Saturday, June 30, 2007
Fancy dress frenzy
I've got possibly two parties coming up in the next month, but I have a dilemma as they will be with the same peeps, so I cant wear the same outfit.
I've got a "naughty schoolgirl" outfit pieced together from real clothes which is my backup plan for the first party. I also just bought this:
The problem is that the second party might be Moulin Rouge themed, so I want to save the new costume if the second theme goes ahead. But I wont know that until possibly after the first party. *sigh*
I think its going to be a last minute decision. Unless I can get the organiser to commit to a theme now...
Friday, June 29, 2007
Party of the Year - Hands Down
Written by Jaguar Hahn
VR5—Usually weekends are great times for parties, right? Right. [Saturday night] I decided to roll into a rather interesting party. No, this wasn't a normal party, this was a party in VR5 world, which was about to close its doors for good after tonight. The owners of the world were celebrating many years of the great VR5 world serving the AW community. They thought it would seem fit to go out with "not a bang, not a party, but a BASH!"
If you have never been to VR5, they have been home to many things in our universe. The first band to play in the Active Worlds Universe, Aztech Rising, held a concert in VR5 a while back at the Nidus Arena. GSK held his virtual isolation here. They have created and launched many successful web sites since their creation and have also designed 3D versions of McDonalds, Starbucks , Best Buy, Target and Alienware. And they have even created their own "Metaverse" browser, which streamlines the Active Worlds experience and enhances it for users.
Upon entering the world, I discovered a basic layout of a stage, some seats and a hotel. I thought to myself, 'wow, this will probably be an ok event.' Boy was I wrong. Right as 7:10pm VRT rolled around, the first event began: a light show that everyone was looking forward to. We were treated to a FABULOUS light show, with everything from snowy white particles to different colored spotlights and spiraling rainbows. Lights came from the tower, they came from the stage, they came from the sky, they came from everywhere. I have never seen so many different effects in my life. It was the best light show I've ever seen. GSK revealed to me that the entire thing was custom. The music was grand, but the particles and lights clearly stunned everyone. By the time it was over, the entire crowd was shouting for an encore. It was that good.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Victory From The Jaws of Defeat...
Neocube graciously offered to renew the world and also went through a lot of convincing to get me to agree to it. If nobody yet knows, I have been assigned to another project outside of Active Worlds so I will be fairly scarce. Neocube is the new world owner, and has placed me as second in charge and Brina as Head of Security.
Other than that, nothing to really report, other than Windows Vista is pretty good so far (but still annoying) and Active Worlds seems to run like crap on it. This coming from a guy with a brand new laptop and a Gigabyte of RAM with a new Graphics Card and all the updates.
Hope AWI works out the quirks...
I heard the Cy Awards are gonna happen this year as well, maybe in October. At the moment, it seems like a cool idea, but honestly I'm personally done shooting for a Cy Award.
Neocube and I had a nice long talk about what we would like to do with the VR5 World for the next year and the jury is out at the moment. So I guess we all take a vacation and do this day to day.
I'll post some things in here as I get the time, but for now, let's take some time and reflect :)
Enjoying Summer Vacation - Darian Knight
Too fat to die
Dr. Marjorie Reese, director of UCLA's Obesity Pathology Clinic says, "...the fact that obesity impedes suicide is truly troubling. It appears that the more reason people have to die, the less capable they are of doing so. They are literally trapped in their grotesque, blubbery bodies."
But she advises that losing weight to enable suicide has its own problems: "If they mistake their all-but-meaningless improvement for a legitimate reason to live, their fat, revolting lives may be prolonged indefinitely."
Chuckle.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
“I know where it’s at”
There’s a misconception that local music scene consists of identikit rock bands playing the same ten cover versions. That might be true for a large number of venues (and bands) but there are still individuals striking out from the beaten path.
Here are my personal recommendations. All the bands I name below play sets exclusively of original material.
They call themselves “Emo” but don’t let that put you off. ODE came about as a way for their guitarist dealing with the breakdown of his marriage. All the songs have a deep backstory, and whether that comes out overtly or not, they all have poignancy to them. Therapy has never sounded so good! Plus they’re all really nice blokes!
Turnstone draw many comparisons with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Kinks. Although their inspiration is very obvious, Turnstone have a significant body of original material whilst retaining a familiar feel although they are not averse to the odd cover if the venue is appropriate.
Young female and punk, PTV are just plain entertaining. With songs like “Ode to a Porno Mag”, “The Minge Song” and an energetic cover of the Spice Girls’ Wannabe, it’s pretty clear you are going to have fun. Sometimes enthusiasm wins out over professionalism but that all part of the package. Some bands have printed T-Shirts. PTV have logo-printed knickers!
My favourite (still-existing) ska band. Fast, energetic, and their lead singer has an amazing way of rolling his Rs. They do a nice line in social commentary too: listen to “Skarrific Gangster” if you can. Or for a laugh track down their cover of Arthur (the kids TV show, not the Dudley Moore film!)
With two lead singers with very different voices Last Paradigm sound unlike any other metal band you will hear on the East coast. And since both sing the same lines together you get a weird (dis)harmony effect that is hard to describe if you’ve not heard it. The songs they have on their site don’t really give you a feel
I still am not sure if Sweet Dizease are truly serious about their angry anti-Christian stance, or whether they are having a bit of fun. Either way, their catchy brand of metal goes down well with the crowds, and you would be hard pressed not to yell out “Unite in the death pit!” during Pious. Their lead singer gets totally into character and if the crowd is slack in its response he won’t hesitate to tell them how “fucking pitiful” they are. Sweet Dizease amuse me immensely.
More original rock. This is a bit more old school hard rock rather than metal, with the odd cover for good measure. The Divide are showmen and performers as well as musicians, and their frontman in his top hat, wild hair, raggedy coat and skull necklaces will keep you entertained with his capering and growling in between numbers.
Finally we have an odd last entry:
Alcanal is not a local band, but a musician/producer. You won’t see him on stage these days, but he is content to produce tracks exclusively for MySpace. Listen to “Hopton Shark Rescue” and you will know why I find this guy hilarious.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Pandering to Miss EnVerite
My Tranny Footprint
373248 COt
(COt = Cubic Ounces of trannieness)
Calculate your tranny footprint at BeckysWeb!
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Chirpy
Lucy and I will remain friends, now that we've cleared the air. And our well-stocked dressing-up boxes and identical dress size is merely a coincidence.
My gran had a nice send off. And although we will all miss her lots, having the worry of the funeral arrangements behind us means we can get on and grieve properly.
My car still makes mysterious noises, but the garage can find no actual physical problems with it.
My optician has not contacted me following my glaucoma test, so I'm hopeful the first test was a blip.
And my birthday was finally celebrated three days late with cake and family. Present highlights include 35mm scale kung-fu schoolgirls, the pop-up Kama Sutra, and a fantastic Lego mecha.
There's still some crap in session (eg my job) but the week from hell is over.
Phew!