MadPea games open the doors on their latest grid-wide mystery puzzle game, The Interview on Sunday, April 3rd. Details on what it is all about have yet to be revealed – but there is a clue in the title, and it involves an organisation called the Goliathus Society. This appears to be a very secret society (one no doubt with a very dark secret!), everyone want to join – and a rare opportunity to be a part of the organisation has arisen.
Ahead of the official opening, the lucky winners the recent Interview Photo Contest and Interview Writing Contest will have 24 hours access to the game before the doors open to the public, as well as access to the MadPea team for help and support. You can read about the winners and see their entries on the MadPea result pages for the photo contest and the writing contest – and I have to say, the winning entry in the latter makes for entertaining reading 🙂 .
To further whet appetites, Kess Crystal from MadPea e-mails with a short note to say the trailer for The Interview is now out, and I’m embedding it below.
So, if you’ve always wanted to be a part of a secret society, and gain a benefits package (aka prizes) for some of SL’s popular designers, get ready to take part in the Interview.
Photographers Io Bechir and Fanny Vermont recently opened their own studio and gallery space in Second Life. Called Clockwork Skimmer, the space has a distinctively steampunk feel to it, and offers a cosy space for both Io and Fanny to display their work.
The lower floor of the space, where visitors arrive, presents the looks and feel of a basement space, with bare brick walls and small windows placed high in the walls, close to the wood ceiling. A rough wooden floor, a bare iron supporting frame for the floor above, and exposed copper pipes complete the basic room décor. Into this Io has added various furnishings – free-standing spotlights, a wine rack, easy chairs and a large leather sofa, before which lays a great big bear rug. “I am a big Steam fan,” Io informed me as we chatted about the design, “I think it’s a nice motif for a gallery space.”
I couldn’t agree more, as the entire effect creates a beautifully intimate space ideal for presenting her work, which has a wonderful ability to project so much to the observer: strength, fragility, vulnerability, beauty, vitality, and more. In all nine of Io’s pieces are displayed here, the casual manner in which they are placed on or against walls or sit on easels very much promoting the feeling one has been invited into her personal work space, rather than attending a formal exhibit.
The upper floor, reached via an open staircase, is home to a more formal exhibition space, which might be imagined as being on the ground floor of the building. It is here that Fanny has her exhibition, entitled Balance. In it, she presents nine nude images in three sets of three, all in black and white. Each image is exquisitely posed and presented, and as with Io’s pieces, they each individually, and in their collective trios, present a narrative.
“Balance is my second series based on a concept. As the name implies I developed and photographed some of my ideas referring to the theme but still with enough room for personal interpretations,” Fanny notes of the exhibit, “taken in my studio which is not much more than an ample, empty hall. I wanted to be able to use a tele lens and also to get more possibilities where to place the light projector. For six images I used a large, white backdrop with a rather wide dimensioned cove which creates nice results in combination with the spotlight.”
As well as describing he means of creating her images, Fanny also divulges her approach to framing and presenting them in-world in order to preserve their 16:10 aspect ratio. While this may sound a dry description, in actual fact, it is quite the reverse. While the image sets themselves are enthralling as seen, being invited into the complete creative process which brought them from idea to finished displayed piece, draws one deeper into them; so we become less observers and more partners sharing in Fanny’s work.
I’ve been a fervent admirer of Io’s work since first encountering it, and I’ve become an instant admirer of Fanny’s work as well, as a result of this first expose to it. As such, I’m very much looking forward to future exhibitions at Clockwork Skimmer.
I first wrote about Asphyxiation Point, the free-form role-play region, back in February of 2016, after being invited to explore the region by one of region’s Admins and a prime mover in the region’s development, Charles Newton Kuluk (kuluk). At the time I noted that the town is host to a range of activities,most of which are reported through the associated website, and Thursday, March 31st through to Sunday April 3rd inclusive will see the town engage in one of those activities, as it faces the ravages of a hurricane.
“Hurricane is one of the most visually striking events in Second Life,” Charles said in his invitation. “I would like to invite you to Asphyxiation Point to view the event in person and hopefully capture it through your lens.”
The storm is intended to unfold – as storms in the physical world so often do – over a period of days, rising to a peak, then ebbing away. As such, the time frame for the event is currently as follows:
Thursday, March 31st 2016 – The Rain: It starts with rain, materials-enabled rain in this case, which allows local lighting to be reflected in the water on the ground and in the splashes of raindrops when you have the Advanced Lighting Model active. The rain is region-wide, but playing with different windlights and time settings in the viewer can create some interesting results, particularly at night.
Friday, April 1st 2016 – The Wind: As Friday arrives, so does the wind, driving the rain and pushing against the trees, whilst lightning flickers across the sky, followed by thunder’s inevitable booming, as the townsfolk batten down and prepare for the hurricane’s anger.
Saturday April 2nd 2016 – Hurricane: the storm proper strikes, the sea rages, flooding much of the town, breaching defences around noon SLT and rising steadily through until 18:00 SLT.
Sunday April 3rd 2016 – The waters recede: the storm has passed, and with nature’s fury abated, the waters slowly recede through the early morning hours (SLT), leaving some debris left in its wake as the people of Asphyxiation Point clean-up and return to normal life.
As noted in Charles’ invitation, visitors are encouraged to drop into the region over the course of the storm and take photos as events unfold. All the folk at Asphyxiation Point ask is that those taking pictures consider sharing them on the Asphyxiation Point Flickr group, to help record the event for posterity.
Should you visit to see the storm for yourself, do keep in mind that Asphyxiation Point is a free-form role-play environment in which most of the residents interact “in character” in open chat conversation. Visitors are welcome to give it a go as well; however, if you are approached in local chat by someone wanting to role-play, but would prefer not to, just IM them to let them know you are visiting and / or taking photos.
As we’re talking storms, I’ll wrap this piece with a little musical interlude from Chris de Burgh.
Commencing at midnight on the 30th / 31st March 2016 is a new arts-focused shopping event offering the chance for people to discover art, galleries and more across Second Life.
Managed and run by Windlight Magazine, 30/31 will be a bi-monthly event, this first round will run from midnight on the 30th/31st March through until midnight on April 6th/7th, and is sponsored by Chop Zuey Couture Jewellery.
In all twenty artists, galleries and brands are participating in this inaugural round of the event, and their details and URLs can be found below.
Each of them is offering one or more items for sale as a price with either 30 or 31 in it – hence the event name. So items might be L$31, L$131, L$230, and so on. The items offered as part of the event are indicated by the 30/31 logo (above right) being display along side them.
To mark this inaugural round of 30/31 Chop Zuey Couture Jewellery owner, Belle Roussel, has created a special edition I got your number 30/31 edition necklace and earrings set shown above).
30/31 offers an excellent opportunity to combine shopping with art, and offers a balanced mix of galleries and stores to visit, as well as presenting people with a great way to familiarise themselves with the work of artists they might not have previously come across.
MadPea games open the doors on their latest grid-wide mystery puzzle game, The Interview on Sunday, April 3rd. Details on what it is all about have yet to be revealed – but there is a clue in the title, and it involves an organisation called the Goliathus Society. This appears to be a very secret society (one no doubt with a very dark secret!), everyone want to join – and a rare opportunity to be a part of the organisation has arisen.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 