I’ve been writing this blog from June 2007, that’s some like 4 years and a half, not a short time at all. But you know, sometimes one needs to move to new paths and possibly this is the right time to do it.

I’m facing deep changes in my RL in the next months, i feel a bit less attached to SL too, i presume it changed in a way i find difficult to feel connected as i was before. Not trying to speak like an old cranky man like “My times were better..”, just saying for several reasons i can’t feel so into Second Life to write a regular blog with some quality (it never was too much quality, lol). So i think it’s time to stop blogging in “A Crimson world”.

I’ll keep writing and posting shots and almost blogging in my Facebook page (you can see a widget of it in the sidebar), i mean, i won’t stop writing and posting things, only i prefer to do it in other system, like Facebook is.

Also i will keep using Flickr and other microblogging tools like Twitter and Plurk (links also available in the sidebar).

What i mean is, i’m not leaving SL, i’m not stopping posting about SL, but i stop doing it in a blog, that’s all. After the project of Soup Radio ended i just feel the need to change the way i express my SL side or actually the SL side of my life(s).

Many thanks to all of my readers in this blog, love you, people!!!

Yeah, i was part of Burn2 this year again! Had a tiny space with an installation as you can see in the image above. The name was “Jewel”, the crystals in the ground were sending the “earth powers” to a big diamond hanging in the neck of a huge mannequin. In the installation it was possible to sit on the diamond and be the jewel of the necklace. It was nothing too big, but it was fun to build and set. I would like to thank Menno Ophelia for his help in this installation with the crystals! He is a sweetie!

I had a lot of fun in Burn2 this year. Although it was smaller than ever (only 4 sims) it was nicely organized and had really good art installations and events. Thanks from here to all the Burn2 team, specially the Rangers! Maybe i missed some really cool stages like the ones a couple of years ago, but they were cool too. The important is the “burners” (as they call the participants and the visitors) were in the mood to have a cool event, so we had it.

As you know Burn2, as Second Life edition of Burning Man festival is not Linden Lab supported anymore. That means the organization have to pay for the sims as any other event. That means also that the event has to get money to pay those sim rentals so donations are important. I’m not sure if this new relationship with Linden Lab is better or worse for the event, but i think this situation gives some more freedom to the organization regarding the contents, and that’s good.

Remember you can visit the Burn2 web page for more information about this year’s event or for a donation.

Related articles

• Burn2 2011 is burning!!! (raulcrimson.com)

Burn2 is here again. It is one of my favorite events inside Second Life for many reasons, one, is an art show where anybody can participate, amateurs and professionals, second, is all about freedom, creativity and sharing and third, there is an amazing crown of people in there!

I took some pictures you can see in the slideshow above or in a set in Flickr. The Burn2 team recorded this video so you can have an idea of what’s going on in there:

They define Burn2 this way:

BURN2 is an extension of the Burning Man festival and community into the world of Second Life. It is an officially sanctioned Burning Man regional event, and the only virtual world event out of more than 100 real world Regional groups, and the only Regional to burn the Man!

The BURN2 organization spreads Burning Culture and the Burning Man Ten Principles (http://burn2.org/ten-principles) year round in Second Life, culminating in an annual festival of community, art and fire in the fall – a virtual echo of Burning Man itself…so BURN2.

The thing to do is go and explore, enjoy and connect. You can find information in the Burn2 website like timeline, the events, shows…etc.

Also in Soup Radio we recorded a show during the Press day of Burn2 that has a lot of references and places you might enjoy visiting. Find more information in the Soup Radio blogpost or listen the show in stream or download it as an iTunes podcast.

I have a tiny build in Burn2, but will write another post about it.

So yes… i’m back. It’s not i was out for a really long time, but my lifes (both, first and second) were pretty busy in so many ways. In first life, well, basically summer holidays, traveling and being out of town and far away from computers for almost a month. I’m sure you all will understand this, sometimes this is something we all need, at least i so need it sometimes.

About Second Life, well, in the last months i was enjoying being part of the Soup Radio project with a really wonderful team of people, sadly this project is finished now, but i’m proud and happy about the work on it. Well, the project is not exactly finished, but we are planning the last show of Soup Radio for October 1st. From here i would like to give a huge hug to all the Soup Radio team, specially Arahan Cleveau, for all the help, support and ideas.

So, since i’m back i would like to say a couple more of things. First, right now i’m building an installation for Burn2 so i will inform more in this blog, about my project and about Burn2 itself. And second… thanks for keep reading my blog! *Raul sings “Welcome back” to himself*

QR code by Harter Fall

I’m part of the team of Regular Guests & Contributors of Soup Radio, a 24/7 online radio station dedicated to the arts, with a particular focus on Second Life.

Our new schedule started on Saturday, July 2nd 2011 (12pm PDT, 3pm EDT, 8pm BST).

About the topics for this month let me paste the Show Notes for this month:

This month our usual shows are replaced by a special extended edition dedicated to SL8B (Second Life 8th Birthday). The regular crew is joined by Dekka Raymaker andKhamudy Mannonen, and together they explore the event and visit a number of locations, including work by Sanura Sakai & Andel Rhiadra, windyy Lane, Caro Fayray, Eupalinos Ujagin & Simotron Aquila, Madpea Productions, LEA, Shellina Winkler, Claudia222 Jewell, Harter Fall & Elliena Bulmer, and Ub Yifu. During the tour they discuss the history of the event, how the builds relate to this year’s theme ‘The Magic of SL‘, the ratio of creative versus commercial ventures, and many other topics.

Arahan also reveals details about the upcoming ArthOle performance at Odyssey. (Duration 147 mins)

References:
Kawaii
Miso Susanowa logo dispute
Ansel Adams
Blender
Maya
3D Max
I Can Has Cheezburger?
Cat Organ
Monty Python mouse organ sketch
Numbakulla: The Pot Healer Adventure
Steam
REC
Halo
Ke$ha – Blow
Pirats Art Network
Tom Otterness
Hudson River School
Baron Grayson
Matthew Barney
Bridget Riley
Robert Irwin
Holbein – The Ambassadors

Playlist:
Magnetic Fields – Doll’s Tea Party
Oberhofer - o0o0o0ooo
Patrick Wolf – The Stars
Devo – Social Fools
Spider and the Flies – Jungle Planet
The Teenagers – End of the Line

Thanks for listening!

Hope you really enjoy this month shows, you can listen Soup Radio in two ways:

• In an Audio Stream
• In iTunes as a Podcast

Related articles

• Soup Radio will be in SL8B (raulcrimson.com)

The Second Life birthday is back, as every year around June 23rd! This time is SL8B. the 8th birthday. As i wrote in a post some days ago the team of Soup Radio were working on a space in there. It was great to work on it and filmed the short movie above. Hope you can visit it! Here is the SLurl.

Finally Linden Lab published the official announcement in the Linden Blogs a couple of days ago. Check it and the official SL8B blog for calendars of events and much more updated information. Only remember today, June 20th at 10AM SLT the 21 sims will be opened to the public!

Chantal Harvey, renowned machinima artist and SL8B volunteer, made this video to show us about more about SL8B:

Related articles

• Soup Radio will be in SL8B (raulcrimson.com)
• SL8B Press Preview (danielvoyagerblog.wordpress.com)
• SL8B promotional video released (danielvoyagerblog.wordpress.com)

“Oink! Oink!” Said the military pig while a missile was hitting the petrol tank in the background…

For some reason when i was matching this outfit the pig appeared in my Inventory so i presume it was he just needed to go out for a while. Also it was fun to try the new “Depth of field” effect with then new SL Viewer 2.7.1, as you can see it works great with shadows.

I’m wearing:
Skin: ISPACHI Skin JOHAN Mocha (5 O’Clock Shadow)
Eyes: PC Eyes by Lano Ling – Night Rain – Small
Facial hair: Antebellum MDCCCXLVI – Small burns
Tattoo: Letis Tattoo ETERNITY
Helmet: DECO – Skull Bowl (fukt)
Tank Top: [ZIPPER] Rolled-up Starry beater (Red)
Finger tape: [ZIPPER] Finger Glove – Black-Red
Pants: RONSEM – Cargo pants/black
Boots: [Gos] GTFO Boot in Camo [M]
Pig: <<V>> New Pig (Pink-attach) *Choice2009Win Limited Edition* (not for sale)

Linden Lab/Second Life HQ by ilamont.com (CC)

Some things still amaze me after being a Second Life resident for the last 4 and a half years. Let’s say one of the workers of Linden Lab (knows by all the residents as Lindens because the traditional last name for Linden Lab employees) is fired, or decides to leave the company for any reason. Then a “choir” of voices raise, in Twitter, Plurk, blogs, Flickr, Facebook or in any social network related with Second Life in any way, and they even ask directly to Rodvik Linden (aka Rod Humble, CEO of Linden Lab) “Why? What’s happening?”.

And then i wonder: Why… you ask? Why is important to know about the personal or the corporative decision of a company when you are a simple costumer, not even a investor or stockholder? There may be two reasons for someone to stop being an employee of Linden Lab:

• He/she found a better place to work, or a better job conditions or simply a more interesting project for him/her.
• He/she was fired.

In the first case, come on, that’s great! I just can say “Congrats” and farewell. I just can wish the best for him/her and say “thank you” for everything. In the second case… well, in this case i can’t know if is great or not, since i can’t know the reasons but i’ll wish the best for him/her and say “thank you” for everything too.

I’m sure most of the people who seems to feel outraged when some Linden leave the Lab don’t know if that Linden was fired or simply decided to leave. And even in the case the Linden was fired i’m sure they don’t know the reason… maybe he was the one who was stealing the ballpoints, or maybe she was arriving late every single day… or even maybe there was no other reason than a corporative decision to close a department. In any case there’s no a single reason to feel outraged, except if that affects to the service that Linden Lab is providing to you, and of course, in the case you are have some kind of personal relationship-friendship with that Linden (nobody is happy to know a good old friend has been fired).

Don’t get me wrong, is not i’m happy when someone is fired, but i think sometimes a company needs to reduce the number of employees (and i’m sure that’s not a nice decision to take) and i think also some people in some cases totally deserves to get fired. In any case is a company decision and asking the CEO… well… seems pretty silly to me, unless you are a shareholder, of course.

And again i wonder: Why you ask? I have been talking about this with some other residents and it seems there may be at least three reasons: first, Second Life residents are passionate people, we love what we have in here, we love it SO MUCH that some may arrive to think that we actually OWN Second Life, and that means residents should have the last word over ANY decision and ANY change. Second, many Lindens have some like a “star status” and that can be a problem when they are not around anymore, even if it was a personal decision. And third, “evil corporation fires employees” is always a compelling story.

About the first, we don’t “own” Second Life. We are customers of Linden Lab’s services, we may like or not the changes on the services we are receiving, we can agree or not with the corporative decisions of Linden Lab, but we don’t own Second Life. As customers the only power we have is to stop buying the services but we don’t have power over corporative decisions unless we are shareholders, and even less if it’s the personal decision of someone to leave the Lab. About the “star status”, Lindens are only people who works in a company that offers services to us, they are not stars, they can be REALLY COOL people, creative and helpful but they are not stars, they are people who work for us as customers. And about the “evil corporations” well, that’s a real topic and not only affecting Linden Lab… and yes, some are pretty evil.

This is only my opinion, my point of view, and i would like to say again that i can’t never be happy when someone is fired… but i know the people who works in Linden Lab are talented, creative and good enough to keep me feeling i love to be a resident of Second Life and in the sad case they are fired i’m sure they will find a really cool work soon.

Soup Radio at SL8B

Next June 20th it will start the SL8B (Second Life 8th Birthday) event. As every year we have the big party to celebrate how old is our world, and also as every year a group of residents will build amazing installations and will perform as DJs, musicians, comedians…

Soup Radio at SL8B by Arahan

20 regions of art, experiences, music, community, fun and experiences! SL8B will be up from June 20th to June 26th, at least the activities. The buildings will be opened to visit until July 2nd. Anyway, the most important day is 23rd, the BIRTHDAY itself with a lot of ceremonies and events.

And… as the title of the post indicates and as you can see in the image in the top and here at left we, the team of Soup Radio, are working on our space for SL8B.

As you can imagine right now we can only show some images of details of what we are working on exactly, but you will see more in the event or in the pictures and videos we will publish after the opening.

We are REALLY excited about it and we are having fun building our space, we are almost done! Arahan blogged in the Soup Radio blog this:

The Second Life 8th Birthday (SL8B) takes place from June 20-26th 2011, and Soup Radio is taking part in the celebrations.

We’re using it as an opportunity to introduce the station to new listeners and explain what we’re all about, and with that in mind we’re working on creating a space where visitors can relax, listen to the current schedule, and browse information. We’re located in the Spellbound sim, do drop in if you’re in the area. Teleport here.

Also, our July schedule is going to be a SL8B special, we’ll be touring the sims, talking about our discoveries, including the good, the bad, the ugly, and our conclusions on the event. If you have a plot there do send us a landmark and we’ll definitely check it out for possible inclusion.

Separate from Soup Radio I’m DJing at the official stage on Thursday June 23rd from 10-11am SLT/PDT (6-7pm BST), would be great to see you there if you can make it.Teleport here.

With thanks to Raul Crimson, Penumbra Carter, Dekka Raymaker and Nebulosus Severine for their contributions and help with the build.

-Arahan-

So if you go to SL8B, please, visit our space in there. I think you will enjoy it. I will blog more about SL8B and also we will speak a lot about SL8B this month in Soup Radio.

See you in the Birthday!

I’m part of the team of Regular Guests & Contributors of Soup Radio, a non-profit online radio station dedicated to the arts, with a particular focus on the virtual world Second Life.

Our new schedule began yesterday, Saturday, June 4th 2011 (12pm PDT, 3pm EDT, 8pm BST).

Hope you really enjoy this month shows, you can listen Soup Radio in two ways:

• In an Audio Stream
• In iTunes as a Podcast

Special thanks to Honour McMillan for his time and his interesting conversation… and because she is just great!

Related Articles

• Soup Radio… i’m part of the show! (raulcrimson.com)
• Soup Radio, May 2011 (raulcrimson.com)