spinster's blog

It was a great pleasure at the weekend to welcome AdmiralOwen Merlin to Second Life. Admiral, a writer, attended PgUp at the Notice Gallery in Deptford. He is writing a piece on the exhibition and Second Life art and artists in general.
I met Admiral on Saturday in Virtual Haidplatz when he was a mere 48 hours old. Fau Ferdinand and Zodial Semple joined us and we encouraged Admiral to do his n00b duty and hop into Fau's All n00bs are Sailors pot ...

You: admiral did his n00b duty hehe
Zodial Semple: did he dance naked in it?
You: oh no forgot that bit
You: get back in!
AdmiralOwen Merlin: nope , clothes on . although the server has removed my clothes from time to time
Fau Ferdinand: yeah yeah
Zodial Semple: not truely initiated til you naked in the pot :-)p
Fau Ferdinand: all noobs blame the servers
You: he's not going to is he?

You: omg
Fau Ferdinand: hehe
AdmiralOwen Merlin: this is NOT going in the article
Fau Ferdinand: woohoo

Zodial Semple: I still see clothing
Fau Ferdinand: me too
You: yes c'mon hehe
You: lol what an intro to sl
AdmiralOwen Merlin: it wont let me go totally nekkid
AdmiralOwen Merlin: oh now it did
AdmiralOwen Merlin: almost
You: right click urself
AdmiralOwen Merlin: delay
You: remove clothing

You: weyhay!!!
Fau Ferdinand: that a noob :)
Zodial Semple: ok go on with your interview :-)

AdmiralOwen Merlin: phew
You: ah now do u know yet how to get dressed again?
Fau Ferdinand: nooo
Zodial Semple: lol
Fau Ferdinand: don't tell him
AdmiralOwen Merlin: too late
You: ah a wise n00b
AdmiralOwen Merlin: told ya i spent an hour or so practising!
Fau Ferdinand: don't you know the interview trick where you imagine
You: hehehe
Fau Ferdinand: the person interviewing you neekid ?
You: we have strong minds
AdmiralOwen Merlin: got ma sneaks back on
AdmiralOwen Merlin: interview continues!
Fau Ferdinand: yup :)

Thanks Admiral for being a great sport!

Fau told Admiral all about her work and Admiral asked a lot of hard questions about Second Life for his article. Meanwhile, Zodial recklessly rode her horse on the SLippery SLopes, DeThomas Dibou's marvellous structure built for the AOM performance of the same name (more on this below) ...

Later on, I attended the opening of Douglas Story's new installation, FlowerBall, with music by AldoManutio Abruzzo and scripting by Desdemona Enfield. To view the work, there were a few preferences that needed setting and a bit of a teleporter mystery tour, but it was all worth it ... this installation is amazing! If you haven't been yet, do go along, do set your preferences, take friends and try it in mouselook ...

AdmiralOwen attended later, when he had the opportunity to ask Douglas more about his work.

On Sunday evening, Admiral and I had the great honour of attending a special repeat Avatar Orchestra Metaverse performance of Wirxli Flimflam's SLippery SLope so that Evo Szuyuan could make a documentary video.
Unfortunately, I was having a few computer problems and didn't manage to get any pics, but Wirxli has written an excellent blogpost about the event here, and DADA Rau has archived some great pics and the chat history here.

Composer Wirxli Flimflam turns up blinging like a rock star (picture by DADA Rau)

Evo, in her famous SLippers, videos proceedings (picture by DADA Rau)

Miulew Takahe's poor n00b friend, Hopi Jun, apparently recovered from his harrowing experience at the hands of Fau Ferdinand, also attended and made some fabulous sound recordings ...

Click here to get your own player.

What I really like about Virtual Haidplatz is the way that over time, different layers have been superimposed from the various activities that have taken place there. This location, originally built for Pomodoro Bolzano's "xxXtenxion - this is not a webcam, this is cyberspace" event in May, has proved itself as a real functioning town square and meeting place.

This is the last of the three mega-posts about the second PgUp performance in Virtual Haidplatz on 30 June, although by no means the last of the documentation to come. Further down are posts about Douglas Story's Chambers and Landscapes, and Wirxli Flimflam and Fwwixli Swindlehurst's Ageplay Performance Residue #1 which both took place earlier in the day, as well as the performances from Avatar Orchestra Metaverse and Fau Ferdinand which took place on Thursday 28 June
This post will cover Avatar Orchestra Metaverse's grand finale for PgUp which included two premiers - SLippery SLope by Wirxli Flimflam and FRAGULA v0.1 by Miulew Takahe.
Wirxli has once more beaten me to it with his blog, where you can see a video of SLippery SLope made by DannyDarko Raymaker with sound recorded by Miulew Takahe. Also on Wirxli's blog you can get a rare insight into the workings of AOM as he has posted the full score of the piece ... fascinating stuff! It demonstrates well how much detailed planning and coordination goes into AOM's work. I was also pleased to see from reading the score that by wearing my blue dress I may have played a part in the musical composition.
While the orchestra tuned up and precached in the square, we were treated to a short RL performance in Notice Gallery as performance artists Katrina Anderson (right) and Lisa Weger drew the raffle in an extravagant fashion.

Miulew Takahe: are london having a good time, spin?
You: yeah
You: elderflower champagne is flowing
You: they r getting quite rowdy!
Wirxli Flimflam: ok..I gotta tune my cello
You: k 5 mins then yes?
Miulew Takahe: i must relog to the other comp. with big screen -otherwise i never do the slopes
Miulew Takahe: brb
Wirxli Flimflam: as soon as our hyperinstruments pre-cash to account for lag, we are ready, Spin
Wirxli Flimflam: pre-cache
Wirxli Flimflam: some notes are still not working...need 2 more mins to warm up the cello
Wirxli Flimflam: is it the lag that is slowing down the cello?
Wirxli Flimflam: cello response time is slow
Wirxli Flimflam: oh well

Miulew Takahe: hello paco!
Miulew Takahe: are you in frankfurt (RL) now?
Paco Mariani: we are. maxxo sit´s beside me
Wirxli Flimflam: k..is the orchestra ready?
You: we have lag?
Wirxli Flimflam: serious lag
Wirxli Flimflam: oh well
Wirxli Flimflam: the piece can still happen though
Miulew Takahe: yep, np
Miulew Takahe: it is named SLippery SLope not without a reason! ;))
Wirxli Flimflam: heheheh
You: lag is an extra musical element!
Wirxli Flimflam: heheheh
Miulew Takahe: SPinster, do you want me to introduce?
Miulew Takahe: and then Wirx tell us some words on the premiering piece?
You: yes please miu u do it well
Miulew Takahe: OK... WELCOME TO THE PERFORMANCE WITH AVATAR ORCHESTRA METAVERSE
Miulew Takahe: WE'RE HAPPY TO BE PLAYING OUR SECOND DAY HERE AT PgUp DAYS
Miulew Takahe: AND AT VIRTUAL HAIDPLATZ
Miulew Takahe: WE ARE VERY HAPPY TO HAVE BOTH AN AUDIENCE IN RL / LONDON ASWELL HERE AT VIRTUAL HAIDPLATZ / ODYSSEY
You: /london claps
Miulew Takahe: I AM NOT GOING TO TELL SO MUCH MORE ABOUT AOM , NO MORE THAN CKECK OUR BLOG
Miulew Takahe: AND NOW WE ARE GOING TO START SOON OUR PROGRAM
Miulew Takahe: FIRST WIRXLI
Miulew Takahe: WILL YOU INTRODUCE THE SLippery SLope
Miulew Takahe: ?
Wirxli Flimflam: yes
Wirxli Flimflam: thanks for the intro Miulew
Miulew Takahe: thanx
Wirxli Flimflam: my composition is called SLippery SLope
Wirxli Flimflam: you see 3 different SLopes (Pink, purple, blue)
designed by DeThomas Dibou

Wirxli Flimflam: the orchestra is going to climb up them (or try to) while playing
Wirxli Flimflam: we all play something different when we fall to the ground
Wirxli Flimflam: it is very site specific
Wirxli Flimflam: the piece ends when all the members have successfully climbed all3 SLopes without falling
Wirxli Flimflam: wish us luck ;-)
Tayzia Abattoir smiles
Wirxli Flimflam: we will be starting at the base of the blue slope
Zodial Semple: Break a leg!
Douglas Story: break a leg!
Miulew Takahe: ;) can be needed! ;))
You: we'll be here for years!!!!
Wirxli Flimflam: I probably will break a leg
Douglas Story: (Zodial beat me to it)

The first of the intrepid musicians begins to scale the blue slope ...

aaaannd crash! (oh well, once in two days is not that bad)...

I was back online within seconds and because SLippery SLope is a long piece to perform, I had time to take loads of pictures ...

The musicians trek carefully up the blue slope ...

Miulew leads the way on pink ...

Woa careful Max! That's a narrow place to pass ...

The audience in London get nervous ...

On to purple ... doing well ...

Wirxli struggles up purple with two instruments and Fwwixli on his shoulders covering his eyes ...

Maximillian's HUD instrument shows off his Dorkbot tee...

Zodial Semple claps
myself Beaumont: /clap
Wirxli Flimflam: ok..the time is up so the composition is over
You: woohoo
Miulew Takahe: /THANK YOU!!!!
You: london claps

Wirxli Flimflam: I ALMOST finished the purple SLope ;-)
Miulew Takahe: AND AN EXTRA APPLAUSE FOR JUNIVERS STOCKHOLM
You: hehe too much wine wirx!
Miulew Takahe: WAY SANDS
Zodial Semple claps
Miulew Takahe: AND JANNNE JANUS
Wirxli Flimflam: yes, Junivers made it through first :-)
Miulew Takahe: OUR GUEST FOR THIS PREMIERE
Ika Cioc: VERY NICE!
Corinthian Fraker: Excellent!
You: well done junivers
Wirxli Flimflam: yep...there is something in that Elderberry champagne
myself Beaumont: bravo
Ambrooshia DeCuir: Fabules
You: elderflower!!!

Miulew Takahe: OK - ANY INJURIES?
junivers Stockholm: thank you all :))
Jasmine Cazalet: Bravissmo
Miulew Takahe: BROKEN LEGS?
DannyDarko Raymaker: great
junivers Stockholm: broke a leg
Maximillian Nakamura: thanks junivers
Wirxli Flimflam: please email all pix and vids to ideatron@gmail.com
Jannne Janus: hahahah
Wirxli Flimflam: and then I can blog it
Wirxli Flimflam: I broke both legs
Jannne Janus: ok
junivers Stockholm: :))
You: and a_spinster@hotmail.com
Way Sands: hahahah
junivers Stockholm: hahaha wirxli
Wirxli Flimflam: yes, and to Spinster as well
Way Sands: no doctor in sl???
DannyDarko Raymaker: ok
Wirxli Flimflam: Doctors charge too many Lindens in SL
junivers Stockholm: hehe
Miulew Takahe: OK.. IF THERE ARE NO OBJECTIONS WE WILL PROCEED IN OUR PROGRAM
Douglas Story: yay
You: thank you so much aom for a fantastic premiere
junivers Stockholm: IM A DOCTOR hahahaah
DannyDarko Raymaker: ahahha
Wirxli Flimflam: thanks Fwwixli for riding on my shoulders...was it fun?
Wirxli Flimflam: Dr. Stockholm, I need drugz!
Miulew Takahe: HE-HE
Fwwixli Swindlehurst: yesss
junivers Stockholm: hehehehe
Fwwixli Swindlehurst: I had pop corn
Wirxli Flimflam: can you write me a prescription?
Miulew Takahe: WE'RE GOING TO DO AN OLD AOM PIECE
junivers Stockholm: HAHAHAHA
Miulew Takahe: RUE BLANCHE
DannyDarko Raymaker: ops
Miulew Takahe: SO JUST RELAX AND HAVE ANOTHER SOUND SENSATION...
DannyDarko Raymaker: so sorry
Way Sands: oooops ray
DannyDarko Raymaker: thanks for the pix is so much pretty

"Awesome Barman" Zaphod Hotaling was supposed to be working hard making sure everyone knew where the wine was ... ah well, you just can't get the staff nowadays!

IM: Zaphod Hotaling: here
IM: Zaphod Hotaling: ermmm
IM: Zaphod Hotaling: Hello London
You: /morning zaph, u awake now?
Zaphod Hotaling is Offline

Miulew Takahe: /THANK YOU! ;))
Zodial Semple claps
Zodial Semple: nice
Ambrooshia DeCuir: FAB!!!!
You: yay!!!!!

DannyDarko Raymaker: great
junivers Stockholm: YEAAAAAA
Miulew Takahe: WE'RE NOW FAST GOING TO NEXT PIECE - WHICH IS A REMIXED AND IMPROVISED THING
Miulew Takahe: CALLED "VICKYS REMIX"
Miulew Takahe: SO NOW WE GOONA WEAR AN OLD INSTRUMENT FROM BINGO CALLED AVIOPHONE
Miulew Takahe: WE'RE SOON ABOUT TO START
Miulew Takahe: SOME TUNING FIRST ONLY
Miulew Takahe: OK - WE START! VICKYS REMIX
marco Manray: :-)

I could see that even though each event of the day had started pretty much on time, we were going to overrun, so sadly I only got one picture of Vicky's remix as I was busily negotiating an extension to the opening hours of Notice Gallery ...

Miulew Takahe: /THANK YOU !
Zodial Semple claps
Miulew Takahe: WE'RE PROCEED TO NEXT PIECE
DannyDarko Raymaker: clap clap
Miulew Takahe: ALSO A PREMIERE
You: notice gallery says we can overrun!!!
You: :-)
Miulew Takahe: CALLED FRAGULA V.0.1
Wirxli Flimflam: great..phew!
Miulew Takahe: WE'RE JUST CHANGING INSTRUMENTS...

Smokers' corner ... grrrr ... I want a ciggie!

Wirxli Flimflam: it takes ages just to get dressed for each piece
Miulew Takahe: SO PLEASE FEEL RELAXED AND CHAT WITH YOUR NEIGHBOUR A LITTLE
Fwwixli Swindlehurst: howdy neighbour
Zodial Semple pats Fwwi's head
Wirxli Flimflam: Hey Fwwix
Fwwixli Swindlehurst: ?
Wirxli Flimflam: did you want to sit on Daddy's shoulders again for this?
You: it is really difficult to get pics of ur musical instruments when they r doing their thing
Wirxli Flimflam: understood, SPin
Fwwixli Swindlehurst: I should have built you a fwwix attatchment
Miulew Takahe: ARE LONDON RECEIVING US, SPIN?
You: yes
You: loud and clear!
Wirxli Flimflam: yeah...ooops
You: hello from london!!!!

Never trust a child with a camera ... this is a pic taken of the screen projection from a low angle ... erm ... does my bum look big in this?

Zodial Semple: Hello London
Wirxli Flimflam: crank up the bass, London!
DannyDarko Raymaker: CHeers LONDON!!!!
Maximillian Nakamura: hello london greets from berlin
Miulew Takahe: WE'RE MAYBE GETTING ANOTHER PLAYER TELEPORTED FROM AUSTIN...
Miulew Takahe: LET'S SEE
Miulew Takahe: BLUEWAVE... ARE YOU HERE?
Wirxli Flimflam: how much time do we have in overtime, Spin?
You: 6.30 latest
Miulew Takahe: OK...FRAGULA
Wirxli Flimflam: k
Wirxli Flimflam: 10:30 SL?
Fwwixli Swindlehurst: yup

It is interesting to plot the development of AOM's instruments over time - each piece seems to become more visually striking than the last, from FADHEIT's invisible huds, through the understated instruments used for Vicky's Remix and Rue Blanche, then the wonderfully intricate Onomatophone until finally we have a visual feast with SLippery SLopes and these outlandishly huge animated attachments - what will they think of next?

Miulew Takahe: /THANK YOU! ;)
Zodial Semple claps
DannyDarko Raymaker: great
Zodial Semple: good show!
Miulew Takahe: ACCORDING TO OUR SCHEDULE WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DO ANOTHER ENDING PIECE...DO WE HAVE TIME FOR THAT?
You: woohoo!!!!
Miulew Takahe: SPIN?
You: london says yay!!!!
You: yes?
Miulew Takahe: ;))
Miulew Takahe: YES....
You: yes!!!!!!
Miulew Takahe: THEN WE HAVE THE HONOUR TO INTRODUCE THE WEE.NO.KRESH BY BINGO ONOMATOPOEIA
You: can't go home without we no crash!!!
Wirxli Flimflam: k
DannyDarko Raymaker: I'm the master of crashes
DannyDarko Raymaker: :D
DannyDarko Raymaker: like a monkey with a miniature Cymbals:D
Maximillian Nakamura: lets rock it :-)
Maximillian Nakamura: yea!
DannyDarko Raymaker: i gotta go real life call me ! Cheers London!!!
DannyDarko Raymaker: cheers Odyssey! and ITs Music!!
DannyDarko Raymaker: thank u to everybody amazing afternooon!

Wirxli Flimflam: nice dress Danny..I forgot to tell you
Maxxo Klaar: ya :-))
DannyDarko Raymaker: thanks my dear!
Danny is wearing the Light Gown made by Juria Yoshikawa for a recent installation

You: /woohooooo!!!!!
Susi Spicoli: hi guys
Wirxli Flimflam: :-)
You: /hey susi wb!!!
Susi Spicoli: how is it going?
You: /very well!
Susi Spicoli: wow
Susi Spicoli: looks like
Gumnosophistai Nurmi: /are london dancing?
You: yeah!!!!

Bingo Onomatopoeia: TAHANK YOU :-)
You: WOOOTTTTT!!!!!
Joey Dhara: congrats
Zodial Semple claps
Bluewave Ogee: Hooray!!!!! :-)
Maxxo Klaar: yay!
Joey Dhara: clap clap
Maximillian Nakamura: :-)
Bingo Onomatopoeia: :-)
You: wooo hooo london claps

junivers Stockholm: BRAVO!!!
Miulew Takahe: /thank you all for listening
Joey Dhara: bravo
You: thank you so much avatar orchestra metaverse
Miulew Takahe: and thank you spinster for organizing all this
Fwwixli Swindlehurst: thank you
Wirxli Flimflam: thanks Spinster
Wirxli Flimflam: hope London goes well
Maximillian Nakamura: thanks london and all avatars!
Bluewave Ogee: thank you spinster
Miulew Takahe: thanks to odyssey island too
Wirxli Flimflam: looking forward to the documentation
You: and thank you to all the artists who took part in PgUp
Miulew Takahe: sugar seville
Wirxli Flimflam: hope there is some video too and audio
You: Fau Ferdinand and Gazira Babeli
Paco Mariani: we all ... ;)
You: Douglas Story
Miulew Takahe: and Pomodoro Bolzano group in Regensburg
Maxxo Klaar: big fun again, yeah!°!
Miulew Takahe: who buit this lovely square
Paco Mariani: thx, miu
Way Sands: se you ty
You: Wirxli Flimflam and Fwwixli Swindlehurst
Wirxli Flimflam: brb...
Wirxli Flimflam: thx
Wirxli Flimflam: our pleasure
Wirxli Flimflam: RL calls...brb
Miulew Takahe: AND AS I SAIFD EARLIER - CHECK OUR BLOGs...
Fwwixli Swindlehurst: :)
Miulew Takahe: buy our tee's
You: yes and all those people too miu
Miulew Takahe: no you can have one if you want...right, bingo?
You: do take a programme and some wine with you
Miulew Takahe: ahhh wine would be great now!! ;)
Douglas Story: hurray for Miss Spinster!
You: and do check the blog
Paco Mariani: cool work, spin.. 100percent of pleasure
Bingo Onomatopoeia: T-shirts are free, hehe - add them to your collection :-)
Maxxo Klaar: where's the programmde, where's the wine?
You: if any of you have good pics, sound or video
Miulew Takahe: we also have AOM badges done by Spin! ;)
junivers Stockholm: please take a box with some fresh photos from this performance
You: email me at a_spinster@hotmail.com
junivers Stockholm: Byeeee alll and thanksssssss
Way Sands: thanks and bye alllllllllll
You: ty junivers - fast work!!!!
junivers Stockholm: auf wieder sehen
You: projector going off now!
Maxxo Klaar: thanks for the lovely box junivers an way
Maxxo Klaar: auf wiedersehn
You: k projector off
junivers Stockholm: :)))
You: anybody wanna b rude about london? hehe
You: am going for a fag
Wirxli Flimflam: heheheh
You: then will come back to say bye
Paco Mariani: i´d like to, spin
Zodial Semple: hehe

Phew, what a fantastic couple of days! As I packed up my kit and said my thankyous to Notice Gallery, I began to really look forward to a pint, especially as it was the last day we'd be allowed to smoke in UK pubs ...

(yes that is a cigar)
(no I am not a man)