Tribute Cleared & Caledon Studios

So, Tribute opens in 2 weeks. Had a review of the new sim with the boss at work today and (except for a few bits) he's happy for me to crack on. Actually, to be truthful, he was well chuffed.

Gotta say a big THANKS to Carricre Wind, Firiel McGann, Lapin Paris, Andr00 Darkstone, Posemaster Darkstone, Terry Lightfoot, Oolon Sptnik, AB Shortbread, Brad Sabre, Sen Pixie, DALEK Drillon, Butterfly Laa, TheDove Rhode, Shadowen Silvera, Jimbo Perhaps, Desmond Shang, Emilly Ladybird and Ub Yifu, for their awesome builds, help, kind encouragement, coffee, and support. Just a few of the great people who stood behind this project and understood what we were trying to do. Once again I stand upon the shoulders of giants.

2 weeks, SL Bloggers party. Still to sort the details with Zoe, but it's a go for opening pre official shin-dig (so cool my boss is up for the 'real' reporters getting in their first, cheers KP). 1 week, when I get back from my hols, then I can talk/blog about it :-)

Anyway, other news, I got a 900 prim plot now (with The Guvs blessing) in the new Caledon Penzance's sim. This'll be 'Caledon Studios' ("Lepus Gratis Cuniculus"), and will be my new base for machinima efforts instead of the old Mayfair Studios (which had lost its isolation with the advent of Penzance off the north coast). This sim is well worth a look as soon as it hits the grid. I've seen the theatre and the high street and it's a thing of textured beauty loving crafted by the hand of artist Ms. Persephone Gallindo. By the time I get back, it'll be time to get cracking.

Casting for the first movie will start around Christmas.

Classic Audience Stats

Funny one I spotted on the news feed today about the Classic FM Gramophone Awards.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra gripped a gong for 'audience innovation', and guess why? Yup, the inevitable.

The Phil gave a live concert in SL back in September. Sweet, good on 'em, however, according to the orchestra "9 million Second Life denizens watched the performance live on Second Life's own cable network".

Er, so that's me, you, shed loads of failed registrations and all our alts then? As if SL user stats weren't ambiguous enough.

Well, if nowt else, it's innovative mathematics.

Probably Moving

There's every chance we might be moving offices soon, so, while I had the camera in the office I re-immortalised the desk.

Strange, but the old pic of my desk on Flickr has had more visitors than any of my other pics. No idea why. Must be the tag cloud of obsessive boredom.

So here's how my work station looks today anyway. Did I mention how cool my job is sometimes?

The Winners

So, festival done and Stolen Life won a plenty. The trailer is above. Personally I'm not sure it's actually machinima, correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, the stars were:

Best Story: The Snow witch - Britannica Dreams
Best Commercial: When the Postman spits twice - SL-Inworld Productions
Best Technical: Machinima Island - la.interactiva
Best Experimental: Cirque du Machinima: Cukoo Clock - Tom Jantol (which I loved)
Best Sound: Innocent Minds - James Dubose
Best Student: Machinima! with Officer Dan - Amorphous Blob
Best Series: The Grid Review - the ILL Clan
Best Visual Design: Stolen Life - Nanoflix Productions
Best Direction: Stolen Life - Nanoflix Productions
Best Picture: Stolen Life - Nanoflix Productions

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees! Sweet.

Positive Words on Virtual Worlds

"It's kind of like getting your life back again, but even better in some ways," she said. "I've met so many people. I can walk. I can dance. I can even fly. Without this I'd just be staring at four walls. Mentally it's helped me so much."

Here's a nice article, positive for once, in todays Washington Post. True too, I've seen it in practice.

Machinimatographers Unite

The lovely Miss Iridium Linden has set up a mailing list and wiki for machinima enthusiasts, so if you haven't already joined the machinimatographers in Second Life mailing list, here is the link.

Here's Iridium's posting on the list and wiki.