prims over the city scape to delineate a path for the tunnel, I then sunk them on Z axis below the sea to mark where the land needed to be chiseled away. It was a sandwich: ocean and land below, city and park between, and rezzed cubes above to show the path necessary to cut the tunnel. Next, I lined the walls in crystal, and refer to this tunnel as the Ice Cave.

Ironically, the placement of my sculpture “Immortal Blue” (which used 100 prims, and was the cause of my need to take drastic measures in recycling prims), was soon after replaced by another statue I’d purchased of a woman reading books... appropriate for the entry to a library. To commemorate the architecture of the library, the original dome was placed atop the new Weeping Gate. (Weeping refers to the giant old weeping willow tree that has always been in this area, combined with the sadness I felt at removing the original library). In this way, the old style is partially preserved, and gives an interesting look, as it hovers above the first dome I’d made for the gate. It produces a semblance of layering of domes.

Click this link to teleport to the Weeping Gate

VENISON OPTERA at the Museum on Cranberry Dock

Venison Optera

Currently showing at the North Wing of the Museum on Cranberry Dock.

On the ACC Alpha sim.

Visit the Museum (

http://slurl.com/secondlife/ACC%20Alpha/34/196/23)

Several months ago, a friend sent me an lm to see the works of Venison Optera. Enthralled with her carefully worked illustrative style and subject matter of an imaginary and psychologically rich animal world, I found myself standing for a long time before her small gem-like works, taking a journey into the art, letting my imagination go free. Below is a statement written by the artist about her connection to her work. I wish you a fine adventure of 'creative play' throughout Venison's exhibit.

Haveit Neox

Artist Statement:

A few years ago I had the sudden urge to set aside serious art practice in order to try my hand at illustrating my many morbid childhood preoccupations. As a professional artist who rarely had the occasion to draw or paint, I often had to explain myself to people who did not understand that some artists are not image makers. It's while exploring these more amusing aspects of traditional artmaking that I slowly rediscovered the pleasure of creative play, something which had been discouraged by a formal art education that no longer considered illustration a relevant artform. How fitting it is to have found a home for these works in Second Life where the ease of a virtual lifestyle lends itself so perfectly to simple childhood joys.

- Venison Optera

This Thursday. Join our Poetry Gathering.

Share your poetry... or read your favorite poet... or just come to listen.

Poetry Event at ACC Alpha.

Thursday, December 30th @ 10am: Shared Words at the "Paper Tower" of ACC Alpha

In the longest, darkest nights of the year

coming together, coming to the fire, into the light

sharing words like our ancestors did

in those lonely winter eves between the years.

Bring a poem with you

one of your own works or one of your favourite poets

and share it with us in your own mother’s tongue

- either in voice or text –

all languages will be welcome.

Admission is free. In case of any questions please contact Haveit Neox or Lilia Artis.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/ACC%20Alpha/120/138/153

HATTERS' MADNESS PARADE

On December 5, 2010, ACC experienced its first parade: Hatters' Madness. I will be editing a film of the event due sometime in Spring next year. At present I am finishing up the catalog which you will be able to pick up for free at my Museum Shop on the ACC Alpha sim. I will write more about the parade in later blogs, as it was the first of many I am planning (The next is the March Hare, beginning March 26, 2011).

Following is an excerpt from my announcement about the parade:

HATTERS MADNESS PARADE at ACC ALPHA

Ever wondered what it would be like to step inside somebody's head... walk over their thoughts? You can you know, on Sunday morning, Dec. 5 at 10 am SL time. Nine artists, builders, and scriptors have made greatly oversized builds they wear like hats, into which you are invited to walk while they are still being worn. Get into the minds of these creative people by interacting with their spaces.

The parade begins at 10 am SL time, as the nine exhibitors cross the high narrow bridge to gain the parade grounds. Each one of them will be introduced with a minute or two to do whatever they wish at the starting point, while wearing their hats of a calibre you will never witness in RL. When all have been on stage, the parade begins. Some hats reach as high as two or three stories, and may wobble madly from side to side as the hatters negotiate a couple laps around the arena. When they have finished the laps, the spectators are invited to climb aboard. It's time to explore.

At around 11 am, it's your turn to join the procession. I will lead you all down to the North Wing Gallery for the reception of Lilia Artis' exhibit "Tides of water, tides of light". The artworks are visual and also described through accompanying verses Lilia incorporates into her pieces. Her canvases bring out our own self reflexion.

Please join us for this event which promises to delight!

Participants:

Cherry Manga's hat modeled by Haveit Neox

Derek Michelson collaborating with Thrice Skyward

Gina Broono

Higher Enoch

Lilia Artis

Marcco Andretti's hat modeled by Florian Harcourt

Sea Warcliffe

Skywave Silvercloud

Strat Inshan