LINKS OF THE WEEK!

Welcome Brace Coral to the SL blogger fold, who offers amusingly detailed instructions for planning a successful fashion show in Second Life-- which is, evidently, about as complex as storming the beach at Normandy. Chage McCoy has an impressive rant against what he sees as the cultural degradation of Second Life's official discussions Forums, and Moriash Moreau pictorially recounts his visit to SL's Science Fiction Museum, a tribute to sets and props from classic science fiction TV and film.

Meanwhile, "Chaos on the Continent" is Olympia Rebus' incisive description of the anarchic composition that characterizes most of Second Life-- and a proposal for fixing same:

To describe the jumbled nature of the grid to an outsider, I'd probably tell them this. Take 100 (or 1000) real-life buildings from different styles, cultures and eras. Mix in 100 (or 1000) fantasy builds in all shapes and textures. Add plywood cubes and crude signage to taste. Put this all in a bag, shake vigorously, and dump everything on the ground.

So, is there any way to make Second Life less random? Maybe...

Hiro Pendragon has a timely essay speculating on a new role for Snapzilla, the Flickr-style application that lets Residents instantly publish in-world screenshots to the Web, as a new form of SL journalism:

Think of the possibilities! I've already seen parties in progress, sure, but what about news events in progress? Uses I foresee: A gathering of veteran residents is captured. A neighborly dispute is illustrated. Content loss is shown as a warning to other residents. A firebomber is caught red-handed at a club. A crumbling bridge is documented for maintenance request to the Lindens.

I say it's a "timely" essay, because it recently occured to me just how much the arrival of Snapzilla has indeed altered the way I write New World Notes. Now that everyone in Second Life can be an instant photojournalist, I have to devote even more effort to looking for stories where the picture only hints at the larger story.

Speaking of which, you may be wondering about the screenshots on the right. Why, those are from an impromptu bow-and-arrow chicken hunt I went on with a gorilla, a Furry on a rooster hovercraft, a conga line of Lemmings, a light saber-wielding freak in a barrel, and a man in a ballet tutu-- can't you tell?

But don't ask me, let Torley Torgeson explain.