Does Second Life have any lives left?

And we've heard this song and dance before, but I love the third comment down:

If Linden Lab didn’t care, they never would have put the modify/copy/trans permissions system into Second Life in the first place.

If Linden Lab didn’t care, they would have claimed ownership of all intellectual property created in Second Life. In fact, that’s how most game worlds work, and that’s how SL worked until Linden Lab changed their Terms of Service.

The people to complain about, to be mad at, are the people doing the intellectual property infringement. They’re the ones breaking the law.

Even if Linden Lab banned all third-party viewers and managed to keep them from connecting to the SL grid, people would still be able to copy SL content. People were copying SL content before third-party viewers existed.

Here’s what will happen: people will either figure out how to make a living in SL *despite* IP infringement, or they won’t. The ones that don’t will leave SL. The ones that do will stick around and thrive. The law of the jungle operates in SL as well.

Walmart didn’t quit because they couldn’t stop shoplifting. iTunes didn’t shut down because of Pirate Bay. Rolex is still in business despite the fact that you can get cheap imitations on the street. Best Buy still sells lots of DVDs. And SL will continue to exist, even though there are a few criminals running around.

Absolutely. Troy strikes again. But he's right, it's vital that creators learn this trick, and start employing it.

Yes, absolutely, go after infringers. Yes, absolutely, get the word out that copyright infringement is wrong. Yes, absolutely, take a strong stand against it and hold that strong stand.

But no, don't give up. No, don't stop creating. No, don't delete your work and go away. That's giving in, that's surrendering, that's admitting the thieves are better than we are, smarter, more adaptive. That's ridiculous.

Meanwhile, filmmaking has recently taken an ugly turn, namely the casting of Avatar: the Last Airbender. Let me preface this by saying I've never seen more than one, maybe two episodes of Airbender, but I know the concept, I know some of the plot. I missed was that it was a Western-produced animated series, not an Asian anime. It looks like anime.

But really, M. Night lost me completely as a fan with The Happening. To me, it's not a shock, it's just par for the course that he's done something as ridiculous as cast a nearly entirely wholly fair-skinned cast for an Asianesque fantasy universe. Why should this surprise me? He wanted me to be afraid of wind in the last film!

How'ver, Operation Squeegee--by the time this posts--will be open! There's a donation kiosk at my main store for them (making one on each side, now; Operation Squeegee's bucket and post, facing the multicolored ribbon that comprises the Virtual Haiti relief kiosk), and you can also go here to attend the main event.

What's the point, though? Right now SL is kind of glutted on charity events. We've even had an event where charity wasn't the point. RFL is still ongoing, the Virtual Haiti Relief effort is still going, so why another one?

Because--as with cancer, as with the total devastation of every form of Haiti's infrastructure--what's happening in the Gulf really is that tragic. Not only that, but it's a tragedy that could have been prevented with foresight. Like New Orleans.


(The Operation Squeegee event site.)

There are operations in process, moving (slowly) through the legislature, that will take profits directly from oil and gas royalty payments to use to clean up the Gulf. This is good. But that's later. The Gulf needs our help now.


(The Veritas houseboat. 53 floating prims.)

Scientists are telling us that children are at greatest risk for contamination from the Gulf disaster. Their systems stand to be irreparably harmed from contact with this much oil, and this toxic a chemical oil dispersant, threaded through the waves.


(Very fun beach ball.)

Two months after the disaster, things are worse than ever. Over seventy-six million gallons of oil have spilled out of Deepwater Horizon. They're telling us the worst is yet to come; we may never be able to stop what went wrong. We may have to live with this spreading devastation...forever.


(Blue Ocean dolly dress.)

There's oil rain falling in Louisiana now. It's also falling in Florida. Already, it's not bad enough that the oil's devastating the Gulf ecosystem; it's saturating the water now, which disperses into moisture that is then picked up, carried into clouds, and deposited miles away in the forms of lethal, contaminated, oil- and dispersant-rich rain, dew, mist and fog.


(Intense prim jellied eyes.)

The National Wildlife Federation is soliciting funds to help in any way they can, but in particular, part of their focus is on an endangered population of pelicans. And their efforts are being hampered in every way possible by BP directly, who is currently still spending their days claiming they're not to blame followed by making everyone they can find in the area sign non-disclosure agreements, or booking smallcrafts, helicopter and light aircraft flight/float times, to prevent scientists, technicians and reporters from actually moving over the area, to observe and/or take pictures.


(Picture pendant.)

It's staggering, and should it be BP's responsibility? Absolutely. But while they dither, we can't wait. It gets worse every single minute that goes by, and we must help. We can't afford to wait. No one can.


(Blue and black oil bikini.)

So this. So the Operation. Because the Gulf will die if we don't do something, and that doesn't mean just the pelicans, just the fish. That means everything. People, plants, animals, the land itself, contaminated for decades or centuries, the ocean a wasteland devoid of all life...if there's any way to stop that future from becoming reality, we have to try.

Contact the folks at Operation Squeegee for more information; as they said earlier, "Remember this is all to [benefit] a great cause - helping an ecosystem and all [its] residents recover from the Oil Spill Disaster. All funds collected go towards the National Wildlife Federation via Operation Squeegee."

This is another one where they're being absolutely transparent about where the money's going. Please give what you can and realize; the state you save, the country you save, may well be your own. We are a closed ecosystem; as we've learned with Chernobyl and Mount St. Helens, this will travel.

Give it time. The oil rain is coming. All of us have to do what we can to lessen the blow.

For anyone who doesn't live on the Second Life grid, this next may be hard to understand, but there actually are people who are clamoring for a representative democracy to be enshrined as the ruling body of SL at large.

At least, I think that's what they're asking for--sometimes, it's hard to tell. They seem to want something significantly beyond what we have, with Linden Labs at the top of any diagram, because they own the place. They seem to think by and large that, simply because of their place on the grid, the grid should be democratic in nature.

There are a few problems with that, which Honor McMillan has ably taken on in a recent blog post, but I just wanted to clarify one section of the point.

Think democracy. Democracy as we know it, on a daily average level, in the US, say. (For those of you not in the US--you're generally better off, so just read along with your typical bemused smile.) Just for argument. If you really want the type of democracy the US has--and the Lindens, for some brain-dead reason of their own, decided to go along with you--you would have:

* Representatives for the furs
* Representatives for babyfurs
* Representatives for the dragons
* Representatives for the cultured furs
* Representatives for the neko population
* Representatives for the Caledonian Catgirl Brigade (because really, they ARE their own thing)
* Representatives for the fur herms (and boy, are THEY their own category)

and everyone else. And that's just one flavor of non-humans. What about:

* Representatives for porcelain dolls
* Representatives for fetish dolls
* Representatives for Rubberdolls (and there'd have to be at least seven people for that one community, because otherwise, there's no one to break a tie vote if they ALL start screaming at each other)
* Representatives for dark RP communities (and would they then split into one--or more--for each of those communities?)
* Representatives for the demons
* Representatives for the vampires (and those would have to split again into at least three different groups by my count also)
* Representatives for werewolves
* Representatives for weres in general
* Representatives for constructs
* Representatives for Avarians (and again, would that be one voice to speak for all of them, or a multitude to speak for every type?)
* Representatives for historical RP communities
* Estate representatives (and would it be one per sim, or one per sim chain owner?)

And past that:

* child community reps
* adult community reps
* "Adult" community (for yes, there is a difference!) reps

And that's not even all of them, there's more out there that I'm not even remembering off the top of my head. But we're not done. What about:

* Christians
* Pagans
* Satanists
* Jews
* Muslims
* Buddhists
* Quakers
* Hindus

and more. And then there's:

* Russians
* Brazilians
* English
* Australians
* Americans
* Canadians
* French
* Mexicans
* Spaniards
* Scots
* Koreans
* Yugoslavians
* Hungarians
* Japanese

and more; Second Life is incredibly diverse. Plus we can toss in:

* Republicans
* Democrats
* Labor Party members
* Liberals
* Conservatives
* Anarchists

Who else would fit into there?

And beyond anything else, would we need space for the extreme fetishes, the extreme belief systems, because if there's one thing I've learned about SL, it's that extreme thinking fits right in. How would we bring all these diverse interests together?

Not only that, but can you seriously tell me that a devout Muslim can sit next to a full-on dominant in leather with a girl in slave chains and red silks at his feet on one side, and a hermaphroditic demon Mistress with a fully pierced, spiked, and dripping exposed member on the other?

Or how about that self-same slave girl in red silks sitting next to a Femdom advocate who cannot conceive of any other lifestyle than weak men submitting to her will? Hells, sit her next to a Gorean male. Can they get along long enough to even vote on an issue, whatever that issue is?

And folks on SL, by and large, they're a mouthy bunch where their particular whatever is concerned. How do you get all these people to agree on a location to meet, yet alone the topics of the day? Beach people, proper Victorians, casual strollers, winter skiiers, mermaids, sea monsters, Westerners in boots and cowboy hats...and what about the dress code? Long skirts, short skirts, amount of cleavage appropriate? Can anyone show up in a veil and not cause controversy? If it's PG land that would leave out the serious fetishists anyway...

Of course, all of this is beside the point. That point being--it's still Linden Labs' playground. We just play there. It's our right to say whether we play there or not, and to a limited extent, how we choose to play--but we can't stand up and 'vote' that the swing set is taken away and replaced with a bakery, f'rinstance. Because we don't own the place.

We just hang out and swing. People really need to understand that, once and for all.

(All right; next up, Operation Squeegee!)

Based on the Disclosure Policy's blog recommendations, I have, with their help, worded a Blog Disclosure Policy for the Train Wreck:

This policy is valid from 30 June 2010.

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact Emilly Orr (the address is in the sidebar).

This blog does not accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, we will and do accept and keep free products, services, travel, event tickets, and other forms of compensation from companies and organizations.

(Full disclosure: I have a slideshow of Amazon products. If people order something using that link, I get a 4% kickback. This is really, really small. But I like scrolling through Amazon, so I keep it up. Also, if anyone goes through the Second Life banner, and purchases a premium account, I get a small percentage of that sale. I get a smaller percentage of the netbook revenue if anyone buys an all-in-one netbook package. So far, no one has. At present, nothing else in my sidebar is there for any other reason than I like having it there, and nothing else pays me a monetary stipend of any kind.

(I'm always up for discussion, though. Feel free to contact me if you think your advertising would mesh perfectly with my level of sarcasm.)

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

(Full disclosure: The Amazon ad was generated by Amazon, though I determined its content. I suppose that's closer to a first-party network. The Second Life banner goes through Linkshare, though, and so does the netbook advertisment.)

The owner of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

(Full disclosure: I am always open to receive gifts, especially Second-Life related, that I can review on this blog; I don't always have Lindens to buy things on the open market. How'ver, I don't go out of my way to solicit, and I'm really bad at blogging things I do get; I'm not a bad blogger, nor an infrequent one, but with 72K+ in inventory things get LOST. I am partially a tech blogger, partially a virtual worlds blogger, part gamer, part fashion detective; I don't fit any box neatly, is what I'm getting at. But if you want to send me something, I'll do my level best to get it out there.)

This blog does contain content which might present a conflict of interest. This content will always be identified.

(Full disclosure: I am a resident of Second Life. I used to be a paid premium member. I used to own virtual land. Thus, I am not impartial. While I am not employed by the Labs nor a premium member, these facts do represent a small conflict of interest, and on occasion, they do prevent me from airing my free unfettered opinion.)

To get your own policy, go to Disclosurepolicy.org.

In other news...they're out!



This is the first design I made, and it was completely accidental. I flipped the wrong setting on one of the existing designs, and voila, I had this almost perfect oilslick dress. I had a great deal of fun with the backdrop, dragging out paved parking lot textures, wooden crates, spooky trees, and Dame CoyoteAngel Dimsum's burning industrial fire she designed for the OpenSpace protests.

Inara Pey breaks down the various third-party viewers out there. One might wish she would have spent time reviewing the CoolSL viewer as well, but alas. It's still pretty comprehensive on a feature-by-feature comparison.

Why don't most YouTube players on the grid work now? Ask Damani. Some have now reverted and can play again, but generally, it's still a risk--it'll either work, or it won't, and only upgrading will solve it. But it's nice to finally have a why.

This one's more RL, but since many of us are geeks, and we do conventions now and again--it's indispensable for what to take, what to buy, and how to store it at the con. (This, by the way, is part one of this series, and this is part three.)

Art is architecture for Karim Rashid, but I find it very surreal that his buildings and structures look both vintage and futuristic at the same time. Nifty trick.

Along with Dusan Writer (who originally found this one), I completely and totally disagree with this article; Second Life is not disconnected from social media. It's rife on Blogger, Twitter, and Wordpress; you can tweet updates to your Twitter account while in Second Life, you can set the viewer to send you IM updates from other people or notices from stores to your email account...At this point there are text-only viewers for the grid and it's only a matter of time before someone makes a purely mobile viewer. It's very connected.

So what is this author complaining about? Mainly, that it's not hooked into Facebook. I could care less. The Facebook group hasn't updated? I'm perfectly fine with that.

Plus (and Tateru Nino pointed this out first), what is SL if not a social network? It's still not precisely a game, not like WoW, Runes, and 192% of everything Steam/Valve offers...it's only separate from the social network that comprises MySpace/Facebook/Twitter for virtue of the fact the article's author wants it to be.

There's another RL article out there saying current 3D technology could impair childrens' vision. What about adults? Our eyes are already trained, so to speak, so it just gives us eyestrain, not strabismus? Sort of reminds me of when computers and keyboards were introduced, and suddenly, all the office clerks were getting carpal tunnel from using computers...We are not our technologies, but wau, are we influenced by them.

Speaking of which, it wasn't just me that had a huge problem connecting with the internet yesterday and today--apparently Amazon went buggy, and might be still, and Second Life is being very crashtastic on its own. Of course, I have to build my brains out, because today is the last day I can make cart changes for Operation Squeegee...so of COURSE there are login problems!

I promise, my next entry will have pictures of at least my contribution to the event, and more about it. More then!

I came to Rampart Castles to see this:



The Eye of Mercy lighthouse. Clocks in at L$950 and worth every penny. It is startlingly distinctive, and gorgeously textured. But while I was there my jaw dropped more than once at the castles for which Rampart Castles is known.



The mini-castle: L$880, copy/mod permissions, 88 prims in all; 20x20 footprint. The only sized castle one could realistically call quaint, but it is, it truly is. Compact without feeling abnormally cramped.



The Castle of Mercy: L$5950, 573 prims including the sculpted rocks on the base (you can see those if you click to see the larger image); mod/copy, 9+ rooms, and torches included, along with an owner security system. You'd need half a sim to set it up, practically, but it is gorgeous.



The Castle of Fortitude: L$14,950. 1,314 prims. Takes a 100x100 footprint space, but mod/copy, realistic (and original!) textures, and it comes with a secret cave underneath the castle!



If you're looking for a large castle, and you have the space--and the finances--this is the one. It has a fully primmed-out inner courtyard in addition to multiple rooms on multiple levels, plus--the doors lock.



It even has a hidden secret entrance, to the secret lair. The lair--as you can see in this image--is apparently deep enough underground to hit lava. That, or lava's just closer to the ground on the grid.

They're all surpassingly beautiful, and there's more on the sim than just the castles. But the castles--and most especially, the lighthouse Eye of Mercy, which won at least one award (justifiably so, I should think)--are worth the trip.

There are more than a few reasons I don't play World of Warcraft, but if I ever had strong leanings towards playing it--or any upcoming Blizzard game--learning about their RealID system just killed them. There is not a chance in any universe I will download and voluntarily enable a system that only goes by my real name. If I wanted the entire world to know my real name, I would use it online.

I don't. It is a flawed and foolish system that expects anyone else to, as well.

How'ver, apparently the White House plays. Released today: news that the government is working on a system to develop trusted internet identities. Why? Got me. Is it Big-Brother-esque? More than a little. Is it sponsored by Homeland Security? Why, yes. Does that make it terrifying?

Probably. I'll be watching that link to see how it develops.

Finally, passing age verification on SL doesn't mean you're an adult:

[13:32] Freyja Nemeth: So....who wants a sneaky look at the new Angelina outfit in the gorgeous Pearl colour? I tinted up my pair of white Booty Bay boots for an almost perfect match: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Genesis/103/120/43
[13:33] Chrisrox Silverblade: i want ur boobies yesh
[13:33] Freyja Nemeth: You can buy those in store too, the Siren skin has excellent ;)
[13:34] Chrisrox Silverblade: Not the ones i buy
[13:34] Chrisrox Silverblade: i just want urs
[13:34] Chrisrox Silverblade: and ill put my dick between them
[13:34] Chrisrox Silverblade: IN AND OUT!
[13:34] Chrisrox Silverblade: then make milk come out
[13:34] Chrisrox Silverblade: oooh yeah
[13:35] Freyja Nemeth: I think you want to be banned, too.
[13:35] Chrisrox Silverblade: i was kiddin
[13:35] Chrisrox Silverblade: sorry

Yeah, that's not an 'oops, pardon, I bumped into you' event. That's someone who really doesn't care what group he's in, with severe foot-in-mouth disease. How is that "kidding" in any sense?

Hard to believe he's only six days old, huh?

[17:00] Adaarye Shikami: Sorry to bother you all with this spam - but I'd really appreciate it if you all would take a moment to read this and carefully consider what I've said and the requests I've made. This is an important issue and due to the circumstances, I feel the need to ask for the support of the community as a whole and to bring awareness of the plight that some in our community would love to put texture artists into. ♥

So I read the notecard included:

I have read some of the most disturbing things today posted by a, for the lack of a better term, freebie monger, in a venue meant for SL business folk. Why he/she is in that [part] of that venue I'm not certain. Apparently, this person has for TWO DAYS been preaching that texture artists are not entitled to the same rights as the rest of the content creators here in our fine community. I find this particularly disturbing.

Let me preface my next statement with *I support the builders who have granted me their patronage both in the short term and for years BUT I will NEVER allow an open ended license for my textures*. My ToS is what it is. My time is just as valuable as the next persons. I'd like for all of my valued customers to consider the time we ALL put into our creations, the overhead we pay, the cost of software and training. One should never discount the value of anyone's time. If a texture artists creations are fair game to be tossed from grid to grid, should a builder's creation then become full perm as well? To be copied and tossed about from grid to grid? In the same manner in which this person proposed [in a] merchant's venue no less. Does the fact that I buy a 10K prefab in SL automatically grant me the right to have it delivered to Inworldz or any other VW? I think not. I'd never expect it because that is WRONG. I don't have a problem paying for what I want/need and if I were to have issues with paying, it's my problem, not the creative community's problem.

When the query was made if this person would deliver his/her goods from grid to grid on demand or make his/her things full perm to be copied at will, he/she promptly blew smoke up our collective asses. So my proposition is unless ALL content creators are willing to give up their time to make full perm items that can be tranferred, copied, resold, abused, exploited at will, then don't buy into this dribble. I have done my best to bring my best to SL and have granted my customers a license to use my best inside Second Life.

So what I am asking for now is the support of the creative community to stamp out such cheap skate mentality and support your texture artists .. all of them. Please don't abuse us and let common sense rule and not freebie mentality. This I shouldn't have to pay and plain cheap skate mentality and way misguided sense of entitlement (Our sets cost like 50 cents to 4 dollars each?!!) needs to stop. I would also request your support and well wishes as we EXPAND into another VW and above all, respect our time and effort.

/rant and as always *hugz* and thank you for your support.

I find this interesting, especially on the heels of the Prim Perfect post I quoted yesterday. It's quite the emotional plea, and it's not even saying anything I particularly disagree with; as a texture artist myself, I would prefer my creations be used to build with, not to be sold by someone else for profit; and while I don't have a specific "personal ToS" I give out with my textures (haven't decided if one is needed yet), the concept generally is: Use what we make to better your builds. Don't sell the textures independently. No selling on other grids.

That seems fairly basic, yes?

But now I'm thinking, particularly in light of the comments on the Prim Perfect blog (which I'll get to in a moment); where was Miss Shikami when this went down? What "freebie-monger" was espousing the belief set that so offended her? And what exactly was said? We have the full measure of her offended words, yes; but we don't have what so offended her. And speculation in such waters is never a good thing.

But let's go back to the comments on the Prim Perfect blog. One of the commenters on the blog, Troy, said:

Digital music, digital movies, and digital 3D models can all be copied easily and perfectly (if not legally), so you’d think that all the creators would have stopped creating by now. Yet they haven’t. I wonder why not.

Prim Perfect replied:

Troy – in the cases you cite, the intellectual property rights belong to or are protected by large corporations who have the power to go after infringers hard. And they do.

[...] A new CD by Cold Play is ripped off. The new Peter Jackson movie is pirated. Chris Martin and Peter Jackson are insulated from the theft by the companies that surround them. They have every encouragement to go on creating.

Um, not always. In a very famous recent case, Peter Jackson turned down the direction of the upcoming film, The Hobbit because there were problems with how he and his people were paid from the last three Lord of the Rings films. According to New Line, they don't seem to get the point that 'creative accounting' that results in not paying directors, actors, writers and producers for their work will result in those selfsame directors, actors, writers and producers not working for them in future.

Jackson doesn't even seem particularly emotional about it; his stance is clear. He wants the court case settled, for or against him, on the merits of his claims; he's even willing to lose, if that's what the court findings deliver. But New Line is pushing--and I suppose, in their view, that's the "right" way to do things; if they get Jackson et al to agree to bind the litigation to the new film, then they're out of the court drama and they get Jackson to direct. Win-win for them.

How, in all of this, is Jackson being "protected by large corporations"? I'd rather think he's being financially damaged by large corporations, frankly.

Both OKGo and Amanda Palmer left their record labels because the strictures their labels were putting on them were untenable. Who Killed Amanda Palmer as an album has actually been tracked out on the profit margins; though there were sales, even with that label's slipshod advertising, nothing made its way to Palmer because it just didn't sell "well enough". The "large corporation" got paid; yet Palmer was "protected" from the profits of her own intellectual property.

More to the point though, the DMCA itself was never intended to be used in a small claims sense. It was designed from the outset to apply to those selfsame "large corporations" on major hacks of their work; 180,000 copies of a popular film ripped and resold in China, for instance. It's not even that those ripped copies didn't start out life as a legally bought one; in nearly every case, they have, so that those selfsame rippers can get a digitally perfect copy in the first place.

That it's cumbersome, that it's arcane, that it's difficult to figure out is part of the why it was created; it is assumed that anyone who wants to correctly file a DMCA has filed one before, or has had clients that have, in the case of the law firms who usually file DMCA cease-and-desist letters. At this point, they've done it a thousand times, it's point and click. It's routine. It's rote.

Not so for the "small scale business operations" on SL; and this is not the fault of the DMCA, because it was written with very specific end goals in mind. But in reality, in real application, if someone fills in a line wrong, doesn't fill in exactly, word for word, what the specific and specifically spelled out products were that violated a creator's IP...Linden Labs not only won't act, but by the provisions of the DMCA they cannot act. If they don't have things specifically spelled out, they can't ban those things. By law.

I am not trying to diminish Maxwell Graf's loss in any way. But do we know, with no shadow of any doubt, that Graf's DMCA was filed absolutely accurately? He does not show us the documentation; we are left to assume that he did turn it in accurately. And six days after he filed his claim--after a 30% staff reduction on the part of Linden Labs, after the leadership position of M Linden was overturned, after the removals team was gutted...six days after all of that, action was still not taken.

I think, in this instance, we have to cut the Labs some slack. While the form letter is vague and, by its nature, insulting, I think Mr. Graf was lucky to hear anything back. Major turmoil behind the scenes in any organization, and that organization suffers. That he heard back at all was a positive sign.

How'ver, by the same extension, and in all fairness--when he heard back, he was told the problem was resolved. Mr. skatman Shelman is still in Search. But his business, the terrifically misspelled "Sucubos Infernaty" is now a private home.

[16:51] Emilly Orr: Ah. Do you know where the business moved to?
[16:51] Emilly's Google Translator: Azul Lawksley=>Ah. ¿Sabes dónde está el negocio se trasladó a?
[16:52] Azul Lawksley: que negocio buscas
[16:52] Azul Lawksley: ?
[16:52] Emilly's Google Translator: Azul Lawksley:they're business

That seems to be that.

The only other store-related link in Shelman's picks led me to the Dracul sim, which seems to be an immersive RP area. While there are items that look like Mr. Graf's work, they also say they're Maxwell Graf's work; not imported and sold by someone else, and there's no vendor here to buy anything of Mr. Shelman's, anyway.

The other avatar mentioned, Mr. Skatman Edelman, seems to be Polynesian, not French, and in any case, has no picks or other mentions in his profile. So whatever the Lindens did, or did not do, prior to sending that letter, they seem now to have now done...or, at least, on the surface, from a quick port around, they seem to have removed the items in question.

In fact, the only thing I've found even built by Shelman at all is slab-built, and mostly from megaprims, in Nosferatu. It's not in the least hacked work, and it looks like it.

[Later insert: I'm very wrong. I ported in, looked around, scanned objects...I'm wondering now if the Linden who was sent out did the same thing, because up in the sky, in the half-dome, nothing's made by Graf. But downstairs, in the actual Vamps' Nest RP area, I would bet my life that several bridges, flame columns, homes, shops, firepits, and assorted other items are made by Graf...but they claim to be built by Shelman. So there's still work to be done, Lindens--you might want to get on that.]

From Cheryl Spectre comes shaky news for future titles in Octoberville:

Hey guys! I know everyone hates viewer 2.. Im withya on that.. but it has one capability we have incorporated heavily into this years OV and thats web prim capability. Viewer 2 will be REQUIRED to complete OV this year.. so you may want to start getting used to it before October.

How much do I hate viewer 2? A LOT. Do I hate it enough to prevent my gaining this year's title, which would mean three consecutive completions of the hunt?

'm having to think on that.

This just kills me--I realize I'm far from the target market for smart phone makers, but seriously--it's still a phone. Which means it must be capable of use as--A PHONE. This is a difficult concept?

Man, by the time I'm ready to get a cell phone I'm going to have to do a ton of background research, because seriously--I never thought the one thing I'd have to make sure, for any cell phone purchase, was that it could make and receive calls!

Finally, for every ten thousand spam emails sent to Chipotle, they'll make a donation of $10,000 to a charitable organization designed to make students' school lunches healthier.

Which is a great idea, but...how soon are they going to go broke at this rate? I receive about 500 pieces of spam every week. If I forward all of those to Chipotle's specially-set-up email box, that's 3,500 just from me alone--each and every week.

How soon before Chipotle's desire for helping out bankrupts them?

As much as I still loathe the slipshod execution of Step Up!--that's not likely to change, any time soon, either--I do give props where due: this post on the Prim Perfect blog details yet another loss of revenue for the Labs that never had to happen, and exactly how tragic the Lab's execution of copyright infringers still is.

We do need a better system for ending copyright infringement. And Linden Labs needs to back their claim and state positively that it will follow its own guidelines and ban avatars found to be infringing content; ban suspicious viewers that are known offenders; and delete the infringing content itself. And all of this should have gone into action long before now.

I will never thank Mark Kingdon for any of the ham-handed strategies he tried to 'save' the company he was put in charge of; but I do agree that Miss Grace McDunnough is right in her recent blog post on Philip Linden's return as "temporary" CEO. Second Life needed some kind of change; short of setting Kingdon on fire and chanting "BURN, you bastard, BURNNN..."...it'll have to do. And now, as she says, he needs to stride forward and find someone to solve all those pesky bureaucratic issues he's not equipped to deal with.

[17:40] Emilly Orr: Hi, Drummer. Let me know if I can help with any Solace Beach questions.
[17:40] Drummer Somerset: ty
[17:40] Emilly's Google Translator: Drummer Somerset:Company

Wait, now Google Translator is sponsoring out translations? What the hell?

More of the top ten list; this time, the last five.

#5 is The Haunting:



In 1963, Robert Wise acquired the rights to The Haunting of Hill House, one of Shirley Jackson's more well-known works, even at the time. He made a few changes to the layout, so to speak, and then proceeded to film over one hundred minutes of black and white film that still unnerves to this day. Eleanor, the lead character, is the prototypical Lost Girl, trying her best to crawl away from her broken past and start her life. Let's just say that doesn't work out as planned.

But she does have the adventure she so desperately longed for; and in her bruised and battered hard, it doesn't so much matter if it's good or bad; she just wanted something to happen. Needed something to happen.

Be careful what you wish for.

It's available on Netflix to rent, and on Amazon to purchase.

Or you could buy the original book by Shirley Jackson, published in 1959. It still packs a punch on its own.

#4 is 1984's Children of the Corn:



Forget the nine billion sequels, most ranging from bad to unwatchable, and the recent remake, which was utter dreck--we're talking the original film, with Peter Horton and a very young Linda Hamilton.

And yes, it's dated, and yes, it's an odd concept to begin with, but be serious for a moment: how many films will give you a dread fear of corn?

And everyone stole this concept. Pick any backwoods thriller post-1985; if it had a cornfield, it's because someone saw this film. And it's not like it's even a silly concept; for those of you who've never done this, you'll just have to trust me, but for anyone reading who's walked out into a big cornfield? You know what I mean.

It's that thick green hush, when you're standing surrounded by corn. You can no longer see the road; sometimes, you can't hear cars. All you hear is corn leaves, whispering; all you hear is cornsilk's soft sussurance on the breeze. If there is one.

If there isn't, it's even worse; then it's thick, and muggy, and the smell of earth and corn is heavy on the air. Insect drones cover up most modern sounds; it is extremely easy to get disoriented in a cornfield and walk out significantly past where you walked in.

Add to that "He Who Walks Behind the Rows", a group of children who decided--on their own--that adults had to be punished for the sake of...something...in the corn...and the skewed Biblical overtones, and you have the town that EVERYONE is trying to forget, in the hopes that whatever went bad there will eventually just die off and wither on the stalk.

So to speak.

It's available on Amazon for purchase, Netflix for rental, or you can go the fun route and get the RiffTrax version.

#3 is Identity:



Oh, there is so much fun to be had with this one. It's another one where the plot is intense and deranged and hard to figure out and then one thing, just one thing happens...and suddenly you're watching an entirely different movie.

Splash of gore, splash of disturbing on the character side of things, but for the most part, this is a set piece. The action rarely lifts from the motel, and even when characters try to leave, they learn they can't. Only later do we know why.

Brilliantly played, brilliantly written, and Jon Cusack, as expected, is amazing in it.

It's available on Netflix for rental and Amazon for sale.

#2 is Scream:



Scream took every single slasher film ever made and broke it down into its component parts...and then made its heroine savvy to all of them. The audience knew what was going to happen all the way through--any serious slasher fan knew the rules as well. And the film did not hold back, driving us along those well-worn paths, but the end outcomes were wonderfully skewed.

I'm not so much talking about the sequels; most sequels suffer simply because they're sequels. But the original is a strong and vibrant thing, and it makes no apologies. It is a slasher film, pure and simple. People will die, and do die. But the rules are adhered to...most of the time.

Also, fun drinking game: watch the film and catch the references to other movies.

#1 is, has to be, Saw:



Saw was revolutionary at the time, in that it made horror personal again. I'm not sure if that will make sense to anyone who's not a hard-core horror fan, but horror had spread out into a lot of areas, and it seemed like movies were centering on entire groups of folks, and some entire towns, going under to whatever dark force inhabited the woods/the skies/the earth/other planets.

In the first Saw film, most of the action takes place in one single room, with tour-de-force performances turned in by Cary Elwes and Leigh Whannell. Leigh has another tie to the film, which is even more interesting--director James Wan sketched out the plot, and Leigh decided he could make that into a screenplay. And here we are today, six films later.

Actually, that's a stunning point as well--Saw was, and remains, an amazingly visceral horror film. Saw II was okay, but it jarred, a bit, because a character is given Jigsaw's test a second time. Saw III and Saw IV most viewers thought were barely tolerable, and cheapened the entire process; and then Saw V arrived, and nearly blinded us with the revelation that of course the previous two movies didn't make sense, because it wasn't Jigsaw behind the tests.

It's one of the few cases where--at least in the first five films--everything retains internal coherence. That is rare in horror films, believe me.

I'm also offering up the concept film behind the first Saw; the one that got them funded for a full movie:



Back when Adam was named David, and took the place of Amanda (Shawnee Smith).

So those are my ten, these five and the five from yesterday. They're not a complete list of my favorites--that would likely toss in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Bad Dreams, In Dreams, April Fool's Day, and more than one Stephen King miniseries as well--but these are a good, solid, dependable list of the unnerving, the gleefully bad, and the incredibly well-made that I keep coming back to, year after year.

Enjoy? If that's the right word...

On occasion, we find things we never knew we wanted:



"Needle decollete", she calls it. This is it in the red lace...



...in the dark lace...



...and in the "Mystical Light" lace. Notice, especially on the close one--these are pearl-threaded needles trailing thread and bits of fabric. I especially like the color-changing; it will go with ever so many more outfits that way.

It's from the little shop in the lava field, these long threaded needles draped with gauze. The entire thing is touch-scripted to glow (or not) and to change color (or not). L$150. Stabs into your chest and flutters.

So, admittedly, I've been thinking about horror films. It's not exactly October, though I can revisit this list then, but I posted the "lesser-known" list yesterday. What would be on my list? Not necessarily greats, or even passables, but the ones I go back to, time and time again?

#10 has to be Blair Witch II: Book of Shadows:



Whereas the Blair Witch Project was, purportedly, a "true" story using "real" video and hand-held camera footage, the sequel had no such pretensions. But they wanted it to feel "authentic", and that, my friends, is where things skew so delightfully.

Admittedly, I will be honest--the movie works best if you are cynical, first, and pagan, second. Because the Wiccan character in Blair Witch II does everything wrong. I mean, completely, totally, if there's a way to cast or chant or even pray to the right godform...she spins it 180 and does it in reverse.

When she first hits the woods, she chants "Evil intent in the ground, may your release soon be found" over and over. When she's praying for guidance, she prays to Persephone, goddess of the underworld. "By earth and air and water and smoke, Persephone do I invoke..." It's...almost impressive, in a mind-numbing sense. If you have any pagan leanings at all--or have friends who've shared some of the multiple beliefs of the faith--you will be laughing hysterically in spots. It's an utter, braincell-slaying joy.

Even with that, though, it has its share of genuine unsettling moments, not the least of which is wondering what's real and what isn't, in terms of the movie's universe. We know--because we see the original events--what happened in the woods...don't we? Videotaped footage later found says otherwise. But videotapes can't be altered...

...can they?

A surprisingly canny question buried under some heavy-handed screenwriting, but there nonetheless, and still a pointed question to this day.

It's available to rent from Netflix, available to buy from Amazon, and if you're willing to be annoyed by technical glitches, you can watch it online.

#9 is Audition:



Director Takeshi Miike's profound and disturbing vision of the game of love, or what passes for it, in the modern day. Everyone's looking for something...but sometimes, we need to be very sure what we want and need is the same thing that the other we seek wants and needs.

It remains as powerfully raw and disturbing today as when it was first released; several members of several audiences, in fact, have walked out of showings of the movie. One notably broke down, though he later discharged himself from care.

It's set off some odd little ripples in other forms of media, as well; My Chemical Romance, for instance, turned one of their videos into a three-minute capsule of the film. (More or less; the ending changed. But to that point, it follows the film fairly closely.)

Audition is available on Amazon and on instant watch on Netflix.

#8 is 2001's Frailty:



Frailty is a deceptively simple film that asks the audience a simple question: is a man mad for listening to God? Then asks a follow-up on the heels of the first: Is that same man mad for killing people on God's command?

Sane, insane, religious and devout, schizophrenic and demented; the film delivers strong performances from an excellent cast that leaves you questioning which way the film's going to turn until the end. Inspired, genuinely inspired, and terrifying for its simplicity and honest presentation.

#7 is Alien:



Forget about the downline of the franchise, almost a full dozen films now: thirty-one years later, this claustrophobic little space epic still packs a punch. Now, yes, any horror fan worth their bloody popcorn knows about the Nostromo, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, and what a Xenomorph actually looks like; but back then, we were given glimpses to the full picture only sidewise, and shadowed, and it worked surprisingly well. It was science fiction only tenuously, in that it was set in space; otherwise, the events could have happened anywhere, which made it perfect as a horror film.

It gave us new monsters to fear by virtue of not explaining much about them; and even though Dan O'Bannon, writer and screenwriter for Alien, admits it was gleefully plagiarized from every sf plot he could find, that makes it feel mythological, more than rehashed; we are invested in these characters nearly from the beginning, and we feel genuine shock when they get hurt.

It's available on Netflix, and also for sale on Amazon. I get the idea that it's not available to watch on Hulu, but mysteriously, Alien III is.

#6 is 2009's Orphan:



Orphan is a whole big ball of disturbing wrapped in a sweet sticky glaze of insanity all tied up with a bright red ribbon of WTF. I'm not kidding. Even assuming things are as we see them, it's wholly screwed up; but then the plot points drop, and everything we've seen before is turned on its ear.

We know from first sight of her that Esther has something wrong, deeply wrong, with her; but we're just the audience. Soon, how'ver, the wife of the couple that adopt Esther starts to feel it too; and from then on, it's us watching along, helplessly carried forward, as a couple's life completely disintegrates, with Esther spinning gracefully in the center, utterly deranged.

Absolutely compelling to watch, vicious hook of an ending, brilliant casting. This one will linger.

It's available on Netflix for rent, and on Amazon for purchase; a quick search didn't turn up another online source, though at the still regrettably-named SyFy Channel, you can catch an excerpt and interview with the director of the film if you like.

Think I'm posting the next five later, as this is becoming a rather largeish post.

And they're not specifically in any particular order, save for numbers 10 and 1. I really felt those two needed to be the top and bottom of the list.

First up, the Resident Evil franchise is spawning another film; and this time out, it's in 3D. 3D is making a big comeback; it could last long enough for folks to actually convert to 3D-enabled equipment to watch 3DVDs. Might be a good thing; plot-heavy or not, at least there are connections from the last film, and, stylistically, it looks phenomenal. I'm willing to donate funds to at least see it; but maybe not opening day, depending.

Meanwhile, Miss Searlait of Roewenwood is branching out her chore list again. This time, it's feeding birds:



Her notes are just winsome and fun to read, and while she makes her items for the Gorean market, most of them are also perfectly appropriate in non-Gorean places...like Caledon...and Winterfell...and anywhere in more modern terrains someone might want to scatter birdseed.

Like, all those chicken people.

I tripped across a list of the ten best lesser-known horror films. I'm still not sure I agree, but here's their ten:

#10 is Dead End, released in 2003:



It seems to be a fairly pedestrian wrong-turn movie (Dad knows all, takes the shortcut; slayings ensue with backwoods crazies armed with axe and chainsaw), but apparently, it has some chills in store for avid horror fans. It's available on Netflix and is still in print.

It has no connection to deadend.com, as far as I can tell.

#9 is Tenebrae, also called Unsane, released in 1982 from Dario Argento:



One of the first of the giallo films, it has a plot which has been redone rather endlessly: a writer goes on vacation in a foreign country, only to discover someone out there is committing crimes based on his latest novel. Unsettling no matter how familiar, and remember, this is one of the first iterations.

It's available on Netflix and, amazingly enough, it's still in print.

I have no idea if there's any connection to the Christian Tenebrae service or not.

#8 is Black Christmas, made in 1974:



It's prototypical "black holiday" fair, and this is another bell that's been rung endlessly in the horror genre. The difference here is, the bell rang for the first time in this one. IMDb calls it "gothic suspense film noir"; that's as good a description as any.

Impressively enough, it has enough adherents to rate a special release DVD three years back, complete with newly-discovered scenes and featurettes that couldn't fit on the original VHS release. It's also available on Netflix.

#7 is The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, also by Dario Argento:



I have to admit, I want to like this film. I really do. I hear good things about it, amazing things about it; in point of fact I recently tracked it down and had it shipped to my house.

And I grant you, watching it the week my computer fried, in recovery from (minor, but present) foot surgery, I may not have been in the right mood for a 1970s Italian horror film.

Still. I sat through five minutes, yawned, and turned it off. It just didn't compel me.

It's available on Netflix, and there's a special two-disc edition available on Amazon.

#6 is one of the single scariest films I've seen in a lifetime of watching horror films, Jacob's Ladder:



You wouldn't expect Tim Robbins to pull off serious, surreal, twitchy terror, but he works in this one. Between the first showing of the rapid, insectile-quick head movements is seen some truly terrifying medical interplay, creepily suggestive dancing, and the is-he-or-isn't-he dénouement that less ties everything up, then leaves you with that unsettling huh feeling. Highly recommended if you like that sensation of your skin crawling off, without you in it.

It's available on Netflix and in an Amazon special edition.

#5 is a film called Communion, also known as Alice, Sweet Alice



This one came out in 1976. It was Brooke Shields' debut film, and while it wasn't the first 'creepy kid' movie (not by a long shot), it was one of the first that played with our notions of killing and gender. Can a little girl be responsible for savagely slaying another person--sister or not? Can a female kill? These were unsettling questions as feminism became a force in Westernized culture.

And let me tell you, those masks--the semi-translucent, 'made-up' plastic female face masks? They're harder to find now, but from 1960 to 1990, they were everywhere in the US. Every single costume shop had at least one mass-produced version you could pluck off the wall for a dollar--or less. They were ubiquitous, which just made "Alice" that much more frightening.

It's available on Netflix and for purchase on Amazon.

#4 is Night of the Creeps from 1986:



which amuses me greatly. Night of the Creeps, quite honestly, is what Scary Movie wanted to be--and failed miserably at being. It's a fun, edgy, bright horror-comedy that links up to virtually all the known names in horror, a lovely, perverse little homage to the greats. And there are zombies and brain parasites! Whee!

It's available on Netflix and on Amazon.

#3 is Nomads, also from 1986:



Nomads is such an odd film. The article names it "a thinking person’s horror film", which it is, but it's also just weird, in that "Hi, I'm David Cronenberg, and I've just made an art film about homeless people" sort of way. Only it wasn't directed by Cronenberg, and it doesn't specifically feature homeless people; it just feels like it has. Plus, there aren't many films who start off with the main character's death, that still compel you to keep watching.

(That wasn't a spoiler; that's how the film starts.).

Surprisingly, it can't be rented on Netflix, but it can be bought on Amazon. And no, this has nothing to do with Nomads of Gor.

#2 is The Horror of Death, also known as The Asphyx, from 1973:



I had literally never heard of this film. First time I saw the trailer was going through that article. Concept seems surprisingly astute and somewhat perverse as well: a scientist learns that there may be something that occurs at the moment of death, involving the soul; and he sets about to trap his own version, known in the movie's mythology as the "Asphyx". With terrifying results. And lots of screaming.

It's not available on Netflix (but if you download the Veoh player, it's available on Veoh), but it's available for purchase on Amazon.

And #1 is Paperhouse:



and again, I have to say I'd never heard of this one. "Underrated" doesn't begin to touch it if I haven't turned up one single reference before now. It's described both as a "literate horror movie" and as a "dark fantasy drama"; I suppose, based on the description, there are elements of both.

The movie's source material is a book by Catherine Storr called Marianne Dreams. The story in both versions centers around an ill child who creates a fantasy world on paper...that turns out not to be quite a fantasy.

Hijinks, of course, ensue.

It's not available on Netflix; it can be seen in sections on YouTube; and while there's a listing for it on Amazon, there's no indication on when it will be in stock again--if ever.

As the original article pointed out, these aren't the stock ten greatest horror films; these are the ten best that aren't well-known. I'd argue against Night of the Creeps just because it has such a large fan base; same goes for the Dario Argento selections, though to be fair, he is better known for Suspiria and Demons. (Possibly also Four Flies on Grey Velvet, or the Masters of Horror episode he directed, that started the series off in 2005: Jenifer.)

I am looking forward to seeing The Asphyx and Paperhouse; I'll tell you how they turn out.