Month: October 2006

So we just got back from the 48 Hour Film Project: Brisbane screening. Sadly, our film, “5”, didn’t win any of the big prizes, but happily, I did win Best Editing! Yay! So big thanks to everyone on the film (if you need to contact them, email film at funwithstuff.com) for doing a great job, making the editing a pleasure. Until the horrendous audio nightmare.

Yay! Woooo!

1000000

So Second Life has hit a million residents. It’s a milestone on the way to SL becoming the 3D social WWW. Places like The Register can mock and scorn as much as they like, but they’re missing the point. Did they see the WWW in 1994 and dismiss it all as being a pointless waste of time? Sure, Bianca’s Smut Shack served no higher purpose, but that didn’t make the web pointless. And sure, you can walk around in SL as a furry penis if you want to, but that doesn’t make SL pointless.

Of course you can find some spectacularly pointless stuff in SL. But that’s true of the web, and true of any medium. Enjoy the weeding process.

Just a quick life update. Met some great people from Second Life recently. Always odd to meet someone for the first time after talking with them for over a year. Lots of private work on; some local, some London-based. More animation and film-making activities after the recent 48 Hour Film Project. How did we do? It’s hard to say; I’m too close to the film. But I think it’s pretty good, and the edit went well. Shooting with 2 cameras made for plenty of 24-style splitscreens and “real time” action, but mostly it was made great by the actors and their supreme improv skills. Actual filmmaking! Working with people on imdb.com!

My only real concern is that the film is, once again, too weird. If the choice comes down to too boring or too weird, I’m happy with weird. Next time… I have some more ideas.

Eep! Class time. More later.

Adventures in RL

As Tateru says, Sunday night saw a Brisbane SL RL get together, featuring the RL people behind Tateru, Sladen, Lucy and me. (Sorry the circumstances weren’t more festive for Tat.)

Yes, we all had a good time. Yes, it was distinctly odd to make an RL connection to the people behind the avatars. I’ve known Tateru since I rezzed, just over a year ago, and it’s great to be able to extend a friendship (and make new ones) beyond the screen. To talk at normal human speed instead of finger speed. To be able to simply have a chat to a person sitting just *there*, because they’re not drowning in Live Help IMs.

Sure, we can’t teleport, fly or ride hoverbikes in RL, but… hell. It’s REAL life. Much as I love my second life, the sound of clinking drinks is always better in real life. Cheers, everyone. See you on the other side.

Last night, for the first time, I videoconferenced with my sister in London, using iChat. This is what technology is for. A free, live window to the other side of the planet, just like I’ve wanted since I was a child. Thanks, technology!

On the other hand, I’ve misplaced my sunglasses, and technology hasn’t done a damn thing.

I was in The Courier Mail yesterday; the interview and photo shoot from a few weeks ago made it into Wednesday’s Connect section. A well-written article with no factual errors, all you can hope for. Bug me if you want to see it. No, don’t all crowd me at once.

In other news, the new, free, Perian lets any QuickTime app play back almost any format, including Divx, Xvid and FLV. So those Flash movies you can download from YouTube or wherever will work in QT Player, NicePlayer, or wherever. Yay.