When purple attacks

September 9, 2008

La Reve is a region-wide work of fantasy art. Filled with poseballs, you can spend your time taking pictures (like me) or contemplating purple. There’s a lot of purple. There’s a lot of blue, too and some pink. But mostly purple. Some people I know would say this is as it should be, except for the blue and the pink messing things up.

Everywhere you look there is something to see. There’s a certain consistent fantasy look to it all that transcends a mere build and makes it art. At least I think so.

As with the best regions of this sort, going beneath the surface is rewarded. Literally. As impressive as the battle above the waves is, under the water there is more to see. The same goes for the trees, the rocks… take a second look and the details pop out.

Careful use of light produces, shall we say, a purple mood. I’m not sure how else to describe it. You want to sit around and contemplate the stars or something. Me, I’m not much of a contemplator, but I felt a twinge. Or maybe it was something I ate.

Try all the poseballs you can. They don’t usually do what you expect and make for interesting scenes that beg to be photographed. Many of them are for sale, though, I don’t think that’s the point behind the region. At least I hope not… that’s a lot of effort to go to in order to sell poseballs.

A chass battle still life. With lasers. And it’s appropriately sized to make you feel like a pawn in it all.

A sunken city? Don’t ask why, just enjoy it.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/La%20Reve/58/161/24


Better second living through chemistry

September 8, 2008

Shopping for a molecule? Step right up to the Aldrich Chemistry New Products Pavilion and check out the (S)-α,α-Bis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-2-pyrrolidinemethanol trimethylsilyl ether in beautiful 3-D! Looking for something simpler? Be sure to take a gander at the (S,S)-o-Tolyl-DIPAMP!

Okay, I’m being a little unfair here. For those who actually understand a molecule and what it does just by looking at it, the 3-D representations are a probably very, very useful. Look at that, they added another Fluorine atom. Iiiiiinteresting! Those of us who are more likely to be shopping for Hydroxyethane (look it up) won’t get it.

Stop next door and visit the Hall of Busts of Famous Chemists. I was going to call it the Hall of Busts of Famous Nameless Chemists, but damned if the name aren’t inscribed on the pedestals. Another good joke lost to lost to journalistic integrity. Oh wait, I worked it in, anyway. Ha!

Aldrich actually has five regions, including the lovely Aldrich Commons and Aldrich Science islands next door. There’s remarkably little selling in these areas, just pristine streets and beautiful (if empty) buildings. And yes, you can rez your car. My sense is that they will be moving things from their older HQ region nearby, and that this is a work in progress. Call it a nice bit of corporate largess and image-making, letting us enjoy this space.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Aldrich%20Chemistry/48/195/24

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sigma%20Aldrich%20Commons/54/147/24


Sweet lameness

September 7, 2008

Sometimes you land on an island and it becomes obvious very quickly why there’s nobody else there. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Splenda. I use Splenda every day. But their island…

The island is done in that kind of fantasy-land cartoon style we’ve seen in Ben & Jerry’s and the much-missed Pocky. That look can be a lot of fun, and there’s a redeeming hugeness to most of the build. The difference is that there is nothing to do here that will keep your interest for more than thirty seconds. For example, the lemonade pool and Ferris wheel feature a straw in the base of the glass that will shoot you up into the pool. That’s a lot of fun! Once.

Still, that’s not the lamest thing I saw.

The Shake Slide lets you ride an apple down a Crazy Straw (or a fair facsimile thereof). Except they haven’t worked all the bugs out, so you always get stuck right about… there. Not to mention, you’re going the direction of backwash. Maybe that’s better than being sucked up into a gigantic set of pursed lips, but that would have had the advantage of being funny (or horrifying).

That, however, is not the lamest thing I saw.

Down on the ground you can grab a HUD and swim in a pool of Splenda. At least I think it’s Splenda. If it’s Sweet ‘n Low they need to talk to their builder.

Surprisingly, this was not the lamest thing I saw.

Outside the pool there are kiosks with refreshing drink recipes.This is as close as the island comes to having actual information content. Luckily, someone was smart enough to set up the kiosks to if you click them you’ll get a notecard with the recipe, which is somewhat better than transcribing it. Of course, there’s nothing that tells you that you can get the notecard, so you have to figure it out for yourself or depend on curious bloggers.

It was a close contender, but that was still not the lamest thing I saw.

In the Cafe you can sit at the bar or at a table and look at the desserts, fruits, and frosty drinks. You’d expect something to see one of those free food or drink vendors, but no, you just sit there and look at the food. But the strangest thing?

None of drinks are coffee. There’s not a mug in sight. In a cafe.

That was the lamest thing I saw.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Splenda/83/112/29


That’s sick

September 4, 2008

My friend Hyacinth dropped a landmark for the Sick region on me, so naturally I had to take a look. And look I did, and I couldn’t stop. It’s a visual cornucopia of futuristic darkness and light. It’s a post-apocalyptic techno fantasy. It’s… just great to look at and wander through.

There isn’t a whole lot to do besides look around, but sometimes that’s enough. My sense is that the two Sick islands will eventaully be home to a lot of shops, but right now they’re pretty randomly scattered. It’s almost a surprise when you find one.

Oh, there are some pose balls here and there. I stopped in a sushi joint but I think the fish had been out too long.

The islands are no-fly zones, which I normally hate, but in this case it rather forces you to check out all the nooks and crannies. It’s actually quite the maze of twisty little passages (and giant region-spanning bridges).

Radioactive Palmolive? You’re soaking in it!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/sick/221/122/28


Fido?

September 3, 2008

Here’s a little (well, big) something found by Walking Jun.  It’s a shop that sells AI dogs. From the looks of their video they could be pretty darned impressive, but I don’t know if I want to pay the $700 to find out.

Anyway, the thing that got my attention was the giant-sized version of the pet sitting on top of the store. He’s animated, and he wants those fish.

Failing to get at the fish, he may eat something else. Goodbye cruel world!*

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spinolds%20Flat/147/181/58

*Okay, his head is phantom sculpty so I flew into his mouth for the picture. Psych!


There’s no manly way to eat a chocolate covered banana

September 2, 2008

…but that doesn’t mean I won’t post of picture of me doing it, anyway. Because I’m all about sacrificing my dignity for cheap laughs, don’t you know?

Hovering above Japan Anshinchodama is a kind of Japanese County Fair in the sky running through September 12th. There are a variety of booths where you can camp as a vendor, play a game, or eat some food. I never knew that chocolate covered bananas were big in Japan, but there you go.

I never did manage to catch a goldfish. Wily little buggers.

Climb into the center pavilion and drum away. It was actually kind of fun. I know it’s just a simple animation, but the sound and the place… Okay, I’m weird.

Down on the ground you’ll find out what the island is really about. As near as I can tell, Anshin Chodama is a Pachinkocompany, made doubly apparent by the fact that if you look down with your camera the region looks like a giant Pachinko game. There are places to sit and a parlor where you can camp for prizes, but that’s not what makes the ground interesting.

The giant Pachinko machine where you can “have an experience of you falling as a Pachinko ball.” Fall into the one of the pockets and you’ll win a prize, including a Choda-Man avatar. The Choda-Man is a guy made out of Pachinko balls.

A word to the wise, though. You have no control over yourself once you become the ball. It’s a matter of luck, Just like the real thing.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Japan%20Anshinchodama/151/128/301

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Japan%20Anshinchodama/129/118/24


The kinetic conference room

September 1, 2008

A lot of regions are ostensibly public when they should be private. That’s fine for me, it gives me stuff to write about. Take Bridge Worldwide, for example. The sole build on their island consists of a conference room held aloft by propellers and gears.

Normally that wouldn’t be too interesting, except that everything moves. The propellers (of course). The table. The floor. The sign. If anyone makes it through their meeting without some sort of motion sickness, I’d be surprised.

 

I had to take a video of this just to give you the full effect.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Bridge%20Worldwide/126/135/29


Touch my monkey

September 1, 2008

I know that Germans have a reputation for attention to detail. I certainly liked this zoo I found in Neunkirchen Saar. But if you’re going to place a big pile of poo behind an elephant, shouldn’t it be steaming? I’m just saying. These things are important.

The zoo is very cute and entirely for show. The animals range from fairly realistic (elephants) to cartoony (monkeys). I’m not even sure if that’s supposed to be a live flamingo or a real flamingo.

The monkeys are animated in that weird kind of multi-prim movement where parts don’t always move in sync depending on the lag — so the face may move before the head, and so on. It’s amusing and disturbing at the same time.

All in all it’s a pleasant diversion. It does make one wish that sculpties could be animated, though.

Eventually some wild boars have mauled me and fed me to their young! Did I escpape? Tune in next time!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Neunkirchen%20Saar/112/125/27


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