Wednesday 23 May 2007

So much for SLeek! :-(

Well, you may have noticed that I've not been doing much blogging recently.... that's because I've been finding it hard to find time to visit Second Life (thanks to an assignment at work that takes me to France for 2-3 days a week) However - now that I'm getting my act together on the foreign travel front, I've started to make the most of free wi-fi in hotels.... so tonight I am availing myself of the wifi access provided by Campanile in their "bed in a box" outside Annecy, France (so much for the name-drops).

All WOULD be going well (apart from Liverpool having just lost the Champion's League final..... sorry Aleister!) but first the network link is a bit flakey (despite claiming to be anything from "weak" to "Strong";) THEN I find that Blogger has got too smart for its own good, and is now displaying everything in French; and finally, (as I was about to try to get a chat session going with Aleister Kronos) I Find that my SLeek stripped-down SL interface doesn't work.

A quick delve into the SLeek blog reveals that it has been broken for the last 6 weeks or so - thanks to an upgrade by Linden Labs... and the "fixed" version does not appear to be available as a compiled bit of code.

So - if anyone is considering trying SLeek right now, the bad news is that it doesn't work anymore :-(

New source code is availablle here but you'll have to compile it yourself! Perhaps if enough people ask, a new compiled version will appear!

Wednesday 2 May 2007

Through the Keyhole

After a bit of a break, I finally found my way back into SL, and hence have something to blog about.

Today we go "Through the Keyhole" of one of SL's rising stars.......

But who can it be?

First, we find this person's back-yard is full of scripted sculptures and a strange temple... could this be a clue to their identity? Clearly we have someone who is interested in the art of SL, and, perhaps has a spiritual side.




The scripting theme continues as we get to the beach house, where we find volumes 1 and 2 of the scripter's handbook. Clearly this person likes to dabble, and is not afraid of reading the manual when they get stuck!



Next to the beach-house (which, by the way, has ambient bird sounds and the gentle crashing of waves) we find a meeting area with a camp fire and a couple of comfy chairs (though take care when you sit down.... the scripting has been put to use, and you find yourself doing a somersault as you sit!). So this person has a sense of humour, and likes cosy chats by the camp-fire.



So, we have a beach house, a temple, a meeting place and some scupltures.... just how far does this person's estate extend? A quick flight up to 200ft reveals a rather odd collection of buildings across the site....




For as well as the beach property and garden (which are all rather nice and tasteful) there is a second plot, behind the hedge, containing a rather odd collection of buildings and artefacts......

Let's zoom down and take a look....

We have the building with the inca pyramids on top.... which turns out to be a bit of an art gallery - so our celebrity has a taste for abstract paintings..... not surprising when you consder ther sculptures outside.




And then outside on the patio, we find a giant cofee cup - or is it a hot-tub? Clearly this person spends far too many late nights in SL, so needs vast quantities of Cafeine to stay awake!


Behind the building, there is a road to nowhere, and a giant bird, or thingamyjig, just staring out into space....



I wonder what it is looking for.... keeping watch for new islands appearing in SL perhaps?

And finally, to the last seating area by the sea..... our celebrity has spared no expense in buying some rugs and cushions to furnish yet another cozy meeting area.



So there we have it... let's recap the clues... this celebrity has an eye for art, yet is also geeky enough to write his own scripts. He has a beady eye on Second Life, to spot any newcommers in-world. He's always ready to chat to anyone that might have some interesting SL gossip, and has set up a number of areas around his plot to hold cozy chats by firelight. These chats are likely to go on through the night, requiring vast quantities of coffee to keep everyone awake.

And if you haven't guessed already, our guest celebrity visited "through the keyhole" tonight is the SL blogger and spotter of new islands, Aleister Kronos, famous for his SLambling blog of new islands in SL.

(Sorry, Al, but as you critique just about everyone else's builds in SL, I thought it fair game to blog your own back yard!)