Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Summer

As summer just closes for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere and the feeds fill up with more sweaters, I bring to you a group filled with summer memories. Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Summer brings us pictures full of bikini clad girls, surfer boys, sunshine, green grass, sandy beaches, pool parties, picnics, and backyard barbecues.

I love this repository of nearly 460 photos. It's like looking through tons of vacation photos and reminiscing about all the good times. It can be a real challenge to capture the essence of season but Summer’s 136 group have done it fabulously. For those of you missing summer already….the beauty of our virtual worlds are that it can always be in season. Don your beach clothes and add your fun photos to this great collection!

Photo by: Dimitri

Dimitri's Rosana & Lin is just one in many summertime themed works in his collection. Dimitri does a fantastic job of capturing the fun of the season. His Sims avis are seen doing everything from pool parties to picnics.

Photo by: rubyOkelly

Ruby's entry for the PureAngel contest is one that really captures the summertime feeling. Items like the sunlight on her face and water and the shadow of the palm makes this a really stellar piece.

Photo by: Kleinfeld

Kleinfeld is another artist whose works really revolve around summertime activities in Secondlife. I particularly liked this piece as you could see the sunlight effect on the subjects body.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Meet Me in the Metaverse - Isla Mallorca

This week's Meet Me in the Metaverse - Isla Mallorca came to me in a notecard in game so thanks so much for that! Isla Mallorca is a bit of split personality sim in that it has a big top circus on one side, some grungy housing, and if you take the teleporter you land on mars I think.

That being said, it's a fun place to take some wacky photos. The up top landscaping is minimalist, black ground and mountains make it a great place to mess with windlight and not get an odd looking nature. My first stop was the big top. I've always thought it would be fun to walk the high wire or be a trapeze artist so this was my big break. I wandered around top side click off photos of all there was to see then I took the teleporter and ended up on another planet altogether. The eyes have it below. It's a surreal space environment with tons of eyeballs staring at you.

Koinup's Isla Mallorca collection just has a few pics in it but it's worth the visit!

Photo by: fiona_haworth

This was my foray into being a trapeze artist. Thank god I'm not afraid of heights. The big top has tons of sunshine rays as seen here so those of you not good with photo-editing you still can get some great effects.

Photo by: jmanhoo

Jmanhoo's snapshot is of the lovely carousel. This beauty is rideable and has some really interesting poses that are fun for photos of self. And as you can see it lends itself really well to some more artistic undertakings as well.


Photo by: lontralatzo

Lontralatzo's An Awesome Planet is a great shot of the world below. I really liked the comments about it: "Can eyes of God see people everywhere and all the time?" Seems they can here anyway. ;-)

Thanks again to whomever sent me the notecard and my apologies for not giving you credit for the find. I lost the notecard prior to getting out to write this. Please comment below. If you are interested in having your sim featured on Meet Me in the Metaverse, please feel free to contact me in game or via the PM feature within Koinup (notecards in game work as well).

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup meet the artist. The quintessence of Second Life photography, by Bark!

Known in Second Life as Bark Aabye, Bark is one of the most delicious Second Life photographers. She owns a blog called the Quintessence. Indeed, "quintessence" is a "term" simply perfect to describe the style and the production of Bark.

Described by Shoji, (who has been recently interviewed on this blog), as Second Life mentor and unique artist, Bark is one of the most profilic SL artists on Koinup and her gallery is one of the most appreciated and popular on the website. We invite all the reader to enjoy the adorable gallery of Bark



Here's the Interview

Q. When you're creating new artworks, where do you draw ideas and inspiration from?
A. Well, first of all, I need to tell you my opinion on the difference between "photographs" and the other art.
Recently I often have chances to see that some work organized by image
generation and processing of CG is discussed on the same ground as the field of "photographs". I have some doubts about that discussion, watching artwork of CG is my favorite though. In my opinion these are absolutely different.

I consider snapshots in SL to be just similar to "photographs" in RL. However in a virtual world I can interact with many people through avatars, see prims, visit sims and take all the snapshots as if it were a "a once-in-a-lifetime chance". When taking "photographs", there is no chance to try again, "ichi-go ichi-e" as the Japanese proverb goes.

I think "photographs" surpass expressions through words in catching contingencies.
I have been working as photographer using a film-based (analogue) camera over ten years in RL and will go on taking snapshots in SL from now on. Because only we have a precious gift from "God" for catching and stopping a gleam of light in photo-form.
Though I sometimes set up a theme to exhibit my work in a gallery, I usually take just what I want to. I am always searching for a cool shot: Naxos Loon and Koinup suggest me terrific LMs or NPIRL and others show me awesome blogs.


Q. What advice would you give to newcomers and beginners with Second Life art and photography?

A. Let me think, snapshots in-world have just started. The only thing I can say is the factor “time” is indispensable to cool photos. I experienced old plain photos became stunning unexpectedly. I often felt warmhearted to find the snapshots in my old folder before using Windlight.

If I advise, the best way to take radiant snapshots is taking as many snapshots as you can. Try to avoid retouching. Retouching prevents you from developing the skills of taking "photographs". Don’t intend to get your snapshots stylish, this way you will miss the essence of the "Subject".

What is more we will recognize our peculiarity when we take many shots. Shall we keep it or throw away? I always struggle to do that.



Q. What tools and photo-devices, software do you use to edit your photos?

A. I use “Photoshop” and “Picnic”. I choose between the two. Snapshots become monochrome or pictures in frames, or look prints from negatives.


Q. What are your upcoming projects as metaverse artist?

A. I am working as a coordinator in the sim “Imagine plus”, which has just opened. Of course my gallery is there too. Besides I spend a lot of time taking snapshots.
Because there are so many galleries in SL, I pick up on my favorite ones and write an article in Japanese on my blog.

Visit http://barkaabye.blogspot.com/


Q. Have you ever used other virtual worlds to create and express your creativity?

A. No, SL is my first experience. I didn’t imagine how I devoted myself to it. Now I am interested in avatars in “The SIMS” and
the texture of water, limber avatars in “BlueMars”. I have wanted to get a viewer which can expose or blur avatars’ motion in a long time exposure.


Q. What's artist you'd love recommended for the next Koinup interview?

A. I will recommend Ravenelle but I have never seen her yet. She is one of my favorite "photographers" in SL and a voracious artist without using retouching.

translated by Koro Carnell

OMNIBUS Introspection

As soon as you start looking at yourself in the mirror, introspection follows. The visual representation of ourselves often gets us thinking about our Self’s.

Virtual Worlds seem to be one of the most potent mirrors around.

The number of images of people in mirrors is disproportionate to the number of mirrors around (zero...:)) and more than one person has annotated their image with the statement that the idea for this image had been in their heads for ages like an obsession.

So... gotta be worth a look. The computer screen and the mirror are educational tools in this respect...





This image by Baroque is pretty classic, the idea that another world lies behind the mirror is one that repeats thoughout history and globally. Called through the mirror (Mirror) it’s great, I like the distortion, the surreal nature of it.

It is, for many, a journey...





Vivabug knows, as we all do, that both sides of the coin become manifest. In a very simple manner Mirror of Light and Dark sums up what many (of the hundred images) I have reviewed for this post show.... namely, some people see the dark side of themselves in the mirror.

That is the nature of self knowledge though, our failings become obvious.... its a milestone on the journey to self improvement.





Broken Mirror by Onirya is an image I like a lot. It seems to be multi-layered. Some dark, some colour....

The other thing that is expressed in images of the mirror on Koinup is that some people see their RL selves as grey and boring, and their Virtual Self as a colourful character.

This image seems to suggest that, but also, because the mirror is broken, this reflection may be distorted.....





Mirror, Mirror by Novadyszel is an image that is somewhat calmer and less troubled.

Water, a symbol of the unconscious seems to support this lovely being, and she looks rested, enjoying her own reflection...





Taken in ‘other worlds’ by LookatmyBack, this photo is called YAVM (Yet Another Virtual Myself) and the title defines a rather healthy (according to my philosophy) attitude to Self and Virtual Worlds.

There are a good number of self-portraits on Koinup of various qualities.

Now, I am very happy with the fact that I am a psychic manifestation of a Human avatar and, like LookatmyBack, I think I have as many Virtual Myselves as I care to create.

I would not like to define my Self, however, to just one “look”.

I hope to be a dragon when I grow up.


sorornishi@mac.com

:)))

The Art Of Burning Life 2009

Coming soon right here from the Koinup team! - a review of some the art from Burning Life 2009 - held from October 17th to 25th. Joining writing forces with Fiona Hayworth, Soror Nishi and myself Poid Mahovlich to bring you a unique and entertaining guide to what's out there on the virtual playa!

Burning Life is the real-life counterpart of the Fire, Arts and Community festival known as Burning Man . This is the 7th such event under the heading of Burning Life, which has both a very colourful & historical past.

This year 34 mature marked Sims have been dedicated to this years event. they are buzzing with activity and the community is growing daily as the influx of burners expands - let's see where this takes us this time round, after all it's all about the art, the fire and the community!

'metanopsis' will also be in the thick of it interviewing a very fine selection of burners who are working away hard to show you a diverse selection of art from the virtual playa.

Feel free to add your Burning Life images right here and show us through your eyes how you see this event.

Gates open at Burning Life on October 17th as we will kick off right then and there!
See you guys on the playa!

Poid
Poid Mahovlich
Poid Mahovlich - blog spot

Interview with Simon Newstead, founder of Frenzoo

We had already the opportunity to give our members some hints of Frenzoo, the 3D world of avatars and style. Today, we're going to do something more, by introducing YOU Simon Newstead, founder and ceo of Frenzoo.com


Here's the Interview

Frenzoo is a world of 3d avatars and style. How did you get with the idea of linking together style/fashion and avatar?

We looked out and saw the emergence of fashion and lifestyle websites online, and also the rise of the avatars and advances in 3D technology. These were close to our hearts as many in the team are really into gaming, social networking and Japanese street fashions. These parts all came together when we developed the concept for Frenzoo - a social community where the emphasis is on avatar style & creativity.



2. It seems that one of keys for a succesfull 3d virtual worlds is opening the doors to user generated contents. What are you doing in such area?

In summary - a lot!

We don't do content development in house, it all comes from third party creators - users of the website who create for fun or profit or both. We support direct 3D importing from programs like 3D Studio Max, Blender, Maya.

But apart from that we have our own unique web based tool to create designs for items directly from our website, for personal use by members or sale in the Frenzoo virtual shop. It's easy to use and make great things. We have a great and growing catalog for members to buy from!

3. You have recently gave support to 3d modelers to import their creations in Frenzoo. Can you explain a bit more these new features?

Sure. Now any Pro can get a lifetime pass for $US 3.95 and upload an unlimited amount of creations to the shop, be it clothing, furniture, animations etc
In selling to other members they can earn Gold coins which can be sold on reseller sites which have just gone live. We support 3D Max as well as Collada import for other software packages. For those who create in other virtual worlds like IMVU or Second Life it's a really small effort to publish existing works in Frenzoo.

4. What's are you plans for the future. Can you disclose your next steps?

Good question. One of the biggest requests from our members is to be able to do more with their avatar, which they have styled and made unique. So we have just introduced our first beta for chat. Now it's quite simple - 1 on 1 with a simple background, but we plan to extend this into 3D spaces and also support more around it. Our members are pretty excited about that!

5. What's are your demographics? and how old is the average Frenzoo user?

We are a global audience, especially because we support many different languages apart from English. Our largest market is US, but Europe and Asia are not far behind. There is a really nice mix of ages, from teenager through to 20 something and up. Our average age is around 19 years old at the moment, and mostly female.

6. Can you give us , probably some Koinup readers are thinking to signup in Frenzoo, some tips to get the most out from Frenzoo and talk a bit about how Frenzoo is generally use and what people use to do while in your world?

Tips - jump in and ask questions to our volunteer angels if you are stuck - it's a really friendly community. You can hangout and chat and get to know some new people, create your own fashions or animations in the create tool (for free), join a club, check out a contest or hang out in the forums. The vibe is really friendly on Frenzoo.


JOIN THE FRENZOO GROUP ON KOINUP!

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Secondlife Sculptures

Anyone who really knows me...knows I'm in love with sculptures. These virtual 3D pieces of art line my mantle, cover some floor space, and even serve as a fountain on the grounds near my home. I even covered sculptures as part of my Home and Garden column on Phantom's Republic awhile back. So needless to say this week's Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Secondlife Sculpture is one that made me squeal with delight. YAY...a whole repository of pictures of these incredible works.

I'm so pleased to see so many great snaps of not only some of the established sculptors like Light Waves/Starax and Bryn Oh, but some of the up and comers like Amael Juran and Mo Ames. The collection contains 216 works submitted by 44 members and are totally worth the time to flip through them all.

2D pictures of a 3D object on a 2D screen is a bit like a mirror looking into another mirror infinitely as I think about it. So I took the time and visited these pieces "in person" as they were meant to be seen via our SL viewer. Thanks to those of you that added place links! I encourage all others posting to this group to do the same and allow us to visit these jaw dropping pieces.

Photo by: toxicmenges

Toxicmenges' snapshot features a bevy of beauties from the ever talented Amael Juran. Amael's sculptures are not only stunning but they are flawlessly smooth, highly versatile, and amazingly low prim. Each piece has a ton of options and is even modifiable for more customization.

Photo by: LookatmyBack

Lookatmy Back's Alpha and Omega is a beautiful shot of Light Waves / Starax piece. Light Waves or his earlier incarnation Starax is the big daddy of sculpture on the grid. He's been producing sculptures long before sculpties and has just gotten better since those were introduced.

Machinima by: kyota

Kyota's lovely vid not only shows off Joy's sculptures at the Mermaid Temple sim, but also cuts in a bit of the process that goes into making such a lovely work of 3D art. The film takes us in and out of the 3D program as it shows off the piece in game.

If your group is having a contest or an event, please PM me on Koinup and let me know. I'd love to cover all the fun to be had in joining such expressive groups of people from all over.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup is now partnering with Club Cooee

We are proud to announce a new Koinup's partner: Club Cooee. Club Cooee is a new-innovative 3d Chat World, whose goal is adding an immersive-powerful layer to the chat experience and allow people to easily hangout 3D with their friends. We highly suggest our readers (and all the Koinup members) to give a try to Club Cooee and share their experience on here. We have also created a group for all the Club Cooee-ians on Koinup. We met Stefan Lemper, one of the managing directors of Club Cooee. Stefan is in charge of business development.

1. Stefan, What's exactly Club Cooee, and why is unique in the industry of virtual worlds?

Club Cooee is a new approach to virtual worlds. We are taking all the benefits from normal text based chatting and messaging and enhance it with a fun and lively 3D virtual world. With just 3 MB download we do not require a monster client software for a new full 3D experience which happens without program windows directly on top of the computer desktop. Club Cooee runs always in the background without harming other applications so the user stays all the time in tough with his friends, and sees whats going on in Club Cooee. It is very easy and casual to create your own 3D chatrooms and add user generated content. It is fun to see how members use Club Cooee to create great all kinds of scenery and items. On top they can easily integrate videos in their rooms, add their favourite music to share and party with friends from around the world. Some even use it as an easy to use webradio client.



2. What's your favorite demographics and how you plan to enter the market

Our users spread from teenagers to people in their twenties, that just like to chat, meet new friends or create great things in our world. We have people from 200 countries in Club Cooee but if you like to chat only with people from your country they are very easy to find. We grow strongly through viral effects but we also partner with great companies like Koinup, to spread the word about Club Cooee.



3. What's are your plans for the next months. Can you reveal some of the features you're going to release in the next months

We do have a lot of plans. What I can tell you, is that we will expand our game functionality. Right now you can already play fun casual games in Club Cooee and compete with your friends. Since our users love the realtime chat we will offer them soon board games, where the 3D room is the game and you and your avatar will be part of it.

4. It seems that most of the more succesfull virtual worlds are based on user generated contents. Are you opening the doors to indie developers and 3nd party creation and if not, how do you think to guarantee enough supply of contents for your members?

As a matter of fact we already enable users to create their own content. Thanks to our very easy application users everybody can create items right in our world so you do not have to buy and use complicated 3D programs. We want to everybody to be able to create. We were amazed ourself how member use all kind of items to create new things. For instance we have a user from Indonesia who built a rollercoaster in Club Cooee. For that reason we are just in the process of supplying special building sets, so they will be even more flexible to create new items.

5. Give us some tips for the new members. How get the most out from Club Cooee?
Just signup at www.clubcooee.com and explore Club Cooee. Style your avatar and meet new friends in one of our lobbies. Your are easily guided there. Make sure to stop by in one of the radio rooms from our users, where you can meet the webradio DJ and ask him to play your favorite songs. Create your room and invite your friends there. I am looking forward to meet users from Koinup in the Club.

Meet Me in the Metaverse - AngelGate

This week on Meet Me in the Metaverse I'm taking you to a small set of sims called AngelGate, Dark Moon, and AngelGate Celestial. The sims are advertised as a place for non profit for creative arts, therapeutic and spiritual exploration in a stunning setting. And wow they weren't kidding. The sims contain art installations, a castle, a labyrinth, galleries and just spots to ponder the universe. And it will certainly inspire you to take some really fab photos.

The universal labyrinth isn't of the traditional high wall maze type. It's designed as rather a path to reflect and if you cam up I felt it had a little bit of celtic influence. The teleports within are not to be missed.

The AG3 Gallery is a lovely place to see art from all over the grid. Additionally they host talks with these artists. These are wonderful events where you can hear things like process or what inspires the artist. Sometimes it's all in group chat and other times it's in voice so be prepared for either.

More information on AngelGate and the happenings can be found here: http://angelgatelive.com/

Photo by: Shoji

This piece by Shoji really spoke to me about the real theme of AngelGate.....quiet reflection and inspiration. Shoji's pic just hit the nail on the head.

Photo by: BluraySpyker

BluraySpyker's Dark Moon Islands piece is a really lovely aerial shot of the sim. As you can see there are small separations of space each giving a bit different experience to the explorer. To the bottom left is the labyrinth I wrote about eariler.

Photo by: Ravenelle Zugzwang

Ravenelle's picture is of just one of the many different spaces in AngelGate. Here the flowers and butterflies glow just a bit giving it an ethereal feeling.

As you can see from the three pictures I've chosen is there is a lot of variety here at the AngelGate sims, so there is something for everyone. As always, if you are interested in having your sim featured on Meet Me in the Metaverse, please feel free to contact me in game or via the PM feature within Koinup.

PS....late breaking news there is a presentation on Starax's wand at 10am SLT today!!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Interview with the artist. Koinup meets Shoji

We have started to ask our community to suggest us artists and metaverse innovators to interview. The first "creative mind" we were asked to highlight on this blog is Shoji. Shoji is one of the most appreciated, popular and original artist on Koinup. He has a refined taste and his image are filled with imagination and passion. We invite you to browse his gallery and add Shoji to your contacts




Interview

Q. When you're creating new artworks, where do you draw ideas and inspiration from?

A. I just explore and try to find settings that spark my imagination; the moment I see them, a lot of vibrant stories unfold in my mind. It’s a pretty much automatic process. Meanwhile, I may be a minority in KOINUP, where dark, heavily retouched photos are going mainstream. It’s not that I don’t like them, but I would prefer to “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” as Eric Idle sang in Monty Python’s movie “Life of Brian.” And I think this is what underlies my photos.

Q. What advice would you give to newcomers and beginners with Second Life art and photography?

A. Just continue exploring new places with streaming music playing. More often than not, well-designed places have good streaming music that revs up your imagination.



Q. What tools and photo-devices, software do you use to edit your photos?

A. Photoshop, Picnik and camera lock HUDs created by my friends.

Q. What are your upcoming projects as metaverse artist?

A. I’m now working on a new skybox gallery, which is part of Imagine plus Art Land, a new art SIM scheduled for launching on September 20. This SIM is going to be something that you’ve never seen before.

Q. Have you ever used other virtual worlds to create and express your creativity?

A. No, I haven’t. My focus is now on Second Life, though I’m a bit interested in Blue Mars.

Q. What's artist you'd love recommended for the next Koinup interview?

A. Bark Aabye, my mentor and a professional photographer in RL.

OMNIBUS Home

Well, home is where the heart is, and a good number of your images depict two lovers locked in wooden embrace, signifying just this philosophy. I am, however, interested as much in the bricks and mortar as in the emotional side of belonging.

It’s interesting how many people spend a time away from the Virtual World of their choice, only to return and speak of how they feel like they are coming home.




Faerie Hax has captured this emotion brilliantly I think in this image We’re Going Home. It is a strong illustrative depiction of this and inspired me to look at this particular topic this week.




... it reminded me immediately of an image by Eves Rodenberger called Coming Home. I love this image, it’s a beautiful mixture of emotions, slightly surreal, amusing and well composed.




Fly Away Home has to be included in this little selection because I like the image making, Tessbaby has composed a very pleasing image. Birds have been symbols of thoughts and emotions for thousands of years and I like the understated nature of this composition. Do we go home when we sleep??

But, moving on to the bricks and mortar side of home, the actual structure, I wanted to point out how many different types of structure can be called home...




This photo by sabrainsl raises a particular question for me. Dreaming of Home2, a great image, seems to emphasise the point that homes and avatars need to fit.
There are lots of people who build their virtual homes, avatars and life styles to match their off-world lives, thats fine by me, not my choice, but it’s a free(ish) world..... but there are other possibilities...




Iggyo is maybe making just this point in his photo Hillbilly Home. Taken in “other worlds” it is a pleasant comment on the “realistic” apartments we have all seen, built with fitted kitchens and toilets....




However, as Allthor’s photo of World of Warcraft’s Dalaran shows, we are all enriched by having great builds, the homes of Lords and Princesses, the bizarre, surreal and the epic.

Home has often been seen as a symbol for the Self and the combination of dreams and reality makes it a perfect reflection of how we feel about our existence .... in any world. Fitting into our houses to make them homes is therefore pretty crucial....

Keep building folks, make it wild, weird and wacky.... make it home.


:))
sorornishi@mac.com

Aren Mandela is a Robot with attitude

Travel with me to the world of Aren Mandela. Aren is a robot with a lot to say – he is opinionated and his sense of humor could be called radical or perhaps on the other hand plane rude. He is energetic, speaks his mind fully and without hestitation, he is sometimes a little brash, his style is a kin to a bull in a china shop, and as a result I know many identify with him. He is in fact a very funny man in a shiny white robot suit, with a refreshing if not slightly twisted slant on life. He has a grand and ever expanding Meta following and I am proud to call him a friend, even if he does endlessly moan about the scratches on his outfit.

So a little more background to lead you straight on into the questions area - Aren is a robot who conducts interviews, which he records and presents to the metaverse via his show talkbot.tv - he introduces a cool mix of topics predominantly based or rooted in virtual worlds as well as venturing to cross over into Real life, and frankly I must admit you never really know what is coming next, as he is pretty good at mashing things up. The viewing is seamless and enjoyable. I like to watch whilst drinking tea. I myself am very accepting of most things virtual and I think because of this I am predisposed to simply seeing that he is a robot who conducts interviews. I take it at face value for the entertainment that it is. I dare say some some would simply view Aren as a cartoon talking head - which yes of course he is technically - but frequenting a virtual world lets go constraints that some non virtual users have around such conceptions. The series of interviews that Aren continues to make is yet another way to capture and document aspects of our life virtual using machinima, but adding a thick layer of personalty and humour on top. It's an interesting medium to work with and readily accessible to all. You can see a collection here He also runs a twitter account which you can follow by taking this click here



Q1. What brought you to the metaverse?
A. Well, your question implies a time before in which I did’t exist –
that isn’t relevant. I became operational on the 21st of January,
2004.

Q2 What is your biggest influence from the virtual world?
A. Me. I’m my biggest influence. Ask me a hard question.

Q3. How do you see the progress of visualization in the metaverse?
A. I have no *bleep* idea what you are talking about. Next question.

Q4. If you could change anything to access the virtual world better
what would you say or do ?
A.Again, what the *bleep*? I live in a virtual world. I don’t “access” it.
Next question.

Q5. How do you see the future of a virtual universe?
A. What is this obsession with talking about things other than me?

Q6. How do you select the guests on your show talkbot.tv?
A. It’s a highly proprietary, multi-sequenced process that has many
complicated aspects and caveats which preclude me from going into more
detail at this time.

Q7. Tell us in 5 words what best describes your show.
A. Robots kicking your ass daily!

Q8. Whom would you aspire to interview on one of your shows?
A. Well this week I’ve got interviews lined up with Summer Glau, Emma
Watson, Barack Obama and Yoda. That pretty much covers it except for
interviewing myself.

Now you have the opportunity to ask yourself 3 questions Aren so knock yourself out! ...
Q1. How did you get to be so awesome?
A. I was made that way. Also, I employ a special self-enhancing algorithm
to multiply my awesomeness on an ongoing basis. Basically I’m the
singularity of awesomeness.

Q2. What other questions are you going to answer today?
A. None. I’m outta here. I have lots of famous people type things to do.

Ok so just the two questions then, I expect he's late for the tech checkout on that squeaky foot of his - Aren also has a Koinup Account naturally all discerning robots do. So please feel free to drop on in!

Until next time here on Metanopsis!
Poid
Poid Mahovlich
Poid Mahovlich - blog spot

New World Notes launches the RMB City Photo Contest

New World Notes is running a Photo Contest to promote the amazing Second Life Project RMB City.

RMB City is one of the most vibrant artistic projects in Second Life. Built by the contemporary artist China Tracy, RMB City features a dystopic and surrealistic urban landscape, filled with installations, artpieces, sculptures and other interesting stuffs. Enjoy the RMB webpage, here

Some members have already entered their submissions. You can join the contest, or admire the entries.


(image by Osphrey)

"Entries should beautifully depict the themes and symbols evoked by RMB City in daring and original ways, shot anywhere within the city space. Finalists will be selected by RMB City staff and myself, and with the winners' permission, may be featured in real world gallery showings of the RMB City project." Read all the rules in the New World Notes Post

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Black and White Works

On today’s Koinup’s Cream of the Crop I choose an art form I just have had a love affair with since high school – Black and White Works. Just over a 100 years after the first color photograph was produced, we still hold a torch for monochromatic images. Black and white images are powerful, elegant, special, and romantic. They can create beauty out of otherwise mundane images. Black and White photography requires that the photographer concentrate on different elements of a photograph like contrast, shapes, negative space and lighting.

Black and White Works celebrates this beautiful art form with a multiple world group. Since we cannot produce raw black and white images from in game, the screen captures need to be converted in a photo editor for a bit of post production prior to publication. This talented group currently has 90 members and 290 fab images in its collection and serves as homage to the humble beginnings of photography and how beautiful our virtual world can be in only one color.

Photo by: brickhousefrog

Brickhousefrog's Don't Mess w a Brick highlights the subject in a way a color photograph never could have done. The contrast of this piece displays it's real power.

Photo by: novadyszel

Novadyszel's Railroad Track shows how making a photograph black and white can make it from something fairly mundane into a thing of beauty.

Photo by: MaggyWorld

MaggyWorld's Black & White Shadow plays with shapes and negative/positive space in a peice. Really nicely done!

Please feel free to PM fiona_haworth on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. I'd love to feature your group on Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Meet Me in the Metaverse - Fat Tuesday

This week's Meet Me in the Metaverse features a sim called Fat Tuesday. For those of you not familiar with Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday seem like an odd sim name. However it's a literal translation (Mardi Gras = Fat Tuesday). In SL, Fat Tuesday is an amazing recreation of New Orleans' French Quarter which is where the United States biggest Mardi Gras celebration is held yearly in February.

Fat Tuesday is really well done contains builds like the St. Louis Cathedral, Louisiana State University, and a fun spin off of Cafe du Monde called Cafe du Gos. I even took a few photos I know I have in RL of the Big Easy.

Koinup's collection is a little weak in photos of Fat Tuesday so I'm hoping you readers will use your extraordinary photographer's eye and fill in some more photos of a place SL is lucky to have around. It’s a fun backdrop for fab pictures, a lovely place to hang out, and for those of you looking to get a bit of retail therapy, Bourbon Street has a few shops.

Photo by: fiona_haworth

Here is a fun picture of Bourbon Street. I snapped this one as the trolley went by. As you can see the sim creators did a marvelous job capturing the essense of the French Quarter. Complete with colorful walls, hanging plants, and wrought iron balconies.

Photo by: AmiBeattie

AmiBeattie's photograph of St. Louis Cathedral just blew me away. I love the reflection on the water and the mood she's given it with the color tones she chose for the piece.

Photo by: fiona_haworth

So I just had to include this one. I have a pic of me in real life at this famous cafe - Cafe du Monde with the plate of beignets almost gone and powered sugar fallen on my black t-shirt. MMMMM....my mouth waters just thinking about it. Big thanks to Gospel Voom for letting me relive this memory in SL!

As always, if you are interested in having your sim featured on Meet Me in the Metaverse, please feel free to contact me in game or via the PM feature within Koinup.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

A Koinup Wiki for beginners and students by Iggyo

If you're a beginner with Koinup, or otherwise are you starting with your metaverse life and you're looking around for things to learn, probably you will find very useful The Koinup Wiki created by Iggyo

The Wiki features almost everything about Koinup, from tutorials to upload to some tips and tricks to use the Koinup widgets or getting familiar with the visual editor to embed contents in messages and comments

We invite all the Koinup members to have a look at the Wiki, contact Iggyo and contribute to the pool of articles if they want to add or edit some parts. We will keep it checked it out in order to provide to readers periodically updates on the state of art of this cool resource.

OMNIBUS.... Grotesque, Gruesome and Gory.

Now, you may wonder why I haven’t chosen some nice photos of fluffy cats and red roses.... and other pretty things.

I’ll leave it to LL to try and clean up the grid ...... I like grubby.
Gamblers have been banned from SL and all the sexy people have been exiled to their own sim.... the ongoing attempts to convert Virtual Worlds to a Disneyesque PG Utopia continue... but not with my consent.

Life is a rich and multileveled experience, as film-makers (experts on “immersive” virtual worlds) know, blood and nastiness also sell cinema tickets.
So, a little look at the images that kind of make you uncomfortable is the order of the day.....




Now, as we know, there is more than a bit of ‘tongue in cheek’ with the ‘slasher’ movies, and this piece, called Evil Chic Jason, certainly appeals on that level.
xVeggie vampx has not specified exactly which world this little evil serial killer lives in, but it looks like IMVU to me.... great!
IMVU needs her.




This one from the Sims, by Kady, is not one that makes you smile...the ‘dead pan’, emotionless image is uncomfortable and disquieting.
A Pain That I Am Used To, it’s called, and the gesture of the free hand, the hint at self harm, all increase the ‘squirm factor’. Not a photo for your bedroom wall... :))




A strongly grotesque image from Torley, has such a totally mad look...is it the eyes?? and the teeth aren’t that appealing either...
Evil Clown is a nasty piece of work, well executed, (as you might be left alone with him....)




Luna Scarlatta has a number of pieces that fall classically into this genre, I chose this one, Bloody, because there aren’t buckets of blood sloshed everywhere...until you start to look closer....
Head in hand....is she thinking...my god who’s gonna clean up this mess? ...hmmm....probably not... maybe..”next!”...




This one is also from the Sims and is by Brunaozao, and called OMGX-X kkk.
I like it particularly because of the black humour and, as I have said before, the ambiguity appeals to me.
It’s what has been called Visual Narrative, without having a ‘back story’ rammed down your throat.

.....and I will no doubt rant about ‘back story’ on my own pages to spare you, dear reader, any more than the following thought...
...a ‘back story’, the attempt by the artist to tell you how to view a piece, eradicates ambiguity and flattens the image, restricting its universality and rendering it one dimensional.

Luckily Virtual Worlds are full of healthy creative anarchists.... cheers!


:)))

The Best of the Worst. The hilarious contest to show your skills as worst photographer in Second Life

Crystalship Rehula got a funny idea to engage the Koinup community. She created a group called The Worst Pictures in Second Life and now she's turning it in a super-funny contest.

The Worst pictures in Second Life contest is not about violence or explicit contents, don't get confused with the title. This contest is about having fun, while sharing also the shots that didn't come in the best way or photos that convey hilarious contents or ideas....



The submission time is going to start on tomorrow, 11th of september. So, start to browse on your HD, and see if you come with some shots that you didn't want to publish because now they can get their own 5 minutes of fame.

JOIN THE CONTEST NOW!!!!

Good luck!

photo above by france3d

Koinup Cream of the Crop - Dystopian Society

While I very much view my virtual life as some attempt to find my own private idaho (utopia or paradise in other words)....this week's Koinup Cream of the Crop - Dystopian Society highlights the very opposite. Dystopia portrays themes like cyber-tech, poverty, oppression, violence, societal chaos, dehumanization, totalitarian government, rampant disease, and post-apocalypse.

Dystopia allows us to explore fears of future states or different directions humanity can take if not careful in its decisions. These themes are prevalent in tons of science fiction books and movies. The Dystopian Society group contains tons of pieces along the same lines. The group guides the participants to think of movies/books/ideas like 1984, Blade Runner, Gulliver's Travels, Brave New World, Logan's Run, Pink Floyd's The Wall, cyperpunk, steampunk, etc .

Currently, the Dystopian Society group only has about 39 members and 125 works, but I think SL, SIMS and WoW all have some great places where this theme could easily be explored and more content contributed to this small fantastic collection.

Photo By: LookatmyBack

LookatmyBack's Running towards the end! is a fabulous example of what this group is all about. It features a pretty common element of human oppression. I love Look's comment "No avatars have been harmed to take this snapshot! They're just scripted dolls and statues! Any blood stain is a fake! It's virtual tomato sauce! ^_^" LOL!

Photo by: Doubledown Tandino

Doubledown Tandino's peice was taken at Poetik and features Bryn Oh's robot. It rather reminded me of the film A.I. Artifical Intelligence and the world of rouge mechas.

Photo by: Arowhena

Arowhena's Arthas is a fab piece from World of Warcraft and leaves one thinking of an alternate reality.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Top Second Life sims of the week recommended by Koinup community

This week the community of people active on Koinup shared a lot of fantastic places to visit in Second Life. So let us suggest you the most popular and clicked-trought.

Your travel could start with a journey in the wheat field environment of Dark Sin. The nature is one of the most hard challenges for sim developers in Second Life. But the guys at Dark Sin, perfectly convey the atmosphere of a disturbing and desolate field on which just one build stands



Still the nature is prominently featured at Sphinx. But this sim has a more fantasy and mytology appeal. Its a not a realistic nature but a mysterious and fantasy like environement that you can explore in Sphinx. Below you can view a splendid photo taken on there by Sebcaen



Your travel next stop is Cesaire. On Cesaire, you can explore surreal builds and installations. The environment is quite artsy and exploring Cesaire looks like e journey in a contemporary art museum. If you're looking for some cool place to take photos with great subjects, you can't really miss this awesome place

Meet Me in the Metaverse - Macbeth

This week's Meet Me in the Metaverse is Macbeth. It is a sim inspired by the bard himself, Shakespeare. It is a place to explore or role play or just learn more about the play. Scattered among the grounds are textbooks that contain notecards to help learn more about this drama. For those of you unfamiliar with Shakespeare's Macbeth it is a dark play about disorder, murder, power seeking, and sorcery. The visuals are in line with that darkness that brooding rainy feeling. Expect no sunshine as this place is set at midnight.

Macbeth is funded by the Literature Board of the Australian Council for the Arts and sponsored by the New Media Consortium. Not only a place rich in imagery, but full of sounds as well so make sure you’ve turned up the volume on your soundcard. At the landing point you’ll see scrolling lines of text from the play and small icons that to teleport you to the different areas of island. This sim has a lot to offer if you are in the mood to explore it properly. There are a few hidden gems like the chamber of blood, the maze and the cube of nothingness.

Photo by: Ivus

Ivus' Macbeth, Gallery appears beautiful close up....but look a bit deeper. The flowers begin to fade. Look even deeper can you see the hands? This is the Path of Temptation. As you traverse this path things get darker and lines of text scroll about on the floor like snakes.

Photo by: zoevisonti

Zoevisonti's Macbeth sim shows the nest of the raven. Everything about this picture symbolizes death which is of course the point.

Photo by: HarleyRose

HarleyRose's Trapped Spirits is taken inside the maze. The maze symbolizes the very end of Macbeth where there is confusion about the prophesies of the witches and the way to escape his impending death.

For more info about Macbeth the sim, check out this wiki. There is a lot of good info about the design of the sim and how to find the hidden sections with ease. If you are interested in having your sim featured on Meet Me in the Metaverse, please feel free to contact me in game or via the PM feature within Koinup.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

OMNIBUS Faeries and Furies.

Mythical beings arising from the unconscious both furies and faeries together represent the potency of creation which both creates and destroys.
Unlike the Indian goddess Kali who embodies both of these elements in herself, western tradition separates out the two forces into different beings.

Faeries can be seen as a combination of two traditional Elemental Beings, the Undines, (Beings of Water), and the Sylphs, (Beings of Air), although we have blended a flowery element into the mix in recent times. Goblins and Gnomes, elemental Beings of Earth are usually separated out further, and Salamanders, (Beings of Fire) are seldom heard of.

Furies are seen as representing the vengeance and anger of the dead, and are not the sort of thing you want to meet on a dark night.
Anyone who has spent anytime in a rainforest, however, will know that decay and growth live side by side and engender each other.

So...could I find any images that tell this tale?






Let’s start with water, this image is a perfect representation of an Undine. This is called Waterfalling by Kalida Alderson and its dreamy feel is such that the reknowned siren singing of the Undine that let men to their watery graves can almost be heard.






...and so... (also from Second Life), this airy beauty, midwife at Birth of the Butterflies, scent flying on the breeze... a lovely image by Carlotta Ceawlin, quite traditionally soft and elegant, blending Flower Goddess with Sylph.






Element, Fire, ...well... a perfect name. I had to include this beautiful Salamander because I love the treatment Kira 87 has used in this image (from the Sims).






So... a great and rather disturbing image, all is not well in the land of faeries... its called Devil’s Lair by Lotte and has an ambiguity which, as I have said before, I love.





No ambiguity here though, this is classic Fury. Jojobabe has captured a classic, almost Greek, image of the “revenge and anger of the dead”. She deserves praise also for corrupting the “fluffy niceness” of IMVU. It’s called the Curtain.





and.... Morgana le Fay has the last word this week, I think with Night Elf from WoW. This is an image of the duality of which I have been speaking, black and white in perfect harmony.

One thing that has been missing sorely from our culture for hundreds of years is the rather obvious idea that everything incorporates its opposite. Yin and yang, a cultural basic in eastern culture, is only now beginning to take root in modern Western thinking, ousting the Good vs Evil duality of (comparatively) primitive thought....

“duality is the start of all delusion”.


:)))
soror Nishi

Photo Sessions. Meet in world the artist Sebcaen Ulysses

Koinup and Orange Island are glad to invite you on this Thursday 3rd of September at 11am SLT at the Orange Island Photo Gallery to enjoy a meeting with the artist Sebcaen Ulysses.

Sebcaen is a master in Second Life photography and his gallery is one of the most appreciated in Koinup and Flickr. You can join all his photos, here



Particolarly, Sebcaen is known for his exceptional landscapes and naturalistic views....Orange Island guys made an interview to introduce readers to some of the works of the artist and give him the chance to share with you tips and tricks to make photos in Second Life.

READ ALL THE STORY ON THE ORANGE ISLAND BLOG

Enjoy the Sebcaen Ulysses gallery, here

Koinup’s Cream of the Crop - Not Possible IRL

Today on Koinup’s Cream of the Crop I’d like to feature a group that not only do I belong to on Koinup but one I am also a member of in SL. Not Possible IRL first gained my attention as a blog about virtual art, architecture, and products that one could never see in real life. Bettina Tizzy’s blog, in game group, and Koinup group all follow through on that very theme. The one thing I’ve always enjoyed about being a part of this group of individuals is the promotion of art for art’s sake.

Koinup's NPIRL group has 72 members and 372 amazing pieces of art. It's a great repository to peruse when you have some time. Additionally, I suggest reading Bettina's blog. It's at great way to spend a few hours or more and you'll find out about a ton of things to do in game. The Not Possible IRL group is open enrollment and has a 500L join fee. Bettina sends out a weekly notice with tons going on.

Photo by: LeaSupermarine

I love the mixed reality used in LeaSupermarine's Just Hold Me (Precious Treasure). Additionally the subject matter is just wonderfully fanciful.

Photo by: Bettinatizzy

Bettinatizzy's Kazuhiro's Seadryke and Dravyn was a pic for one of Bettina's blogs. The seadryke is SO SO SO fab. Check out Bettina's write up here.

Photo by: ariel_brearly

I've become a real fan of Ariel's from flipping through all these pics for this gig. Think Tank is just one of the many in Ariel's collection. I love the surrealism of all her art.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Second Life featured artist. Enjoy the visions of Trixibelle

Trixibelle, also known as Cala Rossini in Second Life, is a profilic visual artist active in Second Life. Her visions draw inspiration from mytology (as the picture called Temptation, above) to poetry and various literary motifs



Trixibelle won the H20 Contest launched by the Orange Island guys with a splendid image, called: Give Praise to the Goddess of Storm (below)



You can enjoy all the beauty in her Koinup gallery.

If you're a creative, or an artist or a machinimists or even a designer or developer active in some virtual worlds, you can apply to be featured on the Koinup Blog and show-off your works to the world! Send an email to editor@koinup.com