and the circuitry between you and me, it starts with the Mecto Amore

More Advents found!

LK & Beach Street have put together a selection of stuffies, household decor, and accessories, free to all. Also free: all the previous gifts.

One returning from last year is VampRealm, which is a little tricky to click, but all the previous gifts are also still available. Yay.


There's also the Weinachtsmarkt, or the "Mrs. Santa Christmas Market"--this is an odd one, but kind of fun. Basically, it's a cart market, full of vendors with holiday items on special, and most of the stalls also have an Advent gift. Find the gift for that day, click, and it's yours. (No previous gifts available, but if you're lucky, you might run into Santa on the sim!)

Mieville also has a holiday market going, and at the end of it they have an Advent calendar, but the hazard is not the calendar itself, it's the scarily repetitive loops of holiday songs. Flee the holiday songs! Or at least turn your volume down before going in.

Needful Pixels has an Advent calendar that needs a lot of time to rez in. It's also set to GMT, so if you're in the US, both this one and Mieville's (also set to change on GM time, not SL time) will hit you as being on one day ahead of what they're "supposed" to be.

Beyond the Mists in Artanis is having an "Advent hunt"; basically, wander the snowy area until you find the present with the date. WARNING: Artanis is an ADULT SIM. So if you're not age-verified, you won't make it in for this one.

By Jove may be the rara avis on the list; won't know 'til I unpack, but as they seem to specialize in menswear, they might be offering menswear under the tree! Check them out if you're interested.

Timeless Textures has an Advent this year; if you like their textures (and I do), go check it out.

And Fairy Unique Designs has opened up their former group-only Advent to be a come-one-come all affair, which personally, I think is a grand thing. So go click them, too!

More when I track them down.

(Oh, and the title of this post comes from Steam Powered Giraffe's latest single from their new album, MK III: "Mecto Amore":



(So...yeah. Enjoy that. Tasty stuph.)

I want a stainless steel road stretching off to the sky

The Behind the Steam blog published an official review of the 2 Cent Show album by Steam Powered Giraffe, and overwhelmingly it's positive. Which is good news indeed!

[Help] Kneecapitator: So what's with this popup as I log in? "Given recent events", watch your info? What happened?
[Help] Hexman: wow hacked... again
[Help] Scourging Gale: presumably a bunch of gullible nublets have given their account info to scammers
[Help] Scourging Gale: oh
[Help] Scourging Gale: I stand corrected
[Help] Hexman: I should say blizzard since it wasnt limited to just wow

In brief: this news has been everywhere at this point, but Blizzard got hacked. Specifically a lot of matching information the hackers can use to access user accounts for Diablo III and WoW (that we know of), so that they can get in to those accounts and change those user passwords.

It's a huge, huge hack, and it's pretty grim in a lot of different ways.

[Help] Kneecapitator: Glad I quit when I did and decided not to buy any more of Activizzard's crap.
[Help] Kneecapitator: Then again, my bank blacklisted them years before that, I was playing on timecards from Wrath on.
[Help] Hexman: I want to return to the days when I could go to the store, buy a game, go home and just play it, I dont want to log into some server, or give my CC# or create an account, I just want to play what was in the frikkin box that I spent 50 bucks on

Yeah. Those were the days.

[Help] Ettu?: amen Hexman
[Help] Hexman: hopefully they will see that you cant have accounts hacked if you dont require your customers to HAVE accounts
[Help] Hexman: with the exception of MMOs for obvious reasons :P
[Help] Kneecapitator: Back when copy protection was "What's the third word in the second paragraph on page 15 of the manual? XD
[Help] Sgt. HellTouched: I was going to say...
[Help] Hexman: I dont believe in copy protection, it simply does not work.

Well, yes and no. Back in the days they're talking to, "hacking" was pretty much "we photocopied this sheet with the flag colors and country names on it, use it when you open the program". Things have gotten a lot more technical since then.

[Help] Hexman: and adds a cost to the product you purchase

Always.

[Help] ThornyDevil: it's like Jeff Goldblum said "Nature finds a way"
[Help] ThornyDevil: except with piracy
[Help] ThornyDevil: and thus better

Or worse, depending on your point of view.

Turning to more personal topics, what do we do when the thing that gives us joy and delight turns into anguish and pain? All the work of our hands turned to dust and splinters, ashes and thorns? If we're anyone else, we start over somewhere else, somewhere that doesn't burden our heart more than it gladdens it.

Ah, but I've always been stubborn.

So I listen to the demon's music, and dance with the serpent of honeyed tongue, and vaguely resent the moon while I wait for a dawn that may never come. It could be a very long night indeed, and I still have no answers. I thrash inside the cage I helped to build and wonder when I'll feel free enough to fly through the open door.

Maybe flight is not what I need. Maybe it's not the method of movement that's important, as much as the desire to move. Maybe it's less about wanting to stay, and more about wanting to leave.

Or maybe I'm still falling, and I need to hit bottom before rising again. I just hope I figure out where I need to be, before I crash through bedrock.

I've also realized something else. Over the past five months, I've been reacting instead of acting--to pain, to hurt, to confusion, multilayered and dizzying in scope. And rather than face up to the things causing that hurt and pain, I've been trying to shut them out entirely, desperately seeking distraction, oblivion, blindness...thinking that if I can't see it, I won't hurt over it. Out of sight, out of mind? Or at least pushed far enough away that I start to forget entirely.

But I'm not that lucky. I never have been.

The thing is, I can't do that anymore. I mean, I cannot keep carving bits of myself away, in the hopes that my losses won't be quite enough to kill me before I heal.

And I've always healed slowly.

What I've always done is not the way I get through this. And just because I don't see another path doesn't mean there isn't one. It just means I've been standing in my own way again.

So we start small. Still not up for the rounds of social engagement, but I might show up in Cubidon now and again. And I'm going to make another stab at getting the writing off the ground again. Building things, even if they're just for me and never for retail. Making an effort, as hard as that seems, because waiting for things to feel less stressed and strained is also not working.

At some point, we have to realize that we fell into the hole on the path all on our own, and no one is going to come back and save us. That's not the point of falling. We have to save ourselves.

And if it's hard climbing out of the hole, well, maybe it needs to be. Maybe that will convince me not to fall again.

Or at least, not fall quite so far next time...

you feel the temperature dive, and all your demons inside come crashing through

Whatever's going on with the wrong profile pictures, it's growing. In somewhat related news (if we think the Marketplace debacle, the current my.secondlife.com problem, and sim ownership in general are linked), three hundred and ninety-six sims have gone away in the past two weeks alone.

That's terrifying. In any other game, that would mean the game's going away fairly soon. What does it mean for SL? Got me, but I'm worried.

Speaking of Marketplace issues, there are still new folks coming in to the thread and asking the same questions we've all been asking. This from MALiBU Karu (yes, that's apparently the accurate spelling of the avatar name):

I have a underwear picture showing for my product...
and I can't do anything about it : (
I tried deleting all my item from my list to start it over but this underwear picture won't be taken off my list and it looks so bad.
I'd like to AT LEAST hide it from my item listing to the public please.
If not, I think that it is a common sense to at least announce the reason why this problem is going on and why it's taking long to resolve. Not knowing what is going on and what to do is the worst thing.

"MALiBU" means this:

(from the shopping album)

That's a screencap from her current listings. And of course, when one clicks on that image, one is taken back to the main Marketplace page. Which means nothing that a maker can do--including product deletion--will work.

(from the shopping album)

Oh, and Harper Beresford's "Masquerade" picture--in a stolen skin--is still splashed all over the Marketplace. Why? Because at this point, it seems like blatant Linden endorsement of Hush Darkrose.

If you like the music of Steam-Powered Giraffe...and you like desk pets...why not combine the two into a handmade printable paper collection of brightly colored cubist bots? It's like steampunk Minecraft.

From the Motherboard blog comes tales of the Superbus, which--from everything I've been able to track down--seems like a way to pay for luxury public transit. Which, to be fair, has never been the point of public transit. I don't know if the folks designing the Superbus have really thought this through, but part of why many buses look so run-down is because they're designed to be durable over pretty. They need to take hard daily use and keep on going. They need to have materials that can be simply repaired or replaced completely. They need to be able to put 200,000 miles on each vehicle--if not more--before decommissioning that particular transit vehicle.

I'm not saying it doesn't sound cool--it does. But it's just not viable in the long run.

[7:13] Yxxxx Dxxx: SLW wishes your avatar a very happy birthday. from SLW staff http://www.slwinners.com (Providing free visitor analytics services to hundreds of SL business locations since 2007)

I have a couple problems with this. First, my rez day was the sixth, not the tenth. Second, I've never been to SLwinners.com that I can remember, so why are they sending me happy birthday wishes? Third, it's a rez day, not a birthday, and my birthday was last month.

What gives?

all of his questions, such a mournful sound

Quick little entry before I get back to the longer runs, because I just heard about this:

Please join us today in the Designing Worlds Studio in Garden of Dreams at 12 noon, Sunday 13th May, for an exclusive viewing of Metaverse Arts' latest episode on Treet TV.

MVA Host, Gwen Carillon, interviews the renowned steampunk musicians of Steam Powered Giraffe and talented steampunk artist Destany Laval of UnZipped.

The world of Second Life welcomes Real Life Steampunk! You don't want to miss this one!

Or – if you can’t attend in person – tune in at 2pm SLT on Monday for the live show on Treet TV live – where you can now chat with other audience members and even some of the participants during the show – or catch it later in the week on our shows page on the Treet.tv web site at http://treet.tv/shows/metaverse-arts – our very own version of the iPlayer!

Special thanks to Aisling Sinclair, for her contributions to this show!

Now, why am I mentioning this if it's already past? Because of the Treet TV thing. I missed the noon show today, true, but I have that opportunity Monday at two pm, or later in the week once it's not live, to catch the show.

(from the media album; the members of Steam Powered Giraffe)

And that is far from a bad thing.

just when I start awakening, I find that something's intoxicating me

Damn, I can't go to Steam Powered Giraffe interview in Second Life--I'm booked out and very much off the grid--but that doesn't mean you can't! There apparently are just a handful of tickets left--get one! It's set for Thursday, Aprille 26th, from eleven to two pm.

If you've forgotten why you want to do this, let me toss you a refresher course:
 

A live performance of "Honeybee" from 2011--there's an official version that's top-notch (and linked on this blog previously), but this one lets you see the bots in full performance mode.
 

Also from 2011, from the same session as Brass Goggles, and a rare chance to see The Jon sing lead.
 

And one more from the same session in 2011, this time focusing on the Spine. I wonder if the Champagne Room is still around? Think they could be talked into swinging by for a short concert at some point?

automatonic electronic harmonic

Before I get to the Minecraft entry (it's there! I promise! It's coming!), I wanted to announce a new steampunk music find.

Why yes! I still search out steampunk music! I just haven't done it in a while because...I got massively distracted with everything else.

Anyway, today's find: Steam Powered Giraffe.

(from the media album; the four members [in 2009] of Steam Powered Giraffe: Jonathan Sprague, David Bennett, Christopher Bennett, and Erin Burke. Photograph taken by Frances Delgado, All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2009.)

Yes. I'm serious: that's their name.

(from the media album)

And that's them. Steam Powered Giraffe consists (currently) of The Spine (pictured on the left), Rabbit (center) and The Jon (right). They have a great backstory which also explains (a little) where their fourth member, Upgrade, went.

Of course, the first song I heard from them was a cover of Rick Astley...



But it was enough to charm me entire. Then I heard one of their later works, "Honeybee":



Two years later, they'd lost Upgrade, but had considerably tightened as a trio. Yet the same things that made me like them in the 2010 performance vid made me like them here, too.

So who are these guys? Jonathan Sprague grew up in a family of artists and performers (their chosen artistry: unicycling) in California, and when he reached the mostly proper age, he went off to El Cajon's Grossmont College, where he met Christopher Bennett and Erin Burke in Jerry Hagar's mime class (he's on the right in that video). From there, the sparks that brought them together forged Steam Powered Giraffe, and several years of mime performance codified their abilities as strong performers.

(from the media album. Jonathan Sprague, "The Jon", of Steam Powered Giraffe. Photograph taken by Josh Freeman, All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2009.)

Jon's robot, "The Jon", is mostly Art Deco in styling, with a gold face. "The Jon" is powered by Crystal Pepsi (a sadly failed marketing campaign he's now stuck with), which is wrapped around an unstable space-time rift (that must get uncomfortable).

David Bennett is the elder of the twin pair that forms the rest of the group; and, were it not for a seemingly savage divorce of his parents during his high school years, he might have gone on to become an accomplished IT technician and computer savant. Instead, the divorce forced him to concentrate on what was really important, and as a result, he dove out of computers and into performance.

(from the media album; David Bennett, "The Spine", of Steam Powered Giraffe. Photograph taken by Frances Delgado, All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2009.

David's robot, "The Spine", is a retro-futuristic construction with silver skin and a titanium alloy spine propping him up (though he is known to activate an internal switch and go human for a while). He also uses a Tesla-designed high-voltage discharger to ensure smooth performance.

Finally, Christopher "Bunny" Bennett (where did "Bunny" come from as a nickname, I wonder?), the younger of the twins, is an accredited mime, actor, graphic designer, and illustrator. He drew constantly as a child, and his main dream was to become an artist. After seeing his brother in a play in high school, though, his interests changed to theatre artistry. Still, he pursued art through the Art Institute of California, majoring in game art and design, but as the first year wore on, he realized it wasn't going to take him where he wanted to go. He dropped out, joined Grossmont College, found the mime class, and the rest is history.

(from the media album; Rabbit as captured by jlares on deviantArt. All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2010-2012.)

His robot is "Rabbit", the copper-faced steampunk member of the troupe, and his construction comprises Victorian gear-driven motors, kinetic projectile chambers, red silk gloves, and an antique particle accelerator "lens device" (worn on his hat).

The last one I'm going to share (though there's a ton on their official YouTube channel) is "Brass Goggles", from just last month:



Now, there are two things I think are quite wonderful about SPG, apart from the costumes, their vocal stylings, their songs, and their history. The first is that these are classically trained mimes. They met in college, and studied mimes and clowns, theatre, costume, visual design, and music, and formed up as an actual group in 2008. They perform mainly in and around San Diego, California--in fact, they have a steady seasonal gig at the San Diego Zoo--but in 2011, they started to tour in the off-season, and they're still continuing that today.

But the even cooler thing about them is that they've teamed up with Patronism as a means to gain additional support. So what's so cool about Patronism? This is what's so cool about Patronism: it's a pay-as-you-like service that directly connects fans (and sponsors) of music to musicians (and, if it gets big enough, possibly other performers). It takes us directly back to the concept of patronage, but widens it out so that everyone can feel like they're participating. It's like an ongoing Kickstarter for independent bands and musicians, so they can keep doing what they love, without compromising their values.

There's a lot of great close-up shots of all four members of the trio (including Upgrade, played by Erin Burke), if you just want to know more about the costume/makeup angle. (There's another great entry here from 2009; where I found the great pic of "The Spine".) The rest, of course, is in the music. And such lovely music it is.