We took the red pill

IN FEBRUARY 2007, Larry Johnson (aka SL's Larry Pixel), CEO of the New Media Consortium, gave a speech entitled "Down the Rabbit Hole: Or how the NMC took the red pill, got a Second Life, and found love on the 3D web."

Dang, that's a GOOD title. I had to borrow a piece of it cause the thought keeps ringing in my brain. For those of us who didn't abandon SL after those first few bumbling, bungling days, and went on to grok that this is the arena where the action will unfold in the coming years, it turns out that the red pill was pure manna.

Celebrating that which is Not Possible IRL takes it one step further.

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This notice was issued to NPIRL'ers on August 24, 2007:

3star Tyne's fab freebie "Glass House Mary" was a huge hit with the NPIRL ladies - The PERMS are MOD/TRANS, so guys can give it to their best girl. ^.^ Thanks 3star!

THIS just in...

NPIRL member Foolish Frost - master scripter and lead builder for Toxic Garden Rezzable - tp'ed us in last night for a zippy peek at the prototype for the Zero-G Spherical Ride. Can't reveal much, but suffice it to say that it involves riding a surfboard around and inside planet earth at a high rate of speed. Weeeeeee!

Foolish described his work as "building solutions." He said people ask him "is this possible?" and he finds out. Still no word on when the final reveal will take place.

ANGRYBETH SHORTBREAD

"I think, therefore I am frustrated." Thus begins NPIRL'er AngryBeth Shorthbread's profile, and our plunge into her scripted, multimedia world.

Here's the short list on AngryBeth:
* She's collaborative
* Her work is as much about the development journey as it is about the final piece. She doesn't mind letting you in on her work-in-progress.
* She is generous with her information. Grab her education tool freebies. Google her and you will find that she doesn't hesitate to explain the techniques she employed to accomplish each project.

AngryBeth collaborated with Brian Eno on his 77 Million Paintings 4-location show in SL, June 29 - July 1, 2007, which you can read about on her blog. 77 Million Paintings was produced by Cyrus Huffhines of blueair.tv, in cooperation with Alexander Rose, who oversaw the project, while AngryBeth built the installations.

She is behind The Collective - an ongoing research project of the Design for Digital Media Degree at Leeds College of Art and Design into the pedagogical and vocational value of SL.

You will find a good collection of her work at her studio, The Pencil Factory. Tp to The Port and look behind you for another teleporter to the Pencil Factory, and then:
* Get your DNA scanned
* Talk to a well that talks back
* Mix your own tune with the Synthagoround, an in-world remixable tool consisting in synced patterns she created with Garageband. You can see/hear her own composition here.
* Send an email to the invaders and watch em grow!

Then, take the teleporters behind you to the next two floors:
* Super-Collider
* Don't miss the Synthy - Cube on the roof. Way cool!

There's her sparkling work with in-world vids:
* A Whale of a Tale, winner in the Best Story category of the 2006 Alt-Zoom Machinima competition:
* AngryBeth's "Scary Hole" film noir Machinima from June 2006.
* Finally, her "Bootleg Phil - masquerading as god" piece is a hoot. For it, AngryBeth reproduced Philip Linden's avatar and had a bit of fun with it - along with a mask of Philip Rosedale. Consequently, the practice of being Philip Linden has become a tradition of sorts at The Port.

Take home a memento from your field trip and pick up your own copy of the Phil Linden avatar near the main teleporter at The Port.:P

URGE TO SPLURGE MALLS

Malls in SL can be wacky and most assuredly NPIRL:

There's the mall inside a humongous refrigerator (there's some fun hospital equipment for sale inside o.O)
The Refrigerator

Check out the Chinese mall that is completely surrounded by a giant dragon snail.
Chinese Mall

This mall's art statement, discovered by 3star Tyne, features a rather soggy view of life in 2030.
Happy Dispatch

WELCOME to our newest members - in order of appearance:
Catherine Omega
Ian Pahute
Keystone Bouchard
Foolish Frost
LittleToe Bartlett
Botany Black
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