Oh, look ... a NAME!

Well, we finally have the domain lined up, so I can start using the name of the "fashion district" that I've been mentioning ... it's going to be called Pattern9 and, as you can see from these snaps, it's a lot more than just clothes!

Here's Eschatos perched on one of the cupolas of the "white palace" which is going to be the major "mall" of designer showrooms. The dock area just went in yesterday, with big yachts that are available for rental. Our client is big into "fun and games", and there will be cars, boats, hang gliders, surfboards, jet-skis, etc., etc., etc., available across the current six sims of Pattern9!



Most of the planning and work over there is in the hands of our in-world build team, so it's always amusing for Eschatos to take a bit of a fly-around over in Pattern9 to see what's new. This is all centered around Club Mannequin (LINK), which was the start of the "fashion & fun" concept, but it grew so much bigger than that ... and speaking of bigger, the waterway in the above pic (going under the bridge) connects with the Mannequin lagoon, and out into the open ocean which will be navigable out a full sim's worth on each side, making the water activities much more satisfying than just playing in a land-locked lake.



Last time Eschatos posted here, he was checking out the new buildings on the other side of the complex ... well, here's a little peak at the "southwest" corner (although I'm pretty sure that it's actually on the south-east sim), with a railroad, a giant "chopper shop", a Native American village, and circling buzzards (which may even be ridable), looking back towards those apartment towers.

There's lots of stuff still to come over there, with even more expansion plans, so Eschatos is probably going to be foisting more about it to y'all in here ... hope you don't mind. I'll probably be grinding out some P.R. releases too when we start getting the sign-ups for the designer showrooms set. Anyway, Eschatos is excited about all the new stuff, so wanted to share.

More later ...

Land, lots of land ...

Not too much to report ... we're still waiting for the City inspectors to tell us we can move to our new offices ... and I'm sure we're going to be insanely busy once we get in there (we just heard some news from a client-in-waiting than makes us think that's about to start rolling!).



Eschatos decided to take a walk and check out the new islands that got delivered last weekend south of the Simuality (LINK) sim. These are going to be part of the "fashion district" that's being built around Club Mannequin (LINK), which is very "unfinished" at the moment, but will be very cool when done!

Anyway, it was a dramatic sunset when Eschatos got up on top of the as-delivered island, so a snapshot seemed to be in order ... he even put away his coffee cup for the occasion!

More later ...

Uh, oh ...

Oh, dear ... I guess showing Eschatos where we're moving the RL office was a mistake ... he seems to think that we're moving the in-world offices as well, and has boxed stuff up and appears to be waiting for the moving van!



Around Simuality, we're sort of in the same place ... obviously, we've not boxed the computers as yet, but we've got all the files, kits, promo stuff, etc., etc., etc., packed up and ready to go ... we're just waiting for the various City of Evanston inspectors to tell us it's OK to get into the new space. As soon as they say "go" we'll be into moving mode.

Oh, by the way ... the two other islands that we've been waiting for (to complete the "fashion district" being developed around Club Mannequin, out the window behind Eschatos there) arose from the virtual depths over the weekend, so things should be picking up on that project!

More later ...

It's not ALL fun and games ...

It's amazing how cool and refreshing a steaming hot cup of coffee can be when you're standing on the business end of a volcano! Here's Eschatos checking out one of the new features installed by the lovely folks at Linden Labs ... luckily for him, they haven't "enabled damage" there yet, as he even wandered deep into the mountain and sat on big chunks of semi-molten lava that were rezzing there waiting to become fiery ejecta.



That was yesterday, today Eschatos attended a birthday party for one of the Paradise Builders crew who are working on the "fashion district" centered around Club Mannequin (LINK). Virtual ribs were on the grill, and virtual sushi on the table ... and much virtual beer was being consumed.

Eschatos had to beg off early (missing the virtual cake), to head over to the "Large Scale Immersive Events Seminar" that was happening over at chez Clever Zebra ... which was very informative in a general "measure twice, cut once" mode (OK, I'm a former Certified Meeting Professional, so a lot of the stuff was aimed to folks with somewhat less-specific skill sets), plus held out some fascinating hints about stuff that is being developed "out there" for integrating virtual worlds like Second Life into the web!

More later ...

More fundraising ...

Well, we followed up on our Myanmar kiosks with another fund-raising effort, this for helping out the Red Cross with their relief program for the Chinese earthquake ... on Saturday we turned over Club Mannequin (LINK) for a 24-hour event, featuring a large kiosk in the middle of the dancefloor ...



... as well as others around the club and in various locations over on Simuality Island (LINK). While the dollar amount raised was modest, we did get a lot of attention, getting an SL traffic figure of 10487 (which I guess is quite good), as well as having good pick-up for the press releases that went out thanks to the generosity of the folks at PR NewsWire.

If you feel like making a "virtual" donation, both the Myanmar Cyclone and Chinese Earthquake kiosks are still up over in our little corner of Second Life (and may possibly be in various other locations, as we structured these so that folks could take copies to rez in their own areas), so it's not too late. We'll probably leave them up through May, and then cut a check to the Red Cross.

More later ...

And the walls ...

Well, lookie there ... the big "corncob"/"stack of pancakes" amphitheater (that was never used) is GONE! And, off in the distance, exciting new things (soon to be part of the greater Club Mannequin [LINK]) are rising from the briny deeps! Three of the eventual five new sims have appeared, with the other two (mentally fill in the outer corners) following soon.



Now, it's not really bragging for me to say so (since I, personally, have scant little to do with it), but the stuff that's going to be happening over on that eventual six-sim build is going to be totally awesome!

The disappearance of our corncob is the first phase on a "re-imagining" of what the Simuality island (LINK) is going to be. We're going to be expanding as well, but we're wanting to get "all spiffed up" to show folks when were're off at the Virtual Worlds Conference (LINK) in April.

Speaking of April ... we just have two weeks to crank out a HUGE amount of stuff for that! I don't want to bore you with the details of what I've been having to write, but there's a ton more to come. In fact, I just had word today that one of the BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS that I've been waiting to hear about just got "inked" today, so I'll be doing a huge national press release in the next day or so!

Anyway, I need to get back to putting words to screen (well, other words to screen, I decided to update here to give my poor brain a rest!)... more later.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes ...

Whoa ... things are getting busy, busy, busy over on Simuality Island (LINK), as you can see from this snapshot from this afternoon, I'm no longer the one lonely worker in the Simuality in-world Office ... I am frequently joined by Evermore Noel and Guy Winkler (whose real-life counterparts, oddly enough, sit just about as far away from me as they do from Eschatos!).





We're also looking to do a major over-haul of the island before the Virtual Worlds Conference (LINK) in New York next month. So, within 3-4 weeks, this ...





... will be out-moded, with some things gone, some things added, and a whole bunch of stuff just "looking different" ... all in the interests of being ready for (what we hope to be) massive traffic coming from the exposure at the conference, and the addition of the new island devoted to all things SlippCat (LINK)!

Now, if you'll excuse me a Ron Popeil moment ... But wait, there's MORE! ... if that sounds like it's rattling my virtual reality, you should see what's coming to our south side! The Mannequin (LINK) build is going to be blasting out into a huge fashion/entertainment complex all the way around the club. It's going to be amazing ... more details here as they become prudent to unleash!

Lebensraum ...

Eschatos has a tendency of "playing things close to the vest" figuring that when it comes to potentially sensitive info, it's better to not say something than to try to "unsay" something (duh!) ... but here's a peek at "exciting upcoming stuff" that I figure is close enough to being real that it won't hurt to brag a bit ...



Here you see where the current Simuality and Simuality2 islands are, with Club Mannequin (LINK) in the latter. This particular project started because Mannequin has be so successful that we need more "server room" to allow us to have more Avatars in-house for the big events. So, we're going to be adding on 3 sims, and having the club at the center, allowing us to have 4x the party-goers than we can currently get in! We also have some Big Surprises coming for what's going to be happening with the rest of that real estate ... but I can't blab everything all at once!

Also, as anybody who has come over to Simuality to visit the Avatrait Gallery (LINK) or do business at the SLurrency Exchange (LINK) has noticed, things have been getting a bit crowded on our little island ... so we're going to be doing a similar expansion for that, adding on 3 sims, and shifting the amphitheater (yes, that's what the concrete pancake stack in the middle of the island is supposed to be) to the four-corner zone on the new bigger, better, badder island! You might ask, "Why does Simuality need a 400-person amphitheater?", but I'm not going to tell you, at least not yet ... but let's just say that all sorts of very interesting new things are percolating under the surface in Simuality land!

Oh, perhaps there is one cat I can let out of the bag ... at least as far as the "tease" site for SlippCat goes!

More later ...

Eschatos M.I.A.???

Well, not exactly, but the RL me was very ill the end of January (a viral infection in the ear had triggered a bad bout of Vertigo which was initially thought to have possibly been a stroke!), and I was so backed up on stuff that this past week was pretty much a blur, leaving me precious little time to do anything interesting in-world or to blog about anything else.

However, one of the projects that I just got done yesterday (yep, working all day on Saturday) was finally getting a bit of machinima edited. There were all sorts of issues about this, from sourcing to codecs, but I finally got everything pulled together by about noon on Saturday, so that we could embed this into a PowerPoint that's going out with the Club Mannequin team to the "MAGIC" (fashion industry) convention in Las Vegas next week. Simuality boss Hendry Goldkey liked the edit job on this so much that he wanted me to get it up on YouTube, etc., so I figured I'd share it here as well ...



I ended up doing the voice-over for Keen Marksman on the front of this, so that's what I sound like (I'm sure that will elicit some confusion at some point). This will be part of an introductory presentation for Club Mannequin (LINK) to various designers who will be the "fashion partners" in the club and the new showroom complex (Mannequin is soon to be expanding from one sim with the Club to four sims, centered on the club {which we'll then be able to get lots more people in} and with designer showrooms around the periphery!)

Anyway ... I didn't do the music video here, just the intro part (and a bit of editing). One of these days I'm going to have a more "machinima-friendly" computer at the office that will allow me to do stuff like get rid of the "screen capture" elements, and have tools for smoother zooms, etc., but this is pretty good for what I presently have to work with!

Here we go ...

We have been "waiting for funding" (the eternal bane of I.T. start-ups!) for quite a while, as the better part of a dozen Venture Capital entities looked us over, and having Big Project after Big Project just stacking up awaiting the dollars through the door to get these things started. Well, finally one of these guys "pulled the trigger" and, like a dam breaking, we're now hitting the ground at the speed of sound.



One of these (and rather central to my upcoming activities) is our participation at the Spring 2008 Virtual Worlds conference in New York. We had hoped to have been the "lead sponsor", but time got past us, and another company got that, but we're going to be a "Gold" sponsor with some other options added on.

Aside from builds that we're developing for clients (such as Club Mannequin {LINK} and the stuff I've been writing about of late), we also have some Very Exciting Projects that we're developing in-house, and one of these we're planning on "officially unveiling" at the Virtual Worlds show!

Of course, in the eternal twist of phrase by The Rutles, "All You Need Is Cash" ... and now that the cash is on hand, ALL of the parts (press kit covers, pamphlets, booth design, promotional items, travel plans, etc., etc., etc.) need immediate attention, and we have only 9 weeks before we get on a plane! I just booked our exhibit package today, and have a printer coming in to give us some quotes tomorrow, etc.



It's amazing that I haven't been back to New York in as long as it's been. I grew up on the Upper East Side (from ages 2-9) and used to go back either for business or to hang out with friends several times a year. I don't know if the last time I was there was for the Kalachakra Initiation that the Dalai Lama gave at Madison Square Garden back in 1991, or a trip my wife and I did out there sometime around then (we went to see Blue Man Troupe when they were still only at their little theater in lower Manhattan), but in either case it's been nearly 20 years since I've been back.

Needless to say, I'm excited ...

Hither, thither, and sometimes yon ...

Well, Eschatos was unexpectedly all over the place today. Frankly, I had a big research project going unattended in the task bar while various places drew our virtual presence. First was a bit of "getting ducks in a row" over at Club Mannequin (LINK) where I snapped this pic of club manager Jada Hoyer getting the music mix together for an upcoming fashion show ...



But that didn't take much of my day, however in the early afternoon, a call went out to the Non-Profit Commons (LINK) group list from Kali Idziak, asking if anybody could come by the sim to act as something of an impromptu "welcoming committee". It turns out that MSNBC had published a rather extensive article about the NPC entitled Pixelanthropy: Charities tap into Second Life this morning, and that quite a few folks were wandering in, having read that.



I hung out there for a while, and then went to check out Coughran Mayo's new island for his non-profit (I don't think they're quite ready for visitors), and then followed up on some really cool in-world features that I'd noticed In Kenzo's phone exhibiting (going over to a build that she'd done for the Canadian "Telus" phone group). Hendry Goldkey, founder of Simuality, has the same phone (a MotoQ) and was very interested in all the stuff Telus had it doing. Needless to say, I'm sort of hoping that this will end up with us all getting "company phones" that will shift phone calls and e-mail in and out of world!

Busy, busy ...

I really didn't think that I was going to be able to be in-world today, as I usually have to take my daughters up to their martial arts class on Saturday, but I needed to do some repair to The Wife's computer, so I got to stay home and she took them.

I actually had four "social events" that I would have liked to have made it to, but the party over at Broadway Live had pretty much wound down by the time I got there, and ditto the "sports gear" party over at Club Mannequin (LINK). Oh, well.



I did make it over to the grand opening of Kiva.org's new space (LINK) over in the Non-Profit Commons (LINK). Kiva is an interesting concept ... they are a "micro-finance" network which allows folks with a bit of extra money (and we're talking as little as twenty-five bucks per loan here!) provide a cash infusion to a third-world entrepreneur who needs a resource for financing. Now, I suspect that the lenders aren't making much cash return on their money, but if they've been able to help somebody bootstrap themselves out of poverty, I guess that's its own reward.



Needless to say, Kiva's very cool and you should go check them out, either in-world or at their web site!

The other thing that I was able to make it to was the mentioned-yesterday opening of the Clarrise Cinquetti show at Avatrait Gallery (LINK).



These opening parties are always fun, with lots of folks turning out ... in the above are Track Hax, Avatrait founder, and Stephen Venkman (with his back to the camera), Avatrait gallery manager.



If you want to check out more of Clarrise Cinquetti's art than you can see in these snaps, drop by the gallery in-world, or at the Avatrait site (where you can buy real-world framed prints of her work, as well as that of the other fine Avatrait artists!).

Anyway, that was my "surprise" social excursion in-world today. Back to your regular programming, I'm sure, in following posts.