Explore the Great Gatsby – the Buchanan’s mansion and pier with its green light from Gatsby’s estate: ““I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him.”
At 09:00 SLT, the Seanchai Library’s retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tragic tale, The Great Gatsby draws to a close as Corwyn Allen reads the final part of the story. The reading will take place at Explore the Great Gatsby Online, the interactive venue conceived and developed by Caledonia Skytower as a part of Seanchai Library’s presence in Kitely, and operating in support of a production of Simon Levy’s stage adaptation of The Great Gatsby, which also ends it run at the Tacoma Little Theatre (TLT) on February 8th.
I’ve covered Explore the Great Gatsby twice so far in this blog. The first time as a result of an invitation extended to me by Caledonia and TLT’s Managing Artistic Director Chris Serface ahead of the official opening of the installation and the play. This gave me the opportunity to preview the unique collaborative, cross-functional and educational nature of the partnership between Seanchai Library and TLT. My second, more recent visit, was to explore the initial sets visitors to the installation would be able to explore, and the opportunities within them to discover more about the story, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writings, and the man himself.
As indicated in both of those articles, the Explore the Great Gatsby installation was intended to grow over time, thus encouraging visitors – particularly those who attended TLT’s performances of the play – to make return visits. Given the significance of Sunday, February 8th as noted above, I also decided to take a further trip to Explore the Great Gatsby and see the latest additions and updates.
Explore the Great Gatsby – Gatsby’s mansion: “The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard—it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden.”
New since my last visit is the Gothic opulence of Jay Gatsby’s “new money” mansion, its great towers and spires rising high above the trees, fairly shouting news of the wealth of their owner to the world at large. The scene of lavish parties – all intended to lure Daisy Buchanan to his door – the mansion’s ground floor can be explored by visitors, and several iconic elements have been reproduced, including the location of the final scene of tragedy, the swimming pool. There are a number of interactive elements to the mansion, which provide gateways to further information on the novel, so careful examination of the rooms is encouraged!
Tom and Daisy Buchanan’s mansion (which serves as a façade for a model of the Tacoma Little Theatre), has undergone further exterior work, allowing it to stand in strong contrast to Gatsby’s ostentatiousness, exactly as F. Scott Fitzgerald intended. Thus it – and the bay which sits between it and Gatsby’s edifice – serves to underline Fitzgerald’s observation of the divide that existed between those of established wealth and those newly-rich.
Explore the Great Gatsby – The buchanan’s mansion: “Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay … The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens.”
With a wealth of interactive elements throughout, including links to the Tacoma Little Theatre, resources that explore the story of the Great Gatsby in more detail, and the opportunity to really immerse yourself a a piece of truly great American literature, Explore the Great Gatsby is very much worth taking the time to visit – and if you haven’t already done so, I’d urge you to so – it will remain open and available to visitors through until March 1st, 2015.
Signing-up to Kitely (if you need to) is easy, and the Seanchai Library team provide the necessary guidance for those who might need it. What’s more, once you are signed-up, you have the freedom to explore the rest of Seanchai Library’s extensive projects and offerings in both the Seanchai Homeworld, and through their satellite worlds.
Explore the Great Gatsby – you can also explore other locations within the installation, such as the Fitzgerald Gallery, the Welcome Centre and that other iconic landmark from the the story, the Valley of Ashes: “But above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg.”
It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in voice, brought to Second Life and Kitely by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library.
As always, all times SLT / PDT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island, or at their Kitely Homeworld.
Corwyn Allen brings a reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s magnificent 1925 novel to its tragic conclusion at Explore The Great Gatsby in Kitely.
In 1922, Nick Carraway arrives in New York to learn about the bond business. He rents a small cottage in West Egg, home of the newly-rich, only to discover the owner of the huge Gothic mansion next door, the deeply mysterious Jay Gatsby, is prone to throwing lavish parties every weekend, to which in seems everyone comes. Everyone it seems, except Nick’s cousin Daisy, who is married to Tom Buchanan. Together they live across the bay in the more fashion East Egg, where the “old money” resides.
As the days turn, so Nick finds himself caught between tales of love and lust and the divisions of new and old money. On the one side, there is the old money of Tom Buchanan, a man secure in his marriage to Daisy, but not above keeping a mistress in the Valley of Ashes, an industrial area lying between the Eggs and New York city. On the other, there is the mysterious and enigmatic Jay Gatsby, Nick’s new money neighbour, prone to lavish parties and a long-standing love for Daisy Buchanan. So it is that Nick finds himself something of a willing pawn in a complex game of love and deceit, all the time drawn towards Daisy’s friend Jordan Baker.
But as the summer temperatures soar, a trip to New York city with the Buchanans, Jordan, and Gatsby, undertaken within a brittle shell of false bonhomie, evaporates into tragedy.
13:30 Second Life: Tea-time at Baker Street – A Case of Identity
Sidney Paget’s drawing of Miss Sutherland for The Strand Magazine, 1891
It is October 1890 and Holmes is engaged by Miss Mary Sutherland, a woman of substantial independent means, thanks to a trust fund established for her some years past. She wishes Holmes to locate her fiancé, one Hosmer Angel, who has vanished from her life quite unexpectedly.
Theirs, it seems, had been a most unusual courtship. Miss Sutherland knows almost nothing about her intended husband, other than he works in a office in the City, that he will only meet with her when her disapproving (and somewhat young) stepfather is absent on business, and that he will only write to her using a typewriter, and will not even sign his name.
Listening to the story, Holmes finds his deductive powers less than tried; it takes him to obtain but one typewritten note to confirm his suspicions on what has happened – and thereby leave him with a further dilemma.
Join Caledonia Skytower, Kayden Oconnell and Corwyn Allen as they read this curious case.
Monday February 9th
06:00: The Emerald Atlas
Cata Charisma launches a new session at Seanchai Library, Second Life, as she starts reading from John Stephens’ The emerald Atlas, the first volume in his fantasy trilogy for young adults, The Books of Beginning.
Having been passed from pillar to post through orphanages, three siblings, Kate, Emma, and Michael, find themselves lodged at the home of one Dr. Stanislaus Pym. Kate, the eldest of the three is driven by a promise made by her mother, that if Kate protects her younger sister and brother, then their family will be one day reunited.
But in their explorations of Dr. Pym’s house the three of them find their way into the basement, where they come across a mysterious door and a equally mysterious emerald-covered booth, entirely without text. When an old photograph touches the blank pages of the book, however, the three are immediately transported to the time and place depicted in the photograph. Her they find themselves in a realm populated by witches, henchmen, giants, dwarves and more – and one Dr. Stanislaus Pym, a good deal younger than when they last saw him in his house…
19:00 The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be
Gyro Muggins continues reading from Fredrick Pohl’s The Age of the Pussyfoot.
(Trident 1971 hardcover)
First published in serial form in1966, they republished as a novel in its own right in 1969, The Age of the Pussyfoot sees us transported to the 26th century along with one Charles Forrester, who has been in a state of cryogenic sleep for some 500 years, after being killed in a fire. His time in suspended animation, together with his revival – now that technology has developed to a point where revival is possible – has been paid for through his insurance, which (presumably through the act of compound interest down the centuries, his on-going medical expenses notwithstanding) has also left him comparatively well-off.
Forrester find the 26th century a place of delight; his spectre-like computer terminal, the Joymaker, puts almost everything – including drugs – at his fingertips. He’s able to take an apartment, still enjoy the delights of 20th century food and enter into a lifestyle of parties and fun, the money from his insurance making him rather wealthy.
Then things start to go a little sideways. First, there is Adne, who appears to be out to trap him into providing for her children; there’s also the mysterious Club, who also seem to be more interested in Forrester’s wealth than him. Add to the list the man from Mars who has taken out a hunting licence allowing him and his friends to track down and even kill Forrester – so long as his revival is paid for – and the future suddenly isn’t so bright a playground. And when his money starts running out, and he’s forced to take a job, he’s also forced to reassess who he can trust and who he can’t, and just what role he is actually to play in humanity’s future…
Tuesday February 10th, 19:00: Two Nights with Neil
With Caedmon Sharkfin.
Wednesday February 11th,19:00: Beggars Day Book Two: The Caged King
Caledonia Skytower continues reading MJ McGalliard’s second novel, and the sequel to Beggar’s Day Book One: The Beggar Prince.
The Kingdom of Galaway has a law that every ruler must work a year and a day as a commoner; thus were readers introduced, through the first volume, to the kingdom and some of its notable inhabitants, including King Willy, Prince Larry, the scheming Percy, desperate to see himself on the throne, and the chicken-stealing crone Cruith.
Now, in the second volume, Vikings, hidden illnesses, ancient family squabbles and unplanned pregnancy are but a few of the changes in Galaway. Cruith is part of a conspiracy, Willy invents a new wagon, apples seem to be in the mix, while everything seems to revolve around a baby horse. And I haven’t even mentioned King Monaghan.
Intrigued? Then why not hop over to Seanchai library to hear this entertaining tale which, incidentally, is illustrated by one Judith Cullen – aka Caledonia Skytower!
Thursday February 12th: Wonders of the Invisible World
Shandon Loring opens the pages of Patricia A. McKillip’s opulent collection of stories deeply rooted in fairy tale and mythology – and yet with something of a nod towards real historical events in places.
Through these pages one can meet princesses enamoured of dead suitors, a knight who falls in love with an official of exotic lineage, a wizard seduced in his youth by the Faerie Queen, and fortune’s fool, who steals into the present instead of the future.
And the nod towards the real world? That comes in the form of a – dare I say it – bewitching tale of a time-travelling angel who, arriving in the late 1600s, is forbidden from intervening in Reverend Cotton Mather’s religious ravings which were to play such an influential role in the Salem witch trials (and which, incidentally, gave rise to his own book of the same name, written in 1693).
Bewitching, bittersweet, and deeply intoxicating, this collection draws elements from the fables of history and re-creates them in startlingly magical ways. – Publisher.
Saturday February 14th, Seanchai Kitely, 09:00 PDT: Avatar: a love story
With Shandon Loring.
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Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule. The featured charity for January / February is Project Children, teaching and building peace in Northern Ireland, one child at a time.
Update, February 26th: I’ve received a note saying that Square Pegs in Round Holes and Purple Crayons, Rwah’s other region (see my post on it), will be closing on March 5th, 2015.
When I last visited Square Pegs in Round Holes, the region hadn’t long been opened. As I reported at that time – September 2014 – it was largely a water-based region, with a series of islands visitors could explore. Since then, much has changed.
Rwah, the region holder has decided to offer the homestead region to those builders with a serious desire to build a region-sized installation which can be enjoyed by the public at large. To start things off, Jordy B. Zipdash was invited to create something in the region, and he came up with a darkly atmospheric build in the form of The Lost Town.
A lonely wind moans its way down a long road from a distant tunnel, passing between the careworn buildings of a run-down town. Tumble-weeds roll their way across the asphalt at the wind’s behest, while tall hills, bare rock denuded of vegetation, hem the town in, their bulk adding a sinister edge to the fading light.
At the far end of town, the road makes a hard right turn before running arrow-straight to the mouth of another tunnel, passing a deserted trailer park and other human detritus before finally leaving this shabby corner of the world behind.
This might once have been a thriving town; there’s the imposing form of a bank on one side of the street (long-since converted to a bar), and the place even boasted a casino – the Starlite, although this has also gone through something of a transformation, becoming some kind of church; and even this seems to be well beyond any regular use, the desert sands drifting in through a back doorway and taking up residence between the pews.
But this isn’t to say the town is deserted; across the road from the shell of the old casino sits a small store and three well-maintained houses, the gleaming form of a car sitting on the driveway to one of them. Fires glow in the hearths of both places, and all have a feeling of cosy warmth about them, and by day look as if they’ve been lifted from quiet suburbia. Even so, within them, things seem a little odd; where are the occupants, given all three houses appear to have been in recent use? And why are all three bedrooms devoid of any furnishings whatsoever…?
“Have you ever heard of a little mining town called Centralia?” Jordy asks by way of citing the inspiration for this installation. “If not, fire up your search engine and read up on the place and how it came to be a little deserted town. Here in the Lost Town, the same abandonment happened. Not by fire or elemental damage but something far more sinister.”
Indeed, the air of mystery here, with its sinister undertones, is hard to avoid. It comes not only in the perpetual, wind-shrouded dusk that lies over the place, but also from the signs and portents hidden within some of the buildings. However, to find the whole truth, you may well have to venture out into the desert, beyond the little lake with its dilapidated barn. but be careful! “Don’t venture out too far in the desert,” Jordy warns, “Mighty strange goings-on out there, if you ask me.”
2015 snowball fight, Winter Wonderland: a shot as things start to wind-down after 90 minutes of mayhem! (Flickr) – click any image for full size
The Challenge was met with gusto: the first residents / Lab snowball fight in a fair while saw the Snowball Warzone at Winter Wonderland packed to the gills even before the event was due to start, with more than fifty people packed into it with 20 minutes still to go before launch.
By the time I arrived, there was a fair queue at the weapons vendors; such was the demand that the poor things were conking out under the strain. Enter Vitae Linden, with virtual hammer (well, as the Royal Engineers apparently say, “if it looks complicated, you’ll need a bigger hammer”), and a few swift blows / kicks and we we running up the hill to get started on the fun.
2015 snowball fight, Winter Wonderland: after a skilled use of mis-direction, Guy Linden makes a run past Ziki Questi and Sniper Siemens! (Flickr) – click any image for full size
Once everyone was suitably armed, the strategy for the game quickly became apparent: every avatar for themselves!
While attempts were made to stalk Lindens (and vice-versa), there were simply too many targets of opportunity – friends, acquaintances, names of note (I’m pretty sure Gibson got me around a dozen or more times!) – and mayhem quickly ensued (sorry, Ziki – that was me who got you under the arch of the snow castle. And up on the parapet. Twice 🙂 ).
The Lindens did, in all honesty, seem to be outnumbered just a little bit. Fortunately Xiola, Keira, Vitae, Dan and Guy (who was bravely throwing snowballs rather than relying on any high-tech gizmos) were soon reinforced by Shaman, Torley, Pete, Dee, April, Kelly, members of the Governance Team, and probably others I’ve missed.
2015 snowball fight, Winter Wonderland: Strawberry Singh swings into action, demonstrating her skill with a snowball rifle in a one-handed, from-the-hip snap shot at a moving target! (Flickr) – click any image for full size
Within around 15 minutes of things really getting underway, numbers seemed to have swelled considerably, which slowed the rate of fire with weapons and tended to make everyone impersonate Steve Austin / Jamie Sommers when running, but the fun continued unabated, and not even the vendors continuing to hiccup could dampen enthusiasm.
Lindens in action: Torley Linden takes airborne aim; and a (possibly paranoid?) android from the Governance Team
Some certainly appeared to be enjoying the opportunity to wreak a little havoc, as I (and several others) recovered from a tiny hail of snowballs which pelted us into the air, I spied a tiny Dee Linden sprinting by, accompanied by a little voice raised in triumph:
[10:50] Dee Linden shouts: MINE MINE MINE!
There was vengeance to be had elsewhere, however, as Torley found out, in the midst of a hail of snowballs:
[10:51] Clockwork Puppet (Fenix Eldritch) shouts: I think my trigger is stuck 😀
[10:51] ƬσяƖєу (Torley Linden) shouts: That was intentional <.<
It couldn’t last, however, and shortly thereafter came the forlorn cry:
All told, a lot of fun was had. What’s more, now we have the Winter Wonderland, there’s no excuse for more fun like this is the future – is there? Even if some of us did have to pause half-way through for a bit of a sit-down to catch our breath :).
2015 snowball fight, Winter Wonderland: Ed Merryman and I decide we’re just getting too darned *old* for all this running around mullarky, and needed a bit of a sit-down! (Flickr) – click any image for full size
If you were at the snowball fight, and you grabbed some pictures, remember you can share them on the official Second Life Flickr group.
Both the UKanDo viewer and Black Dragon saw updates in week #6. Each of the release contain under-the-hood (so to speak) changes, with UKanDo in particular being something of a catch-up release more than anything else, as noted below.
UKanDo 3.7.24
The last UKanDo update was in October 2014, so it’s been something of an extended period between releases for the viewer. However, there is a good reason for this: Connor Monaron, the man behind the viewer has a good reason for this: he’s been off in the United States tying the knot with his SL (and now real life) partner. So the first thing to do here is offer congratulations to Blackrose and Connor.
Obviously, being away and being focused on such a major event in one’s life means that all things viewer naturally take a back seat. As such, the new release of UKanDo, version 3.7.24.28064, released on Wednesday, February 4th, is more about catching-up with all of the recent output from the Lab. This being the case, the release see the viewer gain parity through and up to the following LL releases:
3.7.19.295700 – Monty Linden’s last round of HTTP updates, also for October 2014, which improve texture and mesh data fetching and which offers significantly faster inventory loading
3.7.20.296094 – the GPU removal update and the subsequent 3.7.22.297128 update which fixed an inherent crash issue within the 3.7.20.296094 release
3.7.21.296724 – the winter open-source contributions release from November 2014, providing improved Japanese language input, improved projectors rendering, fixes for object editing when rotating and for an OS X Yosemite full screen crash issue
3.7.23.297296 – the winter maintenance release from December 2014, which included a range of fixes to voice, texture animation, object rendering, privacy, inventory management, etc., and which included fixes to previously released changes in the way joint offsets in rigged meshes are handled
3.7.24.297643 – the Experience Tool viewer (at the time this article was written, the de facto release viewer from LL).
As well as these LL-derived updates, this release also sees UKanDo reach parity through recent RLV updates from Marine Kelley from 2.9.3 through to the latest 2.9.6.6,
So while this release many not offer anything “new” in terms of TPV updates, it does bring the viewer right up to the cutting edge in terms of formal releases from both LL and RLV, which should be more than enough to keep UKanDo users happy.
The latest version of Black Dragon, version 2.4.1.8, was release on Friday, February 6th, and is the latest in a series of nips and tucks to the viewer as Niran continues to integrate code updates from the Lab and also work on refining the UI.
The core update from the Lab with this release is the inclusion of the winter maintenance release code from the Lab’s 3.7.23.297296 release, including the fixes for previously released changes in the way joint offsets in rigged meshes are handled. This means that deformations to an avatar’s shape are more intelligently tracked, and the viewer should be able to correct them without necessarily having to have the attachment causing them removed, or requiring a re-log in order to fix.
The other major update for this release see the Friends List undergo a revision. The accordion tabs separating on-line from off-line friends have been removed, and the Friends list rationalised so that on-line friends appear at the top – their names now in blue – and an duplication of names has been removed.
with the accordion tab removed, and the list sorted so that on-line friends always appear at the top, their names coloured blue, the Friends List in black Dragon 2.4.1.8 (left) is a lot more streamlined than previous versions (right), which also saw on-line friends duplicated between the “Online” and “All” accordion tabs
The release notes also list the following updates / changes:
A possible fix for RLVa detach and re-attach issues via RLVa commands
A possible fix for a crash caused by the connection issues panel when the region becomes invalid
A viewer compile fix
Max VRAM has been changed 1024 Mb in Preferences > Display Settings
Incremental steps for Shadow Blur changed to 0.1 in Preferences > Display Settings
The connection issues panel will no longer briefly appear when logging-in with the viewer
Appearance floater outfit status colour has been changed
Worn items are now listed in italics in the Appearance floater, rather than in bold
Beacon colour has been changed to stream “blue-ish”.
On Tuesday, February 3rd, the Main (SLS) channel received the server maintenance package deployed to the three RC channels in week #5, which includes:
a fix for BUG-8247 “[Experience Tools] Issue with llRequestExperiencePermissions() triggering experience_permissions_denied() and XP_ERROR_NOT_PERMITTED_LAND after prior 5 minute no response period.”
Internal improvements for experience tools key-value functions.
There were no deployments to the RC channels for the week.
Following the Main channel deployment on Tuesday, a number of regions reported issues with objects failing to load and render, textures remaining grey, mesh outfits failing to rez / render teleport issues, etc., all of which appeared to be consistent with region capabilities failing on re-start, and thus requiring the affected regions to be manually restarted. As reported by Whirly Fizzle in the forum thread linked-to above, this has been an intermittent problem which has been occurring for over a year.
SL Viewer – Mesh Importer Update
On Wednesday, February 4th saw the release of the Importer project viewer, version 3.7.25.298441. This viewer brings various improvements to the mesh uploader / importer, which are given in the release notes as:
In this viewer we’ve modified the importer to (optionally) improve debug output, perform name-based LOD association, and handle models with many materials.
Using these new features, models with more than 8 unique faces can be imported. Gone are the days of importing complicated meshes in pieces with “some assembly required”. At import, these models are automatically split into pieces so that each satisfy the current face limits for a volume.
The same limitations on LODs and materials remain in place (e.g. your low LOD mesh materials must be a subset of the full LOD materials).
LODs and Physics reps can now be explicitly associated with a given mesh in the full LOD model using name-based matching.
By properly naming the meshes in your lower LOD meshes and physics reps, you can avoid issues with ordering of the meshes within your DCC tool and other material mismatching errors.
An ImporterDebug option has been added to the settings.xml file which, if enabled, causes more information to be output during import than you can shake a stick at. The extra output can be very helpful for diagnosing authoring errors (e.g. violating the material subset constraints mentioned above) and pinpoint what needs to be fixed in the source model for successful import.
Note that project news is a little light this week due to on-going SL planning meetings taking place at the Lab.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 