Sunday, January 25, 2009

Video in the snow...

Machinima Institute Ice Palace Skating Rink with video displayed across the snow mounds; Daruma Picnic's Force Sun to Midnight interactive art, sound, colour... with North Lamar, Hyacinth Cortes and HVX Silverstar skating, cycling and flying on silver bullets across the skies of the Alliance Virtual Library.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Machinima%20Institute/135/120/35

So, here's my MacBook Air on Second Life ®

I'm taking some screen shots overlooking Info International Island (part of the Alliance Virtual Library) in Second Life®. The preferences screen is open showing my draw distance set at 128 meters. The recommended settings are much lower... and clicking on recommended settings will change the image significantly. I have no trouble moving around... just rather slow compared to a Mac Pro or a high end PC. However, this is equal or better to my first experiences in Second Life which were on an old Mac G4 back in October 2006. See the remaining images showing my preferences set at higher settings... some weird black boxes showing on a couple of the images. I am using Grab to get the screenshots.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

My Shasta Baby in the Saturday Morning Sun (HD 720p)

Logging back into Real Life, I'm a Golden
Watch in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY2EE8fgJ9A&fmt=22

A little escape even without the 'take a break button'... logging back into real life... I'm a Golden.
Click on the HD button at the bottom right of the YouTube player to view in better resolution... if on good broadband.


Saturday, January 17, 2009

A Capella in Second Life ® by Interactive Media Artist, Daruma Picnic, April 28, 2007 (HD 720p)

Embedded at 864x531 instead of 1280x720 as shown on YouTube. Watch HD 720p on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XysByD6rf8w&fmt=22

A Capella by Daruma Picnic: interactive singing sculture.
Art and vocals by Daruma Picnic. Thank you to Jenn, Casssandra and Natalie... and Elizabeth whose presence and wisdom is truly missed by her friends in SL®. Elizabeth is immersed in the art, colour and sound of Daruma's work; it's an experience only possible in a constructed space somewhere between our imagination and our screens. Elizabeth's postings about Daruma's work: http://binaryfootprint.blogspot.com/search/label/Daruma%20Picnic
and from Saturday, January 20, 2007:http://binaryfootprint.blogspot.com/2007/01/but-auntie-what-does-one-do-in-second.html
© Daruma Picnic & HVX Silverstar April 28, 2007. Filmed on Info Island in the very beautiful Second Life®

Archival Footage: Librarians of Second Life ® March 17, 2007 (HD 720p)

So this is a very early machinima that was created back in Feb. 2007. It was originally captured at 720x480... so as you can see it looks pretty crummy up-converted, if that's a word, to 1280x720. Luckily YouTube accepted it as HD even though the quality is pretty poor. BUT... it's a pretty cool window into the early days of the Alliance Virtual Library and a collaborative effort to present a machinima at the ACRL poster session in Baltimore, 2007.
Watch on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54dFEetypL8&fmt=22
Shown emedded at 864x531 instead of 1280x720.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Second Life viewer Jan 4, 2009: 71,457 online (logins temporarily capped)

wow.. and i wanted to go to the Alliance Virtual Library meeting on Info Island.... here I sit with my coffee with the glare of the simulated snow blinding me...

Thursday, January 1, 2009

I am Library: an ode to self-discovery & collective creativity in Second Life® in HD 720p

I'm slowly uploading HD versions of videos/machinima about the Alliance Virtual Library to YouTube.  Be sure to click on the 'full screen' icon at bottom right of the youtube player (square icon).
Here is the one from October 2008: 

I am Library: an ode to self-discovery & collective creativity in Second Life®
To view in full screen, follow the link to YouTube and click on the square 'full screen' icon at lower right side of youtube window.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQCoy6MABQM&fmt=22


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The title proclamation needs a bit of explanation... some excerpts below
Second Life: The Journey toward Virtual World adoption
 .... In order to see the library community of Second Life in context, it is necessary to follow some of the recent Second Life milestones. The proclamation “I am Library” is an ode to self-discovery, in an individual sense; for the people who are the library communities of Second Life, it’s a journey of exploration filled with collective curiosity and creativity as the current presence of “Library” evolves within the context of the greater virtual landscape.....
I am both physical and virtual.
Imagination and creativity…
I am part of a simulated 3D environment created by its users.
Yet I am more. I am global.  I am local. 
I am Community.  I am social.
I am sharing, collaboration and learning. 
I am Library.
I am part of a trans-media journey where destination is experience.
I am the structures and open space, brought to life by the residents of the virtual world.
I am an extension of the physical world relying on broadband and accelerated graphics.
I am here.  I am real, part of the collective creativity…”