Ute Hicks

That was impressive! Those theatrical animations were so realistic. Great editing too. Another leap ahead for SL machinima.

Mini SLCC? I would venture to say it will be a Maxi SLCC. I am guessing there will be at least 200 of us there. Most people I spoke to at SLCC were planning on attending San Jose in some sort of capacity. The Spring Virtual Worlds conference in New York was just an appetizer... (Feel free to tell me I'm nuts and I must be exaggerating).

Interesting, although I think the art director should have accompanied the words "Second Life" with the registration mark, like this: Second Life® to distinguish the proper name from the partial phrase.

Great reporting Tateru. I like journalists who ask the tough questions!

All was fine for me until I logged out and tried to log back in as an alt. I was online as the alt earlier, but this time I got a message saying: "Login Failed. Unable to connect to a simulator." However, Ute Hicks is always allowed in. Strange stuff. Oh well.

Hugh, it is interesting that you are dubious about Second Life as a machinima medium. Last November at the machinima festival in New York, Linden Lab's machinima "Silver Bells & Golden Spurs" won an award. Just last month, another machinima made entirely in Second Life won a place in two film festivals in Toronto and Amsterdam for non-machinima films.

While I haven't read any galleys of this book, a red flag goes up for me when I see that your blog promotes your Moviestorm product as if Machinima-making has been ineffective until now. How much of this pro-Moviestorm viewpoint will be seen in the book?

Hey Tateru, thanks so much for writing about the asylum. Becky Nosferatu and the gang she works with are fabulous creators. Since I don't write for a role-playing magazine anymore, I was trying to find a place to talk about this. Glad you saw it.

Akela, most of my SL to RL interactions have been business oriented, taking place at trade shows or official meetups, and the SL people I have met are usually publicly known already, so there are no surprises. However, at two recent meetups I met a few SL residents who I had met at social functions or the Podcasters camp in SL, and it was an adrenaline rush talking to the person behind the SL artist/programmer/developer/ etc. It's so much easier to talk, especially since I'm a slow typist. Seeing these people in person opens up another dimension to the conversation. I can't wait to go to SLCC in August. Chicago or Bust!

Thank you, Second Life Insider, for publishing an interview with Versu Richelieu. The whole "Live Without Boundaries" marketing idea was a clever way to promote Second Life, Millions of Us, Intel and Datavision at the same time. However, a couple of us SL residents who visited Versu in Manhattan noticed that the Second Life and MofU brand should have figured more prominently in the installation. Spectators had to look closely through the window at Versu's computer to recognize it as a build in Second Life. And where was the M of U logo? Other than thta, I enjoyed the show. I'd like to see live installations like this more often.

I just returned from visiting Versu Richelieu in her window at the Datavision store in Manhattan. The whole project seemed like an innovative and dynamic way to market three companies at the same time: Datavision, Intel, and Second Life. And being a business writer, I just had to go see it in real life. Watching a professional designer at work, combined with watching SL run on an Intel processor -- I'm on an obsolete Mac G4 -- was a treat. Versu was very friendly, and was able to concentrate, even with passers-by sticking their faces in the window. There was one fleeting moment when Versu smelled electrical smoke, but the wires were checked, and all was fine. If Versu needs to take a break, a store employee moves a display case, blocking her exit, to let her out. I guess there's something to be said for locking yourself in a room to get work done! After arriving home I joined some other revelers in the Live Without Boundaries sim in Second Life. We all cracked up when she did a close up on us dancing on cows in the middle of her intersection (see: http://sltags.com/snapshot/view/177). Only a few more hours to go! http://www.nyclivewindow.com.