BURNING MAN, BURNING LIFE (PART II)

Another glimpse of notable projects currently on sight in Burning Life, now in its fourth day, with ten more days before the entire event self-immolates (originally set to be wiped next Tuesday, the Lindens recently moved its expiration date back, to the 13th)...

From the left column:

- The view of Burning Life from a vantage point on top the Man himself, at the center of the event.

- Jester Knox's giant pinwheel farm and fiery Second Life logo, with Kendra Bancoft's spikey, Viking-themed Valhalla site in the background (two screenshots.)

- VERTU headquarters in Burning Life, created by group member Eddie Escher. (Parenthetical on VERTU: most recently, the non-profit group has launched a series of in-world benefits-- silent auctions, parties, and so on-- raising thousands of dollars for recent victims of the Florida hurricane disaster.)

Right column:

- The modern art gallery of Siggy Romulus, featuring classic works by Magritte, Klimt, and-- if a daring heist had not just occured in Norway-- Munch.

"I was originally going to do a piece based on some of my favorite artists," Romulus tells me, "Munch, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, but didn't really have any solid ideas." Since he works in television news, however, Siggy caught the announcement on the AP wire, that Edvard Munch's "Scream" had been stolen at gunpoint. "And so it kind of kicked off from there." Now when you visit Romulus' museum, you're confronted with an empty picture frame, an informational note about the theft-- and a custom-animated script, which puts your avatar in a very familiar posture, when you invoke it. This pose comes in handy, for when you push through the empty picture frame, you stroll right into, well, "The Scream".

"The idea of walking around in a painting I thought was a cool idea," Siggy Romulus says, "and was what I was going to work on, originally-- having one of my favorite paintings stolen solidified the idea." Even the bridge from the Munch painting is there-- except in Romulus' version, there's police tape stretched across it, and a chalk outline, where the man who hollered out in existential angst used to stand.

"The Scream pose I made up in Poser," Romulus continues. "I had the picture as a reference and just tried to make something that was in tune with the painting, while not contorting your avatar too much," he says. "Intersting side note: I've received around twenty different resident scream snapshots. Seeing your friends 'inside' a painting is both funny, and a little creepy-- it's amazing how that image resonates through the iconography of our generation, and how many people 'connect' to that painting in particular." So in his site, the screamer has come in all shapes, sizes, and species. (My own screenshots feature Lektor Hannibal, myself, and my Hunter S. Thomspon alternate avatar.) "Some of the furries and aliens are rather funny," Siggy says, "but to tell the truth, it's more human avatars that look creepier-- best one I saw to date is Ironchef Cook, flashing a [gangsta style gesture, a] 'West side' cast from the bridge."

If the authorities can get their hands on the heist perpetrators soon enough, Siggy Romulus adds coyly, there may be a special appearance of Munch's original howler, in avatar form. "If the painting is found before the end of Burning Life," Romulus says, "he may make an appearance. If not, you'll have to wait. I've already had an offer to place 'The Gallery' on private land after the event, so who knows.

"'til then," he finishes, smiling, "you'll have to make due with the chalk outline."

More Burning glimpses after the break...

Beginning with the right column:

- An iron giant beset by various issues of ongoing controversy in Second Life. Inexplicably, "Hope" is crushed beneath his foot. (Two screenshots.)

- Donovan Galatea's psychedelic flower, surrounded by giant teardrops-- each contains a wintery microcosm of trees, snow, and mountainside, within them. (Two screenshots.)

In the left column, from the top down:

- Fallingwater Cellardoor's crying man, imprisoned in a forbidding tower.

- The maze of colored light, by Cory Bauhaus. (The constantly shifting walls of color are contained in a giant stone ziggurat.)

- 3D dissent on the buying and selling of land among Second Life's elite, by David Valentino.

"I'm somewhat of a opponent of land barons," Valentino tells me. "So it's just a very simple statement to that effect. I love the creativity of Second Life, and to be really creative, build-wise, a person pretty much needs land. And Land Barons just make it more expensive to get that land. I've watched the auctions, and I've seen them outbid those that want the land to build on, and then sell it in-world at a profit-- which means at a more expensive price.

"If you notice the little people running away from the land, it's about how Land Barons can effectively take the pleasure of land ownership from some folks. Force them away from it, so to speak.

"However," Valentino adds, smiling, "I have to admit, the recent land glut has helped a lot [to curb such behavior]. So I guess I'm not REAL topical."

- Another view of Burning Life, as beheld from the top of the BL Man.